The hybrid pushed itself off the pillar. Shook its head again. Its yellow eyes flickered—anger now, not just control.
"No," it said. The woman's voice, but cracking. "No, I won't be taken lightly."
Its body began to shift. Arms thinning. Torso stretching. Getting skinnier. Faster. Max output. It didn't get the chance.
Dante moved.
Mach 10. Below his feet the grounds caved in, rocks and pebbles went up in slow motion. He moved each stride made fire burst. The temperature metal the grounds into molten rock.
The temperature reached over 4,300 Fahrenheit, but then as quickly it came it turn purple into paradox energy just as fast. Yes it was fast.
The first punch landed on the hybrid's jaw that was fast. The second on its throat that was faster. The third on its chest. Fourth. Fifth. Sixth. Too fast to count. Too fast to see.
The hybrid's body jerked—hit from every angle at once. It didn't fall. It was being held up by the punches themselves.
Dante stopped. Back in his original spot. Hands still in his pockets.
"The fuck you think this is?" he said. "You thought I was gonna let you power up? That first time was me being nice"
The hybrid's mouth opened. No sound came out.
Then—
WHOOSH.
A blue fireball shot past Dante. Small. Dense. Perfect cone shape.
It hit the hybrid square in the chest.
The creature's eyes went wide. The fireball bored through—skin, muscle, bone—and out the other side. A hole the size of a tennis ball. Perfectly round. Smoke rising from the edges.
The hybrid looked down. Touched the hole. Its fingers came back wet.
"No..." it whispered.
"Not bad Kínitos you be-,"said Dante before he could Finnish
Behind him, the big vampire—still on one knee—saw his chance.
He lunged. Claws extended. Aiming for Dante's back.
Dante didn't turn around.
He sidestepped. Stuck out his foot.
The big vampire tripped. Fell forward. His own momentum carried him—straight into the hybrid. Claws first. The impact drove them both into the wall. The hybrid impaled on the big vampire's arm. Both of them pinned. Twitching.
Dante looked at them. No expression.
Then he raised one hand.
"I mean I have all this energy why not use it," Dante said with a smile.
A fireball formed. Not blue like Kínitos. Red. Orange. White at the core. Bigger than his head. Growing.
He threw it.
The big one with both hands out tried to stop it. His arms grew bigger hairy fully bear like. But it was to no avail it did what fire do. It burned through his arms through his hair through this muscles. The roaring flames blocked out. The please for life.
The fireball flew through the two vampires.Hit the wall behind them. And kept going.
Concrete turned to ash. Metal support beams glowed orange, then white, then dripped like candle wax. The fireball bored through—twenty feet, thirty, fifty—until it punched through to open air. Sunlight? No. Night. But the fire lit up the whole tunnel.
The wall was gone. The metal bars that had blocked the emergency exit were gone. Everything behind the vampires was gone.
Just a smoldering crater. And two piles of ash where the hybrid and the big vampire used to be.
Dante lowered his hand.
"Insinera," he said. Then frowned. "Incinerated. Whatever."
He turned to Kínitos and Sarah.
"You two okay?"
Kínitos was leaning against a pillar. His core was still dark, but the black wasn't spreading anymore. He nodded.
Sarah was staring at the hole in the wall. The melted metal. The ash.
"That was..." she started.
"Overkill?" Dante said. "Yeah. Probably."
Sarah stared at the hole where the hybrid and the big vampire used to be. The ash was already fading, mixing with the dust on the floor.
"We have one more person," she said. "There's a woman. In the building. Fifth floor."
Dante stopped walking. Turned around. Looked at her.
"Extra homework?" he said. Then sighed. "And the fifth floor is crazy."
He cracked his neck.
"She's controlling the zombies we should," before Sarah even finishes
From the outside, it looked like a burst of speed. A blur. A wind that pushed dust and debris in all directions.
From Dante's eyes, it was just a walk.
He took the stairs out of the subway two at a time. Not running. Just... walking at a normal pace. But his perception was cranked to Mach 10. The world around him was frozen. Dust motes hung in the air like stars. Drops of water from a broken pipe hovered mid-fall.
He pushed open the subway exit door. Stepped out into the night. The street was empty. The building was ahead.
Five stories, he thought. Woman. Fifth floor.
He walked across the street. Opened the front door of the building. Stepped inside.
Stairs. Concrete. Old.
He looked up. Sighed.
Then he started walking.
Step. Step. Step.
Each floor, he checked. First floor. Empty. Second floor. Empty. Third floor. A few zombies—still, frozen, mid-shuffle. He ignored them.
Fourth floor. The room where Kínitos and Sarah had killed the puppeteer. Dante glanced inside. Body was ash now. Strings were gone.
Not here.
Fifth floor.
He walked down the hallway. Opened doors one by one. Room one. Empty. Room two. Empty. Room three.
The woman was there.