Thanks to Dr Facer/Fabian Cruz for writing the story "Story of Two Souls", which inspired this one. By the way, I'd like to propose a challenge--can anyone identify ALL the demons I used here, and where I used them?
"The stage is now set. We shall see whose power of dominance prevails…"
"Wh-what?"
"Th-this cannot be…my dominance should be complete!"
"So that's what's happening…"
"Arikado, what's going on?"
"The power of dominance isn't easily contained. He isn't like you. His soul can't withstand a power that intense."
"Liar!! I've heard enough from you!"
"Gwoh!"
"Arikado!"
"I am the chosen one! I am the dark lord! I shall not succumb to the power! Wroooooooaaaah!"
"It's useless. You can't control it."
"Gwroaaah!"
"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
"The demons under his dominance… They fused as one? Letting this out would be a disaster… It must end here!"
Soma plunged his sword deep into the ghastly imitation of a head suspended above him. This time, instead of regenerating and pushing his weapon out and Soma back down to the ground, the monster's flesh spewed forth blood and fire, heralding its end. As Soma pulled free his weapon and descended back to the floor below, the head began to sprout small blossoms of flame, explosions dotting it as it burst into flame and disintegrated.
Soma expected the gigantic monster's body to soon follow its head, but instead of bursting into flame, it began to move. Soma watched in mute horror as what he had mistaken for an arch-shaped body with a head in the center, in fact, turned out to be a humongous humanoid titan. What he had previously taken for a mouth rose up and became the beast's chin, the rest of that section forming a helmet much reminiscent of a skull. The "wall" that had stood behind him during much of his previous fight straightened out into legs, and the "ceiling" rose up towards the sky as it unfurled into a torso.
A single red, glowing face looked down at Soma from the titan's left knee, taunting him with its evil smirk. It was joined by another face which revealed itself in a more normal position, hidden away under the skull/helmet of the demon's head, only peeking out from its bony sanctuary every so often to grace Soma with an enraged glare. Soma could've sworn he could identify little bits of various monsters he'd seen around the cult base and within Dracula's Castle in the gargantuan mass that made the creature's body, along with some pieces he couldn't even begin to identify.
A soft, yet authoritative voice Soma had identified as Dracula (or at least, Dracula's memory) whispered to him the creature's name. Menace. Soma thought this apt. He readied his sword and lunged towards the monster. It bounced off the thick armor encasing even Menace's big toe. Fine. It wasn't the first time Soma would have to locate a weak point on a large opponent.
Soma looked about the room and noticed many flat, winged platforms floating around the room. Then he looked up at the towering demonic amalgam's skull, and saw that it was opened and exposing the head.
Leaping upward, platform by platform, Soma reached deep within himself and retrieved the power of the demon called Hippogriff. Soma's body shot high up into the air and stopped just short of the ceiling. With a loud shout, Soma descended down onto the monster's forehead, his feet landing just moments after his sword. Menace roared fearsomely in its pain, and Soma quickly pulled out his sword and kicked himself away and back onto a nearby platform to avoid being crushed by the teeth of the monstrous skull helmet as the monster shut it to defend its vulnerable parts.
Soma landed upon the platform, planning to wait for Menace to take another peek at him, but was interrupted from his watch when Menace retaliated with a jab from its gigantic fist. Soma quickly dodged away from the attack, but in doing so, found himself sliding off of the platform, and falling downwards to the floor once more. The reluctant vampire lord fully intended to land the drop and then resume his climb upwards, but was then interrupted when the creature stepped forward, placing its kneecap directly in Soma's path. As Soma hit the kneecap, he felt the face which inhabited it wrap its jaws around his ankle and bite. Hard. Soma kicked it and slashed it with his sword to get it to release him and drop him on the floor.
Soma landed just in time to watch three sharp-toothed, triple-lipped mouths break off Menace's back and fly at him. He rolled and dodged, slashing with his sword and cleaving one in half, but even then, two of them still managed to crash into him and latch onto his shoulders. Soma called upon the power of the Spin Devil to create a whirlwind about himself and shake them off, but still they chased him, even as he climbed the platforms to escape them and close distance with their maker's weak point. So intent was Soma on escaping the biting terrors, that he never saw Menace's skull open to aim for its target, and then its left arm pull back…
The hero clad in white felt something large and hard slam into his side painfully, and then both heard and felt the air gush out from his chest, followed by a spray of blood. Were it not for Menace's triumphant roar, he would have heard several of his ribs snap as his trajectory suddenly changed, sending him straight for the back wall. A few of the ghastly humanoid figures that the wall was composed of broke free and fell down into the abyss as Soma slammed into it, leaving the shape of his own figure indented into it. Soma felt his other side fill with pain, and this time he did hear his ribs snap before blackness closed upon his vision. As consciousness deserted him, he felt and briefly glimpsed himself slipping out of the Soma-shaped indent in the wall and falling towards the ground below…
Bump. Bump. Bump.
Something was bumping Soma's leg.
Bump. Bump. Bump. Clatter!
Bump. Bump. Bump. Clatter!
What in the world…?
Soma suddenly had the feeling of relaxing comfortably…of lacy cushions on a giant sofa, or perhaps that of the family's favorite lazy boy chair, a feeling of comfort, security, and rest. And then, just as suddenly as it came, the sensation was gone, taking with it some of the pain that permeated Soma's body.
"Get up!" growled a gruff voice, one that sounded much like the voice box that produced it had been roughly sewn together from mismatching pieces.
"Master…get up…" moaned another voice, this one sounding more like its voice box hadn't been used in ages, and had rotted away to almost nothing.
"…huh…?" Soma managed to squeak out through bruised lips.
"Master Soma…please get up…"
Soma's eyes fluttered open. A female voice…he thought of the end of his last adventure, when he had nearly lost hope before Chaos. His friends had contacted him…
"…Mina?"
A giggle from the darkness surrounding him was the answer Soma got.
"No, silly! I'm not Mina! Although it's really quite cute that she was the first thing that you thought of when you woke up. When this is all over, you'll have to summon me so I can tell her all about it."
"Summon you…?"
Soma's eyes flew completely open.
"Wait…would that mean you're…"
"Uh-huh!"
Soma sat up to find himself still afloat in a sea of black, but in front of him was a young woman dressed in a pink French maid's outfit. She was kneeling politely in front of him, with a look somewhere between amusement and concern on her face. Mixed somewhere within that was also a hint of delight, for reasons Soma could not guess at. As Soma examined his newfound companion, she stood up and curtsied gracefully.
"Welcome to the inside of your mind, Master Soma! My name is Persephone, and I hope you'll enjoy your stay here!" The bubbly demon giggled. "I also hope we'll get along a bit better than we did the last time we met."
"I'm…inside…my mind?"
"Yes. It's not a bad place to be, once you get used to it."
A loud voice suddenly interrupted the conversation. It had an unsettling chittering noise as a background noise, and vaguely reminded Soma of the buzzing of many insects' wings.
"Persephone-t-t-t-t-t…Please s-s-s-stop fooling around-k-k-k-k-k and get to the p-p-p-point-t-t-t!"
The maid frowned a bit, staring off into the darkness at something…or someone Soma couldn't see.
"Oh, Abaddon…c'mon…it's not every day that…"
"T-t-t-there will be plent-t-t-ty of time to f-f-f-fraternize with the master-t-t-t-t later. Get to the p-p-p-point-t-t-t." the same chittering, terse voice cut her off.
There was a moment where Soma quietly watched Persephone purse her lips a bit in thought, then she got up.
"Right…Ahem." she said, mostly to herself, it seemed.
She then proceeded to retrieve two rags from unseen pockets in the back of her (rather short, Soma noted) skirt. Just as Soma was about to ask, she suddenly jumped up and spread her legs in…a cheerleader pose? Soma could've sworn he heard a whistle blow somewhere as the she-demon began hopping about, waving her improvised pom-poms around wildly.
"ALRIGHT! Let's go! Go go Soma! Soma! Soma! Let's go Soma! Fight Soma! Goooooo Soma!"
With a final jump into the air, the routine concluded, leaving another long silence as Soma stared dumbfounded at the impromptu cheerleader. She smiled back and seemed to wait for comment.
"…okay…" Soma finally muttered. "Now I know I'm dead."
"Actually…you're almost dead. You're actually still alive at the moment."
"But that's not possible…no one should've been able to survive that blow!"
Persephone giggled again. "Silly Master Soma…you're the Lord Dracula…did you honestly think your body was THAT fragile?"
"But…I'm dead…dead or hallucinating. I'm seeing French maids performing cheerleader routines and…was that a whistle I heard?"
The she-demon only paused for the briefest of moments before responding, "I don't know. It's your mind."
Soma opened his mouth to utter another retort, but once again, they were interrupted by another voice, this one deep and moaning, reminding Soma of the creaking of wooden joints, and conjuring the image of faceless marionettes in its tone, crying out for silent submission.
"Maid. There is little time. Stop wasting our precious time."
The girl sighed and began to speak again.
"Okay…Master Soma. You need to wake up now."
"Huh?" Soma asked as she grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Look…you're not dead…you have to get back up and finish fighting that thing."
"What? Menace? But how? It beat me with one blow!" the reluctant vampire argued.
The French maid shook her head. "No…it didn't quite beat you. Not unless you give up. Soma…you can still win. Do you really want to just let that monstrosity get out of the Abyss…get out into the mortal world?"
"Well, no, but…" Soma sighed, discouraged.
Now entirely serious, the demon looked Soma directly in the eye. "You're a strong Master, Lord Soma. We believe in you. Besides…if things get bad, you have all of us to back you up!"
Suddenly something hit Soma.
"Wait…who's this 'we' you keep talking about? I don't see anyone besides us here."
This elicited another giggle from Persephone.
"Silly silly Master Soma. Where do you think all of the demonic souls you've absorbed go? We're all in here!"
Confused, Soma finally dared to stare off into the unending darkness around him. This time, he was met by eyes. Hundreds of them. Big eyes, little eyes, humanoid eyes, and the eyes of horrors most men have only seen in their most terrifying nightmares--and all of them were staring straight back at him. Soma gripped a sword that was suddenly at his side, but then, upon closer inspection, he realized that the staring eyes were doing just that--staring. He recognized all of them…but as the darkness began to resolve itself into the forms of a myriad of dark creatures, ranging from a tiny man with a dagger to the ten foot tall, tentacled horror which called itself Malachi, the Dark Lord noticed that, unlike the last time he'd seen most of those eyes, they held no malice within them. In some, he even noticed the glow of devotion and affection…the same he suddenly realized shined from the maid kneeling before him.
"These are…"
"All the demons you've dominated. We're all in here, ready to aid you, Master Soma."
"Wh-why?" Soma shook his head again, suddenly a bit overwhelmed by the enormity of his role in the world.
Sauntering over before Persephone could answer, two strangely familiar young women, both possessing the unusual feature of having large, bat-like wings, and yet still remaining incredibly attractive, answered Soma's question, each also giving him a peck on the cheek.
"Because you're Lord Dracula." lilted the one dressed in red.
"Duh. What more needs to be said?" agreed the second dressed in pink.
The two tittered girlishly a bit, then quickly drifted away when Persephone shooed them off, mumbling discontentedly the whole time.
"Ahem. Ignore them. They bring up a good point though."
The demoness paused. "You might be a tad bit…different from our last Master…but you're still our Master. It's our job to help you out."
Soma blinked a few times as Persephone continued.
"Besides…A little change never hurt anyone. I, for one, think you'll make a good Master."
"Um…" Soma honestly didn't know what to say to that. He had to be dreaming…or dead. This couldn't be happening. Was he seriously getting a pep talk from a demoness?
"Hey! C'mon Soma! You can do it!" another high-pitched female voice shouted from somewhere in the darkness.
"U-um…yeah! What teacher said!" another somewhat younger sounding voice chimed in.
"Don't give up, Master! We believe in you!" more voices, this time a chorus of small ones joined in.
The visible demon smiled and pulled Soma to his feet.
"See? Everyone believes in you. Do you really want to give up now?"
Soma was silent for a moment, just standing and listening as more and more voices began speaking from the void, giving shouts of encouragement. Finally, as the clamoring chorus' began to grow deafening, Soma also began to shout.
"Okay! I'll do it. I can't give up now…everyone's counting on you." Soma paused to look all around him as the darkness receded to reveal hundreds of grotesque and not-so-grotesque faces staring back at him expectantly. "Thank you…all of you."
Soma caught a brief glimpse of a pink-clad girl smiling at him before everything faded back into the void and his consciousness went black.
Growls and shrieks of pain and rage. Most of them sounded familiar. The feel of once-animate, but no longer living matter beneath him, of dried blood and caked-up vomit forming a horrific mortar between the bodies of the dead. Soma remembered where he was and opened his eyes. Above him towered the same great grey giant; around him were the faceless bodies of the damned.
Soma sat up and looked about the abyss, wondering briefly why the great monster (Menace, his mental voice told him again) did not turn its attention back to him, before a black shape zoomed over his head towards the monster…towards Menace. It latched itself onto its leg, covering a small part of the red skull-face on its knee, its immobility now revealing it to be a small vampire bat. It bit and tore furiously at the knee-face before being driven off by an attack from a myriad of those strange triple-jawed miniature monsters the giant kept spawning, only to fly off and then redouble its attack.
Another larger figure flew through the air, spewing fireballs from time to time, these timed to coincide with Menace's helmet opening to allow it to see. This one seemed to be blue and had a large maw full of serrated teeth and feet equipped with two-inch long talons, both of which it used for dive bomb attacks on the triple-mawed horrors when it wasn't spewing fireballs. Every so often, it was joined by a rain of razor-sharp orange feathers, which Soma tracked back to a flying humanoid figure, this one female and only equipped with talons and those terrible feathers.
"Feeling better now, Soma?"
Soma looked up to see, once again, an attractive young woman over him…this one entirely nude. He blinked his eyes, trying to further clear his still-fuzzy vision.
"M-Mina?"
Another giggle.
"You really ARE cute when you do that. No…I'm just a humble plant who's hoping that in Master's gratitude for being saved and healed…maybe she can get a nice big pot to live in after this is all over?"
Soma blinked another few times and the fuzzy image before him grew focused, green blurs resolving themselves into large leaves covered in white flowers and sharp thorns. An alura une, one of the many plants in Castlevania that was fed large amounts of blood to grow abnormally large, his mental encyclopedia informed him.
Standing up and picking up his sword from where it lay beside him, Soma turned briefly back to the plant-woman to tell her (in gratitude), "I'll make sure to get you a pot and some raw, bloody meat from the butcher when this is all over."
The nymph grinned broadly, muttered thanks, and began plucking thorny blossoms from around her to throw at the giant.
Soma, too, turned his attention back to his foe.
"Menace! I'm…no…WE'RE not done with you yet!"
Menace growled as it noticed the white-clad hero. Soma brandished his sword and charged forward, now assured of his victory.