Author's Note: Things are slowing down a tiny bit because I'm having some problems writing. Also--I know Dante hasn't gotten much 'airtime'. Bear with me, I'm trying to build the plot, but I'm certainly not forgetting him. I'm not Capcom (and on that note I wish to quote Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw: "Capcom aren't bad people, they're just idiots.")


Chapter VI

Deeper Into the Void

Descending further down the steep staircase that she had uncovered under the altar, Tess felt the damp cold of the cavern sinking into her skin and shuddered. She tried to conserve her stamina and only maintained a tiny flame to light her way down the narrow staircase. It continued to be narrow for a while and turned a few times, so Tess knew that she was not moving very far away from under the manor, but kept going down. She had to walk carefully because the limestone steps were moist and slippery under her feet.

Eventually she came to the end of the staircase and was moving along a limestone, cavernous passage. The light at the other end of it was stronger and she didn't need the tiny flame anymore. She shuddered from the cold but marched on ahead, following the rough walls. She had been down this passage only two times before and had a vague idea where she would end up. It had been a long time ago, though, when she was still somewhat welcomed in the coven. Thinking of that made her bite her lips.

When the hallway's ceiling began to rise and the walls widen, Tess knew she was near the end. She exited into a huge, underground cavern, dug into the limestone over the centuries from underground water streams. It had been artificially enlarged a little and smoothed from its stalactites. It got taller the further she went and light came from strategically placed braziers burning softly along the walls. When she got to the largest part of the cavern, she now walked on a set path, covered in cobblestone worn from thousands of feet crossing it over the ages. She threw her head back and looked for the ceiling which towered above her. To the far end of it, a hole opened to the world above. She could see water falling through it and she remembered that above, that hole was a natural chasm, into which a stream on the outskirts of the town disappeared.

The water ended up in a large, underground reservoir which made the cavern look like a natural basin. It was cold and considerably deep. The water coming from above met with the lake's surface with a roar of splashing that echoed throughout the cavern, thanks to the sound bouncing from wall to wall all around her. The cavern's path cut over this underground lake, connected with a large stone bridge built on arches coming up from the water. It had been purposefully made wide enough to accommodate processions and halfway through there was a wider spot, a circle traced on the stone lined with some benches against the stone railing.

That was as far as Tess had ever been allowed to come in the sanctum. Her partial changeling heritage—which she suspected had more to do with her father's reputation than the genes themselves—meant that she could not go further. Regina had told her that eventually she would have gone through some kind of cleansing rite, but that never seemed to happen.

"Not that I'm very surprised," she thought as she started to cross the bridge. "Regina may pretend to be kind and pious, but it doesn't take a genius to see that she hates my guts. I'm a direct descendant of the coven founder, Selene; I'm not such a failure as a witch either… So automatically Regina assumes I'm out to usurp her position. Pfft, like I'd ever care to run a bunch of lunatics like this."

She was halfway across the bridge and could see the small waterfall coming through the cavern's hole directly to her left. It looked a bit more vigorous than the last time she had seen it up close, and she could only assume that melting snow from the mountains where the stream's springs were had been feeding extra water into the flow. She crossed the boundary of the circle on the bridge, nearing the other side of the cavern.

That's when she saw that on the other side of the bridge, the cavern didn't seem to have some kind of way out, or a passage leading further in. And to top it off, a large form was standing just a few feet away from the end of the bridge.

"Oh great…"she thought. "I'd heard the caverns have a guardian, Talos or something, I forgot about that. Just what I needed right now…"

She was startled as the form suddenly moved, with a loud groan of metal. It came out of the concealment of the dim light, trudging towards her slowly but decisively. It was an enormous thing, almost three meters tall, its form made entirely of brass-colored metal, almost making it look like a plated armor.

"Shit…that's a golem, isn't it?" she thought.

It trudged towards her, slowly increasing its pace to reach her to a loud, heavy jog, making its iron legs thunder on the ground, nearly shaking the bridge. It neared with a hollow roar and she could see the expressionless, helmet-like head lacked any sort of distinguishable features. But she saw it come swinging down with its enormous fist ready to crush her. She cussed, back-stepping a few paces and glanced about quickly. The narrow bridge did not give her many options to move and she was forced to deal with this thing because she knew it was made to not let anything pass. Her main problem was her reluctance to waste time using fire on it because she could not see how she could hurt something obviously made entirely out of metal.

Seeing no other option, she narrowed her eyes a bit and suddenly vanished from her position, leaving behind some thin smoke, like cigarette smoke, reappearing behind the golem's back. Its fist connected to the surface of the bridge with a dry thud.

"Lucky I'm good at Haze Walking…" she thought as she breathed out after the minor strain of the teleportation.

The golem let a sound like high-pitched metal friction, almost as if in anger, as it realized its fist did not connect with its indented target. It wasted no time, as Tess found out and turned abruptly, stretching its other arm to a back-hand swing.

"Wow!" she blurted as she dodged that swing, jumping back, barely out range and hurled a blast of fire at it, aiming for the head. She was surprised at this thing's speed. Mentally she noted that she now had her back to the other end of the bridge; if she could keep this thing distracted maybe she could make it to the other side and avoid it.

But the golem raised its arm, catching her blast and dispelling it with a jerk. It clutched both its fists and spikes suddenly jutted out of its body, along the shoulders, arms, parts of the head and its chest, as if growing out of the metal. At the same time, it stomped towards her with both its fists raised, swinging them down on her as it came.

"Shit!" she hissed to herself, seeing that her fire had no effect. "This isn't gonna let me go. And frankly…I don't feel like letting it off either," she thought, frowning.

She dodged it again, teleporting backwards again, out of its range and as soon as she reappeared she hurled another torrent of fire at it, watching the flame-tongues hurl towards it, making it back off, but only briefly. She knew that with fire alone she could do little and since it was essentially made entirely of metal, attacking it physically would do her no good. She wasn't like Dante, her strength had severe limits. However, she had the advantage of being extremely cunning and persistent. She was going to bring this thing down, no matter what it took.

As if realizing her advantage over it in matters of speed, the golem swung around to follow her move and looked like it flexed its limbs. The action caused the spikes growing out of its knuckles and arms to shoot off with small bouts of steam, hurling at her like darts.

She gritted her teeth, watching the spikes heading towards her. She hurled her arm up, in front of her, calling out a single-word incantation to create a shielding spell in front of her, deflecting most of the projectiles. Some had enough force to penetrate the shield but it at least managed to slow them down enough for her to avoid them and render their force harmless. At the same time she thrust her other arm ahead, hand clenched in a fist, as if punching something, causing an explosive force of fire to erupt squarely on the golem's face, hoping that would penetrate the metal or otherwise damage the golem.

The impact caused the golem to stumble backwards, letting another screeching sound, as if screaming. It swayed back for a moment, then regained its balance and rushed her again. As it did, Tess took notice of a slight orange tint on parts of the armor, especially where the last blast had hit, as if the temperature of the metal was rising from the contact with her fire. She watched the golem get near her and perform a surprisingly agile—considering its size and bulk—leap as it drew closer to her, attempting to land on her with its whole weight. She let it come very close and then dodged quickly out of the way with a teleportation move and an additional dodge-roll, regaining her footing rapidly. She faced its back as it landed on the bridge again on its feet, with a deafening thud that shook the bridge. Before it could recover, she attacked it with two consecutive, explosive bursts, one on its torso and the other straight on its head, hoping the continuous hits would displace its equilibrium.

To her merit, the successive attacks had an effect; the first hit made it sway backwards and the blast to the head caused the golem to throw its head back with a jolt, making it lose its balance. It swayed backwards even more dangerously, flailing its arms clumsily, trying to regain its balance before she could continue her assault. It was exactly the sort of thing Tess was hoping for and getting in as close as she dared, caused another explosive burst on the golem's chest, to finish off gravity's job.

She needed it on the ground, if the plan in her head was to work.

She threw both of her arms ahead, causing another, stronger blast on the golem's chest. The force was so violent it sent the heavy golem falling on its back with a violent thud that sent a tremor across the bridge again. Creaks and groans of metal echoed through the chamber as it struggled to get up again, its weight and size making it difficult to move. Wasting no time, Tess got as close to it as she dared, holding her arms out and charging up fire. She unleashed it right as she neared the golem, a large torrent of flame, like a dragon's breath, hitting the golem's surface. She turned her face away a little, wincing at the intense heat generated, amplified by the metal that began to slowly turn orange and glow. She hadn't generated such intense heat and fire in a long time and she felt like she was standing in front of the open door of a blast furnace.

The golem let a screeching sound, almost as if finally in genuine pain. It raised its hands and slammed them on the ground violently, trying to both knock Tess away from it, and to help itself force its massive body back on its feet. The vibrations on the ground caused Tess to back off immediately, even using her Haze Walking ability to move away from it and avoid its arms. She lost her balance a bit from the continuing movements and stumbled backwards, but regained her footing.

"This isn't good. I have to stop it before it collapses the bridge!" she thought.

The golem was finally able to stand up again with creaking and groaning of metal as its material had begun to heat up dangerously and expanding. It disregarded that fact though, and just attacked her again, pulling its arm back once more to swing at her with full force. Not willing to allow it to get close to her, with the added danger of being burned from the heat it now emitted, Tess watched carefully at its motions. She could follow its moves because it was slow and the added stress of the expanding metal was making it sluggish. She caused another burst, just as the arm was coming ahead, before it even developed enough momentum. She caught it right on the fist, and the opposing forces caused its arm to bounce back, giving her an opening.

The golem swayed a bit, but her burst didn't quite have the brunt to push it back or cancel the force of its swing; its fist only veered off its intended course and nearly connected with Tess as it brushed by and slammed onto the bridge. Tess let a quiet gasp as she dodged backwards, forced back towards the side of the bridge she had come from, overwhelmed by the heat radiating from the now glowing orange arm of the golem. She gritted her teeth; though the heat was starting to take its toll on the metal, causing it to bend slightly and experience fatigue, she had severely underestimated this golem. In the back of her mind, she was making a speculation as to who could have made it. The answer she came up with made her angry.

"Beyond doubt, this is Ricardo's handy-work. If I knew this before he went and croaked it two years ago, I'd have kicked his balls in," she thought angrily and cursed her once close friend.

She recovered from her last dodge and created a chain of explosions at the golem's legs and feet, trying not to cause damage to the bridge. If it collapsed now the effects would've been disastrous. Her assault had the result she wanted; as the golem was lunging at her, her explosions caused it to lose its balance and fall over forward. She teleported back, avoiding it crushing her as it slammed down. She charged fire again and unleashed it on the golem a burning torrent like a massive blowtorch. The edges of her fire were getting brighter, almost in the yellow or white hues, as they grew increasingly hotter.

The golem screeched loudly again as it gripped the bridge's surface with its hands. The hot flames were taking their toll on the metal body as it began getting up, despite the flames. But the metal had become so hot it was turning malleable and as it attempted to push itself up, one of its arms bent excessively, beyond the joint and one of its legs also bent at the thigh. It managed to stand and limp its way forward against the fire, its whole body now a bright orange tint.

She persisted; the orange glow and the metal starting to bend told her she was close to her goal. She was sweating from head to toe from the heat, feeling her lips dry and dehydrated, but she knew she had to get this golem as hot as possible. She back-stepped slowly as it advanced, without stopping the flaming torrent she was inflicting upon it. The golem, with its softened metal legs finally starting to give way under its weight, staggered towards her, slowly, the fires now turning its body red-hot. It let another screech and suddenly began to flail its arms.

Knowing she had little time left to do anything else, Tess finally directed her fury to the bridge, causing a series of explosions on its surface, right where she knew the bridge's arc underneath was at its weakest after the repeated slams of the golem. Blast after blast she felt the bridge shaking, more violently by the moment and finally saw bits of rock fly about and heard loud grinding noises as the structure began to crack and break apart.

The golem almost did not pay any regard as it neared her, while the bridge began to crumble under its weight, caving in under its feet. It raised its fist back upwards to strike her while she caused a final explosion on the bridge, under the golem.

The bridge finally cracked and split right in the middle, between the golem and Tess. The golem's weight made that end of the bridge give way first, causing it to fall through the broken rock suddenly. The golem and several large pieces of debris plummeted a dozen or so meters through the air and straight into the frigid waters of the underground lake. She staggered away from the gap, hearing a loud splash and then the ear-piercing whistle and creaks of rapidly cooling metal, along with a long and suffocating billow of steam that rushed up, making her back off in a hurry, coughing.

As more grinding sounds rumbled the bridge, she cursed, knowing it was collapsing further. She ran ahead, trying to cross the gap and reach the other side before the bridge crumbled. She jumped the gap, making it across, but the moment she hit the other side, she heard a large cracking sound and felt the piece of stone slab she stood on detach from the main bridge and tilt back towards the water.

"Shit!" she blurted as she felt herself sliding backwards.

Unable to climb over the falling piece she went with it, turning and allowing herself a controlled slide towards the edge of the bridge, while it was still close to the side she'd just jumped off of. The part of the bridge she stood on was breaking up so rapidly that the piece under her feet tilted dangerously quickly towards the water. Judging by the distance alone she knew she could never make that jump and turned her gaze towards the water decisively.

She knew the lake had a shoreline at the bottom and she could get back to the upper levels from there. Without hesitation she kicked off the piece of debris, just as it tipped over and stretching her arms out on her sides and keeping her legs together, started a great dive towards the lake's waters. She could see that the guardian golem she had just knocked in was nowhere in sight, meaning the lake was either deep enough for him to sink or the frozen water had broken him apart.

"This is gonna be cold…" she thought miserably as she gritted her teeth and stretched her hands in front of her to prepare to hit the water.

She hit the water with a loud splash, water hurtling up several feet from her dive, and as she had expected, it was icy cold. Her momentum sent her several feet underwater and she nearly lost her breath from the coldness that hurt like needles pricking her skin. She frantically kicked with her legs, heading for the surface and let a loud gasp as she emerged her head from the water, wide-eyed.

"Holy--!" she blurted, stunned from the cold.

Pieces of debris from the broken bridge above had fallen into the water all around her but thankfully none had hit her. She swam towards the closest shore of the lake, under the other side of the bridge and with her teeth rattling from the cold she stepped out of the water.

"Ugh! The things I do…" she muttered angrily, shaking frozen water out of her hair and wringing her skirt and shirt, both of which now stuck to her skin firmly from the water, outlining her figure more closely than she was comfortable with.

Walking up the rocky shore she combed her hair off her face and looked up towards the bridge. The cliff was not too high but she couldn't climb it with bare hands. She spotted a torch standing next to a small ledge of rock and discovered a staircase that connected the top of the cliff to the bottom, and midway a path that led up and around the cliff. She realized that it must have been where the processions she remembered disappeared to after crossing the bridge.

"Ah, that must be the path," she thought and started climbing up the staircase along the side of the cliff, going up.

She rubbed her cold arms and then her neck as she went. "If I don't freeze down here or suffocate from the choker, I'll be lucky…"



Trish discovered Dante in one of the city districts. His search for Tess had proven futile and he was irritated: She could tell that much from the bored way he was eradicating sand-based demons --Prides, Sloths and Lusts-- that had shown up in his way. He had no smirk on his face, no desire to even try to make the battle interesting for himself, not even any over-the-top dodging with an amused grin. That sort of 'chore' like manner of his was a dead giveaway of his dullness and irritation. And for Dante, who never really let things bother him, this was something. He noticed her approaching as he cut the last one down with a lazy swing of Rebellion and faced her with a dry look on his face.

"No luck, huh?" she said, smirking a little at his sour look.

"Nothing," he replied with a dry sigh. "Guess you were outta luck too," he scoffed. "And that Ricardo dude's vanished into thin air."

Trish shook her head condescendingly. "But you still think something's not right here, don't you?"

"No doubt," he said sarcastically then sighed a bit, rubbing the back of his head. "Man…'s just like her to make things so hard."

She decided to break the news bluntly. "Gets worse," she said, scoffing.

"What?" he blurted, turning around.

"Somebody was after the Amulet. I had it ripped off my neck by a cheeky bastard of a demon," she said, folding her arms. "I lost his trail but he's still somewhere around here. Wait till I get my hands on him," she added, smirking wickedly.

Dante didn't look very alarmed to hear that, but looked aside and his eyebrows almost joined in a disdained frown. "The Amulet, huh?" he sighed. "Huh…guess I was right. This ain't just about wiccans or whatever, feels more like home turf!" he added, clenching his fist a little too strongly.

"Just don't want to stay buried, do you…" he thought, as though Trish's information confirmed a suspicion of his. "Makes me wonder…what've you twisted your head around this time."

"Not so surprised?" Trish said, raising an eyebrow at his expression.

"Nope, not really," he chuckled, looking back at her and sporting a grin. "Stuff like this doesn't surprise me anymore! Just get my Amulet back! I'll deal with the ever-elusive red-head."

Trish laughed, turning to leave. "Sure, I'll leave you to your hunt, Romeo!" she teased, waving as she walked off, causing him to scoff a bit.

"But really now…where the hell are ya, Twig?" he wondered.


Tess was still shivering as she followed the path along the cliff-side, gulping sometimes as she felt her footing slip dangerously on the damp and smooth limestone. She nervously kept her hand on the wall to her left, using any little hold she could get on the smoothened stone. She followed it along a short but steep route away from the bridge and finally felt it going up-slope until she found herself on the top of the wall of stone she had been crossing and on a properly beaten path that led deeper into the catacombs.

It frustrated her that she didn't know her way in this part of the underground catacombs.

"Now I wish I'd somehow insisted on Regina letting me more into the coven's activities. But I just couldn't care enough," she thought and shuddered.

The cold of the underground was starting to get to her, especially after her dip in the subterranean lake. She didn't want to let her teeth rattle so she kept her jaw firmly closed, but couldn't stop her hands from shaking.

Following the path that seemed the most worn over time, she noticed that the cavern she followed it through was carved by human means and not naturally made, leading further into the limestone caves and had very few branch-offs. She bit her lip; her gut feeling told her she was on the right track.

"That book is sure to be guarded. But I haven't seen or heard as much as a single person down here. Is everyone really above ground and chasing demons or looking for me?" she wondered.

Inevitably that idea made her think of Dante. "Why did he come around...who brought him?" she thought. "Could it be Roy? No, if it were Roy he'd sooner come look for me himself, not drag anyone else into this."

Against her will, she felt her eyes welling up with tears; she hadn't seen or heard from Roy in four years. She bit her lip nervously as her heart gave a nearly painful jab. She missed him, missed her grumpy and loving old cat, her mentor, protector and father-figure. She realized that what she was doing now, the deceit and the lies had made her feel like a small child forced to do things it didn't want to do. She almost scoffed at herself, likening this act of treason to a child being bullied.

"Try enslaved..." she thought bitterly, shuddering again. Not just from the cold this time, but also from the eerie silence of the passage she followed.

Thinking of Roy made her feel wounded. Dante felt more distant than ever and Roy would have been her only solace. But he had disappeared without a trace four years ago. She had searched for him in a maddened frenzy, even enlisting the help of Ricardo. He had graciously helped and she thought he was a much better person than her, who abruptly ended the intimate relationship they had when he so suddenly proposed to her. Then he'd left, and she was left by herself again. She kept looking for Roy, even making a complete fool of herself in the coven by stirring a scene, worried they'd done something to him. She only stopped when she got caught in Vergil's machinations.

She pushed those thoughts away and swallowed hard to compose herself, running her hand over her face to stop the tears. She frowned as the choker around her neck tightened again, reminding her of what she was doing there.

As she reached the end of the passage, Tess could see the outline of an arched gate ahead of her. She raised an eyebrow and approaching, took a moment to examine it. The arched frame was carved out of the passage's natural limestone, smoothed to a pristine --though aged-- surface, upon which were etched runes of warding, protection and declarations of loyalty. The door itself, two large slabs that closed tightly, was made of some kind of hard wood, carved with raised relief depictions of the sun, stars and moon.

"Images of fate. How ironic," she thought.

But she took comfort in the fact that she knew how to open such a door. If she had been praised for one thing in the coven, it was the speed with which she learned how to manipulate witchcraft for matters of covering or uncovering secrets. Her insatiable curiosity was to blame, they said. They said it was her curiosity and that damned stubbornness of hers that got her in so much trouble with everyone. Maybe they had been right after all.

She placed her hands on the door and over the moon and sun reliefs that flanked the star that was right in the middle, divided by the two doors. As she mused the design and felt the moon and sun disks were able to rotate she sighed.

"This could take ages. It's just wood," she muttered.

She took a step or two back, eying the door carefully, as if she were weighing her options. Then suddenly she threw her arm up, flicking her open palm towards the door. As she did so, the door exploded outwards, away from her, in a flash of surging red and orange fire with a loud and drawn out roar. She lowered her arm, watching burned pieces and splinters of wood fall to the floor with thuds and the twisted metal of the framework hanging from its original fixtures like withered branches. There was a large blast mark on the floor and the vaulted ceiling, where the door was. Pieces of the original doors hung loosely from the hinges. The locking mechanism, a large metallic round piece with plentiful cogs, clattered on the floor with a large dent on it, cogs flying off as it connected to the stone slabs.

"That was easier than I thought," she sighed to herself with a straight face.

She was surprised the door wasn't guarded by additional witchcraft and it was enough to rouse her suspicions. But the squeeze of the choker around her neck was a clear message to disregard her cautiousness and press on. Beyond the door the hallway continued, though narrower. She hurried along it, almost running towards a faint light at the end of it. By now the bad feeling she had about finding the Tome guarded was increasing.

The corridor led into a large, domed room, about twenty feet high and almost twice across. It was carved out of the natural rock, forming an underground chamber with an octagonal base and a round dome on top; several smaller recesses were carved into the walls, housing large and ornament stone sarcophagi. Torches suspended on the walls at varying heights provided adequate lighting and more of them flanked each tomb. The floor was laid with pristine, dark marble and granite, as were the pillars between each of the recesses on the wall. Statues of matronly figures and revered sages stood in the spaces between each recess and some behind or above certain sarcophagi. The space was dominated by a large statue, almost ten feet tall, of a cloaked woman with her hands held out in a gesture of benevolence but with her face covered by her hood—one of the many manifestations of the coven's Goddess; an encompassing protector.

The chamber's design inevitably put focus at the statue, placed against the back wall; at its feet stood a pedestal of granite, flanked by two torches. Tess could see a book laid on it. Tess instantly knew it was the Tome. She strode towards it decisively, urged by the order she was given from Vergil to retrieve it.

"I'm impressed, Tess."

Tess stopped dead in her tracks, almost in the middle of the chamber. She knew that voice; she had almost been expecting to find Regina down there, coming to deal with her personally. Tess half turned, calmly, to gaze at the High Priestess, standing at the entrance of the chamber with half a dozen wiccans, mostly men in the ceremonial garb of the guards, standing behind her. In their dark-colored tunics and trousers, with hooded heads and wielding pikes or staves, they looked almost like executioners. But gravest of all, High Priestess Regina stood in front of them, in her full impressive regalia, her hand around a great staff that stood taller than her of carved wood and ornate metal, topped with an amber gem that gave off a strange, subtle glow. Tess didn't respond to her immediate challenge.

Regina stepped forward slowly. "I didn't expect you'd be able to defeat the Talos and find your way to this sacred room. Again, you exceed my expectations."

Again, Tess didn't speak. She was too busy assessing the situation. Just how much did Regina suspect at this point? And she called her 'Tess', not 'Celia'. Such a turn of events would only mean that she had not believed her act in front of Dante. It was one thing to fool the High Priestess in words and actions and completely another, to face her in person, when the latter had such irrefutable evidence of mischief against her.

"What, lost your nerve now, Tess? You are known for your sharp tongue," Regina scoffed, pacing closer and stopping just a few feet away from Tess.

"I'm still wise as to when to hold that tongue of mine," Tess finally replied.

Regina smirked. "How wise are you, child, if you step so boldly in this secret chamber? Trample all seals and stop at nothing? Is your desire for power this great? I'm disappointed."

Tess' eyes narrowed. "This isn't about power."

She felt the choker squeezing her neck painfully, sending pangs of pain throughout her body, a cruel reminder of what she had to do. Vergil grew impatient.

But Regina's look was one of disgust and suppressed hatred. It made Tess' skin crawl; she knew Regina had issues with her but she hadn't imagined that it was downright loathing. And there could only be one reason for that: As a direct descendant of Selene, the witch that founded the coven and functioned as the first High Priestess, Regina perceived her as a threat. She was neither interested in, nor inclined to think that she deserved such a position, but Regina was irksome about it. She notoriously saw threats to her position often and all around her, so her enmity to Tess was unsurprising.

"Not about power, is it?" Regina scoffed. "Yes, perhaps not for your sake. Tell me child, do you think I am so ignorant of the wiccan powers and laws that govern them to not know a Witch Seal when I see it?"

She glared at the choker around Tess' neck. "You're under the will of another—a demon, no doubt, if their kin's presence in the city is any indication. You have played me foul, Tess, like a viper in my bosom."

"I regret being a viper," Tess retorted, causing Regina's brow to frown and her pageant to murmur in scorn. "But that's what you get for treating me as little better than trash. I see no reason to repay you with loyalty," she said bluntly. "I didn't want to make an enemy of you, but I don't think we're anything close to friends either."

Regina looked full angry now. "Bold words from a Judas in our midst," she scorned, turning to the wiccans escorting her. "Seize her—kill her!"

All six of the wiccans charged forth, uttering curses and spells to bind her and kill her with their weapons. Tess was not impressed; she only held out her hand and uttered one word. A wave of invisible force swept over them, negating their spells and stunning them. The next moment, Tess was among them, jerking her leg in a high-kick to one's jaw, knocking him off his feet and flat on his back. As she reeled back, she swept her arm to the side and a small burst of flame knocked another way back, his clothes smoking where the fire hit, sizzling but not burning through the skin. With two swift punches, another fell to a knee before they could raise their pike and quick as wind, Tess disarmed a woman of her staff, using it to knock out the kneeling man and the woman she took it from with some swift hits.

She dodged out of the way of the other woman's swing, wielding a polearm. She used the staff to block the polearm's next attack, stopping it by crossing shafts with the other, then spun them to push the polearm down and knocked the woman away with another, harmless burst of flame. The woman let a shriek and her momentum made her slide along the marble and granite floor for a few feet, stopping abruptly from collision with one of the sarcophagi.

The last man went down from a spinning kick to the face, Tess having used the staff to push her weight off the ground while turning, thrusting both her legs into his hood, knocking him flat on his back. She stood straight, throwing away the staff.

Regina's steeled gaze still pierced her. "You live up to my expectations. Binding the powers of six wiccans all at once? You have learned more than what was allowed of you."

"Don't underestimate me. You know I have a bind on me and I can't help myself, I must obey it. Don't make it harder for either of us," she said with a hard, cold look, turning around to continue to the pedestal the book stood upon.

The moment she turned she heard the rustle of cloth and saw Regina standing in front of the pedestal, having teleported in front of it, her look now furious.

"So, you persist. You know that we have vowed to protect this Tome and keep it out of the hands of demons—to which you wish to turn it to! Ungrateful mongrel, is this how you thank me for sheltering you, tolerating you!?" she hissed at Tess.

"This is against my will!" Tess retorted, approaching the pedestal without stopping. "Just stand down, don't make me commit any more crimes against the creed!"

"ENOUGH!"

Regina slammed her staff on the floor, sending a thrustwave outwards in a circle that caused the room to shudder and stopped Tess in her tracks. She had a sense that Regina was preparing for a fight and she dreaded the prospect; she had no idea just how powerful the High Priestess really was. She made one last attempt to prevent the situation from getting bad.

"Regina…please listen to me!" she said. "The circumstances—"

"I'm already aware of them, you little liar!" she replied loudly. "You think I'm blind? I already told you, I know—I have known for a while! I let you dwell among us still, hoping to find whom it is you serve—"

"But you don't understand! I know I've done horrible things, I'm trying to stop it from getting worse!"

Regina let a sarcastic, shrill scoff. "Oh but I do understand. You wish to take the Tome of Rites from me, offer it to whoever it is you serve—I don't care whom! You've committed murder, betrayed the order, broken the creed—now you think I'll let you take the Tome? Foolish child."

She walked around in front of the pedestal, pointing her staff at Tess. "You will be stopped."

With a battle now inevitable, Tess was tense and slowly started to circle Regina, keep her eyes on the High Priestess. "I'm sorry Regina, but I can't back down."

"You will not take my power from me!" Regina shrieked suddenly, pointing her staff's top at Tess and fired a blast of white light from it.

Tess dodged it with a quick side roll, the blast hitting one of the statues decorating the chamber and obliterating it. She stood straight from her dodge, jerking her arm out to send a large lash of flame back at her. Regina let an angry, shrill sound as she defended against it, thrusting her staff's top towards it and extinguishing it with a single word. With the same fluid motion she hit it's end on the floor again, making a magic circle trace itself out of light and pointing her other hand to Tess, recited an incantation.

"She's trying to bind my powers—oh no, you don't!" Tess thought, frowning.

She held both her arms out, shouting an incantation herself; a similar magic circle, traced by fire, suspended in midair in front of her. There was a sense of two invisible forces colliding and negating each other with a dull roar and an impact that made the chamber shake again, making dust and bits of rock fall from above. The torches lining the room flickered, but did not go out.

They both paused for a moment, measuring each other up like dogs ready to fight. Then more circles appeared under Regina and Tess knew she was casting binds and curses on her. She used fire to trace different circles around her, to protect herself from the curses and recited incantations in abrupt, sharp tones, countering Regina's spells. That went on for a while; neither relented, locked as they were in the combat of spells. Circles were traced and breached in succession, fading from the ground as others appeared. Forces collided and negated one another, Regina bawling furiously as she found her powers evenly matched by Tess'. The chamber had shaken several more times, statues rocking in their bases and toppling over to lean against walls or crumble on the floor. Even the heavy lids of some sarcophagi rattled.

Both Tess and Regina were on the move, constantly moving in semi circles, opposite to each other in harmony, moving their arms and reciting incantations. To an ignorant viewer, they might as well have been engaged in a strange dance of symmetry.

Eventually Regina realized that this 'trench fight' of theirs would lead to nothing and made another of her hidden weapons apparent. Tess saw her glaring and without hearing her speak, she suddenly felt like a hammer or something had hit her in the stomach. She gasped and was hurled backwards, onto one of the sarcophagi. She let a groan as her back hit the stone with a lot of force and knocking her on the floor.

"Damn her, that's telekinesis of some kind! How did she do that!?" Tess thought, picking herself up in time to cast another protecting circle, to stop a sneaky sealing spell.

Regina now looked hell-bent on thrashing her to death against walls and sarcophagi. Tess was thrown on the floor violently before she could react and then slammed, face first, onto a statue between two recesses. The statue toppled over and felt to the floor, breaking. Tess pulled herself up swiftly and teleported behind Regina, breaking the latter's line of sight to stop her from being able to pinpoint her. She kept teleporting around the room as fast as she could, despite her bleeding nose and lip from the impact on the statue and the pain from being thrown around.

It was her turn to retaliate and she started using blasts of fire liberally, causing flames to erupt around Regina. She aimed some of them on Regina herself, but the High Priestess shielded herself from them with protective circles. But as Tess increased the intensity of her flame assaults, teleporting around as fast as she could manage, Regina began to lag behind. She staggered as one of the blasts hit hard on her side, her protective circle unable to stop it completely.

Tess jumped in the chance, stopping her teleporting to pummel Regina with continuous assaults of fire. She caused blasts to erupt from under and around her and hurled lashes of flame onto her, driving her slowly back towards a wall. Tess was sweating from the intensity of the fight, her head throbbed and she could feel blood still running from her nose, lips and from a cut over her eyebrow that stung.

She caught a break when her last blast of flame succeeded in jolting Regina solidly, knocking her staff out of her hands. Tess dove at the chance and closed in while the High Priestess was still stunned, attacking Regina with a furious, spinning kick to the abdomen. Experience had taught her that, while witchcraft was potent, when you wanted to really hurt a wiccan, it was better to do it with your own bare hands. The kick stunned Regina further, who had not been expecting it and then she was jolted backwards again from another kick, a high one to the chin this time. Tess didn't let her recover, but she jerked her arm in a lariat-swing, catching Regina's neck in the pit of her elbow and with a forceful shove, knocked her to the ground.

Tess was hesitant about killing her, hoping to just knock her out, but Regina foiled her plans again. She let a scream and Tess got flung off her feet again, thrown onto another wall. Regina jumped back to her feet like a wild animal, her hair now loose and her robes scorched, with a furious frown. She looked quite maddened and before Tess could get up from the last impact or teleport, she was flung again, across the chamber and towards a sarcophagus. As she threw Tess around, Regina generated a large charge of energy that she then hurled after Tess, with a snarl of fury.

Overwhelmed, Tess was nearly caught in the attack and obliterated by the blast, but she had the sense to react quickly with a seal spell that cushioned the blast and allowed her to teleport with superficial damage, a sense of pain all over her. She wound up teleporting around again, while Regina furiously fired white blasts at her—which Tess knew were not wiccan in origin. Regina's abilities and her madness and obsession with the Tome were eerie and Tess came to a single, terrifying conclusion: Regina's interest in the Tome wasn't just about the duty to protect it.

She was certain by now that Regina had actually been using the Tome of Rites for some time now and learned these things from it, something which was strictly forbidden for the witches of her order. The Tome of Rites was a book with contents that were deemed too dangerous to be in the hands of mankind and were sealed away in this chamber, the deepest place of the coven. And Regina had breached that seal. Tess felt a bit of righteous anger welling up in her.

"Hypocrite!" she shouted, starting to attack Regina again with flames. "You hypocrite! You call me a traitor and yet you've been using the Tome for your own selfish means! You're the traitor before me, Regina!"

The fight now had escalated into Regina firing more blasts at her and just occasionally trying to subdue her or slow her down with witchcraft, while Tess countered with blasts and tongues of fire, pushing Regina back and beginning to win the battle of wills against the more senior witch. She gritted her teeth and pushed herself, fighting against Regina's blasts and teleporting to dodge the telekinesis. Her head throbbed and she felt dizzy but she still pummeled Regina with powerful blasts of fire, going almost into the white-hot range.

"You would have done the same!" Regina retorted furiously. "You would have done the same if you had this kind of power at your fingertips, arrogant girl!"

Unable to contain herself, Tess dodged another of Regina's blasts and closed in, catching Regina off guard and ramming her knee into Regina's gut. She sent the High Priestess stumbling backwards and in her rage, she finally set her robes—and then her on fire.

It was a horrible sight that would haunt Tess for a long time afterwards.

Regina was on fire like a wick. She spread her arms out, screaming like a wounded animal and flailing with her robes on fire. Tess was startled and drew back, horrified at what she had done, but powerless to help. Vergil had ordered her to kill if she had to and she realized she had done exactly that. Even without her realizing, her fire was obeying that order and practically devouring the High Priestess. She watched Regina thrash, stumbling about and screaming while flames consumed her. Regina had no mind to use witchcraft to save herself; the flames had already began eating away at her body. The foul smell of burning flesh filled the chamber and Tess let a startled gasp as Regina seemed to hurl towards her.

She backed up against a wall in her panic, as Regina finally fell to the floor, barely squirming and letting choked, throaty sounds instead of screams. Tess couldn't take her eyes off Regina, eyes wide in horror at what she had done. The full brunt of her act had just hit her and it was horrifying. Although she had caused other wiccans to die before, on Vergil's demands, this was the first time that she burned someone alive and it was so terrible that she was shaken to the bone. She ignored the suddenly tightening choker around her neck that reminded her to take the book and return to Vergil. As painful as it was, she couldn't move from her spot for shock.

"What have I done?"


Author's Note 2: No, I do not think I'm torturing Tess too much; I can do far, far worse if I feel like it. *smirks* ...Seriously, this is plot-driven. Give me a break.