The cage door banged shut again. Dante's gaze was on his next opponent, he was bigger than the first guy, he was bald and had chains wrapped around his arms.
The man charged at Dante, swinging the chains in a wide arc. Dante ducked under the first swipe, the air hissing above him as the metal sliced through.
Dante looked up and exploded forward, his legs boosted. He threw a hardened punch into the man's ribs, feeling something crack under his fist.
The chain dude grunted and tried to retaliate, he drove an elbow down, aiming to slam into Dante's head.
Dante caught it mid fall, twisted and drove his elbow into the man's jaw, he let go of the man's elbow, spun again into a full roundhouse kick that launched him into the side of the cage.
The man stumbled, then dropped to the ground with a thud, unconscious.
The cage door opened again and another opponent stepped in, he was leaner so he'd probably be faster. The guy had a buzz cut and taped fists. Thankfully no weapon, but he assumed a boxers stance.
Dante made the first move this time. He lunged forward with a quick jab that was parried. The man countered with a straight that barely managed to graze Dante's mask.
After he'd dodged, he grabbed the man's arm, pulling him closer and delivering a brutal punch to his nose. The guy folded.
Dante quickly grabbed the back of his head and smashed a knee into his face, once, twice. Blood sprayed from the man's nose as her collapsed.
Dante allowed the workers to remove the man before the next guy stepped in. This guy was twitching like crazy, electricity crackling from his fingertips. A lightning quirk owner.
Sparks immediately danced toward Dante, some arcing to the metal cage, leaving Dante trapped.
Dante gritted his teeth and leapt into the air, narrowly avoiding the sparks.
The guy didn't waste any time, as soon as Dante got back down, he launched another bolt, grazing Dante's back. His eyes narrowed and launched himself forward, his calves increasing in muscle density.
He quickly tackled the man before he could fire off another bolt, grabbing his wrists and throwing him to the ground. Weak sparks crackled uselessly between them.
Dante's fist came down once, then again. The electricity sputtering out.
The man stopped moving.
Dante stood up slowly, breathing evenly, fists clenched.
"Just two more right?"
The fourth man entered with a calm, kinda scary stillness. He was very tall, bare chested and covered in tattoos. He didn't do anything weird, just walked forward and raised his hands.
Dante stepped closer.
Then he dashed, feinting left before snapping a low kick to the man's thigh. It connected with a solid THUNK , but the man didn't even flinch. Instead, he stepped in and drove a knee toward Dante's ribs.
Dante blocked, but the force pushed him back a step. This guy was rough.
They exchanged blows, they threw quickl elbows, knees, kicks. Their rhythm was tight, no wasted movement. The man caught Dante with a jab to the temple and nearly followed up with a spinning elbow, but Dante ducked under and slammed both fists into his gut.
The man grunted. But Dante didn't stop.
He spun and drove a hardened elbow straight into the man's jaw. He heard and felt something crack. The man staggered.
Dante closed in and swept him off his feet, then stomped down on his head. Ending it there.
Then the last one entered.
His whole air was weird. He was huge, very heavyset and had a disgusting grin that didn't reach his eyes. His hands suddenly glowed orange, the air shimmered around his hands.
He was a heat user?
The man pounced forward, dragging his hand across the floor. Metal hissed under his palm. Then he slammed both fists together, creating a wave of heated pressure that blasted straight for Dante.
Dante raised both arms and braced, sludge hardening into armour. The wave hit him, pushing him back.
When Dante looked back up, the weirdo was right infront of him.
Dante ducked under a punch and countered with a hook to the ribs, but the man barely budged. Another heat pulse exploded outward from his palm, forcing Dante to leap back.
His eyes narrowed.
He let out a slow breath, then cracks started to form, ember like fractures crawling along his shoulders, down to his hands.
His arms ignited, flames pulsed out from his skin. The pink vest he was wearing curled slightly at the edges.
He dashed forward.
Fire against fire. Dante twisted under a heated hook and slammed his burning fist into the man's chest.
He screamed as his chest was covered in fire. But Dante didn't let up.
Kaijin's words echoed in his ears, "most flame/heat users aren't immune to heat."
Dante swung another flaming punch to the man's gut, and as he doubled over, Dante spun and drove his knee into the side of the man's face.
The man collapsed in a smouldering lump.
Dante stood above him, smoke still trailing from his arms.
He looked at the cage door, but there was no one entering.
"Was that all?"
The crowd erupted into cheers and applause.
Dante looked over for Mirko but he couldn't see hers
That's when he saw two silent, suited men standing next to a doorway waving him over.
Dante followed them without a word, loosening his mask as he walked. The air outside the cage room was cooler, but the scent of blood and scorched concrete clung to his skin. They guided him down a dimly lit hallway filled with suited men that wound beneath the factory's foundations, deeper into a place that reeked of old metal.
They stopped infront of a huge heavy steel door. One of the men knocked once, then pushed it open.
Inside sat a man behind a fancy glass desk, he was very pale, wearing a sharp white suit that contrasted the shadowy room. He had sleek black hair, swept back like oil on water and his smile was wide but devoid of warmth. On either side of him stood more men, armed and still.
Dante stepped in cautiously. The door clicked shut behind him.
"So," the man said, leaning back in his seat, voice smooth. "You're the infamous "Bun Bun." What a charming alias." His smile twitched upward.
Dante scowled but said nothing.
The man gestured loosely. "Remove the mask. Let's see the real champion."
Dante pulled the mask off and dropped it on the desk. His hair stuck to his forehead with sweat, his eyes were unreadable but no less sharp.
"Very impressive," the man said. "You fight well. Efficient. Merciless. Just how I like it." He snapped his fingers and one of his men stepped forward and placed a briefcase on the desk, flipping it open to reveal stacks of neatly bundled cash. "A small token. Consider it a signing bonus."
Dante's jaw dropped. "Signing bonus?"
The man spread his arms wide. "I want you working for me. Full time. As one of my personal bodyguards. You'll be protected, paid well, more than any normal job could offer. All I ask is your loyalty and protection."
Dante's voice was cold. "And what about the others? Those people I fought weren't necessarily weak, what about them?"
The man blinked slowly, then smiled wider. "Oh. Then." He waved a hand like brushing away old dust. "They were… investments that didn't yield results. We salvage what we can. Organs, mostly. The rest… consider it disposed of."
Something shifted in Dante's chest.
"You kill them off?"
The man raised a brow. "Let's not get moral, my boy. This is just business. And you? You are way better anyways, they were useless."
Dante stared. Breathing steady. Heat building just beneath his skin.
Sounds of struggle came from outside the door.
"You're insane," Dante muttered, taking a step back from the desk.
"I am pragmatic."
"You're scum." Dante growled.
"Let's kill them all."
The guards tensed.
"You will regret this." The man said, his smile still brittle.
Flames exploded out from Dante's whole body, enveloping the whole room.
Buuuuut… Dante's roar was suddenly swallowed by a searing crack. Gunshots. Three of them, straight to the chest.
Dante's fire flared violently for an instant, then fizzled as his body staggered back, smoke curling from the bullet holes now burning through his vest. His knees buckled. His world tilted. A ringing in his ears drowned out the chaos.
Everything went dark.
Dante passed out.
And then it opened.
From his still body, a ripple pulsed outward. The temperature changed, not in cold, but in something strange. Something wrong.
His body liquefied, the form of Dante melting like wax into sludge. Then the sludge rose and reformed back into Dante. Well, little Dante was in control now.
Where Dante's fury was fire, Little Dante's fury was brutality.
Tendrils of sludge burst out from every part of Dante's body, the tendrils reshaping sharper.
Little Dante stood in the middle of the room.
A single tendril lashed out and pierced through one of the guards chest before he could shoot him again, another wrapped around a head and crushed it like a grape. Blood splattered all over the walls. The second body hit the floor without a scream. Everyone suddenly shot Dante, but the bullets were caught by a tendril before they could reach. Another man was flung into the ceilings impaled on a spike of sludge.
Within seconds, the room was silent. Except for the whimpers of the owner and gurgling sound of bodies falling to the floor in pieces.
Little Dante hovered in the center of the blood soaked office, swirling sludge writhing around his unstable form.
Little Dante chuckled once, then his tendrils all got larger and grew teeth.
Every corpse around him was swallowed right up into his sludge.
And then he collapsed, and the wall exploded.