Dante enhanced his perception to the max, and the world around him slowed down to a halt. Light flashed everywhere as the guns aid at him fired, but he was already on the move.
Twenty-six. That was the number of enemies. Dante didn't need Volcan's evaluation to know which were fodder and which posed danger. There were only three sergeants among them, as shown by the skull tattoo on the left half of their faces. Those had so bionic enhancents, but it wasn't anything that could keep up with Dante.
In less than a second, Dante disposed of half the gangsters, snapping their necks one after the other. He was about to do the sa to the rest when he noticed one of the sergeants turn to him. It wasn't at a speed that could keep up with him, but just the fact that the bastard could react at all showed that his bionics weren't that shabby.
'He has an SRE, huh?'
SNAP SNAP SNAP SNAP
Dante continued his work, finishing off all the fodder and leaving the three sergeants. He decided to spare the few who remained in the back, not out of the goodness of his heart, but because they seed suspicious, seeing that they hadn't aid their weapons at him and just took cover.
'Maybe I should have gone easy on them…'
After breaking their arms to ensure that they couldn't do anything, Dante turned his attention back to Riot and the burning corpse.
[The effects should be running out now,] Volcan said.
Riot must have noticed that, too, which is why he kicked the burning corpse in Dante's direction. Dante stopped it with his foot then gave it a kick to the jaw, killing its balance and letting it fall to the ground.
"Guh… Grrguhh…huuuwaaaaahhhhhh"
The green flas surrounding the corpse died out little by little. Dante watched with deep interest, staring into the corpse's glowing eye sockets. To his surprise, the corpse's eyeballs, which he thought had burned entirely, beca visible. Both were focused on him, and the intensity startled Dante quite a bit.
"Wa... wataaah…" a hoarse voice ca from the corpse's gaping mouth. "Wataaa… pleaa…"
'Is he… asking for water?'
[This individual is quickly reverting to the state of a basic human.] Volcan said. [With that being the case, he would be incapable of surviving the current level of dehydration he is experiencing.]
As one would expect, soone who had been on fire for so ti would have much water in their body. The ability to use fire might co with a certain level of resistance and decreased need for fluids, but if that ability is gained through Catalyst, the resistance would be gone as soon as the effect runs out, and the body would regain its needs right away.
'So it's like this, huh?' Dante crouched down beside the charred corpse. 'Guess this guy pulled the short straw.'
Reaching into the pocket of his jacket, Dante opened his Storage and looked for a certain item, taking it out. It was just an average pocket knife he looted from sowhere.
Without hesitation, he held it up to the charred corpse and traced a line around its shoulder. He was using Absolute perception to figure out how deep he should cut, and though the ability could give him all the info he wanted so long as so of its filters, he wanted to see with his own eyes.
'This is a bit hard, huh?'
He cut a piece of the black outer layer and picked it up with his fingers.
[This individual is covered in several layers of carbonized human tissue.] Volcan said. [That material is essentially fireproof and is likely responsible for protecting the internal from the fire.]
'So that's the non-human part, huh?'
With just one sample, Dante already began to form a theory on the kind of side effects Catalyst would have.
'Guess luck doesn't just determine what kind of powers you get….'
"Hey…" Riot spoke up, alerting Dante to his presence. He seed to have arrived so ti ago but remained silent until now. "What are you doing?"
"Just checking sothing," Dante said. "Aren't you curious about the way Catalyst works?"
"That's…" Riot stared at him for a mont, then shook his head, trying to regain his senses. "Why did you kill the bastards!?"
Dante couldn't help but blink at him. He turned to look at the bunch blocking every route, then turned to the big guy.
"What are you talking about? They shot at us first?"
They had killed a bunch just a few minutes ago. What difference would killing a couple of dozen more make?
"Yeah, they shot at us, but you went too far," Riot said. "You know what this looks like, right?"
"What?"
Dante's reply clearly wasn't what Riot expected, and the suppressed anger on his face said it all.
"War!" The muscular guy said. "This looks like you started a war!"
"Oh…" Dante's eyes widened a little, but his confusion returned right after. "So?"
As far as he was aware, he had been at war with Black Skull for so ti now. His goal had been to take them down, after all.
"Ah… he's dead…"
Dante turned his attention back to the charred man and imdiately noticed that he had stopped breathing. For a mont, Dante considered putting the corpse into his storage so he could continue studying it later, but that didn't seem doable right now.
Though the streets had been empty, the surrounding buildings weren't. Many had witnessed the fight, so if the corpse of the pseudo-Geno were to disappear now, the BEO might co knocking on his door later on.
'I doubt I could sell it to them…' he said, looking at the human-shaped piece of charcoal.
"I knew it…"
Looking up, Dante saw that Riot was still glaring at him, his clenched fists shaking.
"What now?"
"You're still acting as if you're still in this alone," Riot said. "You're strong, so Black Skull might not get to you, but what about the rest of-"
"Tyler."
When Dante called him by his first na, Riot clamped his mouth, swallowing his words. His glare didn't ease up, but Dante didn't falter under it.
"You don't have to worry about the gang," Dante said. "It might not seem like it, but I know what I'm doing."
A brief silence passed, and Riot still didn't seem convinced. He opened his mouth to argue, but a strange noise caught his attention, and he turned to look at the source.
The noise ca from one of the blockades the Black Skull goons set up. One of the cars seed to have been crushed, and on its roof was a grayish-blue creature with a large fin on its back.
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