After the shockwave from the Shadow Well knocked everyone down, they slowly stood up, afraid that it would do it again.
On the other hand, Dante approached the well and grabbed the shiny purple orb on top of it with a tired expression.
"It's done…" *cough* Dante cut himself off as he coughed out a bit of blood on the back of his hand.
"Are you okay!?" Sophia exclaimed as his three friends ran up to him with worried faces.
"I'm just a little tired. This one was a bit harder to make," Dante replied, trying to put up a fake smile to hide the excruciating pain plaguing his body.
"Here it is…" he continued, handing the purple orb to Megan.
The brunette momentarily looked at the pill-sized shiny sphere, getting it closer to her eyes to see the tiny electrical currents inside it.
"Umm, this is safe. Right?" Megan asked.
"I made sure it was…" Dante vaguely replied.
"Is that why it took such a toll on your body?" The brunette continued, almost as if she could read his mind.
The warlock turned his gaze to the side and waved his hand to make the Shadow Well disappear before explaining in detail.
Since Dante had to process the souls of demons that he had absorbed, he had to take all the malice and nightmares from them before infusing them into the orb.
Splitting the soul of a demon into different categorized pieces took a lot of umbra and willpower, so he expressed that it was common for his body to react that way. Nevertheless, his explanation didn't make the group any less worried.
"I have this on me!" Sophia exclaimed, looking into her bag and pulling out a healthstone.
"Oh, this is the one we used to heal Zac. Thanks, Sophie…" said Dante, squeezing the stone and producing a green mist that enveloped him.
*Gulp* The group heard Megan swallowing the orb, making them turn around to see the woman completely unbothered.
"How did you not choke!?" Zac asked, remembering how much he coughed after swallowing his orb.
"I don't feel anything…" Megan replied, ignoring the redhead's question.
"That's good. Let's wait until tomorrow to test it out," Dante said as his body healed slowly.
____________________
The following day, Dante accompanied Sophia to her lessons as usual and then visited Camille's office after the woman sent the group a text message.
When they arrived, they found the platinum-haired woman sitting behind her desk with Cerberus on her lap, asking the group to sit down while she spoke.
"We've been looking into all the clues we have. Turns out that Turner guy wasn't lying when he said he was connected to the mafia…" Camille explained.
After the ordeal at Novis University, where Dante beat up Turner and his lackeys, Camille started investigating him, and she didn't see anything strange in the bully's records.
However, when she started investigating his father, the handler found some inconsistencies that made her believe the information was fake.
"Joseph Schwartz, the owner of Celest Bank. He inherited his fortune and business from his father, and he is known as a competent leader…" Camille continued.
"When we tried to backtrack some of his records, we couldn't find the source. From experience, this means that they hid their real information," said the handler.
Camille concluded that the thugs that were sent to Dante's apartment were most likely sent by Turner's father, which she expected would happen if the man truly was connected to the mafia.
"Those two assassins were from the Scarlett Bullets, so it's safe to say Joseph is part of that gang," she said.
The handler also questioned the man Dante brought from the nightclub, who was the leader of the group of criminals stationed there. Nevertheless, he genuinely had no idea who Joseph was.
After briefing them on the information they had, Camille explained the next part of her plan to lure out the other gangs targeting them.
"I bought a house for you guys. It's pretty close to your apartments, so you will still be able to walk to campus…" the handler said, surprising the group.
Before anyone could ask questions, Camille kept talking, saying that the apartment was already too compromised to stay there. Still, that didn't mean the new house was safe.
Her plan was to have the group of four move into the new house in a very public manner, leaving the details of the sale in the public domain for everyone to see.
Then, she would plant security guards all around the area to look for anyone suspicious that could target their new home.
"If we take down the Scarlett Bullets soon, we are going to need a clue for the ones ranking above them. I think this could help us lure them out…" Camille continued.
Zac was the only one who seemed a bit troubled by her plan, as they were basically the bait for dangerous criminals to get them. However, seeing the others' calm composure made him relax a little.
"It's not like I'm leaving you in the middle of a piranha-infested lake. The house will be overly protected, I guarantee it," Camille stated.
After the handler was done with her piece, she was about to dismiss them from her office, but they still wanted to talk to her about the contract that Megan and Zac made with Dante.
"A contract…?" Camille pondered aloud, prompting the warlock to explain in detail.
"I see. I thought Zac was just wearing contact lenses, but it's his vision that got better…" she muttered after hearing Dante.
Megan commented that she wanted to test out her physical skills, and suddenly, Camille received a call on her phone from Paige, the scientist.
"Uh huh… So, you heard everything?" said Camille while speaking on the phone.
"Alright, alright. I'll send them there…" she continued, hanging up.
"Paige wants you to test your abilities in the lab. That might be a better idea than doing it in public," said the handler, redirecting her attention to the group.
Without any objections, the group made their way to the elevator, taking them to the secret underground lab under the skyscraper.