Dante landed in the shadows, just beyond the reach of the truck lights surrounding what seemed to be a bunker entrance.
The delivery truck was parked just outside, engine still warm, but the cab was empty. No one in sight.
Dante's eyes narrowed. He crept forward, steps silent and reached for the bunker door. It wasn't locked. He pushed it open and slipped inside.
The air changed immediately—sterile, metallic and cold.
The bunker was silent. White walls. Smooth concrete floors. Just a large empty room, around 100x100 foot in size.
Nothing inside of it other than a few cameras, but it was too late, Dante was already inside he couldn't just leave now because he'd be on camera.
But something felt off.
As he scanned the walls, he noticed a slight indent in the far wall. Barely noticeable, but there. Like the outline of a door.
He approached slowly, reached out and pressed his hand against it. A low hiss of air escaped as it slid open, revealing a large hallway leading down into the darkness.
Dante walked in without hesitation.
It was a pretty long hallway, cold fluorescent lights flickering overhead. Glass tanks lined the walls, each one filled with something worse than the last.
Some tanks held people, children, unconscious and floating in some kind of fluid.
Others…
Monstrous creatures, twisted, broken bodies, limbs grafted where they shouldn't be, brains exposed.
"Are these…?"
Dante clenched his fists. This definitely belonged to the League of Villains.
He pushed forward, walking through the long hallway, ignoring everything around him.
At the end, a steel door.
He opened it.
And stepped into a room that went silent the second he arrived.
Inside were at least six people. Four people wore pristine lab coats, frozen in place, briefcases in hand.
Two men in suits—the same kind from before—stood near a large metal cage filled with the sixteen children, huddled and terrified.
Every eye in the room turned to Dante.
No alarms. No one moved.
Just a long, awkward moment of paralysed shock. Dante stepped further in. Slowly. Calmly.
He looked around the room like he was shopping at a store.
"Hey." He said, raising a hand.
"W-who are you?!"
Dante took a step toward the children and said softly. "Close your eyes."
They hesitated.
"Close them. Now."
They obeyed.
Then, without another word, sludge tore out from Dante's right arm, grabbing the scientists and the suited men all at once, binding them midair, arms crushed to their sides, neck strained.
Dante's voice echoed.
"What is this place?"
Silence.
He pulled the sludge tighter. Their limbs creaked, joints popping. Still, no answer.
He hissed through his teeth. "Don't make me eat you."
Still, nothing. Only fear in their eyes.
Fine.
CRACK
The sound of bones breaking rang out as Dante crushes all of their legs at once. Shrieks of agony filled the room. Their legs dangled, twitching, trembling in his grip.
"Talk." He said, low and patient.
Still nothing.
Dante's jaw clenched. His eye twitched.
He drew the tendrils back just slightly.
"…You're so lucky I regained my sense of morality," he muttered. Then—WHAM! Each of their heads snapped back as he knocked each of them unconscious, the tendrils slamming them innit he wall, hard enough to knock them out, but not to kill.
He let the bodies slump to the ground, bound.
He turned back to the cage with a sigh. "It's okay. You can open your—"
BEEEEP. BEEEEP. BEEEEP.
A red siren flared above.
Dante's eyes widened.
One of the scientists, moment before passing out, had somehow managed to slam his hand onto a big red button on the desk.
Lights dimmed. An alarm blared through the facility like a nuclear warning.
Then—CRASH!
A thunderous explosion echoed from the corridor.
"Glass? Shit."
The tanks had broken.
And those creatures had been unleashed.
Dante's eyes narrowed. Just one glance down the hallway and he already understood what he was up against.
Fifteen of them, fifteen bright skinned ones with what seemed to be mutation quirks? They had claws, scales, fins, gaping jaws. Their snarls filled the space, yuck.
Three of them lagged behind, they were smaller, twitchier, they looked frail, probably failed products.
But at the back… two figures loomed.
They were massive, their skin was a very dark purple, almost black. Shoulders like boulders, long arms dragging, spines jagged and exposed. These were just like the one that All Might had fought in the U.S.J.
Dante could feel it.
Way stronger then the others, powerhouses even.
He couldn't fight them here, not with the children in that cage.
He turned sharply and retracted his sludge, making sure to snatch that bastard who had pressed the button.
The man couldn't scream as Dante dragged him close.
"This is the last one." Dante muttered. And just like that—
SHLURP!
The scientists body was absorbed into Dante's body, he didn't give any strength, but the knowledge came flooding in.
He stumbled back, gripping his head, breath sharp. Images, memories, documents, meetings, all pouring in.
He saw them being made. Saw the process. Saw the numbers.
"Fifteen "Middle Tier" Nomu : Bright Skin, only 2 quirks each, mutation, lacking intelligence, strength of 5-8 men each, varied.
Three "Lower Tier" Nomu : Muted Skin, 2 quirks, weak bodies, poor fusion, strength of 1-2 men each, varied.
Two "Upper Tier" Nomu : Dark Skin, experimental muscle tanks, each one has the strength of at least 10 men, one of them had the strength of 19 men and the other 17, high speed, both having super regenerative quirks, varied."
Dante's eyes regained focus.
He looked ahead and grinned. "Only 19x stronger than the average man? Good thing I absorbed 135, try 20.5x stronger."
——
A/N : (Dante gets 15% strength from the average villain, 10% from randoms and 100% from those he had a close relationship with)
before, it was 17.35 because 107 villains x 15 = 1,605 + 5 bodyguards (10% each) = 1,635 + Kaijin = 100 = 1,735.
1,735 divided by 100 = 17.35. Then, Dante absorbed 21 villains (+315) and 1 weak ahh scientist (+0) so 1,735 + 315 + 0 = 2,050 divided by 100 = 20.5x stronger.
Yap done :)
——-
He was 20.5x stronger, he could take them, maybe.
Just… not here.
He turned to the kids, still behind bars, scared, but alive.
Good.
He took off his scarf and mask, they would probably get destroyed in this fight, he looked at the children, all of them were sitting down on the floor, except for one.
It was a young boy with grey and blue hair, he was standing at the front with a determined look in his eye.
"You hold onto these for me, kid." Dante said with a rare smile, "You keep the others safe."
The kid put on the mask and scarf, not afraid of Dante in the slightest and nodded.
And with that, he turned back to the hallway.
The Nomu were marching now, charging down the hallway.
Dante bared his teeth as he stretched his arms a little. "Alright…"