V1 Chapter 1: District H

With a pained groan, Dante got up from his bed. His body still ached from all the work yesterday. The already dark bedroom felt even darker due to it being extremely early in the morning as he looked around, his eyes well-adjusted to darkness due to the nature of his work. 

Grabbing his phone and towel, he moved to the bathroom, cursing his habit of waking up so early. His dark, amethyst-like eyes almost went blind when he switched on the lights in the bathroom, leading to more curses flying out of his mouth. He took a quick shower after brushing and changed into his usual work attire, a white shirt, and a black two-piece suit, with matching shoes and tie. Once he was done combing his hair, he picked up the rest of the things he usually carried on him like his antique pocket watch, and locked his house as he made his way out of the apartment.

The sun was slowly rising, lighting up the city yet none of the light seemed to reach the cold dark streets of District H. Not a single person was present anywhere around which made him sigh in relief, not wanting to deal with problems so early in the morning.

He made his way to work while scrolling through posts on his phone. Stopping next to a vending machine on the way, he noticed some thugs standing a few feet away talking loudly.

"Ya'll should have seen it. The old hag almost died from fear." A blonde man with tattoos all over his body said, the other two, also covered in tattoos, were laughing in response. "Anyways, I am tired of all these small profits. Let's hit something bigger next time."

Ignoring them, he grabbed a can of coffee labeled 'Sweetest Temptation'.

*Ting*

Hmm? His boss messaged him. He looked at the message and the picture attached. Then he glanced at the thugs before checking the picture again.

"Oi, you guys."

"Huh? Who the-"

*Bang* A bullet pierced through his chest, his shirt now getting dyed red. As his companions froze in surprise, his body fell to the ground with a thud.

[Killed a human! Received 5 exp]

*Bang**Bang* Two more thuds were heard.

[Killed a human! Received 5 exp] [Killed a human! Received 5 exp]

Popping open his can of coffee, he hid his gun in his suit as he walked away.

"ARNOLD! GET YOUR ASS OUT OF THE HOUSE QUICK! YOUR LATE FOR WORK YOU LAZY DUMBASS"

"I KNOW GODDAMIT! SHUT UP FOR GOD'S SAKE!"

Arnold's wife made his already ruined morning even worse as he was forced out of his house without breakfast. Cursing under his breath, he walked out only to find three dead bodies lying outside their house. He stared at bodies before turning around and knocking on the door.

"Who is it?"

"It's me! Open the damn door"

"Why the fuck are you still here?"

"There are dead people on the street."

"So? Are they telling you not to go to work or something? Just go already. If you get kicked out of your job we'll be joining them."

"Fuck you"

He looked at the bodies once more before closing his eyes and walking away. No wonder the rent here was cheap.

City 8 consisted of 13 districts, the biggest of which was District H where Dante lived. 

The place where the slums are located, District H was often considered the most dangerous part of City 8. It was like a giant labyrinth where dead bodies and blood were common to find around or if unlucky, something worse like the occasional crazy resident. Only its residents knew how to navigate through the crime-filled area. To prevent people from accidentally entering this place and to keep its residents away from others, a huge wall was built which makes up the borders of the district.

This raises the question of why Dante was living here. Why would anyone want to live here? Sadly he has lived here since childhood and to live anywhere else now just feels weird.

Anyways to get out of here, one needs a pass made by the government which costs more money than most people in the district can make in 4 lives. Thankfully Dante had connections to get the pass almost free of cost. Huge iron gates were present every 10 miles, each guarded by large robots that looked like medieval knights on either side of the gates, a sword and shield always on hand. Walking to one of them, he held up his pass which the robot knight scanned before nodding and opening the gate.

And right as he walked through the gate, disaster struck.

A car covered in explosives came towards him at full speed. The robot knight immediately rushed forward with his shield held up, blocking the car and tanking the explosion. A loud yell which sounded like a weak war cry was heard and immediately a group of people rushed forward with swords in hand, all of them looking to be of a cheap quality.

(When will these idiots learn..)  Dante sighed as he watched the robot knight swing it's sword around, slaughtering them. A foolish attempt to escape this place that ended with their deaths. A single robot knight was as strong as a B-rank adventurer, which was quite good considering the fact that these things act as security all over the city.

"Mr. Dante, I request that you proceed forward and let us handle this matter." The robot knight standing guard on the other side asked in its deep robotic voice. Shaking his head, he continued forward.

Tuesdays were never a good day for him and today didn't seem better either.

Author Note: Hope you enjoyed it.

Word Count:959.