Chapter 202 Rapid Rise
Dante nodded. So it was just like the real Mutation Core in that 10 of them were needed at each rank to raise it up. If this really followed the rules of the Apocalypse World, then Dante could easily see himself raising an army of superpowered users.
Of course, that was not something easy to do. After all, the reason why superpowers were so valuable - and that their owners were practically royalty - was precisely because no form of technology or methods apart from other superpowers could counter them.
If superpowers could be dealt with like that, then all superpower users would be captured and chipped by the reigning powers under the excuse that 'they were a danger to society' and 'the public was being protected from harm'.
It certainly wouldn't be his turn to enjoy such a thing, no matter how special Quantum Entanglement was. So if he wanted to use zero fruits to create superpowered users and then raise them up, he would need an absolute way to control them.
Currently, Aisha was the best target to practice on because of her feelings for him. It definitely was kind of scummy for him to do this, but he knew for a fact that she had no intention to betray him.
Hence, he took out a replicated Mutation Core of the F rank and gave it to her to try the same thing again. Much to Dante's joy, it worked, and Aisha reported that it was the same 10% progress.
This meant that regardless of original or replicated, Mutation Cores could work on superpower users of the right rank. However, Dante hesitated here because in order to verify if superpowers could breakthrough, he needed to continue feeding Aisha.
Once she broke through, she might manifest new and unpredictable abilities and change her mind. Just because his subordinate chip in her brain was reporting that her thoughts were clear was not enough.
Light Yagami had once deleted his own memories and regained them later to reduce his threat level in the eyes of L, his rival. The scene 'all according to keikaku' was a popular meme, but if you thought about the context and the calculations needed by Light to make it happen, you would understand how frightening the human mind can be.
Who knew if Aisha had hypnotized herself into this so-called Stockholm out of desperation and had suppressed her true thoughts inside and had…
Okay, now Dante was just being paranoid. It was fine to be cautious and wary, but cautiousness to the point of senselessness was insanity and paranoia. The simple fact that he should account for was that, even if Aisha reached the E Rank, she couldn't change her situation.
Not against him with his current power and not in the heart of his base like this.
As such, Dante gave her 4 more natural Mutation Cores and 4 replicated ones to see if either would lose their effectiveness or cause any changes. Aisha reported nothing wrong until she absorbed the last one and went into a short trance.
Dante did not need Aisha to tell him anything as a bright light exploded from her body like a flashbang and encapsulated the room. It shone for about 3 seconds before dying down and revealing the new and improved Aisha, whose white hair was now glowing at all times.
Meanwhile, Dante was not fazed by the lightshow. Even at an SDI of 10.5 points back then, Aisha's light did not bother him, much less at his current ability. He sized her up and down, wondering if she had gained abilities like he did.
Aisha opened her eyes, which shot out searing beams of light against the wall, and then controlled herself. She then turned to Dante with a look of amazement and placidity, saying. "I succeeded."
Dante smiled. "That you did. What abilities did you unlock?"
"Abilities? As far as I know, I only got one if anything. My light can now go farther in terms of its projectile nature, not to mention that it has become twice as strong and I can transform half of my body into light, compared to only single parts," Aisha revealed with a confused expression.
Dante's eye narrowed. Right from the E Rank, he had gained new main abilities and a new sub-ability. However, according to Aisha, rather than a new ability, her base ability had been increased.
This highlighted just how special his Quantum Entanglement was, and thinking about the existence that stood behind the superpower, it made sense. Dante understood that even if he gathered 100 superpowers from fruits after this, they would likely never match his Quantum Entanglement.
Dante honestly doubted that any superpower ever could.
Once again, Dante could not help but wonder why him? Even if it was done for shits and giggles, why invest so much power and potential into him alone? What was different about him compared to the 7 billion people on Earth?
Dante couldn't help but think of the various things about him and then pinpointed one, which was his strange relation to the ancient Italian poet who drafted the Divine Comedy of the same name.
However, rather than the poet whose story was more about him exploring hell with angels by his side and protecting him, Dante was more related to the derived version of it in which the warrior of the same name betrayed his wife and braved through the 9 layers of hell to fight Satan himself for her soul.
But… that was a part of Christian mythology and lore, how could it be the reason for his situation? Dante did not know what to think until Aisha called to him to remind him that he still had things to do.
Dante then took out a natural E Rank Mutation Core and let Aisha absorb it using the same process. There was no problem at this point as Dante gave her 5 replicated ones and 4 normal ones which were all absorbed immediately with no problem.
She broke through to the D rank with a bright explosion of light which now contained heat and lingered for over 30 seconds before disappearing. Now Aisha's eyes had also become white, which matched her hair.
There was even a slight swirl of light within that seemed ready to shoot out and turn her foes into disintegrated ash. The woman herself seemed to become more inhuman and more godly, making Dante think of the various mythologies on Earth.
Could the so-called Gods of Olympus as well as those of Valhalla simply be people who developed superpowers in the ancient ages? Well, even at the F Rank, without technology to limit them, those fellows could definitely be treated like gods.
"No new abilities, my light projectile has become twice as strong again, which means four times from when I was at the F rank, as you say. Likewise, I can now turn 3/4ths of my body into light for a significant amount of time while I can elementalize into light completely for a short while," Aisha revealed as she marveled at her new abilities.
The her now could destroy the entire Pantheon group she had once been a part of. Thinking about how much stronger Dante was compared to her and the breadth of his power as well as his resources, Aisha deeply felt how stupid it was of them to go against him.
Dante was satisfied. "We shall stop here. Given your current strength, I have a new task for you, Aisha. You will be given an Aether Viper Av-9X planet-side ship to travel the world."
"Your duty is? to subdue any and every superpowered user in the world and bring them here. This includes your former association, the Pantheon. Are you up for this?"
Aisha stood up immediately and cricked her neck. "They must be intact and subdued. What if I cannot help but be forced to kill them? Also, what if I am discovered by normies?"
Dante waved his hand. "With the current state of the world, you don't need to worry about being silent. Do whatever is necessary to get the job done, and as for casualties, they will be judged by circumstance."
Aisha nodded and walked out of the room towards a nearby teleporter. Obviously, Dante would install teleporters in his base because unlike him who could naturally beam around, the others couldn't.
Aisha would be provided with a premium-grade nanotech battlesuit that would be of whatever aesthetic she liked, as well as the ship in question needed to travel around. With her current ability, she could easily take down the inexperienced and peak F-grade superpowered users worldwide.
If she encountered difficulties or found special superpowered users who had powers above the F rank, then Dante could dispatch stronger forces immediately. Once he captured the person in question, he could find out how they had achieved the near impossible.
Now that Aisha was dealt with and his loved ones were also secure, it was time to deal with the rest of the unruly human race. After talking to his parents and gaining their insight, Dante knew just what fate to bestow upon everyone.
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