"I have overlooked a lot of things, but using a gun without a permit, that I can’t ignore!"
Liliana might have thought that fixing him with a glare would show how serious she was, but in Dante’s eyes, she might as well be wearing clown makeup right now.
"Hey! Are you listening to me?" She glowered.
"No." Dante shook his head.
"Just... stop." He raised a hand to shut her up. "I’m not about to discuss this with you."
His complete disinterest came as a shock to the newly debuted superhero. Staring at him with wide eyes, her lips trembled slightly before she spoke in a low voice.
"Guns... guns are a weapon of murder..." she said. "You can’t just go around shooting one... people might get killed!"
For a second it appeared as if her words fell on deaf ears, but then the youth turned to her with a scowl on his face. Not saying anything, he kept looking at her as if she had just said the most ridiculous thing in the world.
It took her some time, but Liliana soon realized something.
"You... did you kill people before?"
"What!? Of course not!!!" The sarcasm in that response could be seen with the naked eye.
"Listen, princess, I already said I’m not discussing this with you." Dante shook his head again, this time with a smile. "You clearly lived a sheltered life until now and have no idea how the world works. How about you do us both a favor and keep your opinion to yourself."
Exhausted, Dante wasn’t even in the mood to get angry. A living weapon is trying to lecture him on gun laws? Utterly ridiculous.
"I’m gonna take a short nap now." Saying that, he slumped on his side and turned to face the wall. "Wake me up if anything happens."
The statement was directed at Volcan rather than the still-enraged Liliana. He knew from the very beginning that she lacked even the most basic understanding of the city’s workings, but it nevertheless shocked him to hear her talk about a law no one bothered to follow from the start.
In the first place, the conditions are set in a way that even the most law-abiding citizens with stark clean records would struggle to get those permits. Like a great many other things, only an idiot would try to follow the legal route to get what they want. Following the rules of a game fixed against you is nothing short of a fool’s errand.
Gunfire roared, snapping Dante out of his daze. The darkness surrounding him was banished by the dancing orange flames. A few meters to the right, the severed rear of a vehicle was swallowed by fire. A short distance to the left, a lanky man with a colorful mohawk screamed as he rained bullets from his rifle. A bald black man rose from the flames and joined him. A young woman appeared next, then a young man followed.
They all brandished their weapons and fired at something. Dante Reached for his weapon and turned to face it, but a hand grasped his shoulder. Looking up, he saw a rugged man looking at him with terror in his eyes.
The man opened his mouth and yelled something, but the words got drowned in the cacophony of bullets and fire. His body trembled suddenly trembled, and blood spewed from his mouth the next instant. Dante was forced to watch as the rugged man slowly rose in the air, lifted by a hand jutting straight out of his chest. Tossing him aside without a care, the owner of that hand turned to face Dante, an uncaring expression painting his face.
His yellow suit was made brighter by the rising flames, his blood-red cape fluttered weightlessly in the wind. Despite being struck by countless bullets, each one simply bounced off of him, leaving not a scratch behind.
Seeing the monster, Dante was overwhelmed with terror. With trembling hands, he lifted his weapon and aimed at its face, firing a bullet, then another, then another. He fired, fired, and fired more, but nothing happened. The monster was unaffected, staring at him with what felt like pity in its eyes.
A click followed the departure of the last bullet and hearing it plunged Dante into the pits of despair. He pressed the trigger again, and again, and again, but there was only the click of an empty magazine.
Dante tried to crawl backward, but his body refused to obey. He watched as the monster closed the distance between them. It lowered itself to the ground, its feet touching the burning asphalt. Standing right in front of him, it raised one of its legs, and without a change in its expression, it brought it down.
Dante drew a sharp gasp of air as he suddenly jerked up. His heart was beating erratically, his body entire body drenched in cold sweat. Whipping his head around, he only saw the interior of an old office. The place was brighter than he remembered, which drew his eyes to the broken shutters of the windows. The sun was up already.
Taking a deep breath, he exhaled and let his body relax. It was a dream, a nightmare. Though the experience was the same as before, he was surprised that his mind decided to conjure a new vision to torment him with. It has been barely a week so that wasn’t so strange. Dante didn’t know if he should be happy that he had something different to haunt him now.
[You are awake.] Volcan spoke in a rather soft tone that startled his host nonetheless.
’How about a good morning first?’ Not that it would have helped.
[Understood. I will ensure to use a proper greeting next time.] Said the AI. [Your brain waves have been rather chaotic as you slept. Am I right to assume you had what humans call a nightmare?]
Dante let out a long sigh.
’It’s... nothing unusual...’
[Nightmares can be the result of severe mental trauma. As I am a weapon, I lack the ability to provide mental health support to my host. To ensure the optimal execution of future operations, I suggest that you seek counseling from what humans refer to as a psychiatrist.]
’Haha... good one...’ Smiling, Dante shook his head.
There were many things he needed at the moment, and therapy didn’t make the list. Turning his OAM on, he checked the time then pushed himself up. It was already 07:30. Somehow, he was able to sleep for longer than expected despite that cursed nightmare.
Dusting off his clothes, Dante turned to look for his insanely naive employer. For a moment he hoped that she left while he was out of it, but sadly she was huddled in a corner nearby, hugging her knees with her eyes closed. As he watched her in silence, Dante couldn’t help but wonder if she was also impervious to bullets.