It had been a week since the rigged trial took place and the blond girl, Darkness, had left yesterday to head to the fatass' place. During this week, Tsukiyo still hasn't woken up and I'm starting to get suspicious of the situation…

From one night of nearly getting beaten to death and stabbed, of course you'd need time to recover, but it shouldn't take more than a week just to get back to 100%. I know that this isn't the first time he's almost died, but I guess nearly dying multiple times is starting to take a toll on him whether it be physical or psychological...

"Hey, is Darkness back yet? Part of me feels like she should've been back a while ago…" Aqua, the false goddess said as she was laying down bored on the couch of front of the fireplace.

At this point, no one had a clue on what she was doing. The brat in green, who was now known as Kazuma, just stared blankly at the ceiling like a vegetable before holding his head a shouting.

"Ahhhhhh!!" Me and Aqua just looked at him like the insane person he was

"I really don't feel like asking, but if it'll get you to stop then I'll just ask, What the hell are you doing?" I asked regrettably

"What's with all the shouting?" The child who was called, Megumin, asked while holding a small black cat.

I wasn't sure why, but I could sense something from that cat...It feels..intense…

"Oh, you want to keep that cat here?" Kazuma asked now that he was almost sane again and not screaming at the top of his lungs.

"Yeah, He's a good child so I thought I'd be okay with everyone if he stayed here. Is that fine?" she asked in a cautious tone, I have no problems with animals as long as they stay away from me

"I don't think anyone here has cat allergies or something like that so it should be fine...What's its name?" Kazuma asked as the cat started to play with it's index finger, but as soon as Aqua got near it hissed and swiped its claws at her.

"Ow! Why did it swipe me!? I'm not sure if it's the black coat or the demonic eyes, but something feels off about it...I can feel an evil presence from it…" Aqua speculated as she was eyeing the cat intensely until the cat swiped again nearly got her eye swiped…

When I got closer to it, I started to understand what she meant about a presence, it wasn't evil but careless...in a sense, it felt sort of familiar to a certain inferior red coated demon…

As I was thinking to myself, the cat seemed to be nuzzling its head near my demon arm while purring, "Oh Hey, I guess it like Tsuki...er, Vergil the most…" Kazuma said as he was smiling towards the cat.

...As much as I wouldn't like to admit it, this isn't too bad...

"It's name is Chomusuke…"Megumin said while the cat was still purring on my arm.

That's the worst name I've ever heard of from a weird owner with a weird name.

"But the cat's a girl, right? I don't think that, that names suits her…" Kazuma asked but was stubbornly rejected by Megumin, "No. It's name is Chomusuke."

"It must be very hard for you with a owner like that…" Kazuma whispered and gave a look of sympathy towards "Chomusuke" while she looked at him confused. After he was done whispering to it, he got a leftover fish from lunch earlier and gave it to her.

It sniffed it for a moment before grabbing it with it's paw, breathing fire on it and eating it. I've seen some weird and questionable things in my time, so this isn't new to me. Kazuma though…

"Hey, tell me I wasn't the only one who saw that…" He started to question as he couldn't believe what he saw

"Saw what?" Aqua asked as she started to kneel and look at the cat while it ate.

"It spat fire. The cat can spit fire…(1)" Kazuma started to look more intensely at Chomusuke

"Kazuma cat's don't spit fire, they look cute and are used for cuddling," Aqua said, "Are you sure you've had enough sleep?"

"I'm not going insane! Vergil, you were closer to the cat, Tell me you saw that!" Kazuma said while trying to convince the others.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about…" I said as I stepped away from him, "Besides, why were you screaming? I doubt you've gone insane, since that was already taken by Tsukiyo…"

"Hey! Out of everyone here, I'm the most sane person! After that would probably be Tsukiyo. It's just Darkness I'm a bit worried about…" Kazuma said while he started to pace back and forth

"If you're worried about her safety then don't. She chose this herself, so she'll have to deal with it. Besides, she an Adventurer like you guys, she can handle herself." I said to him as he was still pacing back and forth.

Even though I did say that, for some reason I got this sense of unease. This might be Tsukiyo's emotion, if it is then it's good to know that's he somewhat aware of what's going on.

"Vergil's right, Darkness isn't a defenseless person. Even though she can't hit anything, she is the strongest and most durable of us. You should have some faith in her Kazuma…"

"You guys don't get it!" He said as if we weren't listening to him, "This is Darkness were talking about! The one who takes pleasure from pain and humiliation! Tell me if this sounds right, 'Ugh! Even if you're being so forceful with me, I'll never yield to a horrible man like yourself! Even if you deflower my body, I'll never yield!' " He finished imitating Darkness while Megumin and Aqua soon had a look of realisation. I almost forgot she's like that too...

Now it was their turn to hold their heads shouting, it's a good thing I plugged my ears before they did...

"Wh-wh-what should we do!? Darkness might be in Danger!" Megumin said as she was now freaking out…

"Well already been one night, so It's already too late to do something. It's like I said before, Don't worry about her. She did this herself, so she can handle this herself…" I repeated myself as Megumin was still freaking out.

"Vergil, how could you be so cruel?! She's our companion!" Megumin said as she wasn't happy with what I said, Kazuma stepped in before I could reply. Besides, she Tsukiyo's Companion, NOT mine…

"No Megumin, he's right, We're too late. All we can do now is wait for her to come back and be gentle to her when she does...It's the least we can do…" Kazuma said as he looked sad

"Oh Darkness, how could you ascend to womanhood without us...sob sob" Aqua said she started to feel bad for Darkness

These guys need to stop overreacting…

A shout would soon be heard coming from the front of the mansion along with Door being opened roughly, "Tsukiyo Nakano! Where are you Tsukiyo!"

It was the prosecutor Sena as she walked over towards the 4 of us while giving us a glare.

"I'm Sorry, but there is still time before the trial resumes and you do not have a warrant for entering the accused's mansion, so I'm gonna have to cut you down…" I said as I stopped her from coming any closer from the 4 of us.

"Cut the bullshit! You're still under suspicion so local authority have the right to come in without a warrant! Besides the point, you guys really have the nerve to cause such a mess!" Sena spat as she was still glaring at us.

"Alright, then tell me: What mess did we cause, and by we, I mean them," I said as I pointed over to my "companions", "What did they do this time?"

"You're really trying to pin the blame on them, huh? Despicable…" Sena said

"I'm not trying to blame them, I just have a gut feeling…" I said as I got in Sena's face, she didn't speak but she did move back an inch or two.

She cleared her throat before saying what she wanted to say, "A-Anyways...the toads...the toads that were originally hibernating underground for the winter suddenly surfaced and started attacking the town. We received multiple complaints of the toads destroying farms, eating livestock, and attacking citizens."

"And you want us to clean up the mess before things get ugly do you? Are you sure you want a demon like me helping out? What if I accidentally control them and send them to the station?" I asked sarcastically

Sena was not amused, she didn't blow a fuse surprisingly but replied with, "I know it wasn't you per se, but rather a certain wizard with an expertise in Explosion Magic…"

I used my Demon Arm to grab ahold of Aqua who tried to run away by using Snatch on her and latching onto that thick skull of hers while Kazuma made himself useful by grabbing Megumin collar before she ran away.

"Let's go for a walk, shall we?" I said while holding back my strength making sure not to pop that false goddess' head open like a grape. Kazuma held Megumin in a headlock and dragged her with him.

"Ow! Ow! Hey! You should treat a goddess with more respect! Let go! I'm sorry, it was all Megumin's fault!" Aqua said while trying to tear off my death grip on her head.

"Hey, the Mastermind was Aqua! She said she wanted to blow some steam off for getting put into a cell by those guards! She said she'd take care of things after!" Megumin said while Kazuma was dragging her by the head, Chomusuke was left behind while this was happening.

"Shut the hell up and go clean up this shit you caused!" Me and Kazuma said in unison.

Sena was just watching us manhandle them out the door, speechless. The snow outside had already covered the ground so that made things 2x harder.

It had been about 30-40 minutes after leaving the mansion and we finally arrived at a field where there was just about almost a dozen of Toads roaming around the field filled with snow and small patches of ice.

Aqua was still squirming in my grip and started to do it more violently when she saw the toads in the distance, "No! NO! Please! I don't want to fight them! I still remember the last time we did! It ended up horribly! Please! I'm sorry! Don't make me face them alone!" Aqua cried as she was begging for mercy.

I threw Aqua headfirst into the snow and stood in place, "Your problem, your fight. Go"

She got up from face planting in the snow, grabbed the bottom of my shirt and continued to beg, "Please don't make me fight them! How could you say this to a pretty girl like me! Let alone a Goddess!"

I spat to the side of her as she begged, "What pretty girl? All I see is Kazuma, Megumin, Sena, some ugly toads. Besides you're not goddess, the trial proved it..."

Aqua had a facial expression like she just got backstabbed and stopped grabbing my shirt while sobbing quietly on the snow.

"Hey Megumin," I called out, "It's looks like there's a group of Toads on the right, If we use Aqua for bait we should be able to round them up and kill them all together with your explosion, how does that sound?"

"I will wait for your call!" Megumin said determinedly as she stopped resisting Kazuma's headlock.

"Megumin! Are you really gonna abandon me here!? What about our deal!?" Aqua shouted as she felt hurt from a "betrayal"

"You heard her, she's waiting on you…" I said coldly, Aqua tried to run away from me, which was a really bad move…

I used my demon arm to grab the back if her shirt and threw her with enough force over towards the toads where screamed her lungs out she landed right next to them. As soon as she landed, all of them looked at her for a moment before she started running, shouting, and wailing while the toads followed behind her.

I turned towards Kazuma, "Hey, aside from your dagger and "ability" what can you do in this situation?" He seemed to be confused when I asked him that, "Hey, I thought we were letting them deal with this themselves, why do I need to be involved?" he asked.

"There's no chance of this plan working if Aqua get swallowed before all the toads are gathered, so we might need backup bait if that does happen" He went pale as soon as I said that, Sena cut in on the conversation and tried to scold me, "One of your comrades is getting chased by multiple toads and your thinking of using Satou Kazuma as bait if she gets swallowed!? What kind of person are you!? This is low, even for a demon!"

I turned towards her and responded to her criticisms, "Sena, no offense, but tell me...How long have you been an adventurer? How many demons have you killed? Any monsters? No? Didn't think so. Believe me when I say this, because of the fact that my father was the Dark Knight, me and my brother were confronted many times by demons, even at a young age. So for majority of my life, I've been slaughtering all of them in my way, alone. Trust my instincts, this is the most efficient plan there is. While you may be older than me in age, you're decades behind me in terms of combat and strategics…"

Sena didn't have the guts to respond, she just looked to the ground and looked dejected.

I turned back to Kazuma who wasn't pale anymore, but looked a bit more ready for combat. "Hey, I just remembered something! I learned a couple of some bow skills from a friend of mine. I don't think I need to be bait, I could just pick off a couple of them that get too close to Aqua."

"Good thinking," It wasn't really, but I'll let him have this, "but do you have enough range to do so?" I asked

"Don't worry! The bow skill that I got is based off my luck skill, I think I can shoot pretty far and accurate because of it! I'm going to climb this tree to get a vantage point." Kazuma said as he started to climb a large tree and get a pretty high vantage point.

As Kazuma drew his bow and was about to shoot his arrow, he yelled down to where Me, Sena, and Megumin were waiting, "Hey! Aqua's getting eaten!" Huh, that lasted longer than I expected…

Sena looked dumbfounded when he shouted that, "What happened to having faith in your plans!? You're companions getting eaten!"

"I was talking about myself when I fight, I never said anything about teamplay…" I said with a smug on my face, "But yeah, I may as well get her out before she actually gets swallowed."

I started sprinting over to where Aqua was getting eaten and shouted behind me, "Hey Kazuma, pick off any toads that aren't near the group! Megumin, start the chanting and get ready to use your spell!"

"Hey! What about your weapons! You didn't get any of Tsukiyo's Gear!" Kazuma shouted, I was already too far to respond, but didn't need to, I had Yamato and a couple of tricks up my sleeve to survive a situation like this.

By the time I reached Aqua who was being eaten by the toads, all I could see was her boots sticking out of one of the toads mouth.

(For those wondering about the reference link for this chapter, I just realised that links dont work...wish someone could've told me about it earlier...Just look up 'DMC4SE Vergil Moveset' by Draethion. All moveset references will be from his vids only)

While still sprinting, I summoned Yamato, unsheathed it and rushed towards the Toad with a barrage of slashes following me before I launched myself into the air (Rising Star 0:55). The slashes behind me that followed hit the stomach of the toad that had Aqua in it and made it stop eating ner for the moment. Since I was in the air, I was high enough to grab Aqua's foot, drag her out of the mouth using my demon arm and throw her a couple of feet away from the toads and towards the direction of the others.

As soon as Aqua knew that she was no longer in the toads mouth, she used all the strength she had to run straight towards the group while not looking back leaving a trail of slime that lead to a small puddle.

I was still in the air with no momentum to let me dodge away from the mouths of the toads, so I had to used one of my "tricks" to escape and make sure I don't end up like Aqua. I summoned a small sword that was light blue and slightly transparent and launched it near the area where I threw Aqua, and warped there (Summoned Sword 7:09 (2)

I didn't like using my magic at situations like this since it takes a small fraction of mana and takes away the time that lets me control this body.

As soon as I landed, I made a break for the direction of the group to make sure Megumin could use her spell and let us get out of here, but as I was about to run I slipped on something and hit the ground.

I looked to see what it was and saw a puddle of slime. I couldn't get mad and waste my time on this since there was about 9 toads heading towards me.

I slipped on the the slime another 2 times before being able it get up and run. Since the toads were too close, I had to use more of my magic to make sure they didn't get any nearer. I used up more of my magic to summon more swords to stop them by summoning a lot them above the toads and have them impale them to the ground (Heavy Rain Swords 7:52.) Although the swords were now a medium size, this ability couldn't hurt them in any way, it would only make them hold still for 30 seconds.

At this point, with the amount of mana I used for those 2 abilities, I could guess that I lost about an hour of control time.

Now that the toads were impaled, I had a small window to try and escape before the swords disappear.

Since I wasn't focused on what was around me, I was cut off from the party by 2 toads that were to the left and right of me.

I was about to draw the Yamato again and cut them down to size, but the toad on the left mysteriously dropped dead and fell to the side. When I saw its back, it was riddled with arrows, meaning Kazuma actually killed one. Another 3-4 arrows would soon hit the toad in the right, but it was aimed more towards the head and its eyes.

3 of the arrows hit the back of its head, while one of them hit the right eye.

It started to freak out for a bit from being blinded and started hopping towards the group and crashed into it.

I continued to run closer and closer to the group, but was still not far enough for the spell to not affect me. I made a gamble at this time to either get me out unscathed or have me get caught in the crossfire. "Megumin! Fire it!" I yelled multiple times to make sure she heard me.

When she finished preparing and fired off her spell, I summoned another small dagger and had it launch towards the tree that Kazuma was sniping from. I wasn't sure if it was out of range or not, but I had to take that chance.

I waited another 2-3 seconds and was starting to feel the intense heat catch up and feel the earth tremble violently, I was pretty sure I was about to get caught in the blast, but somehow escaped it from my Dagger getting caught in the tree and warping there.

I was now out of breath from having to run away from the toads and not get caught in the explosion that was casted.

"There…." I said while panting, "They're all dead. Let's go back…"

"We're done now!?" Aqua said with joy while still covered in slime, as if she forgot what happened a couple of minutes ago.

Sena looked around to confirm that all the toads were dead, "Yeah. I guess the situation's been handled. Good work."

There was a sudden rumble from the ground as soon as she finished that sentence.

20ft ahead of us, we saw 5 more toads rise up from the ground and head towards us at full speed.

"OH COME ON! Why won't you guys just leave us alone!" Aqua shouted as she rushed towards one of the toads. She raised her fist in the air and started to glow red with fire slowly forming around it.

"God Blow! Feel the wrath of a Goddess' Pain and Fu-" She never got to finish that sentence since she got eaten by one of the toads that didn't pay any attention to her.

"Goddammit that idiot!" Kazuma shouted as he saw that happen from the treetop.

"Ummm, don't wanna alarm you guys but I could some rescuing...like right now…" Megumin said with not much emotion in her voice as she was almost completely eaten by a toad with her head sticking out form the top.

Ok, this situation went to shit really, really fast...I need to think of a plan…

"Hey! Sena!" Kazuma shouted from the treetop, "We need you to attract the attention of one of the toads so we can get out of here as soon as possible. Vergil! Get Aqua and Megumin outta here!" He finished his sentence and started firing rapidly at the toads around the soon to be eaten Aqua.

Even though I don't like taking orders from people, especially a brat like Kazuma, we had no choice.

Sena said in a confused voice, "H-Hey! I'm just here to observe you guys on your combat, not help with a fight! Do you really plan on using me as bait for the toads?!"

"If you're only here to observe and not help then you're a liability. Get out of here and wait until its safe. I'll handle this myse-" I was soon cut off by a shout heard in the distance...

"Light of Saber!"

Just as the shout was heard, the toad that was eating Aqua was split in half by a beam of light, freeing her in the process.

Another shout by the same person was heard, "Energy Ignition!"

This time, all 4 of the toads that were near Aqua were now caught in a whirlwind of intense concentrated fire.

Seeing that there was only one left, that was eating (?) Megumin, was hit with a stream of lightning from above that hit the back side of the toad making sure it wasn't going to hit Megumin.

There were no more toads in the field and there were no tremors in the ground that signaled more of them to come.

I made the Yamato disappear to conserve mana to last another 30 minutes as the person who was shouting those spells soon walked up to us.

Strangely enough, our "savior" was a small girl in a robe, black blouse, and pink skirt that held a small wand in her hand as she glared at something behind us.

Kazuma climbed down from the tree and soon saved Megumin by pulling her out of the toads mouth. It seemed that he shared some energy with her since she was now able to stand up and grab her staff that was inside of the toads mouth.

Megumin soon went face to face with the girl that was glaring at her, Kazuma would ask if she her since she was glaring straight at her.

"I don't know who this is but thanks for saving us, now if you'll excuse me we're leaving…"

"Ehh!? Megumin you're really mean for pulling a joke like that!" The young girl complained.

Kazuma soon stepped forward and said "Thank you for saving us, we're grateful for that but...how do you know Megumin?"

"Oh! Let me introduce myself!" The girl said excitedly, she then stood back, did a pose and introduced herself.

"My name is Yunyun! I am the 2nd best student in the Crimson Magic Academy! My longtime rival and #1 Student of the Academy is Megumin! I've trained hard enough to be able to use top tier magic freely, and now that I can do so, we can finally settle this longtime rivalry between us!"

Megumin wanted to walk off and get back to the mansion, but was stopped when Kazuma grabbed her robe collar and asked, "She said something important, we can't ignore this…"

I mean, we can always do so if we wanted to live a normal life like Tsukiyo said, but hey I guess his opinion doesn't matter…

"I'm sorry, but you might be mistaken for another person. I honestly don't know you.."Megumin said while trying not to make any eye contact.

Yunyun, would try to look the shy girl in the eyes and question her, "Are you sure? I mean you can't forget our times in the courtyard where we always ate lunch and made bets. My bet had to be good enough to challenge you so I always bet my lunch and you always won every time…"

I decided to not listen in on the conversation anymore sensing that they're gonna do rinse and repeat what they're saying…

But something feels off...like something is watch us with bloodlust…

I looked around us and saw nothing, nothing in the tree lines in the distance, nothing in the open field, nothing from above. There were no toads left around and no tremors that indicated more…

I knew this feeling from somewhere...

Before I was able to pinpoint where that feeling was coming from we got attacked, but it was mainly Yunyun that got aimed for.

A surge of ice shard were coming at her rapidly from the ground, and she was unaware of it from her conversation with Megumin.

"Watch out!" I shouted while moving her out of the way.

When the ice shards from the ground reached where Yunyun just was, it shot up and formed multiple ice pillars that would've killed her instantly.

I frantically looked around to see where the ice came from and still saw nothing, until it formed from the snow and came out from the ground with heavy tremors coming from 75 ft ahead of us...

I instantly recognised it and so did Tsukiyo if he was watching...

(Gonna leave you with that cliffhanger even though you instantly know what it is if you've played DMC4, but just know that it won't be simple because I put in a big-ish twist. wait, does me mentioning that make it more obvious...shit…oh well, if you've played DMC before, you know what it is...but there's more with it...feel free to guess

Also, I was going to post 2 chapters today, but because I'm not satisfied with 26 yet, its gonna be rewritten and posted next week with chapter 27.

For the review that YukiMegi posted on Sep. 22: Thanks for leaving another review, and yeah...that's just Aqua being normal so nothing surprising there...But she will have her moments that'll make her a bit more likable like the time from the Destroyer.

For the Guest account that posted a review in spanish on Sep. 23: It's a good thing I can understand spanish because of me being Latino irl, you're welcome for the chapters that I posted but still feel like they could be better. Darkness as of right now, isn't in love with Tsukiyo...yet. She likes him as a comrade and teammate, but there's only small hints of likeness. As for why though, I'll give multiple examples: 1) He basically saved her from getting beheaded from the Beldia boss fight, 2) He basically caused a "love" flag on his trip with Dust that made both of them slightly aware, but I feel like this is a bit of a stretch, 3) He, sort of, scolded Darkness when the bathroom incident ( ͡ ͜ʖ ͡) happened, because he was caring enough to do so. This was also sort of a "love" flag since it sort of Tsukiyo showed genuine care for her health instead of shrugging it off. 4) Tsukiyo is starting to accept the fact that he might like her at the end of Chap. 22 because of the amount of care Darkness showed when she actually thought that he died since he almost died about 6-7 times. I feel like I did a pretty bad job at the end and could've made things better on my end, but since it's already published I can't do much but build upon it. I know what you mean when you say that Darkness doesn't seem to be Tsukiyo's type, I've gotten reviews that told me that, but after another 60-70 chapters (I think) of them getting closer I think he'll slowly accept her fully. Just gotta think logically and make think of the right choices/interactions. I'm sorry if I misread anything, please tell me if I did.

For LightnigJack (or LightiningJack) that posted a review on Sep. 24: Thanks for your opinion and enjoy the next chapters!

For Rift Hero that posted a review that wasn't a guest account this time on Sep. 25: Thanks for the review, and yeah, to be completely honest, I have no idea what Vergil acts like, because just like Tsukiyo, I only played 4 and not the rest (DmC doesn't count even though I played it.) I have some crash course knowledge on the lore, but that's about it. I literally looked him up on wikia, saw his personality, and tried to replicate it. The Vergil in this world can't really say some of the things he says in DMC since he technically is almost the strongest demon if you think about it. The "Humans are scum" and "Why do you protect them Dante?" will still be applied and shown in the future, just like you saw back in the trial for calling out humans for being cowards/easily blaming demons and inside the Destroyer when he made the portal and wanted to abandon the adventurers, but it'll bit more subtle. Besides, if I went with Pure Vergil instead of my Modified Vergil, Kazuma and Co. probably would've died by now, like you said, from the amount of BS that happened or just be flat out irrelevant for going solo and taking over Tsukiyo's body.

Also, if you like the Vergil in the this chapter, you might like the interactions in the next one…

P.S: for LordOfTee, if you're still reading, there will be much more teamplay in them next chapter, the one on this chapter was not much of an attempt. Not sure if it'll be good enough, but there will be some in the next one.

Reference:

1 - Watch for Chomusuke's new Mixtape coming out in 3 weeks, "Other Half..." over on iTunes and Play Store. She's got bars like you've never heard before…(For those who read the LN, you know what the "Other Half" means…)

2 - You know, if you think about it...the way Vergil warps sort of reminds me of Minato's ability, in Naruto, and how he was able to teleport around the battlefield/world with his custom made Kunai's/jitsu's...pretty neat...