-=Chapter One=-
Foreword: The following story is based on my understanding of the various Undertale AUs and building upon what I know of Helltaker, if a mistake is made in the way a character would behave it can be considered a different version of that character unless otherwise confirmed it is how they would act in those situations by their original creators.
POV - Unknown l The Void
Two beings observed something through a window of sorts, a curious sight, one is a skeleton in a black tailcoat, a white winter scarf and a white sweater, he is known as the Man who speaks in Hands, he is known as W.D. Gaster, former royal scientist to King Asgore in the Kingdom of Monsters, that was a lifetime ago, before his world succumbed to destruction.
The other was a white haired woman in a fancy crimson red suit, what appeared to be chitin amongst her hair, part of her form or perhaps a headpiece? One could not be sure if they did not know her, two white horns adored the upper sides of her head, a few freckles on her cheeks, a black spearpointed tail from her attire, indicative of a stereotypical demonic nature. Beelzebub, one with many titles.
Gaster looked over to his fellow Void Dweller, his expression unchanging, mostly as he spoke in a forgotten language.
"So this is what you've decided to do with the power I've given you. Curious. Do you seek a happy ending for them? Or is it something else entirely?"
Beelzebub chuckled and replied "Boredom. That's all there is to it. I thought it'd be a good story." Gaster's grin widened, a sight which seemed to unnerve Beelzebub. Gaster spoke, saying "Interesting. Did you not consider then the consequences of your actions? Several powerful demons walk the Earth, not possessing anyone, but truly walking the Earth. It is true that although his original intent was perhaps motivated by depravity, he has with strong determination only built a household preserved by bakery, although you could say he has technically achieved his goals. Tell me, do you know of the consequences I speak of?"
Beelzebub shrugged and replied "Don't know, don't care. Not my problem, I'm still stuck here. I mean, there's that little self insert at the end I could do. But I decided against it, wouldn't want him ending up like the two of us would we?"
Gaster chuckled and said "What if I told you I had a way out of this place?" Beelzebub quickly turned to face Gaster, who returned her gaze with his own, twisted smile.
Beelzebub shouted "And you didn't tell me about this sooner?! I mean sure, it was just a few skeletons, no offense, who got the shit kicked out of them, but still, why go through all this trouble if you can just leave? Why even are you still here?" Gaster laughed at this, angering Beelzebub who balled up her left fist, considering shapeshifting it into a talon, but she knew what the outcome of that fight would be.
Gaster replied "The Void has it's advantages, as you know. We are both Void Dwellers, but while you are trapped within the void, they remember you. I however, have been forgotten, not by any fault of their own, but that is the nature of how I became linked to this place. I am all over the void, one could even say I am the void, if of course, one did not know of it's native inhabitants. I am also still present elsewhere, and I have dedicated time immeasurable to freeing myself from this place, having learned all it's secrets."
Beelzebub sighed and said "Just answer the damn question will ya? I can't kill you, you can't kill me, but I can make your life in here a living hell."
Gaster chuckled and said "Lucifer, an interesting individual wouldn't you agree? What would happen if she were redeemed?" Beelzebub stared briefly and then laughed, saying "Alright, I'll play your damn game again. I don't see anyone capable of redeeming her, or any of those nuts, I mean, technically Justice is redeemed but she remains a demon in order to punish the depraved denizens of hell, it has nothing to do with her alignment. Lucy however, enjoys it. She enjoys tormenting the souls in Hell."
Gaster grinned more and said "What if I told you there was a being with greater determination than the so called Helltaker? A being who could break down Lucifer's walls just enough to begin the job of redeeming her?" Beelzebub replied "I'd sure like to meet them."
"Hi." said a voice behind and below Beelzebub, it wasn't Gaster's.
Beelzebub turned to notice the colorless human child with dark inky eyes, no pupils. The child waved with a smile. Beelzebub looked up at Gaster and asked "How many others are here?"
Gaster replied "Oh, technically speaking, there are no residents of the void other than yourself. Me and this child do not exist, at least not conventionally. We are mere fragments of ourselves, the vast multitude of realities extends infinitely, beyond what most are willing to explore."
Beelzebub sighed, although somewhat used to Gaster's cryptic manner of speaking, it still annoyed her. She then said "So, is this that so called individual?"
Gaster laughed and said "No, perhaps once upon a time, Cor-" The boy interrupted, saying "Frisk!" Gaster nodded and bowed slightly, saying "I do apologize. This Frisk is but one of many, they have since lost the determination to do much else except invite people to the Omega Timeline. I did spend some time there but eventually I decided it would be best if I did not continue to do so. Tell me Beelzebub, what do you know of the prophecy concerning the Revelation War."
Beelzebub shrugged and said "It's a load of shit, ain't nobody on Earth, in hell or heaven that can get Lucy to fall in love. Not even that Helltaker dude. Whoever this other person is would be in for a rude awakening if they tried to court her."
Gaster replied "Don't be so sure..."
Beelzebub snickered then said "I'd love to see who has the guts to try it, would be fun to watch." Gaster looked over at Core!Frisk, who then said "This plan has many outcomes, several of which are not favorable to any parties involved. Are you sure you wish to continue with this plan Gaster? You do know they will eventually notice."
Gaster chuckled, looked over at the screen observing Lucifer attempting to copy the Helltaker's pancake flipping method, only for the pancake to fall into her face.
Gaster then said "As a matter of fact, I'm counting on it."
POV: Unknown l Urdak
A heavily armored fist slammed effortlessly through the skull of a demonic looking creature with little, if any resemblance to humanity aside from having a bipedal form.
The armored slayer drew a double barreled shotgun with a hook attached below the barrels and discharged the hook, which latched onto another demonic creature, flames ignited along the chain and hook and the Slayer pulled himself towards the staggered demon, upon getting close, both barrels exploded in vengeful fire and fury, unleashing depleted uranium buckshot into the demon, turning it into a pile of jello sprayed all over the floor it was standing on, the Slayer moved suddenly, dashing onto a stable flooring and continued his rampage against the unholy horde with unwavering Determination and Hate.
Eventually after brutally slaughtering everything in his path, the Slayer stood before a large armored creature, the Khan-Makyr.
Their battle desecrated the once holy ground they stood on even more so, the Makyr's blood spilt each time the Slayer's combat loop took him to land steel barreled hits into the Makyr's form.
After the battle, the Slayer was the one left standing, unharmed, as if he were above even the ancient gods, triumphant, he made his way through a portal back to the world he set out to save, from a force so powerful it's very existence warps reality into an abominable hellscape.
POV: Unknown l Qlipoth Roots
Two warriors, the Legendary Devil Hunter Dante and the Dark Slayer, Vergil, the twin sons of Sparda, fought a horde of demonic creatures, their motions perfectly in sync, the Sons of Sparda danced about the battleground before them, their foes stood no chance, landing no solid hits upon their opponents.
Dante unleashed a flurry of gunfire from his firearms Ebony & Ivory, Vergil air tricked above a reptilian demon with a love for speed as soon as it was vulnerable, slashing down with his demonic katana, Yamato, cleaving the demon in two pieces from a perfectly vertical slash.
When the brothers had defeated every foe before them, all that was left was to return home, so long as Vergil had a connection to their world and the Yamato, they could do so.
Opening a rift after their long battle, Vergil sensed something was off, as if something or someone was hijacking his rift, before he could say anything however, a force telekinetically pulled both Vergil and Dante through the rift, it would seem their adventure is not yet finished, or perhaps they have been pulled into a new one altogether.
POV: Unknown l Besieged Earth
The Slayer strode upwards to finish off the Icon of Sin, impaling his crucible blade into it's exposed brain and snapping off the blade, blue energy flowed through the Titan and it fell limp, not truly dead, not truly alive.
As the digital voice of Samuel Hayden recounted the legend of the Slayer, a portal opened, the Slayer paused, his Praetor Suit's heads up display clearly indicating it's destination was nowhere he was familiar with, a force then pulled at the Slayer, dragging him into the portal.
POV: Unknown l The Underground
A long corridor, elegantly decorated laid the scene here, a skeleton in a blue hooded jacket, white t-shirt, pink slippers and black shorts sighed, looking forward, the lights in his eye sockets going out as a child in a blue shirt with two violet stripes stood before him, holding a knife and with a smile on his face, dust fell from his clothes.
Sans sighed and said "How many times is this now? I've lost count."
Frisk replied "Eighty-Six." Sans chuckled and said "Took you long enough to get talkative. So, should I say my lines or do we just skip to the end?"
Frisk chuckled and said "I don't mind hearing it again, it amuses me." Sans' smile didn't seem to end, probably from being a Skeleton, though Monsters could alter their forms slightly due to being made of magic, Sans was too lazy to do this. The expression in his eyes however, remained the same, cold, hateful look.
Sans spoke, saying "The birds are singing, the flowers are blooming..." he paused. Frisk cocked their head to the right slightly and Sans said "You know what. Screw that. Just die and don't come back."
A shutter click sound was heard and the environment around them blackened, Frisk leaped forward with the knife, closing 12 meters in a split second, a red energy outline that felt like Determination traced the knife's movement, Sans simply dodged to the right and rose his hand, he was done playing by the rules and immediately used blue magic on Frisk's soul, thrashing them about telekinetically across the battlespace.
Frisk's smile became even more unnervingly wide as he shouted "Finally! Finally you do something different. Dance with me Sansy! Dance!" as Frisk finished his speech, his eyes changed to a crimson red color and glowed slightly. The fight included a sea of bones, bright white lights discharged from Gaster Blasters, a dragon skull appearing magical weapon and the crimson red traces of Frisk's Real Knife. To the average human, these two would be streaking across the battlespace at blistering speeds, Frisk laughing with each slash, Sans couldn't quite piece it, but something was off, the loop was broken. By now, he was no longer oblivious to the exact details of the resets, enough had gone by that he knew exactly how everything went, he knew better now. Or so he thought, something had changed, their battle continued, but eventually, as before, Sans tired out, Sans dodged two slashes, but a third in combination finally hit him, a crimson red scar, bleeding, was present across Sans' chest, his white shirt torn from the slash, Sans grasped the wound, why was it bleeding? Monster's don't bleed.
He could feel it though, he was falling down.
A flash of white happened, and he was healed, the blood gone, though his shirt was still torn.
Both him and Frisk were confused, then Frisk glitched, between his form, and another, another child with a green shirt with a single yellow stripe.
"No more!" shouted the other child, Chara, the first fallen human.
Splitting from Frisk, the entire battlespace glitched, bringing them back to the overworld, but the fight wasn't over. Frisk was confused, but then laughed and slashed at Chara, who used some kind of magic to form a glowing crimson knife to block the attack. The two humans danced around, Sans stood up, unsure as to what was happening, but he didn't waste an opportunity, bones erupted from behind Frisk, impaling him in several places, including the lungs and liver, blood came out as he coughed and Chara walked towards him.
Frisk grinned briefly, but as their eyes started to fade, they suddenly became afraid, intensely afraid.
Chara brought his head next to Frisk's and whispered in his ear.
"You're not the most determined anymore. Thanks for the Soul, Player. This is my game now."
Chara unleashed a powerful slash at Frisk, it didn't just cut through him, the injury caused began to disintegrate Frisk's body. Frisk shouted many profane words at Chara, but it didn't matter, they were erased after a few seconds.
Sans and Chara looked at eachother briefly, Chara's knife faded out of existence and he sighed, saying "I'm sorry I couldn't act sooner, but for reasons that are too complicated to get into, this was the only moment I could break free. I feel sorry for Frisk though, he had no control over his actions, but the Player had to be stopped."
Sans sighed and said "So, what now?" Chara sighs and replied "It'll probably be over soon. I doubt the Player will tolerate this glitch and they'll delete the game and reinstall. We'll be gone and this cycle will start all over again."
A tear fell from Sans' left eye socket, but before he could say anything, a voice called out, a familiar voice in a forgotten language.
"Not if I have anything to say about it."
Chara and Sans began to glitch, before they could say anything, they were gone.
In another room, a watering pan fell to the ground, it was clear someone was holding it, but they were gone now. The Underground was empty save for Blooky, this time Frisk had been thorough, everyone was killed, he hunted them down in the True Lab with an exploit they created, Alphys put up a decent fight. The Amalgamates were a threat, but Frisk managed to trap them with the DT Extractor, using it to remove all their determination and as a result, because before their current circumstances, they were in a state of being fallen down and thus had returned to that state, turning to dust soon after.
Everything cut to black, this world was deleted. But it was not the only world.
POV: Unknown l The Void
Gaster and Beelzebub were enjoying two cups of tea.
Core!Frisk wasn't present anymore, having gone back to the Omega Timeline, though this perhaps is inaccurate, as they are omnipresent across most of the undertale universes.
Gaster sipped his tea and set it down briefly, saying "My preparations are nearly complete, all that's left to do now is wait."
Beelzebub sighed after sipping her tea and replied "This had better work."
POV: Unknown l Unknown Village
"Oh, what have we here?" said the voice from the inky creature in the shape of a Sans, four tentacles coming out of his back.
Nightmare watched from a distance the new arrival to the village, he only came back here sensing the negative feelings from this human, it was strange, but expected, probably wanted a golden apple to feel better, just when they had the hope of biting into it and becoming better, Nightmare would return to reduce them to nothing but a despairing wreck, he enjoyed this kind of thing, Dream was guiding them, but the human didn't say much other than wanting one of the apples from the tree.
This human was an adult, maybe in his late 20s to early 30s, dark brown eyes, short black hair to the base of his skull, a black trenchcoat, black pants, he really liked the whole western man in black look, missing the hat though. A bit short for an adult, if not for the stubble along his face, Nightmare would have assumed he were younger, as the human was only 5"2.
As the human and Dream reached the tree, Nightmare appeared to block their way.
Dream was a little shocked, but sighed and said "Are you going to break the rules? I never thought you'd go that far."
Nightmare laughed and said "Nah, I'm actually here to do my old job for once, you know what I'm talking about, right? You want the human to feel positive emotions, I want him to feel negative ones. In the end, it's his choice which apple to eat, so how's about it human? Wanna be a boring happy go lucky freak? Or will you step into the dark side? You're clearly dressed for it."
Dream looked over at the human and said "Don't listen to him, I know my broth-"
"Give me darkness." the human said. Dream, and even Nightmare were surprised, speechless even. Nightmare finally blurted out "Wha? Really?!" Dream for the first time in so, so long, sensed positive feelings from his Brother. Nightmare's tentacles reduced in size and length slightly as he quickly cultivated an apple from his side of the tree and brought it to the human, Nightmare then briefly turned to look at the surprised Dream, a look of snide accomplishment upon Nightmare's face. Nightmare then said "Guess it's my turn to tell you not to interfere Dream."
Dream shouted "But why? Why would you want to feel so down!? Do you know what that apple will do to you? The most negative feeling you think you could ever feel would be manifest greatly in you!"
"That's exactly what I want." said the human, surprising the two brothers once again, Nightmare handed the apple to the human and said "First time I met someone who wanted despair."
The human ate the entire apple, even the core as Dream and Nightmare watched with a mixture of confusion, sorrow and joy between the two of them.
Nightmare started laughing as the human's eyes went pitch black momentarily, rubbing it in Dream's face so to speak. "Finally! Finally someone who gets it! Why bother with positive feelings! At least with despair, you know where you stand, you can't get any worse then you already are!"
By now the villagers had gathered around, in shock, the first human to ever partake from the dark side of the tree, Nightmare looked at them with a sadistic grin and laughed again, saying "Serves you fools right! All of yo-"
Nightmare and Dream were speechless as the human interrupted them, slightly glowing crimson red pupils with the whites of his eyes replaced with a pitch black darkness, having replaced his natural dark brown eyes. Multiple thin black tentacle whips erupted from the human's back and impaled all the human villagers who surrounded them, killing them instantly, straight shot to their SOULs.
Nightmare then said "So, it's not despair that you sought out, is it?" Dream couldn't hold back, forming a bow and arrow full of positive emotions, Nightmare didn't intervene, the tables were reversed and he wanted to watch what happened, technically speaking, the human made their choice and crossed a line, Dream wasn't breaking the rules by attacking at this time.
The Human effortlessly dodged the arrows and said "I came here to find the one emotion I needed, not hope, not dreams, I have more than enough of that, too much in fact. Because of my forgiving nature, I couldn't save someone close to me. But now, with HATE in my soul, I will have the Determination to change fate. I will head home now, RESET, and fulfill my namesake. Fenrir, the one who devours the allfather. Remember my name caretakers of emotion. Raymond Fenrir. Do not interfere, or you too will be the targets of my hate. As for you Nightmare, I also believe in justice, I know your tale, your past. Consider this a gift, a gift of revenge."
As Dream prepared another barrage of arrows, the power gained from the apple had turned Fenrir into an Out!Code, he no longer needed Dream to return home, and return to his universe he did.
POV: Unknown l Hell Incorporated...
Linear Time? How shortsighted. This was the thought process of Fenrir upon returning to this place of perpetual torment but in the distant past. They don't know his story yet, they will now. The [RESET] button was held close to him in this hell without an overseer. As he pressed it, the tale would begin anew, this time with him being the one in control, not the false god that sought to cull humanity from the Earth.
POV: Unknown l Hell Incorporated...
They say Hell requires intense will to avoid death should any of the living make their way here. Will and Determination go hand in hand.
Watching out of sight, was Nightmare and Dream, though Nightmare was still in his inky form, the two had agreed to do their old jobs, why Nightmare agreed, Dream didn't know, but the rules were simple. They were to appear at pivotal moments in Fenrir's journey and both tempt him to their side of thinking, Nightmare would have Ray give into his dark emotions, his hate, his despair, while Dream would try to guide him on a brighter path, but they cannot interfere directly, a job that hasn't been done properly for some time now, but for some reason, the two are doing it again, likely to show the other their way is best, Nightmare wants to rub it into his brother's face, show him that he was right all along, whereas Dream wants to prove Nightmare wrong, that there is always cause to hope. Helping Fenrir out of hate and despair is a plus too.
So begins the tale of several beings, thrust into a hell not of their own, eventually meeting for a greater destiny.
The Doom Slayer looked around, this section of hell clearly weighed down on his will, but his wrath was unending, without limit, it gave him the Determination to carry out his crusade. A skeletal creature waited at the end of a corridor of stones, but the Doom Slayer was never one to do things the way they were meant to. The Skeletal creature felt something, impending Doom as an armored fist erupted from the rock to his side, before it could say or do anything, a knee slammed between the skeletal creature's legs, it shattered into a pile of useless bones as the Slayer drew his Super Shotgun and blasted another into more piles of bones. With the rules broken, the other skeletal creatures swarmed the Slayer to punish him for his Wrath but were powerless before the Slayer's steel barreled justice, his raw physical strength and his unholy speed and stamina.
Hayden's voice played in the Slayer's helmet, saying "I detect no traces of Argent Energy, this hellscape is not their world, curious. The eternal suffering can still be felt however, those who dwell here are no better than they are."
A nod and grunt was the Slayer's only reply as he slammed two skeletal demon skulls into eachother, smashing them to bits.
Chara and Sans at this point were both determined enough to freely wander Hell, they then ran into a pair of skeletal guards blocking the way forward.
"Not to be a BONE but, don't suppose you two know the way outta this joint do ya?" said Sans, clearly replacing bore with bone. Chara sighed and one of the guards said "There is no escape. Human, Monster, it matters not, you will suffer eternally here."
Sans replied "Now, now, let's all calm down. Wouldn't want to have a bad time now would we?"
The Skeletal Guard sent it's fist flying at Sans, who dodged and summoned a few bones underneath his attacker, launching the skeletal guard into the ceiling with great force, shattering it. "Jeez, you guys are weak." said the comedian. The other Skeletal Guards rushed at them, however Chara concentrated his determination into an energy dagger and slashed the air, sending a crimson energy wave of hate and determination into them, taking down many skeletal guards at once.
Chara chuckled and said "They don't have a single funny bone in their bodies, might as well go all out." Sans stared at Chara, then at the guards, shrugged and chuckled, saying "Alright, I'll give you that one. This place, you can feel the negative energy flowing everywhere, telling us to give up and suffer. Had enough of that, can't afford not to care anymore." Chara nodded and said "Well it's like you said. Kids like me should be burning in hell. This place seems to fit the description to a T."
Sans didn't reply, just walking over the bones of the skeletal guards, he then said to himself "Hmm, not monsters, their bones haven't turned to dust. Some other kind of creature then?" Chara shrugged and followed Sans, quickly solving the puzzles as they reminded him of some of the puzzles from the underground.
Sans chuckled and said "I bet Elder Puzzler would say this place ROCKS." Chara chuckled and said "Or he'd just shout bah and then say it's not done right." Sans chuckled again, replying "Probably."
Hordes of Skeletons were being slashed, shot and impaled by Dante and Vergil, who having found their escape hijacked and now this place was keeping them stuck, Vergil being unable to open stable rifts elsewhere, the two decided to hack, slash and kill until they found the culprit and put them down. Dante trickster dashed to evade the melee attacks of a few skeletal guards and then sent them flying into the nearby rocks with a stinger attack,a type of powered thrust with the sword, Vergil air tricked above another one and used Mirage Edge, a summoned magic energy sword, to strike down with a Helm Breaker, a simple attack involving magically propelling yourself downwards and letting gravity give your sword power instead of your physical energy, shattering the demon into a pile of bones. Vergil then said "These demons are numerous, but laughable in power. I can sense more powerful demons nearby however, three of them, strange, their power is intermingled, they probably are of a connected mind." Dante shrugged and using his Twosome Time technique, quickly dispatched 8 Guards around him with Ebony & Ivory and holstered the pistols quickly afterwards, saying "I'm gonna pretend I understood a word of that and just follow you." Vergil scoffed and proceeded forward, slashing through the rocks with Yamato rather than bother with completing the puzzle.
A firm kick sent a Skeletal Guard flying into a rock, a well built human adult male with a white jacket and red button shirt with round sunglasses was fighting the occasional guard and performing the puzzles, occasionally failing, being zapped by some beam of energy and finding himself at the start of the room, it wasn't exactly a reset, but it was something similar. Following behind him was a woman with a tired expression, glasses and a black business suit with red accents.
Pandemonica felt several energy sources nearby, but didn't really care, maybe if she had a decent coffee.
The Helltaker finished the puzzle and came across a demon by the name of Modeus, she stared directly at the Helltaker and said "You and Me. Now."
Helltaker was impatient however with his task and replied "No time. Busy collecting girls." Modeus seemed intrigued at his reply, bending forward slightly and saying "Demon harem? You poor fool, they will rip you to shreds and I have to see this..."
Two down...
Fenrir walked patiently towards the stone before him and kicked it forward, nothing happened, there was some kind of creature behind it blocking it, so he just kicked it harder, the stone slammed into the creature, pancaking it against another stone. Fenrir had his Determination unwavering, this hellscape was difficult to navigate for most, but he had done it once before in another timeline, he could do it again, time was not on his side however, he knew he had to reach her before he did. He could still get what he wanted if he was late, but it would take more time, and now that his soul had hate inside it, this was not an option.
In the next room several stones were moved out of the way, Ray looked ahead, seeing a small force of skeletal guards were blocking his way, this time armed with swords.
"That's new, I might not be the only one causing a ruckus here." said Fenrir. The Guards rushed him, but he formed two short black swords crafted out of hate and despair, which he promptly named these weapons such. Using Hate and Despair, he quickly deflected, parried and slashed to defeat the guards, despite their number, Ray was too fast and too strong to overcome. Standing in front of him after this carnage were three identical triplet demon girls, Cerberus, the Triple Demon.
"Are you a human? A real human? Please take us with you!" said the three in unison.
Ray stared at the three and said "Follow me if you want, but I've no interest in you three." The Triplets in unison were about to speak, but then they sensed it, being demons, they were more sensitive to emotion than the rest, they sensed it in him, hatred, it wasn't directed at them though, rather, it was directed elsewhere, to whom, they could not tell.
"Easy now, I wouldn't trust those three if I were you." said Dante, who along with Vergil had arrived here. A skeletal guard was sent flying into a nearby rock, the Doom Slayer reloaded his super shotgun and just stared at Cerberus, the hate in him rivaling, if not surpassing what they felt in Fenrir.
"You three remind me of my brother for some reason. Probably because you're also human hunting fanatics." said a small Skeleton, the Slayer looked at the skeleton but did not sense the taint of demonic energy in him, shrugging, the Slayer approached the three girls slowly, they could feel his wrath and moved behind Ray, hoping he would protect them.
"Hey!" shouted a gruff voice, the Helltaker with Modeus and Pandemonica behind him. Sans' eye lights went out as he looked between the assembled individuals.
The Sons of Sparda were of course, of knowledge of the nature of demons of their world, the Slayer didn't care, as long as they were a threat, they were to be eradicated, these three seemed to stare at Fenrir, the Helltaker quickly got between them, Sans and Chara also got between them, not approving of wanton genocide as ironic as that may seem to some when considering Chara's case.
POV: Unknown l The Void
Gaster watched the screen as he sipped his tea, Beelzebub watched with keen interest and said "So, who do you think will win?"
Gaster finished his tea and smiled, saying "No spoilers now. Everything is going according to plan, I will admit they have met sooner than expected, but this changes little."
Beelzebub pointed at two approaching individuals not part of the lineup and Gaster sighed, saying "They weren't supposed to interfere. No matter, this might still prove to be Very, Very interesting..." Beelzebub shrugged and just sipped her tea, Gaster seemed very fond of that phrase and she had gotten used to it by now.
POV: Unknown l Hell Incorporated, Cerberus' Room.
Dream and Nightmare were now visible, the Slayer stopped his march, though he sensed no demonic energy in Nightmare, even without complex sensors, he could feel the radiating dark emotions to recognize a possible threat, the Slayer however would bide his time, analyzing the situation, though he was used to fast paced fights, he wasn't a stranger to planning and being thorough either.
"And who might you two be?" said Dante, Vergil merely watched their movements, sensing a kind of bright feeling magic from Dream and Despair from Nightmare.
"You can call me Nightmare." said Nightmare.
"I'm Dream." said Dream.
Dream looked over at Ray and said "Whatever your goals are, there are still positive feelings in you! You need to focus on them, this pointless fight shouldn't go on!"
Ray scoffed and said "What did I tell you about interfering?" Nightmare then said "Relax bud, we're not allowed to interfere right now, I mean, it's just a tradition, not really anything stopping us, but we're here to guide you, not stop you. Up to you who to listen to, if it were up to me, I'd say keep doing what you're doing. Can't get any worse right? If you give into Hopes and Dreams, there's always the chance you could fall once more, doesn't sound like fun does it?"
The Doomslayer pointed at Cerberus and then brought his hand to his neck and made a cutting motion with his index finger along the neckline, suggesting he was going to kill those three, which prompted Cerberus to latch onto Ray tighter, Ray sighed and said "I know who you are Doomslayer, I have respect for what you do, but these three and their sisters are off limits. No offense, but they're not your enemy." The Doomslayer cracked his knuckles and pulled out his chainsaw, revving it up. Fenrir sighed and summoned Hate and Despair, Sans' left eye light appeared and was blue. The Sparda Twins and even the Doomslayer were suddenly cast down to the floor and Sans spoke, saying "I'm not usually one to step in like this. I'm a total lazybones. But I want outta this place, as far as I know, those three haven't done anything bad to anyone who didn't deserve it, yet, so I'm not about to let you just murder them." Chara chuckled and said "Sansy, you do know you can't hold them all down for very long, right? I can see you sweating." Sans looked at Chara briefly, his grin never ending but his expression was that of 'Shut up'
But Chara was right, The Slayer got up and rushed at Cerberus, his SOUL still blue, Sans focused entirely on the Slayer to no avail, his wrath and determination could not be stopped, Fenrir crossed Hate and Despair to block against the incoming blast of depleted uranium buckshot and the Slayer slammed his fist into these swords, as corrosive as they were from the powers of the apple, the Slayer's Praetor Suit was impervious to it. Ray erupted a burst of black energy to push back the slayer a bit, whilst Dante and Vergil looked at eachother briefly, Dante shrugged and unleashed a barrage from Ebony & Ivory at Fenrir, who readied his swords and deflected each shot, Vergil moved to get past Ray and attack Cerberus, however Ray looked at Sans and Chara briefly, they all nodded.
Sans created a wall of bones between Ray and Dante to protect him from the barrage being unleashed by Dante's handguns. Chara then lengthened the crimson red determination knife and began slashing at Dante who used the trickster style to avoid them, not wanting to fight a kid, Dante shouted "Whoa there kid! You shouldn't be playing with knives." Chara's eyes flashed with crimson red light briefly, increasing his speed and forcing Dante to begin parrying his determination knife using his own namesake sword.
Ray then slammed Hate and Despair together, forming a larger claymore like black sword which he named Wrath and used it to lock blades with Vergil who attempted a rapid slash towards Cerberus. Fueled by the negative emotions that he was more attenuated with thanks to the apple, Ray was able to keep up with the Dark Slayer's vast agility, blocking several lightning quick slashes from Yamato with Wrath.
Nightmare and Dream, staying true to their old jobs, could not intervene directly in the fight, Dream pleaded for the fighting to stop while Nightmare was just laughing, growing stronger and feeding off the negative emotions, the strongest of which came from the Doomslayer, seconded by Chara and Fenrir.
Dante dashed back and Chara changed targets as the Doom Slayer rushed towards Ray with a revved up chainsaw, Chara swiftly moved towards the Slayer.
The Slayer locked his chainsaw against Chara's crimson red blade, Chara had blocked the Slayer, who momentarily stopped his attack, confused as to why the child intervened, Chara laughed and said "You know, where I come from, I'm called the Demon who comes when their name is called. Let me show you why!"
Thousands of Determination Knives appeared above the Slayer and rushed downward, the Slayer dashed twice to evade the barrage and Chara flickered behind him, cleaving the chainsaw in two with his blade. The Slayer ran back and drew his Heavy Rifle, the child was right, despite appearances, their hate was intense, directed at the Slayer's humanity. Whose hate was stronger, only time would tell as the Slayer sent a barrage of micro-missiles at Chara only for all of them to be intercepted mid-flight by Sans' bones, Sans then summoned eight Gasterblasters around the Slayer which fired in sequence, though the Slayer was able to quickly get into an evasive rhythm to avoid them.
Vergil sent a barrage of blistering swords to one of the triplets, however Ray slammed Wrath into the ground and the summoned swords shattered against a black energy barrier of Hate, tentacles erupted from Ray's back and made a thrust forward towards Vergil, who evaded and cut through one of them with Yamato, the demonic magic of his sword overcoming the corrosive nature of the negative feelings.
The Helltaker lunged at the Doomslayer from behind and supplexed him, only for the Slayer to backflip with the Helltaker in tow before grabbing his arm and chucking him into a nearby rock, the painful impact caused the Helltaker to lose will briefly, he was teleported with a flash of light back to the start of the room, where Pandemonica and Modeus were watching, Modeus was done waiting, while direct combat wasn't technically her forte, she wasn't about to let anyone harm her sisters, summoning a demonically inscribed sledgehammer, she rushed towards Dante and took a swing, Dante moved his namesake sword and guarded against the attack easily and then proceeded to roundhouse kick Modeus into a nearby wall, Modeus' face darkened and two flashes of white light where her eyes were became apparent, taking a more demonic form, black tentacles formed from her legs and her skin turned jet black, more so than even Nightmare's form. Spikes rose at her command beneath Dante who quickly trickster dashed to avoid them whilst Vergil sent a barrage of summoned swords at Modeus, only for a wall of bones to stop them at Sans' command.
Sans used his blue magic on Dante and threw him at Vergil who then sidestepped to evade, grabbed Dante's arm and tossed him back at Sans while another barrage of micro-missiles from the Doom Slayer were sent flying towards Sans, forcing him to dodge and release Dante's SOUL. Dante drew Ebony and Ivory and while retaining the momentum of Vergil's throw, opened fire at Sans, who took a shortcut to get behind Dante and summoned a Gasterblaster which fired a beam of cyan energy, slamming Dante into one of the rock pillars, though Dante quickly recovered, dusted off his coat and readied his namesake sword.
The Doomslayer fired another micro-missile barrage and Modeus formed spikes between Sans and the missiles, causing the missiles to hit the spikes and detonate safely from Sans. Modeus' demonic form then lunged forward at Vergil who quickly parried her swift talon strikes with Yamato and sent a stinger forward with Mirage Edge, his summoned sword that looks like Force Edge in shape, though is still a blue lighted blade made of pure demonic energy.
Dante, given a brief reprieve from being a target, held his sword in a motion that looked like he was about to throw it, crimson red demonic energy channeled through his body into the sword, creating arcs of red lightning briefly around it.
Modeus was sent flying back into a rock by Vergil's Stinger whilst Fenrir swung Wrath at Dante's namesake sword which had been thrown in a spinning technique Dante called Round Trip, the swing from Wrath was done as if it were a baseball bat, Dante's namesake sword was shot at a ballistic arc back to Dante who spun around, grabbed the sword by the grip and rushed forward at Ray, locking his sword with Ray's. Ray then shouted at Cerberus, saying "You three, if you can fight, maybe this is a good time to pitch in!"
Just before Cerberus could oblige, there was the shutter clicking sound that accompanied the battlespace, all beings present looked towards the newcomer.
Asgore Dreemur, King of Monsters. A large heavyset goat monster with blonde hair and beard, two horns on the side of his skull.
Asgore spoke, saying "Oh golly, this place isn't very safe. We should all just get along and find a way out together." The Doomslayer didn't care and just changed weapons, drawing his Ballista and fired a charged energy wave at Cerberus, only for a burning red trident made of monster magic to slam into the shot from the side, cancelling out both attacks.
Asgore's eyes were briefly concealed from the others and he said "Human, I think you need to calm down. If you cannot see reason, then I will just have to beat it into you."
The polite Goat Monster King's threat was not empty, he lifted his head and his eyes flashed rapidly between orange and cyan, he formed a magical scythe and slashed rapidly at the Doomslayer, Dante however air tricked to the doom slayer and began parrying the attacks with the Devil Sword Dante, his namesake weapon acquired during the Redgrave City incident. Dante's speed matched Asgore's, though a barrage of white magical fireballs came immediately after, Dante dashed to evade the elegant yet deadly patterned attack while Vergil rushed at Asgore's right flank, only for a wall of bones to get between him and his prey.
Modeus leaped upwards, latching her claws into the ceiling and then leaping downwards, summoning another sledgehammer, intent on cracking open the Doomslayer's skull.
The Doomslayer instead grabbed her by the face and tossed her at Fenrir who jumped and caught her, laying her on the ground beside him as she turned back into her more humanoid form, she brushed off her attire as Ray split Wrath into Hate and Despair and rushed forward at the Doomslayer, who began to dash and run, firing a massive barrage from his Gatling Gun to which Ray crossed Hate and Despair to endure the bullets. The Slayer then changed his weapon to the plasma rifle and fired the microwave beam at Ray who briefly became stunned, however Ray's determination and hate grew and he screamed, black energy erupted from around him and sent an overloading feedback to the plasma rifle, causing it to sort out and deplete the Slayer's energy cell ammunition stored in his armor. sighing, the Slayer changed weapons to the Shotgun and fired three grenades at Ray who threw Hate and Despair at two and sent a tentacle at the third, intercepting the grenades and causing them to explode mid-air.
Interrupting the battle, a large army of hundreds of skeletal guards, wielding bone shields and swords rushed forward to attack all those present indiscriminately, save for the demon girls of course.
Chara reacted first, slashing through several with an extended determination blade. As if they had briefly forgotten their current struggle, all those present unleashed their Wrath upon the skeletal guards while the demon girls just sat back and watched.
The Helltaker by now had reached the battlefield again and three skeletal guards approached him, he began a flurry of kicks and punches which overwhelmed them with pure physical strength. The Doomslayer slammed his fists through the chest of one guard and ripped it's ribcage apart before chucking the dying guard's body at another, causing both guards to shatter. Dante charged his sword with energy and sent an Overdrive, three energy waves of a ranged attack nature, at a collection of Skeletal Guards.
Sans began using blue magic to slam the guards into eachother with extreme force and formed two Gasterblasters to incinerate a few others.
Vergil devil triggered and charged his magical energy, a moment later, billions of dimensional slashes occurred, reducing all but a handful of skeletal guards to bits and pieces.
The few remaining were completely incinerated by Asgore's fire magic.
As the dust settled, Ray looked over at Cerberus, who in unison looked between Ray and the Doomslayer. Ray sighed and said "Listen, how about you stand down and observe the actions these girls take before deciding to rip and tear, they might be valuable allies in the future, they may have demonic power, but they are not the same demons you've faced, and the power itself shouldn't be a motivator, after all, you have plenty of it flowing in you and your weapons.
The Slayer looked over at the Triple Demon and shrugged and made a single waving motion, as if silently saying 'Fine, Whatever.'
The Helltaker eyed them all suspiciously, but sighed and said "Listen not to sour the mood here. But I'm here on a very important mission. I need a demon girl harem, and you're not getting in my way."
Chara stared at the Helltaker, as did most of those present as well, Chara then laughed, loudly, Dante joined in and finally Sans as well.
After the laughter died down, Chara spoke, saying "Maybe we should put you out of your misery then. You do realize they will give you unending torment up to and beyond your death, right?" The Helltaker shrugged and replied "Worth it."
Sans chuckled and said "You're some kind of freak aren't you?" The Helltaker gave a glare, but quickly became terrified when Sans sent him a death stare of his own, that unwavering smile combined with the lightless eye sockets and obvious hostile intent.
Fenrir shrugged and said "So how about we work together to get out of here? Make your judgements once we reach the end." The Doomslayer stared at Ray before turning his head and walking towards the other room, Dante shrugged and said "I'm fine with that if my brother is." Vergil followed behind the Doomslayer, saying "Do as you please, just don't get in my way."
Ray looked over to Nightmare and Dream, who had merely been observing the fight. Nightmare shrugged and said "We'll see eachother again soon but I gotta say, loving all the negative emotions coming off you guys." Nightmare took a shortcut to a place out of sight, Dream sighed and looked over at Ray, saying "I can feel a positive feeling in you Ray. Love. True Love. Don't let it die, fuel it! Good things will happen."
Fenrir gave a cold stare at Dream and said "Believe me when I say, I've no need to fuel it, for it fuels me. I needed Hate and now I have it." Dream was confused and said "But Hate is the opposite of Love! How does that make any sense?!" Ray replied "Easy. There is someone here that I love, I'll do anything to protect her and save her from fate, but in order to accomplish this, I have to hate the piece of shit that's destined to kill her. It's none of the people present here, this is the first time most of em showed up in this world to my knowledge, but there's someone else who shows up much later and I'm not going to rest until I thrust my new swords into her SOUL and show her despair."
Dream was speechless as Ray proceeded onwards, Dream proceeded to where Nightmare was, the two looked at eachother and then back at Ray, confused. He was so full of negative emotions, but that one positive emotion was still strong, fueled by both hate and love, he was a walking enigma to both of them. Who was it that he talked about? They would find out in the future they thought.
As the group moved forward to the next room, the Pandemonica and Modeus followed closely behind the Helltaker, Cerberus followed behind Ray whilst Asgore was looking towards Chara, surprised. Asgore opened up a conversation, saying "Chara, forgive me for being so blunt in asking this but, how did you get here? I painfully remember how you died, is it perhaps, tha-"
Chara interrupted and said "No, I didn't go to hell after my death, my spirit lingered due to my determination, it's, a long story, but we have time, so I'll do my best to explain."
And explain he did, Everyone couldn't help but overhear about RESETs, timelines and the horror of watching Frisk under the control of some outside force, murdering everyone Chara cared about over and over, Chara developed a plan to stop them, but it required helping Frisk gain LV, eventually, Chara was able to break free, using Frisk's LV against him and taking Frisk's SOUL as his own thanks to the deal made in a previous genocide run before that last fight with Sans.
Ray nodded, Nightmare sensed the negative emotion of Regret whilst Dream sensed Remembrance. The two guides were out of sight to the rest of the group but could still see and hear everything the group did.
POV: Unknown l Both Long Ago and in the Near Future, the Ruins of Los Angeles, California.
Pain, sorrow, regret, despair.
These feelings accompanied loss, he held her lifeless body in his arms, a magical sword with angelic power having pierced her heart, she was dead before she hit the ground, there were no parting last words, just her lifeless eyes staring into the void.
Angelic Soldiers surrounded him as he screamed, one of them, a female angel with a kind of white with gold accents military uniform approached, her name was Micheal.
"This was necessary, as is what's yet to come." said the angelic general.
He didn't care, she was redeemed, yet the being that falsely declared itself god had sent his minions to take that away from her. Micheal sighed and readied her sword to strike Ray down as well, so he could join Lucy in whatever afterlife could exist for those stricken down by angelic and demonic weapons.
He wanted to go back, he wanted to change things, the blade made contact with his SOUL, it split in two then shattered, everything faded to black, but a light shined in the darkness.
[RESET]
He tried to reach for it, but felt an invisible force pull at him, as if his body was heavy and getting heavier every second, but no, he had the Determination necessary to fight back, to fight the touch of the void.
He pressed the button, the weight was lifted, and he was back in his home, eating instant noodles, shocked and surprised, the date on his phone nearby told him someone either granted his wish, or he somehow gained the power to do it himself.
He went back.
But no matter how many times he tried to change history, it unfolded more or less to the same conclusion, he just couldn't bring himself to not try to reason with Micheal, it wasn't in his nature to hate.
Then a voice, in a language he didn't know yet could understand, spoke to him.
"Seek the divine tree. What you need is hatred. I will show you the way to get started on your journey. You must have hopes and dreams. Afterwards, you will have to discard them, replacing it with hate and determination to carry out your will."
Images rushed into Ray's mind as he nodded, willing to do anything to change his love's fate. Including stepping out of the light and into the darkness.
Not long after that voice told him where to go, he met a joyful skeleton who called himself Dream, who went on and on about the divine tree and the apples there, Ray confided in Dream he felt despair, wanting to give up hope, to which Dream tried to reassure him, eventually, Dream decided on guiding Ray to the divine tree, hoping that a golden apple would cure Ray's woes, though Ray was not very forthcoming as to the source of the woes, Dream wasn't going to press him for it, he'd ask after the apple was given, they were after all, for those who needed them most and Dream felt like Ray fit the bill.
POV: Unknown l The Present, Hell Incorporated.
Ray didn't say anything to Chara, just gave an understanding look, having taken a trip to memory lane. Ray not only sympathized with Chara, but he even related to him. He had his own personal hell, his own loop he couldn't get out of, but now, now he had not only the will and hate needed to break free, he also had the power to do this as well. Whoever that helping hand was, he was thankful.
Reaching the next room, the Doom Slayer and Vergil wasted no time demolishing the rocks and skeletal guard around them, much to the annoyance of the Helltaker and Asgore, who would have preferred to complete the puzzles.
Malina, the Sour Demon, could hear the commotion and groaned, wondering if Zdrada was having a fit or something.
"So, what's it like being a demon?" said a short skeleton who appeared out of thin air next to Malina, she stared at him briefly, the eye lights in his sockets disappeared and he stared at her back.
Taking an empty bottle of Vodka, Malina shrieked and swung it at Sans, who easily dodged and said "Whoa there, I was just saying hi."
Malina sighed and said "You're not like any skeleton I've ever seen. Are you responsible for this ruckus? I just cleaned up the damn place!" Sans shrugged and replied "Nah, I'm too lazy to do all that. I just took a shortcut and skipped the whole puzzle. So, what's your name? I'm Sans, Sans the Skeleton."
The demon looked at Sans with a mixture of annoyance and curiosity and said "Malina. So what's your story? Did Lucifer create you as some kind of jester or something?" Sans shook his head and said "I'm not from around here, it's gotten rather bonely where I"m from, but this place isn't my idea of a vacation home, I got pulled here and I'm wondering if someone's pulling my funny bone or something."
Malina stared briefly before saying "I get enough sass from Zdrada, I don't need terrible puns on top of that." She swung the bottle again, Sans dodged again, his left eye going blue and Malina felt a weight wrap itself around her SOUL, it felt like magic of some kind, not demon magic, no, an ancient magic, monster magic. Before she could reply or react, she was slammed against the nearby wall, the bottle in her hand dropped and rolled along the ground, not having enough force to break it, though it was cracked now.
Sans' grin never left his face as he held her against the wall with his blue magic and he said "Now now, that's not very nice. You should learn some manners."
Malina struggled, but managed to flip Sans off, Sans sighed and tossed Malina to the right and released his magical hold on her then spoke, saying "Whatever, I'm too lazy to deal with this."
Chara sliced a skeletal guard clean in half with his determination blade, a flash of memory went through him, when Frisk first killed Sans during the first genocide run, Chara's smile briefly turned to a frown, before he shrugged it off and resumed his smile, eyes glowing red as he streaked with a trail of red determination energy flowing from his eyes and knife, which changed length and shape depending on the angle of his slash, so as to always cleave clean through his opponents.
The Doomslayer's Super Shotgun sent it's flaming meathook at a skeletal guard, however he planted his boots firm and instead of flying at the skeleton, it was dragged towards him, followed by a skull shattering punch from the Slayer's armored fist.
Dante and Vergil moved as if in a dance of blades and shattering bones across a horde of skeletal guards, though their tactics were a cut above the rest from the usual demons they faced, their speed and durability were vastly lower.
As strong as the Helltaker was, he could barely keep up with the kill count of the others present, occasionally slamming a skeletal guard into a wall or the floor, but he was nowhere near as fast as the Doom Slayer, the Sparda Twins or Fenrir.
As for Fenrir, he summoned a new pair of swords, Hate and Despair, indicating the weapons are formed from his emotional magic rather than being separate physical constructs, quickly guarding against bone swords and carving virtually unopposed through bone shields, the forces of this hellscape were nothing compared to his newfound power, whereas in the past he might have barely made it through on his own, now he was unstoppable, his only equals being those around him, perhaps a few were superior to him, though he was thankful he had allies, he in particular related to Chara, and also felt some unexplained relation to Asgore as well, from what he overheard from Chara's explanation, he knew about Asgore's own sins, six children, six human souls taken by force, but he also knew the reasons, he didn't condone what Asgore had done, but he did understand. His Hate at times was difficult to restrain, but his love directed it, he knew who his enemy was, he could use a fraction of his barely contained hate to fight forward, once he would face her however, he would unleash all of it, no matter the cost to himself.
Asgore simply cleaved through several of the skeletal creatures with his magical trident, being as powerful as a being he was, he could sense these creatures were magical automatons, soulless, reasoning with them would have been impossible, they were no different from machines or magic attacks.
Meanwhile, back with Malina, she was irritated, however that glare from Sans coupled with the power he just displayed suggested she should probably not hold back, as annoying as it is to shapeshift, sometimes it's necessary.
Sans could sense her magic moving through her body and said "Hey now. If you keep going on like you are. You're going to have a bad time..."
Malina hesitated, but her frustration with the insolent skeleton was at a boiling point, her form shifted into an inky black spider like creature which then rushed swiftly at Sans, however Sans seemed to be able to predict her attacks and said "Ya'know, your attack patterns remind me of Muffet's pet. Muffin be a coincidence."
Malina didn't get the muffin pun, but assumed it was an inside joke, a bad one and was sick of hearing this skeleton's chatter, sending torrents of summoned fireballs at Sans, she wasn't as good with fire magic as her sister Zdrada, but it was still enough to be used offensively. If not for the fact that the skeleton wasn't standing in front of her anymore.
A sound alerted her to something above, a dragon skull, Sans standing atop it, his grin was present and his blue eye formed in the left socket again.
"Don't say I didn't warn ya. Geeeet dunked on!"
A beam of magical energy slammed into Malina, it wasn't enough to kill her, but it caused a painful tinge, then she felt it, the impact itself wasn't much, it was what came after, she felt her sins crawling on her back...
Sans shortcutted behind Malina and sent a few bones her way, increasing the sensation of magically infused regret, Malina shapeshifted back into her humanoid form and rushed towards the cracked bottle, slamming it against the floor and breaking it, she then rushed at Sans with the broken bottle.
Sans slowly raised his hand when a black spear made of Hateful Intentions slammed between them, Fenrir approached slowly, the smoke settling behind him to show him and the others triumphant over the skeletal guards, Pandemonica, Modeus and Cerberus not far behind, next to the Helltaker who seemed to be the least scary of the group assembled here.
Malina looked at Fenrir, his gaze was just as terrifying as Sans, the black fill in his eyes, crimson red irises, if she didn't know better, she'd have assumed he was also a demon, but his magic wasn't demonic in nature, somehow, it felt worse. Purely negative emotions coursing through him, and through his spear, which seemed to fade into a black mist which moved back towards Ray.
Ray then spoke, saying "As much as I'd have enjoyed watching Sans toss you around like a ragdoll, I'm heading forward and would rather not see you battered into a pulp, I'd never hear the end of it from..."
He paused, sighed and seemed to ignore finishing that sentence, walking forward, Malina felt annoyance, but the power these people had just displayed, she had no desire to become a masochist like her sister.
Reaching the next room, Malina had followed along after the Helltaker offered to play turn based strategies with her if she joined his harem. Chara and Dante continued to tease the Helltaker's idiotic plan, telling him it wasn't going to end well, but the heavily bulked out individual that was the helltaker didn't seem to care.
The smell of cigarette smoke filled the air along with the typical smell of hellfire.
Malina groaned at the prospect of her sister Zdrada being nearby.
Several rocks were suddenly slammed forward at the group, fire erupting from behind them briefly, Asgore created magical tridents and shattered the oncoming stones with them, revealing no bone army, but Zdrada who took a deep puff from her cigarette and blew out a large amount of smoke from her lungs before saying "Your little invasion ends now."
The Slayer steps forward, pointing his Super Shotgun at her, Fenrir steps forward and says "She's actually quite amicable once you get to know her. I mean sure she's still a bitch but I think it's a front to conceal her insecurities."
Malina started laughing after hearing this, Zdrada however was not amused and said "One, I don't know you, two, I'm going to be your personal nightmare for an eternity here in hell for that."
The Slayer rushed forward, sending the hammers of his super shotgun into the barrels with the pull of the trigger, Zdrada however created such intense hellfire that the buckshot sublimated into gas, passing through her harmlessly, two fireballs erupted from her hands and she unleashed two powerful pillars of flame from them, Asgore created a magical wall of white fire to shield the group and said "Golly, she's not bad with fire magic."
Sans shortcutted behind Zdrada who quickly sensed the intruder and moved to leg sweep Sans, who dodged and used blue magic on Zdrada's SOUL, sending her flying up into the ceiling, back to the floor, and back to the ceiling dozens of times before he felt her forcibly break free from his magical hold, surprising the skeleton and forcing him to dash back to evade a counterattack of fireballs.
Dante air tricked above her, Vergil did the same and both sent helm breakers down at Zdrada, cleaving through her humanoid form and knocking her back heavily, however the wounds healed quickly due to her demonic nature and even her attire rewove itself, repairing the damage done with a hiss of flame and heat accompanying it.
Dante drew Ebony and Ivory and unleashed a barrage of bullets while Vergil began discharging summoned swords at her. Zdrada's legs were enveloped by the jet black demonic form and she quickly rushed to evade the ranged attacks, only for Chara to appear in front of her.
She snickered and said "And what do you think a runt like you can do to stop me?"
Chara's smile never wavered and he materialized his determination blade and slashed down quickly, not hitting Zdrada but rather cutting her cigarette in half, Zdrada could tell this was intentional and Chara said "I'm the one in control of this fight, not you."
Another crimson red slash, this time it cut diagonally across Zdrada's form, not enough to kill her, she could feel the magic being held back, but it was enough to end this fight in one fell swoop.
Vergil and Dante sought to take advantage of this and both rushed forward, the Slayer also positioned himself with the Heavy Rifle, attaching the Sniper mod to it, Both Sans and Fenrir interrupted them however, with a wall of bones and a sphere of hateful energy respectively cancelling out the attacks.
Asgore stepped forward and said "Must we start this again?"
Dante sighed and said "Listen, I never got your name, in fact I don't know most of your names, but that demon can't be trusted, you claim to have hate in you yet you consistently hold it back. Give me a reason, one good reason why we shouldn't put these demons out of their misery and I'll hold back from here on out."
"You cannot be serious?" said Vergil.
Fenrir sighed and said "Alright, I'll give you your reason. My name is Raymond Fenrir, you can just call me Ray. You all heard about Chara's description of the power to RESET, as well as SAVE, LOAD and ERASE. I have these powers as well, well, I can RESET, SAVE and LOAD at least. I'm afraid as high as my LV rose before coming here, it's still not high enough to ERASE, however I have been through 108 RESETs in the past trying to undo a grave injustice. On my own, with the power I had back then, it wasn't enough. I didn't expect to run into all of you here, I actually know of you all due to a helping hand back when I made my 107th RESET. We haven't met before, but I've gotten to know all these demon girls due to my life before the RESETs, as hostile as they are, they can be redeemed, I should know, I managed to pull it off. But they don't remember any of it because they don't have the power of RESET, nor do they have time related magic."
Sans sighed and said "That explains why you're so protective of them. At first I thought you were just soft on them because they were ladies, but you actually used to be friends with them. I can relate to that I guess."
Dream and Nightmare appeared at this time again, the others looked towards them, Dante then said "And you two, what's your deal?"
Dream said "I'm a guardian of hopes and dreams, I help people fuel their positive emotions when they're down. Me and Nightmare are brothers, both borne from the divine tree." Nightmare shrugged and said "I'm a guardian of negative emotions, I cultivated special apples which could bring all sorts of negative feelings to people who ate them, but as far as I know, Ray is the first who wasn't me to partake from that side of the divine tree. My duty here is to guide him through these negative emotions, to increase their intensity."
Ray looks at the two briefly then locks a glare with Dante. Dante sighs and says "One last question then. Earlier you mentioned someone you love is who you're here to save. I take it then it's one of the demon girls who doesn't remember you because of this whole RESET business?" Ray nodded and said "None of the girls present here, rather the one in charge of them all, Lucy."
Zdrada couldn't help but break out in laughter, as hurt as she was from Chara's attack, she still had the energy to laugh and she said "Lucy? Really? She'll make you her slave. You sure you want that?"
Ray gave a hostile glare at Zdrada, she could feel resentment in his emotional energy as he said "I am no-one's slave."
Pandemonica stepped forward, saying "So you think you can enslave her to your will instead?" Ray shook his head and said "No, as I have before, I will again form an equal partnership with her. That's how relationships are supposed to work in my opinion. I understand it'll be intense work, but I've broken down her walls before, I can do it again, I can redeem each and every one of you."
Zdrada laughed again, Pandemonica chuckled briefly and the other demon girls gave Ray a look of both disbelief and pity.
Dream's eye lights were golden stars, he could feel a growing light of hope in Ray's SOUL, whereas Nightmare could still feel hate and regret. Dante shrugged and placed his namesake sword on it's resting position on his back and he said "Alright, that's good enough for me." he looked at Vergil who sighed, facepalmed and said "Do as you please, I could care less whether this fool gets himself killed, so long as we get back to our world."
Ray and the Doomslayer stared at eachother silently, the Slayer didn't say anything, but just shrugged and lowered his Heavy Rifle, as if deciding to let Ray continue with his plan, Ray was right about one thing, these demons are not the same as the ones he was used to fighting, whereas they were brutal and without mercy, these demons were more human than they were likely to admit. They are not the targets of his crusade and thus because of this, he can be reasoned with in this situation.
Ray turns and offers a helping hand to Zdrada, who swats it away and stands up on her own, saying "I'll tag along, can't wait to see you get torn to shreds."
Nightmare approaches Ray and asks "How? How are you able to speak with such positive tones yet radiate so much hate. Tell me about the ones who are supposed to kill this Lucy? Obviously you wouldn't have done 108 RESETs if everything was all sunshine and rainbows."
There it was, the hate again, and the regret. It fueled Nightmare's powers.
Ray simply replied "False Angels. They have a systemic pattern of destruction, many would call it Armageddon, or the Apocalypse. In this universe, it starts with a chosen fallen angel being redeemed, then being eradicated. From what I remember, Lucy initially rebelled against this cycle, but lost and so committed herself to becoming the ruler of this hellscape to prevent her from ever fulfilling this prophecy. I wasn't aware of this however back then, and she eventually decided she would try and fight again rather than keep her heart locked away. It wasn't easy, it took years. That bitch wouldn't listen to reason, that angel, Micheal. When I next see her, I won't make the same mistakes. The apple you gave me will make sure of that."
Dante sighed and said "Well this place is weird. Angels are the bad guys and the demons are the good guys." The Doomslayer walked forward towards Ray and broke his silence, something he had not done in ages.
"Rip and tear. Until it is done." said the Slayer.
Ray looked at the Slayer and nodded. Sans then said "Whoa whoa whoa! Not all these angels are responsible right? Just the head honchos?" Ray looked towards Sans and said "Most are soldiers, they'll blindly follow the leadership. It's true, once their leadership is dead, they'll likely be unable or unwilling to continue the cycle, but they'll die trying to protect their leaders and now that I have hate in my soul, I'll oblige them."
Chara nodded and said "It makes sense, we won't be able to stop the cycle without killing. You and I know this all too well Sansy." Sans gave his death stare at Chara, whose eyes had a crimson glimmer in them in response as he smiled.
Asgore felt a heavy weight on his conscience and said "Cannot they be reasoned with?" Chara scoffed and said "You're one to talk." This hit Asgore right in the SOUL, his regret already heavy, it was even further, Nightmare grinned massively, between the ambient negative energy of this hellscape, The Doom Slayer, Fenrir and Asgore, the negative feelings were the most he's ever experienced in a single event and he was loving it. Doing his old job for once felt rewarding. Dream however was saddened, however there was a glimmer of hope in Ray and strangely, from Chara, Dream almost couldn't understand it, Chara could feel such hopeful emotions from killing intent. Dream approached Chara and then said "How. How can you so casually talk about killing people and feel positive from it? I don't understand." Chara chuckled and said "Easy. Because you're an idiot. I know what's necessary to stop the bloodshed, which is paradoxically, more bloodshed. All wars have to eventually reach a bloody conclusion, and if I can be of some small help in cutting the path towards that eventual end, I'm satisfied. After all, I'm the main character." Chara clearly was putting emphasis on the Chara part of the word Character, as if making a pun.
Sans chuckled and said "Kid, you make worse puns than me. I don't know whether to feel ashamed or proud."
With most of their reasons settled, they all introduced their names to eachother, except for the Slayer, who did not break his silence again, merely nodding with Ray explaining the story of the Doom Slayer.
They all walked towards the next room, Asgore sighed and said "Listen, Ray was it? I do not conceal the fact that I probably deserve to be in a place like this, but if what you've said is true, I cannot in good conscience sit by and watch the suffering continue. I will aid you against the cycle you seek to stop however I can." Sans shrugged and said "Well if the King's gonna help, guess my duty as a Sentry is to pitch in as well. Besides, as much as I hate to admit it, I can relate to ya." Chara had already pledged his aid and just smiled, the Slayer had also done the same.
Dante and Vergil were silent briefly, Dante then said "Sure, why not. We're all together trying to get outta this place, might as well help out. I'm sure the kid back home can wait a bit longer right brother?" Vergil sighed and said "If you insist, then so be it. Just do not expect me to be happy about it.".
Despite Vergil's voiced Reluctance, Dream could sense some positive rememberance, perhaps the Dark Slayer was more amendable to Ray's plight than he was willing to admit, the hopes from everyone, especially Fenrir upon hearing he had allies in his fight, began to fill Dream's power and fuel his own hopes and dreams. Nightmare sighed in disgust, knowing from Dream's reaction what was transpiring. Nightmare and Dream were no longer visible to the group, as is the confines of their old jobs. Nightmare shrugged and thought to himself that well, nothing lasts forever, but he'll keep riding this train to see where it goes, he doesn't really have anything better to do at the moment.
And then his power rushed forward, massively. He could feel intense hate, uncontrolled, from Fenrir.
They had cleaved their way through the puzzle as before, but the sight of an Angel, one by name of Azazel, made Ray freeze in anger.
Azazel rushed towards Ray, pen and notebook in hand, saying "That's strange, living humans and monsters in hell? Why are you here?"
The Helltaker pushed forward and said "Looking for demons."
Before Azazel could reply however, she sensed sudden killing intent, Ray screamed "YOU TRAITOR!" His entire form was now black, a crimson red light formed in his face, forming eyes and a mouth with jagged edges looking like teeth.
Azazel felt a sudden, sharp piercing pain in her chest, to the shock of everyone else present, Ray's left arm had shapeshifted into a bladed weapon and rammed itself through Azazel's chest, if she wasn't an angel, this would have killed her instantly.
She quickly summoned angelic power and dashed back, grasping the wound as it healed with a flutter of white light, unsure as to why he attacked, she never met him before, no, that wasn't quite it, she felt, a vague recollection, but couldn't piece it together. Deja Vu perhaps?
Ray rushed forward in his Avatar of Wrath state, rapidly slashing at Azazel who formed transparent wings of angelic energy to take flight, however Ray formed the negative emotion filled sword Wrath and slashed at the air, sending a crescent arc of hateful energy to swat Azazel back to the ground, utter terror on her face as he readied himself to deal a killing blow to her face with the sword, she held out her hands and shouted "Wait! Please!"
Ray felt immobilized, not from his lack of will to fight, but from the pull of magic, he was then slammed into a nearby wall by Sans, who stared and said "I get what we just talked about, but she clearly doesn't want to fight. Maybe show some MERCY for once?"
Chara sighed and said "Sansy, you don't get it do you. Picture yourself in Ray's shoes, actually you have been in his shoes. Imagine for a moment, this angel was responsible for Papyrus' death, not directly, but indirectly. How would you fee-"
"Shut up." Sans said, semi-transparent cyanic bones erupted from the ground around Chara, not damaging him due to Chara being in the same spot and not moving, Chara sighed and said "Fine, we'll do it your way for once."
To be continued...