Chapter 729: New Heroes.

-No more hiding, huh?-

Sitting in his office chair, Dante waited, and waited. For a while there, he had thought Flame Guard would be on him at any moment, but minutes passed, and nothing happened. The ceiling didn’t erupt, the walls didn’t explode, and the door didn’t fly off its hinges. Even though he gave up the only leverage he had, no one came after him.

-Maybe your plan worked after all.-

-You got them to believe that you’re a nobody.-

-And now they won’t even bother to come after you.-

-Not unless you wear that armor.-

The mundanity of his life in recent days has been getting to him. He was starting to feel that he had fallen back into the same trap as before, busying himself with endless preparations and never making any actual progress. He already had everything he needed to achieve his goal, yet here he was, waiting for his target to come to him.

-Why don’t you just go and attack him yourself?-

-You already have everything you need.-

-Just finish off the bastard.-

-That’s what you have been meaning to do from the start, right?-

An image manifested in Dante’s mind. A blond, muscular man floated in the air, a red cape fluttering behind him. Flames cast an orange glow over his blue suit, enveloping him in an ominous air.

’No...’

As he tried to focus on the image of his mortal enemy, a different thought arose in his mind.

’That’s not it...’

Killing Paragon was his goal, but it wasn’t the end goal. It was just the first step. The first step toward...

[You have a call from Tiger.]

A notification popped up in front of him, severing his line of thought. As he stared at it, Dante could only wonder who this Tiger was. He knew a wolf, but a tiger...

Light flashed in his mind as he recalled who it was he had registered under that name. Not once had he been contacted by him, so it only made sense that he failed to remember.

[Took you long enough.]

He spoke through his MLP, turning his thoughts into a sound that was transmitted through the app.

[Consider yourself lucky. It could have taken much longer.] The other party replied.

[Since you called, I take it you have some details for me?]

[Why else would I call you?] The man sighed. [There will be an event at the end of the month. It will take place in Vetrogard. Most of the members have confirmed their attendance, except for him.]

[Then what’s the point?]

[It’s a big event. The chances of him appearing aren’t very small.] He said. [Besides, a new set of heroes will be announced.]

Hearing that gave Dante pause.

[New heroes?]

The BEO has been adding more and more Genomes into its ranks, and though it had once been something worthy of note, nowadays, the newcomers only ever get mentioned once they achieve something worthy of note. Since they were bothering to present them at a big event attended by the most powerful people, those new heroes couldn’t possibly be average.

[A new Level 6?] Dante asked.

[And a few more Level 5s.] The caller said. [You could say it’s a warning for the mongrels who orchestrated that attack in your city.]

Dante took a moment to go over everything. It was then that something caught his attention.

[The end of the month? Vetrgard?] It was only once he put those things together that he remembered something very important. [The Winter House...]

[The date has been chosen specifically because many were already attending that event.]

[I see...] Thinking for a moment, Dante then asked the question on his mind. [Have you decided on your team yet?]

[I believe that is none of your concern.] The reply came back sharper than before.

[So you have no intention of sharing their powers with me? Not even the enemy side?]

[You will have to figure it out on your own.]

[Not very cooperative, huh?]

[Let me worry about the others. You just focus on the target.] He said. [You might not know who he is now, but since he already had influenced your mind before, you’ll recognize him almost immediately.]

[Got it. I will be waiting on the details of the locations of the spatial blocker and anti-Sorcery field generators.] Dante said.

[Be prepared to look for them yourself. It isn’t that easy for someone in my position to actively look for such things.]

’Useless...’

The call ended, and Dante was left staring at his desk. Viktor had been confident that a big mess awaited them if they were to go to the city of wind, and he was right. It wouldn’t just be a mess. It’ll be a disaster unlike anything this world had noticed, and he would be at its center.

Waiting for his enemies started to feel meaningless after a while, and so he decided to get some sleep. The next day arrived, and as he was running his international delivery service, he got a message from his doctor informing him that his contact in the Gear Cult had reached back and asked for another meeting.

Dante didn’t feel comfortable meeting the female cyborg after what happened the other day, but he agreed to see her anyway. He needed to clear things with those bastards sooner rather than later so he would know how to deal with them. Just in case, Dante set the meeting in one of the restaurants owned by the Daggers and made sure to give the staff a day off, leaving only the bare minimum needed to serve his table.

This time, Larry wasn’t attending the meeting. He had already made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with the cult, and this was one of the times he chose to do that. Victoria arrived at the agreed time. Entering the private room he had prepared, she stared at him in silence for a while. Right after, she did something that took Dante by surprise.

"Please accept our most sincere apologies." She said, bowing deeply.