Path of the Demonic Villain

While Dante was still lost in thought, the watch gave a metallic click, signifying that his three seconds were up.

That caused him to sit upright and wince, before raising his hand to hold the side of his head.

While this happened, Edward, who was kicking his legs on the bed while singing a song he heard on their way back from the Central District, suddenly paused and turned to check if Dante was okay.

When he saw Dante exhale and lean back in the chair, Edward relaxed and looked away.

’I hope he’s okay,’ he thought before continuing what he was doing.

Meanwhile, Dante continued his thoughts.

’I would have thought that the original Dante had become a puppet and that maybe she found out about it and killed him, but no. There is nothing on Dante’s wiki about him falling prey to becoming a puppet, and Annabella’s wiki said she was manipulated into doing so. That action had caused a fallout between House Fioravanti and House Bellini, leading House Bellini to be wiped out by the Fioravantis.

’I recall Annabella was able to survive thanks to her Divine Skill: [Silent Dreamer], after which she went into hiding.’

Dante scratched his head.

’This is a mess. I don’t think there’s only one group or force at work here. The puppets, the Red Blighted Creatures, Dante’s assassination.’

He exhaled and stared blankly at the ceiling. After a moment, he leaned forward, picked up a pen, and wrote a single word on the open page.

"Crossfire?"

’Maybe there are groups fighting against each other and we are just caught in the crossfire?’

The more he thought about it, the more plausible it felt, but he had no way of confirming it just yet.

After a sigh, he wrote below it:

"I need to find out more about the Black Silt Ring. But I need to do it discreetly."

He jotted down a few more points from his thoughts before closing the book. Then he stood up, walked over to the cabinet, and returned it to the velvet drawer.

After that, he decided to take a short nap.

Edward shifted to make way as he saw Dante wobble over to the bed, after which Dante collapsed onto the soft mattress.

One minute later, he was already fast asleep.

***

The Next Day...

Central District in the Imperial Capital.

The Holy Imperial Academy.

——

Despite everyone having a job class assigned to them from birth, not everyone planned to become a Purger because most people just wanted a normal, regular life away from Labyrinths and killing.

At the same time, there were also students who wanted so desperately to become Purgers, as that was a career where they could earn money, status, and experience.

However, they could not and had to abandon that dream in favor of safer jobs because at the end of the day, not everyone had talent or potential for it.

People like the Merchant class, for instance, were not suited to become Purgers due to their traits and the kind of magic their class allowed them to learn.

Aside from them, there were also some people who just couldn’t ever become Purgers because of the size of their mana cores, which only allowed them basic magic.

Because of this, classes were flexible. Students could choose their own path and courses.

Of course, knowing his weakness, Dante had earlier only chosen theoretical classes and lecture-based modules for the first session. That way, he wouldn’t be forced into practical situations that required him to perform or display magic.

After two exhausting lectures, Dante finally found the time to visit the Grand Library.

The Grand Library was divided into three sections, each catering to different levels of security and status.

The first was the Outer Library, which was open to the public. Then there was the Scholar’s Wing, reserved for advanced students, nobles, and all Apostles. Finally, the High Archive was strictly for those with specific high-level permits.

At the moment, Dante was in the Scholar’s Wing. Specifically, he was in one of the VIP private reading rooms reserved for nobles.

Seated on a plush leather armchair with one leg crossed over the other, he kept quietly flipping through a large book with his left hand, while holding a Toscano cigar in his right. There were a few other open books scattered across the desk, showing that he had been going through them for quite some time.

After taking a drag and exhaling a plume of blue smoke, he reached up to let Edward take a drag too.

At the moment, Edward was sitting on his shoulder like a small teddy bear, his legs wrapped around Dante’s shoulders and his head resting lightly against Dante’s hair. As Dante had come to learn today, it turned out Edward could reduce his size down to that of a plush toy.

That discovery had made Dante chuckle, because the small boy really was like a real life chibi.

As Edward looked to the side to blow a neat ring of smoke into the air, Dante fell into thought.

’There’s only two people in history said to have become Black Apostles. Both of them came after the First Great Labyrinth invasion, and they were twin brothers born to House Valmont. Ambrose and Gideon. Ambrose died during his Test of Faith while trying to advance to the third tier. The other brother, Gideon, had actually lived for more than a hundred and fifty years and had managed to make it to the seventh tier before dying to a Forsaken. That battle was called the Night of the Morning Sky.

’Heh. Considering that there are nine tiers on the path of power, I’d say making it to the seventh tier as a Black Apostle was actually quite impressive.’

Dante smiled, but after a few seconds, that smile turned downward.

’Was my theory wrong? Can normal humans of this realm really become Black Apostles?

’There’s not a lot of information on their powers or on what God they served. I’m more interested in that, as it will help me deduce whether they were Otherworlders like me. Though, now I’m not so sure. If they were truly Otherworlders, wouldn’t they lack Tiers due to having no mana core? I had speculated that being an Otherworlder equated to not having a functioning mana core.’

He sighed and clicked his tongue.

’The only thing I can see is that there was a rumor that they were blessed with gifts so powerful that their powers even had a consciousness and will of their own.’

As Dante finished the thought, he flicked his eyes up to Edward, who was now idling on his shoulder, idly braiding a lock of Dante’s hair and unravelling it out of boredom.

’So, they had something similar to Edward?’

As someone who was actually a Black Apostle himself, Dante had an idea on what those so-called ’gifts with a consciousness of their own’ meant.

After a moment, he snubbed out the cigar in the nearby crystal ashtray, then shut the book and dropped it onto the desk with a sigh.

"I wonder when Ezio is going to be out of prison. I really hope it’s soon. I have a job for him."

He purposely said that to draw Edward’s curiosity.

"What is it, master? Tell me, tell me." Edward chimed, hovering closer and tugging lightly on Dante’s hair.

Dante paused for a moment before finally saying in a voice that sounded dead serious,

"I want him to go destroy the temple of Mother Evelyn in Sylveria."

"What?!" Edward blurted and subconsciously grabbed fistfuls of Dante’s hair.

His eyes were wide in disbelief and he ended up jumping down onto the table.

"Easy, easy, little one," Dante said calmly and gently touched his chest.

"Feel my faith. It’s not wavering, is it?"

Edward immediately closed his eyes to focus on Dante’s soul, and when he realized that Dante’s divine energy had not become tumultuous, he relaxed slightly.

"It’s not."

’Of course. If anything, my faith is at an all-time high for my Goddess,’ Dante thought with a small smile.

"T-then why, Master?" Edward stammered. "That is sacrilege!"

"I know." Dante smirked slightly. "That’s why I’m not doing it myself."

Of course, Dante knew that doing something like that was sacrilegious.

Purposely destroying the temple of the God or Goddess one served with their own hands could have severe consequences on an Apostle.

The best-case scenario would be them losing their status, which was something Dante didn’t want to risk.

Right from the moment he became an Apostle of Blood, he had already made up his mind to destroy that temple, but he had to put that on hold.

Now that Ezio was coming out, however, he decided to let the Blood Demon know about it so that the boy would not be in a state of unrest as he might begin to fear that Dante’s faith was wavering.

"Remember how I said that I know stuff about certain things?" Dante began.

Edward’s expression looked to be in thought before he perked up. "Yes, I remember! Like how you said someone wants to kill you, right?"

"Exactly." Dante nodded.

"I also know that someone is going to visit that temple soon. I’m not sure what might happen then as I do not know the will of our Mother. But there is a possibility that he might leave there an Apostle."

Dante paused before adding a bit more seriously, "What I do know, however, is that he is going to create problems for us. He will draw the attention of the Holy See to us, but in a bad way. And that will lead to them actively hunting us down. When that happens, I will no longer be free as I am now, and I will be living in fear and hiding.

"There’s even a chance that I might be killed." He then lowered his voice to a dark, somber whisper and reached closer to Edward. "Do you want me to die?"

Without wasting a second, Edward shook his head violently. "No!"

Dante smiled. He explicitly left out some details. He did not say that Marco would kill people, because the blood demon had no problem with killing people. He also did not say that the goddess would be labeled an evil goddess, because the blood demon, again, might have no problem with that.

"So you see." Dante shrugged casually. "I’m doing what must be done."

’That man must not become an Apostle of Blood. It will disrupt my plans, and I don’t want that,’ he added inwardly.

"I see. Then that’s fine!" Edward cheered softly, pumping his tiny fists in the air as his worries melted away.