'What in the…'

[Dante? Are you awake?]

'What… what the hell happened here?'

[You became unresponsive, then this individual rushed over and struck you.]

His brows coming down in a frown, Dante turned to Riot.

"You'd better have a good reason for punching me."

Bewilderment replaced the fear on the big guy's face, then the look in his eyes turned incredulous.

"C'mon, man, you can't keep doing this."

"Doing what? Beating your ass?"

Staring at him for a while longer, Riot let out a sigh and stood up.

"Your… bloodlust. You let it get out of control again." He said. "We don't have a count yet, but I'm afraid you knocked out most of the civilians in the area."

"... what?"

"This was way worse when you fought that Tigris guy. You know most people can't handle it, right?"

Another sigh escaped the big guy, and he whispered something under his breath.

"I really can't do this…"

Dante could sense the tension wrapped tightly around the former gang boss, and that informed him of how serious the situation was.

"The whole area?" He muttered to himself.

"I thought we were under attack," Riot said. "Did you really have to give us a scare on that scale?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Dante said. "I was just sitting here and…"

"Maybe… maybe you need a break."

Dante scuffed.

"Tell me something I don't know."

"I'm being serious." Crossing his arms, the big guy fixed him with a glare. "We can't have you crashing out on us."

"I'm fine."

"Really? Because that's not what-"

"I said I'm fine!" 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Getting up, he walked out of the arena. He grabbed his jacket on the way and noticed the tear on its left shoulder. Frustration bubbled up in the depths of his mind, and he tried to let it out in a sigh. Tossing the jacket aside, he equipped a different one, not bothering to check if anyone was watching.

'I need a ride…'

~[ ]~

Taking out the Raven, Dante raced through the streets of Hollowgrid, soon making it to the old highways. He pushed the engine of his trusty steed to its limits, leaning forward as they cut through the wind. His perception was kept at the basic level, allowing him to experience the ride as if he were still a normal person.

Normally, all he had to do was ride through the empty highways for a while before his mind cleared up, but this time, it was different.

[Dante. Would it be fine if I asked what happened back there?]

'No, it would not.'

Heaving an internal sigh, he hit the brakes and pulled to the side then walked over to the rusty railing near the edge. Leaning against it, he stared at the sparkling light show the city created. Even now, the gaps among the city's skyscrapers still felt quite odd. Unable to see the flaming shield, Dante felt his frustration grow.

As he allowed his thoughts to wander, the faint sound of waves reached his ears, gradually drowning out the city noise. They seemed to grow more powerful, more violent, threatening to collapse whatever walls had been built to keep them constrained. Still, despite the threat slowly rising toward his feet, Dante chose to ignore it, turning his gaze back to the city.

Seconds passed, then they turned into minutes. Before long, Dante returned to his bike and rode off, disappearing into a nearby tunnel. If anyone had been tracking him up to that point, they would see the Raven come out of the other end, and they would see a red-haired youth riding it, but what they wouldn't see was the red demon moving away from the roads, diving deeper into the concrete jungle.

With his oni mask on and Silent Breath activated, Dante scaled the tall buildings of Neo-Vtra. For a while, it felt like he had no destination in mind, but he soon found himself standing at a certain location in Red Hill. The building occupying it had only four floors, making it one of the shortest inside the ever-growing concrete jungle.

A young woman walked inside, gently wiping the dampness off her hair. In another room, a large man sat before an even larger screen. A third was inside what appeared to be a private gym, running on one of the treadmills.

Dante observed them for a while, then dismissed the screens his MLP projected. His mind was already made up before he could even consider what he wanted to do.

~[ ]~

Things have been quite messy in Red Hill as of late. Ever since Black Skull was removed from the picture, the thugs that had been under their thumb went wild, trying to claim the district for themselves. Outsiders flooded in, hoping to take control as well, and because of that, the two sides had been in constant conflict.

As she came out of her shower, Iori Kanata couldn't help but heave a sigh. This was not the life she had signed up for. Well, it was exactly what she had signed for, and she had suspected that things might turn out exactly the way they did, but one can't blame her for shrugging them off as something that could never happen.

Though she might be the third daughter of the Kanata family, being brought so low and forced to fight those criminals felt quite vexing. All she ever wanted was the powers and the fame. She wanted to be worshiped as a hero—to bask in the glory and adoration of those who can't even dream of climbing up to her position, but after everything she had gone through, none of it felt like it was worth the effort.

Crimson Watch was on its last leg. First, they lost Red Bull, then Red Bolt went next. Their team should have been one of the strongest, yet they failed to stop multiple major incidents, and to top it off, they lost more than one member. Iori could tell how bad things were; that's why she wanted to retire and go back to living her previous life. She could tell the others felt the same.

"Seriously…" Tossing aside her towel, she looked up at the ceiling of her room. "I want this to be over already."

Her vision shook at that moment, and a wave of sharp pain flooded her nerves, drawing her gaze down to her own body. A hole was torn through her clothes, and crimson blood seeped from it. As she continued to watch, horror slowly crept into the depths of her mind. A clawed black hand shimmered into existence, stained by her blood as it stuck out of the hole in her chest. As she finally began to understand what was happening to her, she slowly turned around, hoping to catch a glimpse of the thing that came to claim her life.

The horror she felt reached new levels as she laid eyes on a demonic visage. The devil has climbed from the depths of hell and come to drag her back with him.