The two teenagers -Flinn and Brandon, according to Victor’s info- followed Dante’s orders and helped the others sit along a nearby wall. He then ordered them to sit down as well and stood a short distance from them.
Things hadn’t gone the way he had planned. He was supposed to use this opportunity to test his upgraded Iron Fist, now called Diamond Fist, but it turned out far more lethal then he thought, and he wasn’t about to kill a bunch of kids just because they pissed him off a little.
He opened his Status screen and read through the listed stats. His strength had gone up to 6 while his durability was now 4, which confused him a little since he didn’t feel stronger or more durable. He remembered Volcan saying that the stats were an overall evaluation of his capabilities, and from the looks of it, improving even one part of his body resulted in a drastic change.
’Isn’t that, like, a 20% increase?’
[Correct.] Volcan answered. [The Diamond Fist is capable of exerting more force and is far more durable than its E grade base.]
The AI had created his own ranking system for bionic implants. It started with F, then E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, and SSS. The Iron Fist Dante had spent a significant sum on turned out to be nothing more than an E grade, and even after it had been reconstructed and reinforced, it only climbed up to D.
Dante wasn’t worried too much, though, since he would soon replace his entire arms with higher-quality implants. So long as he got something of a higher grade, the upgrade would lift it even further and the boost it would grant would significantly increase as well.
The only problem was that the number of upgrades each implant could go through was limited. Even if the necessary materials were available, some implants could be upgraded once or twice. To get anything of a higher grade, he would have no choice but to acquire far better implants than the base he originally had.
It was for that reason that Dante had his eyes on a set of military type implants from Titan Forge. He didn’t like the idea of continuously upgrading implants of a lower grade just to discard them and start the process all over again. Though he would only know what grade TF’s implants were once they were in his hands, the best the industry has to offer couldn’t possibly be less than an S grade.
Another thing that bothered Dante was that, even with the significant boost he got, he was still a Level 0, which meant he wasn’t that much stronger than a basic human. He wondered how many stat points it would take for him to reach Level 1 and have the destructive power of a handgun, or a Level 2, which would make him comparable to a grenade.
He wondered what it would feel like to have as much power as a tank, or to be able to rival an army, or maybe even a natural disaster. He had already experienced having the combined power of the world’s most advanced militaries, although it only lasted for a couple of seconds, most of which he couldn’t remember. Would he one day be able to use it at will without having to worry about his body being ripped apart?
A subdued call severed Dante’s thoughts, reminding him of what he was doing. Flinn, the one who tried to run before, was looking at him with tearful eyes.
"Y-you... you aren’t really gonna k-kill us, right?"
Dante stared back at him then raised the corner of his mouth.
"That ship had already sailed."
"Shut it, or you’ll go first."
Heaving a sigh, Dante returned his gun to its holster and walked over to the unconscious Kevin. He tapped his left cheek until he woke up then checked on the other two. he knocked with one punch. Once they were all awake, he dragged Derick aside.
"Okay, time to do my job."
Seeing him pull out his gun again sent a tremor through the five boys.
"It was nice to see you stand up for your friend. I was really impressed." Dante spoke with a smile. "Except for the little bitch who tried to run, you all showed that you’re willing to die for him, that’s why I’m going to make it quick." Glancing at Derick, who was sitting beside him, he went on, "I will let you choose who goes first."
The rich kid looked up with a start, horror written all over his face. His mouth flapped several times but nothing came out of it. Just when he was starting to make some sounds, someone else spoke up. This time, it was the leader of the group.
"Let us go, please!" Kevin cried out.
The right side of his face was starting to swell, and the blood from his busted lip had painted his stubble red. The anger and confidence had left his eyes, leaving fear to take over.
"I... I’m sorry! I will never do it again! Please give us another chance!"
Dante knitted his brows and snorted.
"Of course you won’t. I’m about to kill you, remember? I gave you a choice, and you chose your friend. That’s why he will get to live, and you’ll die."
Walking over to him, Dante pulled the mag out of his Blue Berry, making sure they all saw it was still full. He then inserted it back and lowered his hand, aiming the barrel at the blond guy’s head.
"Alright, Derick. Did you make your choice? This one was the first to get angry for you, so I’m guessing you two were pretty close."
Dante wasn’t sure if he had to pull the trigger, seeing as the blond guy’s soul was already leaving his body. Derick wasn’t doing any better and seemed to lose the ability to speak entirely.
"C’mon, stop wasting my time."
Just as that thought crossed his mind, one of the other kids suddenly shouted.
The word echoed in the hidden square several times before fading away. With his gun still pointed at Kevin, Dante slowly moved his eyes to the guy who dared to raise his voice and realized he was the same one who hadn’t attacked him or tried to run.
"What? You want to go first?"
The kid, named Brandon, glared up at Dante then turned his gaze to Derick, his jaws tightening.
"We... we aren’t this guy’s friends..."