Aiden shot up from his motel room bed, panting heavily, and a thin coat of sweat covering half of his upper body
"Aiden?Aiden!?Are you okay,son?"the worried voice of Sparda called out to him
"Y-yeah,I'm-I'm fine"
"Was it another nightmare about...that day?" the old demon hesitantly asked
The now 20-year old young man let out a deep, shaky breath to Sparda's correct answer.
"Yeah, it was"
"I see...I'm sorry to hear that,Aiden"
"...We'll talk about it once I'm done with my task"
"Okay,but you better keep that promise,you know how Eva gets when she's worried about you"
The raven haired young man chuckled nervously but with a bit of relief, if there's one valuable lesson he has learned about Sparda's wife is to never EVER worry her
"Yeah,I'll engrave that into my brain right now"
Aiden stood up from his bed,feeling a bit more calm after remembering the very embarrassing yet very heartwarming memories of Eva scolding him
Said memories caused a soft smile to form on the youth's face. He stood up from his bed and made his way to the bathroom
A couple of seconds later he was now standing in front of the cabinet in his motel room bathroom, the mirror showcasing the young man's lean yet muscular build. His raven hair unkempt and reaching over the front of his face, one large bang covering his left eye completely and obscuring nearly half of his forehead.
He didn't dwell on his look as he opened the cabinet and grabbed the neatly folded white towel resting inside
He began dapping the dry cloth over his forehead as there were quite a few drops of sweat resting there. Once he was done dapping his entire face, he then began rubbing the towel all over his torso to fully remove the sweat
"Aiden,are you alright dear?"the soft yet concerned voice of a woman asked him
That voice belonged to Sparda's mentioned wife and Aiden's adoptive mother; Eva
"Yeah,I'm fine.Just had another nightmare about...that day" Aiden answered a bit shakily
"Oh,sweetie...do you want to talk about it right now?"
"Once I'm done with my mission first,Eva.I don't want to leave whatever demon there is unkilled"
Eva let out a sad sigh to the boy's answer
"Okay,but once your done you better promise me young man that you'll talk to us about it,you know I don't like the ways you deal with your trauma at times"
"Don't worry I will and I promise to not cope it in unhealthy ways.I learned that from the terrifying glare you gave me back then...and the punishment that came soon after"
"Well can you blame me!?last winter you decided to meditate under a waterfall!Do you have any idea how bad your hypothermia could've been if me and my husband didn't stop you?"
The boy scratched his head in embarrassment as he remembered how Eva scolded him harshly for his carelessness"Yeah,I really wasn't thinking clearly back then and don't worry Eva I promise I won't do something that harmful again"
The worried woman let out another frustrated sigh "Okay then,just be careful out there alright?"
"I will"
He folded the towel to it's once neat state and put it back into cabinet before closing it, proceeding to walk out of the bathroom and closing it's door
The remainder of his clothing was resting on a chair he placed next to the bed. His attire consisting of a dark purple turtleneck sweater paired, a men's black dress coat, and a pair of black dress boots resting near his bed
But before he putton his clothes he looked at his black guitar case that was resting near the door of his room. The contents inside being a purple bass guitar he found on dumpster. The boy couldn't bear seeing an instrument like that just rot there so he decided to take it and use it properly
That would be one his greatest decisions as it would soon become one of the most valuable things he owned as he played relaxing pieces of music to put his mind at ease
He smiled at it softly as he remembered how his two adoptive parents would applaud him for playing a cover of their favorite songs. Just one of the various positives that came from owning the guitar
He shook away those memories, now was the time to put on his clothes and get ready for today
He checked his clothing as he finished putting them on and adjusting them. He trailed down his eyesight to every inch to make sure it didn't have any hair,dust,or stains.After seeing that his clothes didn't have any form of dirtyness,he put on his dress boots,also making sure those didn't have any stains on them as well
Once he finished he finally made his way to the door,grabbing his guitar case and exiting the room
...
Once he was outside of the motel,the coldness of the weather instantly made his body shiver.But after a few seconds of walking,guitar case being held by one hand,the shivering stopped completely
Currently he was in the capital city of Moscow,Russia in the Riga district
The beauty of the Riga district has always been shown on postcards and vacation magazines.And it was beautiful to look at
But the dark side of the district is noticeable as soon as anyone new here saw the rotting looking houses,but the state of the houses is the least of anyone's worry.Drunkards,stray dogs,illegal dealings and other terrifying activities could be found if anyone kept on wandering.And once they did,the facade of the beautiful district is gone
Though the dangerous nature of the place didn't deter Aiden to walk normally through the cobblestone streets,since his demon hunting training made him was way more dangerous than anything around here
A quality he was grateful for
"This place makes me feel saddened for anyone who's trying to live normally..."
Aiden heard the distraught voice of his adoptive mother interrupting his thoughts.The youth couldn't help but also feel a bit saddened as well.If there's one thing he hated about these dangerous districts,is the fact that the people who are trying to live normally will have a high chance of getting dragged into the dangerous activities for no reason,and will most likely never make it out alive
"I agree with you,Eva.But sadly now's not the time to dwell on that,there is something far more dangerous lurking inside that bar,so we have to find it and kill it before it's too late..."Aiden declared as he knew how Eva's caring nature could show in places like this
"I understand,I just hope we have the time to help some of the people here"
"Don't worry we'll do so once we're done..."
He stopped walking to take a look around the street he was in and once his eyes trailed down to the familiar sight of a stray cat resting under a cardboard box,he knew that he was getting close to the bar
"So Aiden..." Sparda voice started as Aiden resumed walking to his destination"how about we go over what we currently know about the bar to know what foe we're facing"
"Okay...The bar is owned by a local gang that is rumored to have connections to the mafia.The operations that are held inside the top side bar,which I guess only the lieutenants or bosses are allowed into,are rumored to be illegal auctions,major drug deals,and maintaining connections with corrupt politicians"
"A place that the scum of this city rule.Hmph,good thing we dealt with them first before moving on to the possible worse issue"
The youth nodded in agreement
"But what were really focusing on is the case that was reported 3 days ago by the local police department"Sparda recalled
"Yeah,apparently the citizens that live near the location felt a hard rumble.At first they thought that an earthquake was happening,but in reality the rumbling was coming from the basement of the bar,confirmed by the bartender and a couple of patrons"
"It definitely must be a big demon for it to cause that sort of effect around it's environment"Eva guessed to the information they had
"Or a demon with the ability to cause giant rumbling"Sparda also guessed
"Maybe,but perhaps this piece of information will be able to narrow it down"
The adoptive parents listened to Aiden in silence"Apparently the door to the basement is frozen solid,so solid in fact that all of the battering rams the police used broke in a couple of hours"
Sparda hummed to the information of the report.He was trying to recall which demon had the ability to cause rumbling and create solid ice
After a few more seconds of humming and thinking,the old demon answered:"It was Cerebeus.The triple headed demon dog"
Eva and Aiden were both surprised to hear that.Summoning small demons could be easy,but summoning one of that caliber is considered complicated.Which meant one thing...
"They must've been working for a long time to summon a demon that dangerous and powerful"Eva figured as she knew that pulling off that sort of thing is not a walk in the park
"Yeah,it seems that way.And they're also downright stupid for even summoning a demon that's far from their control"
Sparda let out a frustrated sigh"What were these scumbags even thinking!?summoning a demon as dangerous as Cerebeus is summoning a literal massacre"
"I don't know why they do it dear,but what I do is that we can't let it stay there any longer"
Sparda hummed in agreement to his wife.There will be time to berate this gang's idioacrsy
...
After a few more minutes of walking on the brick sidewalk in the ice cold weather and turning a street or two,Aiden faced the bar that was across the street he was standing on
The front of the bar was closed down with yellow tape,though vandalism is shown by crude graffiti painting the windows and said windows having holes in through them
Aiden let out a deep breath as a scared feeling started to build within him.Throughout the years of fighting these monsters,the much more 'unique' ones always made him feel anxious to face
"Son,try to keep yourself calm as soon as you confront Cerebeus,alright?"
Aiden nodded at Sparda's crucial advice,he needed the calm and collected mindset so he won't perform a reckless move
The youth let out another deep breath as he walked towards the bar,not needing to rip tape for easier access as it was already ripped
He grabbed the door knob,opening the door and walking inside the now abandoned establishment
...
After making a turn to a hallway Aiden found the trapdoor that lead to the basement
"Let's do this"
He grabbed the one of the curved hatches of the door and pried it open, descending down the darkened set of stairs,the amulet giving his eyes night vision to see clearly(and to make sure he didn't drop his guitar case)
After making his way down the stairs his eyes soon saw a wooded door that looked like it came from the medieval ages
Aiden opened that door and came with the sighting of the large rows of alcohol filled barrels
The young man walked past them since what really brought his attention was the metal door that had a 1-9 keypad located on the other side of the room
As the young devil hunter stood in front of the password protected door,he pushed the buttons 2188 as he remembered in the police file(that he stole)was the password for access
After hearing a click,he grabbed the metal knob and opened the door
But as soon as he did a cold breeze swept past him,far more colder than outside.His body immediately reacted by shivering wildly,but after a couple of more seconds of withstanding the cold breeze the shivering stopped
"Okay,time to prepare to face hell itself..."
Aiden looked down on the guitar case he was still holding onto.It was now time to use his primary weapon.He gently layed down the case on the floor and opened it,revealing his purple bass guitar in it's full glory
He smiled softly at the instrument but now wasn't the time to play a tune,it was time to kick some ass
He flipped the opened case around and pulled off the black silk guitar case lining to show the case's secret contents.A sleek black katana handle made out of metal with engraved snake patterns,a black metal fuchi,a round black metal tsubasa,a black habaki,and the final/most essential part of the weapon,a black blade that was 40 inches in length with a skinny metal handle
He grabbed the blade's handle,resting the flat side on an open palm.He grabbed the habaki inside the handle,then the tsubasa,then the fuchi,and finally he put in the actual handle
After hearing the click from the weapon,he brought up the katana to his eyes with a proud smile shown on his face
The Black Ghost was finally assembled and ready for action
He then reached for the sword's sleek black scabbard which had two small black ropes wrapped near the top.The devil hunter twirled the sword before sliding it inside the sheath
Aiden grabbed the two small ropes attached to the sheath and tied them around his waist so he won't have to hold the sheath while he's battling.He needed to grab the sword with both of his hands to swing the katana to it's fullest potential
The devil hunter was now ready to walk down the dark hallway with the coldest breeze he ever felt.Before doing so...
Aiden put the guitar lining back in its place,adjusting it before closing the case.The young man then grabbed the case by the handle,concentrating for a second before it disappeared in a purple light
The guitar was now stored in the amulet
Aiden then turned around to face the dark cold hallway in front of him,a sense of fear creeping up in his stomach
"Aiden,are you ready for this?"Sparda asked to his adopted son
"I wouldn't if I wasn't here"Aiden answered him with confidence,but Sparda knew that he was getting nervous
"Hm,just remember to try and keep yourself calm.I know you're fear is building up,but you cannot let it control over you once you face Cerebeus"
"I know,but as long as you and Eva are there with me I'll never be scared"
Eva swelled in happiness to her son's words with Sparda chuckling softly
"We're flattered to hear that Aiden.Now go,I think we wasted enough time chatting"Sparda pressed the boy to go forward
Aiden did just that and walked into the cold hallway
...
The devil hunter stood in front of a door that was mostly covered in ice with it's surrounding area being covered in a thin sheet of ice
Aiden tried entering first by using the doorknob,but the second his hands made complete contact with the antarctic cold metal he instantly flinched back
Quickly after his hand recovered he chose a different approach.He took a few steps back and unsheathed his katana,twirling it once before flicking it towards the door.The blade then transformed into it's blade whip function as it reached it's target
The blade wrapped apart of itself to the knob and once the youth tugged at it for reassurance,he started pulling the wrapped whip with all of his strength.As he kept on pulling he heard the sounds of ice cracking loudly but sadly that would as far he would get as the knob snapped off the door
The metal object got sent flying across the hallway,hitting against the cobblestone floor with a loud clang that echoed throughout the hallway
"Good thing this place is closed down"
Aiden scowled at the frozen door,he grabbed his amulet and rose it to his eye level"Sparda looks like I need to forcefully open this door,think you can transfer your power to my feet in order to do so"
"Yes I can,but why transfer it to your feet?"
The devil hunter didn't answer as he sheathed his sword and took a couple of steps back
"I see now...your going to kick the door open"Sparda figured as Aiden was cracking his neck from side to side
"Yep,a better way to open a door if it's covered in ice"Aiden added to the strategy
"Just try to not hurt yourself in the process sweetie"Eva advised as the first time he did this,he ended up with a broken right foot
"Don't worry too much Eva,I am experienced enough to control your goofball of a husband's power"
Eva giggled in response"You're not wrong about that statement whatsoever.I remember him catching a mouse once with his mouth way before we were even married"
"You know I'm still here"The old demon reminded the two humans dryly
"Alright alright,I think we have wasted enough time already.Let's bust in"
He started running towards the door,Sparda's power already transferred to his feet surrounding them in a purple glow
As soon a he was a foot away from the door he jumped from the ground,cocking both of his legs back and slamming them to the door
As soon as apart of Sparda's power made contact with the door it got sent off to the other side,hitting the wall loudly
Aiden landed on his stomach after the dropkick,he got up and as soon as he felt that he didn't suffer any broken bones he made his into the ice cold room
What was lying on the other side was the terrifying image of a bunch of men,definitely apart of the gang that used to run the bar,frozen solid with faces of pure fear shown on every single one of them
Though that wasn't really the young devil hunter's main focus.His main focus was the large triple headed demon dog standing in front of him
The large demon was staring down at the devil hunter with a terrifying scowl with his glowing demonic eyes"What are you doing here,puny human?The likes of you aren't welcome here"
The deep,echoing voice didn't even faze Aiden as he just stared at the demon with narrowed eyes
The demon dog was quickly getting irritated as the human didn't respond to it's question,but it's three pairs of eyes trailed down to amulet hanging around the human's neck
"Is that Sparda's amulet!?Where did you find it,human?"
This time Aiden decided to respond"Yeah,it is and recently I have been trying to find the perfect test subject to test out it's power.I believe a mutt like you makes the perfect contender"
The insult immediately made the demon growl at him"How dare you call me a mutt,human!?A frail piece of flesh like you doesn't even stand a chance against me!"
"Oh,I apologize,I think meant to call you fido.Would you prefer that instead?"He teasingly asked the already infuriated demon with a smirk
"Enough of your insults!I think it's time for you to join the fools that summoned me"
Cerbeus cocked his middle head back as he opened one of his mouths,an icy blue glow forming inside before shooting an ice beam straight at Aiden
The young man jumped high to dodge the beam and landed safely.He turned his head to where the beam hit which unluckily was the entrance/exit
He turned to face Cerbeus,unsheathing his katana and pointing it's blade at the large demon"Well it looks like you're more than happy to accept my proposal,let's get started then shall we?"
Aiden rushed at the demon to it's right.Cerbeus swiped at him as he got close but he slid under the swipe and activated his sword's whip function as he unsheathed it.He then wrapped the whip around the wolf's arm and using it's momentum to swing against it's middle head,breaking all of the covering ice and exposing the dark blue skin of the monster
While it was still dazed Aiden jumped towards the middle head and retracted his katana back into it's normal state.He rose the blade over his head using both of his hands,as soon he got close to the head he brought the katana down to the head,splitting it by two halves
The demon dog let out a pained howl as large amounts of blood started to spurt out of it's split head"Gah,you'll pay for that you worm!!!"
The demon dog replaced it's middle head for the left head and then started slamming it's front legs to the ground,making it shake violently and causing Aiden to almost fall to the floor.But the real problem came quickly as the ice from the top of the room started falling down in spikes
Aiden saw some of the falling jagged ice and quickly evaded the ones that were coming straight down at him
Cerbeus stopped slamming his feet and cocked his middle head back again,an icy blue light forming inside
The devil hunter stopped evading after seeing no more ice falling on him,but he did see the demon dog charging his ice beam attack
The demon then shot his head towards Aiden,unleashing it's charged up ice beam
Aiden flipped to the side but he immediately started running as Cerbeus was doing a beam sweep
The young devil hunter slid,jumped,and bounced from the walls to avoid being frozen solid by the beam but during one of his jumps Cerbeus swiped at him.Aiden parried the large paw by slamming his sheathed sword against it,staggering both of them due to the strong force
Aiden ended up hitting the icy ground with a lot of force,rolling back for a few seconds before stopping
He grunted painfully as he did not like the feeling of his body scrapping against floor with a lot of speed.He quickly got up by handstanding himself off the ground
"Regretting your decision of fighting me now,worm?"
"No,just happy that you're finally becoming a challenge now"
The large demon snarled at the devil hunter as it rose it's front legs and slammed them against the ground causing the ice spikes to fall again
Aiden evaded them but this time from afar as he had a plan of attack that involved the use of the ice spikes
Once Cerbeus stopped slamming his legs Aiden sent out the blade whip to wrap the last remaining spikes and throw them to Cerbeus
He managed to get around 6 spikes,satisfied with the amount he got he swung his whip towards the large demon sending the trapped ice spikes to his two remaining heads
The demon dog didn't see the attack coming as the spikes hit against it's ice covered body,though it was mostly ineffective
Mostly...
"Gaaahhh,my eye!!!"
One of the spikes managed to impale the left eye of Cerbeus middle head,a large stream of blood spurting out
Aiden saw that the already impaled ice spike was sticking out from Cerbeus middle head like a metal nail
The young man dashed towards the demon dog,sliding his body on the icy floor to build up more speed for his next attack.He leaped off the ground towards Cerbeus,the demon swiping at him but got countered by a thrown katana sheath
Aiden twirled his body once,extending his left leg which slammed against the spike,burying it deeper into the dog's skull
The demon howled loudly in pain once again.The devil hunter bounced off it's head after the attack and landed on the ground
"I w-will not lose to a human!!!"It yelled as blood was spurting out from it's imapled eye
Unbeknownst to the both of them Cerebeus blood was lighting up a drawn circle that was lying underneath the demon...
"Aiden!I am sensing the power of a ritual circle under Cerbeus!"Sparda informed Aiden
The young man looked under Cerbeus and saw a glowing red light in the shape of a circle
"Shit,if that thing finishes it's process then I'm dead.I need to kill Cerbeus quickly"
The young devil hunter looked up to Cerbeus who was growling at him,completely oblivious to the circle powering up under him
Deciding to finish him off with a powerful attack so he can destroy whatever is gonna come out from the glowing circle
"Sparda? Can I unleash your power to end this quickly so I can deal with the circle"
"Yes,you can Aiden" The demon knight allowed his adopted son to use the full power the amulet was storing
"Thanks" He replied with a small smile
Aiden closed both of his eyes, the red gem glowing brightly as he was focusing on unleashing it's full power. Cerbeus saw the bright light illuminating from the amulet and slowly backed away as he felt the power of a demon coming from it
But when Aiden opened his eyes he was engulfed in a bright purple light as he summoned the power of Sparda in the form of his devil spirit. The ghost standing behind him, his giant demonic claymore being held by his left hand
Cerbeus saw the shocking sight of a human wielding demonic power, though that power belonged to the legendary demon knight himself!
"I-It can't be,h-how is a human wielding Sparda's power like it was apart of you!?"
"Oh, don't worry. I'll tell you.." The devil hunter said in a demonic but human voice
He positioned his katana on his left shoulder with both of his hands gripping the handle tightly
"Once I send you back to Hell!"
He dashed at the demon in supersonic speed and leaped into air once he was a few feet away from him
The demon didn't even have time to react as the devil hunter swung his sword horizontally to it's head with Sparda's spirit swinging his giant claymore with him
The two sword's cut the demons ice covered head in half like bamboo.The sliced part slowly separating from where it was formerly attached
"So this is...Sparda's power..."
Those would be it's last words as it collapsed to ground, half of it's head now gone as it fell down as well
Sadly the circle finished it's process as it summoned a large black void
Aiden stabbed his sword to the demon's corpse and gripped onto it for dear life as the void was pulling in everything that was around it including some of the frozen men
"Crap!!! The portal is pulling me with the force of a tornado!"
"Just try to hang on Aiden I'll try to find a -"
Sparda's attempt to help his son would be in vain as the sword pulled off from the demon's corpse, pulling Aiden to the void and making him disappear once his entire body was pulled in