Chapter 9: Identity Diversion
Ed couldn't believe this, this whole time it was that 'book' that acted as a 'seal'. With that 'seal' broken; the demons were free. This thought continued to plague the state alchemist as the group headed towards the Central Library. As they entered the library; they immediately headed to the demonology section where most of the research was taking place. With the book under Roy's left arm, they walked to the table area where the Elrics translated the inscription.
"Alright...Now that we seem to be on the same side...Or not, what do you and your group know of this book?" questioned Ed. Al looked at Lady, then said, "We know who you are now...And we know 'Lady' isn't your real name."
"Hmm....I guess you boys did a background check on me...We have been guarding the ruins you and your brother was at a few days ago for years; making damn sure the demons of Temen-Ni-Gru don't get out," said Lady.
"Even killing those that were excavating there, and the soldiers, too?" asked Hawkeye. "Yes...Because they found the book. Some of us call it, 'the Devil's Handbook'; either-way...Our task of preventing them from escaping was successful, but a few days before these two made it to the ruins, demons appeared spontaneously," answered Lady.
"Really? despite the seal not being broken?" asked Ed. "They're just low leveled demons that are Hellgatekeepers corresponding with the seven vices: Wrath, Greed, Lust, Pride, Sloth, Envy, and Gluttony. The Vanguard was sealed along with the demons, commanding the seven sins to soften us til Sparda's return," answered Lady. The sins, the names brought memories of the seven homunculi that beared the same names. The memories returned to those who encountered them. "Six out of seven are purely made out of sand; which they use to manifest into this world," Lady explained, "The gatekeeper, Envy, only manifests through a liquid that resembles and has the properties of stomach acid. Only inside the God Beast's body you will see them."
"The God Beast?" asked Alphonse. "It's called the Leviathan, demon texts and yore say that the mouth of the God Beast is the gateway to Hell for those who suffers from the sin Envy when they die," answered Lady, "It was going well til you found it, beating us up; in defense, I know, and leaving the ruins with it. We've been fighting the sins for awhile and trying to find you, until-" "Until Al and I translated the text and all hell broke loose...Right?" Ed said. Lady was impressed that Ed summed it all up in quick time.
"That's right...Do you know the stories of the demon named 'Sparda'?" Lady asked.
"A couple days ago when we were here; we've read about it, the whole thing. Is it true?" asked Havoc. "It's all true...Sparda exists, I even met his sons before; both of them," answered Lady, "Thousands of years ago, knights, grunts, archers, and other warriors of medieval times accompanied a large group of priests, priestesses, monks, bishops, cardinals, and saints to seal the tower and its occupants inside."
"Whoa...." awed Hughes. "This act angered Sparda, causing him to have second thoughts about saving us from his own kind. There were casualties; but the mission was completed with success. Sparda vowed that when the seal is broken; he'll kill all those warriors' descendants," Lady said.
"Oh, great...Now we released a really ticked off demon, now what?" Ed asked. "We are going to reverse this immediately, you were the one that broke the seal and found the book; its your task to find a way to seal them back," said Lady, pointing at Ed.
"No offense, but some of it was my fault, so the task should be appointed to both me and my brother," said Al.
"You helped him, didn't you?" Lady asked. "Yeah, I did," Al answered truthfully.
"Hmmmm...We better come up with a battle plan, let's head back to my office with some of these books; that way we can put our heads together," said Roy.
"I'll stay here to research a way to reverse the situation at hand...Some of these books will come in handy," answered Lady. The others grabbed only the books necessary for their new task, then headed off to Mustang's office at Central base.
Ed and Al were the last to leave. "I don't get it...Why is she blaming it mostly on me?" asked Ed in frustration.
"Ed, you were the first to find it; then I was the second to see it. Also, you wanted to know what the demon text said and the same with Roy, so most of it is your fault," answered Alphonse.
"Thanks for trying to make me feel even worse, Al," said Ed, "How the hell was I supposed to know--" then Ed bumped into a silver haired man wearing a red leather jacket open with a strap at the chest area to keep the jacket from fully open up. The man drops a book he was carrying to the ground, then turned to Ed.
"Hey...Watch where your going, kid," the man said. Unknown to the Elrics, it was Dante.
"Sorry! Here, you dropped this," said Ed, being polite by picking the book up and gave it back to the man, "I should've payed more attention to where I was going...Sorry.." Al looked at the holsters on the back of the jacket, then asked, "What are the guns for?" Dante smirked mentally, he knew the two didn't know his name, but he wasn't going to give it away. If these two knew his name, then he will be recognized as the enemy. So he used a made up story to decieve his new 'aquaintences'.
"I hear there were strange creatures roaming around, so I carry them with me, plus a shotgun and sword for self defense...Ya know, must be prepared for anything that comes your way, right?" he said.
"Good idea..." answered Ed. Al stared at the sword on the man's back. The sword was dark greyish black at the hilt. The hilt was demonic in nature with a rib-like design and skull on top of the rib design in center of the hilt to the handle.
"That's some sword..." awed Al. Dante had to come up with something else to decieve them, then said, "I actually was attacked by a big demon wielding this very sword. With a stroke of luck, I managed to gun it down and took this blade as my own. The demons call it 'Rebellion'."
"Whoa...Is the sword powerful...Mister...Uh..," Ed started, then Dante had to tell another name than his real name; an old alias he mostly went by popped up.
"It's Redgrave...Tony Redgrave," answered Dante under the alias 'Anthony 'Tony' Redgrave'.
"Oh...Mister Redgrave..." said Ed. "It is rumored by the demons that this sword was very powerful..." answered 'Redgrave'.
"That means you can use the demon blade against the demons; there are some advantages that you can use the enemies' own weapon against them," said Al.
"That's true..." said 'Redgrave'. "There's somewhere we better get to...Sorry about bumping into you!" said Ed, heading alongside Al to where they should be going. As the two turned the corner. Dante smirked to himself. 'Suckers..' he thought. Along the way, the Elrics bump into another man who looked almost like 'Redgrave' but wore blue and had spiked up silver hair. He told the two that his name was 'Gilver'. As the two brothers walked ahead to the next intersection, Gilver's true identity was really Vergil, but the two didn't know that at the time. 'Humans....They can easily be decieved by what they want to believe,' thought Vergil.
They ran into two more people on the way to Ed's commanding officer's office: another silver haired man named 'Reno' and a rich dressed silver haired man in purple named 'Spencer'. Unknown to the Elrics, their true names were Nero, who used the anagram of his name, 'Reno'; and Sparda himself in human form under the name, 'Spencer' as an alias.
Finally arriving at Roy's office, Ed had to give Roy, his commanding officer, a good explanation for being late. Everyone searched through the books carefully.
"This book says, 'The only way to vanquish the God Beast, Leviathan, is to destroy it's heart from inside it's body'," said Hughes. "So we have to enter the hell of Envy to kill the Leviathan from the inside?" asked Havoc.
"That's what the book said," replied Hughes. Ed looked through the very book that harbored the spell to free the demons, then saw the picture of the demon, Sparda.
'Sparda...How can we defeat you? Can you really be defeated?' thought Edward. As he peered at the picture of Sparda, it revealed a shocking truth.
Right next to the picture of the demon form, it showed what Sparda's human form looked like. 'What?!' panicked Ed mentally, 'That guy we met earlier...That was...Oh, god...' The truth stared Ed right in his face. 'Spencer' really wasn't his name after all.' His true identity was now revealed: It was the Legendary Dark Knight in human form, Sparda. Ed then turned the next page to show a picture of a demon in red. It's skin underneath was blackish grey with white-greyish specs. It's lower body was red with dark grey stripes to it's knees.
'Whoa....Some demon...It even has yellow eyes..' thought Ed. As he inspected the pages, the demon was identified as 'Dante Sparda', one of the twin sons of Sparda. Ed continued to look at the picture, til he saw the picture of Dante's human form, this shook him up. 'What the!? That Redgrave...Was really Dante?!' he panicked. Ed turned the page to another demon. The demon showed some characteristics to Dante, but it was blue. It had a type of sword sheath attached to it's right arm. It's eyes was as blue as ice with a silver raised crown on its head.
'Whoa...It looks kinda alittle different from Dante....' Ed thought to himself. The demon was identified as 'Vergil Sparda', the second son of Sparda and Dante's older twin brother. Just like with Dante; Ed saw the human form of Vergil, then it clicked, 'Gilver....Is really Vergil...' Ed saw a picture of another demon, called 'Nelo 'Nero' Angelos'. The book stated that Nero was a descendant of Sparda. His human form was also revealed to the state alchemist, Nero looked too human except one thing: his left arm was demonic in nature.
'Reno...His name is an anagram of 'Nero'....We've been decieved!' Ed showed the others this find, then Roy said, "The enemy is now among us...Since they believed we fell through their deception, we'll intercept and surround them til your ready to confront them."
"Hold them til Me, Al, and Lady arrive...I'll do the talking," said Ed with a leer. The truth was now revealed, and the confrontation was about to begin.