Chapter 16: Weight of a promise

A smile appeared on Dante's face before he bursted into laughter. This caused the lady to scoff which only meant that his thoughts were on track. Even though he was in danger, Dante was still smart enough to know when he was really being threatened or was facing a bluff.

"There is no way you are going to kill me. If you consider the information from me so valuable there is no way you are going to get rid of me."

"Okay then. You are right about that, however you will wish I did when I take you to Ren", the lady said with a sinister smile before stopping her conversation with him.

This was surprising to Dante since he believed for awhile now that him and Serena were the only humans left on Earth. She had mentioned the name of a man which meant that there was another human being on the planet. It seemed like Ren was her boss so it wasn't wrong to assume he had other people under him. This meant that there were a lot more humans than he originally thought. The strange lady had asked him how he knew Serena and also asked what she had been telling him the whole time. It was most likely that she had not told him everything he was supposed to hear but the question was why? He was not ready to believe she would just refuse to tell him something so important.

Looking to the spot the strange lady sat he noticed some broken rocks all over the place. He instantly realized that she was most likely testing the Density gauntlet on them. By the side was his Anti-Fracture sword which she seemed to have no form of interest in. As if noticing his gaze on it the lady asked him a question.

"What is this sword about? It has no use yet you carry it around. It can barely cut through rocks or even plants, I am sure it wouldn't be able to kill anything. Besides why else would you have used the gauntlet to kill the creature instead?"

Dante looked at her refusing to answer the question. On noticing this she shrugged before putting some wood in the fire in front of her. Dante gave an inaudible sigh of relief on finding out she believed the sword was useless. He believed it was better to lose the Density gauntlet than to lose his Anti-Fracture sword.

"So nice of you to join us, Serena!", The lady said out loud catching Dante by surprise.

"Wait, Serena is here?", Dante asked himself silently.

From the trees emerged Serena who seemed to be angry at the moment. She had both of her guns in her hands and looked the strange lady in the eyes before speaking.

"Mia, let him go or else", Serena warned in a serious tone.

Dante was surprised by the fact that she knew this lady's name, however he didn't dare to say a word. He already knew what was about to happen, talking would most likely only cause issues.

"Or else what? You will kill me? Is this really how far you have fallen, running around the place with a man you barely know. Ren would be disappointed if he saw you now."

Ticked off by what Mia had said, Serena unleashed a barrage of shots at her, however because of her incredible speed she was able to dodge each shot easily before jumping on a tree. Using the huge leaves to her advantage Mia hid while moving from branch to branch.

"Damn it!", Serena said while reloading her guns.

She knew within herself that at her current state she was unable to beat someone as skilled as Mia. Her weakened body made her aware that she had lost to much blood to perform at her peak. Her only option now was to catch her off guard by doing something she wouldn't expect besides Serena had no intention of killing an old friend. From above Mia spoke on causing Serena to feel slightly irritated.

"From what I have seen so far, you and your friend there don't blend so well together. You are both keeping secrets and we both know that isn't what friends do."

Following her voice Serena shot at some branches only for Mia to emerge from the opposite direction. Evading Mia's attack with the gauntlet, Serena witnessed the ground turn into rumble on contact with her fist. Taking the opportunity she had, Serena fired multiple shots at her former friend, however just like before she evaded them with ease and even blocking some shots with the gauntlet. Not wanting to take the risk, Mia ran behind a tree as she was still cautious of Serena.

Both of them had their specialties. Serena was more fluid when it came to using Nano Lites and was intelligent on top of that while Mia had more physical prowess in comparison to her. These two were aware of each others strengths so they wanted to be as careful as possible. At the moment, Serena had started to see double and was feeling sightly dizzy as well. These were all signs that she was about to pass out from the loss of too much blood. Aware that she had to finish the battle immediately she removed a single bullet from her gun and began to imbue it with Nano Lites.

She immediately shot at the tree Mia hid behind shattering it and causing her to flee from that position. Following her plan she tossed the bullet like a coin up high in the air. Mia quickly noticed this before Serena fired a bullet from her gun at it. Releasing the Nano Lites from the bullet up high, it repelled the bullet causing it to head straight for Mia at high speed. Upon skillfully dodging the quick bullet, Mia was caught off guard by another shot from Serena which she could not dodge. The bullet went right through her left leg causing her to grab her leg in pain.

"Mia, you have two choices now. You can either run away or let me finish you off. It's your decision", Serena said in a serious tone which made Mia aware of the fact that she was not joking.

On hearing this she glared at Dante and Serena with a rage, however she was wise enough to flee. Managing to get up on her feet, she limped until she was out of their sights. On recognizing that she had really gone, Serena shot at the cage breaking it in pieces. Afterwards she immediately collapsed on the floor slowly losing her consciousness. At the moment Serena was happy by the fact she was able to keep her promise, however she didn't believe she would be able to do such again. She was currently dying and she doubted anything could save her life.