Hey there, everyone! Quick question – any of you guys getting notifications from the site? Because I realized very recently that in the past few weeks I haven't gotten any notification emails from the site about anything (i.e. publishing a new chapter, someone favoriting any of my fics, leaving a review, etc.) even though I should be. Just thought I should ask in case this is something affecting everyone or if I'm just losing my marbles here.
Speaking of losing marbles… nah, I don't think I'll elaborate, ha ha. Just know that Ethan's time with Donna is going to be even less pleasant than in canon and I'll leave it at that much.
Well, not much else to really add at this time, so let's get to it, shall we?
Enjoy!
P.S. As always, please consider buying any of my books! Links are on my profile page!
Chapter 9
Ethan took a deep breath to soothe his nerves as he headed further into the foggy land ahead. Though the time spent expanding his arsenal drastically in addition to healing up and making sure he was stocked up on healing items had done wonders for his confidence, he was understandably still on edge here.
He knew for a damn fact that even with his hefty purchases, he'd very much need it to accomplish his mission. It was a simply a question of when it would be needed, is all.
The man patted at his new handgun, finding it to be a comforting object yet a bit of paranoia couldn't help but set in him since he really didn't want to risk having to use his new guns so soon. He'd very much like to preserve his ammo as much as possible for when – not if, but when – he'd have to confront the remaining lords along this Mother Miranda figure in order to take back his daughter for good. After all, no way any of these crazy bastards would just let him leave this place with Rose without some kind of fight. And if Dimitrescu was anything to judge by, he should be expecting some incredibly heavy resistance when the time comes.
Which is probably why he was feeling so… weirded out, for lack of a better way to put it.
As Nero had pointed out just before their parting, there were plenty of those BOWs lying somewhere in wait out here. That they haven't tried to swarm him yet or otherwise even signal their presence was a massive far cry from the behavior the other BOWs have demonstrated up until now. It was just disconcerting, this difference.
"Well, I'll take what I get," he mumbled as he reached a bit of a clearing… only to pause as the fog that had enveloped the brief path he'd taken so far seemed to grow much thicker somehow up ahead. He was pretty sure fog wasn't supposed to work like that, but alas it was just another thing he had no real control over.
Proceeding forward slowly past a tall but clearly withered tree, Ethan stared ahead and paid especially careful attention to the ground. The last thing he needed was to go walking literally to his death if he got too careless.
Thankfully, no such thing happened. Instead, he reached a wooden bridge that seemed to stretch off into nothingness. It was the only way forward from what he could tell, a fact that both alleviated his worries that he might be led astray in this thick fog yet also worried him since the bridge has clearly seen some better days in the distant past.
Huffing, he began to make his way across it.
And then, when he was about halfway across it…
"Ethan…"
The man's steps paused. His eyes went wide. "M-Mia…?"
There was not a doubt in his mind – that voice just now had belonged to Mia!
But how? That bastard Chris had killed her in cold blood before taking Rose! There's no way it could be her! Unless…. Unless…!
Ethan shook his head, unable to form any more thoughts at the moment. Mia's shocking death at Chris' hands had naturally rattled him. It was only thanks to his focus to at least save Rose before it was too late that he was able to sort of press onwards, ignore the pain that his wife's death naturally caused him.
But upon hearing that voice…
His heart throbbed painfully, longingly. He and Mia… the two of them had been going through a bit of a rough patch recently thanks to worries concerning Rose's health, but their bond had never been stronger ever since the end of the Bakers incident. Of course losing her would hurt like hell.
God… what he wouldn't give to be able to undo that moment, stop Chris and his men from storming in like that and for god knows what fucking reason.
But obviously that wasn't possible. He couldn't turn back time or anything absurd like that. Mia… was gone now, had to be. Cured of the mold following the incident with the Bakers, she no longer possessed the 'benefits' that it had provided her, so there was no way she could've survived those shots, much less be all the way out he-!
Ethan, having continued to walk again, once more slowed in his pace as he neared the end of the bridge. There was a rusted gate that was now visible to him through the fog… and although only marginally, he could see a figure standing on the other side of the gate.
Mia.
The logical part of his brain told him it couldn't be real but some force practically took hold of him in that moment and caused him to nearly trip over his own feet to try and reach her.
"Ethan," she called out again, her voice reaching down into his very soul. She began to turn around. Smiling at him in that gentle, beckoning way she did at times… it was enough to start eroding the logical part of himself. "Come on… there's something I need to tell you."
"M-Mia…? Wait!" He struggled with the gate, tried to pry it open by brute force but to no avail. Despite how thin it was, it was shockingly sturdy.
He considered using a gun to blow out whatever lock it might have, but just before he could act on such an impulse, the gate began to open of its own accord. As soon as enough of a gap opened up for him to squeeze through, the man moved past it quickly-.
-But sadly not quickly enough to reach Mia, who'd already wandered deeper into the foggy lands.
"Mia…" he called out breathlessly. He shook his head subconsciously. He was feeling a little dizzy. Maybe all the bullshit he's dealt with up until now was making him whoozy? Considering how unnatural all this was, even before factoring in the new info he's learned like demons existing, it was possible that he was reaching his limits.
"…Why did you have Rose with you?" he mumbled, having caught a glimpse of Rose resting peacefully in Mia's arms before she'd begun to leave a moment before. "What is going on…?"
He drew out his handgun and kept it slightly raised. He blinked a few times and tapped the side of his temple as the weird dizzying sensation from before grew stronger. After a moment of pure stubbornness, the feeling receded a fair bit. Only then did he try to proceed forward.
It was only seconds later that he came across two possible paths he could venture down at some point. To his right was the more immediate path, but it had a closed gate and he had the distinct feeling that it was locked. Roughly across from it but just a few feet further down was a path that seemed to lead to a shed but an impossibly thick number of vines and shrubbery in general enshrouded the pathway. No way was he getting through them, not without wasting a lot of time.
Thus, the only way he could go was forward still. So he did.
"Something's… something's wrong with Rose," Mia called out as her figure faded into his view as he walked on. She began to approach him, a sudden action that caused him to flinch. "Ethan, you have to do something-!"
There was just the briefest flash of light and Mia and Rose disappeared with it. Ethan groaned, the feeling from before returning.
"That…" He trailed off, unable to continue the sentence.
But he'd recognized those words all too well.
Not long after Rose had been born, even with all the tests that had been done to confirm she was as healthy as could be, there'd been a day where Mia had noticed something off with Rose and had urged him to take her to get checked. Those words just now… those were the exact same ones Mia had uttered to him on that day.
"…" Ethan gritted his teeth and pressed on. The more logical side of him was more in control now. He knew now for sure that this wasn't real. All this… it was all something else entirely.
But a part of him desperately wished it was real though, if only so he could take his wife and daughter into his arms and get them the hell out of here, far away from these nightmarish lords and the renegade Chris and his crew.
"Everyone leaves me," Mia's apparition barked out harshly yet sadly, her back to him as he moved further along the sole path. "Even Rose…"
"…Shut up…" Ethan growled out. "You're not real!"
Even though he knew now that this was all a fake, the words still hurt somehow. This fake Mia… something about her presence felt far too much like the real deal, which is what made it hurt so much more.
As 'Mia' faded from his sight, Ethan began to walk down the steps that he nearly fell down, his concentration having been ruined enough by these false images and words that he'd almost missed them.
He did pause about halfway down, when the fog lifted just enough for him to make out a burial ground, one for just a single person, it seemed. The sole tombstone that he could scarcely make out indicated as such.
Once he fully reached the now open area, he blinked a few times in surprise and confusion. The fog in this particular area was nowhere near as thick as it had been throughout the rest of the surrounding land.
But more than that… the flowers.
Hundreds, possibly even thousands of flowers that he's never seen before surrounded the sole tombstone that was smack dab in the middle of the area. They were golden in hue, but not in any sort of beautiful way. No, it felt… eerie. Wrong. Entire mots or clumps of pollen were floating throughout the area, the dead breeze more than enough to blow them about and fill the circular spot with them.
Ethan suppressed a cough. Even though he had no allergies at all, he couldn't help but feel like this pollen was bad news.
The same feeling from before came back stronger and he staggered a little from how sudden its return was.
He felt tempted to stomp on the flowers, certain that they were the source of this new oddity… except he didn't.
As fucked up as this entire village is, someone had gone through the time and trouble to plant these flowers, presumably as a memorial or tribute to whoever's grave this is. Even when considering how pragmatic he's been up until this point, to literally trample over someone else's symbol of love and grief… could he really go through with that? All just because he believed the flowers were giving him some kind of migraine?
No, he just couldn't do it.
Still, that didn't mean he was suddenly comfortable here. If anything, he just felt more off-kilter. Better to move on and quickly.
He came across a door just several yards past the grave. He gave it a firm push – and of course, it was locked. There didn't seem to be any kind of handle either for some reason.
But there was an inscription upon a plaque to the right side of the door.
'Give up your memories,' was all it said.
Ethan stared at it, uncomprehending for a full minute before it hit him.
Somehow, a sole picture of Mia and Rose had survived all the chaos he's been through so far. Even when considering he kept it secured in his briefcase, it was a genuine miracle it had remained pristine.
Could the plaque somehow be referring to that?
"…" Making a sound of confusion and reluctance, Ethan fished out the photo and slid it in through the mailing slot that the door had. Confusion gave way to concern when the door audibly unlocked itself and he was able to gently press on it to fully open.
"How is any of this even working?" he whispered to himself as he headed inside, though not before checking the ground and behind the door to look for the photo. Sadly, he couldn't find it.
Grumbling, he moved on, heading through the cave-like pathway for mere seconds before coming upon an old-school elevator, the kind he's only ever seen or heard of from his grandparents. Getting in, there was only two buttons – up or down. Seeing as this seemed to be the ground floor so to speak, he had no choice but to press the button to go up.
The elevator quietly groaned as the gears turned. For a split second, Ethan worried he'd be stranded in this fucking thing, but thankfully this proved to not be the case, for the elevator began its ascent.
He stood in place, his mind a mess from what was happening. By all means, he should sort of be used to this insanity by now yet something about the path here felt so horribly different from everything else. It was just too damn quiet.
As if to mock him for daring to think such a thing, however…
The sole light in this dark elevator shaft flickered out. leaving him in total darkness. But before he could even fully raise his handgun in case of a sudden ambush, the light came back on.
But he didn't let out his breath at all. Instead, Ethan held it in due to his nerves. Because there was something in here that hadn't been before.
It was but a very simple message, scrawled near the elevator's buttons in what appeared to be either chalk or paint, he couldn't tell.
'Come with me, Ethan,' it read.
Ethan's grip on his weapon tightened before he reached out with his left hand and swiftly dabbed at the message. Immediately thereafter, he retracted said hand and looked intensely at his fingertips.
It was slight, but there was a bit of residue there – chalk, after all.
His nerves worsened. Somehow, something (or even worse, someone) had managed to get in here and write that message in the time it took for the light to flicker off then back on, which took but a second or two at most. It had happened without any sort of sound being made as well.
Steeling himself as the elevator came to a stop, he exited it cautiously. Once again, there was only one way forward and he took it slowly the whole time as he exited the cave-like path and stepped outside.
The fog from before was back, but not quite as thick as it had been before. In fact, it was pretty damn light, light enough for him to make out what he assumed was his intended destination-.
-The Beneviento estate, as the duke had mentioned, home to one Donna Beneviento, the one with that ugly sentient doll.
Said estate, while much, much smaller than Dimitrescu's castle, certainly looked picturesque enough from the outside, what with the waterfall that was clearly visible and heard somewhere past it in addition to the morning haze shining briefly through the fog. But to Ethan, it just felt far more off-putting. In all honesty, he'd much prefer the gaudy and decadent décor of Dimitrescu's home to this place. If nothing else, at least the castle was much more colorful.
Holstering his handgun, Ethan trekked up the path to the estate, his mind blanking out all the while as he swiftly approached it.
A moment later, he was right outside the estate's double-doored entrance. And from what he can tell, it was the only way in or out.
Ethan pressed his hands against the heavy doors – only to hesitate just as he was about to push.
That rustling just now… had that come from the bushes nearby or from somewhere within the house? Or was he really just losing it now and he'd simply been hearing things to start with, like with Mia's apparition?
He shook his head.
He's not going crazy. He was just… yeah, he was just a little under the weather. Not like all that first aid medicine could heal the emotional turmoil he's been through, the mental fatigue he's accumulated. His body may be about as close to good as new as could be, but the same can't be said for his mind or emotional state.
Yeah, he was just finally feeling the effects of everything is all.
He just has to hold out a little while longer though. Get the flasks, revive Rose, then leave… once that's done, he could finally rest and properly heal. That's all he needs to do.
Taking a deep breath, he finally pushed open the doors and entered the estate.
Nero walked at a brisk pace through the now ruined southern section of the village, grimacing at his unintentional handiwork. That wolf BOW had possessed quite a lot of strength and nothing more, but it had still been more than enough to result in a lot of smashed up buildings in addition to ruining a part of the cliffside nearby.
"I swear, I can never have a non-destructive fight," he quipped to himself as he walked.
But seriously, that BOW really had been pretty tough, relative to the other BOWs so far. He'd even had to equip a Devil Breaker to speed up the killing process.
And on that particular note…
Nero glanced down at Rawhide, which he'd used to wrap up the big bastard a good few times to trip it up or keep it otherwise off balanced. Now he had a much better feel for how much more improved the Devil Breakers are compared to how they were back during Red Grave city, he'd been able to better judge how much of his own power he could afford to safely pump into it before it really does exploded on him.
But better yet…
Nero nonchalantly took off Rawhide and proceeded to equip Punch Line, smirking as he was able to make this switch without any issue. Unlike before, where the only way to equip a new Devil Breaker would require the destruction of the one he already had equipped, whatever new mechanics Nico had included had finally allowed for proper swapping, much to his joy; it meant she wouldn't whine as much whenever he came back to see her after the mission.
Oh, and it opened up a lot of new combat options, he supposed, not that he cared too much for that right now. He was just happy to finally not have to keep intentionally self-destructing the damn things to start with.
Wriggling the fingers of Punch Line for a moment to make sure everything was in order, Nero picked up his pace.
His nose crinkled as time went, however, the smell slowly getting to him. It was by no means difficult at all to see that quite a bit has changed in the short time he's been in this village so far, what with the odd sight of some sickly green booger-like substance now coating large parts of the land leading up to the reservoir, but now that he was approaching it, he was really starting to pick up on the smell. Not the worst thing he's ever smelled before, but it was a surprisingly strong contender.
But as nasty as it was to look at, it was a sign that he really was going in the right direction.
The path ahead to the reservoir was blocked by quite a bit of the thick goop, but a single shot from Blue Rose was enough to make it dissipate and the devil hunter continued his journey forward.
After a few minutes of walking, he could finally make out the sight of an old windmill, the sound of its rickety joints filling his ears slightly as he approached. Leaping over the wall and then moving a bit to the side to avoid some rattled pigs that had somehow gotten into the area, Nero eyeballed the sole entrance ahead.
"Guess it won't hurt to check inside." Entering the structure, he proceeded to look around. Upon seeing a pathway leading down, he followed it until he spotted a lift, at which point he paused for a moment.
The demonic energies he'd been sensing for quite some time now felt stronger than ever and greater in number. And now that he'd gotten this far, he could tell it was coming from further below. Looks like he could expect a proper welcoming party pretty soon.
"And here I am without my best suit on," he drawled as he stepped onto the lift and pulled the lever.
Said lift promptly began to travel down… only to slow in its descent after barely ten seconds. A familiar sickly green goop was present along the walls now as was its accompanying smell, making Nero sigh in a mixture of annoyance and disgust.
Slowed down by what amounts to monster snot. Or vomit, take your pick. What a time to be alive. Not that blood, viscera, and other demonic organic material was any better an obstacle to deal with, but this weird goopy substance was just nasty to even look at.
Raising Punch Line up, Nero then punched at the lift's floor with enough force to obliterate it. The rocket function of this Devil Breaker was also activated and the hand disconnected from the wrist joint, launched downwards at an amazing speed. It blew through all the goop, clearing it out of his way and allowing the young devil hunter to have a speedy descent.
He landed just seconds later on a knee. The fist returned to its proper socket and he stood up to look at what awaited him.
Which was to say, not too much.
It looked almost like a mine, but the rays of light coming from somewhere a little further down and to the right indicated it very much wasn't a mine but rather just some relatively small cave formation, evident by the obviously slick stone all around him, no doubt with whatever tides the reservoir may have. This place probably gets flooded a lot too during the rainier seasons.
But this held little interest at all to Nero. Instead, it was the demonic presence that held his attention. It was definitely much stronger now, feeling much more akin to that of actual demons rather than these bastardized versions that the BOWs seemed to be so far.
It was enough to make Nero narrow his eyes as he walked forward, confused yet alert.
There didn't seem to the presence of any sort of hellgate or the like, so this number of demonic entities that he was picking up on just didn't make sense at all. And while demons could certainly utilize small gaps in the boundaries between the human and demon worlds to slip through, there's just no way this number of demons could have gotten through so easily.
Something was going on here, something especially fishy and much more so than anywhere else in the village so far.
Grimacing, Nero continued to walk on ahead. He immediately became tempted to travel to the right upon seeing a ruined gate that allowed a lot of outside light to filter into this place but kept himself from doing so just yet. Rather, it was the gate directly ahead that caught his interest the most.
Giving it a solid kick, he immediately took note of a small corner directly to the right, where he could hear the static of a TV going on and on. Following this small path, he came upon a little resting spot of sorts – a table that hosted a TV atop it, a wooden stool off in the corner…
…And another table with two things atop it – one of them being another one of the flasks!
Nero's eyes went wide, unable to believe such luck, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. He reached out for the flask and immediately stashed it. Only after doing so did he properly take notice of the other flask nearby, which was much larger and housed something decidedly less pleasant.
"…The hell?" He bent over a bit to get a close look at what lied in it, some strange abomination that looked more at home in an alien movie than anything else.
The thing, which seemed to be alive, writhed lightly within the flask, the fluid within it visibly shifting about in response to its minor movements. But when Nero curiously tapped on the flask with his left hand, the thing became a bit livelier.
Nero, for his part, became more perplexed and even disturbed. It was insanely faint, but he could detect a hint of demonic material within this strange creature. Could it be tied to what was going on here? Considering what he's read up on about bioterrorism and recalling the shit that went down in different parts of the world thanks to that crazy C-virus, it seemed to him that this was likely.
Well, in that case, there was only one thing to do.
He drew out Blue Rose and opened fire on the thing, putting two shots into it. The first shot alone very likely did the job as the flask exploded on impact, the thing inside shrieking shrilly for an instant, but it never hurt to be sure.
But while destroying one potential source of all this madness had been the right thing to do, it had also had another unintended side effect.
Its death cry had been quite shrill and thanks to the slight echo within this cave like structure, it had carried far and wide.
So, upon its death, a myriad of very much inhuman cries from afar filled his ears and were swiftly approaching.
"Looks like I upset the family," Nero remarked as he smashed through the wood that blocked off this little room from another one nearby.
As soon as he did this, he spotted the sole way out, a small wooden stairway that led slightly downwards and out. He leapt very light down to follow this path-.
-Only to be greeted by a surprise.
"Whoa!" he said as he suddenly jumped back a bit, landing on one of the wooden steps. The cries, which had come from somewhere outside, now resonated a bit within here. The origins of these cries were evidently very fast because one of them had managed to get from outside all the way to almost all up in his face in an instant.
Despite having avoided the initial attack, his new attacker hadn't been deterred one bit and the thing simply pounced much like how a toad would in order to get to him.
Nero simply gave it the boot and sent it careening into the wall ahead. But the creature wasted no time trying to recover and a long tongue suddenly lashed out from within its large mouth. Nero drew Red Queen from off his back and held it up in front of him. The tongue wrapped around his blade and tried to give it a tug – only for Nero to yank on the tongue itself with his right hand, pulling the thing close for a punch.
Punch Line slammed into the thing's bulbous face with immense force and the creature all but exploded in a shower of gore, most of its insides a sickly green and pink, goop getting splattered all over the already goop coated wall.
Nero pressed on and rounded the corner. In doing so, he could see the entire corridor ahead filled with the same goop from before… and that things were squirming their way through the substance at a surprising speed.
They were the same type of creature that had just attacked him and now thanks to their travels being slowed somewhat by the strange goop, he was able to get a good look at them.
They looked almost like humanoid toads or frogs. Their forms were structured more or less like that of a person's, but that was about the only comparison they had to humans. The rest of them were decidedly not human in origin, with dark green and slimy looking scales coating their entire bodies. Large mouths filled with teeth hissed and shrilly cried out, exposing impossibly large tongues that were likely longer than an average person's arm. The sclera of their eyes were a sickening yellow in color, black veins visible in them due to how wide said eyes were and they possessed slits instead of pupils.
One of them finally managed to break free of the goop and fully charge at him, exposing its large and webbed feet while its clawed hands were held open to the side.
Nero prepared to intercept its charge – only to blink when the thing suddenly opened its mouth and spat a large glob of something at him. Nero shift to the side and watched as the glob struck a portion of the wall, eating through it right away.
Great, it has acid too on top of a long tongue and everything else. Very cool, Nero thought sarcastically.
Not that he was really all that upset really. If anything, he was more amused by these things seemingly stepping up their game after all his thoughts and comments about BOWs not amounting to much against him.
Nero took a few steps forward and then launched Punch Line. The BOW(?) moved with surprising speed to the side, avoiding the rocket fist like nothing. Too bad it hadn't been his intended target to start with, for the rocket fist traveled on ahead until it struck the other monster that had just been about to get past all the goop.
As for the first one, it lunged at him and slashed with its right claw. But Nero used Red Queen to deflect the surprisingly strong strike before swinging his weapon around, spinning briefly to add some much desired momentum to his counter strike. Red Queen cut into the monster's stomach – but failed in fully cleaving it in two; it had begun to leap back just as the attack had been about to connect and had succeeded just well enough to avoid death then and there.
Nero quirked an eyebrow. These things seemed much tougher already than anything else barring Dimitrescu so far, just by sheer virtue of being able to actually avoid an attack from him. Too bad he wasn't intending to keep using the kiddie gloves though.
The devil hunter charged forward and performed a streak. Normally such an action, which utilized a lot of spinning, would be unusable in a narrow path like this, but his strength and the sharpness of Red Queen meant that he could effortlessly pull off his usual maneuvers without issue so long as he doesn't inflict enough structural damage to cause a cave in. That'd be a bit of bitch to crawl his way out of.
The speed at which he performed this attack took the thing off guard. Additionally, the rocket fist from just before finally began to return and it caught the creature from behind, slamming into its back with tremendous force. The blow from behind sent it directly into the path of Nero's streak and he ended up slicing it into several pieces just like that.
By this point only three of these new abominations remained and they were still traversing through the goop. He simply pulled out Blue Rose and started shooting. The creature that Punch Line had struck was looking all bloodied from the multiple hits this Devil Breaker was known to land on a chosen target and so just a single charged shot was all it took to put it out of its misery.
However, as he took aim at the other two, they began to shrilly hiss as they started to hack away at the goop, their hits strong enough to annihilate entirely and thus open up the path for them. The second creature leapt up and stuck itself to the ceiling in time to avoid Nero's second shot while the third one started to rush right at him, launching its tongue at him and moving it around like a whip.
Nero ducked and weaved in between the lashes of its tongue. He was unable to get a shot out since the literal tongue lashing prevented him from properly taking aim. But he wasn't prevented from reaching for the tongue itself – only for the creature to retract its tongue as soon as it spotted him reaching up for it with his right hand.
"Huh. You guys are actually kinda smart," Nero noted, seeing that these things seemed to be aware of basic combat tactics, like avoiding exposing weak spots for too long because the thing now closed its mouth entirely as it kept on approaching.
Nero dashed on ahead and swung Red Queen down. To his surprise yet again, the creature hopped to the side just before it could fully get into range of the attack itself. But the devil hunter rectified this by immediately bringing his blade back up and faking an upwards slash. Just as the creature reacted to the feint by moving towards the ceiling, Nero let go of Red Queen and leapt up, unleashing a mighty punch with his Devil Breaker that connected with the thing's exposed stomach.
"Enjoy the trip!" he called out as he activated Punch Line's rocket function, channeling enough energy into it to activate a somewhat watered down version of the Devil Breaker's overcharged attack. The rocket fist's thruster fired up with far greater intensity than ever before and practically drilled into the creature's stomach, eliciting a shrill cry of pain in the process. Even when the rocket fist took off with the creature helplessly in tow, the echo effect made it clear that its death cry was by no means a quiet one.
The third and final one hissed and threw itself at him from the ceiling. Presumably, it thought him relatively harmless now that he'd let go of his sword and didn't have Punch Line at the moment.
Too bad for this thing that he was far from helpless.
Nero jumped up a second time and landed a dropkick into its face that pretty much reduced it to mulch in addition to sending it flying a solid several meters ahead.
The dropkick, which also had the effect of knocking Nero himself back a bit, placed him near where he'd just dropped Red Queen and he eagerly picked up his weapon and jumped as high as this passage allowed him to, swinging Red Queen downwards.
He cleared the distance between him and the creature like nothing and the power and speed behind his blade proved enough to slice the creature directly in two, killing it right away.
He also couldn't hear the other creature either, indicating that Punch Line had indeed killed it by now. He could now sense through the connection that he had to the rocket fist that it was on its way back. Channeling some more energy into it, he sped up its return speed and it approached him that much more rapidly.
He looked straight ahead in time to see the fist return and he smirked. He ran forward a little bit and jumped just as it was about to catch up with him.
Landing on the Devil Breaker, Nero let out a whoop as he proceeded to ride the thing on out of here through the opening he'd spotted earlier, which was now to his left. Looks like the path he'd taken just looped back around. Nice.
Now outside and rapidly traveling over the massive reservoir, the first thing he noticed was just how rundown the whole place looked. It was less of a proper reservoir and more like a much older section of the village that had gotten completely flooded and now used as an impromptu reservoir in his opinion.
Seems to him like the village that existed now had simply been built on and around a much more ancient place, if this flooded section and that stronghold he'd visited earlier were anything to go by, to say nothing of that castle Dimitrescu had apparently owned.
Ah well, not like it was of any particular importance to him. What was important was that he'd gotten the third flask already.
Time to head back th-.
"-! Whoa!" Nero sensed danger approach from below and he did a little kick flip with Punch Line to gain a bit more altitude just as another one of those creatures shot up from the water at him. It missed him by inches at best, the thing crying loudly in obvious frustration at missing him.
But where that one failed, the other ones in the water seemed eager to succeed at because the next thing Nero knew, more of those strange creatures started to pop out of the water.
"Well aren't I popular now?" Nero mumbled as he started to haphazardly fly about on Punch Line, weaving in and out of the pathways of these attacks. But these things were persistent and moreover they were incredibly fast when in the water, faster than they'd been on land because it seemed like as soon as they even landed back in the water, they'd swim up to where they'd suspected him to be going to try again.
"Whoa! Hey, didn't your parents ever tell you to swallow your food, not spit it out?!" Nero yelled as two of the creatures, hanging back a fair distance, tried to spit that same acid at him. He had to damn near do a spin to avoid being struck.
In response to his comment, more of these things – neither standards BOWs nor demons, now that he really started to think on it – began to simply pop their heads from under the water just enough to start taking pot shots at him.
Nero's expression tightened. There was only so much altitude he could get with Punch Line. It wasn't as if he could ride on the Devil Breaker indefinitely either. Sooner or later, he'd have to land and there wasn't exactly a good spot to land out here in the middle of the reservoir. Those things would waste no time swarming him when that happened.
"Alright, time to get a little creative then." Nero proceeded to take a look around, keeping an eye out for the next round of acid.
Sure enough, just a little further up ahead, nearing two other windmills, he could see some of those things crawl out of the water onto some of the sunken buildings nearby, of which there was finally plenty of safe landing space. He'd just need to do a little clearing out first.
And on that note…
One of the creatures that crawled out began to open its mouth wide and lean back, preparing to fire. But just before it could do so, Nero reached out with an ethereal arm to grab the ugly little toadie and pull it up into the air – and right into the path of several acid shots that some of the other creatures had spat out.
The creature was evidently not immune to its own acid, or at least not to such a large quantity of it because it cried shrilly as its form hissed and burned away, eaten by the who knows how many pounds worth of that stuff. It fell unceremoniously into the water with a loud plop, the water itself hissing as the acid was apparently just that fucking strong.
The other creatures cried out, once again demonstrating a certain level of intelligence as they seemed to realize what had just happened. The constant wave of acid fire was broken just like that, though some still persisted anyways, the ones that were furthest away from him, that is.
Nero grunted as Punch Line's ride time came to an end. Now falling, the devil hunter proceeded to seamlessly remove the Devil Breaker without destroying it and swapped it out for Gerbera for some more movement options. Said options were put to use right away, blasting lightly to his left so that the recoil would send him flying in the opposite direction. He did so in just the nick of time to avoid a shot of acid and he retaliated by whipping out Blue Rose and firing in the direction it came from.
He wasted no time checking to see if his shot landed or not and instead focused on preparing to land on a nearby windmill-.
-Only to be mildly distracted by seeing something briefly out of the corner of his eyes. Whatever it was, it was definitely big, probably on the same level as Dimitrescu's transformed state, but even then, it was able to almost gracefully swim under the water.
The next thing he knew, whatever it was seemed to detect him because it suddenly picked up in speed by a great deal… and then promptly leapt right out of the water.
"Whoa!" Nero's eyes went wide as the creature had managed to cross the distance from one end of the reservoir to nearly below him before leaping up. Using Gerbera, he blasted himself forward just before the thing could swallow him whole. But when it looked like not even that would be enough to fully save him, he called forth his ethereal wings and gave a powerful flap to raise his altitude.
Using a controlled glide, he landed on the windmill's upper platform just in time to get a better glimpse of the new creature, which had now landed back in the water with a graceless splash. Said creature seemed to flail and writhe about before turning around and jumping out of the water slightly, its form a sickening cross between a fish and some kind of toad, with gills and bulbous growths that resembled eyes all over its slimy back.
"Mama… Mamaaaaaaaaa!" cried out a voice from within the thing's mouth as it ended up slamming hard against the side of the windmill. Even though it'd seemingly been unintentional and slight, the sheer force behind the hit was enough to take out a decent portion of the structure's base and it quickly began to collapse.
Nero grimaced again and leapt off of the collapsing windmill, putting enough strength into his jump to easily cross entire tens of meters.
Now landing unimpeded atop what he assumed was the roof of a sunken structure, Nero watched as the unknown creature sank back into the water and swam about. The thing's attention span seemed sporadic as hell because it was now swimming away from him and showed no signs of turning back around any time soon.
"Sheesh, can't believe something would make me miss the stupid toad from Fortuna," he commented, thinking back to Bael, that smelly-ass demon he'd fought in the courtyard of Fortuna's castle. At least that big bastard hadn't looked like some horribly mish-mash of different things.
His recollections were cut short when he heard those other things close in on his position and fast at that too. Hissing and screeches filled his ears and soon he could see some of those weird abominations jump up from the water onto the surrounding sunken structures around him.
Nero's gaze swiftly flickered from one creature to the other, sizing up the distance between them and him as well as the more subtle movements of their otherwise twitchy bodies. He may be a brash guy, but that didn't mean he didn't know how to read tells and the like. Fighting Dante back in Fortuna had really helped out on that front too, that whacky bastard.
By all rights, he should just leave. He's gotten the flask and he was more than confident that he could outrun these things if needed… but considering how aggressive these creatures appeared to be so far in addition to their brief displays of intelligence, the devil hunter didn't doubt for a second that they'd try following him from the reservoir into the village. What if they then tried to follow him when he tried to link up with Ethan? As well equipped as the man now is, there was no way he'd be able to keep up with the sheer speed of these monstrosities.
Besides…
Nero grinned viciously as he swapped out Gerbera for Ragtime even as he lightly ducked to avoid a shot of acid that came from the side.
He wasn't one to back down from a fight.
Pulling Red Queen out, he beckoned the things. "Alright, little toadies. I'll play with ya!" He gave his sword a light twirl and did a come-hither gesture. "Come on!"
The creatures wasted no time in obliging him.
Ethan gasped and almost choked on his own spit. His body… it felt clammy and twitchy for some reason. Even though all he'd done so far was simply walk through the estate's first area into what he assumed was a sort of living room, his body and mental state were rapidly undergoing some changes and drastically at that too.
The more he tried to resist whatever was going on, the worse it felt. By all rights, he should just surrender to the feeling, maybe then it wouldn't be so bad. But he didn't. Somehow, he just knew that giving in would be so much worse and so he could only persevere in the face of this immense oddity.
That said, doubt was constantly clouding his hazy mind… and the damn décor of this place wasn't really helping either.
"Why so many dolls?" he murmured.
Indeed, in just the two rooms he'd passed through, there seemed to be antique dolls everywhere, their beady or glassy eyes bearing into him intensely. It was almost as if they were genuinely alive and mocking him somehow, sneering at his condition despite their unmoving faces and forms.
Ethan came to a pause as he began to enter a hallway. Was he hearing laughter?
…
…
…No, no, it didn't seem like it.
It was all in his head was all, just some fucked up thing his frazzled mind was conjuring up. It was simply all the grief and shock he'd gone through in such a short amount of time finally getting to him.
So with this in mind, all he needs to do is just do what he's been doing so far – push on. Persevere. Don't give in. To do that would be to fail Rose and Mia and he absolutely refused to do that, not now nor ever.
Following the hallway, he eventually reached an elevator that was very similar in design to the one he'd taken to get up here to this general area. Seeing no other way to go about this, Ethan took a moment to recollect himself before finally pressing the button to open it.
Then, upon stepping inside, he hit the button to go down on pure instinct. Because really, did any of those lunatics look the type to own properties where one had to go up to deal with their bullshit?
The elevator descended all too slowly for his liking, even though it only ended up going down roughly a single floor. As it opened and he stepped out, Ethan took a single large breath and tried to fight back against the very air itself. The path here so far had already been messing with him hard due to how horrible and oppressive the atmosphere felt, but down here it managed to feel even worse.
Less natural and more inhuman, otherworldly.
Considering what he's learned from Nero, though, it made sense. After all, Miranda and these lords were clearly dealing with some demonic shit.
Not that the knowledge of what may be going on was putting him anymore at ease.
Getting a hold of himself and pulling out his handgun as a precaution, Ethan headed for the only door that was around, which was to his left.
Opening it slowly, he was greeted with a large office. No, a study room, perhaps. Either way, the old-styled room didn't appear to have any other pathways, making it a dead end.
Ethan grunted in annoyance. Seems like a lot of paths he could've taken around this village ended up being dead ends.
Taking quick note of the projector on the table nearby, he left the room and took a sharp left. Once again, he was confronted with nothing but a hallway and a rather narrow one at that too.
It was enough to make him stop and rethink some things.
This was obviously not the first creepy and narrow hallways he's gone down by this point. Yet it felt so much different than any of the others. The sense of dread he'd felt coming here through the woods was returning now and with a fucking vengeance at that too.
He didn't want to go down this hallway. He didn't want to see what lied at the end.
Why? Why was he feeling this way? He's dreaded and feared for his life the entire time at the Bakers' estate and that went doubly so for this village so far. But each and every time such emotions had started to overtake him, he'd always been able to regain his wits, summon his courage and press onwards until he survived. It was how he'd been able to rescue Mia and later Zoe and it was how he would soon save his daughter too.
But even with his determination still burning as strongly as ever before, for once, his fear overpowered his resolve.
He truly, sincerely didn't want to progress onwards.
And yet…
Ethan closed his eyes before finally taking a single step forward. Then another step. Then another. It wasn't until after several more that he dared to open his eyes. The dread remained within him, but he was now able to at least force himself to work against it.
And so, he trekked onwards, deeper into the nightmare that must surely await him.
Within the room that lied at the end of the hallway sat a singular doll in a chair: Angie, the most beloved doll of Donna. She was the woman's eyes and ears, her best friend and other half… as well as the woman's guardian of a sort.
Angie, normally such a chatterbox, remained almost abnormally silent save for just a few quiet giggles.
She was patiently awaiting Ethan Winters, who was currently on his way directly towards her, that poor and naïve man. But he was an adorable poor and naïve man. Yes, judging simply by outward appearances alone, he certainly could make for a good father figure for her.
But that wasn't something the doll was just going to let happen without issue. No… first, she needed to test him, play with him. To see what exactly he is truly made of. Then and only then, if he proves his worth can he be accepted by her.
Of course, the very thought that he'd refused to accept her as his daughter never even crossed her mind. Because she was obviously a vastly better daughter than Rose is, right? For one thing, she isn't dead and gone like the little baby is, ha ha!
Ah, he was drawing near!
Angie kept her head down so that her smile could go unnoticed and remained perfectly still. Then just a moment or two later, the doors to the room opened wide and a clearly unsettled Ethan entered.
As he eyed her – specifically what was sitting directly in her lap – Angie, and Donna through the link they have, internally giggled in anticipation.
It's play time.
Sorry if it didn't seem like much was happening other than pure build up there. But, as I'm sure you can all tell, it's necessary.
In all honesty, it felt like a damn shame that both Donna (Angie by association too) and Moreau got such little screentime in the game itself. Not that I didn't enjoy Alcina's and Karl's scenes and battles (the latter much more so than the former), but I just couldn't help but lament the other two lords not getting a chance to be explored a bit more.
To this end, that is exactly what I'll be doing here. While the encounters with them will still be pretty much contained to their canon areas, the events that take place within said areas will naturally be different from canon by a significant margin. Donna's section in particular will play out much differently compared to canon.
Oh, and brief side note: the creatures Nero is now fighting are basically more demonic versions of Hunters, albeit not outright demons in and of themselves.
With that said, hope you all will look forward to it.
Until next time, everyone. Take care!