Chapter 149 - A Surprise Visit
"Heh, so that useful broad has already escaped onto the next nation... likely she's already begun her plans with that square eyed idiot..."
Mundus mused to himself whilst standing atop a mountain peek. He held a hand over his chin in a thoughtful manner, the other one being pocketed inside his Trench Coat as he overlooked the Surroundings. All around him, there was this black fog concealing his form, his power which came from the 'Edict of Death' which made even the air around him shift away, as if the threat of death itself caused the air to stay away from him. The man had his senses crossing over the entirety of Leanbox's Landmass, having kept a track of the movements of that 'weakling' Champion of Sparda. All in case they were to run into his 'accomplice' before she could escape onto Lowee. Fortunately... for those maggots, that had not been the case. Under his instruction, Arfoire had NOT been allowed to showcase what she could truly do as of yet due to her body needing to be developed a bit more. but once hey regrouped in Lowee that would be QUITE different.
Even so, the man had to 'relieve' himself with a nearby Village. As in, he took more than a couple dozen of their women (mostly the ones in their preteen stages) to have his way with for several days on end. He then saw no more use for the village and practically torched the damn place without leaving anything that could lead back to him. He wasn't exactly at full power yet, plus he didn't want those 'annoying ones' to key in on his location. Looking at this situation now, Mundus recalled to a time in the past, a time when the continents here were all one big giant ass one, and lastly there were way more beings in this pathetic world than there were now. He remembered being at the pinnacle of his power, being known as one of the greatest beings known to Gamindustri, where everyone feared and respected him, pretty much green lighting him to do anything he pleased. Nobody would be able to question him, nobody would be able to go against him, and anyone who tried either got crushed by his legions of Demonic creations, his own cultist following, or he 'made an example of' if it were a man. If it were a woman, well sluts like that would soon learn their place beneath him.
Everything had been perfect... and then the War started.
Just thinking about that time wiped that calm look off his face, replacing it with a furious snarl which would have looked much better on a wild animal. Mundus LOATHED those that participated in that war, especially those who sided against him. He also recalled the war's conclusion, or what he could recall since he had been sealed away from the world just like the rest of his brethren, the three original DPUs. He said three, because only him and the other two got sealed away, for the FOURTH one a different fate fell upon him. He had thought that he'd gotten rid of that scumbag for good that time, so he had been somewhat relieved when he got sealed, knowing that once he broke free of his 'resting place', Mundus would be able to wreck utter havoc with nobody to oppose him.
But NOPE, that asshole SPARDA just HAD to find a Champion somehow. A weakling Champion who deserved that power the least, but a champion nonetheless.
It honestly felt like a stupid joke that one of his fellow DPUs would play on these mortals for shits and giggles (then go about screwing entire brothels just for the lols, making more Demons along the way) or whatever the shit that he had gotten into. Mundus didn't know everything about that paper-eyed geezer, nor did he care to. In fact, Sparda would be the only being whom he would acknowledge as his natural enemy, his complete opposite. Their powers for one were like that, him having the power to destroy and Mundus having power stemmed from his understanding of the Edict of Death.
Even so, he spared the kid since, whilst he was a weakling now, there was still potential within him yet untapped. Proof showed itself as him being able to use Ghoul powers, something which was known back then to be the DPUs anti-thesis thanks to Sparda. He'd feel much better, plus it'd be a much better way to stick it to his former archenemy, to take his champion down once he reached the pinnacle of his power, that would show him that Mundus was the strongest DPU. He would be the sole True God of this world, and death would rule with the iron fist that it once did before!
That was his goal... and that slut (Arboire, was it? Meh, he didn't know or care) would help him.
But first, he needed to get her into fighting shape, the standards of this era were practically abysmal compared to what he was used to back in his era. The fact that they had trouble with those so called 'X Class Abnormals' made Mundus sick, since the fighters back in his time would have ate those ants for breakfast. These 'X ranked' would be considered the bottom of the food chain back then, that just SCREAMS the difference in capability between their eras.
Hopefully SOMETHING would happen which would prove even marginally entertaining in this shitty time period.
You know… the thought of taking a break from everything had never felt as appealing to him than right at this moment. He honestly couldn't believe how good it felt to finally be able to just 'step back' and think things over, without the threat of something going wrong or unnaturally strong enemies breathing down his neck. It... helped him sort things out more than he would ever care to admit.
That was what Nico thought to himself as he hopped through a forest, jumping from tree branch to tree branch as he moved along on his trip back to Leanbox's Capital MICROSOFT, having just completed his last Abnormal Quest for the day. Now, all he looked forward to would be the chance to relax and let his body recover after everything that had happened, and by the Goddess did a whole LOAD of shit happen. It had happened so fast that the redhead male could hardly comprehend it all with his usual speed, and he did feel like his ability to comprehend things wasn't anything minor at least.
A feeling similar to an adrenaline rush pumped through his veins, filling him up and leaving him on high as if he had taken a dose of drugs. It prompted him too keep pushing and pushing, to go faster and faster, faster than anything that could have ever gone. The wind gently caressed his features like the soft, tender and loving hand of a mother brushing through her child's hair protectively. It filled him with this warmth which could only come from the air itself, a unique type of warmth which had been a companion to him for a long time now. In addition, this feeling soothed his mind, gently washing his worries and doubts away and along a gently flowing river. Honestly, this state he found himself in as he moved through the forest at his own pace, it felt almost therapeutic considering everything he felt bothered by. He only just now noticed this however, as in the past. Nico had always gotten something on his mind like a nagging voice at the back of his head. No, not his Ghoul Persona, although it did come out pretty often, rather every freaking problem that had come up in his lifetime always felt like that. If he were frank, then Nico would have wondered how the hell he hadn't got any white hair from all the stress that he'd been forced to endure. Maybe his Ghoul side had something to do with it? White hair...
Why did he get the feeling that had something to do with his past?
Shaking his head, Nico pushed it to the back of his mind as he landed on a particularly thick tree branch, then used it to jump high into the air, well above the forest-line. Whilst in the air, the male felt the urge to pull out his inner child, something he had not done for so goddamn long. In fact, the last time he did so was likely before he left Planeptune with the girls to come to Leanbox, unaware of the shit storm which would be coming their way. It, in all bluntness... made him feel giddy like a child on a sugar rush as a small smirk spread across his lips. Whilst in the air, Nico noticed a clearing rapidly approaching in the direction he was moving thanks to the trajectory of his jump. Thus, a plan formed in his mind as Nico pulled off more than a few tricks, such as back flips, twists, turns, spins and other stunts. He mixed them together with practiced ease, as if he were a stuntman jumping through a ring of fire, any mistake no matter how small potentially able to result in him suffering a great injury. Not like he had no experience with such considering what he had been through.
At the apex of the jump, Nico twirled around, and as soon as he did that he caught sight of the sun up in the skies. It looked to be setting right now, indicating that it was between the afternoon and evening hours if his mental calculations were correct. Just by seeing the sun setting before him, its reflection in his eyes (thanks to his Hellfire powers giving him a strong fire resistance allowing him to look at hot objects without suffering a migraine) making him view this sun as an exquisite piece of jewelry. His mouth looked like it was about to fall open at the beautiful sight of the colors blending together in harmony, producing this odd feeling of serenity even in the midst of all the chaos befalling Gamindustri.
'Wooooow... gorgeous...'
That sole though passed through his mind, and there was no need to elaborate any further than that.
When he found himself starting to descend downwards, Nico noticed that he was rapidly approaching the clearing, and with his position being upside down with his legs bent and his arms spread wide, Nico instantly reacted. The teen grinned to himself, biting back the cackle as the winds whipped at his face, all the while he would flip forwards multiple times like a spinning top, and when he would impact the ground the male planted both feet into it. A loud BOOM echoed upon impact as the male pulled several skating tricks, almost looking like he was sliding along a sheet of ice instead of solid ground, something only possible with high amounts of speed. All the while, Nico left a 3 foot long fissure behind his feet as he slid like he was surfing a wave on a surfboard, twisting the figure 8 more than a dozen times before he pulled one last 180 curve, one last curve before he stopped at last, a trail of dust accompanying him whilst his Trench Coat flowed in the trail's direction for a moment, until it lowered itself to his sides once more.
If there were any judges here, they'd likely rate his score... hopefully quite highly.
After he had stopped, Nico heaved a sigh of relief, eyes closed as his lips formed a whistling motion during his exhale, before he opened his eyes once more to survey his handiwork. The male couldn't help but be impressed with what he saw, especially the trail of constant wavy lines similar to figure 8's along the clearing's floor. Heck, they freaking went along half the clearing alone, a testament to how fast he had been going combined with his impact and force. 'Whew, man this sort of reminds me of those DNA Helix strands IF sometimes mentions for her research...' Nico couldn't help but think to himself whilst witnessing this sight.
This however, ended up with the male thinking back to the mess that he had spent a majority of his time ever since, trying to keep his distance from. Though, at this point the male felt like he had enough fun to finally tackle the abundance of problems which had cropped up from back then.
It had been about 6 to 7 days, give or take a week, since the events at Halo Mountain, and so far a whole hell LOT had been going on. Probably the most activity he had seen ever since the Racoon City Incident if he were to look at it in terms of scaling, the implications and the events that could happen in the future. After everything that had happened, Nico, Neptune and the rest of them returned to their everyday routines. Lucy had went off to do some of her duties as the Spring Goddess that called to her attention (although she did try to sneak a peck on him before she did so, but Raven stopped her). Raven herself took Aiden and Ivan on another series of Abnormal slaying quests, ones that took them to Lastation he believed. Seriously, that Nation has it the worst when it comes to Abnormals, and if he were to guess which had it worse when it came to Demons, Leanbox would be a hard contender to beat. He didn't know much about Lowee's situation though.
In addition, there seemed to have been a strong 'drive' born within the girl, especially Neptune and the CPUs,since as a result, each of them have thrown themselves into getting stronger through training. If one were to ask how dedicated they had become, Neptune even went as far as to forego PUDDING when asked (and quite easily too), in favor of training with either Murasama, Soul Calibur, her HDD form or other abilities.
Vert also did this, delegating the control of the nation temporarily to Yvoire in favor of training. When he had asked why, Vert had simply stated that there was a great enemy to face, one much worse than the CPUs so she would have to get stronger in order to beat it. She'd also recommended Yvoire as a representative in the truce talks, allowing them to proceed even without the appearances of their CPUs, leaving each faction on equal footing. Ironically, this just allowed them to come to an agreement on the truce much faster, as none of them had to worry abut their CPUs going all violent and killing them all.
Thinking about Vert made him think about Stefan, Isaac and Guts, prompting a sad sigh from the male. Stefan's death DEFINITELY had an impact on the Landmass. It practically shook the entirety of Leanbox, with the Nobles and Military families whom looked at him with respect to grieve for his passing. Though, they were in the minority and the majority of them just either looked on him with disdain (the Nobles) or just flat out mocked him for being 'too weak to live from the battlefield' (the Military Families). The impact shook the entire Ostermark Order the worst though, each of them practically lost themselves in their sorrows for their departed leader, his mother nearly drinking herself to death just so that she could be with her son on the other side had one of the men that had accompanied her managed to stop before it was too late. His funeral would be held by the Ostermark Order, with extended requests towards Lady Green Heart and those who witnessed his passing to come. It would be held a week from now, due to the short amount of preparations but during that time they had gone silent.
On a sightly lighter note, thanks to what had happened at Halo Mountain, Isaac had to take an extended leave from duty with his injuries. He'd be unable to stay on duty for the time being, which meant that he'd be out of commission for a while. He had been lucky though, since if he had stayed there then he likely would have ended up even worse than Stefan had. Though, every day he would end up cursing his lack of ability to protect the man, blaming himself for his own weakness. His lack of limbs meant that he would have to get replacements for them, and that would cost money. However, since he had earned himself a small fortune from his jobs, he had the money available to pay for them, so he would be indisposed for the time being. Last Nico heard, his wife was tending to him back in their small home, making sure he didn't aggravate himself any more than he already had on the medic's recommendations.
In Guts' case, the man managed to ended up at one of the smaller villages that hadn't been attacked by the Abnormals, Demons or other monsters yet. There, he had been spending his time resting and recuperating from his injuries, and likely would not be on duty for a long while just like his comrade. It could have been MUCH worse though, as thanks to that area being totally infested with Abnormal monsters, it had only been the intense, ominous presence of the Armour he wore, plus its ability to 'put his body back together' that ensured his survival. Nico honestly couldn't help but be glad that guy survived what he had endured, that guy to him literally personified what humans could be capable of if they were to truly fight for their own destiny. He was LITERALLY the walking contradiction to everything that revolved around himself and the Party he was with.
Guts needed no power up that turned him into a monster.
He needed no super-powered sword.
All that guy needed was his own Dragonslayer, his black Armour (which Biko had informed him was also a Satanic Treasure, who knew?) and he'd become his enemy's worst nightmares.
As for Noire, she went off with Raiden to some unknown location (though still on Leanbox, as he'd asked Lucy and she could sense everything that happens on this Landmass since its touched by Spring itself) in order to train with Balmung. Not to mention Ashbringer, which was a whole new can of worms to get into. Once Ashbringer chose a master, it would not accept anyone else unless that master dies. This had been the case for all its past wielders, thus Noire had talked to several people about it, and although it seemed to pain them, Ashbringer had chosen her so they let her have it, though Vert had also suggested it be a form of goodwill between their nations, to give one of their greatest treasures to Lastation instead of just stealing it. Not to mention, a lack of conflict between allies was something that Stefan Von Kessel, its last wielder, strove for, so not only would giving it to Noire adhere to those ideals, but Noire also shared those ideals since she was the one who opened up tot he other Nations to begin with. Even if it were for more political reasons, the ideals were still the same. Co-operation is a bi thing in this world after all...
Some did whine that she had already stolen it by having it bound to her, but Vert easily quashed those claims by explaining how Ashbringer chose her.
In IF's case, she trained in the same methods as she usually did, if not more intensely than before: by fighting Abnormals, Demons and anything that had been deemed a threat to the Nation as a whole. Thanks to her transformation, IF had noted how her powers had skyrocketed in potency, destructive capability and effectiveness. If she were to compare to her form before this all happened, she would see herself as an ant being looked down on by a bird in the skies. Not to mention that her powers were amplified when she entered her 'Awakened Form' as she called it, along with her shapeshifting abilities changing to accommodate her new form. Not to mention that form had a few unique abilities which she discovered could only be accessed while in that form, they were solely exclusive towards it... similar to a game made only for a specific console, unlike those world premier games out there.
For Compa, he wasn't so sure about what she was doing since she left without telling anyone what she was doing, just said she wouldn't be around for a bit. Nico honestly worried for her, he worried for her so much that he nearly flipped out and destroyed the entire hotel in his worry, though he'd managed to calm himself at the brink. He hoped like hell that she would be okay, that she would come back fine from whatever it was that she was doing. Nico had seen it himself, but the Nurse-In-Training's body now had the added features of horrendous looking scars where she had lost her limbs... in addition to her breasts. Even so, before they all did their own thing the girls each assured him she would be alright, that something like this wasn't enough to put her down. Lucy mostly since she had trained Compa for the longest time. The two had this mentor/student bond at this point, and if he were honest Nico felt like this bond did wonders in helping Lucy grow as a person, giving her someone to cherish in addition to himself and the team she was in. He got the gut feeling that deep down, Lucy had a lot of untapped motherly instincts, instincts which were slowly being awakened thanks to her taking Compa under her wing.
Thus... that left him.
If he were to describe his own situation, 'broken' would be an apt version of it. Broken, as his powers each were 'preoccupied' in a sense with things which made using them a nigh impossibility. First off, his Ghoul side had been damaged, it had been damaged BADLY by that attack Mundus had done. That damage surfaced every time he activated his Kagune, it would come in the form of a 'trauma' which would unleash a wave of 'fear' throughout his body. A fear which would consume all rational thought at even the slightest provocation, it would even put deer behavior to shame. This fear would then cause him to flee any kind of battlefield he had found himself, in, unless he was absolutely cornered then he would be able to use it to strike with the ferociousness of a cornered animal. This fear could not be any ore problematic for the male, and hell not even his Ghoulish Persona could do much to fix the issue, since it came directly from his own mind.
Analyzing it however, offered some deeper insight into how this trauma worked. This trauma worked with some Kagune types better than others, although it always had some degree of control no matter which one. Its like the Trauma existed as a 'floor' within his Ghoul Side, and would get buildings of varying size depending on hat Kagune type he had unleashed. The strongest one would be is Koukaku Kagune, whilst the second strongest would be his Bikaku. Likely that was since they were the 'visible' ones, and his Rinkaku had invisibility powers due to the vibrations it had allowing it to hide from all five senses. This made his Rinkaku the easiest to use,. which was one of the few lucky breaks Nico had from this encounter. He didn't want to even BEGIN to get into what it did to his Kakuja though, that thing was already messed up as it was, the difference between it and his Berserker Mode was that he had more of a consciousness in his Kakuja form, therefore he was more aware of what was happening... even if he forgot most of it when he finally reverted back.
Second, his Demonic Powers would remain unavailable to him thanks to all of them, including his Satanic Treasures, were converting their energy into Soul Edge to speed up its healing process. However, there was a complication on that front, one Nico had discovered a couple days ago, the 4th day in fact. That complication, was that the Sword's power and luster had been spent way worse than what himself and Biko had initially anticipated. It wouldn't be wrong to say that most of its life force, which spawned from its connection to Nico's soul, had been sucked away drastically. Destroyed down to the last non-physical atom. That resulted in the sword needing to recover on its own naturally. Its natural recovery rate would be slowed even more thanks to his soul being damaged too, therefore Nico would have to divert his Demonic Power into repairing his Soul which, thanks to their lack of experience, would likely tale a long while. He had immediately started this process on the moment he found out about it, 4 days after everything which had happened with the girls. How they... seemed to be willing to accept his Ghoul side even with what had happened.
Not something he could understand would be classed as an understatement. In fact, Nico couldn't comprehend it whatsoever, everything in his past detailed how those girls were SUPPOSED to react to his Ghoul side. None of those details had been nice once, and in that case he would always end up losing them to the authorities, for they would do ANYTHING to keep Nico's secret. Neptune may have been an exception since she was their CPU, but even then that wasn't exactly full proof. After all, she had been hiding her identity for a while now, so it would stand to reason they may not believe her and just kill her on 'accident' to suit their goals, inadvertently damning Planeptune as a whole. Nico KNEW that there were items and treasures stored within the Vaults of the Spec Ops Community (there were more than one, shows just how many they have huh?) which had the power to kill a Goddess. Nico actually heard of one called 'Anti Crystal' which served to nullify Share Energy. He once heard rumors that those were being researched in secret to counter any kind of supernatural or divine power, and if those rumors were true then Neptune and the other CPUs could be in grave danger.
But, against everything he had calculated, Nico found that the girls didn't follow any of them. They just accepted him for the way he was...
How?
Why?
Those thoughts filled his mind and constantly nagged at him to insanity. He tried, he tried so many times to figure out what it was that caused such a situation, but no matter how many times Nico tried he always came up with a blank. He honestly couldn't understand it, why the hell were they not trying to kill or betray him? Everyone and his own experiences told him that those who found out about his Ghoul side would end up hating him! They would then be axed off when the Spec Ops Community saw them as a threat to this secret, and that would be the end of it, even if the scars of betrayal will remain. It had been that way for a goddamn long time, hell it had been that way for his entire life! Even Aiden and Ivan had to have some time, and he had smelled some form of 'hostility' from them in the beginning until they gradually learned to 'cope' with his Ghoul side! So why?! Why can those girls accept him so easily?! How can they just 'brush aside' what they had learned about him so easily?! They knew he was a monster, he was something that they were MEANT to despise with every fiber of their beings! Hell, there were still some videos showing people 'cleansing' children on the internet after his mom had deleted a few of them (she couldn't erase them all thanks to her so called 'bosses' in the governing position telling her that it was 'best for the community' that they remain), so HOW?! How can they just defy logic like that?! It made no sense, it made no fucking sense whatsoever!
Before he could start tearing his hair out again over this (his Ghoul side repaired the damaged done to it the last few times he'd contemplated this situation), Nico shook his head to clear those maddening thoughts from his mind, moving up to a nearby tree and plopping his ass down before it. He leaned backwards against the tree's base, closing his eyes and allowing the sweet serenity of nature to calm him once more. Mother Nature definitely had that soothing effect on him, something he had become increasing aware of the more time Nico spent on his dilemma. After a few moments, something came to him, and it prompted the redhead male to reach forth and focus on his internal power, bringing forth one specific one to reality. A similar light show to his awakening from his coma happened around his hand, and in the end, Nico held a familiar buster sword in his hand.
Ouranos...
Just thinking that name sent waves of relief through him. To be frank, he couldn't help but be relieved that this blade was still with him. Ever since the events with Mundus, Nico found that he could hardly access his other Devil Arms, likely due to their connections with his Soul being severely strained. In fact, other than Rebellion, Ebony and Ivory, Nico could hardly feel the others at all, which would have been way worse if Biko had not put them in a similar state he had put them in when he had to recover from his Berserker Mode when they fought that Ghoul. Ouranos however, didn't have that problem, likely due to it having a deeper and stronger connection to his Soul. If anything, it had been marginally weakened, but not to an extent Soul Edge was. If he were to guess, he would say that Ouranos had a Devil Arm's worth of power right now.
'At least I can still summon Ember and Urthemiel however... their connections to me weren't as affected since they are linked more to my energy and mind rather than my soul due to my Desecration ability...'
Nico furrowed his brows as he held the large Broadsword horizontally before him, feeling its mystic yet demonic energies coursing through the blade itself as well as up and down his arm. Like lightning currents they felt, something which Nico found himself taking solace in just like he did with the natural scenery around him (although he kiiindaaa, maaaaybe trashed it partially with his prior stuntman antics). Just feeling this blade's power and presence put him at ease, something mirrored by his main Claymore sword Rebellion and trusty dual handguns Ebony and Ivory. Thinking about it, he hadn't been using his Handguns very much recently, not since they awakened their own powers (which seemed quite destructive in their own right). Perhaps he could change that sometime...
{I do believe that would be wise, those two have been whining nonstop since I woke.}
"?!"
Whoa! What the fuck?! Whose voice was that just now? Nico gasped, his eyes bulging, when he heard a voice just now echo through his mind. A voice which WASN'T Biko or his Ghoul Persona. He knew it wasn't one of them not just from the sharp masculine tones it used, but also because the links he had to those two weren't restored to a point where they could talk with him yet, at least without him going into his inner world. Heck, he nearly fell forward onto the ground when he stood up a bit too quickly, although the energy of his Archdevil Arm stopped that sensation before it could become problematic. 'Wh-what the...?!' he thought, before he began to feel the voice being familiar to him. He felt like he had heard it before, and recently too. But.. why? A moment passed, and soon after, Nico remembered a voice that sounded so much like it...
'O-Ouranos? Is that you?'
{Yes, it is I. I understand this is a... rather peculiar situation for yourself, observing these memories of you has revealed to me you have indeed been hearing voices for quite some time.}
The voice of the same Archdevil Arm echoed through his mind. Nico almost did a backtrack when he heard it again, the memory of him fighting Ouranos during its completion coming back to him. 'Huh? What? How? Okay, before that, I would like to know just what do you mean by observing my memories?' he questioned, although part of him did feel a little freaked out at something foreign looking through his memories. Though, it seemed his new companion had noticed this judging from its next sentence.
{It is a minor matter, as I was only able to see bits and pieces due to the state of your soul. Archdevil Arms like myself can read the souls of our bonded hosts, looking through their memories to better familiarize ourselves with them. What I saw seems to have been your moments with Biko, your Demon Persona, and your training with my prior form along with that Scythe. In any case, this link we now have, it is only possible because you summoned my physical form like this, otherwise I would have to relay my words to you through your Demon Persona.}
'I... see... well then, glad to meet you officially then, Ouranos.' The moment he heard that, all of his prior shock pretty much vanished out of existence, Well, if Biko had deemed it non-threatening then Nico would be fine with it. It was like anything that would be fine with his Demon Persona felt like passing a test in regards to earning Nico's co-operation. Therefore, it became easy to accept this, not to mention Ouranos was indeed correct,he'd already gotten used to having voices in his head.
... Wow, would he fit in with those from a mental asylum?
{Likewise. I have not seen someone who has such a strong bond with their weapons in some time, countless millennia since I became like this anyways. You appear to believe in your weapons being part f you on a level much deeper than what most would think. It intrigues me.}
At the words that he heard next, Nico detected curiosity, intrigue and other emotions within Ouranos' voice. Hell, out in the real world, he saw the Lightning sparks around the blade acting as if they were responding to its emotions. 'Well, my weapons have been with me for a while... plus, it just feels right, you know? Anyways, now that I can talk to you like this, can I ask you about yourself? Biko said you have origins, so i'd like to know more about you. Not to mention what he meant.'
{Indeed, that would be beneficial to both myself as well as yourself. I indeed had a life before becoming a Devil Arm, a life I can recall with clarity now that I have this sentience. In the past, during the DPU Era, I was known as the very first Demon who could use lightning whilst being infused with the essence of the Primordial Darkness, also known as a Primordial Demon. I thus, became the 'Primordial Lightning Devil' as I practically embodied the very nature of demonic Lightning. As a primordial Demon, my power was once known far and wide across the Devildimension, with my abilities allowing me to perform feats such crossing entire galaxies in minutes. My power lay not just in great strength, strength that could go hand to hand against the other primordial Demons of other elements, but it lay primarily in my speed, accuracy and ability to dodge attacks. My speed is such that I cut through stars, moons, planets and suns like they didn't even exist. Not to mention that my Lightning is capable of taking out an array of poisons so that only the strongest ones have the potential to slow it down. My speed surpasses that of the speed of light, for I would be able to cross galaxies in under minutes.}
... Wow, he didn't have much that he could say to that. 'Holy... that's freaking fast...'
{Hmph, of course. Such is the great power I once wielded. However, back then I was also known for my vicious killing spree, marking my worth as one of the strongest Demons in the DPU Era. Well, that's what I think, I don't remember it that well. I do recall cutting through a couple thousand stars, suns and planets though, not sure if they were filled with life though. My primary element, speed, made it hard for even other Primordial Demons to take me on in a direct fight, which of course would attract attention from the DPUs like hounds attracted by the cent of meat if that were to happen. Whilst killing many of them, I soon would face my... greatest opponent, and my downfall, in the form of Sparda. It may have been a fight that lasted up to 1000 years, a blink for us, but I was soundly defeated by Sparda in single combat. As such, he took my soul to turn it into a Devil Arm known as Alastor, which got sealed away by my victorious adversary before the DPU Era ended.}
Hearing this, Nico hummed thoughtfully, cupping his chin with his free hand. His mind whirled with this new information whilst trying to process it all. The existence of these Demons didn't really surprise him at this point, cause he'd already witnessed enough demonic shit to know that logic wasn't really applicable to them, but he still took note of them. 'Then, when the current era and myself came along, odds were that you were going to do something to me for your own ends...'
{Rightfully so. I originally intended to take over your mind and use your body as a means to further my power growth by feeding off you, the first of many I assumed. However, what I did NOT expect was for you to be my ideal wielder, someone capable of resisting me and using my power in an effective manner. You can imagine y annoyance at my initial attempt at taking you failing, so I didn't let you use my full power until years later. It took that long for me to become... intrigued, by you. I began seeing other ways for me to gain back the power I lost from the conversion, thus allowed you to wield my powers, though I only recall these things as hidden emotions without much sentience back then. Now, I am where I originally intended at the start, but you are still here, and thus I am bound to you. Although, it is... perplexing.}
'What is?'
{The moment I looked through those few memories of yours, I almost did not even recognize this world as the one that carries the origin of the DPUs. I only got convinced when I, through your senses, saw that Mundus character that I understood this was just of a different era. It is... perplexing, as the last I recall this Gamindustri is nothing like what I remember from my time. Back then, the entire planet consisted of 2 continents, much larger than anything that the current era could possess. If ll four landmasses were to come together, then it wouldn't even be a spec in comparison to how large these two continents were. At least it seems like that some old enemies are returning to this world.}
'So, would you be able to answer some of my questions at a later date? It would be nice to learn what it was like back then from someone who was actually there in that Era.'
{Very well.}
'Thank you... although, when you said 'great power I once wielded' I guess that means you aren't at the same level as you once were.'
{As much as it pains me to admit it, I am not. My soul is fragmented right now, even if it is self repairing thanks to absorbing small bits of your soul. Like your Demon Persona already told you, my Soul needs to be completed before I can regain and continue to develop my original powers, but even so my power as it is now would be classed as Multi-continent in DPU terms. Though, your soul had been suffering issues right now. Its past state makes this nigh impossible for me, therefore I had aided in its restoration, which is why I am lowered to a Devil Arm's strength at present, unlike what you initially assumed. I have been giving my power to your soul to speed up its recovery, although I am the only one who can do this due to my sentience.}
Huh, so THAT was why he found his soul to be largely more restored than he and Biko had originally expected. Soul Restoration had been progressing much faster than Soul Edge's recovery, in fact it had been restored up to 40% capacity whilst Soul Edge was at 20% right now. By his estimates with this new information, it wouldn't be long now before his soul would be completely restored and everything can be diverted to restoring Soul Edge. Well then, he could get behind that.
Speaking of Biko, him and his Demon Persona had been talking EXTENSIVELY in the Inner World about a variety of topics, such as the things he had obtained during the Halo Mountain incident. First off, was the Green Ring he got from Neptune, or as Biko called it the 'Green Ring of Hatred'. Nico called it the Green Hatred Ring for short, even if it did still feel/sound like a mouthful. It was practically a companion ring to the Ring of Rage, possessing a planet's worth of pure hatred within it. Unlike the Red Rage Ring however, this ring enhances Demonic Power only, as in it empowers anything that takes Demonic Power to use, not just Hellfire. This is largely due to how hatred can be blind, therefore indiscriminate. In addition, even whilst it radiates hatred in a passive manner, it also projects its hatred onto others just like the Red Rage Ring, thus it is able to be stacked alongside that ring for additional effects. The powers of Rage and Hatred, both resided within him thanks to those Rings.
They were another aspect of what allowed him and Biko to restore his Soul so quickly since they kept restoring the Demonic Power he used for the job.
Second, there was a little something on his chest, where his heart had been that he'd discovered: a Mark shaped like a serpentine dragon coiling into a circle and eating its own tail. That mark, as Biko discovered from his research and told him, was known as a 'Sin Multiplier'. According to him, this was a Satanic Treasure, but it was classed as much more unique than his prior ones. In fact, it seemed to have been woven into his DPU genetic code somehow, but that didn't concern them. What did though, was its abilities. Upon research, this Sin Multiplier, whenever activated upon him manually activating it with Demonic Power or accumulating emotions tied to Wrath, would increase physical destructive power. In essence, it raises his physical prowess based off how much wrath he generates. This power boost only lasts about 3 minutes however, and afterwards it has to wait for about 4 hours till it can be used again.
Though, none of that compared to… certain revelations, each pertaining to the thing that Mundus told him about: The Edict of Death.
(Flashback)
It happened about 2 days after Nico had awoken from his Kakuja state.
The male had been able to enter the Library of his Inner World due to the 'dangerous areas' which were essentially his forgotten memories, classed as forbidden by Biko, being sealed off. If one were to go there, they would find each of them being blocked off as if they were crime scenes, with repelling Demonic Power layering over the doors to keep unwanted guests out… as well as ensure the safety of Nico's own mind. Biko's warning to him, combined with past experiences, told Nico that if he were to recall these memories before he was ready, only chaos would come of it. Thus, he mentally made sure to stay the hell away from them.
So, where do you think he went?
Why, to the very top of the Tower of course!
If one wanted to know the Library's layout, it consisted of a spiralling staircase that rose upwards, the internal library walls consisting of different doors that would lead to various Memories. Some, as mentioned before, were sealed off for the user's own safety. Others however, ended up being completely accessible. It was like the internal structure of this place consisted of nothing but doors, sealed or not. Inside the Library, gravity obeyed different laws, so while the structure looked tilted on the outside, inside one could move up and down the staircase as if climbing up a tower.
Upon having asked Biko for advice, Nico had once tried to experiment with the Library doors by opening one Biko had deemed 'safe', only to find that when he did, his arm would end up being sucked into this blinding light up to the wrist, and from there on Tendrils would wrap around his arm, shoulder and finally impale his head where his brain would be. At last, he would relieve the memory behind the door itself, and once it was complete his arm would be set free, the Tendrils receding into the door's light before it would slam shut.
That would be how each door worked… Until one reaches the very top of the Staircase however.
When they did, they would find that a circular frame separated the doors pinned to the walls of the Library. What it separated them from though, would end up being a huge DOME filled to the brim with shelves, shelves containing a number of different books of varying shapes and sizes. These shelves stood on top of the frame, and at the top of the Staircase itself there stood a large, circular platform which could easily be mistaken as the ceiling If there weren't a human-sized hole where the platform met the Staircase. This platform may look like it was made of wood, but if anybody asked, then Biko would answer that it was made from heavily condensed Demonic Power.
This would be where Nico was currently located right now, the redhead male having sat down before one of the shelves with two piles of books, one for used and ones for unused, sitting beside him on opposite sides. The male had been at this for a timeframe he had no clue about at this point, not like he cared either way though. In his mind, looking up information about Mundus and the Four DPUs themselves was more important. Nico had seen copies of those Tomes that he'd gotten from Rinjiin as a reward at Skies End, but when he looked through the one about the DPUs themselves Nico found that they were more on the race as a generalized term. The knowledge certainly proved valuable, but it wasn't exactly what he had been looking for.
After looking through his 200th book and gently placing it on the 'read' pile, the teen gave a sigh to himself, slouching on the ground whilst he mentally reached out with his senses, mimicking telepathy to take out another book. From one of the Shelves around him, another Book suddenly left it all on its own, as if being carried by an invisible force. It then floated down from its shelf, bobbing up and down all the while, and finally into Nico's waiting hand for him to open up and scroll through its contents.
This was one of the tings that he'd learned whilst doing his 'research' on Mundus, one of the things important enough for him to take note of. The Inner World was within his Soul, not his mind, but that didn't mean he had no control over it or anything. In fact, everything with few exceptions followed how Nico himself wanted. For example, if he wanted to have something, like say a sword appear here, Nico would have a sword appear in his hand. If he wanted a drink of water, that would be so too.
He could even request the entire Inner World to alter aspects of its form to suit what he desired, and when he had questioned Biko about it he had explained that the Inner World may be part of his soul, but that also made it similar to a 'world of cognition'. Therefore, it functioned according to his desires, with base specifics ingrained too deep for him to alter like the overall form the Inner World had. Case in point, he couldn't change the desert into a paradise, but he could make it either daytime or night time. There were a whole load of things he wanted to try out, things which could be used to better his training in this Inner World, but for now he focused solely on his research.
Once he finished skimming the contents for anything relevant to the four original DPUs and coming up short… again, Nico sighed once more before he stood up and clicked his fingers. Instantly, each of the books flew up into the air, sorting themselves back into their original slots on their Shelves like they hadn't been tampered with in the first place. 'Geez, these guys seem more elusive than the best of ninjas and shinobi clans in Lowee…' Nico couldn't help but think to himself, shaking his head whilst putting a gloved hand over his forehead to nurse his aching temples.
The male then opened his eyes and looked upwards, facing the centre of the Platform where the BIGGEST change to his Inner World lay: A Tome. The biggest tome in all of the ones in this little section of the Library. If one were to gauge it's size, then think of a small cottage, and its thickness putting the thickest of Dictionaries to shame. The Tome itself had a black cover, with crimson lines which almost resembled 'veins' as in the veins of blood, forming square borders. If one were to open the book, then they would see that it possessed pages which felt like they came from human flesh itself in terms of texture and color, whilst any writing on them would be neatly written in blood. In addition, this tome constantly bobbed up and down in the space at the centre of the Platform, a thick crimson aura swaying like a gentle flame around it.
This was something Nico DESPERATELY wanted to know the most about. This was something which he had been almost knocked unconscious when he first saw it: The Lexicanum.
If Histoire was the [World Tome] which recorded all the events of Gamindustri's history, then the Lexicanum would be a Tome which had all the records pertaining to the events of the DPU Era. One could say that it was the [DPU Tome]. It had came into existence not long after Nico had been hit by that attack from Mundus, according to Biko. Apparently, the Fragmented Memories, the ones which gradually filled themselves and had thus became the best/only source of information about the DPU Era Nico had, evolved into this form thanks to coming into contact with Mundus' power. It was almost like a safety mechanism, as if to say 'oh shit the enemy's here already! Quick, all bets have to be put off the table, everything has to be laid bare!'
The good thing about this was that they could research the DPU Era and the things that happened during along with prior to it much easier than they could before. What had been hidden in secrecy, forgotten by history, could now be unveiled thanks to this thing. There would be knowledge in here which could end up saving thousands if not BILLIONS of lives in the future. Knowledge was power, and boy did Nico understand that on an intimate level, what with everything he had gone through before and during his Spec Ops life. Now, he didn't have to rely on just memories which would only give information at… well, inappropriate moments.
However, like all good things, there had to be a price to pay in the end. In this case, Nico and Biko had discovered this the hard way. For, when they tried to look into this thing, the Lexicanum acted the same way as the doors did alongside a regular book. In other words, it allowed them to read its contents, but it also connected with their minds to give a visual explanation to what was written within its pages. However, whilst this would likely be considered a good thing, the price was that the process itself was freaking EXCRUCIATING on their minds. If one wanted an analogy, it was like having a cobra gripping onto your brain with maximum power until the brain would be reduced to mush. Biko could withstand it better than him, but even then, it wasn't much. At most, all Nico himself could withstand would be like a full page's worth of information, whilst Biko could handle 2 of them before they would need to rest. Thus, the two decided to record what they learned into these books.
Where the hell do you think all these books came from?
Stepping towards the Lexicanum as it bobbed up and down above/before him, Nico stared towards its front page with narrowed eyes. So far, he hadn't found much about the four DPUs individually, just records of their exploits and legends about their prowess. Whilst he had little doubt about the legitimacy of these legends (he DID just fight one and barely survive), he wanted concrete FACTS to work with. That one tome about the origins of the DPUs had been his first choice to review, however when he looked at it more he realized that the details within were... well, in layman's terms, too vague. The primordial powers of light? Darkness? What the hell were those? Then the story about the DPUs emerging from chaos also felt too generalized. He wanted more specifics to work with here, these generalizing hints were no longer enough now that he had met one an barely survived by the skin of his teeth. Thus, he began to get the feeling that looking into the Lexicanum was the last option he had right now.
"Nico."
Just as he made to connect with the Lexicanum and try his hand at finding some information, Nico heard the voice of his Demon Persona behind him. Turning, he saw the said being floating there, a stern look in his eyes which spoke volumes about his opinion about the matter he would be soon speaking about.
"Biko." Nico greeted curtly, nodding his head in his Demon Persona's direction whilst turning back to the Lexicanum. Biko floated forwards seeing this, stopping till he was right beside the redhead male. The male didn't speak for a while, there was little need to since, between the two of them, neither of them had to in order to understand what the other was thinking.
Just by standing next to him, Nico could feel the reluctance from his Demon Persona on what he planned to do to get his information, in addition to how he sensed his urges to stop him in case he overloaded his brain and made things worse than they already were. To be frank, if Nico had any other option, he would have done so. Neither of them wanted to look into the Lexicanum unless it was the only other option they had, or if they had to look up information it would be Biko who would do so since he had a greater chance for them to gain the information they desired. However, in this situation, Nico could honestly see no other alternative, none of these books had the information that he sought. Plus, it wasn't like they could go to a library and look up Mundus or the other four DPUs for Goddess' sake, they'd make literally ZERO progress if they tried. Even if they did, they'd also have to worry about people snooping in on him during his efforts, thus learning about things that they shouldn't and causing complications later down the line.
"OH FOR THE LOVE OF-JUST LET HIM GET ON WITH IT, YOU DAMNED OAF!"
Both males cringed the instant that they heard THAT voice, turning to the sole entrance to the platform. When they did, both of them saw Nico's Ghoul Persona appear there, rising up through the entrance with his Rinkaku Kagune doing the heavy lifting. The guy literally hung in the air whilst the various Tentacles did all the work, and by the time he had passed through the entrance the Ghoulish Nico got lowered to the ground, allowing his Kagune to disperse into nothingness. Looking at him, one could see that he was putting up a front, as even whilst he looked like everything was normal with him. What, with him grinning like a total savage and looking like he would gut them if they said anything he didn't like and all... but if one looked deeper, they would find the deep unease within. "YOU KNOW WHAT THE KING WANTS, THE KING GETS SO WHAT'S THE POINT OF TRYING TO STOP HIM? HE GETS HIS HEAD TURNED TO MUSH, THAT'S HIS FAULT! MAKES IT A WHOLE LOAD EASIER FOR US, ANYWAYS."
"You mean yourself, since I have no intention of taking over Nico's body."
"PFT, WUSS."
...
...
...
"But... despite your words..." Biko stated further, and he shuffled on his spot in the air. Nico didn't even need to look into his eyes to know the conflict which burned through his body, one side going for stopping him (even if it will end in failure) and the other for letting him do as he pleased. Eventually, about 15 minutes later, the Demon Persona caved in with a resigned sigh. "It... does see like we have no other alternative. The Lexicanum is the only thing we have left we haven't tried yet, therefore... Very well. However, I will be joining you. I'll make sure everything goes smoothly." he eventually stated, then he gave a determined stare towards Nico. The redhead male nodded, already used to that stare. It was the one he gave when he had decided to do something and that there was no use changing his mind.
"HECK, I THINK I'LL PLAY ALONG TOO. SOUNDS LIKE THIS COULD BE FUN, PLUS ALL THESE MONSTERS NEED TIME TO REFORM BEFORE I KICK THEIR ARSES AGAIN."
Now THAT nearly caused them to lose their calm facades in the light of their shock. That didn't come as a very calm revelation, the Ghoul in Nico wanting to LEARN?! What the heck?! Though, as they thought about it, it soon began to make sense in a weird way why this guy wanted to join in. After all, Mundus was the guy that traumatized him, so if he learned a bit more about him then maybe, just MAYBE, he could somehow find a way to help him 'get better'.
Thus, the Lexicanum opened, Tendrils wrapping around the three right arms before impaling each guy by their heads to feed them the images of the information which would follow.
Prior to the dawn of creation, only two different energies existed. The first one would be the 'Light' which would come to be known as the primordial light. This energy would feel like the purest of all forms of light that would stem from it, so impossibly pure that no normal person wold be able to even glimpse at its true splendor. This energy's purity would make it so that not a single spec of taint would be able to even graze it, it would repel all kinds of sick matters from its radiance and retain the utmost purity. Thus, it would have had the title of the 'primordial light'. If any were to come to be exposed to this light, they would feel nothing but safety and assurance from it,. for that would be the true 'essence' of the light.
Then, there was its direct counterpart, the 'Darkness' which would come to be known by those who find it as the primordial Darkness. Unlike the power of the primordial light, this power would be even darker than any void, a place where no light, not even the possibility of the primordial light, could touch. One could say that it was the shroud of all shrouds, this energy was. If anyone were to get exposed to this energy, they would NOT get the same feeling of safety that they would with the Primordial Light. No, instead it would feel like the most sinister, twisted and downright maddening energy that one could ever have known. one which would stand at the pinnacle of all other terrors.
One might expect that these energies would come to blows quite often the moment they first came into contact, but contrary to that belief, even as the energies could be called the perfect enemies of one another, they existed beside one another without any problem. Mostly because they were just that: energies. They had no wills of their own, no minds or bodies to call their own, so they would remain energies for all time.
However... things would soon change.
This space did not have time, matter, life, or anything of the sort, the only thing there was there were the two primordial energies. In a period that for other universes could be a second or tens of thousands of millions of years, the two primordial energies crashed with one another for the first time.
This would be classed as an unprecedented event by any who would witness it first hand, since it would be marked as the first ever spark of conflict, even if it were unintentional. Nor would this be the last time as, like magnets, these two energies would be drawn to each other in a motion which would be classified in the far future as the first ever 'call to war'. In no time flat, the space itself became riddles with these 'collisions' between these polar opposite energies.
It would be classed as a conundrum. Those two energies did not have a mind or anything of the sort, not even a will, so when they entered in contact with one another they simply disengaged with one another. At first, nothing really changed between these energies, but the more times they clashed, certain pieces began to mixed together, something which would be said to be impossible for common standards. Thus, as now they had traces of each other, the 'corrupted' places were segregated from the primal forces. The 'creation' of those mixed energies gave birth to four new semi-primal energies that were essentially different from the primal forces: The four Edicts of the world.
These four Edicts did not have any form of consciousness as they simply acted, but just by existing this universe actually came to be properly.
The four edicts worked in tandem with one another, and in the end they managed to naturally create what one day would be called the Devildimension. The Edict of Life gave birth to countless living beings, creating worlds for them to inhabit, stars, suns and moons soon followed. It created solar systems, it spawned galaxies and allowed evolution to exist. One could say that this Edict would be better known as the 'heart of all life' in the Devildimension.
Second, the Edict of Fate was what made life have an objective, it gave birth to the idea of wanting to 'do' anything. It created all matter as well as the drive to do more than existing, it gave the soul to the newly birthed beings. One could say that the Edict of Life was the 'worker', and the Edict of Fate the 'boss'.
Though, that could also be said for the other Edicts as well. Case in point, the Edict of Destruction worked in accelerating the selection of what exists, defining exactly what is superior by the means of destroying the inferior things and using the weak to allow the other Edicts more room to work with. In addition to that, it gave birth to the idea which would come to be known as 'natural selection', though this applied to ANYTHING within the universe. Be it physical, spiritual, emotional, mental, no matter what its classification was destruction would be able to reach it. Some may call this Edict, the 'ultimate apocalypse' which destroyed everything to the last atom'
Finally, would be the Edict of Death, which gave the possibility of renewal to all things after the Edict of Destruction finished its work. Once destruction left an area, the Edict of Death would 'wipe everything clean', as it allowed for the world to never fully stagnate. It gave birth to an 'end' other than Destruction, yet also allowed 'life' to grow where it had once been, creating the cycle of life and death.
As things entered equilibrium and life started flourishing, inevitably conflict also started between the life that was created. Conflict for whatever reason, remained as simple and pure conflict. However, conflict was not necessarily a bad thing since from it, stronger and stronger beings were being born.
Although... something VERY interesting happened one day.
Through all the conflict in the Devildimension, a simple spec of energy was formed. This energy was not anything like any other energy already formed. It was not of darkness, nor was it of light. This energy could have been aligned to the powers of darkness though, with how malevolent it felt though. But, unlike the darkness which felt like this all-consuming void which would devour any kind of being it could come across, this energy felt like looking at the core of a searing inferno of negative emotions. Everything dark, evil and sinister that made up the reasons for conflict could be felt within this energy. If one wanted to summarize it all, then it felt like the living embodiment of every aspect that could be fitted into the role of conflict. Pride, Sloth, Wrath, Gluttony, Lust, Envy and Greed. Every emotion which could be related to conflict was within this energy as it grew and grew with no constraint.
This energy would eventually be called Demonic Energy, for it would usher in the beginning of one of the most twisted eras there could ever be.
This energy constantly accumulated itself through conflict, growing stronger and stronger from it all the while managing to 'connect' with the four Edicts. This resulted in the Energy erupting into a huge mass, and from that mass four new beings emerged, the four original DPUs. Each of these godly beings related to one of the Edicts thanks to the Demonic Power that made their forms retaining one connection to the Edicts and losing the other three, resulting in all four of them controlling powers impossible to defend against. As a result of this, they reached the top of the Devildimension's food chain, and in no time flat there were more DPUs being born. Born the same way the originals but lacking the connection to the Edicts. Before anyone realized it, DPUs became an actual race of beings which settled on the planet which would be known as Gamindustri, marking it as their 'base of operations' for excursions to other planets, and before anyone knew it the era of the DPUs began.
Things... didn't go so well, as on might imagine with a race of demonic beings meant solely for carnage. If anyone were to look up nightmare in the dictionary, the Four DPUs would be put right next to the definition. The four DPUs were extremely different in how they acted, through that would prove to be absolutely pointless in the grand scheme of things.
First, the DPU of Destruction who called himself Sparda, didn't have much interest in anything other than fighting the strongest beings he could find, and if he ever lacked opponents he would raise someone from young to be as strong as possible only to fight them and kill them all. In addition to that, whenever he fought on other planets, he would leave few survivors to recount how unstoppable he had been. The other original DPUs would be the only ones who could be a similar match to his might, thus they formed the opinion of him having the title of 'Destruction Incarnate'. He'd even became the unintentional reason for the birth of a cult dedicated to him, though he showed little care about this since all he waned to do was fight. If anything, he sometimes visited them to 'test their strength' every decade or so, and if they didn't perform to his standards, then he'd slaughter them all.
Second, the DPU of death may have been one cruel sadistic son of a gun, but on the whole one could say for certain that for all intents and purposes this DPU, who called himself Mundus, remained largely uninterested in everyone. If anything, he only wanted to relieve his boredom so he sometimes engaged in constant intercourse, or revived old warriors to see them fight to the death, sometimes with a couple female slaves servicing him at the same time, or simply played with the lives of entire families by forcing their ancestors to be reborn just to see them slaughter each other. He especially loved seeing siblings be forced to rip into each other and tear each other to pieces. Depravity didn't exist in his vocabulary, since Mundus even revived fathers and had them rape their own offspring just for shits and giggles. Not to mention that when he got bored of that he'd just make a trip around the planet and burning any human settlement which irritated him. Though, his favorite pastime was undoubtedly fighting the DPU of Destruction as well as the other two. Fighting was his very nature after all, the same could be said for ALL DPUs.
Third, the DPU of Fate, who called himself Diadact, took great pleasure in knowing everything that the weaker beings would ever do and change it just slightly to see someone that would be a doctor kill who should have been his wife. Or, make someone who had the destiny of being a cripple turn into a mighty warrior that would swear fealty to him. Hell, he did everything the other DPUs did and more, putting sexual deviants to shame with how he manipulated the fates of women to make them his kinky sex slaves. Whatever tickled his fancy, Diadact would just do it with nobody to stop him. For him, the entire world was just a sandbox for him to play as he was the closest thing to omnipresence in the entire universe. He even stored up countless tomes and knowledge in an unknown location, not telling anyone what he planned to do with such knowledge, which would only unsettle others even more. Though, in addition to that he also fancied himself a bit of a nosy parker, so whenever he saw powerful forces being brought into being, he would alter a few fates here and there to see how the outcome would play out, like if a fierce leader got brought into existence, he would either make them go through traumatic experiences which would reshape them into things that they originally wouldn't have been. He even sowed seeds of discord throughout the galaxy, spreading lies and deceit just to make things more interesting, often resulting in wars being waged (which of course he'd convince his brother Sparda to take part in the battle nut always going there to see if he could get a good fight)
Finally, the DPU of Life who took the name 'Carnage' ironically enough, could be considered as one of the more 'active' of the four, like Diadact. He had decided to throw himself in researching the creation of the strongest living being possible. One could consider him the original inspiration for the term, 'mad scientist'. The reason for this was during his research, he created all manner of beings, beings such as the Primordial Demons by combining them with bits and pieces of the original 'Darkness' with the Edict of Life. He then proceeded to create countless different Demons, even tried to make several artificial DPUs that resulted in beings he would call 'Chaos Gods' that, whilst insanely powerful in their own right and possessing a number of powers which altered reality, plus spawned their own legions of Demons, none of them could match a DPU in combat. He didn't create just demons though, as he created countless beasts of varying natures, just like how the Edict of Life did during the Devildimension's beginning. Unfortunately, even with all these creations, for him all of them proved themselves to be far too lacking for his taste. He saw them as simply failed experiments and due to his constant failures he decided to throw himself at carnal pleasures by taking for himself all beautiful woman he could possibly find, making them his regardless of race, if they were in a relationship of not, and age. He even loved the most what most would call NTR and doing it with girls way too young.
Thanks to these four and the rest of the DPU race going through worlds using Gamindustri as their home base, killing and destroying anything that tickled their fancy regardless of any rhyme or reason, things in the Universe started growing worse and worse. The ones who had it worse than the ones who got killed were DEFINITELY the ones they let live as their 'slaves' though, and that included the human race which populated Gamindustri along with the Demons and DPUs. Treated as playthings, tools for the DPUs pleasure and entertainment. Warriors from all kinds of backgrounds, races and ethnicity were constantly being brought up then smacked out of existence by these Gods born from chaos and conflict. In this era, there was next to nothing that could be connected to the Primordial Light. No hope, no joy, no peace, no tranquility or serenity. Just death, decay, destruction, cardinal sins galore. Darkness reined supreme at this point in time, with millions if not billions of entities spawned from the Edict of Life which were infused with its essence, not to mention the powers of chaos and conflict greatly aligning with its own ethnics.
Though, like the saying goes...
...
...
...
...
... nothing lasts forever.
One day, just by circumstance alone (something which the DPU of Fate could have prevented if he knew about it, but since he had been bedding his slaves at the time he didn't) a young girl whom had no real talent, who came from a random, no-name village which had long been under the oppressive, tyrannical rule, managed to do something no mortal had been able to do, something many a man had been trying to achieve for centuries to mimic the DPUs powers: feel something even more precious than the Four Edicts.
She had started comprehending and feeling the primordial force of Light.
This could be called something absurd, ludicrous even but it happened. It happened not in some glorious, over-the-top way which the DPU era had been used to, but more of a covert, stealthy approach. As for the young village girl herself, she had no talent for fighting from the start and did not, or rather she could not, understand what was happening to her. Even so, her body started succumbing to the effects of what she had unknowingly done. Her body underwent massive changes down to every last cell in her body, shifting and changing into something not yet seen before by man, beast, demon or DPU.
She became the first Goddess.
In the early stages of her new existence, something that the young girl found out and realized almost immediately afterwards that something was up, she felt like she had to exercise her new powers. Thus, she did, and managed to liberate her village from the rulers whom had once terrorized them. In next to no time at all, the girl had managed to become something of a celebrity throughout her small village, and it filled her with joy knowing that somehow, from some small stroke o luck, she had gained these powers. These powers which had given her the ability to fight, thus allowing her to excel in combat.
This young girl had even thought once 'perhaps with these new powers, I can someday bring about the fall of all those meanie DPUs!' It wasn't something uncommon, a lot of mortals and immortals alike thought they could take the seat of power of which was held by the demonic gods. Yet, for the villagers whom idolized her and expressed relief, gratitude and joy for her, they all thought a similar thing to her. Thus, the girl began to train her powers more so she could one day wipe out the DPUs herself.
but as she began this journey... she saw one of them in action.
The DPU of Death himself, Mundus.
And in that moment, all her built-up bravado, pride and confidence got shattered like a fragile mirror, crushed out of existence with zero mercy. This was done by Mundus, who had no clue about her existence and had just been on one of his 'walks' strolling into her village and reducing it to nothing in a manner of a couple seconds, and all she had been able to do was watch in human form. Didn't even stop to take a look at what he was doing, as if he saw these people as nothing more than ants to be squashed under his boot. That assumption wouldn't be all that far off, in truth. Everything, everything that she had ever known got wiped out in an instant, as if it meant nothing in the grand scheme of things.
It hadn't just been terrifying, it had been mind-breaking, soul-shattering, a cold hard dose of reality which brought back to the cruel life she had been living this whole time. That the DPUs whom ruled Gamindustri and many other worlds out there wee just too powerful for her. She had heard only stories about their strongest warriors, but seeing one of them in action, however brief it had been, pretty much validated ALL of them.
As such, as much as the young Goddess would have LOVED to exact her revenge upon Mundus for annihilating her home, killing her friends, family and potential love interest, she had already been shown the cold, hard truth then and there that she had no chance whatsoever of defeating or even harming that beast, so she chose to hide herself. To hide with the shame and frustration of not being able to save anyone, to not be strong enough to save one single person from her beloved village. She had been in despair ever since that day, that day when everything got torn apart right before her very eyes.
Centuries passed, and the young girl, now a full-grown woman thanks to her body stopping her aging once she reached the age of 20 years, remained in solitude, broken and miserable thanks to her failure. She lived in isolation, hiding from the DPUs and praying that they didn't notice her. She doubted she'd ever be able to get strong enough to face those monsters, not with the sheer magnitude of strength she had witnessed being tossed about like pebbles in a lake.
However, as time passed the DPUs got increasingly wild, unmatched and cruel. Civilians raped and tortured. Forced to fight their loved ones whom had once sought to save them from tyranny. Soldiers forced to fight in horrendous battles to keep their small kingdoms alive, these soldiers also being used for satanic rituals by those among the DPU race whom followed the path of the mage or the Scholar, ending up inventing their own brands of magic, elemental manipulation and Wardcraft. Of women constantly being abused in was that no women should ever have to go through (a lot of them having given birth to fierce monsters which then ate them alive whilst they were weak from giving birth, all due to being raped by DPUs)
Finally, as she saw more and more suffering she ended up following her instincts, overcoming her trauma through sheer frustration, hatred and desire for retribution. Thus, she had commenced acting, emerging from her self-imposed exile and out into the world. To start off though, the woman began to build up her power, knowing that her goal of beating the DPUs would be a whole hell lot harder than she had thought when she had been younger. To start that long trek though, she had started helping people, either by saving them from monsters or demons, or repelling DPUs from their in the latter case though, since she didn't want them to know about her just yet.
In the end though, she had ended up succeeding in a goal she had not even considered before. She had created a community that was free from the influence of the Four DPUs and of a size which would have rivaled the largest of cities across Gamindustri, resulting in her being praised as a goddess and for the first time obtaining the Share energy from her believers. Something which she had received in small, pebble-sized amounts back at her home village due to the low population. It DID help her discover that her strength got greater the more people believed in her, though she had made sure she had strength to fight without relying on such an ability. Fighting the Demons and monsters, repelling the DPUs had taught her a valuable lesson aside from never trusting a DPU. That lesson had been that in this world, strength was one of the most important aspects of this world. If one had strength, they could decide the fate of millions in the blink of an eye.
As the Share Energy powered her up, her strength grew greater and greater. The strength constantly swirled within her, from a small whirlpool into a wild maelstrom within the foundations of her core. But, because of her drive and the lessons she had learned, the Goddess herself trained further, discovering and learning various refinement methods to make herself the best in her fields. In addition to that, her looks also transcended limitations, as if all beauty in existence was reunited in her being. That of course, led to her having a bucket-load of suitors vying for her hand in marriage, and not just straight guys either. Her body drew the attention of anyone and everyone, regardless of age, race, gender, relationship status etc. Humans were always drawn to perfection, not to mention all kinds of Demons and other beasts too.
None of this, of course, went on unnoticed, however.
After a few centuries, one of the Four DPUs, the DPU of Fate, Diadact, discovered her community. One could say that this could be classed as an accident, since he was just busy chasing down rumors of a rebellion against their rule. Even so, however, it lead to the first of the DPUs to discover the home and community of the Goddess. The energies that he had sensed there, a mix of divine light as well as specs of darkness from slain demons, intrigued him to the point of him wanting to make his own appearance there.
In the end, he came with a proposition of making her territory come under his rule and extending his protection over this place, thus prompting other Demons and DPUs to stay away from it. Nobody wanted to anger a DPU of his caliber after all, in addition to that Demons respected strength thus, if Diadact proclaimed a territory as under his protection, they can bet that they would stay the fuck away.
Though, none of that sat well with the Goddess. Not when she despised the DPUs on a personal level. She knew this guy saw her community as something to be examined, a means to sate his boredom and that, if she agreed to this proposition, would give him better leeway to mess with her people. Many of them had gone trough hell thanks to them after all, so her citizens would be literally accepting a DPU's protection, pretty much going back to what they started from.
Even so however, she had to face the facts, and that it was SLIGHTLY more fortunate that it was Diadact whom had discovered them. He was considered one of the milder DPUs as he sometimes did help others even if only for his amusement and he rarely ever made irreparable evil to others directly as he only changed the course some things would happen and it was still possible for people to do their own choices even under his influence. At least it wasn't someone like Mundus or Carnage, the former would likely turn it into an undead paradise with everyone constantly being revived in order to kill their loved ones over and over again to break their spirits. The latter would likely just use them as test subjects in his experiments, turning them into dozens of deferential monsters or 'failures' as he saw his past creations. She had little on what Sparda, the DPU of Destruction would do though as she had the least amount of info on him, but from what she did know she guessed he would either turn it into an all out war-zone to 'find the strongest out of all of them' or just ignore it altogether if there was nobody who could give him a good fight.
In the end though, she had to admit to herself that, much to her dismay, she didn't have any other option but to accept, as she didn't have the power necessary to face them in all out battle. None of her training would have been sufficient enough yet, plus she lacked the experience that the DPU of Fate possessed, so in the end she decided to meet with him herself to confirm a few things. The DPU of Fate, thankfully, agreed to meet her out in the entrance to her city where few could get hurt if a fight broke out, but... a problem happened.
As one might expect.
When Diadact saw her upon their meeting in front of a semi ovular crowd of civilians, he completely lost his mind. The sheer level of beauty that he had seen from her completely drove his lustful urges wild, images of him doing all sorts of degrading things to her filling his imagination, and at that point things would be set in stone. His mind instantly came to the conclusion that he was born to have her for himself and he started approaching her in a very direct way, trying to 'smooth talk' her, though in the end his actions ended in failure. In her justified anger due to some of the words Diadact had used like 'leaving her dreadful town to be is bed partner' and 'ill manipulate your destiny so that you'll be my devoted kinky love slave'...
SCHULUCK!
She reacted and ended up wounding him.
For the first time in many freaking THOUSANDS of years, one of the Four DPUs got injured by another being, and one of the original Four as well. This got taken as proof that they could be defeated and thus the people of the settlement, spurned on by their repressed resentment of DPUs, started trying to throw Diadact out. As he was far too shocked by being actually wounded and the violent rejection he did not react as the people threw him out, but as he was outside the town though... his mind instantly rebooted itself, and thus Diadact did something nobody would have expected and... exploded in laughter.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA AHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! GOOD! YES, THIS IS EXCELLENT EVEN! NOW I GET IT, YOU ARE SOMEONE WHO CAN CHALLENGE EVEN ME! THIS IS JUST GLORIOUS! FINALLY, SOMETHING INTERESTING HAS HAPPENED IN THIS BORING ROCK OF A WORLD! YOU WILL ONE DAY MAKE A FINE ADDITION TO MY COLLECTION, YOUNG MAIDEN! BUT, NOW IS NOT THE TIME! YOU MUST GROW MORE, MUCH MORE BEFORE YOU CAN TRULY STAND AS MY AND THOSE IDIOTS EQUAL! I WILL GIVE YOU TEN CENTURIES, AND WHEN THE TIME COMES I WILL COME WITH THE OTHERS! LET'S SEE IF YOUR LIGHT CAN WIN AGAINST US ALL, MY CUTE QUEEN GODDESS!"
After that, the maniacal Diadact left, and the Goddess stood there, left speechless at what she had just heard, not to mention what she had witnessed. Only a moment later though, did she realize just what had happened, and the scope of her situation hit her harder than a brick wall. Now that she had gotten the attention of the DPU of Fate, something that would NEVER be a good thing ever, she would have to train much harder, be extra vigilant in protecting her people from Demon and Monster attacks. She would have to get as many allies as she could in order to even have a chance against the titans that were the four original DPUs.
Much to her chagrin though, her citizens had much different ideas on their minds from this spectacle, unaware of the true horror that would come to them. The people around her celebrated the fact their leader was 'as strong as the Four DPUs', however that could not be any farther from the truth. It would be farther than the distance between the base and height of the earth and the skies above... and that would be a generous estimation. She was just lucky, nothing more and nothing less.
Nevertheless, what had been done could not be undone, the young Goddess thought. It wouldn't be likely that the DPU of Fate would ever alter the past so this event would never happen due to his intrigue and 'fixation' on her that had been developed from this encounter. Therefore, she knew she now no longer had much of a choice, she had to grow stronger and face the DPUs when they come.
Thankfully, Diadact had been as far from discreet about what happened as one could get, so confident about his and the other DPUs victory against her. As a result news of her wounding him spread like wild fire, the news getting more and more exaggerated until the point that some told that Diadact had been beat to the brink of death by her in one move and he was only alive because she had been gracious enough to let him go.
Obviously she could not help but find such a thing as ridiculous as sheep growing wings or the DPUs turning into good Samaritans, but there WAS something good that came out of those tales. Out of all of these tales, the results made more and more people go join her side , resulting in her Share energy going through the roof, making her even more beautiful and powerful by the second. Furthermore, many powerful warriors that lived in seclusion decided to go join her, and before long thousands of powerful beings went to help her as if it was only natural. Drawn to both the promise of bloodshed as well as the chance to fight/end the DPUs at long last.
All the while, she trained and learned all she could, accelerating her own growth and combat prowess by the day so that she may eventually be at an equal footing with the four original DPUs. Her swordsmanship surpassed mortal limitation, her skills with magic became legendary, and her knowledge about the universe expanded exponentially the more she learned from her allies. She got experience by fighting against many of her powerful allies in spars, kings who could kill Demons and even DPUs, heroic warriors whom had broken through the limitations of the human body, nothing stopped her from getting as strong as she could, the threat of the four DPUs eventual invasion looming over her mind like the fog of death which came from the DPU she hated the most. She did command the primordial force of light, but that alone would not help her against forces who command elements of the universe itself.
Eventually, this news reached the other DPUs, including the other members of the original four. The DPU of Destruction, when asked about this whole thing during one of his many fights with those whom he personally trained, simply waved it all off with a lack of interest. His reasoning had been that he wasn't really interested as of yet since this supposed 'Goddess' sounded much too weak for him to properly be excited over fighting. Not to mention that he had plans to go into other worlds to fight other beings aside from the dominating Demonic forces, so his mind had been already occupied for a time.
Second, came the response from Mundus. The DPU of Death however, didn't hear of this development for a while. The reason? Simple, he had disappeared for the first 6 centuries, and when he came back, one could DEFINITELY tell by the amount of injuries he'd sustained he was clearly weakened by a large extent. He had refused to explain why though, as he only said 'I did what I had to do to become the Overlord of this dimension' before he went quiet.
Lastly. it was the DPU of Fate, who did NOT remain idle with this information. He'd already peered into the future and saw that there was a possibility of this Goddess beating them if he didn't pull things into his favor. Therefore, he had decided to act. The DPU of Fate went to talk with the DPU of Life about joining forces, promising to leave the second child he made with the Goddess as the DPU of Life's subject for experimentation, something the DPU of Life instantly accepted as he thought this was as good way as any to get his hands in powerful beings that may help him make an even more perfect being.
And so, time passed.
In no time at all the 10 centuries, AKA 1000 years, went by and in the end, it all began. The DPUs of Life and Fate marched towards the Goddess City, behind them a group of more than 60 thousand Continent and Multi-continent class DPUs from many war torn worlds, filling up the ground as well as the skies making them look more like this large dome of flapping wings, glowing weapons and shining armors. In addition, there were more Demons than the eye could count as well as all manner of strange beings. Beings who had similar levels of destructive potential to the DPUs themselves.
And on the other side, held within the City itself with shelters deep underground housing those who couldn't fight, were the ones who sided with the Goddess. Like the DPU army, this one looked too large to count, populating the entire city as well as 600 meters around it in all directions. The way that they were positioned, with the DPU army completely encircling the enemy force, showed that there would be zero retreat, only sheer attack. No quarter would be given, absolute slaughter would be inevitable.
With a single swing of their weapons, both the Goddess and he DPU armies swiftly charged at each other, spewing forth like unending tides. Large, frenzied howls broke free across the battlefield, bloodlust shining through the eyes of everyone involved as they descended upon one another, before they collided like two furious natural disasters.
Demons tore away at their opponents with unending savagery, spewing blood like geysers as they built up a gradually increasing kill count whilst managing to inflict more losses on the enemy side than their own. Human warriors ripping through demons with their weapons. Throughout the 1000 year wait, humans whom had gained demonic weapons under their control called Devil Arms had joined the Goddess's army. In addition to those who had awakened and tamed Archdevil Arms as well. Aside from them, the leaders of both armies fought in the airspace above them, fighting above the very clouds themselves where nobody dared to go to provide them aid. They didn't need to, since their leaders had already reached a level far beyond what any mere mortal or even immortals could acquire.
Up above the clouds, the leaders of both armies battled it out, reaching cataclysmic levels right off the bat. The Goddess had become much stronger since the first meeting she had with Diadact 1000 years ago, as the number of followers and their devotion to her, combined with her own training results, had become that much greater. Even so, she never expected this to be an easy battle, and even then, she got the feeling that she had severely underestimated the raw power of the DPUs. Especially the ones whom were facing her right now.
The DPU of Life had a disgustingly powerful regenerative ability, making it near impossible to really hurt him while the DPU of Fate continuously attacked the Goddess' soul and tried changing her from the inside into a docile pet for him to keep. Even with her prior preparations, this battle felt more like a desperate struggle for her to survive against their combined might, as they performed these actions all while they traded blows with physical weapons which existed across countless different planes of existence. There was a reason why DPU weapons trumped any and all Devil Arms and Archdevil Arms, that being their ability to destroy both mortal and immortal alike. Plus because of this unique existence they couldn't be destroyed by any normal means, not even by the Goddess herself. If there was a way, then she wouldn't have known it since information about the DPUs, concrete info on their weaknesses, wasn't that well known.
She did manage the task of holding up during the initial stages of the battle, her powers greater than any other warrior there, but even so it still remained inferior by leagues and bounds to the combined energy of the DPUs of Life and Fate. In essence, it would only be natural for the Goddess to eventually be driven to a corner. Seizing their opportunity at this moment, both DPUs decided to activate their plan to finis the Goddess off for good. Her body got ensnared by the DPU of Life during a slashing fest to keep her distracted, creating a giant tree that both kept her tied within the base itself, sucking away her vast vitality while the DPU of Fate made to completely infiltrate her mind and change her into his ideal sex slave. He'd have her right then and there whilst his companion watched, due to his curiosity about how a union between a DPU and a Goddess would work for their bodies. After all, they were of opposing natures, so what would happen in that situation.
And, as she was just about to lose the battle in her mind, then be forced to endure the one thing that all women fear most when at the hands of a DPU, A Demon, or any kind of horrible man... a red flash went through the battlefield.
A new force surged down below as an army of no more than 5000 Demons, DPUs of varying classes between the low and mid class, appeared from behind the eastern rear of the DPU army. They, without any hesitation, jumped straight into battle and tore their way through the enemy ranks till the reached the Goddess Army. One would think they would go on to kill the Goddess Army too, but in actuality... they just stuck with the DPU Army, slaughtering them by the dozens with ease. The kind of ease warriors of unparalleled ability would possess, ones who could call themselves 'elite' and actually ave the bite to back up their barks, so to speak.
At the head of the army, the DPU of Destruction Sparda appeared, brandishing his signature sword with the Aura of the Edict of Destruction around him as he flew up to free the Goddess, to help her fight. Well, help would be a strong world since it could be fun to face two of the other original DPUs together, something he never experienced before. Though, what he hadn't expected was for his so-called 'followers', whom he had repeatedly told to stay the fuck away from his battlefield or he would slaughter them all himself, to do the following thing and join him anyways. If there was one thing he hated in this world, it was when people tried to barge into the good fights that he found either in Gamindustri or the Devildimension in general. Then again, he supposed it couldn't be helped, since he DID raise them and train them so that they would be bloodthirsty warriors just like himself. Hell, the only reason why he had so many followers to begin with was because he had somehow 'saved' them when he fought some demon which was harassing them during a time he couldn't recall due to disinterest.
Meh, he'll deal with them later, right now he had a fight to enjoy!
Thus, with his power, he had been able to eradicate the tree that restrained the Goddess, forcing Diadact to escape lest he be cut apart by the DPU of Destruction's infernal blade. Though, he didn't say why he even agreed to aid the Goddess, just transmitted his orders to not harm the Goddess Army no matter what to the rest of his followers, or 'Legion' as he liked to call them. With his power and forces together with the ones from the Goddess, the battlefield was evened out and before long a impasse appeared. The battle would rage on for centuries on end, with not a single sign of defeat for either side in sight. On the DPU Army's side, they had a huge repertoire of Demons to replace those tat they had lost, and the DPUs were all getting stronger through the constant conflict. As for the Goddess Army, their faith and devotion to their leader drove them forwards despite their losses exceeding the 50% point. The fact that their leader fought on against the 'true enemy' above the heavens was what kept them going, kept them from giving up and giving them the conviction they needed to press forwards.
However, the conflict escalated further as two more forces showed up to make this mess of a war even grander and more destructive.
The DPU of Death appeared for no other reason than to face off against everyone there since he wanted to further himself, he even revealed his trump card in the form of a clone made of his flesh, blood, soul, and spirit that instead of being a DPU of Death was actually one that had only been born, but was starting to learn and master the powers over the Primordial Darkness and Evil. It was revealed that Mundus, the DPU of Death had an objective of fusing himself and his clone after it fully learned about the energy of Evil and Darkness with the objective of becoming the supreme and eternal overlord of the world.
BUT, a different force appeared to face him and made it all the more complex. The Eight Beast Kings, creatures that were born from the Edicts long ago and managed to overcome everything to reign supreme on their corners of the galaxy, immortal and existing for longer than any other being and some of the most powerful creatures out there. Those creatures sensed the danger the galaxy was in should this incident be allowed to prosper, thus brought with them a horde of beasts that were strong beyond belief, at least enough to go up against the middle class DPUs, all to destroy those forces that could destroy the Devildimension.
In the end, one of the Beast Kings, the Dimensional Whale, used its special ability to devour and take away to a separate space most of the combatants, leaving only the DPUs, the Goddess, a few humans, some of the creatures from the DPU of Life, and the other Beast Kings. Even space and the landmass was no exception to that suction power since much of the space, energy, and everything there was was sucked inside, everything that had been 'tainted' by the Demons and most of the terrains of the DPUs was taken inside.
Afterwards, the rest of the combatants continued fighting desperately, though thanks to the Beast Kings things had turned sour for the DPU Army. The DPU of Fate was the first to fall, as he was besieged by three of the Beast Kings. Their powers had been much of an equal to his own, as even with his ability to make their moves not hit him at all, they each managed to damage him to a severe degree. Hell, he could barely influence their minds and souls at all, much to his horror and frustration. In a moment of weakness, he was sealed away inside the Dimensional Whale, though he did managed to take down the Wolf King before he was though. The same happened to the DPU of Life as he was too sealed away, but not before throwing most of his experiments (As well as what remained of the DPU race) out of Gamindustri and all across the Devildimension so as to make sure his life's work would live on as a constant reminder to how awesome he was. Also, unlike the DPU of fate, he only injured the Monkey King
As the DPU of Death was also one step away from being defeated he threw a curse upon the Goddess and gave one last blow with everything he had to the DPU of Destruction. And, even as he laid immobile in what others would think was death he sealed himself so as to recover as he discarded his body and used it as a way to seal himself until he was fully back to health. His clone was then sealed away by the Dimensional Whale in a completely separate space.
The Eight Beast Kings, now assured that their homes in the Devildimension were safe, turned towards the last two survivors of this cataclysmic battle. Instead of eliminating the DPU of Destruction and the Goddess, they'd simply turned and left, as they knew neither of them would recover from those wounds. Plus, in the state they were now they did not even BEGIN to qualify as their opponents.
The two warriors that were left fell to the ground in exhaustion, the Goddess felt her being breaking down. Despite the amount of Share Energy given to her, the Curse Mundus had left her would not stop until she was dead. She figured she would not have much time left, since the Curse ate away at her faster than her Share Energy could repel it. Thus, in an effort to retain the line of Goddesses whom she believed would continue on with their duty to protect the human race from any other race in the Devildimension, the Goddess put a large remainder of her power into what would be later known as a Sharicite, telling her followers that once she passed, they had to put all their faith in that Sharicite. Thus, they would gain a new Goddess to protect them, fulfilling her deepest desire aside from ending the reign of the DPUs.
Meanwhile, Sparda crouched like a knight, using his sword as a means to support him whilst looking upwards towards the distance. He hadn't been blind, that attack would be too much for him to handle. His death was coming, though he couldn't help but be satisfied. That fight had been the greatest one he ever had, thus dying on a battlefield like this, after surviving the things he had, it could not have been a better end for a warrior such as himself. Still though, there were things he had to do, therefore he forced himself to move once more. He ordered his followers, human, Demon and DPU alike, to spread across the Devildimension and repopulate their kind. To rebuild as one, to become the warriors they were meant to be. Conflict would always exist, thus more DPUs would eventually be born throughout the Devildimension. Therefore, even if Gamindustri would no longer be host to the DPUs or any Demonic beings from today forwards, they would still live on. Plus, it meant more fighting, and even though he was one satisfied warrior, he felt it a bit too displeasing to get rid of ALL fighting today.
Even as he gave his orders, Sparda did NOT expect the Goddess to approach him, her body weak yet her eyes still radiating resolve much like his own. Her followers behind her stayed back on her request, their looks being that of reluctant respect for the DPU of Destruction, respect for helping their Goddess even if he had his reasons. When she approached him, she had requested that they seal off Gamindustri from the outside of the Devildimension, keeping it safe from any demonic influences from today forwards. She couldn't do it herself anymore thanks to her previous actions draining a lot of her power. The look in her eyes intrigued Sparda, that and she had helped him gain the greatest fight he could have ever asked for, and he wouldn't be who he was if he didn't at LEAST repay her for such a glorious favour. He was a killer, a vicious warrior, but he had SOME form of pride in himself. Those thoughts had became the reason why he agreed to combine his power with her own in order to establish the world-wide seal. As a result, the two sealed off Gamindustri together, breathing their final moments together afterwards before their ends came once and for all.
Holy... freaking hell...
Yeah, those words summed up his thoughts on what he'd been shown by the Lexicanum quite well. Nico, once the Tendrils disconnected from him, stumbled back as he held his head, a wild and thumping headache assaulting his Skull. The pain he felt right now felt freaking excruciating, but it wasn't like he wasn't used to pain by this point. Plus, he had mentally prepared himself for it, so it didn't hurt as much as it should have. Still, despite that pain, Nico couldn't forget a single thing he had learned over the course of what felt like five minutes, but could have been way longer. The original Goddess, Odyssey Heart if he remembered correctly, Sparda and the four Original DPUs, the huge conflict, these 8 Beast Kings (another thing he'll have to look into...), not to mention the Edicts...
So much stuff had been learned, and not just what he and his aspects had seen. For example, the Edicts themselves weren't power sources like he had originally thought, nor were they something unique to the DPUs. Instead, they seemed more like these set of rules and requirements to have specific abilities. Its more on the comprehension side than anything physical. Not to mention that if he were to try and become the new DPU of Destruction which he felt Sparda had intended from the information surging through his mind, then he would have to take something called a Nirvana Rebirth Pill, which was said to destroy and rebuild the body multiple times over, all the while he had to kill a FUCKING LOT in some place which personifies chaos in and of itself. Not something that could be easily understood by normal people of this era, but those who did would understand just how difficult this could be.
Repeatedly destroying themselves...
Constantly killing non-stop...
These weren't things a normal person could do.
"Well..." The sound of Biko beginning to speak broke the younger redhead male out of his thoughts, thus making him turn to look at his Demon Persona. This allowed him the sight of seeing him with several books floating around him, books which were covered in the guy's auras whilst from what he could tell it looked like the books were writing themselves. Letters of glowing energy appeared on the pages faster than the fastest authors could type, and Biko kept them all in his vision. "This latest venture into the Lexicanum has proven to be quite... informative. I can tell that this information is concrete too, since this seems to have been written during the time of the DPU era itself. Though, how this came to be remains a mystery for the time being."
"URGH... GEEZ, YOU GUYS DO THIS ALL THE FREAKING TIME?!"
The sound of his Ghoul Persona reminded both of them that he was here, thus prompted Nico and Biko to turn to him (the Books remained in front of the Demon Persona though). "Yes indeed. However, the amount of information we received just now is much larger than previous attempts, which I believe is thanks to your co-operation. All of us here worked together and increased the capacity of comprehension as a result. Hmmmmm... It opens up a world of possibilities with just this attempt alone..." Biko remarked to himself, although the other two clearly heard him thanks to their enhanced senses.
"WELL, FORGET ABOUT ME DOING THAT SHIT AGAIN, THAT FUCKING HURTS LIKE HELL! AGH, FUCK ME!" Nico's Ghoul Side retorted angrily before he vanished from the Library, likely to never come within five feet of this place ever again. He'd probably be too focused on the headaches and the phantom pains which would come with it.
To be frank, Nico could honestly not blame the guy for once. This amount of information felt too much to be processed at this time, and Biko here would likely take a while to write down everything they had learned. Odds were, he would likely take several hours to process and write down the information, even with his comprehension and writing speeds. Nico then looked over to his Demon Persona, an idea coming to his mind from all of this. "Well, a silver lining for this could be that he won't be too busy with his trauma as much now. This'll likely take a large chunk out of it."
"Maybe, or he'll just try to push them both away by killing some monsters like he normally does."
"... Touche. Good point."
(Flashback END!
"Ah... I was curious as to where you were."
"Hm?" Just as Nico came out of his trance right now, the redhead male heard a familiar, feminine voice. Due to the lack of hostility he could sense from it, the male figured that the voice meant no harm, and so did his Ghoul side. Honestly though, he couldn't help but be glad that the Kagune hadn't com out and skewered the person who spoke just now, that had almost happened several times during the last few days. It was getting harder and harder t restrain itself thanks to Mundus, something else that he hated the guy for. Slowly turning his head whilst standing up and strapping Ouranos to his back, Nico looked towards the source of the voice... "MAGES.?"
... And found the Mad Magician MAGES. standing there, leaning next to a tree while giving him that look a guardian would give to a kid they had been searching an entire night for. It wasn't that bad per say, but it wasn't good either... plus, it gave Nico pause to ponder his not realizing MAGES. was even close to him. Had he been so out of it that he had failed to notice her? Or, did his senses already pick her up but he had been too zoned out that he didn't care? Geez, he needed to stop with the intense flashbacks, they could cause him serious problems in the future. His Kagune could protect him automatically from danger, but the point still stood.
"It is good that you remember my name." MAGES. replied, standing from the tree and taking her Staff, that Wabbajack one (why did it look like how a combat staff would whenever it was used to hit something like a blunt weapon?) which leaned diagonally next to her before she walked towards him. "When I saw someone creating a dust trail which rose above the forest line, I figured it would have been you." she commented, gesturing with her Wabbajack towards the... fissure which Nico had caused pulling his usual stunts. "I have been standing here for 5 minutes, but it seems you were too caught up in your trance to notice me."
Yeah, he figured that to be the case, and couldn't help but wince at it. "Yeah, apologies about that. I've had a lot on my plate recently." he replied sheepishly, sweat dropping a little. He then shifted into a more serious posture, his eyes locking gazes with her own under that witch hat of hers. "While i'd like to ask what you are doing here, what I wanna know more is how you've been faring. I never got to thank you for what you did during the Demon Invasion." he asked her, then scratched his jaw while tilting his head slightly. Despite his efforts, he no longer could hold that gaze anymore as his eyes shifted to the side nervously, not to mention the shame that gradually filled them. He didn't like to think about that moment of weakness, not with what had happened.
MAGES. herself nodded as well, and though she had a strong suspicion about what bothered him, she did feel touched that he would want to know about her safety more so. She felt glad that hadn't changed about him at least. "I am well, thank you for asking." she replied, smirking a little. The light that shone in those blue eyes of hers somewhat reminded Nico of how Lucy would look at him, causing him to shit awkwardly. Lucy was one thing, but he got the feeling the more that he hung out with the Mad Magician that she shared many traits with some of the more... aggressive girls that he knew. Just a moment later though, she shifted her look to one of seriousness, just like how he had done before. "In any case, I would like to ask you to come with me to see someone."
"Huh? Someone?"
"That is correct. There is someone I would like you to meet. He's someone I believe can help you with any issues about getting strength you may be facing. He has done the same for myself, after all."
Now this got Nico's attention plus his interest. The possibility of growing stronger intrigued him, plus he wanted to know who the hell MAGES. was talking about. If it was someone she knew, then could that person be as crazy as she tended to be whenever she invented something? Nico honestly shuddered at the thought, but nonetheless he gave her a nod to show his acceptance, getting a happy look from her as the two walked away from the clearing Nico had been resting in.
About 15 minutes later, they were nearing a clearing in the forest. A smaller one than the one the Mad Magician whom had found him during a search. What she had in mind however, eluded him. Nico honestly wondered what it was that MAGES. wanted from him in bringing him to this person she mentioned. Though, he couldn't help but be concerned deep down, especially when he didn't even need to activate his emotion sensing abilities to feel the conflict within her. Like, something was troubling her, but what that was wasn't revealed yet. He didn't think MAGES. would be irresponsible enough to get into debt to any bad people (and he knew what the term 'bad person' met all too well), but he DID hope that whatever happened wasn't negatively affecting her. She had slowly begun growing on him the more time they had spent together, so he wouldn't stand by if someone was threatening her.
Once they entered the clearing, MAGES. turned on her black heeled boots towards him, her hair swaying to the side thanks to the motions. He didn't see her gaze thanks to her hat shadowing her eyes for a moment, but eventually she looked up to him. That was when his eyes shone with concern when he saw her sad eyes staring back at him. "I must apologize for this, if it were up to myself and the powers I possess, I would never take you to this person." she apologized, only worrying the guy more.
In addition to that, Nico looked confused as well, especially since he could not feel anything at all from the clearing they were approaching. And then, they finally entered the clearing to find...
Nothing.
It was just a normal clearing without anyone there.
'Huh? What the...? There's nobody here... Hey you guys, can you sense anything?'
'Unfortunately, I do not. My senses are drawing a blank here.'
'PATHETICALLY ENOUGH TO SAY, BUT I'M ON THE SAME BOAT AS THIS STOIC ASSHOLE HERE.'
That... did not sit well with him. Not at all.
The redhead male made to say something about this, when he noticed that the blunette MAGES. continued walking, he shut his mouth before making to follow her. Not a second later though, he almost did a spit take at how suddenly she disappeared out of thin air as if she passed a barrier.
'Okay, what the hell?! A freaking barrier?! But, I didn't even sense anything out of the ordinary! Biko and my Ghoul Persona didn't either! I should have been able to sense the barrier from this distance!'
'KING, Y'BETTER LOOK OUT, THIS WHOLE THING IS NOT SMELLING WELL FOR ME'
'Yeah... yeah, I will'
And with that Nico took a step forward, following MAGES. into this barrier whilst wondering just who the hell could have made this barrier. Could he be the one MAGES. was worried about? He'll keep his guard up, as well as keep his Kagune on standby, so if MAGES. being threatened WAS what was going on here, he could swiftly act before anyone could react. It was just a precaution.
After passing said barrier he saw something that made his eyes twitch madly, a low growl emit from his Ghoul Persona, and a disbelieving gawking sound from Biko.
"WHAT THE HELL?! THIS PLACE, IS IT THAT FREAKING VILLAGE HIDDEN IN THE LEAVES?!" the redhead exclaimed, eyes that comical white as seen in anime, as he came face to face with a huge village-like area. It was surrounded by this strong barrier, as well as a huge forest whilst being built into this huge cliff with multiple faces engraved into it.
Not only that but his clothes changed too, becoming something that he would later swear to never repeat to anyone again: a green spandex that covered his whole body from the neck down. Not only that but his spiky hair had became a bow cut-style, plus instead of red it had become all black, even his eyebrows were thicker somehow. It may not be his worse nightmare, but his current appearance was definitely up there! Seriously, he took care of his appearance, his look was meant to signify his change from the Hellverse Dungeon after all!
Who the hell would do this?! Should he do the infamous 'One Hundred Years of Death' on them?!
"Please do not complain, for this could have very well ended up being way worse." MAGES. voice said from the side, and when he turned to her to say something ...
'Shit!'
Something that any normal guy would be glued towards... so, basically it would be a hellish nightmare for Nico.
Nico swore over 1000 times in his mind as he swiftly turned away, a hand over his eyes as he furiously banished the thoughts of what he had just seen from his mind. Especially since it seemed to... augment the deeply repressed lustful instincts that he and Biko had been fighting against. What had he seen, you ask? Oh, nothing much, just a crimson red MAGES. wearing a purple mini top that almost let him see her chest, a mini skirt that barely covered her ass, and tight thigh highs that emphasized her legs even more. Yep, if she any less fabric in her clothes she might as well go with only her underclothes.
"Uhhhh, MAGES.? Could you per chance spare both of us this humiliation and change your attire to your original one?" Nico questioned, trying so desperately hard not to flip out at the sight of the attractive woman in revealing attire. He made sure to let her know he wasn't being perverted too, by keeping his hand over his eyes and not turning to face her when he spoke.
At this, MAGES. shook her head at him, her irritation radiating from her like it was its own aura. "Unfortunately, I lack the power necessary to break this spell, for its caster is leagues above me in terms of abilities. No, it would be more accurate to say that this spell-caster is very well the strongest there'll ever be i any possible reality." she replied, though internally she couldn't help but be grateful that Nico was doing what he could to spare her dignity any more blows, even if she did enjoy him looking a bit. She had already come to terms with this person's quirks, but it didn't lessen the embarrassment she got whenever she would be subjugated to them.
"Huh? Who the hell could have THAT much power?"
"That would be mwah, young padawan."
Just when Nico asked that question in a rhetorical manner, an older, middle aged-sounding voice responded, and was it just him or did an emoji face wink at him when it appeared in front of him? Nico blinked, and the face vanished when he did so, leading him to wonder if he was hallucinating or on drugs. "Nope, sorry kid, but that stuff isn't fit for a kid like yourself." The same voice once again spoke, a snicker accompanying it as, in front of them, a small light suddenly appeared. When it did, the light grew and grew in both size and intensity, forcing the redhead male to cover his eyes by shielding them with his arms.
When the light began to die down, Nico lowered his arms, opening his previously closed eyes once more. Once he did, though, the male found himself looking upon an older, middle-aged man. The man himself just stood there in what he could only describe as one hell of a yoda look, what with all the small stature weird green face and looking like a little monster while keeping a benevolent smile on his face. Well, that was only until an explosion of confetti happened beneath his feet and from it he removed the robes standing tall with an overcoat while using a guitar while a guitarist with a big afro that covered his head started playing behind him as the two started singing together an anime opening song from a mahou shoujo story.
...
...
...
...
... Uhhhh, what could he say to that?
Honestly, Nico couldn't help but think that as he stared at the scene, looking completely dumbfounded while trying to find a response, only to get none. Not only did this guy look like a complete, total idiot that didn't even fit the surroundings, but Nico also felt the level of power that he radiated like it was no big deal. The amount of it... it forced him to stop himself from saying his default sarcastic, snide remarks lest he flip his shit and tears him apart with but a thought. With the amount he could sense, Nico did NOT want to antagonize this guy even if his life depended on it. It felt like if he did, it would be the last thing he ever did, seriously this guy's power dwarfed Nico's own. Combined with his rather idiotic introduction... Nico could only feel complex about it.
It was like that man had more energy than the entire universe he lived in multiplied by a thousand, he was so strong that Mundus could not compare to a single strand of his hair in terms of power.
And yet, he was acting like a fool. Especially when he started doing a guitar solo while gigantic Mahou Shoujo figures danced around him while flashing their panties.
A sigh escaped the lips of his female companion behind him, making Nico's eyes widen by a small fraction when here remembered that they weren't alone... not to mention that MAGES. was still here, as well as in that predicament of hers. "Believe me when I say this, Nico, that THIS is merely one of his lesser antics. He could have done so much more, so let's consider ourselves lucky he didn't destroy our sanity." MAGES. remarked, whilst covering her breasts with her arms. She didn't like how exposed she had been, but didn't say anything since she had gotten used to such behavior from this man.
"You're serious?"
"Pft, hahahaha...!" The man exclaimed, filled with amused laughter at the dumbfounded, incredulous look on the former redhead's features. He then tried to speak between laughs whilst gesturing to Nico's form. "Wow, I heard that you were one of the prude little emo type that even if he managed to get an harem would not even realize out of respect or some silly shit like that, but you are even worse in person! Hahahaha!"
For some reason, Nico already wanted to try and punch him, even though his instincts screamed at him not to. It was like his body and mind were at war on what to do here, one side wanted to knock some sense into this guy, but the other side argued that he'd be obliterated if he did. 'Jesus Christ, just who the hell is this guy...?' The male wondered.
"Uhhh, I did just say my name, its everyone's favorite undead badass over here, Zelretch. And nope, Ainz is the second best undead out there as I am the original MVP!"
'Did he just read my freaking mind! Invasion of privacy right there!'
Nico felt like he was about to reach his wits end with this guy, so close to freaking tearing his hair out in frustration with how childish this guy was. There was the good kind of childishness, which often caused a lot of funny laughs, and then there's the annoying bratty type of childish which makes everyone want to strangle them. Zelretch honestly reminded him of Neptune... only, much more of a troll than she could ever be.
Just before he could do anything however, a sigh escaped MAGES. behind him, although Nico did NOT attempt to turn around right now to preserve what little dignity she had retained. "Alright sensei, you've had your fun." she began, before making her request. "Could you turn us back to normal now?"
"What's that? What do you want me to do? You know what to say, so say it."
"Fuck you."
"Nah, you still don't have big enough boobs for me to want to do that. Besides, I bet you want to take emo boy over there into your bed anyway."
"You're seriously going to force me on this?"
"Girl please, I'm at half mast. I need to hear this."
"... #SIGH# Fine, oh mighty Zelretch, badass among badasses, the super most awesome undead apostle in the history of the world, could you please turn us back to normal?"
At this two-sided argument's conclusion, a massive grin spread across Zelretch's face. One that looked like it could have broken skin if it were anyone else. It looked like Christmas had come early for him as he began to... bounce up and down like a loony toon. "Whoo, hoo, hohohohohohohohohoho! Hehehehehe! Yes sir, thank you sir, this is the best!" Zelretch exclaimed, and just as he repeatedly jumped about, Nico noticed how there was magical energy being sent out during each jump. That energy went towards the two of them... before going straight to MAGES. alone and reverting her to her original attire, or almost.
She had a shirt over her default clothes that said 'I am a idiot with the best master out there' right above the chest with an image of Zelretch standing above a figure of MAGES. idolizing him.
Nico could only twitch his brow before pinching the bridge of his nose. 'Don't snap, don't snap, don't snap...' Nico chanted like a mantra in his mind. The anger and sheer indignity that he felt inside right now made him SO want to just break something, but he refrained. He had to keep his cool, just like he did with his annoying superiors who thought they were above him thanks to the 'restraints' they put on him in the form of his mother.
This did NOT go unnoticed by Zelretch however, as he stopped bouncing like an idiot and regarded him with childish curiosity. "Oh? Not gonna snap are you? Come on, you know you want to." Zelretch questioned, tilting his head in a manner SO reminiscent of a cute girl. "Besides, it would only show to me that you are a weak little kid with a small mind and too firm morals for doing things only your way, what do they call those? Oh yeah, a winy little brat."
'That look does NOT fit this man in the least...' Nico thought to himself, shaking his head before he spoke in a tone which practically oozed fake kindness. He refused to let his Ghoul side (his Inner Ghoul ranting and raving right now) try anything stupid which could get them both killed. "Nah, I will not give you the satisfaction, besides even if I snapped it is clear as day that I would not stand a chance." he replied, gesturing to the Mad Magician.
"Ah, interesting. From what I've heard, I had initially expected a beast lashing out at anything that did not fit in your definition of right, but it seems that you have some degree of flexibility after all. Well, you are a beast trying to fit into a role that just isn't your type, so I guess it makes sense." the man mused, causing Nico to grow tense. He knew EXACTLY what Zelretch was referring too, though what he DIDN'T know was, how the hell did that guy know about his Ghoul Side? That question almost left his lips, before he bit it back. Especially when Zelretch clapped his hands and everything around them reverted to a normal clearing... including Nico's appearance by the way. "Whelp, you've piqued my interest boy. Looks like my student wasn't lying about you." he remarked thoughtfully, now dressed in more Mage-like robes.
'Student? Wait, does that mean...?' Nico wondered, glancing over to MAGES., who nodded in his direction (although she looked reluctant to admit it). That just conformed his thoughts to him. With that out of the way, Nico looked back to the old man, a look of realization dawning on him as he put the pieces together in his mind. "By student, do you mean that...?"
"Yup this little cutie here's my latest student. Took her from her home dimension to train her when I discovered her talent, though I MAY have accidentally dropped her, and a couple friends of hers, into this one by mistake. Well, not like it matters all that much since I would drop her on a world where vampires shiny like butterflies and everything is depressing so over here is an improvement if you ask me, I did ask her to go with her friends kill to them earlier, but I sent their ultimate nemesis there anyway so it will probably work out. I'd take facing demons anytime over having to deal with those emo fuckers." Zelretch replied, shrugging his shoulders afterward. "In any case, since you piqued my curiosity, how about an opportunity?"
"Huh? What opportunity?"
"Quite simple my boy, I have been watching this pocket dimension you live in and it is too depressing, so I invite you to come to my Colosseum to fight some challenges I created. I want to get rid of some of my stuff so I will give them to those I chose, I already have my godson there but I want one more guinea rat, I mean test subject, for the trials before I bring in others to enjoy my challenges! I hope you enjoy it." Zelretch explained with a mischievous smile, before snapping his fingers. Instantly, Nico sensed something had changed drastically, but before he could say anything back to him, the redhead male's form vanish instantly.
And all the while, the Mad Magician only watched, frowning to herself before Zelretch too vanished not long after Nico did. MAGES. could only hope deep down inside, that things would not go so bad. However, knowing how her teacher acted, she figured that was asking too much.
Chapter end!
Alright, now here's the thing guys: The next chapter will be a bit confusing for you all. Why? Because it begins after a small crossover that me and my companion King Carlos are doing. We're having our MC's from our stories OEG and 'Heroic Heir in DxD' meet up in Zelretch's alternate dimension. There, the two will likely have to team up in order to pass these trials Zelretch has in mind for them, and if they do pass, then they get some... goodies... as a reward for their troubles. Oh, and if anyone is confused, we're talking about Zelretch from the fate series.
This has been a long time in the making, and is also the reason why this chapter came out so late. It started before the Hellverse Arc as an idea, before being actually developed during that particular arc. Its purpose is mostly filler, but if you read it you will understand certain decisions which are going to be made later on. Even so, I will try to do my best to explain them anyways, in case you all get confused.
