NOVPUBA few days passed after the cartel's attacks, and the Jade Palace was almost entirely repaired.
One morning, Dante was training with the harpion twins in the MET room when a group from the Azure Rebels arrived at the mansion, stating they were there to talk with Dante.
It wasn't a large group of guests, as only Alexander, Lexia, and a couple of engineers were there to greet the warlock.
When Dante glanced at Lexia, he let out a gentle smile, noticing that her aura seemed to have stabilized, which meant that her soul had accepted the android's body.
Since the warlock had been unconscious for over a week, he couldn't follow up on Lexia's progress, so he felt glad to see she was doing well.
Suddenly, both of the Spring siblings bowed their heads toward Dante and thanked him from the bottom of their hearts, which slightly confused the warlock.
"You risked your life to save my sister…" Alexander muttered.
"There was no reason for you to do that," he continued.
The Spring handler was correct. By the time Dante and Megan found the flesh sprout with Lexia's soul, the rebels had just become their allies a few days prior, so there wasn't a solid base for the warlock to trust them.
Moreover, saving Lexia ended up having a detrimental effect on Dante's health, and the siblings couldn't help but feel guilty about it.
"If you hadn't saved her, the cartel wouldn't have attacked us…" Alexander continued with a remorseful tone.
Dante kept listening to the siblings' concerns with a somewhat puzzled expression, and when he glanced at Lexia, the cyborg seemed to tremble from the nerves.
"I think you got it all wrong…" Dante interjected.
"I didn't save Lexia because she was your sister or because the rebels are our allies," He continued.
"T-then why!? Why would you put yourself in such a position for someone you never even met?" Lexia spoke up, evidently wanting to get those words out of her chest.
"Hmmm, good question…" Dante muttered, casually placing a hand on his chin.
When Dante and Megan found the flesh sprout, the warlock could sense the woman's soul inside the structure, and he believed that Lexia's soul was too pure to suffer such a fate.
If Lexia's soul hadn't been as pure, then Dante doubted that he would have gone through the trouble of saving her.
"I just decided to save her since it was displeasing for me to see," Dante replied, leaving the siblings shocked at his answer.
Right at that moment, the group heard Camille laughing at the back of the hallway as she approached them, gently placing a hand on their shoulders.
"This is just the way Dante is… He just honestly 'does' whatever he wants. Luckily for us, what he wants is usually good for everyone," Camille said, chuckling wholeheartedly.
As Alexander slightly understood the warlock's way of thinking, he bowed once again. "Thanks to you, I'm able to talk to my sister… If there is anything that we can ever do for you, please don't hesitate to ask us," he said.
"Heh, I'll keep that in mind," Dante replied with a friendly tone and a gentle smile.
Later that day, Sami and Lexia went into the MET room after Lexia asked the Hell-Cyborg for her help in familiarizing herself with magical combat.
Since Lexia's brain was Sixteen's computer, she knew every single feature that her body had—from hidden blades to grenade launchers. However, she was also able to see and sense mana in the air, and the computer in her brain didn't know how to control or interpret this energy.
Still, Sami's explanations weren't entirely helpful, as the hell-cyborg was proficient in controlling umbra, and even though she could also sense mana, she couldn't control it.
Suddenly, their practice was interrupted when someone entered the room and loudly slammed the door behind them.
"Alright, let's get this shit over with…" said a girl who had just entered the MET room.
When Sami and Lexia turned their heads, they saw Irina, the vampire sentinel, wearing her ponytails that held her long and silky white hair.
The women knew that Irina was a vampire since they had seen her a few times when the three mafia factions were reunited, but they had never interacted with her for more than a few seconds.
"Dante asked me to teach you guys some basic mana control. Let's not fuck around and do this!" Irina confidently said.
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While the cyborgs practiced their mana control with Irina, the rest of the vampire clan arrived at the Jade Palace.
Balthazar and Madeline were the two vampires who encountered the Death Knight in the city of Cerulis up north, so they went straight to the briefing room.
Asphodel, who knew all of the details from her children, asked Dante if he was familiar with a holy knight named "Isidor," but the warlock didn't have a clue about who the man was.
Still, hearing about the fact that a holy knight had become a Death Knight was surprising to him, as it was definitely something that the goddess they served wouldn't allow.
During the encounter between Balthazar and Isidor, the elder vampire had to use almost all of his power in order to drive Isidor out of the territory. Nevertheless, Balthazar could tell that the man was still hiding some of his power.
Moreover, even though Isidor was an undead, he was still able to cast "blessings," which were the most common type of magic for priests and holy knights.
Now that they had the name of three of the Death Knights, Dante easily deduced that Netherius was trying to build an army of them, and to do so, he would need to take the souls of countless more people.
The mafia factions would have to start their next move soon, or they would simply become victims of the following cartel's attack. Still, they had to wait for the GTS group to arrive at the Jade Palace to flesh out the details of their plan.
