Chapter 77: Threesome

"You can't let Juno get hurt," Clara said urgently. "She's not ready yet."

Dante knew that well. The purpose of the training was precisely for her to blend the use of her body with the skill. The lightning responding to her call was already an indicator that it was working, but it was still too soon.

Juno had thrown one car after another. The hideous Two-Face expelled yellowish flames, and by the heat, they were twice as hot as the others. In other words, he was taking them seriously now. But Clara would be exposed.

"Go."

There was a figure far away, behind Two-Face. His eyes flickered when Render's figure appeared again. With his back to the man, he held the sword in his right hand. And when half of his face turned, Dante knew this was the moment to advance.

The Cosmic Energy gathered again, and he leaped, leaving a wave of air behind. Juno also needed him. The girl was targeted by a device, and the yellowish glow focused, gaining more strength.

He let out a laugh mid-air, drawing the attention of the three watching him.

"It's time to switch, Juno."

Dante's arm stretched at the exact moment, his muscles tense like a spring ready to snap. He knew it was only a second, a minuscule interval, but in the battlefield, even a second was everything. And Two-Face, with all his arrogance and confidence, didn't have that luxury. It was enough.

Dante saw when Juno raised her arm towards the enemy, her hands coming together as electricity pulsed through her body. But he knew what he needed to do. With a fluid motion, he spun his body, using the rotation to gain momentum.

The moment he let go of Juno's hand, he felt the force of the movement complete itself. The air seemed to crack around her as she was launched with incredible speed towards Clara. Every detail passed through Dante's eyes in slow motion: Juno's hair flying, the glow of the electrical sparks surrounding her, and the determined expression on her face.

He didn't need to look back to know Two-Face was still laughing. But that didn't matter. Clara needed to be protected, and he trusted Juno to do the rest.

However, he turned toward the enemy. Two-Face didn't get distracted. In the blink of an eye, flames were expelled like a yellow mountain so high it practically lit up that whole part of the city.

"It doesn't matter who you are," said Two-Face. "You still won't be a match for me."

Dante simply responded by raising his arm. The entire air moved at his command. The flames around Two-Face were swept up by the whirlwind, mixing with the air current in a chaotic display of fire and wind.

The intense glow of the flames spread, growing in intensity but, at the same time, becoming unstable and disordered. The control the man had over the fire was suddenly broken, and his arrogance turned into surprise.

The whirlwind Dante created not only weakened the stability of Two-Face's attack but launched him into the air like a puppet being swept up by a storm. The brute force of the wind lifted him off the ground, and for a moment, he lost complete control of the situation.

Dante kept his arm raised and stepped onto the rooftop, seeing the man higher than before.

"You're still way too confident for my taste, old man." Two-Face used that moment in the air to press two more buttons. The flames turned purple, so intensely that it immediately weakened the tornado as it increased the fire's intensity. "I see in your eyes that you fear what I can do."

Even amid the chaos, the purple flames crackling in the air and the storm roaring around them, the distinct sound of a weapon being unlocked. It was a dry, precise sound that seemed to freeze time for a moment.

Dante laughed.

"Are you sure about that?"

A snap — it was as if the roar of the ISE carbine didn't even have sound amidst the tumult. However, Two-Face remained still, as if the shot was just a trivial detail in the destruction theater surrounding him. His confidence or perhaps arrogance, made him ignore the sound, his eyes still fixed on Dante.

But Dante knew better than anyone what that meant. He felt the air change, noticed the invisible trajectory the projectile was following. He knew that carbine and what it was capable of. Even if the sound was small, the impact wouldn't be. The muffled roar was just the prelude to the real blow about to happen.

"'Purple Impact'."

Two-Face stretched both hands, now descending from the sky. The purple flames were all drawn into the barrel below his wrist. Laughing, he was sure the victory was his.

"... two, one." Dante opened his arms at that exact moment.

An immense explosion hit Two-Face's arm, making the sky turn with a mix of flames. Yellow, blue, red, purple, and white, they merged as the man screamed in pain.

Dante closed both hands in his direction with a strong impact.

Everything moved. The flames descending with Two-Face were sent back to the sky, and he along with them. Dante saw the metal plates scattered around the man. The shot was accurate, Marcus had hit from a distance that even Dante couldn't predict with precision. And the wind, the target's trajectory, even his fall...

The sniper's aim was terrifying.

Before Dante could even react, a blur passed by his side, moving with impressive speed. The cutting wind brought a flash of electrical light, and he immediately knew who it was. Juno.

She shot up in an explosion of energy, leaving small sparks that dissipated in the storm. It was different from before. Faster, more determined. Dante realized she was adapting, her body beginning to respond instinctively to the brutal demands of battle.

The unexpected acceleration even caught Two-Face off guard. He turned his gaze down, the flames around him flickering with the air displacement Dante had caused. There was something unpredictable in the movements of that girl, like an electrical storm in full fury, and that made Dante smile faintly.

She didn't hesitate, nor look back. Her focus was absolute, and every fiber of her being seemed to scream that she wouldn't be left behind again. Dante didn't need to intervene now; he knew Juno had something to prove, not just to him, but to herself.

Two-Face was passed, his metallic gaze might have seemed calm, but what remained of his humanity was filled with fear, surprise, and disbelief. Juno had surpassed him, raising her hand toward the storm, which responded with a brilliant flash and a booming thunder.

The lightning united, creating an electric mirror right behind her. A colossal arm, made from the destructive energy of nature itself, descended at her command. Behind her, the sparks intertwined in a chaotic pattern, creating a shining mirror of pure electrical energy.

The reflection vibrated, distorted by the intensity of the lightning that composed it, until something began to emerge. A colossal arm, entirely made of nature's destructive energy, formed, every detail shaped by Juno's raw power. It glowed with blinding light, and the air around it seemed to boil, crackling with an unstoppable force.

With a deliberate motion, Juno extended her hand, and the electric arm responded immediately, descending in a devastating blow. The sound was deafening, like thunder exploding at point-blank range. The destructive force of the impact was so intense that the ground trembled, and the air around it distorted in waves of heat.

It was as if nature itself had been summoned to punish Two-Face. Dante watched from where he stood, impressed, but with a small smile of approval. Juno was starting to understand what it meant to be truly powerful.

The blow descended, burning what was left of Two-Face. Dante positioned himself and stretched his hand back.

He couldn't let his newest pupil think she was invincible with this kind of strength. A Master could only be surpassed at the moment of his death, as Render had taught him. Everything he had, he converted into strength.

His Kinetic Energy clearly expanded through his muscles, flesh, and veins. His oxygen bombarded faster, his breath accelerated, but never without a smile. He always needed to smile so the people around him could see him, so they would be inspired.

It was what he promised when he read the letter Clara gave him.

Angry, you let them be confident. And confused, everyone expects you to find a new way. But that's not what I like to see in you. It's your smile, it enchants the people around.

"Hey, Two-Face," Dante said, his voice firm, cutting through the chaos around them, as the enemy's eyes turned to the ground during the fall. "Where's your smile now, you bastard?"

Dante's fist cut through the air, but this time, it wasn't just a blow. It was something more, something that seemed to resonate with the world around them. The impact didn't just hit—it exploded, tearing the sky in a blinding flash. The sound reverberated, shaking everything in its path.

Above them, the gray winter sky cracked open, a streak of blue light spreading in all directions, as if summer had invaded the frozen landscape. The brilliance was immense, reaching almost a hundred meters in length, lighting up every corner of the city buried under snow.

And yet, the white flakes continued to fall, serene, contrasting with the fierce energy emanating from Dante. It was a surreal sight, the heat of the brilliant blue against the cold of the harsh winter.

Clara and Juno, even from a distance, looked up, their eyes wide at the scene that seemed to defy the laws of nature. But they weren't the only ones. On the lower levels of the Predial Island, the residents had descended, drawn by the intensity of the glow and the sound that seemed to announce something grand.

For a moment, no one spoke. There were no words that could capture what they were witnessing. The sky seemed torn between Dante's fury and the persistent calm of the snow.

Far from everyone, Marcus was still standing on the Radio Tower. He let out a whistle, quite impressed.

"And he still thinks he's weak. What an arrogant bastard." Smiling, he lowered his ISE carbine.