Chapter 278 Dante's Cold Fury 1
But now, hearing this, Kurtaghagt was obviously more inclined to side with the rebels. Goodness gracious, Dante only disappeared for half a month and was now giving him the same fatal feeling that Lara Sanguis did.
Originally, he had been willing to cave, but now that Dante was like this, he understood that he had to hold on a bit harder and try to push things back. What he did not expect though, was that after everybody glanced at him, Dante would teleport right over, right into his face.
"CEO Kurtaghagt in the flesh. It's good to see you here because I can now receive an answer today about my inquiry towards my compensation from the Supreme Council," Dante said straightforwardly, not even doing any useless small talk.
Immediately, Kurtaghagt's expression froze as he understood that Dante was basically saying that everything would be resolved here and now. Either he spat out what he had to or he died, along with the other guilty Supreme Council members.
Kurtaghagt could only grit his teeth internally. It was one thing for him to die, but if other aliens and three mixed humans were killed too, there would never be hope for the rebellion. One could not imagine the torturous work they had put in to get 5 out of the 12 members to be non-pure humans.
Even if they and the pure humans died, those like Dante could refill the gap and prevent them from ever truly standing up for themselves. It was an outcome that could not be allowed to happen!
Many other powerhouses by the side heard what Dante said and they couldn't help but feel second-hand fear and pressure. Just thinking of what it would be like to be stared down by that vicious young man who had that crazy woman as his mother-in-law, they respected Kurtaghagt for being able to remain standing without his knees clacking together.
"Well, haha. It's nice to finally meet such a strapping young man like you. Our efforts in the First Gate have been meager these past few years, but with you now on the battlefield, I assume that it should become-" Kurtaghagt began in a falsely confident voice but was cut off by Dante who waved his hand.
"Let's not play games. I'm here to deal with my beloved 'classmates' who got to feast at my expense, so you are not the main target today. You can completely decide to leave here without giving me what I want, and that's fine."
Dante then smiled and used his psychic ability to transmit his voice. "But you wouldn't want me and Beatrice to have to 'arrest' Young Master Shaitan, do you?"
Kurtaghagt's pupils constricted. Shaitan was not the name of his son, but rather his title within the rebel group. For Dante to mention it now, it was clear what he was implying and Kurtaghagt's defenses broke completely.
He did not have the ability to communicate telepathically like Dante, at least not to the extent of not being overheard by others with high mental strengths, so he opted to send an encrypted message to Dante's AI chip.
When Dante opened it, he looked through casually and smiled. He patted the slightly taller Kurtaghagt on the arm and walked away after leaving a message.
"Good job, I will send you a congratulations gift in a few days for being so sensible."
Kurtaghagt felt deflated. He was in a current mixture of relief for finally sorting out this issue and in denial because he knew the repercussions of his actions and could not do anything but watch them unfold.
Seeing Kurtaghagt's demeanor, the hearts of many sank as they realized that either Dante got what he wanted or had put measures in place to ensure that he would get it. This made many curse Kurtaghagt internally and glare at him with anger, blaming him for caving in.
As for why they didn't step up to help him bear the pressure… why are you asking such reasonable questions? Such questions don't matter; what matters is everything is Kurtaghagt's fault!
Kurtaghagt ignored them. He only cared about the bigger picture, and the anger of such small fries could not make him waver. If it could, he would have staunchly refused Dante from the beginning.
As for Dante, he came to stand in front of the portal, alongside the teachers. Many speechless glanced at him, opening their mouths to tell him to scram back with the others but not finding the words to do so.
"All of you, stand back." Dante stated domineeringly, waving his hand and emitting a strange force that pushed the teachers back by about 10 steps.
The teachers were shocked and furious, but they found that they could not speak or make any sound no matter how they opened their mouths. To their horror, Dante had used sound magic to strip their ability to create any of the said elements within that area.
He wasn't in the mood to listen to the various "how dare yous' and 'disrespectful!' from these fellows who could not even elicit the slightest bit of respect in him. The only one he was partially wary of was Lara, or specifically, her clone acting as the headmistress.
However, Dante could precisely act wantonly because he knew two things. The first was that he was stronger than the clone Lara, and that was something she would take into account. The second was that from the very beginning, Lara never cared about the school but her agenda.
That agenda obviously mostly involved him, so as long as he did not stray out of her 'interest' zone and continued to display such excellence, she would likely tolerate anything he did for the most part.
As such, when about 30 minutes passed and the first student came out, they were relieved to finally be out of the danger zone. When they scanned around and saw that they were the first, their expression became weird, though it was not necessarily bad to be the first out.
However, before this student could relax, they found that there was something wrong. The people meant to receive those who got fruits were standing far back with their heads lowered slightly while the teachers were even further away and looked like cuckolds who just found out the truth but did not dare speak.
It was then that the student's eyes fell on Dante who was standing at the front with a calm smile, and his pupils constricted greatly. His body trembled, and sweat formed on his brow spontaneously as his legs shook.
After all, every student - after 30 days - had realized that the monster they feared the most was not around. In fact, it was only the first years who expected Dante to come along with them.
As part of the school curriculum, everyone in the Unique batch from the second year onward would actively study and prepare for the First Gate.
So yes, they knew about it, and they inevitably found out that Dante would be squeezed into there. They were not direct participants of the Supreme Council's plot, but they realized something was going on and decided to play along.
In fact, the Supreme Council wanted to bind Dante to them, not kill him, but the students didn't know that and thought that this was a way to execute him.
As such, the moment they had entered the Zero Gate and did not see Dante with them, not only did they breathe a sigh of relief, but they laughed cruelly and wantonly, thinking that such a great competitor had met his end.
Who asked him to grow so fast and be so strong?!
Seeing him here and now, standing in front of everybody like this, even a dog could calculate that things were not good. Before the student could speak, Dante scanned him up and down and looked disappointed.
He simply waved a hand and bound the student's mind and body, lifting them up and letting them float to the side. As more students came out, Dante did the same to them after they all went through their reactions of horror at seeing him live and well.
By the time an hour passed, students of the second to fourth years had already mostly come out and were captured. Among them, seven special students from these four year groups had fruits with them, so they were made to float right behind Dante, separated from the rest.
Eventually, the first of the first years came out, looking tired and exhausted. When he saw the scenario he was stunned for a bit, but his eyes fell on the floating seniors and were filled with anger and hatred.
"Oh?"
This surprised Dante, and he beckoned a finger over, pulling the student before him. He first used a 1st-rank Rejuvenation spell to make the student return to their peak before inquiring as to why he looked at his seniors like that.
"Dante, when we went into the Zero Gate, they banded together, saying that you had caused them great mental distress, so we the first years had to atone for your sins. They used us like cannon fodder to acquire the fruits!" Dante's classmate said with extreme grievance.
When this was revealed, the teachers showed shocked expressions as well as furious ones. What the hell, what had they been teaching these vermin?! How could they do something like this?!
Even the cutthroat faction owners at the back were aghast. If such a habit were to be cultivated, forget the Zero Gate, the Eternal Universe might end up being slaughtered in the First Gate! Is this what the school had been allowing all this time?
The pupils of the senior students constricted greatly. The worst possible outcome had occurred, and they didn't even have any way of defending themselves being sealed like this…
"Hoh? Interesting. Did any of our classmates die?" Dante asked with a fading smile.
"Yeah, more than half of our classmates are dead. The rest were bound up and left in the Zero Gate because if the news came out, they would be in trouble." The first-year student revealed which caused a second wave of shock.
"Luckily, you know my superpower, so I was able to hide away and sneak out when they all came through." The student concluded as they fought back tears.
Dante knew this student. He was Ethan Blackwood, ranked eighth in their class with the superpower of Shadow Traversal. He must have carefully bided his time and used clever means to escape the search and sneak his way out here.
"What about Slessor, Humphrey, and Louisa?" Dante asked, his voice becoming cold.
"Slessor and Humphrey were crippled and bound up while Louisa was the first to die under their machinations." Ethan revealed after wiping his tears with his ragged sleeve.
"Alright, Ethan. Rest for now, leave everything to me." Dante patted the fellow on the shoulder and cast a 1st-rank calming spell on him. Due to Dante's super-strong spiritual power, it went all the way to act as a sedative, making Ethan fall into a peaceful sleep.
Dante paused and turned to those behind him. "You guys heard everything, so don't say or do anything stupid, or I will break the rules as I want. The only ones who can punish me are my own loved ones and my conscience, so don't push me down that road."
"Just quietly watch, that is the smartest thing you can do right now." Dante added as he placed Ethan in a separate pocket dimension using a space element spell and then walked toward the Zero Gate.
What was terrifying was that all the senior students who had just escaped that hell were being pulled along with Dante, their eyes widening and constricting rapidly with fear and horror. After all, everyone knew that the danger level of the Zero Gate outside of the 30-day weakening period was very high.
While Dante could survive it, they certainly couldn't!
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