Golden Breath Villa, Recreational Center.

It was currently early in the morning, dawn had only broken. While most people would be sleeping at this time, there was someone who was already up and about. That person was none other than Rory. He was currently dressed in only a robe. The robe was white and didn’t seem a bit special. It was an ordinary robe.

“Now then…”

He pulled down the torso part of his robe and let it hang from his waist. His upper body was in the open. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

*Bam!*

Suddenly Anima burst from within his body and surrounded him. The color of the Anima was green which meant that it was Neutral Anima. He opened his eyes and looked at his body.

“Alright. Everything seems okay.”

He clenched his fists.

“Let’s take it a notch.”

*Bam!*

Even more, Anima rushed out of his body. The Anima covered a decent amount of the dojo and was swirling around him like it was alive. He started to look around.

“This is my limit with this Anima nature…..It’s far better than when I was at the Marigold kingdom. It’s pretty close to my prime too.”

He smiled.

“Then what about when I use my true strength?”

The nature of his Anima started to change. It darkens and started giving off a sinister vibe. The mass of Anima swirling around him made it look like he was being embraced by a ghoulish monster.

*Rattle!*

The furniture in the dojo started rattling and small cracks started appearing in them. It was like they were being suppressed by an invisible pressure.

“This is good. This level of power would’ve caused me to go out of control earlier, but it really feels like my own power again.”

He grinned.

“I was right. The seal is wearing off. I think I might be able to draw out my full strength now.”

He spoke with an excited tone.

“Let’s give it a go!”

*Bam!*

His Anima has explosively increased in volume and pressure. The entire recreational center started shaking like it was hit by an earthquake. The fact that it could withstand the pressure that Rory gave off was very impressive. If he was outside, he might’ve flattened a section of the villa already.

Markings started appearing on Rory’s body. They were like vine arts that came together in his abdominal area, where they formed a spiral.

“Good the seal is acting up but I’m still under control.”

Rory grinned.

“Then let’s take it up to the limit!”

*BOOM!*

A godly pressure descended upon the center, no the entire villa. Every building started to shake vigorously. This accompanied by the stifling pressure forced everyone in the villa to wake up.

“What the hell?!”

This included Amelia and others back at the mansion.

“Amelia!”

Reina Who was still in her pajamas ran into Amelia’s room with a pale expression.

“Do you recognize this sensation?!”

She frantically asked.

“How could I forget this suffocatingly terrifying pressure?”

She jumped out of bed.

“Where’s Rory?”

“I don’t know, I checked his room but he wasn’t there. If he was, I think this place would’ve been blown away already.”

Amelia nodded. She recalled this sensation from that battle back in, the Marigold kingdom. Back then Rory seemed like he could judge all life in this planet. It was as if he was an enraged god who could look down upon the world. That was the same feeling the girls were getting now.

“What’s going on? Did he lose control again?”

At Villa’s manager mansion, Jane was also forced out of her sleep after feeling the pressure of Rory’s Anima. However, she wasn’t panicking like the others. Rather she seemed like she was pondering something.

“This is Lord Aniket’s Anima? From the sensation, this is Dark Anima. This volume of dark Anima is abnormal though.”

She was currently operating a monitor. After a short while, the feed of Rory inside the recreational center was being shown to her.

“This is….”

She zoomed in on the marks on Rory’s body.

“Seals? This is the sealing techniques of Freyr. Why is it on Lord Aniket’s body? And it seems to be a very complicated type too.”

Jane entered deep thought.

“Frey’s sealing techniques can only be used by elves, and this type seems like a branch that dark elves use….I did hear a report of him going to meet Pearl St.Claire, who is a dark elf. Could she have something to do with it?”

She silently looked at the screen trying to understand the marks on Rory’s skin.

“Hm?”

That’s when she noticed something odd. Rory was looking straight at the camera without blinking.

“Wait, he couldn’t have figured out that I was watching him right? No, he’s causing a huge commotion. He obviously expects that I would use the cameras to check out the situation. But why is he looking at the camera now? Could it be that he’s able to sense my movements?”

Jane looked at Rory’s eyes that were being projected on the screen. They were saying one thing.

“Pry too deep and die.”

“?!”

She immediately shut off the monitor and stepped away from it.

“What was that just now?”

She held her chest and felt that her heart was indeed beating.

“Did my heart stop just now? From a glare through the monitor?”

Cold sweat covered her body.

“He’s the real deal. He’s a real Demigod like my master.”

She shook her head.

“No, my master is one of the world’s strongest they aren’t on the same level. They aren’t but….”

There was something that was unreasonably terrifying about Rory.

Back at the recreational center, Rory had a satisfied look on his face. He then resumed what he was doing.

“?!”

Suddenly his body stiffened.

“What the hell?”

The marking on his body started moving like they were serpents and concentrated at his stomach. The marks moved into a swirling motion and fused together forming a crucifix.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

Rory suddenly looked enraged. This affected the nature of his Anima and the godly pressure suddenly increased causing cracks to appear in the Animite plates on the ground.

“Safety?! There’s a fucking safety on the seal?!”

Veins started pulsating in his head and his grip tightened to the point that his nails dug into his skin.

“WHY THE FUCK DID A SAFETY MECHANISM ACTIVATE WHEN I WAS JUST ABOUT TO BREAK THE SEAL, STEPH?!”

He roared so loud that his voice, which didn’t resemble that of a human, shook the whole building by itself. The Anima around him seemed to be going wild as furniture started exploding and the Animite walls started to have small cracks in them, despite supposed to being an anti-Anima material. This was proof that Rory’s Anima had entered a realm outside of mortals, but it was also proof that he hadn’t ascended to the level of a god or was close. Otherwise, the Animite wouldn’t only have small cracks in them.

“Calm down.”

At that moment, all emotion disappeared from his face. It was like he was a completely different person.

“Calm down before I make you disappear for a bit.”

All of his Anima disappear in an instant, and he stood there with a deadpan expression.

“……..”

He silently fixed the robe he was wearing and left the center. He headed back to the mansion without saying a thing.

“……..”

When he entered the girls were already waiting for him.

“Lord Aniket, is everything alright?”

The head maid Emilia asked.

“…..It’s nothing.”

He then started heading upstairs.

“Wait, Aniket.”

Amelia called out to him.

“What happened?”

Rory didn’t reply and only headed upstairs.

“What the hell?”

The girls were puzzled by everything that happened.

Later that day, one of the neutral areas downtown. A man dressed in a suit was walking down the street with a frown on his face. After walking for a while, he bumped into a woman which caused her to drop her phone.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”

The woman apologized and stooped down to take up her woman.

“Sorry?”

She heard the man speak and looked up. That’s when she found herself looking into a gun nozzle.

“Saying sorry has no meaning to the victim.”

The man smiled.

“That’s why I won’t say sorry for what I’m about to do.”

“W-Wait!”

The woman shouted.

“Too late!”

She shut her eyes and then-

*Bam!*

The sound of a gunshot resounded.

“……Huh?”

However, the woman wasn’t the one who was shot. She opened her eyes and looked up to see the man pointing his gun in a different direction.

“Oh? You avoided that.”

The man grinned.

“As expected of a Black Dog.”

The woman looked behind her and saw another man dressed in black with his face hidden behind a fang designed balaclava.

“The Black Dogs.”

The woman looked at the man like he was her savior.

“Hahaha! Well aren’t you glad, Black Dog? Normally the people would avoid and badmouth you, but it’s time like these that you’re appreciated. All you need is an evildoer like me and you’re suddenly a hero.”

The man started laughing.

“You, What do you think you’re doing? Drawing a gun on a defenseless woman?”

The Black Dog officer spoke.

“Discipline….or that I would like to say, but I just felt like putting a hole in her pretty face. Is that so wrong?”

*Bam!*

The officer immediately kicked the man in the head.

“Of course, scum!”

“Nice kick!”

*Bam!*

The man fired his gun at the officer but he moved out of the way and released his claws, and pounced at the man and slashed him across the chest.

“Ow! Fuck!”

The man fired at the officer and hit him in the shoulder.

“Die!”

The officer bore the pain and slashed his throat.

“Ugh!”

The man stepped back and held his ripped throat. He had a painful expression on his face, but he soon lifted his head and smiled at the officer. He then pointed his gun at the woman.

“Don’t!”

The officer jumped in the way and the woman hid behind him as if to make sure he took the bullet for her.

“Heh.”

*Click!*

The man pulled the trigger but only a click could be heard. The gun was empty. The officer saw the man laugh ignoring his own blood that was slowly drowning him.

“Stupid mutt, in their eyes you’ll always be nothing but a disposable shield. That is what he wants to say.”

The man turned around when he heard a voice coming from behind him. He looked at who was behind with shock. The woman and everyone around them also did the same.

The man was tall, muscular, fair skinned, had black hair, fierce red eyes, and the face of warrior. He looked completely human was dressed in a vest suit and was wearing a red fur coat.

“T-T-T-Tony Gambino.”

The officer said.

“Ciao.”

*Bam!*

Tony pulled out a gun and blew out the officer’s brains in an instant.

“Ahhh?!”

The woman screamed in panic after witnessing the murder.

“Silence, woman. You’ve served your use as bait to lure out the dogs. Scram.”

After saying that, Tony ignored her and approached the man who was surprisingly still alive after having his throat ripped out.

“Good work, Johnny.”

He placed his gun in the man hand.

“Your reward. Go and return to the manor before your Animus wears off.”

The man nodded and then quickly left. Tony then turned around and saw dozens of people dressed like the officer he killed. They were all members of Black Dogs.

“Tony Gambino, What is the meaning of this?”

One of the officers asked.

“What’s the meaning? Isn’t it obvious?”

*Bam!*

Suddenly dozens of Black Dog officers exploded and their body parts rained down heavily like hail, with Tony standing where they were before they exploded. The blood and body parts strangely didn’t touch him as if he was being protected by something.

“You know what this means, don’t you?”

Tony smiled and looked at the large man not too far away from him.

“Right, Police Chief Cesare?”

“Tony, Tony, Tony. I knew that you were wild but killing my pups in front of me?”

A huge grin appeared on Cesare's face, contrasting the bulging vein in his head.

“You have some nerve, Godfather.”

“Says the man who killed my men couple nights ago.”

Tony smiled and took something out of his pocket. It was a silver bullet.

“You know what this means right? I deliver these to all of my targets before I put a hit on them.”

He threw the bullet and Cesare caught it. Cesare looked at the bullet and saw that his name was on it. He looked up and saw that Tony was gone. He clenched his fist tightly.

“Consider it delivered, Don.”