Slowly, Dante rose to his feet, watching the vehicle depart. Vladimir’s thoughts echoed in his head. He attempted to tune into Jun Woo’s thoughts but was met with a throbbing headache instead.
It seemed Dante could only tap into one person’s thoughts or Jun Woo’s mental barrier had grown with his ability. Whether this was the extent of his ability or the full scope remained a mystery to him.
Fueled by rage, he chased after them, running recklessly into the highway. After a moment, he stopped, panting heavily. The sound of an approaching vehicle blasted in his ears, and his eyes widened. Red sparks crackled through his body, time slowing down momentarily.
Though everything moved, he instinctively reacted, somersaulting backward over the car. Without hesitation, he sprinted toward the sidewalk, narrowly avoiding a speeding truck behind the car.
Breathless, he looked at his body still crackling with red sparks, his mind delving into the thoughts of a passerby. Dante was aware that his abilities seemed to be reacting to his intense emotions, spiraling out of control.
His frantic race home proved futile, and he ended up sitting naked in a dark alley, his clothes incinerated by the lightning.
"I’m definitely no Flash," he mused, recalling an old movie. While his physical reactions exceeded human limits, they were far from running miles in seconds or minutes.
Glancing at a billboard advertising a Titan, he repeated the player’s words with determination. "To be a Titan, the player must possess an ability, huh."
Lowering his head, he moved his fingers rapidly, leaving afterimages, but when the lightning flickered through his eyes, his hand’s speed seemed normal.
After hours contemplating how to leverage his youthful appearance to join a club and ascend to the top despite fierce competition, he drifted off to sleep.
Hours later, he groggily awoke, his stomach growling. The sound of screams led him to navigate the alleyway, reaching a distressing scene.
Three men surrounded a woman, ruthlessly attacking her. "Excuse me, can I have a loaf of bread?" Dante asked, eyeing the loaf that had fallen from a paper bag filled with beverages.
When the thugs turned, Dante gestured toward the bread, wisely concealing himself in the darkness so they remained unaware of his nudity.
One of the thugs smiled deviously. "Sure, come and take it," he said, brandishing an energy dagger toward the bread.
"It’s my bread, help me, and I’ll buy as much as you want!" the woman pleaded, but one of the thugs with a face cap slapped her.
"I’ll take this thief to the boss, take care of the beggar," he said, grabbing the woman’s leg and dragging her while she clawed the ground, screaming.
The youngest thug ran forward, swinging the blade toward Dante’s face. Lowering his body, he appeared behind the man and swung his feet as if he was about to shoot a ball.
The sound of the thug’s spine breaking pierced through the air, stunning both Dante and the thugs.
"Shit! He’s a martial artist," the thug dragging the woman cursed, let go of her, and fled along with the other one. But Dante appeared before them, swinging his legs at a speed impossible for their eyes to follow.
They slammed into the walls of the building and fell to the ground unconscious. "Y-You killed them!" The woman stuttered, backing away from him.
"They’re just unconscious. I just bought you time to flee, also..." he paused, undressed a thug, and wore his pants and top.
"Thanks for the loaf," picking up the bread, he walked away, leaving the woman to her fate. None of them saw his face, so the thugs won’t be able to recognize him if they ever meet again.
On the way, "What the heck?" He gasped, touching his hair which had grown so long that it covered his eyes.
"Mum?" He called out, walking into the sitting room. "Dante, I want you to meet someone," Sang-hee, who sat on the sofa eating grapes, said with a radiant smile.
Dante tilted his head, feeling odd that his mother wasn’t worried about his sudden disappearance since morning. ɪꜰ ʏᴏᴜ ᴡᴀɴᴛ ᴛᴏ ʀᴇᴀᴅ ᴍᴏʀᴇ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs, ᴘʟᴇᴀsᴇ ᴠɪsɪᴛ novel⸺fire.net
"Hoho, you haven’t aged a day. You look even younger!" A deep voice rang, and he turned to the man who just walked out of his room.
"C-coach," he gasped.
"Come here, brat!" The man quickly closed the gap and embraced him, gently patting his back. "We were worried."
Dante smiled, and they sat down. Noticing a ring on his fourth finger, his brows arched. "Don’t worry, your mother couldn’t think about anything other than her son for a century. I married someone else, and we have a girl, with a strong passion like yours." He chuckled.
"Dante..." Jason, his coach, said solemnly. "Your mother called me immediately after you woke up, and I’ve prepared a spot for you in a training camp. With the resources there, you can recover, learn a body martial art, and get back to your passion."
"Jason, he just woke up!" Sang-hee yelled, startled by his words.
"We both know Dante won’t quit soccer, no matter what it turns into. The age bracket has been increased to three hundred years for a titan, and even though he doesn’t have an ability, I can make sure he gets registered into the club."
They both turned to Dante, who had been silent. "Are you ready to be a titan once again?" Jason asked, his eyes glued to the white-headed young man.