Chapter 18: Dante’s First Mission (Part 1)
During one afternoon, Camille was sitting in her office when Dante and Megan arrived at her request.
Before starting their conversation, Camille ordered one of the servants to bring some juice for the warlock, and while they waited for them to return with the refreshments, she explained the reason for their visit.
"Dante, do you remember the day you got here when we passed by that parking lot?" the platinum-haired woman asked.
"In the giant building—the skyscraper, yeah?" he replied.
The warlock had been reading plenty of books since he arrived, and Camille was glad to see that his vocabulary was adjusting to that of their world.
She explained that she had given the man in the parking lot a flash drive, which contained information on the whereabouts of a gang known as Red River.
However, not anyone could access the information, as it had strong security measures that only the most talented hackers could get through.
"I had a large team of hackers working on this the past few days, and they were able to finally crack it," Camille elaborated.
"I see—and what would you like me to do?" Dante asked.
"Well, I was going to send Megan to do her thing, but I think having you around could be useful," the handler replied.
She elaborated further and said that while they had the location of certain Red River bases, there were only a few that were worth their time.
"We have no idea what this guy looks like, but your objective is to kidnap a man that goes by the codename of 'Pozo,'" Camille continued.
The building they were infiltrating was a supposed drug warehouse where the gang hid a large part of their stash. Still, Camille expressed her disinterest in the drugs, as she only wanted the man alive.
After giving her clear instructions to the pair, they understood their mission, which would take place later that night.
"Oh, and Dante… Try not to use your magic unless it's necessary," Camille said before they left her office.
When the two made their way back home, Dante noticed that Megan was strangely noncombative about him being assigned the same mission as her.
Out of the people who knew Dante's real identity, Megan was the one who trusted him the least. However, those feelings seemed to be dissipating, as she showed no objection to him joining.
"By the way, Dante. I know Cami said this to you, but do NOT use your 'destro' spell unless I ask you to—it's too destructive…" Megan commented as they walked.
"Ah, it's not always like that. I can adjust the potency of the spell to destroy much smaller targets," Dante explained.
"That's good to know. But still, don't do it unless I tell you to," the brunette replied. Her tone was cold, but the positive energy that came out of her body was visible to the warlock.
"Understood," he said with a gentle smile.
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After midnight, a van passed by to pick up Dante and Megan from their apartments and left them one block away from the building they needed to infiltrate.
Megan was wearing the same black, tight outfit she used when she met Dante for the first time, covering her long brown tresses and mouth, leaving only her emerald eyes exposed.
The warlock wore a black hoodie that left his face uncovered. However, it was still difficult to detail any of his features in the dark other than his glowing, crimson eyes.
Using a corner for cover, they spotted two thugs standing in front of the building, which looked like it was abandoned. Nevertheless, Dante could feel a thick cloud of umbra oozing from the place.
"Leave those to me…" Megan whispered, using the shadows to silently walk up to the men.
With a quick motion, the brunette kicked one of the thugs in the back of the head and knocked him unconscious. Then, she grabbed the other from behind with her arm against her neck, tightly squeezing until he passed out.
'Nice…' the warlock thought, genuinely admiring Megan's techniques.
When the brunette signaled him to move forward, Dante was about to go through the front door before she stopped him, pointing at a broken window on the first floor of the building.
The pair had no problem climbing the wall, and Megan peeked inside the window first to look for cameras.
Once she made sure it was clear, they both entered the musty room that seemed to have been locked for years, but there were a few wooden crates lying around that said otherwise.
Megan opened the door leading to the hallway and instantly spotted a camera that was placed right on top of them, recording everything except that small blind spot they were at.
*Sigh* "Lucky…" Megan whispered, thinking of a way to bypass the cameras.
Suddenly, she heard noises coming from the hallway and saw that two thugs were making their way out of another room.
"Yeeeah, bring me some too!" a man exclaimed.
"Huh? Come get it yourself!" another replied as he walked towards the pair.
While Megan quickly hid behind the door, Dante stood to the side of the room, prompting the woman to signal him to move out of the way.
Nevertheless, the warlock wasn't planning on getting caught, and right as the two men went into the room, he imitated Megan's kick to the back of the head and knocked one out.
The second thug was about to shout but was met with Dante's punch on the chin, which made him bite his tongue and fall to the ground.
Megan relished the opportunity and grabbed the man by the collar of his shirt, stained by the blood that came out of his mouth.
"We are looking for Pozo. Scream for help and see what happens…" she said with an intimidating tone.
Still, the man had a defiant look and didn't say a word to the pair, making Dante a bit uneasy for a brief moment as the umbra flowing from him looked strange.
"Wait…" said the warlock, but the thug opened his mouth wide and quickly ingested a pill he had inside his lips.
Megan stepped back with a slight shock, seeing that the thug started convulsing as his eyes rolled back with red foam coming out of his mouth.
"He is dead…" Dante whispered.
"Yeah, I can see that—what the hell did he eat?" the brunette pondered.
"Oi, what's taking so long!?" said another thug in the hallway, slowly walking towards their room.
At that moment, Megan noticed that the camera had a small light that lit up whenever it captured someone with its lens, leading her to deduce that the camera had facial recognition.
"I have an idea…" she whispered to Dante, who looked almost too excited to be there.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone