The Courtesan knelt down in front of a thorn. Her head was bowed deeply. "So... how are our guests doing?" A voice came from the throne. She hesitantly lifted her head enough to see her master's foot. "Well come on now." He snapped his fingers and the Courtesan felt an extreme amount of pain from her throat.
She clutched her neck while forcing out her words. "The... girl's... becoming... strong..." The pain soon stopped and she took several deep breaths.
"There, was that so hard?" He got up from his throne and walked to her. "Let's see how strong she gets after her last encounter with you." He put a hand on her shoulder. "Get the girl isolated again in the decoy throne room. I'll be here watching everything." He went back to his throne. "And no more running away, if you die, you die and I'll have a new toy to play with." He began to chuckle.
The Courtesan clenched her fist. "Yes... Lord Vurnomon..."
"You may go, my dear." He waved her away and she quickly moved out of the throne room and to the decoy one. "Soon, my dear Roszen... Soon." Vurnomon looked at the orb next to him, showing Roszen dealing with the hordes of demons he sent to Briallen's room.
Roszen played her new violin with a smile. A beautiful melody came from her, rifles summoned around her blasting the imps and marionettes that got closer to her. She chuckled as she put the bow to the neck and, giving it a twist, the violin changed into a rifle similar to the ones it summoned except it was an assault rifle. She aimed down her sights and unleashed a few, well placed, five round bursts hitting a few scarecrows that almost got Lady from behind.
She changed Luna Rosa back to its violin and played a faster melody and the volleys of fire quickened. "I think this will be the last of them!" she told the others; shouts of acknowledgement came about and soon the horde was dealt with.
Dante dusted his hands off. "Well that takes care of that." He looked to Lady. "So you were saying?"
Roszen interrupted before Lady could speak. "Walk and talk, people!" She pulled open the door and waved at them. "Mother's nearby, we need to hurry!" They all started down another hall.
Lady managed to whisper to Dante. "I think Briallen is at least part demon..." He gave her a look of disbelief. "How else do you explain the powerful Devil Arm?"
"She could be a strong witch?" Dante answered. "She had a deep knowledge of the occult, but I don't know. Something is definitely missing in this picture."
Roszen and the gang came to a split section. "Which way, Krex?" Roszen looked to her familiar.
"We must go r-" he was interrupted by a scream.
"ROSZEN!" The scream came from the left. "ROSZEN, HELP ME!"
"MOTHER!" Roszen yelled as she summoned Hell Tiger Queen and was off like a shot down the hall.
The three of them called out to her to wait, but soon followed after her.
Roszen followed the scream as fast as she could while trying not to crash into any turns. She rammed her shoulder into a wall as she took a sharp right. "Nya, Mother! Mom, where are you!?" She rounded another corner and saw the grand doors of the throne room as well as heard more screaming coming from there.
"Kid, wait up!" Dante's voice came behind her; he was quite far away.
Roszen looked back to see them, but none of them had shown up yet. "ROSZEN!" The scream of her mother made her look back at the entrance of the throne room; without thinking, she bolted to the throne room. She pushed the doors open, seeing a grand gothic style throne room, but after looking behind all of the pillars around the room, there was no sign of her mother. The only one there was the Courtesan, standing in front of the throne, with her sword stabbed into the ground and her hands resting on top of it. Roszen looked back to the entrance behind her and saw Dante and the rest rounding the corner as the doors began to close.
They both ran to stop the doors, but as they reached the doors, they latched into place. Roszen tried to open the doors but they would not move. Even on the other side, they pushed and pulled with no luck. Krex tried to materialize to his master but he couldn't. "I can't go to her! Something is blocking me from doing so!"
"Roszen, kid, can you hear me?!" Dante yelled through the door. "We'll get you out, just sit tight!"
Roszen vaguely heard Dante but she had more pressing matters. The Courtesan stood there un-moving. "Can't... Escape... only... out... death... the end... me..." She readied her sword.
Roszen's body was shaking. Was it fear or rage? She couldn't tell, but she knew one thing. She needed to kill this demon once and for all. She just had to do it completely alone...
"You're not alone, Little Rosy." Luna Rosa's voice went through her mind. Tiger growls came by as well.
"We'll fight with you all the way, boss!" Bambietta called out as well with Bogon grunting too.
"I may not have my Devil Trigger yet, but I do have enough fire power and enough knowledge to beat you into the ground!" She punched her first into her palm, demonic energy overflowing. She drew her knives and summoned Hell Tiger Queen. The blades combined with the Devil Arm to give it longer claws. Luna Rosa was also summoned on her back as her tail acted like the bow and ran across its strings, summoning the rifles.
"The power of the rifles are going to be diminished because you can't do a proper chord," Luna warned.
"I know... but it will be enough." Roszen blitzed the Courtesan before she could make a move. She blocked the first strike to her midsection with her sword and grabbed the kick with her free hand.
"Learned nothing..." she spat out, tightening her grip on Roszen's leg and throwing her over her shoulder.
Roszen smiled as she was thrown; she dragged her other hand across her back. "Oh I learned plenty." She quickly rolled away. With her tail playing the violin, rifle shots echoed across the room. The Courtesan casually swatted the bullets with her tail. "Nya, I've learned you can't handle speed very well. So..." Demonic energy poured into her legs. "Let's see how fast you can keep up!" She moved so quickly that she was gone from the Courtesan's sight. A bladed paw hit her helmet from the side, knocking her off balance. Roszen had a wide smile on her face, violin notes playing followed by gunshots. She jumped back, dogging a tail swipe.
"Impressive..." The Courtesan regained her balance before looking directly at Roszen. "My... turn..." She blitzed Roszen like the many times before, but Roszen was ready. She ducked underneath the out stretched hand and went straight for her hip. The Courtesan didn't expect this. She was knocked down as Roszen slammed her claws into her, trying to eviscerate her.
She was suddenly sent flying to a pillar, breaking right through it. "Yeah... that hurt... nya..." She quickly got up and dodged a sword strike. "You don't mess around, do you?" She pounced once more, going for the leg again. The rifles fired at the Courtesan's head, doing no damage but quite literally ringing her bell. Roszen tried to keep the heat on her but a column of fire erupted from the Courtesan, knocking Roszen back. "Nya, I'm pushing you... Good."
The Courtesan did wait for the fire to die down. With her Devil Trigger at full force , she bolted to where Roszen was, but she wasn't there anymore. Razor sharp blades sliced across her back, Turning quickly, she punched Roszen, who dodged it just barely. She blocked another strike with her sword, but her helmet rang like a bell again as more rifle shots hit, giving Roszen time to fall back.
Roszen pulled out Kamaitachi at a quarter open and launched as many wind blades at her target as she could. The Courtesan made her blade go to its chain whip form. She intercepted the wind blades, but Roszen pushed herself to be faster, and soon the blades of wind were too much for the Courtesan. Most hit her body but one hit her helmet, cracking it enough to show one eye. The eye was green with red scleras and bloody tears dripping down more freely. The Courtesan's Devil Trigger faded and the eye showed fear as the redness dissipated.
Roszen let out a big smile. "Nya, time limits, you got to love them." She got on all fours and poured as much demonic energy she had into her tiger limbs. The fires turned into a bright purple. "I'm ending this right..." her eyes turned to gold and red like before. "NOW!" She rushed her and attacked her torso and helmet, breaking the helmet off completely, and knocked the Courtesan to the ground.
The Courtesan didn't even register that she moved or was attacked. She saw Roszen preparing to attack, and then next she saw her on top of her with a shocked and horrified expression. She saw long hair flowing around her; it was red, almost matching Roszen's if it wasn't so dirty. The sound of the helmet hitting the floor was the only thing they heard. The Courtesan spoke not with pain but with great relief. "Thank you... my Little Rosy..."
"MOTHER!"