Dante had little time to relish in his new rank as Squad Captain.
He moved to his tent on the battlefield and made to sleep, but actually logged out of the Etraverse and opened his eyes in his residence in the school. After finding something to eat casually, he teleported back to McDonald's Island back on Earth.
He walked up to the cave with the superpowered people he captured and saw that they were chatting with each other in low voices. Dante looked at them and saw that while they were a bit ragged due to their captivity, they still had a spark of resistance and hope in their eyes.
When they saw Dante arrive with his hands in his pockets, they immediately stopped their chatting and sized him up. Immediately, Killian and Luo Yue paled slightly while Aisha's expression became ugly.
They were not psychics but they could easily sense the change in Dante. It lay mostly in his disposition and his eyes.
The reason they had hope was that they knew Dante was not a killer. He had many chances to take their lives but they could see a youthful naivety in his eyes when he looked at them that was full of conflict in terms of whether to harm them.
Especially Killian and Aisha. The former had been an active soldier in war and had taken more than a few lives and he could easily tell when someone had tasted blood or not.
Aisha had lived in the underworld and had eventually become mafiadonna, so she knew the look of a person who did not value human life like a normal person.
Luo Yue may not have these life experience but her intelligence and perceptiveness was higher than the other two thanks to her superpower and her lips practically became blue from how pale she became. She could sense the resolution in Dante;s aura to take a step forward regardless of the obstacle before him, be they person or thing.
ραΠdαsΝοvel.cοm The three squirmed against their bonds as they felt restless, endless fear and regret surging through their hearts. They dearly wished they had never met this man and they wondered what he expected in just two days that caused such a drastic change.
With Dante's SDI, he was just short of becoming fully psychic, but through his eyes, he could understand all the microexpressions and changes in their body language to ascertain their thoughts. He was surprised that they could identify his change, but he made no attempt to hide it.
People treat a person unwilling to kill and a person willing to kill differently in this world. Just like now, these three had been casually chatting and probably planning how to either escape or make Dante release them without much worry because they thought Dante could not kill them previously.
Now that they registered his change, that idea was extinguished from their minds and they were filled with fear and obedience. Even the usually sharp-tongued tsundere Aisha was silent and didn't dare to look at Dante head on.
Dante casually fashioned a chair and then sat down opposite this group. "I am not here to kill you. Your lives have value to me, you, and everyone with superpowers on earth."
Hearing this, the hearts of the three relaxed a little but they were still silent and not willing to offend the current Dante.
"You will stay here for about a month. I'll keep you fed and I will release your bonds so that you can interact with each other, but you cannot leave this island that is surrounded by sea in directions." Dante revealed with a pointed look.
The three were not happy or excited. Whether it was Dante or them, they knew that these strange bindings were not much of a problem apart from making them feel uncomfortable. Luo Yue did not need to use hand signs or the like to use her ability and Aisha could turn parts of her body to literal light.
If they wanted to escape, they could have done it long ago. The issue was that where the fuck were they supposed to go when the shore of the nearest place of civilization - which was South Africa - was more than a few hundred kilometers away?
Killian had herculean stamina and great strength but if he tried to swim, he would likely get tired 1/10th of the way and sink to his death. Aisha could turn into light for a few seconds with different parts of her body and could also turn her whole body to light for a few seconds.
Like that, she could probably cross a farther distance than Killian but would be fully pooped.
She will sink to her death.
Luo Yue was the most helpless. She could use her ability to buff either Killian or Aisha during the nighttime, but what about herself? If she could use elemental magic, she could try Aokiji's method and ride a bike across the sea.
If the three teamed up, they could probably cross 3/10ths of the distance and then die together.
To simplify, the difficulty of them escaping this island was about equivalent to a powerless human imprisoned in a cell that was hanging over a cliff. Even if they opened the cage, do you dare to walk out and see if you could survive the fall?
"Alright, let's keep things simple. Do not enter this cave after you're freed and find your own resting place on this island. Around a month later, you will go through my follow-up methods and regain your freedom of movement." Dante said simply as he stood up and removed their bindings casually.
He then shooed them out of the cave before sealing it up and then ignoring the confused trio who didn't know what to do with their increased 'legroom'. Dante went to the other cave where he kept the mortal team members and these five were far worse for wear.
They saw Dante enter and became silent. This time, Dante didn't bother to speak as he grabbed the rope binding them, lifted the entire group up with one finger, and then walked to the beach of the island with them in tow.
Seeing Dante carry the five of them like this, they were filled with fear as they paled greatly. Such strength and power were something they only saw in movies. Even Killian, the most powerful person they knew, could not do this.
Dante placed their rope down and removed it, freeing the group who split up and panting in pain due to the discomfort of having the bindings dig into their flesh as Dante carried them.
They looked at Dante, wondering what instructions he had for them, but their hearts sank when they saw the layer of indifference and coldness in his glance. He then said one word which made them freeze.
"Swim."
Swim? Swim where? Was there a pond nearby?
The group glanced at each other in silence with pale faces, not willing to look at the raging sea behind them. After all, if they dared to enter that sea, there was no chance of survival unless a miracle happened.
In the end, the sniper stepped forward and spoke. "Sir, please understand that from the moment we acted against you, we possessed no a shred of killing intent. We used solely non-lethal methods and accounted for your safety at every step. Even if we are useless to you now, can you please deal us a more lenient fate?"
The others had pleading expressions and Dante swept his eyes over them. He pondered quietly and felt that they did have a point, there was no real intent to kill in their operation, just to capture. Technically, even that mediocre Pantheon also had the intention to control, not kill.
Dante's expression softened slightly as he glanced at the five. He left eh rope he used to bind them and turned to leave.
"Better learn how to use that to fish if you want to survive here. I have no use for you so I will not feed you nor check up on you. You can go anywhere on the island except the cave at the precipice."
After saying this, he quietly disappeared into thin air before their eyes, causing their faces to change. None of them could understand how Dante achieved this and this further exacerbated their fear and desire to be obedient.
However, the five could only stare at each other with dismay. The Sniper, Tech Specialist, Infiltration Expert, Demolitions, and Assassin were not exactly professionals at wilderness survival.
As such, after discussing for a bit, they decided to find the three superpowered people, especially their team leader Killian, and see if they had any idea to help.
When Dante returned to the Eternal Universe, he felt much lighter since he had dealt with the only really pressing problem on earth.
Now, he could focus on raising his combat skills using the Rising Star World.
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