Ch. 10 Revelations

"So you're trying to tell us that the rumors of Dante being a half demon are actually true, and that he's the son of the Legendary Demon, Sparta." Claire tried to dismiss Luka's story. "Sorry, but that's a little hard to swallow."

"What, you a nonbeliever. Trish chuckled. "You'd be surprised how many fairy tales actually have truths to them, or are you going to dismiss the number of times about him battling giant demons has hit the news."

"Yea, but to actually be the son of Sparta. Would that make him practically a god?" Claire questioned.

"Not quite, but he is most certainly the strongest half demon out there." Luka informed them. "You see, half demons aren't quite as rare as you think. Sure they're a very small minority, but they do exist."

"Luka, I know you enjoy bragging about your knowledge to these lovely ladies, but would you mind speeding things up. We are in a hurry." Trish requested, already knowing all of this information herself about Dante.

"All in good time, my fair maiden." Luka interjected. "Now if having a father as one of the strongest demons in the underworld isn't enough, then his mother's identity makes things even more interesting.

"His mother was an Umbra Witch." Trish answered, now growing a little more impatient.

"Oh come on Trish, you're ruining my moment." Luka complained.

"Look, I'm here because you actually have information on how angels operate, not for a history lesson." Trish barked. "Now spill."

I'm getting there." Luka assured. "Anyway, assuming you've taken a basic history course, you probably know that Umbra Witches are powerful spell casters who make pacts with demons. These lovely ladies aren't just legends, they were real, and in exchange for their demonic powers, they were to make offerings to the underworld. Then once their time was up, their contract demon had first dibs on that witch's soul. Of course Dante's mother was quite the exception. Eva was her name, and her contract demon was non-other than Sparta. Together they made quite the team. Sparta ended up falling in love with the witch though, and so they voided their contract so her soul wouldn't be captured when she passed away. Sparta's betrayal of the underworld, naturally, didn't go over well with his fellow demons though. By the time Dante was just a boy, Sparta has already exerted much of his power, sealing the various gates of hell, and it didn't take long for him to be out of the picture. After that, the demons attacked Dante's family. Lucky for Dante, the underworld wasn't actually rich with information. When they attacked, they went after Dante's brother not realizing Sparta had two sons. They then attacked Dante and his mother while they were home alone. Eva sealed Dante in a cellar and died fighting against the demons, making Dante an orphan at a young age."

"Luka, the angels. Tell us about the angels." Trish desperately tried to get the journalist back on track. Jeez, no wonder why he couldn't keep a girl. Once he started talking, you couldn't shut him up.

"I'm getting there, geez." Luka retorted irritably that Trish kept on interrupting him. "You see, despite claiming to be the arch enemies of demons, angels actually operate very similar to demons. Just as Umbra Witches can make a contract with demons, Lumen Sages can make a contract with angels. These contracts have to be consensual from both parties. That doesn't mean, though, that the demons and angels alike won't use every trick up their sleeve to get their potential partners to say yes."

….

Patty sat on a bench inside a church with her arms crossed and a pouting look on her face.

"You should not have run away." Adem lectured the girl. "Do you not realize the danger that could have fallen you in my absence?"

"The only reason why I'm in danger in the first time is because you kidnapped me in the first place." Patty pointed out.

"Not true." A female angel cut in.

Patty turned her head to see the female angel that had come to Adem's aid earlier in the battle.

"Are you Valkyrie?" Patty assumed.

"No, I'm afraid I'm not even comparable to one of heaven's finest." The female angel responded.

"Megaera." Adem greeted. "How are the others?"

"We suffered some minor losses, but the battle was ours. The demons that weren't slain have retreated back to the underworld." The female angel responded. "As for you Miss Lowell, that demon already had his eyes on you from the beginning. You should be showing Adem properly gratitude."

"I never asked for him to save me." Patty protested, getting to her feet.

"Listen to you, you're nothing but an ungrateful brat!" Magaera finally snapped. "All you have done is whine, yet Adem has saved both you and your mothers lives now. Has it ever occurred in that childish mind of yours the world doesn't revolve around you, and there are other people we could be saving? Here we're trying to convince you to make a difference, and yet all you've done is spit in our faces!"

"Megaera." Adem intervened, silencing his comrade. Despite his minor irritations with Patty's childish attitude, it was to be expected. After all, she was a child. The warrior angel took a seat next to the young girl, making sure to keep a calm demeanor.

"I apologize for my friend's harsh words Miss Lowell. However, her words do speak true. There are countless worlds with even more civilians that are in need of our protection. Even though we have the power of the gods on our side, even we can't be everywhere. That is exactly why we need your help; you will be the first member of the revitalized Lumen Sages. With the Lumen Sages in power once more, we'll be able to assure the prosperity of this world, as well as many others."

"Adem," Megaera interrupted. "This place, it's no longer safe. We should move to a new location."

"Agreed." The angel warrior stood up.

They took Patty by the shoulder ,and she and the angels were suddenly standing outside of an old gas station on the far edges of town. The three made their way to a pile of rusted old vehicles that had multiple parts missing.

"This one will do." Adem commented, as he stopped at an old vehicle that was missing a hood and literally had bricks for wheels.

"Seriously? We're going to travel in that?" Patty questioned.

"I'll drive." Megaera offered.

The female angel transformed into a silver mist, as she flew into the hood of the vehicle, possessing the car. A gold light surrounded the vehicle as it suddenly transformed into one that was much more suited for travel. Its hood and top were now colored white with the sides being red. Gold embroidery decorated it all around and its wheels were now golden halos of light. A pair of decorations shaped like gold wings protruded from the back of the car, while on the front was mounted a head of an angel.

"We're about to receive company." Adem warned, as he looked off in the distance where a cloud of black dust seemed to be traveling towards them.

"Get in." Megaera's voice spoke from the vehicle as its doors opened automatically.

Adem took Patty by the shoulder, leading her to the passenger seat, where she sat. He then sat in what would have been the driver's seat next to him, if Magaera wasn't already controlling the vehicle. A pair of seat belts then magically appeared across Adem and Patty's shoulders as they were automatically buckled in their seats.

"Stay buckled." Magaera instructed. "This may get rough."

The angel possessed car sped off as it fled the scene from the cloud of black smoke. Adem watched from the rear view mirror as a series of unmanned motorcycles with fronts shaped like demonic faces emerged from the black cloud of smoke.

"Adem, if we continue moving at this pace, we'll reach a populated residents soon. It would be disastrous to battle against the demons there." Magaera warned.

"Agreed. Magaera, take us off road and head east. Then on my word, enter Purgatorio."

"Very well." Magaera agreed, making a sharp turn as she began to drive over the desert grounds; the angelic vehicle unhampered by the rough terrain. The demons continued to follow, as they too didn't need a road to travel.

Magaera made her way across the road-less terrain and soon found herself coming towards a busy street surrounded by rail guards.

"Magaera, now!" Adem barked.

The angelic vehicle drove onto a small plateau that lead to the busy highway, moving so fast that once it reach the top, the vehicle took to the air. As the vehicle began to descend over a series of cars, a magical glyph with several angelic symbols appeared in front of Magaera's vessel. The car passed through the angelic glyph and Patty watched as the humans driving their vehicles suddenly became transparent, as if they themselves were spirits.

Magaera landed in an open spot on the highway, now unnoticed by the humans because she and her passengers were completely invisible to the average mortal while they remained in Purgatorio.

The demonic motorcycles were quick to follow, crashing through the rail guards on the highway.

Magaera swerved along the highway, making her way pass as many vehicles, finding any open space she could to progress. However, despite that the car the angels were using was now traveling far faster than any man-made vehicle, the demonic motorcycles, more suitable vehicles for traveling on a populated road, were catching up.

"Magaera, the tunnel." Adem instructed.

"Don't worry, I already know you're planning." Magaera assured, passing another set of cars as they entered the darkened tunnel. Once inside, Magaera began to drive on the sides of the tunnel instead of the road, able to travel at full speed without being hampered by other vehicles.

"Now it's my turn." Adem declared as he phased thorough the seats of the vehicles and appeared on the top of the vehicle, able to stand perfectly fine on it despite the fact that it wasn't traveling right side up.

Adem prepared his bow. As he pulled back the string, an arrow of light appeared across it. The centurion warrior took aim, and as soon as he released the string, half a dozen arrows flew out of the weapon towards the demonic motorcycles. The arrows sped across the tunnel roads, as they locked onto to the demonic motorcycles, which were weaving and bending to avoid any human driven vehicles. Two of the enemy vehicles were struck by the arrows, causing them to explode.

By this time the demonic motorcycles began to return fire; they released balls of demonic flames from their mouths. Magaera dodged the flames by making another sharp turn to drive on the tunnel ceiling, making Patty feel as if she was about to be sick.

One of the motorcycles managed to catch up to the angelic vehicle. The demon that was possessing the vehicle leapt out of the motorcycle to attack. Adem quickly separated the two ends of his bow to use them as a pair of blades as he blocked the demons sharp claws. Then two more demons caught up as well, leaping out of the vehicles and attacking Adem.

The centurion warrior continued to fend off the three demons as Mageara continued to jerk the car in every direction in an attempt to shake her pursuers.

As Adem battled against the three demons, one of them managed to slash the angel across the stomach. The angelic warrior let out a grunt of pain, but didn't cease his battle as he ran one of his blades through the demon's skull, causing it to erupt into specks of light. He then slashed at the second demon, managing to cut it in two and finally jammed his two blades into the third demon's chest. Finally, the angelic warrior connected his two blades to form a bow again and released one last volley of arrows at the last of the demonic possessed motorcycles, destroying his remaining pursuers.

With his work done, Adem phased back into the vehicle just as Magaera was reaching the end of the tunnel.

"Are you O.K,?" Magaera asked her partner, realizing he was wounded.

"I am fine." The angel responded. "A wound this minor should heal momentarily."

"Good. I think that's the last of them. We should have safe travels going forward." Magaera spoke.

"I hope so." Patty interjected, feeling as if she was about to vomit after that battle. "And here I thought Dante's driving was bad."

…..

Dante's and Alastor's weapons collided resulting in another burst of electricity and flames. The two demonic swordsmen continued their battle, exchanging blows with their weapons as they healed from their wounds almost instantaneously. As Alastor slashed at Dante once again, the devil hunter blocked the demon's blows with his trusty Rebellion, and then followed up with a flaming punch to the demons face. Alastor skidded backwards from the blow and then flew into the air has he summoned several bolts of lightning to reign down from the sky towards Dante. The silver haired half demon dodged the lightning bolts as he drew one of his pistols and fired it towards his opponent, only for Alastor to avoid the attack.

Alastor was no slouch in combat, and Dante knew it. Even with the demon hunter using a variety of his devil arms against him, this battle wasn't going to be easy for him.

"What's wrong, getting tired?" Alastor mocked.

"Tired? To be honest, I'm a little disappointed. Normally you can give me at least a little bit of a work out. This time around it hasn't been a warm-up. I'd hate to break it to you pal, but I think you're getting a little soft.

Alastor suddenly froze, as his eyes narrowed and a look a sheer range suddenly came across his normally confident face.

"What was that?" The demon seethed.

"I said you're going soft. I mean, come on. Knowing you, Patty's in some stuffed animal filled room sipping tea and biscuits. The last time you quote 'tortured' someone, you just made him watch a series of Shyamalan movies. I mean yea, that is torture, but I'm pretty sure you could have stepped it up a notch."

By this point Dante's taunts had gotten the best of Alastor. The demon held out his arms as he began to gather electricity from the air around him to charge up for one final assault against his nemesis.

"Soft? I'll show you soft. Let's how see you gloat after I'm through peeling you off the cement." Alastor raged.

Alastor then transformed into a demonic blade with a hilt that was shaped like a dragon's open mouth with a pair of wing's protruding from the hilt. The blade descended downward towards Dante, who only grinned. Dante caught the blade by the handle just before it could run him through and began to spin it around in a circle.

"What do you know, just like old times." Dante mocked.

The demon hunter then threw the transformed Alastor across the room and into what remained of a wall, causing it to become wedged in the stone. Finally admitting defeat, Alastor reverted back to his demon form and fell to his knees.

"Sorry Alastor, but maybe next time. Now, why don't you be a good Devil arm and tell me where Patty may be."

Alastor could only chuckle upon hearing Dante's request.

"Sorry, but I'm not sure I get the punch line." Dante informed.

"You always were so simple minded." Alastor now took his chance to gloat. "I don't have the girl. In fact, I don't even know where she is. However, since I'm a demon of my word, I will tell you what I know. The angels took her. Looks like they're heading towards the central desert in the state. Good luck getting there though, now that you're stuck here. Next time we meet Dante, I swear I'll get my revenge on you. I'll make sure you pay for swinging me around and throwing me into that Marionette without apologizing and then not taking me on vacation to that island like you promised."

A dark portal then appeared under Alastor as the demon sunk into the floor and vanished.

"Man, that guy really knows how to hold a grudge." Dante commented.

Dante walked over to the edge of the tower and jumped down. He then began to look around once again. Dealing with Alastor had been a complete waste of time, and now he was pretty sure he was stuck having to find the portal to the demon realm.

…..

"So Luka, now that you're done boring us with our history lesson, why don't you tell us why the angels make contracts with humans in the first place?" Trish questioned. "I mean for demons it's pretty simple. The witches feed souls to them, and then when the witch dies, they get first dibs. However, what benefits do the angels have to make a contract with a human?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure." Luka admitted.

"What do you mean you don't know." Trish practically burst with outrage.

Now all three women were glaring daggers at the reporter as they began to approach him in a threatening matter.

"Do you realize how much of our time you've just wasted?" Silvia growled.

"And that I carry a gun?" Claire added.

"Ladies, ladies." Luka tried to calm the three women. "I said I'm not sure, that doesn't mean I don't have some good theories. It's actually simple. Like I said before, demons and angels really aren't very different. The only difference is that demons are actually upfront about being villainous bastards. Angels, on the other hand, try to justify their crimes by claiming that it's all for the glory of a greater plan and B.S. like that."

"What do you mean?" Trish asked, now calming down.

"Well think about it. Demons make contracts with humans not just because they make the humans feed them souls, but because it grants them additional power as well as a powerful ally to harness their powers with. The Angels most likely want Patty for the same reason. They'll use her as nothing but a tool to do gain power by whatever means possible. After that, they'll be the ones to get dibs on her soul, just as demons take the souls of their contractors."

"So what happens after that then?" Silvia asked. "After an angel takes your soul. Wouldn't that mean you get to go to heaven, which would be a good thing?"

"I'm sure that's what they teach you in church, but sorry if I'm not a believer of that." Luka then turned and began to walk away from the three girl's, telling them everything he could. "It's true that demons murdered Dante's mother, but it was angels that let it happen. Probably because they were too busy killing my father instead. As for Dante, though, I wouldn't be too worried about him. I'll make sure to call in a favor in the event he gets in trouble. She's an old girl friend in fact. Her name is Amy. You probably know her as Amaterasu though."

"Amaterasu the wolf deity?" Trish almost laughed. "Luka, you may be able to claim that you managed to date a demon, zombie hunter, and super hero, but not even I am going to believe that you actually scored with a goddess."

"But it's true, I swear." Luka claimed, not turning back around to address the women. "Besides, she's not a goddess, she's a deity. There is a difference. You know, if you three lovely ladies would like, I'd happily go into further details for you regarding the legends."

"I think we'll decline." Silvia rejected.

"Another day, Luka." Trish agreed, as the three women walked away from the supernatural reporter.

….

Dante continued to make his way through the underworld, looking for a way out when he suddenly came face to face with a large, nine tailed canine-like spirit whose body seemed to be a fusion between a fox and wolf's. The wolf/fox creature had snowy white fur with red streaks running down its face and body. Each of its nine tails was shaped like a calligraphy brush and had a unique color to it. Finally on its back the creature carried a metal cong, which had flames emerging from it.

"Hey there fox face, what's a girl like you doing in a place like this?" Dante greeted the deity.

The being that stood before Dante released a ray of light from its body, blinding the demon. The next thing Dante knew, was he was standing back in the human realm, exactly where he had been before going through the demonic portal.

"Well Amaterasu, looks like I'll be leaving a juicy bone at your shrine next time I visit." Dante thanked the deity, only for the fox spirit to have already vanished.

Upon returning to the human realm, Dante's phone once again began to ring, prompting the demon hunter to finally answer it.

"Seriously, you really need to learn not to be so reckless." Lady's voice lectured from the other line. "I tried to warn you, but did instead you decided to jump through the demon portal before answering the phone."

"So, your still on that? Can you at least give me Patty's location? Sort of lost her, and Bayonetta too."

"Unfortunately, no luck." Lady admitted. "Rodin's so called 'movie' transitioned to you fighting Alastor after some crappy car chase scene. It did look like they were heading east past the highway."

"Well, that at least narrows it down somewhat. Honestly, this much work, and I'm not even getting paid for babysitting."

"Is that Dante?" Joe questioned, suddenly grabbing the phone from Lady. "Dante my main man, what's up?"

"Hey Joe, so this is where you're hanging out." Dante greeted. "Is there a reason why you're not helping me right now?"

"What are you talking about? Of course I'm helping you. I just got the perfect shots in your last battle with Alastor. Now listen. A bunch of angels are about to show up. So when they do, I want you to be prepared to give them some of your famous Dante-liners."

As Dante was conversing to his rather eccentric friend, the demon hunter noticed a handful of feathers slowly drift down from sky. The half demon looked up. Dante saw four centurion warriors hovering above him, staring down at the half-demon.

"Joe, has anyone ever told you that you're timing really sucks?" Dante asked.