Path of the Demonic Villain

"Are you ready, master?"

Edward, who was standing close to Dante, asked in a concerned voice.

But instead of giving a yes or no, Dante smiled and replied calmly, "...To the best of my ability."

Currently, he was dressed in a white shirt beneath a dark, double-breasted vest and charcoal trousers, topped with a tailored wool overcoat. There were dark leather gloves on his hands, and a black kerchief rested around his neck, ready to be drawn up over his nose and mouth whenever he needed to mask his face.

On the table in front of him, all the artifacts he was taking with him were laid out in a neat row.

Among them were the Pocket Watch of Stolen Moments, the Pocket Watch of Second Chances, the Spectacles of Truth, the Lucid Braid, the Cloak of Dusk, and the gun.

He already had the Armor of the Silver Sentinel buckled around his wrist. There were also ordinary items like a hip-flask filled with alcohol and a long dagger with a leather grip resting on the table.

For confronting a rogue, daggers were better than swords.

Without further ado, he picked up the artifacts one by one and slipped them into his inner coat pockets, with the Lucid Braid going to his right wrist, and the gun going into the leather holster fastened at his waist.

Finally, he draped the cloak over his shoulders and pulled up the hood.

With that done, Dante felt ready.

He drew in a breath, exhaled, and turned to look at the clock by the mantelpiece.

It was three o’clock in the afternoon.

Dante turned, made his way to the metal box, and opened it to reveal the last flask of blood. He had not given this to Edward earlier, choosing to wait for this moment instead. He tossed it to the little boy, who caught it and drank greedily, replenishing only a fraction of his reserves.

That wasn’t a big problem, though. Dante had deliberately avoided using his powers much over the past few days so his reserves wouldn’t be too low for today.

After washing the flask, he dropped it on the table and began making his way out. When he got to the main entrance, he could already see the doorman waiting, holding the hoverboard for him.

Dante had earlier asked Elio to request it from the doorman, and to also have the carriage waiting out front by three in the afternoon.

After taking the hoverboard and its control band, he stepped past the doors and made his way to the waiting carriage. Barely a few seconds after giving the address, the driver cracked the reins, and the carriage lurched forward.

Sometime later, it finally rolled to a halt several meters from a three-story apartment building in the Civic Quarter of the Central District. It was far enough that even the carriage driver himself wouldn’t know which specific building Dante was watching, but just close enough to keep a clear view of the entrance.

’Now we wait.’

Dante’s plan was to wait here until Miss Vi came back home, after which she would lead him straight to the detective’s place and all the evidence the man had on their family.

***

Somewhere in the Capital...

——

The sound of people cheering and clapping filled the circus ring. The spectators, who looked human, were dressed like wealthy nobles or merchants with their faces hidden behind masquerade masks. The few beastfolk in attendance were no different. In fact, the only beastfolk present were humanoid rabbits with long, pointed ears.

They cheered wildly as they watched a massive demon, who looked almost human save for his towering frame, repeatedly batter the face of a female demon. Her skin was a dull grayish-purple, and her ears were slightly pointed, curving backward.

Her bloodied body had long since gone limp, yet the male demon showed no signs of stopping, and the people only roared louder with every strike.

Not far from the fighting ring, there was another person spectating the scene. He was a dark-skinned man with locs inside a cell just off the arena floor.

He stared at the scene with a sullen expression, and the more the crowd cheered, the more he fell into despair as he awaited his turn.

His hands tightened around the iron bars, but after a few seconds, he exhaled in resignation.

"It’s impossible."

Slowly, he left the front of the cell and walked back to the stone wall, sliding down to the floor.

"We are not surviving this."

For a moment, his world felt quiet, and then, he slowly turned to his right.

A woman in her twenties was sitting against the cold brick, hugging her knees and looking at him with a terrified expression.

When the man saw her eyes, he smiled bitterly and said, "I’m sorry. This is my fault. I should have been more careful."

The lady looked away and, after a few seconds, she exhaled.

"Don’t be. How would we have known what we were getting ourselves into."

Hearing that, the man too turned away, resting his arm on his knee. Then, his expression turned sour.

"You know... I also had a family member taken by one of the vile creatures."

Slowly, Vi turned to look at him.

After a moment, he continued. "Her name was Nia. My older sister. It was just the two of us after our father died in a factory explosion, and our mother succumbed to consumption in the damp tenements. So yeah, we weren’t that well off, but we were both trying to scratch out a living. Believe me, I worked hard. Nia did too. She even managed to get herself a job as a clerk at the Telegraph Office she always wanted and worked so hard for. At some point, things were really beginning to look up for us. But then one day, a neighbor of ours succumbed to the green fog and became a Forsaken. She went on a rampage through the district and killed a lot of people. Unfortunately, I ended up getting caught in it and almost died. My injuries were so severe I thought I wouldn’t make it. But somehow, Nia managed to take me to a high priest in time. However, according to him, to fully heal me, he needed to use at least a Tier 1 Red mana-gem or above. Heh. A mana-gem of that grade and tier is at least 100 crowns. Where was someone like us supposed to get that kind of money?

"A day later, though, I woke up fine. But my sister was gone. After doing some digging around the district, I found out that she had sold herself to some loan syndicate and that’s how she got the money to buy the mana-gem."

He clenched his fists. "I’m not sure what the terms of the contract she signed were. But... they took her away and paid for my healing."

He turned to Vi and his voice cracked. "I survived at the expense of my sister."

He sighed and looked away, his eyes going dull. "I spent months looking for Nia. Asking around every back alley, tracking down every lead I could buy or bleed out of people.

"Eventually, I found her. You can imagine my joy when I saw her face again, and my relief when I learned that she wasn’t just alive, but doing well." He smiled. "She was now running a high-end club in a Grand District in Ravena."

He let out a dry laugh. "At first, I was pissed. Why hadn’t she reached out to me despite all my searching? Why hadn’t she come looking for me? I had so many questions, so I finally approached her. But when I called her name, she looked at me like I was a total stranger. She didn’t even recognize my face. That was when I realized what happened. Heh. She never reached out because she was already dead. Some demon was wearing her skin and going by the name Bianca."

He paused and gritted his teeth, and all the while, Vi listened without saying anything.

"Isn’t it crazy?" He turned to her with a bitter smile.

Vi remained quiet with her gaze locked on him as he spoke.

"During my search for Nia, I found out that these demons are able to thrive in human society because they have a few wealthy nobles backing them."

When Vi heard that, her eyes widened slightly. Although a small part of her was surprised, a larger part knew it made sense.

That realization left a sickening taste in her mouth.

The man, on the other hand, pressed on. "Among them, the ones I know for sure are the Fioravantis and the Bellcorvos."

When she heard that, she almost couldn’t believe her ears. She knew who these families were. To think houses that powerful were actively aiding demons.

"I had planned to bring them all down after I gathered enough proof," he muttered, resting his forehead against his knees. "Who knew I’d end up dying here before I got the chance..."

He had barely finished speaking when a man in a pinstriped suit and top hat rapped his cane hard against the bars, causing both of them to snap their gazes up.

"Save the tragic stories for the grave, friend. It’s time."