"My old implans, huh?"

The topic came up before, so it wasn't like Dante hadn't given it much though. That didn't make deciding any easier, however. The upgrades applied by Volcan are permanent, so it wasn't like they would disappear once the implants are swapped out. The only thing lost would be the self repair function.

"I still haven't decided."

Dante's first thought was to obviously give the implants to someone. Selling them was out of question, of course, so they were going to be one of the rewards he planned to offer to his subordinates. What got in the way of that was the entire soul part of the equation.

To most people, implants were just a piece of tech created to make up for deficiencies in the human body. Just another device. However, to Dante, they were no different from his normal organs. His soul has already reshaped itself to fit in them, so it didn't feel right to just give it to a random person, even if they were a part of his organization.

"Well, you are in no rush."

Dante sat on the operating table and turned off his pain receptors, not that he had that many left. Seeing how exhausted Larry was, it didn't feel right to enjoy a good night's sleep. Still, watching one's own body be opened up was far from a pleasant experience, and that's without the surreal experience of realizing there was more machine than flesh under his skin.

"Guess your new business isn't going so well."

Larry decided to strike up a conversation a Daedalus's robotic arms began to move around.

"The club?" Dante frowned. "Yeah, it's not looking good."

The place was getting a reputation of being a disaster zone. Ensuring that no one gets hurt didn't matter if one EI incident kept happening after the other. Dante was surprised to see the crowd they managed to attract for the reopening, but he didn't think they could pull it off a second time.

"To think someone from so high up would waltz into out backyard." Larry said. "You keep attracting some very strange character."

"Tell me about it." Dante sighed. "The bastard was Level 6. Can you believe that?"

"I sure can."

Dante hadn't bothered to check how the media was going to spin what happened, but he was sure the Tigris scion would handle it somehow. It would be a much bigger problem if they found out about his power, after all. Ghost had already entered the public scene after the Sanctuary incident, though as an unknown entity. Because of that, Dante didn't really want it to be known that he was involved in this latest disaster.

[

RespiraCore Series VI (C) has been removed

Strength 152 (-50)—>150(-50)

Durability 172(-65)—>169(-65)

Agility: 139(-63) —>135(-63)

] 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"You know how there is this theory that the heroes we know are failures, right?" Larry said while putting away Dante's bionic lungs.

"Yeah, I heard something like that."

The best proof of that theory was the comparison between the furry hero and the Tigris scion. Though both had similar transformation abilities, the werewolf is unable to revert back to his human form completely, leaving him stuck with animal ears and tail. He showed signs of losing control as well.

It was only natural that Eidolon would keep the best for itself while selling lesser versions to the public. Dante didn't really care, since only those at the top can afford it. In fact, it felt good to know they're being screwed.

"Well, what if there is an army of successful Genomes hidden somewhere?" Carefully slotting the new Titan Lungs in, Larry added. "What if there is an army of Level 6 hidden somewhere, waiting for the time they're out to use?"

"You talk as if I hadn't put thought in it already."

"You did?"

"I might not be a genius, but I'm not an idiot, either."

[

Titan Lung XIII (B) (x2) has been installed.

Strength: 150(-50) —> 162 (-50)

Durability: 169(-65) —> 190 (-65)

Agility: 135(-63) —> 160 (-63)

]

"Well, how do you plan on doing it?"

"Doing what?"

"Your crusade." Larry said. "No amount of implants will bring you close to winning against an army of Level 6 freaks. You're gonna need some allies. Powerful ones."

"I'm working on that," Dante replied.

"You mean your little gang? Do you really think you have the time?"

There was no way to counter that question. Kaiser Tigris said that he had been under someone's protection all this time, but their meeting in itself was proof that that was no longer the case. Nothing was stopping Eidolon from coming after him now, which meant he should be expecting more high Level battles going forward, and Dante didn't like the sound of it.

[

NutrimaCore Complete Series XI (C) has been removed.

Durability: 190 (-65) —> 186 (-65)

Agility: 160 (-63) —> 163 (-63)

]

"It's not like I have that many choices."

Things got a lot more complicated since his goal changed. If Paragon's life was the only thing he was still after, he could've gone and killed the bastard by now. Now, not only does he have to defeat the proclaimed strongest hero, he also has to crush the world's most powerful corporation, the people running it, and he has to ensure the world is still there once he's done.

"You don't?" A mechanical arm brought down the next implant, sliding it into place as if it were a car part. "Eidolon has plenty of enemies."

"You should know by now that I'm not a very trusting person." Dante said.

One doesn't rise to the pinnacle without making enemies. The attack on the BEO and Eidolon's Neo-Vatra branch showed that the megacorp had foes capable of dealing damage to them, but Dante didn't like the idea of working with either of them. Be it the Gear Cult or the faction behind Catalyst, working with them felt like it would create more problems than that it would solve.

"Trust isn't something you should look for in dealing at this level." Larry said. "It's leverage you want. Get something that would make it so they wouldn't want to mess with you. After that… you can always dispose of them once you're done."