Hazbin Devils

Chapter 13 (Vergil)

Vergil took a deep breath and closed his eyes. The cold air of the night wafted into his nostrils and he let out a deep sigh, his normally hard expression softening into one of relaxation. It had felt like an eternity since he walked in the realm of humans and for the first time, Vergil came to appreciate how crisp and refreshing the air was compared to the underworld. He had been deliberately slow in his walk to their destination as he took in his surroundings. There seemed to be no major difference between his world and this, and anything he had seen back in Red Grave City, he could find it here as well. Maybe if he stayed long enough, he could find out.

He shook the thought out of his head and quickened his pace slightly. He took a glance over his shoulder to see if the imps were following him. Sure enough, they were still close behind him and they walked in a single horizontal row. There were a lot of questions in his mind regarding their choice of disguise. Loona had demonstrated that there were human disguises for demons to use but for whatever reason, the imps decided to wear wigs that did little to cover their horns. What mystified Vergil even more was the fact that Blitzo and Moxxie decided on wearing women's clothing, but it did not pique enough of his curiosity to ask them about it.

As the group made their way down a sidewalk just by the beach, Vergil felt Blitzo tap his hand. "Hey, V, you ever wondered how it's like to date a bitch?" he asked casually.

"No," Vergil replied briskly.

"It's quite vindicating when you finally beat them at being the best," the imp replied with a tone of satisfaction in his voice. "I could drink to that anytime."

"And why exactly are you telling me that?"

Blitzo shrugged. "No reason, I'm just thinking about rubbing it in Verosika's face if I ever see her again here."

"I doubt they'll come back here, especially since they had a run-in with human authorities," Moxxie said.

"Serves them right if you ask me, doubly so especially when he tried to take my precious baby from me," Blitzo muttered angrily.

"You seriously still hung up about it?" Moxxie asked in an exasperated tone. "Besides, he never actually tried to take Loona."

"Alright, enough with the foolishness," Vergil said coldly and caused them to stop talking. "Where's this Satanist church you mentioned?"

"Over there, around that corner," Blitzo explained while pointing towards a right turn ahead of them. "Used to be a slaughterhouse, typical favourite location of cultists."

Vergil stopped at the junction and examined the street. It was well-lit but aside from a single parked car, the entire street was deserted. Several stray cats were gathered by dumpsters and garbage piles, sniffing and poking their heads around for prey to catch. At the end of the street was a large decrepit building surrounded by a rusty steel fence. Most of the windows were boarded up and the brick walls were covered in vines and mosses. If people wanted some privacy, this seemed like the ideal place.

After crossing the junction, Vergil and the imps made their way down the street in silence. The cats hissed and spat at them before running off in the opposite direction. The sounds of Vergil's boots and the high heels the imps wore walking on the concrete pavement were the only noticeable sounds in an otherwise silent street. The wind had died down at that point and the still night air took on a rather ominous feeling. He stopped in front of the rusted gates which had been opened. The padlock was still intact but bits of wire and a hairclip on the floor suggested someone had picked it.

"Not much of a church," Vergil commented monotonously while rattling the padlock.

"It's to be expected when you live in a society that frowns upon devil worshippers I guess," Blitzo remarked. He retrieved a sucker from his purse and popped it into his mouth. "You go do your stuff while I wait out here."

"What about us, sir?" Millie asked.

"You two can follow him inside and keep an eye on him," Blitzo said simply.

Vergil looked around with a slight scowl on his face. "I don't think that's a good idea. Your disguises don't look the part, though they aren't that convincing in the first place."

"Yours isn't any better too actually," Moxxie shot back while pointing a finger at him.

"I look human, you fool. You literally still have your tails AND horns sticking out of your disguises. The fact that people ignore them really baffles me," said an exasperated Vergil. He pulled open the gate slightly and walked into the compound, shaking his head and saying, "We've wasted enough time as it is. If you get caught, you're on your own."

"Oh, don't worry 'bout us, hun. We're more than capable of protecting ourselves," Millie said with a sadistic grin while pulling out a combat knife from her handbag.

"If you say so."

Even before the blue demon opened the front door, he could already sense something heavy in the air. There was a familiar tingle coursing in his body that came with the presence of otherworldly energies. While it was faint at the moment, Vergil had wondered deep down what the humans here were capable of. He reached for the doorknob and turned it. The door gave way to a dimly lit corridor with flickering lights and choking smell of iron and something rotten.

The walls had sigils and pentagrams graffitied onto them. Texts written in some unknown language could be found on rotting billboards and areas of walls that were flat. Vergil stopped to ponder about it, running his fingers on the texts before withdrawing his hand. He rubbed his fingers together and found the substance to be rather sticky. A quick smell confirmed that it was blood but there was no telling if it was animal or human blood.

"Do these writings mean anything?" Vergil asked.

Moxxie took a look and shook his head. "I think they're trying to write some form of Demonic but they got everything wrong. If they're Satanists, they don't look like they're worshipping him at all."

"What does it say?"

"Um…" Moxxie rubbed the back of his neck while looking rather hesitant. Vergil raised an eyebrow at him. "Well," he started and pointed at a random sentence. "This here says that Satan got buttfucked by a hermaphrodite and likes being a bitch."

Vergil blinked once in silence and went on walking. "And to think I was expecting more from these people," he muttered.

"Someone's feeling kinky," Millie said with a chuckle while her hands were on her hips. "I'm starting to think this is not as hard as it seems."

"All the better, honey, all the better," Moxxie replied softly as they followed Vergil again.

Ignoring the two lovebirds, Vergil took a right turn that led to what looked like a room where animals were slaughtered. There were rusty meat hooks still hanging from the ceiling and a shallow drain where he presumed the blood would flow. Nothing out of the ordinary so far, but Vergil had sensed stronger demonic energies in the area. Not too far from him was a door with a sign above it that read 'Mess Hall'.

As he walked close to the door, he heard chanting coming from behind it. Since the target of assassination was the cult leader, he had to be there to lead whatever ceremony they were planning. Vergil reached for the knob but paused just before he touched it. There had to be other humans in the room as well, and there was no telling how they would react to the intrusion. It was quickly decided that he would cut down anyone who opposed him and allowed the rest to escape.

Looking behind, he saw Moxxie and Millie watching him and the she-imp gave him a thumbs up and an encouraging grin. Vergil looked back at the door and turned the handle before pushing open the door roughly. Startled gasps broke the chanting and he instantly felt a dozen or so eyes on him. His gaze, however, was locked onto the cult leader that stood behind a bloody altar. He had a knife in his hand that hovered just above the chest of a naked and scared girl who looked at Vergil with a pleading expression.

"Michael Levey?" Vergil asked coldly.

"Who wants to know?" the man behind the altar asked back gruffly.

Vergil drew his sword and pointed it at him. "Nobody in particular. Don't do anything stupid and I'll make your death quick."

"Kill this samurai wannabe," Michael commanded.

The congregation immediately drew their pistols and fired at him without so much as saying a word. Vergil swung Yamato like a pinwheel and deflected the oncoming bullets so casually that the congregation stopped firing almost immediately, dumbfounded by the fact that a human actually did the impossible. Taking a deep breath, Vergil summoned a dozen sword s behind him and had them aim at each of the congregation members. The summoned swords were let loose and they knocked the guns out of their hands while also rendering them broken and useless.

It would have been easier to just kill them but Vergil had some reservations about it, something he his younger self would not have considered if anyone got in his way. Still, despite being robbed of their guns, the congregation charged at him with daggers drawn. Vergil sheathed Yamato and took a step forward. The first person to reach him received a jab to the gut from Yamato's hilt that knocked the wind out of him. The next two persons tried to jump him but Vergil responded with a quick smack across their faces with the sheathed sword.

From outside, Moxxie and Millie watched as the blue demon effortlessly batted aside the congregation until the last one fell to a palm strike to his chest. "Gotta say, Vergil's quite the saint. You'd think he'd try to kill them Satanists," Millie commented.

"As long as he kills Levey, I don't really care," Moxxie said. "Can't argue with his moves though."

"You think he's better than me in fighting?" Millie asked with a sly smile.

Moxxie held her hand and smiled back. "Honey, nobody tops you."

"Damn right about that," she said softly.

At that moment, the entrance to the slaughter room burst open with a hooded woman holding a runic longsword in her hand. Behind her were a dozen more cultists, each holding similar weapons. Moxxie and Millie stared at the crowd and they stared back at them in silence for a couple of seconds. That was until Moxxie took out a shotgun and Millie drew two knives and rushed at the group.

Meanwhile, Vergil had gave the last person in the hall a backhand knocked him into a chair. It tipped over and the man knocked his head on the floor, knocking him out cold in the process. With just the cult leader left, Vergil stole a glance at the fighting imps before turning his gaze back and drawing his sword.

"Now, where were we?"

"Whoa, buddy, I don't know you, didn't do nothin' to you," Levey said quickly while holding up his hands.

"I know. This isn't personal, but my reasons are beyond you," Vergil remarked. He frowned when he realised his voice sounded a little too sympathetic.

Levey pointed a shaky finger at him and said, "You ain't human, are you?"

"I sometimes ask myself that," Vergil replied. The tip of Yamato pressed onto Levey's neck, mere moments away from piercing through it. "But I suppose you can say that I can be both a human and a demon. Such is the duality of mankind."

"S-so…you're a human?"

"Humans can't summon swords now, can they?" Vergil said softly.

Suddenly, he heard a loud crash come from behind him and Vergil turned around just in time to see a hooded woman run at him with her longsword pointed levelled at his chest. Swinging around, he brought up Yamato to intercept the charge. Much to the blue demon's surprise, even though he managed to stop the charging woman, she imparted so much force that it almost knocked him off balance.

Now that he was focused on the bloodshot woman, Vergil felt a spike of demon energy emanating from her like a dark miasma. She had the power of a demon, but she was not one. Most likely demonically empowered, he thought while righting himself. He went into a battle-ready stance and waited for her to make a move, but instead of charging right at him again, the woman pulled out a gun and shot Levey twice in the chest. He crumpled limply onto the floor without so much as a cry of pain.

"Fucking usurper, that's for my sister you sacrificed!" she yelled.

"Just what do you think you're doing?" Vergil asked cautiously.

"Getting rid of a problem, that's what. You and your meddling imps aren't helping matters," the woman spat. "I know who you are, stranger. I've heard whispers from hell that you're quite the troublemaker."

"I wouldn't go so far as to call myself a troublemaker," said Vergil. He looked at the dying Levey and back at the woman. "Quite a coincidence that you appeared just before I kill him."

"I've been on to this pretender for a while. I told him he'd pay the price for attempting a takeover, especially after sacrificing my sister to the devil. This fool doesn't even know the proper dark arts and his writings are an offence."

It just occurred to him that Blitzo never told him prior about who this client was and why the man was wanted dead. He could not care less to ask since in his mind, any sinner in hell asking for someone in the human world to get killed must mean that the person was also equally trash. Nobody would miss them, he thought. Now, it did not seem like that was the case. Regardless, the man was dead and Blitzo also never said he had to die by his hands. If anything, the possessed woman made him secretly glad he did not have to kill someone weaker than him.

His stance softened but he still kept Yamato unsheathed just in case she decided to try something funny. "Well, if revenge is what you're here for, then I suppose it's none of my business anymore," he said while walking to the door.

The woman pointed her gun at him and fired but Vergil swatted the bullet aside. "You're right, it's none of your business, but it so happens I need an appropriate sacrifice for my ritual," the woman said. She looked at the naked and still terrified lady still cowering on the altar and spat on the floor. "Sacrificing virgin bitches wouldn't cut it, this ritual calls for the blood of the strong."

"I think I know where this is going," Vergil remarked. "You're sorely mistaken if you think you can take me on."

The woman grinned and turned her sword so that Vergil could see the flat side of it. "See these runes? They're meant for supernatural souls. I can easily paralyse you with a single stab."

"Sounds rather counterintuitive for demons to come up with a weapon that defeats them too," Vergil said, his tone suggesting slight intrigue over the idea.

"Demons are self-serving creatures; they fight everyone including themselves. Almighty powerful fools," the woman commented casually.

"I suppose you're right. But what do you intend to do with the ritual?"

"Why stick to sacrifices and gaining some stupid favour when you can have the power to destroy your enemies?"

Vergil chuckled and raised Yamato slowly. "You know what, this is like Arkham all over again, except you're a lot more unhinged than him. If you want my power, then you'll have to take it."

Her voice changed into a guttural male one and her eyes glowed yellow like those of a cat. Immediately, Vergil sensed the air in the room become heavy like an invisible miasma had settled. The woman swung her sword at him and he intercepted it with his own, sparks flying when the blades made contact. She moved so fast that Vergil could not land a hit on her, but at the same time, she could not attack him as well as he dodged sideways and teleported into the air.

Just outside of the mess hall, Millie kicked one of the meat hooks towards one of the cultists. The heavy hook knocked the man out cold and he fell backwards onto the floor with blood starting to flow from the opened wond. She thought they were easy enough to dispatch but they fought like crazed psychos who felt no pain. No matter how many times she stabbed or shot them, they seemed to ignore the pain while shouting and chanting in a frenzied manner. She and Moxxie had initially went on the offensive and for a moment, they covered each other's backs well enough. That was until her husband got a bit careless and was blindsided by one of the cultists. Much to her horror, she saw him get stabbed in the chest by a sword. Fortunately, Moxxie was not dead but he could not move at all, pinned to the floor while his eyes watched her helplessly.

Millie rolled between the legs of a particularly burly cultist just in time for him to bring down the hammer onto the floor. Had she moved a second late, she would have been turned into a bloody paste. She wheeled around and drove a knife into the man's calf and took a chunk of his flesh out with a single swipe. The man stumbled and fell onto the floor, but he was quick to stand up again. Blood flowed from the open wound continuously, and the man left a trail of blood in his wake.

"This isn't good," Millie muttered under her breath. She rolled sideways to avoid a shotgun blast. "I gotta get to Vergil."

Just as she said that, Vergil was launched out of the mess hall and into the slaughter room. He righted himself in mid-air and landed casually back onto his feet. Someone ran at him almost immediately but the blue demon thrust Yamato backwards without looking behind and stabbed the man right in the chest. He pulled out the katana and spun around quickly to decapitate him. Vergil flicked the blood off Yamato and glared at the woman emerging from the doorway.

"You alright?" he asked the she-imp without looking at her.

Millie quickly joined his side and faced her back to him. "I'm fine but Moxxie's pinned. Whatever magic weapon they're using –"

"I'm aware. Looks like your boss isn't the only one that wants Levey dead," Vergil said.

"Who cares. We gotta get Moxxie and get outta here now," Millie said urgently. "And I thought that crazy family was bad enough," she muttered. Turning to Vergil she asked, "What'd they want with us anyway?"

"I just need all of your blood and your flesh, the more the merrier" the woman answered while grinning maniacally at them. "With that and the proper ritual, I will become truly powerful."

"You're wasting your time, lady. Long ago, I met a man who thought he could control the power of a demon. He never got far, and my brother and I slew him. I will do the same to you," Vergil said loudly.

The group of cultists screeched and attacked the two, but Vergil and Millie were successful in fending them off by watching each other's backs. When one of the cultists knocked Yamato out of Vergil's hand, Millie was quick to snatch it from the air and used it to fight back. The blue demon fought wit Beowulf in the meantime and pulverizing the bones of anyone who came close to him. Even when they were empowered, the cultists were still mostly human and they went down with enough punishment.

There were about 6 cultists and the leader left in the room with them who were still none the worse for wear. When there was a slight lull in the fight, Millie tossed Yamato back and Vergil. The two stood ready, but her eyes were fixed on Moxxie. His eyes were wide open and his mouth agape as he was pinned to the floor, but he could still move his eyes. It pained her to see him like that and she thought she saw his mouth move slightly. Gritting her teeth, Millie hurried towards her husband. Her sudden move made the leader dash at her with her sword raised.

Vergil noticed her just in time and moved to intercept, but the woman was much closer to Millie than he was. The she-imp gasped as she felt the woman behind her and the tip of her sword approached her chest. In a blink of an eye, Vergil was there to shield her from the attack, but he did something that she did not expect him to do. Turning Yamato on himself, the blue demon smiled and thrust the katana into his chest. Right at that moment, the woman's runic sword stabbed into him as well.

The woman and Millie gasped when Vergil fell limp, his body fading into a blue silhouette. In his place was a black-haired man with an all-black outfit and a cane. Yamato was nowhere to be seen and the runic sword was pierced through the man's chest. He was wincing in pain but he pushed pulled the sword out slowly and stood up. The wound bled but the man did not seem too bothered by it. There as a contemptuous smile on his face as he spun his cane once before resting the tip on the floor.

"Every wolf and lions howl; raises from hell a human soul," he recited in a soft and seemingly lethargic voice.

"Wha – who the fuck are you?!" the woman snarled angrily.

"I have no name; I am but two days old," he answered cryptically. He smiled and ran his hand over his cane, causing it to glow purple and emit a soft hum. "Not really two days-old, but I'll be following through with my promise to slay you."

In front of the dumfounded crowd, the man pulled the sword out of Moxxie and tossed it aside unceremoniously. It clanged loudly as it landed in the drain. Moxxie quickly got back onto his feet and pulled out a spare handgun and pointed it wildly at the cult leader and at the strange man. The man looked at Moxxie and smiled before turning his attention back at the cult leader. He pointed his cane at her, standing in a similar stance as Vergil did.

"You're not him, you feel just like any other human. I'm not sure what switcharoo trickery you did, but I'm gonna kill you anyway," the woman said.

"Then I expect you to do your best," the man said calmly. He snapped his fingers and his hair turned white instantly. "Because I'm not holding back." He turned to Millie and Moxxie and said, "Let's end this and get out of here."

Not sure what to say, the two imps nodded their heads. The man was sluggish in his movement and moved very much like any human would. He had only trace amounts of demonic energy in him, just slightly less than the empowered woman and about the same as the rest of the cultists. One cultist thought him an easy target and went in for the attack. The man blocked the first hit and swung his cane like a sword. The whack caused the cultist to stumble back in pain and during that moment of distraction, the man thrust his sword into the cultist's chest.

When he withdrew the cane, the cultist fell limply, all traces of demonic energy gone from his body. Another nearby cultist hesitated for a bit before going in for the attack. Even though it seemed like the man was caught unprepared, he raised his hand and a black demonic-looking bird materialised from thin air to pull him backwards to safety before dropping him and disappearing. The confused cultist was subsequently shot in the head by Moxxie before the man teleported next to the fallen cultist and drove his cane in him, again drawing out the demonic energy and leaving behind a human.

"Pity that humans would resort to corrupting themselves like that when they're better than that," the strange man lamented. "But if a punishment must be administered, so shall it be."

The fight had been evened out for the most part, especially when the man could summon a black panther creature and a hulking giant to the fight with only a snap of his fingers. They appeared and reappeared so frequently to cause chaos that the cultists had no idea how to deal with them. Any attempts to attack the man resulted only in him being assisted by his familiars or the imps protecting him from attacks. It was not long until the cult leader was left as the rest of her group were drained of their powers.

She looked frantic at that point as she realised her plans to obtain power was being foiled. A few hits from her had landed on the man but the sword was not able to subjugate him. Not only that, he did not seem too concerned about being hurt by a weapon that was specifically designed to paralyse demons. Despite being cornered, she fought the imps and the man like a rabid dog, refusing to give up while attempting to make the imps her target instead.

Moxxie saw her coming and leapt at her with an axe in his hand. She thought him stupid to offer himself to be a target again, but he batted her sword aside at the last minute. The woman failed to see the man following behind Moxxie, and as soon as the imp dodged aside, all she saw was the man's cane coming towards her. He stabbed her in the chest and held it there for a moment before pulling it back out.

Withdrawing the cane seemed to pull out a smoky figure of a humanoid demon that writhed and screeched before dissipating from existence. The cult leader expired at the same time the demon dissipated, her lifeless body decaying unnaturally quick. With the battle over, the cane's purple hue receded, and the man closed his eyes for a moment before opening it. When he turned around, he saw Millie and Moxxie staring at him with inquisitive looks.

"Uh, is…that you, V?" Moxxie asked with uncertainty.

The man chuckled. "Funny you should call me V, because that's what I call myself before this," he answered.

"How…I mean, how'd you become human? It's impossible," Millie remarked.

"It's something the Yamato is capable of. It divides," V explained as he walked back to the blue silhouette where Vergil had taken the hit. "You must be very confused, and I don't blame you. I had hope to keep my true nature a secret, but I suppose it's hard to keep secrets for long. Still, a surprise worked in our favour."

V knelt down and went limp as he merged with the faded blue silhouette. The merge resulted with Vergil being in V's position with Yamato still in his chest. After standing up, he pulled out Yamato from him and sheathed it.

"Whatever you saw here, do not tell anyone. Otherwise, I'll kill you both," Vergil said.

Moxxie held up his hands and said, "No arguments from me."

"So…if you said your sword divides, and you are both human and demon…" Millie mused before her eyes widened with realisation. "Wait, does that mean you're half human and half demon?!"

"Or a very convincing and elaborate human disguise," Vergil quipped while giving a crooked but rare smile. "I think that'd be the better answer."

Once they went back out to meet Blitzo, they saw a man handing him some money while looking rather satisfied about something. He bid the disguised imp farewell and went on his way. Blitzo did not seem all too concerned but he counted the dollar bills before stuffing it into his handbag. He heard footsteps approaching him and he looked beside him to see Vergil and his employees.

"Well, that took way too long," Blitzo said with crossed arms.

"Had some interference, but someone else killed Levey instead," Vergil said. He pointed at his handbag and asked. "What's with the money?"

"Oh this? Well, I fucked some guy for money since I was bored," Blitzo said casually. "And for that Levey guy, it doesn't matter as long as he's dead."

"You know, I wanted to say something about prostituting yourself to humans, but I'm not gonna," Moxxie said.

"Hey, money is money, especially if you can sucker some humans into paying you. Don't have to be a bitch like Verosika to do that too" Blitzo replied with a laugh.

"So, it doesn't really matter that I didn't kill him?" Vergil repeated Blitzo's answer to him.

"Uh, duh, clients just want them sent to hell in shitty handbasket. Heck, we even got a few of Heaven's lost children to do the deed for us once and it still counted," Blitzo replied with a grin.

"Wait, how?"

"Accident."

"By accident?"

"Something like that."

Millie smiled smugly. "Yeah, that was a good one I'd say."

Vergil shook his head and followed the imps. A portal to hell was opened on a nearby walkway and the Blitzo was the first to leap in followed by Millie. Moxxie was about to leap in when he heard a whoosh behind him. He turned and saw Vergil holding an angelic arrow very much like the one fired from a cherub's crossbow. The blue demon broke the arrow in his grip and looked over his shoulder just in time to see what looked like a yellow sheep glowering angrily at him before flying away quickly

"Shit, it's them," Moxxie muttered.

"Who're you referring to?" Vergil asked.

"The cherubs Blitzo mentioned. They were banned from entering heaven after accidentally killing the guy we were supposed to kill. Been a pain in our ass ever since," said Moxxie.

"Get going then, no point overstaying our welcome."

Moxxie nodded and leapt into the portal. Vergil gave his surroundings one last look before leaping into the portal. It closed up behind him and no trace of their existence was left. Back at I.M.P. headquarters, Blitzo had invited Vergil to a dinner to celebrate his first contract completion despite him insisting it was unnecessary. His view was reinforced further when Blitzo's so-called dinner turned out to be just a cheap cake with the words "You Tried" written on it.

Nevertheless, Vergil appreciated the free food and eventually relented to eating the cake. For a cheap cake bought using money Blitzo earned from the human male, it tasted decent enough when paired with a large helping of whipped cream. The dinner was a quick affair before Blitzo went back to coming up with silly ideas for a new ad and discussing about the next contract. This time, Vergil made sure he told him everything about the client just in case.

Fortunately (or unfortunately, according to Blitzo), the next client was a familiar face that was a 'regular' in a way. The little incident still left a bad taste in Vergil's mouth and it does seem like the imp was always at the receiving end of it. After all, this client was highly infatuated with him for some odd reason. They did guard duty once for him, not something that was part of I.M.P.'s job, but Blitzo never said no to money after all.

For the next assignment, Blitzo told Vergil they'd be running bodyguard duty for Stolas again.

A/N: Hey folks, sorry for the delayed posting. It had been a busy month for me and I find myself too tired to write for the most part. Still, this chapter is finally done. Hope you folks like it!