Modern World Warlock

After the night settled in the city of Novis, a group of hooded men were driving a pair of SUVs out of Highpoint Town. Each vehicle had four men inside, and their trunks were filled with rifles and bombs.

As they exited the small town's limits, they spotted a police checkpoint ahead and slowed down until they came to a complete stop before the officers.

"It's me," the driver said to the cop with familiarity.

"Ah, yes…" the officer replied, waving his hand.

At that moment, the two SUVs were riddled with silenced and accurate shots that shattered the windows and hit all of the hooded men inside.

The officer removed his hat and latex mask, revealing himself to be Neil, the leader of the Kappa Team, and congratulated his group for another job well done.

Neil and his team had taken out the real police officers who were stationed at the checkpoint and had prevented three different groups from leaving the town with guns and bombs.

The bullets they were using were non-lethal and had a substance that made their targets fall into a deep slumber.

Camille wanted to separate the people who were mind-controlled and the people who followed the demons voluntarily, as depending on their status, their fates would be different.

The handler didn't think it was fair to punish the people under Nihilor's mind control, so she wanted to capture as many of the cultists alive and have Dante analyze them later.

After two members of the Kappa Team hopped on the driving seats of the SUVs, they drove off, and Neil returned to his spot, waiting for the next group to exit.

At Camille's skyscraper, the non-combatant teams and guests were gathered inside a large command room that was on one of the highest floors in the building.

The room was filled with screens showing different camera perspectives, as almost every single member who was going to the raid had a camera on them.

Camille sat in the center of the command room behind an arched, long desk with June and Alice on each side.

The teenagers, Tommy, Lina, and Jake, were sitting on one side of the room, still in shock at the amount of screens around them.

Paige, Clara, and the rest of the Zeta Team were sitting at the back, where each of them had an individual screen before them.

Asher and Amara sat on the corner floor, with Rina and Rona beside them, teaching the children math while feeding them pieces of chocolate.

Lilith, the Succubus Queen, stood right behind Camille, excitedly waiting for the action to begin with a glass of wine that she had procured from one of the servants.

"This is great. We get to see Dante from this far away…" Lilith commented.

*Sigh* "I wish you people felt as festive as I do…" the queen continued, taking a sip from her wine.

"Umm, Miss Lilith… Why are you drinking wine?" Sophia innocently asked.

"What do you mean? Wine goes well with entertainment, no?" Lilith answered with another question.

Sophia couldn't respond since she obviously didn't see the situation as entertainment, making Lilith chuckle as she saw the blonde's umbra.

"I just don't know why you are all so worried… Getting preoccupied about Dante fighting a demon seems like a major waste of energy," Lilith said, taking another sip of her wine.

"Krom said something similar to me once…" Sophia commented.

"Seriously. It's like you guys don't even know him," Lilith continued, slightly shocking the group, who realized the queen's words weren't wrong.

They knew 'some' things about Dante, but they were also aware that there was a large part of him that they didn't know anything about.

The rest of the servants in the skyscraper were gathered on another floor as operations in the entire building had ceased for the night. Still, they took on any request that Camille gave them.

The handler asked for a servant to bring a certain book to the command room—the Divine Comedy.

"This is all we know about him…" Camille said, handing the book to Lilith.

The queen glanced at the tome and widened her eyes momentarily, wondering where they had found such a thing.

"You haven't even read it, though," the handler said.

"This book has umbra oozing from it…" Lilith replied, putting down her glass of wine and skimming through the pages.

"Hmm… It's not quite right," the queen muttered.

"What isn't?" The handler followed up.

"It skipped everything, and the ending is completely wrong!" Lilith said with a hint of indignation.

Camille remembered that, at the end of the short story at the back of the Divine Comedy, it was stated that Dante burned in hell for eternity after failing to save his beloved.

Of course, the handler knew there was some sort of lie to it since Dante was with them, but she thought that it was a way for the writer to make their story more dramatic.

"Ugh, they don't even mention me in this!" Lilith exclaimed, feeling even more indignation.

"Lilith, can you tell us what happened?" the handler asked with a bit of curiosity, wondering why the queen would be mentioned in the story in the first place.

"I could, but have you guys thought about asking him directly?" The queen inquired.

"It just doesn't feel like it's something that he would want to talk about…" replied Camille.

"So? It's not like he is going to kill you or something…" Lilith playfully said.

"Right. It's called being considerate of others' feelings," the handler refuted.

The two women continued discussing for a few more minutes, during which Sophia contemplated asking Dante directly more about his life, genuinely wanting to get to know him better.

Meanwhile, the teenagers heard the conversation, making Jake sneakily take the Divine Comedy book and bring it to his side with his friends, where they began reading the contents with a bit of excitement.

Nonetheless, their faces turned sour the longer they read, realizing that it wasn't a happy adventure story about a warlock fighting demons—but a sad, painful story about a man who lost his beloved to them.