"What should we do?"
That had been a question Gerald had dreaded asking. To say he was afraid would be an understatement, he was terrified. Not for him, of course not, but for the twins. They were skilled, no doubt, but the power on display here was a bit disconcerting.
"We let them continue onwards Gerald. However, I have to ask for a favor."
That was new, Ogmar usually just told him what to do, the only time he ever asked him was when it was something he wasn't sure about.
"Whatever you need my king."
The young king fidgeted slightly on his throne, clearly uncomfortable with asking him.
"If the twins look like they're in danger, I want you to step in and defend them from those intruders. Even if Cat and Kate would rather do it themselves."
The twins were annoyingly independent, and considering they're more… emotionally charged state, they may do something that they will regret. This household has lost too much already.
"It would be my honor, my liege. I will protect them with my life."
"Don't let it come to that."
That was a given. "Of course, we still have much to do after all. Though I would suggest that you begin getting ready to take full control of the castle. Just in case."
That got a reaction out of the boy, even more so than anything else so far. His eyes were wide and mouth slightly agape. "I-I don't think that's a good idea! I m-mean, I can barely control it!"
"That matters little, you forget that you are now king. The castle will listen to you as long as you are an Akaz, it will listen."
The child gripped the crown on his head, no doubt trying to calm himself for the time ahead. He then nodded, if a bit reluctantly. It would have to do.
…
'She just has no taste.'
Darius stared at the calendar in his hands. The smiling face of Serafall Leviathan staring back at him. The… tasteful swimsuit taunting him with an untold and hidden bounty. So close, and yet oh so very far.
"Dude, its not that big a deal. We just can't carry that with us right now."
Evelyn had no idea what she was asking of him. It would be borderline blasphemous to do so. The quality of the photo was commendable in its own right, and that's not even bringing up the subject of the pictures. Truly, this woman was a work of art.
"You don't understand Evelyn, this is art. Where you see a calendar, I see proof that not all devils can be measured by the actions of just this one. Perhaps, acceptance isn't a pipe dream."
She sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, all the while saying some very unsavory things in spanish.
"It's a fucking calendar Hex. Are you saying that a god damn swimsuit calendar is making you rethink fucking this kid up?"
"Ha! Oh no this kid is absolutely screwed. I just think that maybe some devils may not be so bad, I mean, they can't be if they made something like this."
Her palm had hit her head so hard he swore that something there broke. "I-I don't even know what to say anymore."
"Then shut up and let's go."
He rolled up the calendar and opened up a hole in his chest cavity in order to keep the masterpiece protected. He walked down the admittedly beautiful hallway and approached the large lock. It was almost comically large, and the key reflected that.
"Are you just gonna stand there or are you going to open the damn thing?"
Evelyn's impatience was starting to grate his nerves. She never let him have fun with things. "Relax, we have plenty of time to do this. We just gotta get in, wreck some poor saps, and get out. See? Quick and easy."
Inserting his large key into the hole, he unlocked the door and began to push the heavy door open. Just as he had completely opened the door, torches began to light themselves, going all the way around the circular arena like room. Despite the low amount of light the torches would have provided the large room, the area was completely enveloped with light. Not a single dark spot remained when faced with such a brightness.
Standing at the very center of the arena was the Siamese twins that he had seen at the mansion. They looked nearly identical, the only difference between the two was hair, as the head on the left had short spikey blonde hair while the head on the right had longer wavy blonde hair. Both of them glared at both him and Evelyn like they had killed then raped their dog.
"Welcome to the second trial! This trial is a combo trial of both speed and magic! Your opponents shall be my bishop and my knight! Begin!"
"So, what are your nam- whoah!"
The long-haired twin shot an ice spike straight towards his center mass, rudely interrupting him.
"Something tells me they don't feel like talking Evelyn."
"No shit sherlock. Now let's fight them already."
The twins summoned some form of magic swords and began to rush the Darius almost exclusively, obviously seeing him as the bigger threat. That didn't stop Evelyn from joining the fray, summoning her gear and shooting bolts of magic lightning at them. Unfortunately, the magic was simply too slow to catch the twins, instead hitting him in the back.
"Agh! Evelyn you team hitting libtard!"
The unapologetic look she gave him did not make him feel better.
Leaping towards the twins, he swung his arm forward. However, the speed of the knight left him hitting air and had his guard wide open. A blade soon found his left shoulder, cutting well into the bone. A second strike would have followed had he not grown a few bladed tendrils in order to catch her off guard. That was the plan, before the magic twin shot them with a blade of ice, severing them from his back.
Jumping back, Darius healed his shoulder as quickly as possible. Evelyn seemed to have gotten the twins attention and was able to hold them back with her wind magic. Though that wouldn't last long. He needed some type of armor, and simply growing bone out of his shoulder wouldn't cut it, pun not intended.
It was time to get experimental.
He summoned Battleborn to him and gave him a once over. The armor he wore looked sturdy enough. "Battleborn, lets become whole once more, if only for a little while."
They grasped hands, and Battleborn began to unravel, armor and shadow began to envelop Darius, and the twin menaces took notice. Rushing to stop the transformation, the left twin threw her blade directly at him, though it was too late. By the time the sword hit him, he was already covered head to toe in what looked to be Battleborns armor. The once bulky armor thinned to better fit his form, and a shadowy mist formed a pseudo aura around him.
"User, your talent for pulling random powers out of your ass is impressive!"
'Thanks, it's nice to be appreciated.'
Watching the spectral blade shatter into nothingness was satisfying but seeing the look of shock and rage on both of the twins' face was borderline therapeutic.
"So… want to try again?"
His voice had deepened greatly, becoming more gruff and guttural. Though he doubted that the present company would appreciate such a thing.
That was when the left twin began murmuring to herself, body beginning to shake much to the chagrin of the right one.
"Umm, excuse you? Do you wanna speak up so the rest of the class can hear you dearie?"
That got her, as she began to scream at him. "WE'RE GOING TO KILL YOU TWO! YOU MURDEROUS FUCKING DEGENERATES!"
She seemed quite upset.
"Murderous? Well yeah probably, but who did I- ooohhhh, I get it now. You were close to that Derric fellow that I beheaded and consumed. That must suck."
The right twin spoke up at that. "Wait, what do you mean by "consumed"?"
Oh this was just precious. "Eaten, digested, absorbed into my biomass, take your pick really. They'd all be right."
Righty tighty was stunned into silence, though lefty loosey was ready to make her thoughts on the subject known. "You-You monster!"
Ah that was just adorable. "Well I'm not the two headed abomination in the room, though to be fair, you weren't wrong."
Evelyn, who was probably tired of being ignored this whole time, blasted the two with lightning before they could get out of their shocked stupor and attack him. They screamed in shock (pun intended) and pain as they convulsed. They're lack of defense making itself known as they collapsed to one knee.
Darius was already sprinting to them by the time the bolt struck and was right in front of their faces by the time they could recover. He gripped both of their necks and lifted their body up in the air, watching with an almost perverse glee as they struggled for air.
"So, if you two were cut in half, would you still be able to move the parts of the body you were connected to? Oh why am I asking? We can figure that out together."
He began to pull each head in opposite directions, watching as they grimaced in pain, yet refused to attempt to scream.
"Hex that's enough. Just kill them and be done with it."
Evelyn was serious about that too, her face in a frown as she watched him attempt to rip the two free from one another. She really did have no taste for art.
"Come now Evelyn, this is half the fun! Torturing your opponents both physically and emotionally, there is no greater pleasure."
Just as he as about to begin pulling again, a fiery explosion knocked him and the twins away from each other.
"I must agree with the young woman, you should cease action immediately."
The newcomer was the old man from before, only this time he could see the man's devil wings.
"Well it seems we're at an impasse of sorts, as you would rather I not rip the two in half, and I find the idea to be absolutely wonderful."
The twins were already up, wings sprouting from their back as they joined the older man. Evelyn had jumped to his side as soon as he retorted, already preparing to throw down with the new arrival.
"So it would seem."
No one dared make the first move, a classic Mexican standoff if there ever was one. Evelyn moved her head slightly in his direction, and then began to whisper. "You take the old man; he seems pretty strong. I'll take care of Jesse and James over there and send them blasting off again."
There was a strange breathiness in her voice, almost like she was panting, but that couldn't be right. They had only just started fighting. A quick glance revealed a slight disparity in the vein like lines covering her skin. Their once green color now had slight tinges of red throughout it.
Before he had more time to ponder what was going on, the twins made their move, shooting through the air directly at him with lethal intent. Evelyn had it handled however, as she intercepted them and began to duel.
With that, Darius sprouted his wings and flew upward to meet with the old man face to face.
"Surprising, my senses didn't give me the impression that you were a devil. Though you certainly aren't human."
"Wow really? I had no idea, I just thought puberty was weird like that."
With that said, the two began to clash. Their strength was even, but the butlers speed was far greater. With a knee to the stomach and a heel to the head, Darius was sent crashing to the ground.
He wasted no time in getting up, even sprouting four tendrils from his shoulders and upper back, and two from his lower back. They shifted to blades and he raced back up in order to get a good hit on the guy. It was in vein however, as the butler simply evaded all of his attacks, before inhaling and breathing literal fire from his mouth.
It would've been so cool if it hadn't hurt so much.
"I suppose your apparent inhumanity would explain why you aren't experiencing any sort of sickness from the underworlds ambient magic and atmosphere."
Sickness? Ambient magic? "What do you mean by that exactly?"
"Hit me and I'll tell you."
That was when the butler dashed forward and began wailing punch after punch on him, the armor only doing so much in wake of this man's strength.
Darius managed to push him back with some force magic, and he used a quick instant transmission to get further away.
'Looks like I'll be testing out this sacred gear thing earlier than I thought.'
Summoning Rhongomiant to his side, he used its power to summon four specters, though they were quite a bit different then the ones Derric had summoned.
For one, they looked exactly like Battleborn, a side effect of Darius fusing the weapon to him to be sure. Another was the black mist that surrounded them like it did him. Though the most significant change was the weapon. Instead of the regular old swords the other specters had, these ones seem to carry a replica of Rhongomiant, looking exactly the same when compared to the original.
He sent the specters forward, hoping that they'd be able to create an opening. They shot forward with surprising speed, the nonexistent weight of physical armor doing them wonders. Unfortunately, the butler was faster. He still weaved through every attack, unfazed by the sudden appearance of the specters. Darius himself waited, fingers to his forehead, ready to transmission there and get a good surprise attack in. All he had to do was wait and- 'There!'
The butler had overextended slightly, leaving a gap in his metaphorical armor. Transmissioning at a record speed, Darius thrust the pike at him, piercing him in the shoulder. Not willing to let up, he sent a command to the specters to slash at the man. Each one managing a deep-ish cut somewhere on his body. Before they could go for a second however, the butler grasped Darius's poleaxe and yanked him forward, making his stomach slam onto the man's arm.
"Bravo young man, it seems I underestimated you a bit. I suppose I may as well hold up my end of the bargain."
The old man let Darius recover, watching with slight amusement as he was forced to gasp for air. Straightening himself out, he stared the butler directly in the eyes, waiting for his answer.
"You asked what I meant by sickness, well let me enlighten you. Most humans are unable to survive the ambient energy of the underworld. Though there are exceptions, generally a human will begin getting sick once they begin passively absorbing the ambient magic around them. The stronger the human the longer they'll last, as long as they don't absorb too much magic. Interestingly enough however, it seems the young miss that was accompanying you is actively absorbing the magic around her. Which explains her current condition."
Whipping his head to Evelyn, he saw her veins were now more red the green, a great deal worse than how she was not that long ago. Her panting was far worse, breathing like an asthmatic child. Her face was pale, and her eyes were lidded. She was barely holding the twins back, each use of wind magic making her condition that much worse.
"She was fine not that long ago! What happened?!"
"As I told you, she's absorbing ambient magic. The young miss may have been fine during her battle with Derric, but he was not a magic user. Her current opponent is however. With that much magic being thrown around, it's a wonder that she hasn't passed out by now. Ah, spoke too soon."
Indeed he had, cause while Evelyn had been just barely holding her opponent back, she was now falling, unconscious.
And the twins were ready to pounce.
…
Ah, cliffhangers. Truly the best way to end a chapter, right guys? Guys?
Either way, things are starting to get tense right about now. Evelyn has fallen and can't get up, Darius could only barely land a hit on Gerald, and all the while Ogmar is "preparing the castle", what that means you'll have to find out next time, on Soul Searching! Sponsored by A Decent Hoonter.