Chapter theme: Vergil fan /W3c0DLUObOU

Terminology:

SDT: SUBTERRANEAN DEMON TRIBE, often used to describe sentient and non-aggressive demons.

USF: UNITED SUBTERRANEAN FRONT, the recognized sovereign citizens of the Ebott. Valley demon association.

NNH: New New Home, the hometown of all SDT's, the city known as "a paradise." To those who live there.

Central: Central Government, central Island, main human settlement where the Grand Senate is instated.

WG: World Government, The coalition of governments and island states, headed the Grand Senate.

WM: World Military, the standing widespread military for the entire world bar a few states and countries.

OTS: Order Of The Sword, a religious faction mainly situated in the city of fortuna, radical Sparda worshippers.

Disclaimer: Certain aspects of this story are based on a loosely fictional and exaggerated version of reality, of what is possible, of what could be, of the relationships we see day to day, between people, nations, and anything in between, to understand this is to understand that there is no agenda… Make your own conclusions, what you think is right.

Sin Trigger.


These Sparda worshippers… It made him sick to see his father's image engraved on their garb, on their weaponry… For these men knew not what it meant to fight for the weak, nor to be heroes; these men were nothing of the like.

Vergil wouldn't let it stand.

Pushing through the self-made entrance, Vergil ducks underneath a violent swing of shimmering steel soaring right above his head, the half-devil then presses into motion and launches a heavy strike into the knight's kidney before blurring past him; his boot cracks against a table and shoves two men against a wall, breath knocked out of their lungs.

His eyes flashed to an incoming blade, blue eyed reflected in its steel before the sword shattered into dozens of pieces around the contours of his fist, exploding away like shrapnel and grazing a leg. The knight who raised his sword to the half-devil fell down in pain, clutching his appendage as Vergil merely stepped over him to face the rest of the defense force.

Red flashed across his statuesque visage, the dim crimson, blood caked his features for the third time that day.

"Hmph."

Blitzing across the room at breakneck speeds, Vergil's mighty grip tears through the air only to coil around a throat, choking out a knight and holding him high in the air before slamming the coward into the ground. His eyes begin to dart between targets, hyper-focused brain moving faster than any human could ever hope to.

His afterimages foretell his arrival yet none can evade, lightning crackling around his body as he channels his inner energies. He moves like a professional kickboxer, weaving between blows and crushing his mighty fists and legs against the order of the sword members who'd wronged him. No sin was greater than that of harming a child.

Vergil rotates on the ball of his foot before jutting out a leg, like a crack of a whip his blow lands solid against one of the knights. Sending him careening through the hall and into his fellow brethren, Vergil continues on with a literal mountain of bodies groaning around him.

Moving through the facility like a man possessed, Vergil ducks and waves and fades through every attack thrown his way. His single minded assault will only end upon the discovery of what he is searching for.

'Where is he? I've looked through every nook and cranny, and yet… Nothing!' He tears through another wall, almost frustrated at his lack of progress.

Placing a palm against his forehead, Vergil breathes heavily before continuing his search. "Is this bait? Have we been tricked? Credo is not here…" The possibility was great, this was a heavily guarded facility with nothing but boxes and tables… Why? Why would they bring him here?

Suddenly, in the midst of the son of Sparda's frustration, he fails to notice the giant screen in the room.

His voice drips with frustration, "Where is the boy! You vile cretins, have you no shame to leverage a child against me?" Raising a shaking finger to his earpiece, Vergil hears the typical static of his communications device play for a few moments before finally picking up reception.

"Napstablook speaking… Vergil?"

"Yes, this was a trick, Credo's not-"

The lights in the room shut off.

The sirens end their wailes, and yet… "Blooke? Blooke? Speak." And yet there is nothing to be heard in his ear, Vergil fidgets with the device to no avail until static builds in the air, the screen at the head of the room whirring to life with a flakey almost glitched image until finally settling on a man.

The man.

A voice oozing with confidence and charisma, "Sorry to interrupt, but your friend was making this quite… Difficult." Slightly accented, this being, this man, he speaks without a sense of infliction, without rage, without hate, without mirth, without anything human…

He speaks, and Vergil listens.

The screen finally settled in the reflection of Vergil's eyes, his hands balling into fists as he realized just who's on the other side.

Blue eyes narrow even more, "Andrei…" The name is like biting in a line of electricity, the man in the screen chuckles with the theatrics of his image distorting slightly.

His face is narrow, calculating contours, well groomed facial hair. "So, you know me then? Well of course, I am the biggest name in this city." But his eyes are not visible, you can never see what a man like him is feeling through tone or through body language, only through the eyes, the mirror into the soul.

Vergil scoffs, brushing over his nose. "Perhaps the biggest coward is a more appropriate title." Andrei only laughs, not in humor or good faith, only because he must.

"You laugh to hide your fear do you not? You must know what I'm capable of if you are suckling on the Order's teet, right Royai?"

He shakes his head and cups the air in front of him, "Look at you, trying to seem so righteous, as if ordained by some God or sense of morality… There are no Gods, there are only chains, there are only individuals." The tycoon talks as if he has spoken these exact words before, like it's a recital of a past sentiment.

His voice is heavy, "We are not serfs, we have no king… Us men, us creators! We birthed this city from the loins of our ingenuity, we are GOD." His voice rises and rises only to fall to a whisper…

"But you?"

"You are a ghost, a nobody, a big fish in an even bigger ocean."

Lightning cackles in the half-devil's hands, "And you are a deadman if you think this is the best move, going against me… How is that in your profit incentive?" He uses his strength to illuminate the room, casting a blue flame in his aura.

Andrei sighs albeit slightly perterbed at the display, a small yet preserved smile appearing beneath his shadowed face, "You see… Your little attempts to overrule the Order have become… Problematic, now I won't pretend like I care for them or their dogma, not at all." The light flickers on the screen, his voice distorted only slightly by the video quality.

"But, they are integral to this community, and my biggest trading ally… And you come and threaten them, attacking them, littering their own men down these halls… It simply won't do."

The status quo… Andrei seeked to retain It, 'He is blind to suffering as long as the many live in their hopeful bliss.' Vergil realized that as long as he could make a profit… He justifies the silence, the cover up of any injustice.

The well-spoken man scratched his neck before gently brushing his hand over the table he sat at, "So let this be a warning, Mr. Vergil, whatever the hell you are. No amount of mutant strength will save you from the hell I can unleash with a single word, so cease your trying, you will not bring my society to ruin."

"You shall not underestimate mankind, to threaten our profits and our sanctity as a city… You are no hero."

Vergil merely smirks, "Is that what you think? That your profits are solely for the benefit of man?" His knuckles burned white, his blue eyes lighting ablaze.

He rejects that answer, "You are no greater than any other man, it's time for you and your 'people' to see beyond the confines of your material world."

Andrei laughed like he heard a pleasant joke, "Haha, you're cute my young friend, but like I said… You are no hero, but I am no villain."

He raised a peace sign, "I won't call down my hand against you, I believe violence is wrong… But if you and your ragtag team of undesirables continue to stew discontent in my city, you will create discord. Then I will have no choice."

He then raises his face to meet the camera projecting in his darkened chambers, red eyes blazing to life. "You have this idea that there is a wrong way to contribute to society, that mine is merely immoral… That our way of life is so detached? And yet look at us, thriving in our freedom from obligation."

Blue and red blaze against one another, a battle of wills, battle of two men.

His eyes soften, "I deal with all branches of life, I do not discriminate, I do what is in our best interest as individuals… I create and provide." After all, profit is profit.

His eyes then harden once more, narrowing into slits. "But all you seek to do, Vergil, is destroy. Destroy the very foundation and status quo. Because you cannot see beyond your own will to justice, there is no justice, there is no law, there are no men telling other men what to do… There is only me, only I, only one."

Vergil shook violently as the man continued his triade, "This city was born free, and it will die free, people are born free from the chains of obligation to others, only by your foolishly naive sense of altruism stops you from seeing this…"

A fool, "You misunderstand Andrei, I seek not to uproot this society, to uproot you. But if you cannot see that the Order is corrupt, then you've been blinded. "

But for every argument, Andrei could bite back just as quickly. "Then leave, that can be the only good act you make in this city. You will never change their minds or their hearts, they will never be slaves to your altruism…"

But Vergil knew that was false, "People can change, that is their choice, not yours. Nobody is making the argument for obligation, but it should be in your imperative to help those around you… Are you so cold hearted to ignore the suffering of those who do not fit in the status quo?"

Just like he was, not so long ago.

Andrei wasn't convinced, "I choose to reject that, to reject the conception that we must act as sole individuals without a care for another… It is our choice, and I ask you to make your own at once."

"What do you choose then? To fight me if I don't align with your ideas of charity? Brave but foolish, many men have tried with their swords or their guns, and all have failed."

Vergil scoffed, "I'm nothing like any man you've ever met, Andrei."

Andrei pointed accusingly towards the screen, "But you are but a man, and a man can be broken, a man can fail… And you will, if you travel down this path."

"Humanity will never change… We are set in our ways, so stop trying to change us. Embrace who we are, embrace the rejection of obligatio-"

The screen shatters as Vergil plunges his fist deep into it, blowing apart the wall and kicking up dust. His eyes burned red, steam rising from his superheated skin. But his visage remained stoic, no matter how enraged.

'Playing with fire Andrei, you played your cards wrong…'


When you stare into the sky, is the sky so great? Or is it just the void, empty of all but those burning pyres in space with their combustion, so grand you'd say… Is a star, but what makes that so? Size? Heat? Power? The star knows none of this, the star knows nothing, can see nothing.

The star is nothing.

How can it be greater than any man?

You call a star greater than yourself, yet a star could never see with its own eyes what you mean. But people can, individuals can, and the individual is a greater star than any other.

The man sighs as the communications end, brushing a thumb over the side of his temple. His well groomed facial hair bristles as he bites down on his lip, "This… This is going to take everything I have, isn't it?" His features light up when he hears the door to his chamber open, lighting the room and extravagant decor.

Sam walks in with grime and dust over his labcoat, he's holding a specialized cup of… Coffee. "Sam, my dear boy, thank you." Circles run around his red eyes, clearly visible as he raises the cup to his lips.

The chemist smiles warmly, "It's my pleasure sir, are you alright?" With concern, he leans against a wall nearby and prepares to listen.

Andrei sighs as he places the cup down, looking back towards his personal desktop. "It's going to be fine, just keep working hard my friend. I need you to finalize your project, the sooner we get it ready for market consumption the better."

Sam nodded and gave Andrei a copy smile, "It won't take too long now boss, like you said, the future of self defense and demon killing. The demand will be huge." Smirking, the tycoon felt his stress slip away.

"Right you are, keep working diligently, glad to see you have more time to do so as well." Reading between the lines, Samuel sighed with relief.

"Yeah, thanks to you." Chuckling and dismissing the man with a wave of his hand, he turned back to the desktop screen and frowned.

Something about that made him uncertain, this feeling… As if he'd awoken a true terror, several images of RISE members filled the screen and he nearly winced upon hearing the door close shut.

He wasn't an idiot, the so-called Vergil was an incredibly powerful figure in pure might alone… This was enough to create a reputation in mere days, his striking figure, incredible strength, speed and agility… It was inhuman, almost, terrifying.

But it proved their theory correct.

'And I practically declared war against him… Dammit Sanctus, you really want to go through with this?'

Andrei felt the stress eat at his back, as much as he knew this was inevitable to preserve the sanctity and the prosperity of his people… Something kept bothering him.

As Samuel left, Andrei mused by himself, staring out the window into the grand city of Fortuna. It had begun to rain, the droplets sliding down, coalescing into bigger ones, before falling away.

"Sanctus, this game you're playing… It could ruin us, are you truly trying to usurp my place?"

The thought disturbed him, as much as he loved theatrics and playing the big man in the room… Andrei feared that the great chain would be torn from him, setting its sights on something greater… 'I cannot allow this city to fall, I've worked so hard… And this Vergil, he seeks to uproot everything I've done…'

Without the Order, what common goal do these people have? They unite as one against the demons in the name of Sparda, a so-called saviour. However Andrei never worshiped a God, there are only men and their culmination of action.

'Yet… It serves as a useful tool to unite people under a single banner.'

Andrei hardens his gaze, red eyes narrowing against the glass, mirroring his face. "I will not have this city fall and be slapped around by the muscle of government subsidy, we must… Remain free."

And if Vergil, this new… Entity. If he managed to usurp everything, then the power vacuum could only lead to corruption and vying for power by the very greedy despots vying for control, they would strip everything bare and turn it into a emotionless soulless hellscape.

Andrei could not let that happen.

Reaching for his telephone, he dials without even looking at the numbers. Popping a cigar into his mouth, Andrew awaits the ringing to stop.

"Boss?"

Holding the cigar in between two fingers, "Good evening Roman, I'm sending you an IP trace and I need you to bring me the perp in question, don't rough him up unless there's no other way." A simple request, he didn't want to make things too messy…

"You got it boss, say, who is the bloke anyways? An SDT? What he do?"

Andrei took a long puff, breathing out and sighing as the stress relieved from his shoulders, he flicked the cigar. "Nobody really, but his talents could be of use to me instead of against me… He's impressive with a computer, that's for sure; hacked into the city's cameras, my cameras. But fortunately his IP protection isn't up to par, I can help with that don't you think?"

The sound of a half yawn filled through the communication, "Sure boss, I'll get it, huauh… Get it done like always… Just make sure those damn scones are in the fridge when I'm back, love me some scones."

Andrei merely chuckled in response, "Will do friend, I'll make an order right now actually." It wouldn't cost much, scones were no luxury food. Thankfully, his employees were mostly easy to please.

"Awesome."

The phone clicks as Andrei places it back, taking the last puff of his cigar before tossing it in the trash and whirling his chair back towards his desktop. The blurry image of a robotic SDT staring back at him, Andrei smiled and clasped his hands together.

"I will preserve my city, no matter the cost…"

A storm outside roared in response, lightning crackling through the skyline and lighting up the dimly lit room entirely. Even if it meant fighting back against RISE, Andrei would not allow his city to be overrun. Not by man, and not by demon.