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

The mana gun was still pressed against Petra’s forehead when the door behind them exploded inward.

More than half a dozen men poured into the room with weapons drawn and killing intent flooding the space.

Behind them, even more were coming. The room was packed, the stairway was jammed, but her men were still rushing up like bulls that saw red.

"Captain! Get away from him!"

"We’ll handle these bastards!"

They were already charging toward Dante when Petra’s voice cut through the noise.

"Stand down!"

On any normal day, they would have obeyed her without a second thought. But with a gun pressed against their captain’s head, not a single one of them was in the mood to listen.

"I said stand down!" Petra repeated, louder this time, and she released her red aura toward them while the claw around her hand dissolved.

Every single one of them froze mid-step.

She took a step back from Dante and hopped down from the tank.

"We were just playing a fun game." She said with a casual wave of her hand. "Nothing to worry about. Now get out. All of you."

The men looked at her, then at Dante still standing on a tank with a gun in his hand, then back at her.

None of them believed a single word.

But none of them questioned it either.

They filed out one by one, and the last guy shut the broken door behind him as best he could.

The room went quiet again.

Petra looked at the cracked floor tiles under the tank, then at her four men picking themselves off the ground. She let out a small laugh and turned back to Dante.

"You’re crazier than I expected." She said, folding her arms across her chest. "You actually had the balls to attack a captain of Crimson Hollow inside her own base."

"I’ll give you that much."

Dante dismissed the tank back into his inventory.

It dissolved into small particles and vanished, and he hopped down from where he was standing.

"What about you?" He asked with a grin, holding the gun loosely in his hand. "Still want to test whether this thing actually works?"

"Haha." Petra laughed through her teeth, barely keeping a straight face. "I suggest you put that thing away before I change my mind. We’re going to be allies from now on."

"As you wish." Dante shrugged, raised both hands, and the gun disappeared.

Petra walked back to her desk, opened a drawer, pulled out three small metal badges, and tossed them to the trio. Each one had the same hollow red circle that Corbin had tattooed on his neck.

"Enforcer badges." She said, sitting back down. "Every affiliated store in the city will let you walk out without paying a cent."

"There’s also a decent amount loaded on them to spend however you want. Scan the badges for the rest."

"A free black card?" Dante said, turning the badge over in his hand. "Not bad."

"I’ll send word when we’re ready to move. Until then, stand down and don’t cause any more trouble with the White Tigers." Petra said, her violet eyes locked onto his. "We move when I say we move."

Dante looked at her and nodded, his eyes still on the badge. "Sure. Take as much time as you need."

Then he added with a polite smile. "But please hurry."

Petra’s eyebrow twitched, but she didn’t say anything.

The three of them turned and walked out without another word. The moment they stepped through the door, they were met with a wall of hostile stares.

The goons who had been sent away were lined up on both sides, arms crossed and faces ugly. Every single one of them was glaring at the trio like they were burning their faces into memory.

Dante walked through them without slowing down and without looking at any of them. Felix and Freya followed right behind him, not a single bit of worry on their faces.

Not one of the goons made a move.

As the three of them disappeared down the stairs and into the crowd below, Petra’s men finally gathered properly in front of her desk.

The one who had cracked his knuckles earlier was now holding his shoulder with a pained expression. He lowered his head in shame.

"Captain, I’m sorry. We failed you." He said through gritted teeth.

"It’s fine." Petra said with her back to him, watching the trio walk away through the tinted glass.

"You wouldn’t have won even if you were serious." She added, turning back to face them. "Both of those two are stronger than all four of you."

None of them argued.

They weren’t ordinary thugs.

They were enforcers, Crimson Hollow’s awakener muscle, the ones who handled the jobs that regular goons couldn’t touch. Every one of them was at Mana Awakening Mid Stage.

And those two had treated them like children.

The woman in the cat mask had dropped two of them so fast they didn’t even register the hits until they were already on the ground. The big one had caught a full force punch with one hand like he was picking up a ball.

For enforcers at Mid Stage to get wiped that cleanly, those two had to be at Late Stage at the very least. More likely Peak.

"But what really caught my attention was the other one." Petra said, narrowing her eyes.

She replayed the moment in her head.

A mana-powered tank that materialized out of thin air. A gun that made every instinct in her body scream to get away from it.

’Even the Devereux family doesn’t have anything like that.’ She thought, her eyes darkening. ’Where the hell did he get them? Did he build them himself?’

"Who are these people?" One of her men asked.

Petra didn’t answer right away. She sat down, took a slow sip of her wine, and a scheming look crept onto her face.

"We don’t know yet." She said. "But whatever toys he’s carrying, I want them."

She set the glass down and looked at the cracked floor where the tank had been standing moments ago.

"Keep an eye on those three. I want to know everything about them."

Her men nodded and walked out of the room.

Once they were gone, Petra leaned back in her chair and stared at the ceiling.

’If I can get my hands on those toys, maybe I can finally make my dream come true...’ She thought, pressing the rim of the glass against her lips as a smile that had nothing to do with weapons slowly spread across her face.

She crossed her legs and took a long sip.

’Mm... I can’t wait~!’