Chapter twenty-three

At the Schwartz's home, Louis is still telling his kids the story.

"Dante, huh? I have heard of him in La Cueva. They said he tormented many for a very long time." Maria tells.

"Yes, it is true," Louis confirms. "He was ruthless. To him, as long as you were not of Noble blood you were prey. Being a child or an aged, he didn't care."

"So did Damien bite the dust?" Cyril asks.

"No. But he did bite his tongue." They all give off a burst of quiet and short laughter. "So this happened..."

Damien is embodied in the wall helplessly like he is crucified. Most of his blue hair is dyed red by his blood. He is not moving due to the excruciating pain running through his body. Even breathing seems to be a pain so he knows best not to move a muscle for a while.

"Oh! His heart is still punching. Though I don't know for how long. Now... you are next." Dante says and turns to the two couples. He dashes at them with his claws stretched about to grip hold of Hannah's throat. Fear had paralyzed them and they couldn't move a muscle all they could do was watch as their doom approached. Inches from taking hold of her throat he stops in his tracks. "*Sigh* Lucky. You know it is against my policy to kill weaklings pissing their pants. Tsk! That's why I always use surprise attacks." They simultaneously let out sighs of relief. As if the terror built up in them was released through the sighing, they finally leap back. They wished to go further but their backs were against a container. "You see the goons behind me?" They turn their visions to the goons and see these seven shady-looking men all heavily armed with serious artilleries. "They are normal people whom I have promised to make like me should they meet my criteria. MEN!"

*YES, KING DANTE* They respond simultaneously.

"Ohh! That title never gets old." He says with an ecstatic smile. "Keep it up. Tonight, out of the seven of you four will have the chance to prove themselves worthy of my power. All you have to do is make a kill. Now...do your worst, men."

The instant he ends his long speech, those greedy power-thirsty thugs open fire and like the wind, again Dante vanishes out of the way. These couples realizing the danger, they jump over the container and land at its back for cover.

"I knew this mission was a bad idea!" Louis enunciates. "Come on let's form a strategy." They all come together and they start to discuss and the bullets, somehow they don't stop coming. For almost a minute they keep talking until,

"Shhhh!" Joan pacifies. She listens for a while then, "MOVE!" She throws herself at them with great force to move them away from the container and instantly the container goes, *BOOM*.

"Did that get them?" One of the thugs with a rocket launcher in hand asks. When the flames and smoke of the explosion start to clear a little, they see a large wall ahead. "Guess not. Start shooting again whiles I get another to reload the RPG." They follow and open fire again.

On the other side,

"YES!" Arthur screams. "Hannah you just saved our asses. If you hadn't used your protection spell to make the concrete floor elevate to form a wall, we would be goners right now. And Joan, oh how much I love you. Now come on guys, just like now, let's do what we all do best. Louis, can you make me a weapon?"

"Sure. Just a sec... Imán." He whispers and the bullets on the floor and in their environs start to get attracted to him. He gathers a handful and then whispers again, "Reforma." The bullets in his hands become like clay instantly and then he starts to mould.

"You guys better hurry," Joan warns. "They are almost done with the next shot."

"And done," Louis announces with a beautiful katana in hand.

"S-W-E-A-T, sweat!" Arthur exclaims. "Nice sword. Probably your best one yet. But why didn't you make a gun."

"Huh! You ungrateful prick! Just take the damn thing." He hands the katana to Arthur.

"Okay-okay! Jeez... Joan, a little boost?" She nods. "I will draw their attention so you can attack."

"Oh, and what exactly do you plan to do!" Hannah asks unconvincingly.

"Have some trust. I'm a Decent, remember."

/Decent blood is a race not much different from normal humans but they can evolve. Those of this blood has something they call Aura, something actually present in every living thing. But only those of the Decent bloodline can exploit it. They use it to enhance their bodies to surpass the abilities of a mere person or they can use it to form Slots. A Slot is when a Decent blood can manipulate their auras to become like that of another being. Doing this enables them to acquire an ability of the being they changed their aura to. A Decent blood can only master body enhancement or Slot as it is close to impossible to master both. In the case of the Slot, only two or at most three abilities can be acquired. And though an ability is earned, it can not change the body. For example, you can't grow a tail or become invincible, nothing like that. But it can forcefully release adrenaline./

"Arthur, I'm ready to boost," Joan informs.

"Okay." Arthur crawls and gets a nearby barrel. He throws it high up to draw their fire and it works. Immediately, he jumps high up, and coming down Joan is lying on the floor with her feet up. He lands perfectly feet to feet. She uses her strength to shove him way higher over the wall and closer to the enemy.

(In slow motion) He lands on a knee with his head bowed, with his katana firmly gripped in his right with the blade pointing to his back, he mutters, "Cheater Slot, Fly Slot activate." His pupils widen and then he raises his head to see his enemies. The thugs realizing the situation point their guns at him. The first pulls the trigger and releases sonic fast bullets headed for a headshot. Before they could make contact, Arthur shifts his head to the side and they come to pass. They all open fire and still on a knee he starts to swing and twist the katana here and there. Each bullet gets blocked by the katana and bullets finally stop coming. He opens his mouth and steam is discharged. "You are all--so slow."

"Hey reload!" One of the thug's orders. While they do he asks, "Did you call for the backup I asked for?" One of them nods. "Okay, attack."

They begin to shoot again and suddenly Arthur also dashes heading for them at an abnormal pace. He keeps barring the deadly bullets along the way and when he is close enough, he jumps and then lands among them.

"Oho-oho!" Dante exclaims sitting in his previous position, on the stack of boxes. "A cheater gives a boost in speed and fly makes him perceive things to be slow. Using the Slot of both he can dodge those billets. Interesting..." He says with a smile.