Five months. Oopsie.
Sorry guys for the delayed. Got wrapped up with works that I couldn't properly write this chapter.
Before getting to the chapter:
To AmethystDragonEmperorXIII: Glad that you enjoyed the story. And yes, I can see their reactions BEFORE I decided to write this story.
To Vein Bloodborne: Thank you for your concern and your enjoyment.
To RamzaLouvre: Ah yes, I'm aware of other professional players. However, Donguri is the first person I saw on Youtube back then, and since then I have been a fan of him. There is a certain charm in his videos that I like, not just his skills. Though, I will keep it in mind in case if I plan to release any extra chapters.
To the people who complain about my writing style and the OCs' participation: Well, my apology for disappointing you. However, I can only promise to try to improve my writing and minimize OCs' time. Getting rid of them is kinda impossible because of my previous story's affection.
To the ones who want DMC5 reaction: When I manage to finish this story first, and only when no one else is going to write RWBY's reaction to DMC5, I will start on the next one.
Now it's time for the story to return! Enjoy!
Mission 11: The Ninth Cycle
Prevent the birth of a god!
Circling through the Power-up menu, Ruby starts considering her options. "There is one last combo for Red Queen, but I don't really like that move... Let's try Enemy Step next then... Showdown..."
"That looks like a risky, but high reward skill." Weiss comments. "The delay in the start means that you're going to be vulnerable to attacks, and you have to be close to the enemies."
"Hm... why not? It's not like we haven't done that before!"
...
The scene opens with a monstrous statue standing in the middle of the area.
"Okay, that thing is HUGE!" Nora comments. "Do you think it's even bigger than the Grimm Dragon?"
"Maybe." Ren replies. "Hope that Salem doesn't make it any bigger."
Ruby notices another Combat Adjudicator in the other side of them map, so she immediately heads to the left road and gets there. During the way she notices another blue wheel 'puzzle'. She takes note in her mind to return to that later. She then goes and breaks up the Adjudicator and takes the Blue Orb Fragment from it. "You know... I think the Adjudicator should be made to be able to fight back. It could be fun at first, but it would get boring... And I think Enemy Step doesn't work on them."
"I think it's because the statues don't count as 'enemies' but 'puzzles'." Jaune comments. "And they don't have 'health' either."
"Hm... does the Style Meter count as theirs?"
"Eh...maybe?"
Taking the right route first to make sure she doesn't forget anything, Ruby then heads to the blue wheel and slashes it. The Grim Grips appear, and Ruby uses them to get to the second floor.
The red strings appear as she walks forward a few steps, and the flying demons return, though the white one only appears after the two red demons get defeated.
"Charged Shot 3 makes it way too easy."
"Don't count on it, Sis. The game makers definitely knows its power, so they must have done something more in the future so it wouldn't be a cakewalk."
After that small section, Ruby heads to a construct that looks similar to the elevator that requires the Wing Talisman, though there is no elevator there. Luckily, the key to call it is the red-black pillar positioned on its left.
Once reaching the second floor, some sort of teleporting platform appears in her left with another in the first floor, and a sealed gate to the right. Thanks to that, Ruby decides to just ignore the teleporting platform and heads to the sealed gate. Reaching the gate, Ruby sees a Scarecrow behind the gate, and notices the stone in front of the gate being slightly above the ground. She walks to it, but when the stone sinks down, nothing happens. She then sees a note next to the gate:
'Proceeding alone is strictly prohibited.'
"...So they want you to split into two." Weiss decides to joke.
"How? Nero doesn't have that kind of skill..."
"That's just a joke, Ruby." The heiress corrects.
Ruby looks through the gate, and sees the same step-stone from her side, with the Scarecrow slowly walking to her. Deciding to cut short the time, she pulls it closer to her, and the gate opens once the Scarecrow lands on the step-stone. "That... do you have security like this in Atlas?"
"Obviously."
"Heat signal, handprint scanning or eye scanning?" Blake asks curiously.
"Yes."
After turning the Scarecrows to dust, Ruby runs on the stair and reaches another elevator. However, this time there is no 'key' next to it to activate. Though, there's a Divinity Statue right next to it.
"Let's find that key, fast, so we can beat that old man up."
Not even needed hearing Yang's request, Ruby continues walking to the right way and sees two sections Grim Grips. The first one is no problem, but they move in the second section. Though, with easy-to-notice pattern, Ruby easily gets past them... until at the end, when the Devil Bringer shines up before she reaches past the wall. She plans to jump back on the wall and takes the hidden orbs, only to fall into the pit of the Grim Grip second section and triggers a fight against the Bianco Angelos.
"...I shouldn't be greed of those orbs." Ruby's tongue sticks out in embarrassment.
"Nah, I think it's fine. Free Red Orbs in my eyes."
"Not in higher difficulty Yang."
After dealing with the demon armors, Ruby gets herself back to the hidden orbs and takes it, then activates the next 'puzzle' and Snatch her way up to the third floor. In there, she finds the 'key' that activates the elevator... after dealing with another set of Angelo.
"This is getting repetitive..." Nora starts to get bored.
"Well, it's because we're in Normal difficulty." Ren replies. "Normal people's senses aren't really on the same level as us Huntsmen."
"I do have to agree with Nora, though." Pyrrha is on the energetic girl's side. "Even Grimm has their own varieties."
'Well, we have FIVE games of this series, and people are asking to have you guys playing the next game.'
"But then, why did you let us play the fourth one first?" Jaune asks. "Shouldn't it be better to play from the beginning?"
'It's... a bit of 'personal favorite' thing, and then... you guess it. Can't blame the audience, though.'
"Yeah, you can't."
Returning back to the elevator, another set of demons appear... which seem to spawn endlessly. After the second time, Ruby is bored and decides to run to the Divinity Statue, buy the last Purple Orb, and heads to the elevator...
"What the..." Nero asks in wonder as he looks at the head of the enormous statue. It has the image of the statue in the church, with some sort of yellow circle-ish behind its head. Though that feeling quickly dies down as he points Blue Rose towards Sanctus who emerges out of the statue's head.
"Is it not beautiful?" The priest, covered in a golden Aura, asks with his echo voice.
"Eh... in one point, maybe." Ruby answers. "Can't really lie about that."
"I think we've got a difference of opinion on that one." Either it's his genuine answer, or he's just pissed at Sanctus.
"How unfortunate." Either way, the priest doesn't mind much.
Then, he waves his left arm up, the blue jewelry on the statue's forehead lights up... revealing Kyrie being captured and hanged out, causing Nero to lower his gun while looking at her in worry. He calls out her name, and she manages to hear him and looks down...
"On serious note, how could they hear each other? Nero being able to hear Sanctus because his voice is echoing, but vice versa?" Qrow cuts in.
"Don't just ruin the moment like that uncle." The question is never answered.
"Is it not your wish..." That reminds Nero to point his gun towards the evil guy. "To become one with her? Within the Savior, your mortal bodies will combine, melting into one to manifest and create his core!"
"Urgh... taking metaphor to a different meaning. This guy..." Yang grunts, not liking how he uses the phrase like that.
"And I thought he needed Dante to be the core?"
"Because Nero is Dante's nephew. And they needed only the blood of the Sparda." Weiss answers her leader's question.
"A thing of utter and pure beauty."
"Okay you're stretching it dude." Qrow dryly says.
"Go blow yourself." That reply makes his girl smile, but the priest angry. Nero then looks at Kyrie and says: "I'm here to save you...Please trust me."
That's all it takes for Kyrie to smile before she's pulled back into the statue.
"How can we break down this statue? Even with demonic power, I don't believe Nero can do anything against it." Ruby wonders.
"Punch it until it's dead?"
"Brute tactics... but might work actually."
"Really? The Ice Queen is praising my method?"
"I mean, it's pretty much what Nero's arm is for, right?"
"I'm afraid you are too late." The priest's annoying voice returns. "But although still incomplete, this is your chance to catch a glimpse of the true power of our Savior!" With that, the fight begins.
"Okay, it's on old man!"
Sanctus enters the fight by phasing up through the ground, hovers in midair with a barrier protecting him. Floating next to him and following him are two Grim Grips. And the first move the boss makes is to taunt her. Ruby decides to pulls herself towards him and uses Roulette Spin to instantly shatter the barrier. Once it's broken, Sanctus quickly backs away, then he sends out two ground attacks to her. Though it's a bit pointless since the Grips are his own downfall as Ruby just Snatch herself to him then slashes him once with an enhanced hit...and he falls to the ground.
That moment makes everyone raise their eyebrows in disappointment. Though Ruby pushes that aside and enters Devil Trigger, pulls the boss towards her and uses Showdown...
Nero and his shadow's left arm grip on the sheathes of the katanas, as their right hands start reaching towards the handle. And about two seconds later, the two start throwing slashes at the evil priest, and end the streak with a double sword cross. And when Sanctus is flung away, he pulls the priest back to him and ORA ORA the hell towards the old man. Ending the combo with a punch to the chest, Nero lets the old man lean on him to catch some breaths before wrapping Sanctus' head with his left hand and says with echoed voice (due to the DT): "You are a demon, not me." With that, Nero throws the right hook right at the old man's left cheek, throwing the old man away.
"Now THAT is satisfying!" Nora cheers. "Break his legs next time Nero!"
"LET HIM HAVE HIM NERO!" Ruby, Yang and Qrow shout up, agreeing totally with the girl's catchphrase.
After being punched into oblivion, Sanctus wakes up and recovers his shield. He plans to fight back, but... his shield and strength are so 'pathetic' that Ruby just completely shatters them in ten seconds, and she gives another ORA ORA section.
After wrecking 8.5 out of 10 bars of his opponent's health, Nero tries to slash Sanctus again, but the priest manages to float away. The evil old man phases into the statue, and he activates the statue. The enormous statue starts moving, and its right arm starts rising up...
"Are you kidding old man? That's cheating!" Yang shouts in disbelief.
At that moment, there is a small loading screen. And when it ends, the statue immediately slams its right knuckle into the platform where Nero stands, narrowingly missing him. Ruby is expecting to continuing fighting the statue... and sees Sanctus reappearing into the fight. "...Really? Just one punch and you return?"
"...Okay, retracting my statement earlier. But isn't using the statue to crush Nero a better plan? You clearly are no match for the young Hunter."
"I think it's because the statue is not 'completed'. Sanctus said that earlier, right?" Pyrrha says, remembering the previous conversation.
"...You know what? How about we let him try?" Weiss says, before quickly explains. "Look, if this actually happens in our world, I don't mind Yang bashing the guy's head to the wall."
"Well... you have a point." Ruby shrugs, and goes slower this time.
True enough, despite being a weak old man, Sanctus does actually has some spells. He could blast three continuous fireballs towards Nero, summons lightning around him, or blasts his energy into the ground and damages anything below and in front of him. And when his shield is down but he's not stunned, he retreats back into the statue and orders it to punch Nero/Ruby.
"...Can we counter that?" Jaune asks.
"Erm... probably?"
Everyone in the room notices that the statue punches fast, but the time to prepare it is very long. Deciding to not finish the fight yet, Ruby keeps breaking the shield and waits for Sanctus to take control of the statue. She starts trying to counter the punch, but for some reasons that she couldn't do so, despite already facing the direction of the punch (using analog).
After three times of not succeeding, Ruby wants to give up...
'Lock on the punch, then release lock on at the last moment so the Buster could hit.'
"Oh?" Ruby listens and keeps locking on the Sanctus even when he starts hiding into the statue. And true enough, the lock-on changes to the punch. When the punch is thrown, she throws out her own Buster and punches away the statue's arm, staggering it. And, for some reasons Sanctus is also flung out of the statue and stunned, giving Ruby chance to ORA ORA him for the last time. "Thanks T.O!"
...
Getting punched towards the statue, Sanctus looks up to see Nero jumping up and aiming Yamato towards him. The priest immediately hides, and shows Kyrie in front of Nero. That causes Nero to stop his slashing and hold his attack back, thus getting grabbed by the statue.
"HEY! THAT'S CHEATING, FOR REAL!" Both Yang and Ruby shout at the same time, completely angered at how Sanctus willingly uses the girl as his human shield.
"Bad guys don't care, kids."
"Held back by love. Such a shame." Reappearing back on top of the Savior, Sanctus starts his monologue. "Still, I must salute a man who carries the blood of Sparda."
"Yeah, like you have any shame!" Nora and Jaune shout.
"While not in Dante's league, you still presented a harder fight than I have anticipated."
"Dante?" Nero asks, not exactly knowing why the Order needed him.
"I had originally intended to absorb him into the Savior." Sanctus reveals the truth. "But circumstance presenting, I'd rather choose the option at hand."
Seeing Kyrie being sucked back, Nero struggles and tries to free himself out of Savior's grip but fails. The arm then raises up so Nero is on the same level as Sanctus. Then, somehow, the old priest manages to pull Yamato out of Nero's arm and grabs it. He starts examining the weapon while continuing: "When your blood and this sword are combined, we will be able to proceed to the final stage of our ultimate goal."
"Urgh, it's just Salem and Cinder all over again." Ruby groans.
Then, to everyone's surprise, Credo appears in his demon and slashes Sanctus twice, catching the old man off guard. When the priest is down, Credo shouts to Nero to run. However, when Nero manages to pull his demon arm out, he looks up...
"CREDO!" He and the audience shout in distress as Sanctus recovers and stabs Credo through his abdomen, canceling his transformation.
"You have betrayed us." Sanctus says, a bit surprised and utter disappointed. "Why?"
He plans to pull the sword out, but Credo holds the blade back so his blood wouldn't spurt out. Nero plans to shout, but no words come out.
"I served the dream of a world you spoke of..." The former general says with his dying breath. "The Savior you preach of... But you used my sister, Kyrie, who has nothing to do with this, and that's beyond forgiveness."
"Please don't die, please don't die..."
Tired of hearing it, Sanctus stabs Credo again before saying: "Love? For a sibling? How foolish." And this time the priest pulls out Yamato forcefully, leaving Credo free-falling off the statue to his death. "All that is needed..." Nero tries to grab Credo, but he's out of reach. "Is absolute power!"
"No..."
Thankfully, before he reaches the hard platform, Dante jumps from nowhere and grabs Credo and lands on the floor effortlessly.
"YES! THANK YOU DANTE!"
When Dante puts down Credo next to a fallen column, Gloria? stands between them and the Savior with her handguns ready.
"Oh, it's you... Gloria." Sanctus recognizes the undercover woman, who just shrugs back. "Unfortunately you did not anticipate a descendant of Sparda's blood, and because of this boy, you have been outwitted! And the Savior will be completed!"
Though, for some reasons, both Gloria? and Dante (who has made sure that Credo isn't going to die...soon) look at each other and says nothing about it.
"...Um... Dante and Gloria... you two aren't surprised?" Yang asks in confusion. "Nero was not in your plan... right?"
"I think they are professional enough to not let something not in their plans ruin them." Weiss replies.
"I don't know..." Dante speaks up with his carefree tone while pointing at Nero. "I'd wager this kid's still got some life in him."
With no further warning, Nero calls out his Spectral Arm and grabs Sanctus, then slams him into the statue. However, Sanctus phases through it, and a second later teleports next to Nero and stabs Yamato into his demonic arm.
"You fool! Escape is now impossible! The creation cannot be stopped!" Sanctus then pulls Yamato out and phases away with his evil laugh.
"Damn it!" Ruby grunts in displeased. "I though Nero got him there!"
That laugh echoes a bit in his mind, as Nero hangs his head down in defeat...
"Hey, kid! You giving up so soon?" Dante shouts up, gaining Nero's attention.
"My options... are limited..." The young Hunter weakly replies.
Dante lets out a chuckle and says: "So melodramatic."
"He just lost, give him a rest." Blake speaks up, not liking Dante's antic at this moment.
"Maybe that's his way of trying to cheer Nero up." Pyrrha defends the Red-coated Hunter.
"Besides, if you die without giving my sword back, I'm gonna be pissed!"
"Oh really?" Weiss groans. "You returned because of that?"
At the last moment before he's absorbed, Nero flips the bird with his demonic arm and says: "Then come and get it."
'PSSH.'
"Don't freaking laugh!" Ruby shouts into the air.
"Heh, what a punk..." Dante says jokingly.
...
In a dark place where only the light of his arm can be seen... Nero floats in the empty space with no goals in mind...
"...So he dies..." Ruby lets out a sad sigh. "We just got to know him..."
"Maybe not, Ruby." Weiss is more positive. "Besides, Kyrie is captured in the statue, not just absorbed. The priest is going to use his body as the core, so he would need him alive."
Kyrie's song in the church before Dante appeared starts echoing in the space, and Nero now notices a new light appearing from behind him. He turns to see her floating there, slowly turning to him with her smile on the face. The space turns from black to white as Nero calls out for her: "Kyrie... I failed to save you..."
He then tries to grab the girl's waiting hand, but when he's about to, Kyrie starts vanishing. Nero looks surprised and desperate, but Kyrie only smiles and says: "Nero...thank you..."
After that, the girl vanishes completely, leaving Nero behind. Then. darkness starts 'pulling' him into it, as he tries to pull himself out but fails. In his last attempt, he shouts: "Kyrie! I swear it! I swear I'm going to get us out of here! Together! Kyrie!"
...
"So... at least we know that he's not going to die lying down... right?" Yang asks uncertainly.
"Obviously. Nero's a hard-head guy. He wouldn't just give up that easily." Qrow replies. "Of course, he would have to be careful or that priest would use Kyrie as the human shield."
"That person might fight with Salem over the control of Grimm if he's here." Blake shakes his head. "Both of them basically have the same dominion plans."
Returning back to reality, Nero is being crushed and sucked in by a wall of flesh...
"EW! That is how the inside the statue looks like?" Nora says in disgust. "I don't wanna fight that thing again!"
"We haven't even dealt with one, Nora." Ren sighs. "But I share your feeling."
"I swear, we're going to bring flamethrowers if we're heading into ANY caves after this." Yang grunts, her hair slightly flaring up.
"You ARE a human torch, Yang."
"Nope, not gonna go anywhere near that, Kitty."
With a new core, the statue is able to move to the next stage. It starts flying up, its power emitting around it starts breaking some parts of the building structures, which are now following the statue up to the air. Then, wing-like halo appears on its back, showing more of its 'majestic' state.
"Check it out!" For some 'reasons', the Red Hunter is not fazed at all, even laughs at the full appearance of the statue. "It's got wings!"
Everyone is dumbfounded at how 'not caring' Dante is. Then Weiss shakes her head and scolds: "For Oum's sake, Dante. The world is in danger here! This is no time to joke!"
"The design shows terrible taste." EVEN Gloria? is not affected by it and jokes alongside her partner.
"How could BOTH OF THEM be carefree in this situation?" Jaune asks in surprise. "Even both of 'you' never did things like this when it's urgent."
'Don't compare him with us. He's in a totally different level.'
The two then hears Credo waking up with coughs. Dante walks to him and asks: "Hey, where's that thing going? It's not complete yet, is it?"
"Duh, you ALLOWED the priest to finish it!" Weiss critics.
Trying to push himself up, Credo explains: "It's in his heart to save this world from chaos. He will begin by driving it out."
"Now he has what he needs. Yamato." Gloria? adds to the statement.
"Sparda used it to seal the Hell Gate from the demon world, the sword is the key to opening the Hell Gate...the real Hell Gate..."
"Um...it's a bit late to ask, but... I thought that the Hell Gates are already opened?" Pyrrha asks in confusion. "I mean, the replicated ones suffer enough, right?"
'Not enough to bring chaos. Villain's mind won't work normally.'
"That lies dormant beneath this city..."
Credo then stops to take a breather, as Dante continues: "The sword that separates the human world from the demon world..."
"Uh... no offense, but shouldn't Dante already know how the sword works, right? I mean, it belonged to his father..." Jaune asks.
And Ren answers: "Probably exposition to us newcomers."
"I think you, the son of the Dark Knight Sparda, are the only one who can stop the Savior now, Dante..." Slowly reaching the death door, Credo then speaks out his request.
That makes Dante turn away for a moment, while Gloria? comments: "Looks like you've got a rep to live up to."
"Looks that way." Dante simply replies.
Credo then tries to stand up for the last time, and when he's able to stand on his foot, helped by the collapsed pillar behind him, the General says his death wish: "Please, honor one last request..."
The group say nothing, because they know what is going to happen.
"Save them. Kyrie... and Nero..."
Placing his right arm on Dante's shoulder, Credo speaks out his last words. He then falls and Dante plans to hold him up and puts him down, but Credo's body turns into gold dust and flies away, marking the end of the General's life.
For a few seconds, no one says a thing, as Dante stands up and looks at Gloria? and starts forming a plan in his head...
"I'll do it. I wouldn't want to deny anyone their dying request."
The group releases a sigh of relief as Ruby says: "Thank you, Dante."
"I will sweep the city and evacuate the people." Gloria? then says her plan and starts walking away.
"Hey!" And Dante doesn't like hearing that. "Is this your way of ditching and dumping this mess on-"
"You wanna switch?" Gloria? immediately counters.
"...I repeat, the world's in danger." Weiss is annoyed again. "Stop complaining and do your work."
"...It's cool." Not wanting to do what Gloria? is going to do, Dante sticks with his original plan. "Let's stick to the plan."
And with that, the mission ends.
"Let's stop here, guys." After the game result shows up, Ruby puts down the controller and says out loud. "We will continue on the next weekend. It's a bit late, and I think we should stop spoiling ourselves too much."
"Why not tomorrow?" Jaune asks curiously.
"I don't think we should do so." Weiss explains. "This game is way too hyped. We might forget to wake up for the next working week."
"Well, guess it's time for me to leave." Qrow stands up and picks up his stuffs. "I will arrange my work to join next time. This game looks fun, better than what we have in Remnant."
"Obviously, Dad. Good weekend, and make sure to not make Mom mad for being in the bar for too long."
"Hey hey, kid. I wouldn't do that after she threatened to pluck my feathers. Good night kids." That makes the whole room laugh as Qrow flies away, vanishing into the dark sky.
"Let's get some rest and then go shopping tomorrow!" Nora then just pulls Ren out of RWBY's room and declares what they will do the next day.
"Nora being Nora." Jaune chuckles, then he stands up and heads out with Pyrrha. "Good night to you all."
"Good night!" His girlfriend quickly says her goodbye as well, and the two exits the room.
"...Now that I think about it, didn't we see Dante's name right next to Nero's in the first menu already?" Blake then asks a critical question.
"...I did, but I just decided to ignore it." Weiss shrugs. "Guess we should have seen it coming."
"Nah, then it won't be fun!" Yang is still a little hyped up. "Let's wrap this up and call it a day!"
"Well... after we clean this first." Ruby says as she points down the leftovers around their room.
"...Yeah." Her teammates agree.
Chapter 11 end!
So yeah, not many actions, considering Sanctus' first form doesn't have many moves. It's more of a build-up story plot.
The next chapter would be mission 12 (no extra chapters). I think it's time for you all to suggest to team RWBY what to buy for our favorite Devil Hunter. And yeah, I was planning to just finish the game in one weekend, but... it might ruin the fun... Or I would do so, who knows?
Also, a little voting: Should I invite CFVY to react to this game and the fifth one as well? Even if it's a bit overloaded to me, if you guys like it, then I will do it.
That's it for now. Waiting for your decision! See you all again in the future!
