And here we are, chapter 5. Things are turning up for the worst for the Olympians, Hades getting bested in his home of all places, and soon, we'll have the reveal of the connection between Kronos and Mundus. Parts of the trailer are lining up more and more, as well as Nero's vision. Though, minor spoiler, I'm going to be including some content from DMC 5: Before the Nightmare graphic novel, specifically when Lucia and Matier are involved, mainly to build more lore and connections in the story. I hope everyone likes where I'm taking this story and I just really hope everyone gives Saeko a chance. The story has just started and all I ask is that you give her a chance to interact with Nero a bit.
Also, some of you might be wondering why I depicted Raiden as his MK incarnation. The main reason is that the Shinto Raiden, or Raijin from the actual myth, would eat children. So, yeah... enough said.
And one more thing, I have to ask because I want to be absolutely certain of for the next book. What would you say Nero's durability levels are in this story? I know that officially, Nero isn't as durable as someone like Dante, but in this story, with his godly heritage, would you say that Nero is now on par with Dante in terms of how much punishment he can take, or slightly less. The gods are no pushovers, but only specific traits are passed to their children like Percy has the ability to manipulate water and command sea animals like his father, but he can't take the same amount of punishment as Poseidon.
One thing that is certain for Nero in this regard is his resistance to heat/manipulation of fire considering his mother is the goddess of the hearth and his ability to create food.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Capcom owns Devil May Cry and Rick Riordan owns Percy Jackson and the Olympians.
Devil May Cry: Slayer's Return
Chapter 5: Building Pressure Part 3
Vie de Marli, dock, Carribean
The trip had finally come to an end all the hunters had arrived at Vie de Marli, the home of a clan of women demon hunters. The island was once originally known as Durmary Island before its name was changed for unknown reasons. The island was discovered by religious refugees from the Mediterranean regions, who were branded as heretics for continuing to believe in the old pagan gods by followers of different beliefs. Being forced to abandon their European home, any followers sailed away, across the Atlantic ocean where, by chance, they found this island. These people, along with runaway slaves, assimilated to form a new culture. They came to worship deities from a different dimension, and the rites performed in honor of these beings often resembled exorcisms and demon sealing ceremonies. These beliefs were headed by the "guardians", a clan of priests who borrowed the demonic power of their "gods" in order to protect them, their worshippers, and spawn legends by using the power of their gods to defeat the enemy gods. However, those legends are all they are, legends, as the Greek Gods are still around and so are many other gods. What wasn't a legend, was when Sparda came to the island.
Several hundred years ago, Sparda, the demon hero of humanity came to the island in order to aid in exorcising an ancient evil known as Argosax The Chaos who was worshipped by a secret tribe of people among the inhabitants of Dumary Island. Sparda used the Arcanas with the help of the Protectorate clan to seal the great devil, and although he was temporarily trapped within the Demonworld after the final battle with Argosax, he eventually returned to the human world.
In the following couple of decades, the multinational public corporation Uroboros, headed by the modern-day sorcerer/multimillionaire Arius, had begun to build their own official city along with some of their factories and an offshore oil-rig. A trivalent, combined-tower skyscraper called the "Skyscraper Sanctum" on the upper west side of Vie de Marli served as the headquarters. The pretext of being on the island was to acquire the "special ores" hidden within the island's mountains; however, their true purpose is to recover the fabled Arcanas and release Argosax, obtaining his power and rule the Earth. That was until Dante got involved.
"How exactly do you know about this place again?" asked Nero glancing over his shoulder at Dante who was leaning against the railing of the boat they were using. The son of Sparda's nephew was standing at the bow, arms folded as they got closer to the island. It was getting close to five in the afternoon and the sun was starting to dip towards the horizon.
Lady was still in the wheelhouse, along with Trish, while Saeko was on the port side of the boat.
"Little after we had our run-in back in Fortuna, I got another job," explained the older hunter, getting off the railing and stepped towards his nephew to stand beside him at the bow, "during which, I ran into Lucia. We had a little chat and she invited me to this island."
"And you just agreed?" asked Nero bluntly, glancing at his uncle.
"In retrospect, kinda dumb," chuckled Dante.
"No, playing poker against Patty with your luck is dumb," snorted the youngest hunter, "Listening to a complete stranger who asks 'Hey, you're pretty strong, would you come to my island for a little chat?' is just plain stupid."
"Turned out pretty well regardless," shrugged the veteran demon hunter, causing Nero to roll his eyes, "Anyway, once we got here, Lucia introduced me to her mother, Matier. Turns out, she fought with my old man back in the day."
Now that caught Nero's attention as he turned to Dante with an arched eyebrow. He remembered back when he went to school in Fortuna that Sparda got around during his time in the human world. Even ruling over Fortuna as a feudal lord temporarily. Which made it a little confusing as to how Sparda was unknown to the Greek Gods, even with their pride, they should've heard something about a demon traveling the world, saving humanity.
He'll think about that later.
"What exactly were they up against?" asked the hunter. Before Dante could answer, the boat they were using bumped against the dock.
"I'll tell you later," promised Dante as he headed towards the back of the ship, "Just gotta grab some stuff then we can find Matier and Lucia."
"Never really told me who they were," reminded Nero as he followed his uncle.
"They'll introduce themselves when we find them," responded Dante as he ducked into a hallway and into one of the cabins inside the boat. Nero rolled his eyes as he remained on the deck outside. Turning away, he took in the appearance of the island.
Connected to the dock was a pathway which led to a European-style village that had a pretty large clocktower. It was pretty large, but what was connected to it made him wonder how the hell the Greeks didn't notice this. A half modern, half medieval city with its own train station was located next to the village and seemed to be doing pretty well for itself.
"How the hell do the gods let something like this slip past them?" muttered Nero to himself, folding his arms.
"Mortal affairs are often beneath the notice of most gods," said Saeko suddenly, causing the hunter to turn around and see the girl approaching him to stand by his side, "This is especially true with the Greek Pantheon. The ancient Greeks placed great value on one's beauty, viewing it as the most important aspect of their character."
"So vanity and arrogance blinded them to what was going on around them," snorted the youngest demon hunter, "Figured as much, but still, forgetting about an entire island? Goes to show just how easy it is for them to get blinded by their own arrogance."
"While most of the Greek Deities allow their emotions to control them, there are some that are not like their siblings and family," admonished Saeko.
"Doesn't really excuse them of screwing over thousands of innocent people because their feelings got hurt," countered Nero as he turned to the purple-haired girl.
"Perhaps," conceded Saeko, as she looked off to the side, towards the village. She stepped towards the railing to rest her elbows on it and just look out across the area.
Nero just stared at her for a moment, her hair gently blowing in the breeze. The hunter continued to look at her, taking in her entire appearance. By all means, she was very attractive. He didn't know how long he was looking at her but was shaken out of his gaze when Lady called to him.
"Hey, Nero!" called out the older hunter.
Nero flinched as he jolted out of what he was doing and turned to the woman in question. Saeko herself was also a little startled by the sudden shout.
"What?" he answered.
"You gonna get your stuff or not?" asked Lady from the wheelhouse, leaning out the window. Trish had disappeared, he assumed below deck to get some stuff.
"Any reason why I should?"
"We're going to an island that used to be home to one of the top dogs of the Demonworld and we're going with Dante," deadpanned Lady.
"Fair enough," shrugged Nero as he headed below deck with Saeko following behind him. Watching the two leave, Lady let out a very, well, unladylike, snort as she herself went to her room to get her gear.
"Guess Trish was right," she hummed to herself entering her room and started to gear up, "Looks like Nero does have a small crush."
A part of her hoped, like Trish, that Nero would be able to move on from what happened. It wouldn't do him any good to keep blaming himself during that job; in no way was it his fault, but he still blamed himself for it.
'He's more like his dad then he knows,' thought Lady, recalling when she ran into Dante's brother. That experience was less than stellar and the outcome had of what happened, even more so.
Little did they know that they weren't the only ones about to experience something less than stellar that was related to demons.
Camp Half-Blood, Montauk, Long Island, New York
A mess, that was all that could have been really described that terrible day in Camp history. A complete, fucking mess.
Camp Half-Blood had nearly been completely razed by the demonic attack and left completely crippled. Among the two hundred campers that had once lived there, now there were only roughly one hundred and twenty campers still alive. Families had been notified about the deaths of their children and plenty of them were far from happy. In fact, some families were even taking their children out of Camp, believing it was safer with them than the camp. This, of course, led to many disputes. Those that remained in the camp helped rebuild their home away from home.
"It's a complete mess all this," snorted Dionysus as he sat in his usual chair on the Big Houses' deck, or what was left of the Big House. He and Chiron had been through a lot of tough scrapes, but what happened barely a month ago topped all of them.
"It is," nodded Chiron, sitting in his wheelchair, one of the few things that survived the attack. The Olympian and the Centaur were both looking out across the camp, which was entering the final stages of reconstruction.
"Hard to believe that the kid is Hestia's," muttered the god bitterly, taking a sip of his diet coke. Chiron said nothing as he looked in the direction of the hearth. Knowing that Hestia was still absent.
"How is she doing?" asked the camp activities director.
"Still holed up at her place," sighed Dionysus, "Refuses to speak to anyone. Whatever that damn kid said to her really did something."
"There are rumors spreading through the camp that the boy is a demon," stated the centaur suddenly.
"Yeah, well the rumors are true," replied the deity sharply, "Saw that kid's arm. That wasn't a normal arm, not to mention what he did next when he took on that demon."
Chiron was one of the few that had been informed by the gods of what happened when Nero fought the demon king, Excelsus. The amount of power that boy held was staggering. Even more so, the boy's ancestry. Along with that development, he had also been told of the prophecy that had been given to the gods in Mount Olympus. A demon declaring war not only on the Greek Pantheon but all pantheons across the world.
'A frightening thought,' said Chiron mentally as he looked down at his hands. He had seen battle hundreds, even thousands of times and fought monsters humanity only thought as myths. But what he fought that terrible day, it was out of his worst nightmares.
"How goes the search?" asked the director, temporarily changing subjects.
"On top of pretty much every single monster rearing its face the second the kid closed the gateway, you'd have better luck than Artemis," snorted Dionysus. Sure enough, monsters across the entire country had grown even bolder, attacking without warning or reason. Athena had been finding more reports of attacks across the nation in the last week than the last century, "Heard even Poseidon has his work cut out dealing with monsters randomly attacking."
"What does your father plan to do when he finds Nero?" asked Chiron.
"Not sure, but I can tell, it's nothing good," snorted Dionysus, "Kid deserves it after all the shit that he's said, everything he's put the camp through, not mention what he said to Hestia."
"He did come back," reminded the director, "He had no reason to come back at all and yet he did."
"Not sure that's gonna matter to dad," countered the deity. But before anymore speculation between the two, a mass of darkness began to collect to their right. The two watched as the mass of shadows began to recede and reveal Hades.
"Lord Hades," bowed Chiron, turning his wheelchair to the eldest son of Kronos while Dionysus stood up from his chair.
"Didn't expect to see you here, uncle," commented Hades' nephew, however, his eyes narrowed when he saw the cheap clothing the ruler of the underworld was wearing, "The heck are you wearing?"
"Dionysus," interrupted Hades suddenly, catching the head of Camp Half-Blood off guard, "I need to speak with you on Mount Olympus. There is something that I must discuss with you."
"With all due respect, uncle, I'm kinda busy right now," countered Dionysus, "Got a camp to look over right now."
"Dionysus," repeated Hades, his tone sharper, causing Dionysus to flinch slightly, but he swore he could hear some pleading/desperation in his uncle's words, "I need to speak with you on Mount Olympus."
The ruler of the Underworld walked towards the deity, and leaned over to his ear, "Excelsus, ordered me to."
That sentence alone caused Dionysus to adopted a shocked expression. He could see it now in his uncle's eyes. The fear and desperation within them. Excelsus had done something to him and now he had no choice but to do as he was ordered. Chiron's own eyes widened in surprise and shock when he heard the name of the Demon King spoken by Hades.
"Right," nodded Dionysus, "Let's go."
"There is something else I must do first," stated Hades, his body dissolving into shadows once more, "I will speak to you momentarily."
Sure enough, Hades vanished, leaving Chiron and Dionysus alone on the porch of the Big House. Something was very, very wrong.
Watching from the edge of Camp Half-Blood was Excelsus, in his human form to avoid drawing attention. A snort of amusement came from him as he watched Dionysus vanish in a flash of light, leaving the old centaur alone. A part of him was tempted to raze the camp once more, but he wanted to win. He wanted to succeed where his father failed, and to do that, he must remain calm and collected.
"The stage is set and players are on their way," said the son of Mundus to himself as he turned his back to the camp and started to walk away, a violet portal opened, "Now it is only a matter of patience."
Excelsus stepped through the portal which snapped shut behind him.
Mount Olympus, New York City, New York
Sure enough, one by one, the gods arrived on Mount Olympus. The first being Dionysus, followed by Demeter, Athena, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, and Hera. The next bunch to follow were Hermes, Apollo, Artemis, Poseidon, Zeus, and lastly Hestia. The gods were all gathered in the throne room while Hestia sat silently by the hearth. Each deity had gathered within the throne room, which had been repaired thanks to the efforts of Hephaestus.
"I don't get it, why did uncle call us all here?" asked Apollo suddenly, he knew full well that Excelsus had something to do with this but the purpose of them gathering here was still beyond him.
"My brother stated that Excelsus ordered him," stated Zeus, "However, he did not reveal the purpose of which we were called."
"Wouldn't it have been easier to just call for a meeting?" asked Demeter.
"Hades lacks the authority to call for a council," interjected Hera, "That authority lies with the King."
Sure enough, that was true, the only one on Olympus that had the authority to call for a meeting of all the Olympians was the King himself.
"Even still, why did he call us here?" asked Poseidon, getting tired of waiting for so long.
"I'm with uncle," commented Ares, getting fed up with waiting, "If this is just a prank, then it's not very funny."
Suddenly, Hades entered the council room through the doors.
"Finally," exasperated Apollo.
"Brother, why have you gathered us here?" demanded Zeus, looking not to pleased he had been dragged her to the throne room. The ruler of the underworld remained silent for a second as he went to his usual corner, head hanging down.
"Excelsus and his demons attacked the underworld," began Hades, somberly, but that sentence alone caught all the gods by surprise.
"What did you say?" demanded the youngest son of Kronos, not sure if he wanted to believe his ears.
"I said that my home was assaulted by the same monster which attacked the camp," repeated Hades, bitterly, "My forces stood no chance against Excelsus and his own."
"How was he even able to enter the Underworld?" asked Hera, almost as shocked as any other god in the room.
"He stated that as a demon, he can travel anywhere in the human world, including the underworld," explained Hades, he then looked at his brothers, "the underworld, the sea, and the sky were all part of the human world before we divided them into our own domains. He explained that our domains do not technically lie outside the mortal realm and therefore, he can enter."
"Which explains how the demons were able to leave and go to our children's camp," realized Athena, cursing herself for forgetting such details. Her father's and uncles' domains are still made of earthly materials and can still be accessed by mortals. The only reason they can't is due to the Olympians' power.
"Is this a threat from, Excelsus?" demanded Zeus, "To make us realize that nowhere is safe from him?"
"No, that was not his purpose," stated his brother, "Instead, he merely told me that a topic for us to discuss is 'fate'."
Now that got everyone's attention. Ever since the attack, all other prophecies had been put on hold, especially the one involving Percy Jackson and would be addressed later. Regarding the boy and the previous accusation that he stole Hades's helm and Zeus's master bolt, they had been dropped when Ares handed both over.
"What does he mean by that?" asked Artemis.
"Excelsus did not say, that it was only a topic for us to discuss," answered Hades.
"Perhaps, he wants us to look into the future?" offered Demeter.
"Yes, but why?" countered Hephaestus. A few moments past before Artemis thought of one name.
"Nero," she said, mainly to herself but was still heard by a few gods and goddesses.
"What did you say?" demanded Zeus, his patience already very short. Artemis looked at her father for a moment, eyes narrowed slightly before she spoke again.
"Nero," the name a bit louder this time. Everyone's attention immediately fell onto Hestia who looked up and at her niece, "Perhaps he wants us to look into the future of Nero."
The room was silent for a few seconds, Hestia just looked at Artemis during that time. Clearing his throat, Zeus turned to Apollo, "Apollo, I order you to look into Nero's future."
Hestia was about to object, however, Apollo really didn't want to be on the receiving end of his father's anger and did as he was told. He closed his eyes, however, he then began to tighten them slightly before his eyes snapped wide open.
"I can't," he said softly, completely shocked.
"What do you mean you can't?" demanded Zeus angrily.
"I mean I can't because there is no one future regarding Hestia's son," clarified Apollo, his tone a bit fearful.
"Explain."
"It's like his entire future has been fractured, splitting off into dozens of different paths," elaborated the son of Zeus, "As if something has damaged his connection to fate."
"How is that possible?" asked Athena, "How can be possible that something is beyond the control of the Fates?"
"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAhahahahahahaha," a terrible, booming laugh echoed through the entire council room, causing every single olympian to shoot to their feet, "They would like you to think that, the Fates."
"Who dares speak!" demanded Zeus, looking around wildly for the owner of the voice.
"The Fates only show you what they deem to be in their best interests and not the full outcome of one's actions," continued the dark voice, the atmosphere becoming colder and oppressive, "They show you what you want to see and only what you want, but they do not share all of it."
Suddenly, the doors to the council room burst open, flying off their hinges and casting a massive cloud of smoke into the room. The Olympians shielded themselves from the blast before looking back. Strolling into the room, Excelsus entered in his full demonic form. At the moment, he was the tallest entity in the room as the gods are capable of changing their form and size at will.
"I want to show you all something beautiful," monologue the demon. Suddenly, his followers appeared around the room, forcing the gods to step away as six of the seven devils had weapons drawn, "Humans, demigods, monsters, and the gods themselves; all screaming, for mercy."
"How dare you defile these grounds!" shouted Zeus in outrage.
"Not very kingly to lose your composure, Zeus," taunted Excelsus, he then gestured around to all the gods, "And all of you; you all want to remain in power, yet you refuse to change with the times."
"Why are you doing this?" demanded Athena, her body shining brightly for a second before revealing the goddess in full armor and a spear in hand.
"To bring about a world that is not ruled by children," stated Excelsus calmly, however, that sentence alone caused most of the gods to adopt angered expressions, "You're all children who believe they are above consequences because they think they know what is to come and act only when it is in their interests. Growing fat on their pride, having never been forced to struggle for anything you desired for dozens of millennia."
"And what, you have?" demanded Ares as he summoned his sword.
"I have, son of Zeus," answered the demon king without hesitation, he then turned Hades, "And you, I ordered you to tell your siblings to gather at Olympus and only suggest the topic of fate."
"And I did as you ordered!" shouted Hades, "Now release my wife!"
"Hades, is that why you gathered us here?" asked Poseidon, surprise crossing his face and the faces of the other gods. Excelsus had his wife.
"The deal was that you only gather the Olympians and suggest the topic of fate and only such. You revealed events prior to the gathering and thus violating our agreement," stated the demon king coldly, "The consequences will come later, Hades."
Excelsus then turned to the rest of the Greek Pantheon, "But back to the matter at hand. You all cling to the illusions of fate and prophecies."
"The future is not ours to command, demon!" shouted Hera.
"Is that what you believe, daughter of Kronos?" asked the demon, almost daring her to think about it.
"It is a fact," interjected Athena.
"It is only a fact in your mind, pagan," stated Excelsus sharply, causing the goddess of wisdom to flinch, "And it is for that reason that makes you unfit to rule this world. Children and puppets, tangled in strings."
Excelsus then raised his right hand, causing all the deities to tense as an orb of demonic energy formed. The orb then faded away and revealed Hades's Helm of Darkness. The demon king then gripped the helmet looking at it in the palm of his hands.
"STRINGS."
What happened next shocked every single deity. With what they assumed was barely any effort, Excelsus crushed the helm of darkness like a tin can. Shadows began to pour out of the crushed remains while thunder echoed outside the council room. The demon then casually tossed it to the feet of Hades, who looked down at the crushed remains in disbelief.
"However, revealing to you all just how pitiful your kind truly is, is not the reason I am here today," picked up the son of Mundus, "Rather, I am here to reveal one simple fact to you all. You all think this is the first time you encountered an entity of my kind."
Excelsus then entered a combat stance, in both hands, energy began collecting before forming a sword and shield, "Think again."
Excelsus then launched himself right at Zeus, catching the son of Kronos completely off guard. The demon and the Olympian smashed through the wall at the opposite end of the council room and flew outside.
"Zeus!" shouted Hera as she watched her husband get dragged outside.
"Pay attention, pagan!" shouted Gore Magala as the demon lunged at the deity, the wings on his shoulders flaring out to reveal large claws. The wife of Zeus was grabbed by the shoulders with these arms and thrown across the room. Poseidon tried attacking with his trident but was stopped when the demon of envy grabbed the shaft with his two normal hands. The large wing claws grabbed the god of the sea by the waist and hurled him into the hearth.
Apollo and Artemis tried rushing to their uncle's side but were suddenly stopped by Valfalk's katana. The demon intercepted both deities and knocked them back with two precise slashes. The demon's attention then fell onto Hermes.
"Mind if I have this dance?" challenged the devil in a cocky manner. He then sheathed his katana and leaped right at the deity, closing the distance with blinding speed. The greek god had to use his Caduceus to actually block the merciless slash at him.
Soon, the entire council room evolved into combat between the greek pantheon and demonic kind. The only one who wasn't fighting was Hestia as she had never been a fighter. She could only watch as her family was clearly getting beaten by these monsters.
Elsewhere...
The fight between Excelsus and the King of Olympus had evolved into the demon flying through a massive storm above New York. Zeus used his godly power to change his form into said storm. However, even with the high winds and rain, it did nothing to slow down the devil. Instead, it only encouraged him to fight on. The son of Mundus used his sword and shield to block lightning bolts hurled his way by the son of Kronos.
"You must admit, Zeus," chuckled Excelsus as he flew through the air, dodging lightning and blasts of wind from the go, "You missed the feeling of battle."
'I WILL NOT MISS YOU, WELP!' shouted Zeus angrily through the storm, thunder booming all around while lightning continued to lash out at Excelsus, only to be blocked each time.
"A childish response," snorted the demon king, almost disappointed as he expected a better comeback from the deity. Excelsus continued to dodge or block every attack thrown his way before retaliating with a blast of demonic energy. The blast slammed into a cloud, causing Zeus to reform for a second.
"As powerful as you are, Zeus, you're strategy is pitiful," stated Excelsus harshly as he flew right at the deity, smashing right into Zeus and headed right towards the ground. The demon and king collided with the street, sending debris everywhere while cars and mortals fled for safety.
Zeus was blasted out of the crater by Excelsus, the demon flying after the god, dismissing both his weapons to grab the Olympian by the throat. With a tight hold on the King of Olympus, Excelsus flew down to the street and dragged Zeus through the road before spinning around and hurling him back towards the Empire State building.
The king of Olympus flew towards the top of the building. Excelsus gave chase and smashed him through the barrier between Olympus and the rest of the world. Once back inside, the demon began flying through all the buildings, smash Zeus into whatever one he could find. Excelsus then threw the god into the air and clenched his fist.
Zeus halted immediately in place, growling as it felt like his body was being crushed by an invisible force.
"Pathetic," snarled Excelsus as he threw Zeus back towards the main palace where the council room was located. The deity smashed into the building with the demon following close behind.
Inside the building, Hestia let out a shout of surprise when she saw her brother smash through the ceiling and onto the floor right in front of his throne. Her eyes widened in fear as she saw the state he was in. Cuts all over his body, as well as several other injuries. The King of Olympus coughed up some ichor from his mouth, his cuts and injuries also bleeding out golden blood.
Hestia was about to rush to her brother's side when a blur slammed into Zeus, shattering the floor. Excelsus pummeled the deity into the floor with merciless blows, the son of Kronos crying out in pain every single time.
Zeus tried to retaliate with the Master Bolt, but the weapon was blasted out of his hand by Excelsus.
"The only reason you rule Olympus is because of that weapon, Zeus," stated Excelsus as he grabbed Zeus by the throat and lifted him into the air, "Without it, you are nothing!"
The demon king hurled the pagan god across the room, smashing into a marble pillar, shattering it in the process before stalking towards him.
"Your pride and arrogance have made you weak!" the demon slammed his boot onto the center of Zeus's back, cracking the ground while also causing Zeus to cough up more ichor.
"To think, my father made a deal with your own," spat Excelsus, however, that sentence caught Zeus's attention.
"W-What?" coughed Zeus as he rolled onto his back, blood dripping from his nose, forehead, and mouth. Ichor stained his beard as Excelsus stood over.
"So he never told you?" chuckled Excelsus darkly, "Not surprising, Kronos has always been a coward at heart."
"But that does not matter now. I will have what Kronos promised my father, Mundus, Zeus," the demon then stepped off of Zeus and turned to leave, "I will not kill you now or any of your family, speaking of which..."
The demon king snapped his fingers and a portal opened up in front of him. From the portal, a familiar person emerged.
"Persephone!" gasped Hestia as she saw her niece stumble out. Her clothing was ruined beyond repair and there were signs of injury. Her face had signs that she was crying, sobbing to be precise. The goddess of the hearth rushed over to her family and caught her before Persephone could fall.
"I will have what Kronos promised my father, Zeus," repeated Excelsus, snapping his finger again, and suddenly, all the demons that had been fighting converged on the portal, each one passing through while the Olympians chased behind, only to stop when they saw the state Zeus was in. Hades immediately rushed to his wife's side, who embraced him quickly while Hestia remained close by. The goddess of the hearth looked at Excelsus who turned back to face the Greek Gods.
"But I want you and all your kind to watch as their worlds fall, while mine rises," stated the demon as he stepped back into the portal which closed behind him.
None of the gods said anything for some time, that was until Zeus spoke up.
"This all started with that boy," seethed the King of Olympus while Hera helped him to his feet, "Artemis."
"Yes, father," the goddess, who was looking worse for wear turned to him.
"Hunt Nero down and bring him here by any means!" Zeus's voice trembled with fury, "I don't care how you do it, just bring him here!"
Artemis only nodded before she vanished in a flash of silver.
"This is not over," swore the son of Kronos. The gods could only glance at one another and wondered if they could actually do this. However, what none of them noticed was that Hestia had vanished from the council room.
Vie de Marli, Village, Carribean
Getting to the village had been surprisingly pleasant, given the island's history for demons. The hunters were heading to Matier's home where Dante knew both Matier and Lucia would be. It was during their small journey did Nero and Saeko talk a little bit, but not about anything in particular. Little did either of them know was that Trish and Lady shared a small glance at each other, both mentally agreeing that there was chemistry between them, even if they don't know it yet.
"Hey, Dante!" called out Nero, getting the lead hunter's attention as he glanced back, "You even know if either of them is home, or even if they will help us?"
"You're the one with the vision, kid," reminded Dante, "You tell me if they help."
"Right," snorted Nero, rolling his eyes. It was when the group made their way up a hill did they arrive at a small cottage. Standing outside the cottage was two familiar faces, or at least, familiar to Dante.
One was a tall, lithe, and attractive woman with tan skin. She wore her bright red hair in a braid over her left shoulder. The most notable pieces of her wardrobe are her short, white cape and her exposed midriff. She also has deep emerald green eyes, which help accent both her tanned skin and bright red hair. She wears brown leather gloves that have a white lining, and various brown leather gear on her outfit: the holsters for her blades, the pouches for her throwing knives, as well as a series of leather clasps to help keep her cape in place.
Next to her was a short, frail old woman, with tan skin and deep, green eyes. She wore a white-colored knit cap on her head with bronze bells on each side, a dark green robe with white patterns encircling the wrists and base, and brown, open-toed sandals. Numerous bracelets are worn on her wrists, and a red, beaded sash is wrapped over her right shoulder.
'Exactly like the vision,' noted Nero when he saw both women.
"Lucia, Matier," greeted Dante, approaching the two, "It's been a while."
"Long enough for you to forget your manners," countered Matier as she swatted his right arm.
"Hey, watch the coat," snapped Dante, giving her a small glare. He then directed his attention to Lucia, "Been a while, Lucia."
"It has, Dante," replied the redhead, a small smile gracing her lips, "but what brings you all the way out here?"
Dante glanced back at Nero, the younger hunter giving him a nod.
"Well, let's say it's quite the story. The kind where we're gonna wanna take a seat to explain," began Dante.
Matier narrowed her eyes, while Lucia sighed, rolling her eyes while resting her left hand on her hip. What had Dante gotten himself into this time?
To Be Continued...
