NOVPUBWhen the night enshrouded the city of Novis, Dante and June were left on a rural street that was less than a kilometer away from the abandoned factory.
"Do you want me to wait here?" Neil asked the pair.
"Yeah, this place is fine," Dante casually replied as he put on his mask.
Neil had parked beside a few trees, which were the only thing thatuld slightly hide the car. The rest of the road was wholly barren, with the abandoned factory not too far in the distance.
"How are we going in?" June inquired, strapping an extra pistol on her leg.
"I was thinking from the top… However, Miss June, are you prepared for what you are about to see?" Dante said with a serious tone.
From the warlock's perspective, the abandoned factory was oozing with an ominous amount of umbra, so he already knew that the sight would be brutal.
Dante was used to seeing those sorts of scenes since he was a child living in Shadowvale, but he wasmpetent enough to understand that ordinary people didn't have the same tolerance for brutality.
As June gave anfident nod, the warlock cast his "Wings of the Fallen" spell, making the black wings extrude from his back.
"Is it okay if I carry you?" Dante politely asked.
The detective thought about the time he saved her from prison, carrying her without asking, whichmpletelyntrasted her current situation. Ofurse, she understood it was an emergency back then, but she still thought it was amusing.
After giving the warlock anothernfident nod, he carried June in his arms and flew up into the skies with a single flap of his wings.
The pairuld see the whole factory from above, and while June looked for a way to get inside unnoticed, Danteunted the different umbraming from within.
"There's six of them… Two are more dangerous than the others," Dante muttered.
"Six demons!?" June asked in shock.
"No. I sense six humans with horrible intentions… But two of them feel kind of like those mutated thugs who worked for the Scarlet Bullets," Dante explained.
"We can deal with six of them…" the detective said.
"I sense a lot more people inside. Two dozen at least, but…" the warlockntinued, briefly stopping himself.
"But what?"
"They are doing something to them—I can't tell what it is, though," Dante replied, flying down closer to the factory.
When the pair reached the ground, they found a back door that was locked with a huge metal bar from the inside.
Dantensidered using "Destro" to destroy it, but seeing that June was looking at a window made him change his mind.
'She wants to be silent, so let's follow her lead for now…' Dante thought.
As the woman skillfully lockpicked the broken window's safety lock, she slid it open and entered the building, with Dante following closely behind.
They were on the ground floor, surrounded by abandoned machineryvered in rust and graffiti, hearing nothing but the sound of the wind flowing inside the expansive room.
The detective had her pistol ready, holding it with both hands while scanning her surroundings.
Dante, on the other hand, stood still for a moment as he sensed someone approaching the area, prompting him to takever behind a pillar.
As soon as June noticed the warlock hiding, she tookver behind one of the machines and saw a hooded man with a flashlight walking alone.
'Alright… I'll get him by surprise,' June thought.
However, just as she got out of her hiding spot and aimed her pistol at the man, Dante was already asphyxiating him with one hand around his neck.
*Crack…* The man's neck snapped, followed by his limp body hitting the ground.
"One down," Dante muttered.
June widened her eyes in disbelief. Not only was Dante capable of using magic, but he was incredibly fast, too. Moreover, he snapped a man's neck with a single grip so sheuld tell that his physical strength wasn't normal.
When the pair walked through the hallway from where the man came, they found a set of stairs leading to the snd floor.
"Up here," Dante said, prompting the detective to follow him as he took the lead.
The floor on the snd level wasvered in iron grates, which made masking their footsteps more difficult as each step echoed in the hallway. Nonetheless, Dante kept walkingnfidently through the dark factory.
As they passed by a rusty iron door that was seemingly locked, Dante halted his steps and turned to gaze at it.
"What is it?" June whispered.
*Sigh* Dante exhaled, expecting the worst while slowly opening the door, producing a loud creaking sound that echoed in the halls.
"Eh? Who are you—!!" A hooded man tried to exclaim but was silenced by Dante, who bolted inside the room and forcefully grabbed the man's face, making him kneel.
June ran in behind the warlock with her pistol, widening her eyes in pure shock as she noticed her surroundings.
A little more than a dozen naked women were lying on theld ground. Their stomachs were swollen by a black, twisted protuberance that was palpitating in a vile, disgusting way.
The detective wanted to scream, but her instincts knew better, making her grind her teeth with anger as she stomped toward the hooded man under Dante's grasp.
"What the hell are you doing to these women?" June asked, forcefully pressing the barrel of her gun against the man's head.
Dante let go of his grip slightly to allow the man to speak, wanting tonfirm if his suspicion wasrrect.
"Th-they are Dark Carriers…" the man nervously said.
The warlock widened his eyes with a bit of shock—a reaction that nobody was able to see due to his mask hiding his expressions.
"What does that mean?" Junentinued asking, tapping her gun against the man's head.
"It means these women are going to give birth to 'pisacas,'" Dante replied, his toneld and severe.
"H-how do you know that?—nghh!" the hooded man said, instantly getting his neck gripped by the warlock.
