After all the chaos of that one night, Dante took things very slowly. He rested for a while, doing nothing but laze around, avoiding anything that might force him to put on his armors.

Fulfilling his promise to Marie, he took her to meet the other girls rescued from the mansion. For the time being, members of the Los Aros gang were going to take care of them. The plan was to reunite them with their parents, if they were alive, but a lot of things needed to be investigated first. In some cases, it would be much better to help them find new homes.

Rose was the one who insisted on doing things that way. She didn't seem to be taking the mission ending in failure very well, but she kept a strong front for the kids, personally helping take care of them. Looking at her, one would never guess she's an accomplished merc and a weapons merchant.

Promising to help her catch Jason, Dante returned to the Bowl of Fortune with Marie in tow. Leaving her with the other children did occur to him, but the little one seemed eager to go back to Nobara's place. From the looks of it, she seemed to get along well with the old cook.

In the afternoon, Dante went to check on Finn. The boy genius was so absorbed in his work that he didn't hear about the incident until then. Suzuka, on the other hand, looked like she hadn't slept in ages.

It was a little strange to see her in that state when knowing that her entire body was covered in artificial skin. Apparently, on top of having to deal with the brat's shenanigans, the recent incident had caused her a great deal of stress.

Though their connection wasn't that deep, being involved with him was starting to feel like a major liability in her opinion. Seeing how he was picking fights with heroes like Paragon nowadays, she feared that it might draw attention to her.

Dante tended to forget that Nobara's granddaughter could be considered a villain as well. Though she hadn't committed any big crimes, as far as he could tell, the fact that she had helped create the blue oni suit, the one Klaus Stahlwölfe used during Operation Wolf Slayer, meant that she was far from being a law-abiding citizen.

As an apology for causing her so much stress, he promised to drop by her hideout and let her examine 8-3 to her heart's content.

After giving Finn the details of what happened and informing him of how things were going to go from there, Dante took the Raven and went for a very long ride, which eventually led him to Red Garden.

He blended in with the crowd and checked the site of the incident. It might have been a stupid idea for the criminal to return to the crime scene, but Dante didn't really care. If that was enough for his enemies to figure out his identity, he would have been caught long ago.

Though he had seen it more than once already, video footage failed to capture the true magnitude of the crater left behind where the wealthy neighborhood once was. That was the result of a single attack from a Level 6 armor.

As big as it was, Dante knew that it was far from what his armor was truly capable of. It might not look like it, but he did hold back quite a bit with that attack, consuming only a small amount of 8-6's total energy. He could have easily erased the entire city and still have the energy to spare

'The destructive capabilities of every military on Earth combined…'

~[ ]~

As he was about to make his way back home, Dante received a message from Lev saying he had a job for him. Though he wasn't in the mood for work, he decided to do his friend a favor.

Lev was aware of the incident at Red Garden, but he didn't seem to have connected it to him just yet. Dante decided to leave it that way for the time being, having grown tired of explaining what happened to everyone he met.

The job was similar to the last one, his skeleton of a friend. There was a package, and Dante had to deliver it. This time, the destination wasn't the Pit, and surprisingly, it didn't end in a disaster.

With another 5000G in his wallet, Dante headed back. He stopped by the Bowl of Fortune to check on Marie, ate dinner, then went home. Back in his apartment, he spent some time researching how the situation had developed, discussed things with his resident AI, then hit the sack.

~[ ]~

Being the site of an Enhanced Individual incident, the security around Red Garden had been tight even during the day. Nevertheless, it was cranked up several times once night fell. Some might argue that there was no need for such caution, seeing as the crowds that were drawn by the sight had scattered some time, but those in charge refused to let their guard down. Not until they were done swiping the place for anything that might serve as a lead to whoever had caused such devastation.

Of course, not everyone shared that determination. Anyone with eyes could see that the area was completely erased, leaving not a trace behind. It didn't matter who looked through it, or what technology was used. Finding anything out by studying the destroyed landscape was impossible, so many believed there was no point in guarding the place.

In truth, no one believed that anything could be found at the site of the incident. Even those in charge knew as much. Nothing could be found at the site, true, but that didn't mean nothing would be found there.

The area was enveloped in silence, or so it appeared if one were to ignore the background noise native to the city. The clock had long struck midnight, and drowsiness started to haunt the cops standing guard. Most were distracted, leaving the drones and androids to do their jobs for them.