A/N: After two months of procrastination I finally bring you the ninth chapter of my humble little story.

Nothing to special to say here so I will simply run my usual disclaimer. So please enjoy the chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry or Tales of the Abyss.

The belly of the beast

The rain slowed to a light sprinkle as Anise continued to silently weep over Luke's unconscious form. Anise blinked through her tears as Luke began to stir, with a groan he slowly sat up.

"Luke, how are you feeling?" Anise asked concerned.

"Ugh, like I've been set on fire after being hit by a truck." Luke answered as he held his hand to his head in pain.

Looking up Luke saw Anise still trying to hold back her sniffles. "*sniff* *sniff* I was so scared that you were…"

Luke couldn't find it in himself to look Anise in the eyes as she continued to sniffle. "I'm sorry I keep doing this to you." Luke replied quietly.

"I know you can't help it, but can you at least try to be more careful?" Anise asked as she rubbed at her eyes again.

"Sure." Luke replied with a smile.

Anise wiped away the last of her tears before speaking up again. "By the way what was that just now?"

"What was what?" Luke asked confused.

"That freaky transformation just now."

Luke thought for a moment before recalling his demonic energy spiking and the feeling of his skin burning away.

"Oh that. Honestly, I'm not really sure what that was."

"You're not sure?" Anise asked incredulous.

"I don't really know how to explain it, but when my body was changing I somehow felt… Powerful… like my body didn't have any limits to it. So yeah I'm not sure." Luke explained.

Anise crossed her arms in thought as she mulled over Luke's description. "So it's like a super form then."

"I suppose that's one way to look at it. Kinda wish I had that before the fight was over." Luke said with an exaggerated sigh.

"Though I can only imagine Asch must have found how to trigger that transformation by now. Especially if he's as power hungry as he was three years." Luke thought to himself.

"Luke." Luke looked up to see Anise floating in front of him with a worried look on his face.

"Oh sorry just thinking to myself, anyway we should be following after those two." Luke suggested as he got to his feet. Walking over to Flamberge, which lay a few feet away from where Luke had been, slipping it back into its sheath Luke began walking towards the edge of the tower where Asch and Van had jumped from.

"But how are we gonna do that?" Anise asked as she followed after Luke.

As the two of them reached the edge of the roof Anise saw Luke give a mischievous smile as he stared down the length of the tower. Anise stiffened when she realized what Luke was thinking of doing.

"Wait… You're not thinking of…" Anise warned warily. Luke simply gave her a chesire smile. Anise just threw her hands back in agitation with a groan.

"Don't worry we'll be fine. I'm not gonna just jump and hope for the best." Luke reassured.

Anise just gave a hard sigh. "Fine." With that Anise floated towards Luke and seemed to meld into his body.

"W-What the hell?!" Luke exclaimed, not expecting his partner to phase into his body.

"Calm down. This is just my way of making sure you don't leave me behind in the middle of this stupid stunt."

Luke just chuckled at his partner's tone before turning to the edge of the tower. With a running dash Luke leapt off the side of the tower.

Luke savored the feeling of the wind rushing passed him as he fell through the sky, while he fell down the side of the tower several Blood-goyles began to swarm him.

Without missing a beat Luke took Ebony and Ivory from their holsters and fired off three expert shots into three of the blood-goyles in front of him. The demons he shot burst into puddles of blood as he continued to run down the side of the tower.

Luke began jumping in Zig-zags down the tower as he continued firing at the blood-goyles below him, but for every one he shot another seemed to take its place. Before he knew it Luke was surrounded by Blood-goyles on all sides as they worked to close the distance.

The Blood-goyles swarmed Luke, scratching and clawing at him as he attempted to fend them off with his twin pistols. With his temper growing fast at the blood-goyles continued attacks Luke quickly unsheathed Flamberge and began slashing in every direction around himself, creating a dome of sword slashes around his body.

The blood-goyles screamed in pain as they split apart into more numbers before coming after Luke again.

Luke readied his sword as the blood-goyles came after him again. With a start Luke began sprinting down the side of the tower, all the while stabbing each blood-goyle through as he ran.

As the last blood-goyle became skewered on his sword Luke began pouring demonic energy into his legs for a burst of speed.

With one final push Luke kicked off the side of the tower while twisting his sword with a thrust, effectively drilling through the blood-goyles as they burst into showers of blood as Luke rushed past, the blood seeming to form a ring around him as he flew through the air.

Before Luke could internally pat himself on the back a giant whale-like creature with two ribbon-like tails suddenly came up beside him.

Luke eyes widened at the sheer size of the creature. "Holy…" Before Luke could say or do anymore the giant whale-like creature swooped forward, its mouth gaping open, and scooped Luke into its mouth.

XXX

Anise was annoyed. Very, very, annoyed. Not only was she a soul without a body for the time being, but because of her partner she had just been eaten by what she could only describe as a flying Godzilla.

The inside of the giant creature was surprisingly spacious given its demonic nature. All around the stomach area, or at least what she assumed was the stomach area, were various vehicles and large chunks of buildings that lay littered around the stomach chamber. Various pools of stomach acid lay along the "floor".

Anise was pacing, or rather floating, back and forth in front of an amused looking Luke. After a few more passes Anise turns to her partner with an exasperated sigh.

"Well now what?" Anise asked in an annoyed tone.

"Well… All we can really do is try to find a way out I suppose." Luke offered with an inquisitive look.

"How are we supposed to find a way out? We're inside a giant sperm whale if you haven't forgotten." Anise said with a bit of venom in her voice.

"Well sitting on our asses and twiddling our thumbs isn't going to solve anything!" Luke shot back. The half-demon took a deep breath before continuing. "Sorry."

Anise gave a quick shake of her head "No it's okay. Sorry for snapping at you like that."

An uncomfortable silence fell over the two as the stomach chamber continued to pulsate.

"Anyway, do you have a plan for getting us out?" Anise asked trying to change the subject.

"Just start walking till we reach an exit of some kind I suppose." Luke answered.

"Brilliant." Anise snarked.

"Hey it's a start at least." Luke said with smile working its way onto his face as he turned to walk further into the giant whale with Anise following behind him.

XXXX

The sound of Luke's footsteps echoed throughout the fleshy interior with a disgusting squish as the narrow tube continued to pulse all around him and Anise.

Luke himself was being careful to avoid any puddles of stomach acid he saw as he made his way through the giant whale, who he and Anise had decided to call Leviathan on account of its sheer size.

"Eww! This is so gross!" Anise moaned.

"What are you complaining about it's not like you can get your clothes dirty or anything."

"Details, details the point is I hate this place!" Anise complained.

"This isn't a picnic for me either you know." Luke scolded lightly.

"Well you were the one who decided to jump off the top of the tower."

"That was different. I didn't plan on being eaten by this thing." Luke shot back with an indignant look on his face.

Before Anise could say anything back she saw the end of the tube approaching. "Hey look it's the end." She proclaimed excitedly as she rushed forward.

The next chamber they walked into was large and spacious as it too pulsed along with the rest of Leviathan. The most interesting feature of the chamber however was the large round screen on the opposite side of the wall which showed buildings flying by as the Leviathan flew through the sky.

"Whoa what is that?" Anise asked as she floated towards the screen.

Luke gave the screen a quick glance over before speaking. "I think this is one of its eyes." he deduced with a hand on his chin.

"Really? Well that would explain why we're seeing the city fly by." Anise mused.

Looking back Anise noticed Luke was deep in thought with his arms crossed.

"What's up Luke?"

"I just realized we won't be able to get out of here as long as Leviathan is in the air." Luke explained coolly.

"What do you mean?" Anise asked.

"I mean we're too high in the sky. If we tried to jump off now I'm not sure if I could land safely. I doubt the fall would kill me but I can't afford the time it would take to heal after the fact." Luke explained.

"So what do we do then?"

"Simple, we find some way to knock Leviathan out of the sky. And the easiest way to do that is to kill it from the inside." Luke explained.

"I feel kinda sorry for it." Anise said with a sad look in her eyes.

"Don't be, I'm willing to bet that Asch summoned this thing to keep us occupied given how it was flying around Temen-Ni-Gru."

"Is Asch really that paranoid?" Anise asked astonished.

"It doesn't surprise me, he knows I'm coming after him again since I'm still alive." Luke explained.

"Jeez if he knows you're coming after him then he should also know that this won't stop you." Anise groaned knowing first-hand how stubborn Luke could be.

Luke gave a light chuckled as he began walking away. "You would think. Anyway let's get going."

"Where to?"

"Its heart should be the easiest way to kill Leviathan so let's try it first." Luke explained.

"Okay." Anise shouted excitedly as she followed after him.

XXXX

Luke and Anise eventually came across a large fleshy chamber that pulsed like the rest of the body. But the thing that stood out the most about the chamber was the beating organ hidden behind a screen of tissue.

"Is this it?" Anise asked unsure of what she was looking at it.

"Looks like it. Let's get this over with and hurry after Asch." Luke answered as he readied Flamberge to cut through the screen.

With a running start Luke leaped into the air and slashed through the thin screen of tissue between them and the heart.

With a large slash running along the center of it the screen broke apart and receded into the roof and floor of the chamber.

Luke landed on his feet with a crouch and poised his sword to strike at the heart again. But before he could he heard Anise gasp behind him.

"Luke, behind you!"

Turning on his heel Luke managed to block an incoming scythe from bisecting him across his chest.

"The demon wielding it greatly resembled a little grim however this demon was slightly larger and had various black straps along its body instead of a black robe that characterized a little grim.

Breaking the block Luke quickly cut across the demons chest reducing it to dust. Taking a quick look around Luke saw that he was surrounded on all sides by demons. Looking passed the mob of the demons Luke saw that the demons weren't just appearing they were actually being made from the wall. The leviathan was actually making demons.

With no time to think about it Luke quickly became swept up in the fight. Dashing forward Luke cut through two demons with a quick cross-slash attack as he skidded past them. Without missing a beat Luke turned on his heel and ran another demon through with Flamberge. With a twist of his wrist Luke swung his sword upward bisecting the demon in half as its two halves fell to the floor.

Two other demons attempted to attack him from above, quickly raising his sword to meet the attacks Luke managed to block the brunt of the attack, however the force of the attack still managed to drop him to his knees. In a flash Luke threw his sword up, knocking the two demons off balance, and with a slash of his sword cut across both of them in one swing.

He quickly threw up a backwards block as another demon attempted to attack him, with a step Luke turned and swung Flamberge down the middle of the demon, effectively reducing it to dust. With a flick of his arm Luke took Ebony from its holster and fired three shots at three demons attempting to blind-side him as they turned to dust.

Jumping back Luke saw all of the demons that were still surrounding him as bead of sweat rolled down his forehead. With a deep breath Luke sheathed Flamberge and took Ivory from its holster as well as he crouched down before sprinting forward as he began firing in all directions, bullets shells dropping from his pistols. With one final surge Luke began pumping demonic energy into his shots, causing them to rip through multiple demons at once.

With one final shot Luke buried a bullet into the forehead of one last demon. As the demon turned to dust Luke's exhaustion finally caught up with him as he dropped to his knees panting.

"Luke, are you okay?" Anise shouted worriedly as her partner kept breathing heavily.

"I'm fine. I must have used more energy in my fight with Asch than I thought though." Luke said with a wheeze.

But before Anise could get close more demons began oozing into the room.

Luke weakly tried to rise to his feet but he was simply exhausted to do it. Seeing their chance the demons began dog-piling on top of Luke one by one with Luke only barely managing to bring Flamberge up to defend. Luke's guard began breaking more and more with each slam of a scythe, his eyes wincing with each hit.

"Dammnit, Is this how it's going to end? Being swarmed and killed by a bunch of low-level demons? Dammnit. DAMMNIT!"

With that final thought Luke felt his demonic energy beginning to swirl and spiral around him as he felt his eyes shift from his usual deep emerald eyes to red slits. The demons felt the energy and paused in their assault. Suddenly Luke's eyes snapped open to reveal red slits as his demonic energy exploded around him with a roar.

All of the demons were thrown back from the force of the shockwave. What they saw when they looked back caused many of them to begin backing away.

There Luke stood, encased in a demonic black shell with white portions over where his clothes had been. Two demonic red wings came from his back, the tips of the wings ending in a light orange color much like his hair. His hair itself changed from a firey red and orange to a sleek shine of silver. In his hand he held Flamberge, demonic energy seeming to pour out from its blade. His eyes had become two blood red slits as he glared at the demons groveling at his feet.

Without saying a word Luke swung Flamberge in a wide arc as a stream of energy shot from the blade cutting through several of the demons.

The remaining demons began screeching in horror at the creature in front of them who had so casually destroyed several of their kin. With survival on their mind many began turning to run but before they could get far Luke saw them with a glance and in an instance cut through the remaining demons before they could take a single step away.

With the remaining demons defeated Luke turned his attention to the still beating heart and with flick of his arm swung a beam of energy at the organ. As the attack connected the heart began beating faster as it began to bleed out before stopping completely, blood slowly pouring out of its wound.

With the battle over Luke felt his energy return to normal as his body changed back. Luke dropped to his knees in exhaustion but was able to remain conscious as he began panting.

"Luke, are you alright?" Anise asked her partner.

"Yeah, just exhausted." Luke answered as he stared down at his hands.

"So that's what he meant by an awakened demon." Luke said with a sigh.

"Are you sure you're okay Luke? The last time you transformed like that you passed out." Anise asked, clearly worried for her partner.

"Don't worry I'm fine. In fact I think I can actually control this… this power." Luke said as he clenched his fist.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah I am. Though I'll need to practice with it a little first." Luke laughed.

"hehehe" The laughing was contagious as Anise began laughing as well.

As they were laughing the chamber suddenly shook causing their laughing to cease. The two could only look at each other with grim faces as they realized what was coming.

Before they could do anything Leviathan suddenly stopped in the middle of its flight path and began falling towards the ground, the two demon hunters inside began yelling as they felt themselves drop out of the sky.

XXXX

Asch stood in front of a stair-case leading to two large doors, around the frame of the door and staircase were what seemed like stone pillars and walls. The entire entrance itself seemed to be surrounded by tree roots.

As Asch continued to stare at the entryway Van walked up next to him.

"Here it is, the entrance to the forbidden grounds." Van said as he too began staring towards the doorway.

"Beyond here lies the seal, Correct?" Asch asked.

Van merely nodded. 'Yes, beyond here lies the seal to the demon world that was once sealed away by your father, Lorelei." Van exposited as he pushed open the doors to what he called "the forbidden grounds".

Asch didn't say a word as he walked through the doorway inside.

Van watched him walk away as clutched his novel in his hand.

"So it begins." Van muttered cryptically.

A/N:

This is finally done. Again very sorry about how long this took to write but it's here now so no harm done.

One special note I want to make is that for the time being I'm going to be putting this story on the backburner since there are other stories I have ideas for that I want to work on so unfortunately this story won't be updated for a while. And I mean longer than usual.

Anyways thank you everyone who has been reading my humble little story, all 1245 of you. And as usual please leave a review of what you liked or didn't like, favorite, follow and all of that good stuff and I will see you all next time.

See ya.

Next time: The lustful demon