After Dante, Zac, and Sophia left the handler's office, they were told that security measures were going to start that same day.
Zac didn't entirely understand what was happening, and as the trio walked back to Dante's apartment, he inquired about the identity of the beautiful platinum-haired lady.
Still, when he heard her last name was "Winter," the redhead looked pale, feeling like he had acted disrespectfully towards one of the most powerful people in the country.
Sophia chuckled at Zac's worries, explaining that Camille wasn't the type of person to care for that sort of thing, and the trust the blonde placed in her made Zac feel much better.
When the group got to Dante's apartment and opened the door, they were surprised to see all of Zac's belongings in the living room, neatly packed in boxes.
"What the hell is this!?" the redhead exclaimed as he ran towards the boxes.
At the same time, Dante received a call from Camille, putting it on speaker for everyone to listen, and the handler asked the warlock to share the apartment with the redhead and keep him safe until the events died down.
Zac was afraid that his scholarship wouldn't pay for the rent there, but Camille had no intention of charging him. All she asked as repayment was that he kept being friends with Dante, and the redhead wholeheartedly agreed.
Megan arrived a few minutes later and helped the group unpack Zac's stuff, which wasn't much, and after they had dinner, the girls went to their apartment.
*Sigh* "Welp… wanna play a game before going to bed?" the redhead asked the warlock, signaling at his GameStation that was brought by Camille's men.
"Actually, there is something I want to do…" replied Dante, standing up from the couch.
"Are there any open spaces where not many people pass by?" the warlock asked.
"Hmm, I guess a park at this time would be relatively empty—Why?"
"I'll tell you there. Let's go," said Dante with a commanding tone, making his friend hastily put on shoes to accompany him.
After walking on the streets for a little over twenty minutes, they reached a park that was near the university campus.
Zac nervously explained that nobody walked by at that time since it was usually dangerous, and Dante deemed it perfect.
Dante was still thinking about his "destro" spell and how he couldn't fully control his power output, as the umbra on Earth was much thicker than in his old world.
"I need to get used to the umbra of this world, so I'll use this space to practice," the warlock said, making Zac perk up with curiosity.
"Right. You said you used some energy called umbra and not mana…" Zac muttered.
"Mana is for wizards. I can control it a little bit, but I'm nowhere near the level of a real one…" replied Dante as he waved his hands around, controlling the flow of umbra in his surroundings.
"The mana in this place seems a bit more abundant than in other parts of the city. Maybe the urbanization of the area prevents the flow of mana freely…" the warlock continued.
Sensing that Zac didn't comprehend, he elaborated further and said that mana was the energy produced by nature, so there wasn't much in a highly urban area like the city of Novis.
On the other hand, umbra was produced from the negative emotions of living beings, and the high population of the city made it harder for Dante to control, as he felt it was too dense.
"Is that why you blew up that entire building?" Zac asked.
"I blew up half of it—but yes…" Dante clarified.
The high density of the umbra made it hard to control, and while Dante knew that he would eventually get used to it, he wanted to make the process faster while practicing in the park.
"Shadow whip," said Dante, clasping his palms together and generating a black mist from his hands, taking the shape of multiple whips that lashed the trees around him in a random and aggressive pattern.
"Ugh, see?" the warlock continued, separating his hands and dispelling the shadow whips that had left the trees with deep markings.
Nevertheless, Zac was perplexed at the spell as it was his first time seeing it, and he didn't know what was wrong with it.
"I only wanted one whip to come out, not ten…" he said, staring at his hands while opening and closing his fists.
After two hours of training in the dark park, Dante thought it was enough and made his way back home with Zac. Still, the redhead took one last look at the warlock's training ground, leaving a few fallen trees and markings on the grass.
____________________
The following day at the campus, Dante and Zac were playing with their BeamDecks in the courtyard as always while they waited for Sophia and Victoria but were interrupted when two women approached them.
"Hi, do you guys have a moment?" said the woman, prompting the warlock to look up.
"My name is Detective Alice Morris. I just wanted to have a quick chat, if possible," she commented.
Dante could feel positive energy flowing from her body, so he understood that she didn't have any ill intent toward them. However, the rookie detective didn't have the same aura, as she seemed wary of the warlock.
Noticing Dante gazing at June, Alice introduced her as her apprentice, and sensing that she wasn't lying, the warlock agreed to have the conversation with them.
'Detectives? Why are they here!? —Could it be that they know Dante beat those guys up!?' Zac nervously thought.
When the warlock showed his ID to the police, Alice commented on how unusual his last name was.
"Ahaha! Shadowvale is his modeling name. He had it changed for his work—He is so dedicated," Zac spoke up nervously, trying to make up an excuse for his friend.
Dante raised an eyebrow, not understanding why his friend was so nervous when talking to the detectives. But in Zac's mind, he was doing the warlock a favor.
'Well, he is handsome. I would've believed it if he wasn't so bad at lying…' Alice thought.