Modern World Warlock

When dawn arrived at the city of Novis, Dante and his group were finished with Captain Slacks' interrogation.

Camille asked June what she wanted to do with the man, believing that the detective should be the one to choose his fate.

"I want him to be put in solitary confinement…" June said, wanting her captain to go through the ordeal that he was going to put her in the first place.

The handler thought that it was a fair punishment and ordered the Alpha Team to lock up the man in a secret prison that the Jade Dragons used, located under the skyscraper.

They wouldn't be able to place him in a real prison until they were finished with the Blood Dragons, so their own jail was the best option.

After returning to Camille's office, the handler told June to rest in one of the guests' rooms in the skyscraper while they planned their next course of action.

The group had the location of the abandoned home where Nihilor was keeping his victims. However, they also had the addresses of eight different Ruby Vipers' bases.

While Captain Slacks didn't know where Astaroth and his men were summoning demons, he knew the reason why.

The man told them that the Blood Dragons were planning to sow chaos in Novis so that Astaroth and his men could act as the heroes who saved it.

Back in the days of the Jade Dragons, the citizens respected the mafia family as they provided protection to the citizens from smaller criminal gangs. However, the public didn't have the same emotions towards the Blood Dragons.

The dealings of the mafia families were like urban legends in Novaria—tales that people talked about while not fully believing their contents.

When the Jade Dragons were exterminated, the rumors of the Blood Dragons being a gang of cold-blooded murderers spread throughout the city.

Astaroth didn't care about his image at first, but his mind changed when Sabelio explained that they needed the trust of the citizens to be able to conduct their business in Novis without interruption.

From that point forward, the Blood Dragons became extremely secretive about their crimes, following a long-term plan that would allow them to establish themselves as the leading mafia family.

While their plans made sense to Dante and Camille, they still didn't understand why Sabelio had summoned Astaroth in the first place.

The demon was too powerful for him to control, essentially making Astaroth the true leader of the Blood Dragons.

Camille remembered reading the diary of Alan Dunlap, Megan's grandfather, who wrote that his friend Sabelio had been going insane after feeling threatened. However, the man didn't go into specifics.

'What could have threatened that man to such an extent that he would kill a bunch of people to summon a demon…?' the handler pondered while leaning her elbows on her desk.

Gazing at Dante, the woman told him to get some rest since he hadn't slept and must have felt exhausted after an eventful night.

"I'm not feeling too tired. Besides, you haven't slept either, right?" Dante commented with a slight smile.

The handler smiled warmly at the warlock, stating that she wouldn't be able to sleep even if she wanted to—especially now that they had Alice's location.

"Should I go right now to get her back?" Dante asked.

"I would love to say yes, but I also don't want to put you at risk in the middle of the day…" the handler replied.

"Risk of what?"

Camille pressed a button on the side of her desk, causing the wall behind her with a whiteboard hanging to cave in and slide, switching to a TV screen.

When she turned it on, the news station was reporting on Barretto's prison break, with dozens of reporters surrounding the building and interviewing inmates and guards.

"You see? They are already looking for a masked man… Even though Trinity deleted all of the footage from the cameras, it seems there were a few witnesses," Camille said.

"Besides, now we know they are planning on attacking public spaces with those new demons they are summoning… It wouldn't be smart to have you too far from our group," she continued.

It was only a matter of hours before the kidnapping of Captain Slacks would be made public, and knowing that there were other policemen who had their minds corrupted was giving Camille a bad feeling.

The handler was worried that the Ruby Vipers would try to attack their bait home again, knowing that it failed the first time when they sent Asher and Amara.

"Well, the twins could take on a low-ranked demon by themselves… But the captain did mention succubi and wraiths," Dante commented.

"I told you. I don't want to make the kids fight," Camille said.

"I understand that—I wouldn't make them fight a succubus or a wraith anyway since they would probably die…" Dante continued.

*Sigh* "The thing is… I can't kill a succubus," he said in a disappointed tone.

"Are they THAT strong?" Camille pondered aloud, widening her eyes at the warlock's words.

"No, no. I mean—they are strong, but it's not a matter of power. I just promised that I wouldn't kill any…" replied Dante.

Camille wanted him to explain in more detail, but first, she wanted him to suggest a solution, as she didn't even know what succubi were capable of.

"Succubi are lust demons. They seduce their prey and enchant them with their fake appearances, eventually hypnotizing and turning them into their slaves," Dante explained.

"And what do you mean you 'promised' not to kill any of them?"

"I have a deal with the succubus queen… Now that I think about it, I should probably summon her to have her control her subordinates," Dante said, placing a hand on his chin.

"Is she dangerous?" Camille continued asking.

"Yeah, very… But I don't think she would try to do anything as long as I'm around,"

*Sigh* "Come, let's go to the laboratory, and you can tell me more about this succubus queen…" said the handler as she stood up from her seat.

When the pair got into the elevator, Camille asked if the queen had a name.

"Lilith…" Dante muttered.