Modern World Warlock

After Camille returned to the Jade Palace from her meeting with the Spring handler, she went to the inner garden of the mansion to relax.

Asher and Amara were playing games with the vampire fledglings and Cerberus—and when Camille sat down to peacefully watch them on a bench, she took a cigarette out from her pocket.

"I didn't know you liked smoking…" Dante interrupted the woman's peace, approaching the bench and sitting beside her.

"Heh, I don't particularly enjoy it…" Camille replied, explaining that she only smoked when she felt sad.

"I'm guessing the meeting didn't go that well," Dante commented.

"It was better than I expected, but not as bad as it could've been… You know?" she replied, taking a puff of her cigarette.

Camille explained that the Onyx Cartel had done something to the Azure Rebels that prevented them from acting freely. However, Alexander didn't—or couldn't—reveal what it was.

"Dante, you said a necromancer controls the dead, right?" The handler asked.

"Yes. Anything related to death… The energy we call 'Spirit,' which they use to cast their spells, is purely made of souls," Dante replied.

For a necromancer, the dead were mere disposable tools they used to fulfill their objectives, and their magic allowed them to bypass the souls' permission.

"What do you mean?" Camille inquired.

As an example, Dante pointed at himself and explained that he absorbed the soul of his beloved Beatrice only after she "accepted" his body. However, if the soul of the deceased woman declined, he wouldn't have been able to absorb it.

On the other hand, a necromancer's magic bypassed these permissions and forcefully weaved the souls of the dead into whatever they needed.

"That sucks. So, the dead can't even rest in peace?" Camille continued.

Dante nodded affirmatively with a bit of apprehension. Still, he revealed that there were a few cases where the souls of the dead would willingly serve the necromancer.

*Tch* "Dante… If you don't want to, you don't have to get involved," Camille commented, clicking her tongue and taking a puff of her cigarette.

"That again? I already told you I want to be involved… Do you expect me to just relax here while you guys are out there fighting a necromancer?" he replied, his tone hinting at a bit of annoyance.

"Sorry… That'll be the last time I ask," Camille said.

Dante could still see traces of sadness in the handler's umbra, prompting Camille to tell him about her past—during the times she was learning the ropes on how to become the handler.

Back then, the four candidates of the Stellar families got along well with each other. Still, she couldn't remember the exact moment when everything changed.

"You see… When a new generation of handler candidates appears, they all must become the handlers of their families at the same time," Camille elaborated.

In the old rules of the Stellar families, it was stated that when the youngest of the candidates turned twenty-one, all four of them would take their seats as their respective handlers.

However, since Camille had to forcefully take her position when she was still twenty after shooting her mind-controlled father, the other three candidates were forced to start their time as handlers a bit earlier.

The real shift of handlers was meant to happen two years later since Melinda was still nineteen, but Camille knew she didn't have all that time to wait and took matters into her own hands.

"Our generation was supposed to be a peaceful one…" Camille said.

For a long time, Camille felt a bit guilty about her actions, not knowing if the decision she had made was the right one.

Nonetheless, when she discovered that the Onyx Cartel were the ones scheming behind the scenes, she fully embraced her decision.

Even though the demon culprit who brainwashed her father was killed, the true offenders were still out there, and she couldn't forgive them.

"I know revenge is supposed to be bad for a person… But damn, I want it so bad," Camille muttered.

Dante gazed at the woman with a curious look. "Who said revenge is bad?" he asked.

"Heh, I don't know… Movies?" she jokingly replied.

While Dante agreed that revenge didn't usually solve all of a person's problems, he stated it was still much better than having the lingering feeling inside.

"Killing Satan didn't bring Beatrice back to me, but I did feel relieved when I ended him…" Dante explained.

"I understand… I won't back down from my revenge," Camille said, thanking the warlock for his words.

After their talk, Rina and Rona took the children back inside the mansion to bathe them, prompting the handler to take her leave while Dante moved to his hammock.

As he lay down and looked up at the sky in the midst of dusk, he sharpened his eyes when remembering Lilith in her berserk state.

Lilith was a Demon Queen from hell, and she had a strange condition called "Survival Instinct."

While it was considered a condition, it was also an ability. However, it wasn't a skill that Lilith could control willingly.

Whenever Lilith's body felt like she could genuinely die, her mind would go completely blank, making her go into a "berserk state" where her speed and strength tripled.

Dante was aware that one of the reasons Lilith became a queen was because of that ability since she ended up slaying the previous Demon King of Lust while her survival instinct was active.

He had only seen her in that state two times before. One time when she fought against him, and another time when they fought against a powerful demon in hell.

However, seeing her in that state for a third time on Earth was somewhat unsettling for Dante, as he never expected there would be someone powerful enough to push her to that limit.

'A necromancer that's strong enough to make Lilith freak out…' Dante pondered.

'It couldn't be…' he continued, gritting his teeth.

"What a terrible feeling… I should go train with the others…" Dante muttered to himself, standing up from the hammock with haste before making his way to the lab.