Chapter 13 Moment of Truth

Stone ground crunches under Sparda's cloven hooves as he lands in the blinding white, arcadian Hell. Sparda walks quickly and with purpose, but does not run. As he arrives in the throne chamber, a huge effigy of a more youthful Mundus is present in his stead. The statue is apparently carved from the same stone as Mundus' body, and appears like a marble Adonis whose visage is an unmoving sneer of cold command. Your arrogance knows no bounds, Mundus…Sparda thinks, are we no longer fit to bask in your splendor? The statue's triangular eyes began to blaze with lightning as Sparda enters the room. Most demons would back away in fear, sensing the rage in Mundus, however, Sparda does not. He continues valiantly up to Beowulf and Alastor who were reporting to Mundus. Sparda only catches the end of the conversation.

"…The human's armaments will not be of much use to them, my Liege. Those odd ballistic weapons will do nothing more than irritate us." Alastor's voice called to Mundus. His voice had a slight rasp to it, but he spoke with intelligence.

Mundus' deep voice boomed from the statue. "Excellent, Alastor. You fulfill the role of a leader well." Mundus paused as the statue's lifeless eyes appeared to follow Sparda across the room. "Beowulf, do you have anything to report?"

Beowulf's gruff, barking voice rattled out from his fang-encrusted mouth, "Nothing Alastor hasn't told you…"

Mundus heard something in Beowulf's voice he didn't like. After an uneasy silence, red lightning flew from the statue and engulfed Beowulf. He fell to the ground convulsing and Mundus released him. Mundus waited to see if Beowulf would be foolish enough to talk. Beowulf's gray body smoked as he struggled to maintain consciousness.

"Is there something you would like to add?"

Beowulf turned his head and glared at Sparda. He then turned back toward the statue, "No, Master…not here. Not now." Mundus knows why Beowulf does not speak.

"And you…" Mundus' voice was now directed at Sparda

As Beowulf crawled backward, Sparda stepped forward. He inspected the statue; a gift from the depraved humans, as they see Mundus.

"I have heard reports from multiple demons, Sparda, high-ranking devils, that you have been watching some of the humans very closely."

Sparda doesn't respond.

The statue began to glow with energy. "I came to check in." Sparda finally breaks his silence.

"Yes…of course. Beowulf, Alastor!" Mundus called "Show these abortions of the Light that their weapons are useless against the legions of Hell. Go now!" The two generals turned and headed for the portal.

"Sparda…" Mundus called a final time.

"I do not know why you waste so much time watching the humans, but be assured that I will find out. I am willing to pardon your unscrupulous actions so long as your loyalties remain with me, but if I ever sense dissent within you, my retribution will be terrible and merciless...You are a demon, never forget that."

Sparda's sword clicks and becomes a large spear, "I never will…"

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The battle was short and bloody. As Sparda rampaged through the field, rage built up inside of him. In the face of each of his victims, he saw Mundus. For the moment, he had forgotten the time he'd spent in the human realm recently. His dark soul was now at work and it only angered him more. Sparda killed at least five dozen humans that night. He could see Beowulf and Alastor heading back through the portal after killing hundreds more. He used his foot to slide a human's body off his sword, and wiped the blade against his leg, cleaning the blood off. Suddenly, the feeling of cold steel against his rough, armored neck caught him by surprise. He slowly turned around and met eyes with what was to be his sixty-first kill. His eyes widened slightly as he saw who it was.

Anna's harmonic voice, calm and cool, filled Sparda's dark soul with emotions again. His hand slowly gripped his sword, but Anna held the pistol up to his chest. Sparda stopped, but did not let go.

Anna realized who she was about shoot and spoke, "It's you…..why have you come back here? Didn't you get your fill of murder the last time? Well? I should kill you where you stand..."

Sparda did not respond but instead continued looking into her eyes, his rage slowly subsiding in spite of his bloodlust.

"So, you have nothing to say? Good, I would rather not know the sound of your horrible tongue anyway. You spared my life once. Unlike you, I will NOT grant you the same courtesy." Sparda is taken by surprise again. Never before has he understood the human language, until just now. Suddenly, Anna was firing a barrage of bullets at Sparda from close range. As she fired, Sparda dodged with ease, still holding on to the handle of his sword, clamped to his back.

Realizing that her pistol would be of no use, Anna stopped firing and looked at Sparda in terror. She was still within close range and waited for Sparda to make his fatal move. Then, something unexpected happened; his ego inflating, Sparda opened his mouth, and tried to speak the human language…

"It……is good…if you don't…use that… I…don't want…to kill you…" His words were slow, but he spoke with a surprising level of intelligence.

In shock, Anna dropped her arm. "You…." Sparda watched her in confusion as she began to breathing became labored as if something was stuck inside her chest. Memories of her father flood her brain….

Do you like it? I made it myself. Consider it a good luck charm

You know I love you and your mother very much.

I would never do anything to hurt you

Do not worry Anna, I will not be gone for long.

I need you.

Father! NO!

She cupped her free hand over her face, concealing her tears. After a few seconds, in rage, she pointed the gun at Sparda again. With a flash, his sword is at her throat. They stood locked in a treacherous embrace. Sparda looked in her eyes and saw her tears. She looked into Sparda's eyes and saw a glimpse of what could have been a soul peering through. The glimpse calms her to an extent and she feels as though she can let her guard down, but not yet her gun. Her voice breaks the tension in Sparda.

"What is your name?"

He looks at her and remains silent for a few seconds, "Sparda." His voice seemed to echo against itself in this new language.

" 'Sparda'? What does it mean?" Anna's gun still drives into Sparda, although it doesn't make contact.

"Meaning? It means…nothing. If my name is…different…I am still the…same demon…"[1] The way Sparda speaks hit Anna as extremely odd.

"You don't speak like a demon. You know our language, and you also have some strange wisdom in your dark soul. Why? Are you trying to be a human? Because you can't, you know." Her tone became angry and aggressive.

Sparda's words flowed more easily now, as he began to recall the way that he had seen the humans speak. "I have…watched you for weeks. I have learned…some things." He looked at her tears again, and pointed with his sword. "Why do you do that?"

Anna uses her free hand to wipe the tears from her cheeks, "Cry? Why do I cry? It an emotion called sorrow. It happens when you're hurt. But a demon like you wouldn't understand that…"

"You are right. Devils….never cry."

Anna became angry again and screamed at Sparda, "No! No emotions! You don't feel anything! Compassion! Love! Joy! Pain! All meaningless to you! Look at this!!" Anna drew Sparda's attention to the silent and bloody battlefield around him "Look at what you've done to my people!" Her tears began to well up again. "Slaughtered like animals!! And you can do this all because you do not care. You don't even know what it means to care!"

Sparda maintained his composure and responded calmly to Anna's anger, "Oh? This is the second time I have had my sword ready for you, and yet you still stand. Not many are alive today to make that claim. And if I do not feel, then what is this odd feeling I have in my chest? Like I have been hit by an enemy? Is that what you call 'pain'? And if so, isn't that an emotion?"[2]

Her eyes still filled with anger, Anna corrected him, "No...that's called compassion."

Sparda lowered his head to the ground, almost taken in by the feeling in his chest, "I see..."

Anna lowered her pistol, and tilted her head, as if seeing Sparda for the first time. For a brief second, she thinks she sees a man. "You aren't like them, are you?"

Sparda quickly raised his head, leaving no space between Anna's words and his own, "I am a demon. No matter what happens, I will always be a demon…."

Off in the shadows, in the dark clouds of the sky, overlooking the unlikely scene was a being of incredible power; a being who ruled the Underworld. The lighting red triad of eyes hovered above the clouds as they looked down upon the battlefield. And, just as quickly as they appeared, they faded away, without making a sound…...

[1] Name here refers to the conventional name, not the true name. ~Ed.

[2] Paraphrased from disjointed statements with demonic language mixed in. ~Ed.