A/N: Ah, damn, sorry, sorry for the delay! I was too busy with school, really. It has been hell, and I'm still not done! I think I will be able to update more regularly from next Friday on, but I can't make promises. I will try, of course, but I'm not sure.
Benifuku: Me? Bored? I would never be bored of writing this fic and, of course, I would never be bored of reading your reviews. I'm glad you liked that chapter and I hope you like this one. You're so supportive~. About how I wrote the fight... well, when I want to write a fight, I usually do a lot of things before I start working on it... First, you should take your time and try not to get stressed (writing a rushed action scene would be a waste). Listening to music and playing hack and slash video-games also help me a lot when I want to write a fight or when I run out of ideas. Now, about Angelo... Hm, I am very fond of spoilers, but if I tell you who he is, this story would become boring, so I will give you a very small hint: Vergil and Angelo are different entities. Angelo is his own persona.
KuteInsanity: I really, really appreciate your feedback and I'm glad you liked this story's plot and characters~. I've tried my best in writing a decent plot and interesting characters, and I have also tried to write Nero the best I could -it was difficult, because he wasn't one of my favorite characters and writing him was... very tedious and annoying because of that- so your words flatter me a lot. Once again, thank you so much and hope you like this chapter~.
The Chessboard
Chapter 7: Mediogioco
"Snap out of it, Nero! Don't let him control you! Fight, do it, I know you can!" Dante shouted, shaking his shoulders.
Nero shoved Dante's hands away with disgust.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" The hunter asked, but he wasn't answered.
The teen, who now looked more like an adult, grabbed Red Queen and dashed towards him, but Dante blocked the attack with Rebellion and kicked him in the stomach, knocking him away. Nero recovered quickly, and Dante, knowing that fighting him would be of no use, decided to take both of his twin guns from their respective holsters to shot at his sword in an attempt to make him drop it and thus make him stop. He didn't want to hurt him, after all.
He began to shoot at Red Queen, but Nero returned those bullets to him using said sword. Dante didn't flinch and kept firing, but it all looked pointless.
…He gritted his teeth, totally frustrated. He didn't want to harm the kid, and every time, he found himself failing on purpose.
"Dammit!" He growled. "Fuck, Nero, get your shit together!"
Nero, in response, chuckled with a low, sinister tone of voice that Dante had never heard from him before and aimed for a single strike. Dante also dashed towards him and both of their swords collided.
As the two of them pressed their respective swords, Nero smirked and spoke;
"If you're looking for that child, he is not here anymore." He said as he pressed Red Queen. "Don't waste your time, there's no need to say anything else. Don't worry, you can close your eyes and finally rest; it'll be okay, I'll gently finish everything."
Dante's frown hardened when he noticed that Nero's right arm was fully human. "…Another one?" He muttered under his breath.
Taking advantage of Dante's absentmindedness, Nero kicked him in the stomach and pulled back, smirking as blue fireflies appeared in ones and twos from the scenery and gathered around him. Then, after he was wrapped in a blue sparkles, he burst and disappeared, and Nero's form was no longer there.
…Instead, after a few seconds of blinding light, there was another person before him, obviously older than Nero, maybe around Dante's age but perhaps a bit younger than him–he wasn't sure. His slicked back hair was short and vividly young despite his strong features and papery skin, and his lean figure in those elegant clothes was unrecognizable as a punk kid… No, he looked like a completely different person than Nero.
He was going to say something –maybe he was going to laugh at him, Dante thought- but as he was going to open his mouth, another magic circle appeared, gathering blue mist in the air, twisting. With a sound like glass breaking, a familiar figure appeared in front of Dante and behind the red-eyed man, frowning slightly.
"What a surprise…" The man with the red eyes said with a faint smile, not even turning around. "I didn't expect you to be here, actually."
He didn't reply. Angelo remained aloof. He seemed to be in deep thought, but when the other man turned around to face him, Angelo seemed to awake from his daze and quickly changed his facial expression to a sneering one to match his. Dante thought that his half-grin was kind of forced.
"…It's been so long since we last met…" He said in a quiet voice. "I must admit that I never even dreamed the day would come that we would meet each other again…"
"They were foolish, foolish because they thought they would be able to lock me inside that child forever, don't you think?" He smirked slightly. "It almost makes me laugh, how they thought that that birdcage of blood and flesh would be able to control me."
"Ah, I know…" He was starting to get bolder. "It was such a troublesome time for you to awaken… but you arrived just in time. That old man and his minions were getting a little too distraught when they realized that Dante couldn't be captured by any means, you know? It seems that they didn't trust in Agnus' and Valeria's words about you being still alive inside there."
"…I told him that everything was too convenient for being only a coincidence." He chuckled and closed his eyes. "They were running out of time and they couldn't capture Sparda's son in time, so he decided to break the seal that locked me inside that birdcage of flesh and blood and use that kid instead. After all, didn't that alchemist tell him that that child had power within him?" He opened his eyes and folded his arms with a confident aura. "Ah, it's almost funny how humans would do anything for power… And they dare to call us monsters."
Angelo sniggered and shook his head. "…It seems that you're chattier than usual. Was your confinement that long that you have lost your mind?"
"Despite all that, I really have to admit that I couldn't think of anyone better than you as a conductor for this ceremony…" He ignored him. "I mean, this all-star cast is more surprising than the gruesome state of the island: the great demon Oray, a nearly awakened Mundus, Dante, son of Sparda and even us. Isn't this nice? That both of the most powerful fragments are finally reunited?" His smirk widened as he turned backwards to face his companion. "Is this a Pandemonium?"
"Mundus' games are really interesting, aren't they? …They are truly perfect, but it's always nice to have some… trump cards, you know? Just in case. So we would want to have your assistance as facilitator in the completion of his ceremony to access the outside world. You have no objections to our summoning contract, right…?"
"Of course not. Why should I refuse the summoning subordination of someone who helped me to get out of that thing?" He folded his arms. "…I'll assist you, although I will, of course, charge a fitting price."
"Hoh…? And what could that be?"
…Dante ran his hands through his hair while they kept talking and talking. Dammit, why always that sort of things happened to him and not to someone else? He had to be cursed.
"That's enough…!" The hunter yelled in an attempt to catch their attention. Both of them stopped talking and looked at him with dumbfounded facial expressions. "Look, look… I'm in a rush, okay? I've gotta lot of things to do, I've gotta kick that bastard's ass and I've gotta do it quickly 'cause I have a date with Lady and she's gonna cut my balls off if I make her wait for too long." He pointed at them with Ebony and Ivory respectively. "In other words, both of you are going to tell me where he is, both of you are going to shut up already and both of you are going to stop laughing. Seriously, your cackles are really annoying."
There was a brief moment of silence, but it was soon interrupted by their loud laughs.
"You don't listen, do you?" Dante snarled.
He squeezed the trigger rapidly, but the bullets were repelled and slowed to a halt when they were about to pierce them. At that time, it seemed like a bright blue flash lit up the room. That blue flash seemed to wipe out the projectiles that wanted to tear into their chests as though drawing a circle with Angelo at the center. It was as if some kind of faint azure glowing barrier like a glass shield appeared and stopped the attack by a hair's breadth.
"Ah, sonny, that would have hurt them, you know? Where are your manners?"
…They were really, really pissing him off.
In a flash of purple smoke, the familiar demon marquis appeared, standing in front of the half demon with a sneering face.
"You, too, are annoying." Dante muttered under his breath as he lowered his weapons.
"Ohh, don't say such mean things, Dante."
"Jeez, you guys are everywhere. Give a guy a break." He complained.
Oray chuckled sinisterly. "I'm truly sorry, but that's something we can't do. After all, you're now in our territory, and we have orders not to let you escape, by any means necessary."
"Is that how you guys treat your guests? I demand a complaint form right now."
"Hahahaha…! Such insolence… Hey, you, there's no need to be like that. Since you have arrived here so far, why don't you let me praise you? …Making a deal would be nice, right?"
"A deal?" He pointed at Oray with Ivory. "What kind of deal? Explain yourself."
"It's pretty easy, really: you have proven yourself, so I though of this… If you defeat my worthiest servant, hm… let's see… I will tell you were our master is." He jabbed a thumb over his shoulder, pointing at the grey-eyed man. "If not… well, I think you already know what will happen." He said as he moved away from them, standing at the edge of the scenery.
"Is that all?"
"Show me that you can defeat him, sonny. If you superbly defeat him, I'll keep my word and show you the way to him. I wonder if you will be able to do so, anyway… you seem to be pretty tired, child." He laughed loudly, his voice echoing through the walls.
"You really like to hear your own voice, don't you?" Dante retorted.
Oray was going to say something more, but the man with red eyes made his way towards him with a slightly distressed face and interrupted him.
"...Are you sure of this?" He whispered.
"Completely. I know what I'm doing." He answered as he clapped his hands together, creating a golden barrier that surrounded Dante and Angelo, so the half-devil could only walk forward, towards the other man dressed in black.
"If I was you, I would be preparing myself," Dante called out mockingly as he glared at him "because when I'm finished with this impostor, I'm coming after you!"
"Yes, sure thing." Oray sniggered. "I see you have lots of energy, Dante. Let's see how long that lasts. I'll leave this to you, Angelo."
"As you command." He stepped forward, smiling mischievously. "It wouldn't be interesting if it wasn't like this, don't you think? With certainty, this seems to be like fun."
"Yeah, that's right…" Dante laughed a little, grinning. "We're going to have a lot of fun…! You, me…, and them." He shook both of his twin guns, smiling sardonically. "These babes want to say 'hello' to you."
The younger man laughed a deep, confident chuckle. "I don't like it. The way you look down on me, the way you talk... it's annoying, I really don't like it."
"That's because you're an uptight bastard. You're really not fun at all." Dante laughed a little and shook his head. "A shame, really, 'cause I thought you would be a worthy rival."
Dante's mockery and cockiness and maybe the fact that he wasn't afraid of him in the slightest were probably humiliating Angelo, but at the same time, he was also happy that he was so lucky and had that lovely prey all to himself…
"Heh, is that so? Ha… how funny… I think I'm going to enjoy this more than I should…!"
Angelo launched at him, but Dante was fast enough to dodge the slash from his sharp crystalline sword. As he jumped backwards, Dante shot at him rapidly, but the bullets were all repelled by that annoying barrier. Of course, attacking him from afar would be of no use.
The hunter put Ebony and Ivory in their holsters and whipped out Rebellion, dashing towards him. Angelo managed to change said sword's trajectory and quickly took advantage from that to try to cut Dante's abdomen with his own sword, but the hunter quickly dodged the attack, recovered and aimed for his shoulder, but the young man, once again, pushed Dante's massive sword aside and attempted another slash at his neck. Dante jumped backwards, dodging the attack. Instantaneously, the half-demon aimed Rebellion for Angelo's heart. He was able to block that attack, but it was too powerful and he was knocked away as though as he was a featherweight.
Angelo swiftly jumped to his feet and readied himself for the next attack coming from the hunter: Red and black energy charged along Rebellion's blade. Once it was shining in scarlet, Dante swung it and a blast of energy was sent towards the other man. With a confident smile, Angelo snapped his fingers and a magic blue barrier appeared, surrounding him and protecting him. When the red blast of energy hit the barrier and disappeared, Angelo dashed towards Dante, aiming for a frontal attack. Dante mirrored the action, and both of the swords clashed. Angelo tried to overpower Dante by pressing his sword with all the might he had, but in the end, Dante proved to be the strongest one of them and was able to push Angelo away. Then, in a blink of an eye, the platinum-haired hunter attacked him again. The blade made contact with him before he could move away.
…However, Rebellion didn't cut flesh, but air.
"…Why don't you apologize and crawl on the ground right now?" He hissed, appearing behind him. "If you do it, I'll forgive you, alright?"
Dante didn't have a chance to evade as the sword cut his abdomen. He quickly spun around, ignoring the pain, and launched towards Angelo. As he dashed towards him, several spectral spears were aimed at him, but Dante kept dashing towards him, dodging them and ignoring the ones that were able to hit him.
Angelo realized that Dante was going to corner him if he kept closing the distance between them, so he lunged at him, too -that way he would have moer space to move away from him, and he wouldn't be cornered against the golden barrier. The two of them gave a roar as they closed the gap between each other, and then, their swords collided again. Both of them glared at each other as they pressed their swords once more.
Finally, the two of them pulled back simultaneously. Dante was the first to resume the fight, lunging directly to him. Since he was aiming for a single strike, Angelo thought it would be good if he did that as well. The two began moving faster and faster, striking each other so quickly that their moves were too fast for the human eye. Since his moves could only seen as flashes, Angelo took advantage from this, since Dante was more of a brute fighter than a quick devil, and was able to kick him in the chest, forcefully enough to make him back off.
Before he was even able to recover, Angelo raised his hand and when his palm glowed with blue energy, he thrust it forward, catching Dante full in the chest. There was an explosion afterwards. The force of the spell was so strong that it burned half of Dante's black shirt and sent him careening back. His grip on Rebellion slipped.
Dante rolled out of the fall and drew Ebony and Ivory from their holsters, not wasting a moment before he started to cover Angelo with led. Blood dripped from his head and chest, mimicking the red of his coat. Angelo was walking towards him with a wide smirk. The bullets stuck in that glowing blue barrier before they reached him, so Dante's efforts seemed kind of pointless
"Checkmate, Dante." He retorted as he approached him. "This is clearly the end."
"…Well…" He sighed, breathing heavily. "Looks like I was wrong by looking down on you…" Angelo was now much closer than before. "I'm sure you may have given the kid a run for his money, so..." Angelo raised his sword. "No holding back anymore."
A burst of redpower erupted from Dante. That shockwave knocked Angelo away, making him collide with the golden barrier. When his back made contact, there was a sound like that of flesh burning and splitting open. His face twisted in pain as he quickly moved away from said wall. He brought his left hand to inspect the injured area of his back. It hurt like hell, and it didn't stop bleeding. He hissed when his hand touched lightly the wounds of his back and shoulders.
He had to endure that pain. He just had to. He didn't have any other choice.
Hell.
Angelo quickly turned his face towards the spot where Dante was standing with a very annoyed expression. Dante was glaring at him with his dark, red eyes, too. His demon form glowed with a malefic red aura.
"Let's get serious now."
"I'd expect nothing less from you, Dante." Angelo stated in a calm voice in contrast with his slightly pained expression. "It seems it will be impossible for me to defeat you if I don't wreck this whole place!" He exclaimed as he stood up, shaking slightly.
He raised his arm again, a blue-ish aura surronding him and the sword. In response to Angelo's summons, the sword he was holding burst into tiny crystals, making a terrible blue-colored explosion where a beautiful, glowing blue spear showed itself. He caught it in mid-air, quickly, and in a blink of an eye, he disappeared in a blur, appearing in front of Dante's demonic form and slashing the spear upwards.
The attack was too quick for Dante, so when he leaned back to dodge it, he received a shallow cut across his chest. As he stumbled back, Angelo attacked him two more times, but Dante's devil form was strong enough to stand his slashes. Then, the half-demon brought his sword upwards, leaving Angelo with a shallow cut on his chest. He snarled in anger.
Angelo backed off erratically and then launched towards Dante, who knocked his spear aside and then tried to stab him with Rebellion, but he wasn't fast enough, and Angelo dodged that attack and cut him along the legs. Dante spun from the blow, swinging Rebellion around and injuring Angelo's waist.
He fell back, breathing heavily, but he quickly recovered and dashed towards him again. Dante moved forward, too, trying to stab Angelo but failing repeatedly.
Even though the wounds on his body had slowed him down considerably, he was still able to dodge Dante's stabs. …Of course, that was until Dante thrust the last strike, putting more power behind it than the rest.
…He knocked Angelo away as if he was a feather and, before he could stand up, Dante stabbed his shoulder and pinned him against the floor. A cry of anguish issued from his lips as the half demon reverted to his human form, twisting the blade in an attempt to hold him still.
"Wh…What is this…? How could I…! …There… There must be some mistake…!" He retorted between gasps, feeling too tired to even try to teleport and escape from the grip of Dante's sword.
As he ground his teeth in irritation, he tried to deny the situation, but no matter how much he believed in his own superiority, it didn't change the facts right before his eyes.
Dante was going to say something more to him, but before he was able to do so, there was a sound of glass breaking and then the sound of clapping.
"Hoh. Congratulations, Dante. That was wonderful; you sure haven't made me bored." He sniggered. "…How pitiful is that incomplete thing compared to that?"
The golden barrier had broken and Oray stood in front of them with a confident smile. Dante glared at him, removing Rebellion from Angelo's shoulder.
…For an outsider, Oray's words would have seemed like nothing more than a simple rebuke, but however, Angelo knew what kind of severe treatment was promised by that reprimand, and understood what had been left unsaid.
Oray walked towards them slowly, and when he was almost next to Angelo, he sneered at him with an evil, sadistic smile and waved his hand. When he did that, Angelo's body began to levitate, and then his body smacked against the ceiling.
The ceiling doesn't seem that high to people standing on the floor. …However, the man who had fallen onto it didn't feel the same way. Angelo moaned in pain as his head hit the ceiling.
Then, Oray waved his hand again, and the magic that had been affecting Angelo dissipated, making him fall down. A large trail of blood dripped from his head as he howled in pain, his eyes horribly red. Even Dante, who was previously trying to kill him, couldn't stand to look at it.
"Well done, Dante." Oray said clapping his hands and pressing his right foot on the black-haired man's head, who moaned and squirmed in pain. "This is your victory. Congratulations. Spectacular!"
He snapped his fingers and a portal appeared behind Dante.
"Tsk! Have you backed out already? Didn't you say that you would fight me?"
"Don't make me laugh; you can't even stand on your feet." He chuckled. "You should be grateful, for I am a man of honor and I haven't broken my promise, letting you go to my master's chamber. How many demons have done that to you?" He snapped his fingers again and another portal showed itself. He grinned. "'til next time."
Dante shot at them rapidly, but it was of no use, because both Oray and the man with red eyes disappeared before the projectiles could damage them. They left him alone in that strange place with a half-conscious Angelo, who was still laying face-down, coughing blood.
He tried to open his eyes and stand up, but that was impossible for him to do.
…There's no turning back!
…This will not be settled any other way!
…Dad?
…Why must you be so stubborn?
…You'll never be like him!
As he tried to stay conscious, he was able to hear some kind of distorted noises and voices, voices that he never heard before. With half-lidded eyes, at the verge of blacking out, Angelo stared at Dante, who was moving towards the portal. He had the feeling that he was staring at him too, but he wasn't completely sure about that.
He didn't mind, anyway.
When Dante was about to cross the portal, Angelo gave up.
Whenever she flipped through the pages of the old books of the order's library, she would angrily slam them closed. Her piercing blue eyes glared towards the ticking grandfather clock on the other side of that once neat and organized library, a reminder of what she didn't have: time.
She picked up another old-looking grimoire, tapped her fingernails on the cover and then, opened it. She had read almost every book in that library, but she hadn't found any kind of information about that strange symbol yet, so she just flipped the pages of that book, looking for some kind of image that resembled that picture inside the envelope she found inside Nero's pocket.
…Today had been so long… So many things had happened in one day… and they had been cornered so thoroughly…
…W…Wait… … … There it was.
"…I found it. …It's this magic circle."
…Inside the book Trish had been flipping through, she had found the same magic circle that had been drawn on the second sheet of the letter. The pentacle seemed to represent a door or a gate, and there was writing in Hebrew.
…The first pentacle of the Moon. That magic circle's name was the first pentacle of the Moon.
In the center was written the name IHVH. On the right hand there were some kind of names written, and on the left hand there were the names of some Angels. The versicle above the names on either side was from Psalm cvii. 16:– 'He hath broken the Gates of brass, and smitten the bars of iron in sunder.'
…It said that it opened all doors and locks, no matter in what way they were fastened…
"And what am I supposed to do with that?" Trish asked to no one in particular, waving with disdain the second sheet that was inside of the letter as she tried to stand up with clumsy movements.
…Then, when she did so, she thought she heard a sound. Where did that came from? Was that the sound of something big falling on the floor? She rolled her eyes and thought she would check what that noise really had been. When she did, she saw lots and lots of books scattered all over the place along with some kind of papers with strange symbols drawn on them. As she thought, something made them fall.
She decided not to worry about it too much -after all, the library was certainly old-, but there was another strange noise coming from a different area that made her change her mind.
She clicked her tongue and slapped her forehead, sighing.
"This is sick." She said aloud. "You really, really have a sick, unhealthy obsession with me." She put the paper with the magic circle drawn on it inside the pocket of her trousers and took her guns. Then, she looked at the ceiling. "…I'm already used to your stalking tendencies, so why don't you show up already? I'm not patient type."
When she finished talking, all the bookshelves began to crumble at once. It grew even stronger, and finally, all the books fell down, and from within a bookshelf next to Trish, a slender white arm reached out. She quickly moved away from it, and it seemed to do the same.
The books from the other bookshelves fell down as well, and then, a loud shrill laughter split the air along with a strident, cracking noise.
"Those things are runes." It was a soft, monotone voice. "They can make people disappear, they potentiate magic, they act as seals and, sometimes, they can even alter the reality of things and places." A small girl with long black hair appeared in front of the blonde with a haughty look in her eyes. "He really knows what he's doing. Our master's power is overwhelming right now, so it won't be hard to bring him to the human world, but that would be a waste, right? Even though this place is now a demon island and everything around you is a portal to the underworld, if we tried to bring him outside without any caution… Well, that would be impossible if we don't want to wreck this whole island." A twisted, distorted giggle forced itself out of her mouth. "Runes are useful for that; they potentiate magic and they'll be helpful for our Lord's ceremony, among other things, of course, and they will be quite useful for controlling certain nuisances…" She extended her arm towards Trish. "Now, miss, if it's not too much to ask, I would like you to give me that piece of paper you're hiding in the left pocket of your trousers. Now."
"Why should I? Is this piece of paper that special?"
The girl cackled without emotion -why did she laugh, then?- and shook her head
"Then, you leave me with no other choice."
She snapped her fingers and suddenly, beneath Trish's feet, a portal opened its mouth wide. Of course, Trish had no way of resisting.
After being swallowed up by that, the demoness fell out of another portal that had opened up in the ceiling of that room, just before Raum's empty eyes. Trish was hit by a reverse of roundhouse kicks from the small girl's sharp stiletto heel. One of those lethal kicks hit her in the gut and sent her flying away.
Trish collided against a wall, creating a small hole with the shape of her figure. She quickly recovered and launched towards Raum, aiming for a single strike. It was nothing, her spirit hadn't given in and the damage to her body wasn't significant at all.
Her strength was evident. She may not be very clever, but she was still a good rival, and Raum knew that.
A series of crows were summoned by the black-haired demoness, appearing in a blurr of black feathers. Then, they flew towards Trish, but she rapidly ducked and moved to the left, and then to the right. The crows were annoying and they slowed her down, but she managed to make her way through the black storm of birds -not without spitting some black feather from her mouth, though. The black-haired demoness was caught off guard, for she didn't expect her to dodge all her familiars, so Trish was able to capture Raum and kick her in the face with a roundhouse kick from her heel. The demoness backed off, the crows disappeared thanks to their master's deconcentration and Trish took advantage of that to prepare her next movement. She stretched her arm forward and blue arcs of electricity escaped from her outstretched arm; she blasted a beam of blue light that traveled five times the speed of sound towards Raum; the ground was ravaged badly and the sound almost deafened Trish even when she was used to those kind of sounds.
The girl didn't flinch and quickly opened a portal. She crossed it, avoiding the beam of electricity. Then, a black portal opened behind Trish and Raum appeared behind her, but before the black-haired demoness could have the chance of kicking her with more roundhouse kicks, Trish jumped backwards, dodging her kicks.
When she magnificently landed on the floor and tried to conjure more electric beams, a razor-sharp wind cut an enormous lock of her hair. …Yes, it cut it, leaving her with a pretty bizarre hairstyle. Raum had closed in over all the distance in an instant,ad managed to cut nothing more than several of her hair.
Trish looked at her hair with disgust and then, she dashed towards her again.
Raum dodged her kicks and spells as if it was nothing, jumping majestically. When she landed and collided with a wall and couldn't jump anymore, Trish snarled in anger and fired a bolt of lightning her way. Raum leaped out of the way by opening another portal, crossing it before the beam could fulminate her. The electrical power that emanated from her fists collided to the wall where Raum had been standing, and it broke several bookshelves; their wooden remains were all over the floor, hampering and slowing down the fight.
In a blink of an eye, the black-haired woman appeared behind Trish and tried to slash her with her claws. Small droplets of blood fell from Trish skin, who managed to jump and dodge the attack but was wounded in the process.
She wiped the traces of blood from her mouth with her hand, remaining aloof, and launched towards her again once she had her face completely cleaned of the small droplets of blood that streamed down her mouth. Trish kicked her in the stomach before she could do something about it, and Raum was sent flying away.
She fell on the floor, but she quickly recovered and began to stand up. Her face was still devoid of emotion.
"Give me that paper." The girl said in a soft monotone, standing up from the floor. "This will be the last time I will repeat it; give me that thing."
"Why, sweetheart? It is mine. And even if it weren't, didn't anyone teach you how to share?"
She only shrugged. "Fine, if you insist…"
As a large portal to the demon world -or somewhere related with the netherworld- opened in the ceiling, four demons which looked like something akin to a goat -tail and horns, at least- fell out. They surrounded Trish.
"…Reinforcements, huh? I wonder if I should take this to mean that all of you take back all you said about me being weak and stupid… What should I do, I wonder~?"
She grinned broadly while Raum stared her from afar with her dim, red eyes, completely unharmed. Those demons were stupid, but it looked like at least they had power and agility, so they would be able to entertain her while she calculated her next movements.
The goat-like demons had launched at Trish, but she kicked their bodies away from her, zapping them with bolts of electricity when they got closer to her than they should.
Raum observed the scene and, as she did so, she certainly could see it. She saw that bluish glow of light that encircled Trish's fists.
"…This is not good… Enchanted, is it?" She mumbled blankly. "Why does this incompetent puppet have a defensive barrier?" She clicked her tongue. "…This could be troublesome…"
It seemed that Trish couldn't see that blue light that emanated from her fists, but Raum could. Maybe for Trish that was only determination, but for Raum that was different.
Certain determination becomes magic… and the runes inside that room potentiated that magic –that was why they used them in the first place, in order to have more power so their lord could easily cross the portal that leaded to the human world-.
The demons launched at Trish, but she kicked their bodies away from her, zapping them with bolts of electricity when they got too close to her. She lightly dodged the log-like arms of the first one and then she counterattacked it with a powerful beam of lightning that sent it flying away, breaking the remaining bookshelves in the process. At that moment, the library was a complete mess; there wasn't anything more that could be broken. The second one was kicked by the stiletto heel of her black leather boot, fell forwards and floated in the air for a second. Then, Trish's next roundhouse kick missed right over the falling demon's head, but unfortunately for it, a heel was dropped onto the back of its head, and it was forced to kiss the ground. The other two remaining ones launched at her at the same time, but they were fulminated by a bolt of lighting that emanated from her glowing fists.
Both of them fell down and turned to dust.
Without losing a second, Raum took advantage of Trish's moment of weakness and dashed towards her with overwhelming speed. Trish turned quickly when she heard her heavy footsteps and blocked her attacks. Raum kicked at Trish's shins rapidly, and in the instant of weakness when the blonde tried to deal with that, she aimed a kick at her stomach. She was going to stab her with her stiletto, but it sliced through the air where Trish was no longer. She clicked her tongue. …By Raum's side, the demoness stood calmly, and she didn't give her a chance to defend herself and launched at her rapidly. Her roundhouse kicks cut through the air as Raum leaped in the air, dodging her multiple attacks. Some of them cut her papery skin as if it was butter, but she seemed to ignore them.
As she kept dodging kicks and spells, her emotionless facial expression seemed to have faltered slightly. Her eyes were narrowed in concentration and her lips were shut tight, but that was alln she was going to show. She didn't want to let Trish know that she was frustrated because she hadn't received any single fatal wound yet.
That would be a sign of weakness, and she knew what happened to those who were weak.
It seemed she will have to get a little more serious.
"You have come, just as I knew you would, Dante." The familiar demonic voice hissed.
"Of course. Who else would look this good, anyway?" He retorted as he spread his arms.
Dante stood in front of a white marble statue inside of a strange, empty and dark room. The statue was hundreds of feet tall, with huge angelic-like wings spreading from its back. The white feathers rained over the room, making it look like some kind of sacred place. Mundus, now in his full form and completely healed –Dante realized that that huge hole that Mundus had in his chest had disappeared- spread his arms out, sending waves of demonic energy across the room.
"Foolish child, do you really feel like winning? What do you think you can do?"
"Well, I've gotta lot of things in my mind, like kicking your ugly ass back to hell, for example." Dante laughed a little before glaring up at Mundus. "…They say third time is the charm, right?"
The devil prince laughed deeply. "You worthless scum, it's true that you defeated me in Mallet, but that means nothing; I just underestimated your abilities, but now I have prepared myself!"
Red light glowed around Mundus' forehead before hundreds of red lances were fired at Dante, drawing a beautiful geometric curtain of death. The boorish sound that the small spears made when they were launched was probably even deeper than the sound of a death god swinging its sickle. It looked like the air between the two exploded in fireworks.
Dante spun and dived, dodging the storm of red lances. When he landed on the ravaged floor majestically, he grinned roguishly at the demon emperor.
"Stronger? You? Really?" Dante sniggered. "It doesn't look like it. Lying is bad for the heart."
"Arrogant fool, I will tear you to shreds before you can even blink!"
"Yeah, sure thing… Look, that sounds fun and all, but I've got a date with Lady and she'll cut my balls off if I'm late, so I'm kinda in a rush, you see." He unfolded Ebony and Ivory and pointed at Mundus with them. "...However, maybe she will forgive me if I return with your head as a trophy. I will have a plausible excuse, then."
Mundus laughed a deep dark chuckle and then, the earth began to shake.
Both of his servants moved away from him quickly, because if they didn't do so, then they would probably have turned into a red stain on the floor by now.
A smirk crept over Oray's fangs.
That was going to be fun.
"Finally!"
Agnus' cries of joy and grotesque laughter resounded through that building's white walls. Someone could have heard the entire conversation they had inside that half-empty room because of his exaltation, but that hardly mattered.
No, it didn't really matter. In fact, everyone seemed to be as content and pleased as him; they just refrained themselves from externalize their feelings of rejoice.
With a small smile of satisfaction, the blue-eyed woman began to walk in circles around the altar that was placed in the center of the room. Everyone was staring at her, but she knew that she wasn't the spotlight of that reunion; they were also staring at the person who was laying on that retable and at their leader, who didn't seem to be very satisfied.
"Give it a rest, Agnus. We haven't finished yet." She said mockingly, caressing the altar's texture. "We're almost there, but we're not done."
"He is a human." His holiness complained, frowning with disapproval. "He's the same as the other kid who we inevitably had to use to seal that unstable demon that we tried to revive recently. He is a human, a human…! He does us no good, we failed again: the black angel is still uncompleted."
"Is that so?" Valeria asked as she put her hands on her hips. "Well, yeah, he's still not completed, but we still have Dante, so it's alright… Either way, this child is something special, you see? Maybe we can't use him as the energy source for the Savior, he may be incomplete and doesn't have Sparda's blood, but I'm sure that he will be a perfect piece to use as a decoy in order to draw Sparda's son's attention, just like Yamato, even if it's broken; we have the essential to start all this… We just need more time and make sure if that other kid has or develops demonic power. Remember that his demonic counterpart, the unstable fragment, was sealed by us inside him, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't exist anymore… he's still there, and as he had promised us, that child has Sparda's blood; both of them have it, unlike him." She looked at the man who lay in the altar. "We still have the most perfect fragments with us, don't worry… I already thought about a plan B… We just have to wait and verify if that kid develops demonic energy or not, so if the Son of Sparda fails us, we can always break the seal that lays within him, even if it brings us some drawbacks."
Sanctus' frown hardened as he stared at the unconscious and barely alive boy in front of them.
"…But these wonderful pieces aren't free, right? After all, it was you the one who gave us Yamato, the one who got his approval to bring us the black angel's fragments in order to make possible this ceremony and the one who helped us to complete our investigation…Demons don't do that kind of things for nothing, not even humans, and someone who gives us something so important as that sword and Sparda's blood has to want something very important." He raised an eyebrow, turning his head back to look at him in the eye. "What price do you want to charge us for borrowing such wonderful pieces?"
Valeria and his followers did the same as him; they all turned around towards the direction where that black-eyed humanoid being was standing, leaning against a wall. Dressed in a gray tunic and showing a smirk that couldn't be called human, the 'man', if someone could call him that, began to open his mouth to speak, but before he could charge them a fitting price for his gifts to them, the sound of coughing and moaning interrupted him.
Valeria was the first one who stared towards the direction where that sounds came from. A small smirk showed in her face.
The unconscious person who was laying on the altar began to wake up, slowly, coughing as he opened his eyes with difficulty, as if they were glued with industrial adhesive.
"Welcome back, sweetie…" The blonde purred as she looked him straight in the eyes.
Slowly, Angelo opened his eyes. He hardly realized they had been closed. He looked at his surroundings, still laying face-down, but he didn't see anything new; he was still in that theatre scenery, with those purple fragments of crystal glowing and drifting around him.
He still felt weak and tired, but he made the effort to stand up.
The blood that streamed down from his head was now dry, but he didn't mind. Angelo's grey eyes were dim and devoid of emotion as he looked at the empty scenery.
"I'm sorry we were so cruel to you, I never meant to hurt you so much…!" Valeria, the woman with the thick Italian accent, cladded in pristine white clothes, released him from the handcuffs that were leaving marks in his wrists.
He didn't know how long he's been there, but that didn't matter much if he was going to be kept there. Abandoned, he was. He tried to hate her. Hate them.
He was successful.
Hate kept him pretty much alive. It was the thought of tearing guts that made him keep up with everything. If he died, he wouldn't be able to put them out of their misery. That was more than enough. Revenge.
But that woman said she would give it back -that thing he lost long ago, that he thought he was born without.
The ultimate truth.
He couldn't just kill her like that. Even if he could, that woman sure knew how to avoid certain death. She thought she could teach him -but it was more like a torture.
There were wounds all over his body, slowly oozing blood from all the training he has ben subjected. It was a miracle he hadn't fainted. Her voice was so full of concern it was sickening. Sickening, because he knew it was fake. "But you must understand that we do this for your own good~. You must learn to defend yourself and become stronger! And Nirvana will be reachable."
But that's a lie.
A/N:
*Mediogioco: Middlegame. It's the part of a chess game that follows the opening and comes before the endgame.
*The first pentacle of the moon: This pentacle appears in The Lesser key of Solomon and it's a representation of a door or a gate. It opens all doors, no matter in which way they were fastened.
Unfortunately, the next chapter of this fic will have to wait until I finish this last semester. There's no way I can be able to keep writing on the next week, so... yeah. Have patience, I promise I will update this fic sooner or later.
Thanks for reading~!
PD: I'll give a lollipop to the one who can tell me from where I took the 'teleporting powers via portals' idea~. A hint: She's blonde, a bit lazy and wears purple~ :3.
