Mission 14

Demonic Games

As kind of a piecework, he eliminated all the demons that stood in his way. He did not expect anything else than such a warm welcome by the dark creatures. After all, this is the demon's home.

He got to see various dreadful and deserted places. It started with a terrible reflection of Fortuna's beach right after entering the demon world. The water was blood-red, if that liquid was expected to be water anyway, and the whole beach was dark and stony. There was nowhere green nature to see. Only leafless and bent trees. The sky had a dark green to black color.

Dante continued to trudge through fog and, from then on, could no longer recognize his surroundings; not even his own lower body. Of course the first Demons had to show up at that very moment. Despite the severely restricted field of vision, Dante could still rely on his sense for the demons' presence, so that it was not possible for the beings to sneak up on him; even if they had not made a telltale sound. Furthermore, he knows how to handle his weapons blindly, and he is aware of his strength. Thus he succeeded in mastering the first challenge - to eliminate all demons.

When the fog lifted, he continued walking through a dark tunnel that seemed to him as if he had been in a narrow cave. The faster he moved towards the white light at the other end, the further he seemed to move away from the brightness. On top of that, it appeared as if the tunnel was getting longer instead of shorter. Here, too, he was visited by about a dozen demons. Despite the seemingly endless grotto, he walked on and on, and suddenly the ground beneath his feet cracked open.

Soaked in red liquid, he sank deeper and deeper. That moment confirmed him that the red liquid of the sea was in reality not water but blood. Even though he can remember his bloody dive, in retrospect, he is not sure if it was a real event because in the moment when he felt the blood sea's hard ground underneath his buttock and legs, his red surrounding had disappeared and his clothes as well as his skin had no reddish residue at all.

From then on he found himself sitting on a black and sandy platform. Digging his fingers deeper into the ground, he thought feeling ashes. He stood up and cleared his lower body from black soot with his hands. There was wind around the platform and its intensity increased more and more. His hair and clothes reacted to this movement in the air and danced along. He looked around and then up. As if he was caught inside of a tornado that just did not want to carry him away for some reason - that was the effect the moment had for him. The gray force raging around him got narrower and trapped him on the platform; a perfectly unfavorable situation for another demon fight as it started immediately.

All kinds of skeletal demons he had ever seen in his lifetime were the first to haunt him. The Demons of the Seven Deadly Sins and the new Emotion Demons, as Lady baptized them, were united. The whole platform was abruptly full of them and so he slaughtered his way through the masses; just as he had done it on the beach of Fortuna after the opening of the demon world, only this time as the beings' only opponent.

After countless blows, jumps, and shots on his part, the horde was indeed defeated and his surroundings showed the same emptiness as in the beginning. The tornado, which still persisted, was the only disturber of the peace. Before he knew it, a huge, mud-colored creature stormed out of it: The demon from the Blood Angel's Sacred Site that he left to Hera after he had weakened him and that got the wonderful nickname Sharky through her.

It opened his mouth wide and came suspiciously close to Dante. As he ran towards the demon with Rebellion in his right hand, the tornado narrowed and pulled the two of them into itself.

The whole environment was then distorted. When he looked down, it seemed as if all the colors had been drawn into the negative. The shark-like demon had disappeared to boot. He moved across the bright blue floor and had to shift his weight to the right side to avoid being pulled to the left; as if the ground was sloping. His distorted surroundings which also showed a bright light blue that was not very pleasant to the eye - especially due to the dark blue in the background which made the light color shine even more intensely - barely showed the outline of a city. He could not assign the metropolis to any place in the human world, though, or he just did not recognize it because of its bizarre appearance.

Dante moved further and further and followed the glaring path. The buildings, appearing in a negative color, grew denser and denser and higher. The demon hunter had to shift his weight more to the right side in order not to stray from the path, but after a while he simply was not able to keep up with the moving path. As he had stopped and the path had moved on without him, he finally realized that his surroundings slowly turned and that it would not have mattered where he was walking since he did not lose his footing anyway.

Meanwhile, the ground consisted of buildings when he continued on his way. He was not sure if he was making headway or if it were the buildings that automatically passed him by. Little by little, however, his surroundings changed. The streets changed and the buildings lined up in different ways. Dante did not allow himself to be distracted by this and continued to walk persistently. He reached the next scene. A park, distinguished by innumerable shining white trees - also, of course, pulled into negative color.

Here he is now standing in front of a signpost near a lantern which points in different directions. The lantern as well as the trees are shining all around. His surroundings have stopped spinning in the meantime.

There are five different directions that the signpost indicates. To the right and left of Dante where a glaring path leads past trees and into the darkness. One directs back, the other points straight ahead to a well. Its red liquid bubbles up. His first thought is that the liquid is also thin blood, but since the colors are reversed, it could actually be water for the first time. Behind the mighty well's fountain is a huge, shining white gate. The fifth and last arrow leads diagonally across over orange meadow and a hill. The violet sky over the whole park, if you can call it like that when meaning the horizon in the demon world, adds its bright colors to the place. The first place within the demon world that is not brimming with drabness. However, this makes the park even more difficult to survey than the city since the intrusive color play is an immense challenge for the eye.

The signs of the signpost do not show any inscription. Hesitating which path to take, Dante intuitively chooses the one that looks most interesting: the path straight ahead towards the gate. Having arrived there, he can touch the gate; so it is not only an illusion. He pushes against it but the passage cannot be opened. Even when he presses against it with his second hand and applies more force, the door does not move. Dissatisfied, Dante steps back and looks around. Which way should he go instead?

If he is not allowed to step through the gate, then Dante wants to try the extravagant path across the bright orange meadow. He crushes the grass underneath his boots and climbs up the hill. The glow of the purple sky intensifies and spreads over Dante, only to finally engulf him.

He finds himself standing in the same park and next to the signpost. Being surprised about the happening, Dante looks to the left and right, and then up to the arrows indicating that five directions. Suddenly, one letter appears on every arrow. On the right arrow is written the letter F, on the left on it is G, on the arrow pointing straight ahead it is the letter M, on the one pointing back it is D, and the letter M appears on the arrow that points half right across the meadow. Then the inscriptions disappear and chaotic words are to see:

Arrow pointing to the right: ireefllh

Arrow pointing to the left: vsgaleanrde

Arrow pointing straight forward: aestlfomthesatcer

Arrow pointing back: ddhaetsictrit

Arrow pointing diagonally across the meadow: deonlcaoudrmn

Seemingly, Dante is allowed to pass his time with a riddle; with a riddle of letters as it looks like. F, G, M, D, and again M. All those letters can be found in the confusing words. Does he have to move this letters so that he gets the right term in the end? That would be the way how a classic puzzle, which he has been confronted with several times in the past, works. In order for the words to change, he must probably choose one of the five directions. Dante looks around again and considers whether he can find any clues from the surroundings, but he cannot find anything like that. Therefore, Dante decides to choose a direction haphazardly. He liked the path across the bizarre meadow, so he decides to take this path again since the gate straight ahead is still closed. He probably will have to wait a bit longer for this direction to get available.

He walks over the hill and again he gets absorbed by nothingness when he returns to the former position - in front of the well and near the signpost. The demon hunter looks at the arrows. New letters are appearing. This time, the right arrow shows the letter E, the left one V, and the arrow pointing straight ahead the letter C. It is a H on the one pointing back and a L for Dante's favorite direction: the diagonally arrow. Then these terms also disappear and mixed up words can be seen again. However, Dante can recognize a difference in them:

Arrow pointing to the right: fireellh

Arrow pointing to the left: vsaleagnrde

Arrow pointing straight forward: aestlfotheamstcer

Arrow pointing back: dhaetdsictrit

Arrow pointing diagonally across the meadow: demonlcaoudrn

Especially with the term of the right arrow, he can see that the letter F, which appeared earlier, has been moved to the beginning of the word. Dante checks to which position the other letters have been shifted to. Finally, after closer examination, he can see that the previously shown letters F, G, M, D and M on the respective arrows have been shifted four spaces to the right. So does the direction he had just taken always correspond to a shift of four spaces to the right? Based on this theory and assuming that the classical numeral system also applies in the underworld, it would probably mean that taking another direction causes the letters to shift three times to the right, a different way two times to the right, and a further path one time to the right. It is only questionable whether the remaining fifth way shifts the respective letter five spaces to the right or just do not cause any reaction at all after Dante has chosen it.

Again, he looks at the terms on the arrows and assumes that he can get some words identified already. He even owes one solution word to Savo since he mentioned it when he talked about the demon Futuras. Since then, the demon hunter could not get this term out of his head: fire hell - possibly the final word of the arrow pointing to the right. The arrow that leads across the colorful meadow apparently means the word "demon". If one then puts the second part of the word together, it could be "cauldron".

Even if Dante should be right, he would not get to the respective places at this moment anyway as the puzzle is still activated and has to be solved first. So Dante continues to decipher all the terms.

He remains with his theory and takes a closer look at the arrows on which the words he suspects to be are written. The letter E, which was written last on the right arrow, and L, which had appeared on the diagonal arrow; how would he have to move these letters to get closer to the words he guesses them to be? It needs to be a shift three times to the right regarding the word he assumes to be "fire hell", but which direction does he have to choose to make this shift happen? Dante looks to the right. Maybe this way?

"So what!" Dante thinks. "Just give it a try."

Even if he would have to correct the word constellations to solve the puzzle, it at least gets clear to Dante which number corresponds to what direction. He perhaps would have to start the puzzle all over again, but that would not be tragic. Either way, he will get the riddle cracked.

Dante goes to the right and disappears into nowhere, only to be teleported back below the signpost. New letters are appearing. For the right arrow, it is this time the letter L, for the left one N, for the one pointing straight ahead E, C is for the one pointing back, and the arrow pointing diagonally to the right shows the letter O. The words' positions have changed as follows:

Arrow pointing to the right: firellhe

Arrow pointing to the left: salveagnrde

Arrow pointing straight forward: caestlfotheamster

Arrow pointing back: daethdsictrit

Arrow pointing diagonally across the meadow: demoncaoludrn

Dante is right. The word on the right arrow keeps evolving into the term he suspects, thus the oblique direction corresponds to a shift of four positions and that one to the right of three positions.

There is another word he sees emerging out of those letter salads: "death district" on the arrow pointing back.

He compares the words he thinks he has already guessed right and contrives how he has to move the letters. Especially with the term "death district" it is appropriate to shift the letter C three places to the right. This works also with the word "fire hell" if the first of the two letters L goes along. He is just not sure regarding the term "demon cauldron" which can be read with a little bit of imagination on the diagonal right arrow. However, with two terms as indicators to go right again, his uncertainty is outvoted, so that he chooses this direction.

The letters for the next round are H for the right arrow, L for the left arrow, O for the one pointing straight ahead, I for the one pointing back, and U for the arrow pointing diagonally right. The designated words are:

Arrow pointing to the right: firelhel

Arrow pointing to the left: salveagrden

Arrow pointing straight forward: castlefotheamster

Arrow pointing back: daethdsitrict

Arrow pointing diagonally across the meadow: demoncaludorn

Dante seems to have the hang of it. He can now also identify the last two terms. "Salve garden" or "slave garden" - more likely the second option - and "castle of the master". When he again compares all the terms with each other, he needs to shift the indicated letters back by one position this time.

Back. Dante looks behind him and decides for the way he once came. If the puzzle is still activated, he should not get back to the place where buildings turned around him, but return here; next to the signpost.

Indeed he returns back and sees the signpost with different letters on it: E, G, M, E, and R. As they disappear, the signs show the following terms:

Arrow pointing to the right: firehlel

Arrow pointing to the left: slaveagrden

Arrow pointing straight forward: castleoftheamster

Arrow pointing back: daethdistrict

Arrow pointing diagonally across the meadow: demoncauldorn

Dante realizes that the puzzle heads into the last round because if he now goes back one more time, the letters will be arranged correctly and the riddle itself will be solved.

He does not hesitate for a second and turns his back on this place.

Lastly, the signs of the signpost show the final words: Fire hell, slave garden, castle of the master, death district and demon cauldron.

The terms remain on the signpost and the gate behind the fountain straight ahead opens. Even though this must be the place where Mundus is, who may be having a showdown with Vergil at this very moment, Dante cannot help but choosing the right direction and going to the fire hell to pay a visit to Futuras.