Chapter 20: Two Frauds
Of course, anyone would know that whatever stunt Dante just pulled on Ezio, who already looked angry, starving, and depressed as fuck, was bound to backfire.
Except this was what Dante had planned all along.
From what he knew about Ezio at this point, the guy didn’t mind working for someone strong or powerful, as long as they could help him get what he wanted.
You see, Ezio used to be a naive kid before his life went to hell. It started with a bad run-in with a gang that didn’t just scam him, but murdered his older brother, Luca Valenti. Ezio would have died right beside him if he hadn’t gotten lucky and been touched by Athamas, who made him his Apostle.
From then on, he lived only for getting revenge on the man who ruined his life. He did actually manage to hunt down and kill most of the gang members along the way. But what he didn’t know was that the coward Victor, who was the main target of his vengeance, had friends who were Apostles too.
When Victor realized Ezio was coming for him, he ran straight to those friends for help. Ezio ended up getting ambushed and beaten within an inch of his life before they threw him into this hole.
Every now and then, Victor would drop by to pay the wardens to force him into brutal fights just to watch him suffer.
So yeah, Ezio didn’t mind working with someone who could get him out of here, connect him to strong people, or help him get stronger. But the last thing the man needed right now was to follow a nobody, or babysit someone.
Knowing this, Dante decided to pull off a little bluff.
Of course, if Ezio was able to figure out his tier, he would know right away that the boy sitting in front of him posed zero threat to him. After all, there was a disparity in the levels between them.
But the good thing was that no matter what Ezio tried, he wouldn’t be able to sense Dante’s power level.
And that was because Dante was at Tier 0.
In this world, everyone, even the weakest peasants, began at Tier 1 to climb the stages of power. But since his birth, Dante was stuck at Tier 0, a rank that likely no other person in the world even possessed.
After thinking about it, he figured it was probably because of his broken mana core, considering a functioning core was one of the things used to gauge a person’s strength.
According to the mages in his family, whenever they tried to measure his power, it felt like trying to read an empty abyss.
Which meant right now, Dante didn’t have to worry about Ezio figuring out he was a lower-level fraud he could kill by just a punch to the heart.
Dante reached out with his free hand and held Ezio’s hand, which was still gripping his cloak.
"We made you an offer to work for us. Did you really think we’d come all the way here without doing our research on you?"
He paused for a moment, and then, both he and Edward spoke in unison with a cold smile.
"We know what you want."
***
’What is this? Is he wearing an artifact that hides his power?’ Ezio’s frown deepened. ’The only reason I touched him was to figure out how strong he is. So why can’t I sense what tier he’s at?’
Unlike mages, who could read mana cores just by looking at someone intently, warriors like him had to make physical contact while actively pushing out their senses just to get a general feel for a person’s power.
But after trying to probe Dante’s core, Ezio couldn’t help but feel a sudden wave of caution. He felt nothing. Absolutely zero feedback.
For a brief moment, his mind raced. His eyes darted between Dante and Edward, who both wore the exact same calm, unbothered smile.
At the end of it, despite the thin line of sweat breaking out on the side of his head, Ezio forced a smirk.
He let go of Dante and slowly began to create distance between himself and the blade in Dante’s hand. However, he had barely taken two steps back when he suddenly prayed in a low voice.
"Oh God..."
His black eyes turned gray.
Right then, everyone panicked.
While Vincenzo lunged forward to grab him, the door burst open with Mara rushing in and her revolver already aimed.
Vincenzo managed to grab Ezio, but before anyone else could react, Ezio, Dante, Vincenzo, and Edward vanished into thin air.
And then, with a soft clatter, what looked like an hourglass fell onto the table.
Meanwhile, Mara had opened fire twice, but the bullets flew uselessly through empty air, slamming into the wall behind where the men had been standing.
She slowly lowered her gun, and despite what had just happened, she didn’t really look concerned.
"Bummer," she muttered.
She turned around to face Julian, who had just stepped into the room behind her, and holstered her revolver with an indifferent shrug.
"I did try to warn them. You are my witness, okay? Remember that."
Julian swallowed hard as his eyes darted back and forth between the hourglass now sitting on the table and Mara.
After a brief silence, he managed to gather his thoughts and ask, "What are we going to do now?"
"Huh?" Mara looked at him as if he had just asked the stupidest question in the world, then scoffed. "What are we going to do? Nothing. They are here, but they aren’t here. So we can only wait for whoever comes back alive."
Julian stared at her in disbelief.
Seeing his expression, she rolled her eyes and added, "He hasn’t paid his cost, so he can’t maintain his skill for long. Not unless he wants to be tainted."
Julian processed her words for a moment before he let out a long breath.
He understood what she meant.
If the visitors could just hold on until Ezio couldn’t sustain his Divine Skill any longer, they might actually survive.
***
Dante’s world tilted and grew hazy, only for the fog to disperse a second later.
He staggered as he suddenly found that he was no longer seated in the cell room, but standing in a vast, gray landscape.
Fine, ash-colored sand covered the floor like a desert, and five massive obsidian statues surrounded them in a wide circle. The first statue had both hands covering its eyes. The second covered its ears. The third covered its nose. The fourth shoved both hands into its mouth, and the last was hugging itself tightly. They were all grotesque humanoid figures that stretched up high into the gray sky.
Dante’s gaze quickly swept around the space before looking up to see a massive hourglass floating above them.
’It’s just like I remember it.’ Dante felt sweat run down his neck as he looked back down to see Ezio standing several meters away.
The whole scan had taken him less than three seconds.
Without wasting a moment more, Dante reached out to the side. In that instant, a large amount of blood burst from the cut on his wrist, coiling through the air in thick crimson streams. The blood hardened into three greatswords that hovered silently around him in a circle. At the same time, more blood flowed down his wrist and into his palm, solidifying into a heavy mace in his grip.
Of course, this reaction from the proud-looking man was well within his expectations, so he wasn’t truly surprised. And although his heart was beating like a trapped bird, he was prepared... somewhat, because he knew Ezio wouldn’t be able to sustain his skill for long.
Meanwhile, Vincenzo, who had also appeared on the ground several meters to their right, scrambled to his feet and swept his gaze frantically around to get his bearings. He turned to look at Dante in shock, and once he realized where they were, he snapped his gaze to Ezio and yelled.
"Hey! What do you think you are doing?!"
At first, Ezio simply began walking toward Dante.
Seeing that, Dante quickly commanded out of caution.
"Blood demon."
"Yes..."
"Allocate fifty percent of our remaining reserve to reinforce my body."
"Yes, Master."
Dante felt his muscles surge as his body hardened and grew denser. Even though Ezio was completely unarmed, Dante tightened his grip, bracing himself for whatever might happen next.
But then, to everyone’s shock, Ezio suddenly threw both hands up in surrender and yelled at the top of his lungs.
"I agree!"
"...Eh?"
"I said I agree!" Ezio shouted back. "In fact, I had agreed the moment you made the offer!"
Dante was flabbergasted.
He stood speechless for a brief second before gritting his teeth and yelling, "Then why the fuck did you bring us here?!"
Ezio looked embarrassed for a moment before shouting back defensively.
"Look, I needed to maintain my image in front of Mara and the others who were watching! I couldn’t just accept right from the get-go, you know?"
A vein popped on Dante’s forehead. ’This fraud!’
Before Dante could even say anything, Ezio quickly gestured frantically and continued. "You said you looked me up! Do you have any idea how rough I’ve had it in here? Huh? I had to act all big and mighty so everyone would leave me alone, but now everyone thinks I’m crazy! That I just kill everybody I set my eyes on!"
Dante blinked.
’Why was I even afraid of him?!’
Of course, he knew about Ezio’s true character. The guy was the textbook definition of a "Strong Baby."
Dante sighed and palmed his face.
But Ezio went on, completely unprompted. "I keep having to use my powers against those bastards Victor pits me against, and now I’m on the verge of being tainted. Do you know how we Apostles of Domain have to pay our cost? We need to experience extreme ecstasy, enough to detach us from reality! In here, there’s no way to get that! I literally have to resort to pleasuring myself more times a day than I can count just to keep the taint at bay! So please, get me the fuck out of here and I’ll work for you! As long as you want!"