Villain: 10x Rewards Begins With The Protagonist's Mother

Corbin stopped in front of the door and turned to them.

"Quick advice for you guys. Don’t stare at the Captain too long and don’t try anything smooth with her."

"What happens if we do?" Freya asked, half-joking.

"Those four guys behind her will kill you." Corbin said simply. There was real fear in his voice.

After warning the trio, he pushed the door open. The noise from the arena dropped to a muffled roar behind them.

Petra’s eyes slowly moved from the ring to the door. She didn’t speak right away. She just sat there swirling her wine, her violet eyes moving across the three of them one by one.

Her four men were watching the trio like guard dogs that just heard a noise.

Petra looked at them the way a predator looks at something small that just wandered into its territory.

"Corbin." She said, turning her head to him. "These are the ones?"

"Yes, Captain." Corbin nodded and introduced the three. "Jester, Two Punch Man, and Kitty Crusher."

Petra raised an eyebrow at the last name while memorizing the others.

Freya caught her reaction and immediately felt a wave of embarrassment. ’It’s all that guy’s fault! I will definitely get him back for this!’

"You can go." Petra waved him off.

Corbin didn’t waste any time and walked out of the room.

"Sit." Petra said, nodding at the chairs across from her desk.

Dante sat down without any hesitation while Felix stayed standing behind him on his left and Freya on his right.

Petra glanced at the two of them and then back at Dante. "They don’t sit?"

"They prefer standing." Dante said.

"Hm." A small smile crossed her face. "Loyal and well-trained. That’s rare these days."

’In the reports, the one with the joker mask was said to be the weakest among them, but the other two listened to him. That sounds about right.’ She thought with an internal nod.

She set her glass down and leaned forward, resting her chin on her hand.

"You three demolished two White Tiger bases in the past few days. But you left a LOT of survivors. Was this your plan from the start? To make us come to you?"

"That’s one of the reasons." Dante admitted, then added in a cold tone, "The main thing is I don’t want to give them all a quick death."

"I want them to lose sleep every night wondering when we’ll show up again."

"Oh? What terrible thing did the white cats do to offend you so badly?" Petra raised her eyebrows.

"They killed my brother." He replied, his voice dropping low. 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

"So it’s revenge." She said without much surprise. "What were you planning to do if we didn’t contact you?"

"We would have gone ahead with our revenge regardless." Dante said like it was a matter of fact.

"That’s suicide, you know." She said, her face full of sympathy that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

"It doesn’t matter." He said, then added in an impatient tone, "Did you call us here to waste our time?"

"Oh, how impatient." Petra’s eyes narrowed dangerously. Her men didn’t even bother hiding their hostility.

"Very well. We at Crimson Hollow are willing to help you with your revenge." She said with an amused smile. "But before that, you need to prove yourself."

"Prove myself?" Dante repeated, leaning back in his chair. "I think you’ve got it backwards."

Petra’s smile faltered for a second. "Excuse me?"

"When I said we would have gone ahead with our revenge, I meant it. We were completely prepared." Dante said, his tone shifting from impatient to something colder. "On the other hand, you guys have been fighting the White Tiger Union for years and haven’t finished the job. You need us more than we need you."

The four men behind Petra tensed up. One of them took a step forward.

"You’ve got some nerve talking to the Captain like that." He said, cracking his knuckles.

Dante ignored him completely and kept his eyes on Petra.

"You want proof, right? Hahahaha!" He laughed out, standing up from the chair.

A tank materialized out of thin air right beneath his feet. The sheer weight of it cracked the floor tiles on impact and the barrel was pointed directly at Petra.

"I should be the one telling you to prove yourself." He said with a tilt of his head.

The room went dead silent for a moment.

Petra’s face flashed with surprise before returning to normal. "A tank? Do you think you can hurt me with that toy?"

"You still have time to apologize." She added, her voice turning cold.

Dante stood on the tank, looking down at her with an excited gleam in his eyes.

"Shall we test it?" He raised his wrist and pressed a button on his watch.

The second he pressed it, the tank hummed to life.

A blue glow started building inside the barrel and... every awakener in the room felt the mana condensing at the same time.

’What the hell is that?!’ Petra’s expression changed the instant she sensed the danger.

"Stop him!"

All four of her men moved at once, going straight for Dante.

But Felix and Freya were already in front of them.

Freya dropped two of them before they took three steps. Felix caught a punch from one and sent the other flying into the wall with a single palm strike.

Petra slipped through the chaos and reached Dante herself.

Her hand shot for his throat in an instant.

The protective shield activated on contact and her fingers bounced off like she had grabbed solid steel.

In the same breath, a mana gun appeared in Dante’s hand and the barrel pressed against her forehead.

Everything stopped for a moment.

"How long do you think that little shield will last?" Petra asked in a mocking tone as a fiery red aura formed into a claw around her hand.

"Long enough." Dante said, a grin spreading across his face.

"Long enough to put a hole in your head."

_________

[Moral’s Note]

I finally took my courage to go premium. You can expect 5-8 more priv chaps after June 1.

For those who are wondering, this arc will wind up soon.

And the next one will focus on Natasha exclusively!