Hi everyone. Thanks again for your patience, I have made some progress in playing Devil May Cry 5 and it is AWESOME! Both in game-play and in the layered story that comes with it. I also have a pretty good idea on how to implement that story later on in my own series, but don't expect to see it for a long while. Anyway, let us continue with the Devil Hand arc.
Advent of The Fairies
Dante groaned as he pulled himself up from the ground, despite his own body healing rather quickly, he could still feel the pain from his loss against Vergil.
"Dante! Are you okay?!" Happy flew right beside him as he tried to stand up.
"I'll live." Dante replied in between groans as he stood on his own two feet. He felt his chest and could tell his amulet was gone. "Vergil?"
"He left a while ago, he took your amulet with him." Happy told him.
"Damn it." The younger son of Sparda cursed.
"I'm sorry Dante, I know it's pretty important to you."
"That and it's also one-half of the key to the Underworld, and Vergil has the other half so…" Dante got right to the point.
"Hey, does anyone read me?! Hello!?"
"The hell was that?" Dante questioned as he and Happy just heard a familiar voice in their head.
"Telepathy… its Warren!" Happy exclaimed in realization.
"Happy? You there?" Warren called out via his telepathy-magic.
"Yeah, I'm here with Dante!" The Blue exceed replied.
"Man, it's good to hear your guys' voice. I've been trying to contact Erza, Natsu, Grey, or any of the others but I've had no luck."
"It's probably this damn tower." Dante guessed. "It's filled to the brim with demonic energy so it's probably blocking you. Happy and I can probably hear you cause we're outside."
"Well, you guys don't have anything to worry about anymore, cause I brought reinforcements!" Warren exclaimed with a wide grin as he stood outside the massive tower of Temen-ni-gru with at least a dozen other members of Fairy Tail with him.
This included Team Shadowgear with Levy, Jet, and Droy; the Thunder Legion composed of Freed, Bickslow, and Evergreen; Cana, Alzack, Bisca, Max, Macao, and Wakaba.
"Sorry we're late, we had to quell the panic ensuing in Magnolia." Freed explained as he and everyone else were in-tuned with Warren's telepathy.
"Hope you saved some demons for us, this is gonna be one hell of a party!" Bickslow exclaimed excitedly.
"Hell yeah! Hell yeah!" Bickslow's dolls all chanted.
"It is time these monstrosities experience true beauty." Evergreen said as she flashed her fan in front of her face.
"Bet I can take out more demons than you." Macao gave Wakaba a friendly challenge.
"You're on!"
"Don't worry Dante, we got your back!" Levy stated fiercely.
"You're a member of Fairy Tail like everyone else." Jet said with a grin.
"So you ain't getting rid of us that easily." Droy added with his own eager grin.
"After this, you and I are due for dirking contest, you still owe me a rematch." Cana smirked.
"That's a pretty big tower." Alzack commented as he looked at the massive demonic monolith.
"Eh, I'm not to impressed." Bisca said as she held a large magic gun.
"We got your back Dante!" Max added.
Dante gave an impressed smirk as he heard all his friends voice their support. "Aw, you guys are making me blush." He joked, though in all seriousness he was also happy to know that he wasn't alone on this.
"Aye, that's Fairy Tail for ya!" Happy flew up and shot his paw-fist into the air. "We always got each other's backs! I'm with you to Dante!"
"Alright, let's tear this damn thing down together!" Dante exclaimed.
"YEAH!" All the Fairy Tail members outside shouted, however they were also ignorant of the one other person who could also hear them, while also looking through a crystal ball to see the dozen Fairy Tail wizards all outside .
Arkham's expression remained the same as he viewed this development. It wouldn't be too much of a complication to deal with them all, but still it would take quite a bit of time as he had to maneuver specific individuals all to one certain place and he can't afford any major mistakes this late in he game. That being said, it was best to keep these interlopers from getting inside Temen-ni-gru.
The blue and red eyes in Arkham began to glow as he placed his hands on the crystal ball and he shot a demonic surge of energy into it.
All throughout the massive tower; countless demons, not just the Seven Hells of the Demon Army, but other lesser demons such as Abyss, Blood-goyles, Archane, and even demons resembling Angels known as the Fallen, each of them could feel a presence in their mind that told them to go outside the tower. Following this command, they each diverged away from their respective places all throughout the tower and made their way out.
Back outside; all the members of Fairy Tail could only gaze up in surprise as they saw several demons all fly or crawl out of the openings of the tower and shoot down right towards them.
"Well, looks like we got their attention." Levy looked nervous before Jet and Droy stood in front of her.
"Don't worry Levy." Jet assured.
"Yeah, we won't let those freaks touch you!" Droy exclaimed.
"Our apologies Dante, though it seems we may be a bit late." Freed said via Warren's telepathy, as the Thunder Legion stepped forward. "Bickslow, Evergreen, we'll take point!"
"Got it!" They both nodded.
"Dark Ecriture: Wings!" Freed created his own pair of dark energy wings on his back as he took to the skies with his sword pointing outward. Evergreen also took flight alongside him with Bickslow riding along on two of his dolls with the other three floating beside him.
The Thunder Legion closed in on the horde of flying demons composed of Blood-goyles and Fallen as they readied their respective attacks.
"Fairy Machine Gun: Leprechaun!"
"Let em have it babies!"
"Dark Ecriture: Destruction!"
Freed shot past several flying demons as he slashed through all of them, right as they were each slashed with his sword, they exploded in a flurry of dark energy. Evergreen and Bickslow's dolls shot out golden particles and green energy beams respectively, taking out many demons mid-flight.
Several of the other demons; mostly the Seven Hells of the Demon Army, and other lesser known demons had landed on the ground and each of them moaned and roared as they charged at the small group of Fairy Tail wizards.
"Heads up! Here they come!" Macao exclaimed.
"Let's get em!" Cana pulled out a series of cards. "Card Magic: Explosive Flame!"
"Solid Script: Fire!" Levy and Cana's respective fire-attacks shot forward and exploded, taking out the demons up in the front; but out of the smoke, the other members of Fairy Tail gave warrior cries as they charged at the horde of demons, despite being vastly out numbered.
"Looks like they're having a party down there." Dante noted, despite being at the very top of the tall tower, both Dante and Happy's acute hearing (as both a demon and Exceed respectively) could scarcely make out the sounds of war down below.
"You think they're all gonna be okay?" Happy asked, with a great amount of concern evident in his voice.
"They'll be fine." Dante assured. "They may not be professional Devil Hunters like yours truly, but I think they can handle a few low tier demons. It's what's still inside this place that has me worried."
"Aye." Happy knew what he was talking about. "I sure hope Natsu and the others are okay."
"Come on, let's see if we can catch up with my bro and pay him back." Dante stated firmly as he began to ran down back the stairs and back inside the tower.
"Aye sir, you got it!" Happy flew alongside him.
Speaking of Natsu, he was presently fighting with all his might as he charged towards Satan in the Torture Chamber of Temen-ni-gru.
"Fire Dragon Iron Fist!"
"Bloody Flame Strike!"
Both of their fists collided; Natsu was surrounded by a backlash of his own fire, and Satan in a backlash of his own red energy as they both slid back on the ground; Natsu having an angry and serious face with Satan having a maniacal grin.
"Iron Dragon Club! Gajeel shot both his fists which turned into iron clubs and scored a direct hit on Satan's abs, causing him to slide back quite a bit, leaving him open for Gajeel to deliver another attack. "Iron Dragon Hard Fist!"
He delivered a powerful punch across Satan's face, but his grin only became wider as he caught Gajeel's wrist and lifted him up before slamming him on the ground repeatedly before throwing him to an incoming Natsu.
Satan then felt a powerful force hit him in his back as he turned around to see the strong and bulky Exceed named Panther Lily deliver a strong kick before he began to punch Satan repeatedly across his face and body, but when he came in for a fifth strike, Satan caught Lily's fist and grinned wildly at him while shooting a blood thirsty look with his eyes.
"My turn, kitty cat." Satan threw out a powerful punch right into Lily's abs, causing the tall Exceed to cough up some blood before he got flung all the way to the roof and crashed hard into it.
"Oh you're gonna pay for that!" Satan turned around to see an angry Gajeel reading an attack. "Iron Dragon Spear! Demon Wall!"
Satan crossed his arms to brace himself for the hail of green energy bullets, but this left him open for Natsu to deliver an attack from above.
"Fire Dragon Brilliant Flame!"
Natsu had thrown a massive fireball onto Satan with explosive results. The Salamander landed next to his fellow Dragon Slayer as they saw the flames and smoke, only for them to both look in shock as all of it exploded outward in a surge of red energy to reveal Satan giving a loud roar with a mixture of laughter.
"The hell, how is this guy still going?!" Gajeel questioned.
"Yes! This is the fight I've been waiting for!" Satan shouted. "Don't stop guys! Show me the full extent of your Dragon Slayer powers!"
"Gladly!" Natsu shot toward his enemy.
"No you idiot!" Gajeel tried to warn him but it was already too late.
"Fire Dragon Talon!" Natsu swung a fiery-kick but Satan had caught Natsu's foot with minimal effort before throwing him away.
"Bloody Rain!" Satan sent multiple blood-rain-drop projectiles at Natsu while he was still air-born, sending him flying and crashing into the wall before landing in the lava along the side.
"Come on! Let's keep going! I don't wanna stop!" Satan shouted.
"You're gonna stop when you're dead! Iron Dragon Sword!" Gajeel's right arm transformed into his chain-saw sword and he swung it at Satan's chest, causing a large cut that gushed out blood, but Satan simply laughed as it looked like his muscles were actually growing bigger and his wound healed almost instantly, much to Gajeel's shock.
"Bloody Flame Strike!" Satan delivered another red-energized punch right to Gajeel's face to send him hurtling across the entire chamber.
As this battle continued, Lily struggled to pull himself from the ceiling as his body began to glow before it shrank and condensed. Before long, he had transformed back into his smaller form, he tried to hover as best he could before he set himself down on a suspended cage.
Lily rubbed the blood from his mouth. "Damn, all that from one punch." He heard a slurping sound, as did both Gajeel and Satan as they turned to see Natsu standing up out of the lava and actually drinking it before jumping out of it and landing firm on his feet.
"Aw yeah! Now I got a fire in my belly!"
"Since when can you eat freaking lava?!" Gajeel questioned.
"Since now I guess." Natsu shrugged casually.
"Well if you're all fired up then Salamander, let it loose!" Satan encouraged. "Don't you ever stop this is the most fun I've had in ages!"
"Don't need to tell me twice." Natsu's cheeks puffed as he readied his titular attack. "Fire Dragon Roar!"
"Cerberus Fang!" Satan clapped his red energized arms together to launch a mass of red energy shaped like a large dog and it collided with Natsu's breath attack. The resulting explosion shook pretty much the whole torture chamber, and maybe the rest of the surrounding area as well.
While the dust distracted Satan, Gajeel had leapt into the air towards a suspended cage, with his Iron Dragon Sword still in-use, and cut the chain. But before it could fall, he grabbed the severed chain and gave a loud roar as he heaved it behind him and slammed it down on top of Satan, supposedly crushing him.
But this was only short lived as Satan exploded his arms outward, blasting away the remains of the cage as he surged more with violent red energy and his muscles only continued to grow while he continued to laugh.
"Are you freaking kidding me?! What's it gotta take to bring this bastard down?!" Gajeel questioned.
"We'll just keep punching him till he's done!" Natsu exclaimed.
However, in such a short time, Satan had already zoomed to them in blinding speed that would be impossible for someone of his own size. Before the two Dragon Slayers could even react, he already grabbed them both by their faces with his hands and slammed the back of their heads down onto the ground.
"Yes! More! More power! More violence! More bloodlust!" Satan exclaimed as he kept them both pinned. "Let your anger take you over! Hate is love! Death is life!"
Lily kept watching as he contemplated the situation. "How is he doing this? From what I've seen with his speed, he could have avoided both Gajeel and Natsu's attacks, but he didn't. He let himself get hurt. Is it because he knows he can heal? No, if that were the case, fatigue would still get to him, but he's only gotten stronger. He said is sin is Wrath, could that have something to do with his magic?"
"Please tell me I didn't kill you guys!" Satan said excitedly. "This is way too much fun for it to be over this quickly!"
However, in both his palms there was a faint orange glow coming from Natsu's covered face and a faint green glow from Gajeel's…
"Fire Dragon…"
"Iron Dragon…"
"Oh boy… here it comes!" Satan said like an excited little child.
"ROAR!"
Both Natsu and Gajeel unleashed their breath attacks, which combined into one massive blast of fire and iron that shot Satan off of them and straight up to the ceiling where he blasted through and exploded afterwards.
Both Dragon Slayers groaned as they tried to pull themselves up from the ground. "Think…. We got em…?" Natsu asked.
"I hope so." Gajeel wouldn't admit it, but this fight was actually making him nervous. "Vergil didn't do us any favors picking this guy to be in his guild."
They didn't even get a chance to breath again as a large blast of red energy erupted from the ceiling and shot down to the ground like a meteor before the energy exploded around to reveal Satan with even larger muscles and more energy than before as he roared another laughter; much to their shock, borderline terror.
"What the hell?! He's barley even scratched!" Natsu exclaimed in shock.
"This should be impossible!" Gajeel couldn't believe his eyes. "We know he's taken damage but it looks like he's even stronger than before!"
"Yes! That's exactly it!" Satan yelled excitedly. "I told you, I represent the Sin of Wrath, but it ain't just my wrath, it's yours to!" He pointed to both of them, much to their surprise.
Panther-Lily's eyes widened in realization. "That's it! That's how he's doing it! He's feeding off their power!"
"Wrath and violence go hand-in-hand!" Satan explained. "The more you hit me, the stronger I get! You know the old saying 'violence only begets more violence', right? Well that's especially true! The more you fight, the greater the Wrath in the world becomes!"
"So the more we hit him, the more powerful he gets! How the hell do we fight something like that?!" Gajeel questioned.
"We knock him out in one hit! That's how we do it!" Natsu exclaimed before charging forward.
"No you idiot! You're only gonna make it worse!" Gajeel tried to stop him, but it was already too late.
"Fire Dragon Iron Fist!" Natsu punched Satan in the face, but be took the hit and didn't even looked phased.
"That the best you got?" Satan said with a smirk before punching Natsu in the gut to send him hurtling in the air and while he was airborne, Satan jumped straight up and reeled both his fists back before slamming them down on Natsu to send him crashing down onto the ground. The Salamander didn't even get a second's reprieve as Satan landed both his knees down on him, creating a large crater on the ground.
Gajeel was just barley able to pick himself up on his feet as Lily hovered beside him. "Gajeel, I feel it's best we take a strategic retreat. We can't beat this Satan character like this."
"Good idea, but I doubt red-boy over there is gonna let us!" Gajeel told his Exceed companion before growling in frustration. "I could always take down my enemies by hitting them, but something like this…?!"
"There may be another way." Lily replied. "Did you hear what he said on how 'violence always begets more violence'? He wasn't lying. Whenever someone usually tries to fight back it tends to create a cycle of people constantly hurting each other."
"So, how are we supposed to beat him if we can't fight…" Gajeel's eyes suddenly widened. "It's not that we can't fight him, it's that we shouldn't that we choose not to fight him."
"Do you really think that could work?" Lily asked as he had a feeling he knew where Gajeel was going with this.
"Only one way to find out, just make sure Salamander doesn't get in my way."
"Understood." Lily nodded.
"Hey tough guy!" Gajeel called out to Satan who stood up from the crater and looked towards him. "Come on!? That all you got! Cause I'm still standing!"
Satan's maniacal grin only grew. "You got one hell of a death wish pal! Well okay, consider your wish granted!" He zoomed away from Natsu toward Gajeel with a fist reeled back.
"Iron Dragon Scales!"
By the time Satan's fist made contact with Gajeel's body, it was already covered in his iron scales. Satan winced in pain as he pulled back his fist and looked at his damaged knuckles, though they healed rather quickly. "The hell?"
Gajeel smirked. "These are the scales of an Iron Dragon, bub. Good luck trying to break through this stuff." He held out his arms to expose his body. "Go ahead and hit me all you want! See if I care!"
"If you say so! Bloody Flame Strike!" Satan punched Gajeel again, but he remained rooted in his spot, having had his feet transform into iron spears and pierced into the ground. Gajeel however didn't strike back as he only smirked at Satan, causing the red-skinned behemoth of a man's own smile to vanish as he looked in confusion.
"Come on, my grandma hits harder than that." Gajeel challenged. Satan's face curved into one of anger before he tried the same sort of strike and attacked Gajeel, but he didn't hit back.
Natsu crawled out of the crater and saw what was going on. "Gajeel… the hell are you… doing…?" He tried to get back up and run to help him, but Lily flew in front of Natsu's face.
"No Natsu, you can't get involved in this." Lily told him.
"What are you talking about?! Look what's happening!" Natsu exclaimed. "Gajeel's getting the crap beaten out of him!"
"Exactly, that's the point!" Lily exclaimed back, causing the young Dragon Slayer to look in confusion. "Take a look at what's going on."
Natsu looked towards the supposed one-sided fight. He saw Satan laying multiple punches across Gajeel, but the Iron Dragon Slayer hadn't retaliated, no matter how much he was hit. That's when he realized it.
"He's not fighting back."
"Exactly." Lily confirmed. "The more you two fought Satan, the stronger he got. He fed off your wrath and power and it only added to his own. But if neither of you fights back, he doesn't have any violence to feed off of."
Natsu may not have been the brigthest wizard, but even he was smart enough to know when not to fight, and it looked like that this was one of those rare moments. But it didn't make it any less frustrating. He clenched his fists, as he knew that even Gajeel's Iron Dragon Scales, as versatile as they were, had a limit to them. All he could do was hope they hold out long enough for Satan to exhaust himself and loose his stamina.
Meanwhile, in another long hallway of Temen-ni-gru; Erza ran alongside Wendy with Carla flying by their side.
"Hey Erza, I thought I heard Warren's voice a little bit ago." Wendy told the older woman.
"It must mean he's here, trying to communicate with us via his telepathy." Erza heard it as well, but it sounded all garbled, like listening to static on a radio. "We probably didn't hear it well enough because of all the influx of demonic energy Temen-ni-gru is extorting."
"All the more reason to find our own way out of this place." Carla stated. "But I've noticed something else that is strange about this place." The group stopped at that particular statement.
"What do you mean Carla?" Wendy asked.
"Haven't you noticed that we haven't encounter any other demons since that message?" Carla questioned. "Modeus stated that this tower would be crawling with them; though we'd seen a few since we were separated from everyone else, ever since Warren's garbled message we hadn't seen a single one. Why is that?"
"If I had to take a guess, I would assume that either Vergil, Arkham, or someone else working for them, had found a way to control all the demons within this tower and sent them outside." Erza theorized. "I doubt Warren came alone, he probably brought reinforcements with him, so Devil Hand unleashed all the demons in this tower on them in order to keep them at bay."
"So, shouldn't we try to go and help them?" Wendy asked.
"Our first step should be to regroup and find our abducted comrades, then we can worry about everyone else." Carla instructed.
"Yes, I agree that is the best plan." Erza didn't like the idea of leaving any of her friends outside alone, but they had yet to even find a window much less an exit so there wasn't anything they can do right now.
"They're right. We have to find our friends." Wendy thought to herself. "But also, I need to find…"
"Wendy, I know what you are thinking." Carla got Wendy's attention. "We all know the reason you choose to come here is you want to see Sheeree again, is that right?"
This caused the young Sky Dragon Slayer to look up in surprise. Erza also had the same idea as Carla, though she didn't voice it till now.
"That's not entirely true." Wendy said truthfully. "I really did come to help all my friends, I really mean that! But… I… you're right. I do want to speak with Sheeree."
Carla looked rather frustrated. "Unbelievable. After everything that girl has done, you still see her as a friend?!"
"Carla, she's from Cait Shelter just like you and me!" Wendy exclaimed. "I know you were as surprised as I was when we saw her before! If there really was someone from the guild that looked after us for all those years, isn't that enough of a reason to wish to speak to her?!"
"Wendy." Erza kneeled down to the younger girl and gently put her hands on her shoulders. "I can understand how you feel; believe me I do." She really did, this was almost exactly like with the Tower of Heaven and all of Erza's old friends: Sho, Wally, Millianna, Simon, and even Jellal. "However, we have to also be aware of what dangers this girl represents."
"I know, I know." Wendy said. "But it might not be her fault. It could Vergil, or Arkham, or someone else that's manipulating her! I still want to see her! I want to know why she's doing this!"
"Wendy…" Carla tried but…
"Yoo-hoo!"
All three turned around and looked upward in surprise to see Jester standing on the ceiling looking down toward them.
"Well ain't this the cute little soap opera." He took out a handkerchief. "Oh I think I'm gonna cry." He said in a fake crying tone, only for a sword to pierce through the handkerchief as he looked down to the glaring Erza as she stood protectively in front of Wendy and Carla. "Well, well, well. Someone's not a fan of tear-jerkers."
"Am I correct to assume from your attire that you are this Jester character we've been told of?" Erza questioned while keeping her glare on him.
Jester leapt down from the ceiling and onto the ground in front of the trio. "That's my name don't wear it out. And it's an absolute pleasure to meet the strong and beautiful Erza 'Titania' Scarlet." He took her armored hand and kissed it like a gentleman. "And of course the absolutely adorable little Sky Dragon Slayer Wendy." He zoomed in front of the younger girl and pinched both her cheeks rather hard. Wendy looked rather scared at this being as something about him felt extremely wrong.
"Get your filthy hands off her!" Carla tried to lash her claws at Jester, causing him to back away from Wendy.
"Well, someone's got a bit of a maternal complex." Jester made that last part up. "So, to what do I owe the pleasure of such delicate flowers, and their overly-groomed housecat?"
"I could ask the same thing of you." Erza stood in front of Wendy and kept her eyes firmly on Jester. "Why are you here?"
Jester looked around Erza and towards the younger girl. "You want to find your old pal Leviatha, don't you Wendy?" He asked, getting her attention. "Well, you're closer than you think. She's actually at the very end of this looooooonnnnng hallway." He pointed his cane down the hallway. "But she isn't alone either. No, no, no. She's guarding a certain black-haired trigger happy 'Lady' as well."
"Lady is with her?!" Wendy voiced in surprise.
"That's what I just said! Try to pay attention little Sky Dragon. But if you don't believe me, just follow your nose." Jester teased as he poked her nose, but was silenced when Erza pointed her blade close to his neck, causing him to back away from Wendy. "Well now, didn't mommy tell you not to play with knives?"
"Why are you here?" Erza questioned. "I do not believe you truly seek to aid Fairy Tail? So why are you telling us where we need to go?"
"Your right, I couldn't care less about your little fairy club." Jester replied. "I'm just hear for the show."
"The show?" Carla questioned.
"The show that is the royal rumble war between Fairy Tail and Devil Hand!" Jester exclaimed. "What's not to like about it? It's got action, drama, death, monsters, everything you need in a good old epic!" He laughed but soon found himself dodging/dancing around several of Erza's blades that she shot at him via a magenta magic circle. "La da! Da, da, da la, la, da!" He then vanished around the corner completely.
"What an absolute maniac!" Carla exclaimed. "Honestly, just who does he think he is?!"
"I would advise not to take him lightly." Erza warned, getting both Carla and Wendy's attention. "Demeanor aside, there was something about him… his presence… it felt… off. Almost inhuman."
"He didn't really smell like a demon." Wendy noted. "Actually, now that I think about it, he did smell… somewhat familiar… I don't really know though."
"We can worry about that later. Right now we have our priorities." Carla stated.
"That's right. Wendy, can you really tell if Lady is nearby?" Erza asked.
Wendy took a moment to sniff, and she did manage to catch a familiar whiff. "Yeah, Lady's up ahead! And… she's not alone… Sheeree is there."
Carla and Erza both looked in seriousness, but with nothing else needing to be said, they made their way down the long hallway.
Trish had electrocuted one Dread Knight as Modeus cut down a Basilisk-snake, both breathing in exhaustion as they looked towards the ever-lazy Belphegor who hadn't changed his bored expression.
"What's the matter?" Trish questioned in between breaths. "Out of tricks?"
Belphegor simply sighed as he did something unexpected: he stood up off his hovering throne and looked right at the pair of heroic demons.
"No. I have one trick left, but it requires a lot extra work." Belphegor said as he generated two magic circles in his hand and seven more appeared around him. "I try not to use this because it's such a hassle, but since you two won't just lay down and die, I got no choice. So let's just get this over with."
Trish and Modeus steadied themselves as they readied their respective swords. "This power…" Modeus uttered. "He may represent Sloth, but I have a feeling that he's only been holding back till now!"
Admits the seven magic circles circling him, seven different creatures appeared around Belphegor.
"Lycan! Werebat! Basilisk! Minotaur! Centaur! Griffin! Skull Dragon!" All seven of these beasts appeared around him at once, but he wasn't done yet. "Come to me! CHIMERA FORMATION!"
All these creatures had transformed into streams of dark blue energy as they began to encircle around Belphegor in the form of a strong vortex. Modeus and Trish stood firm to avoid being sucked in.
"I have a bad feeling about this!" Modeus exclaimed admits the surge of power.
"Yeah?! No kidding!" Trish shouted in obvious sarcasm.
In a strong blue energized flash a new being stood in front of the two heroic demons of Fairy Tail. This creature was at least twelve feet tall and had four legs; his rear legs being that of the Centaur, but his right front leg was like an eagle's claw from the Griffin, with the Lycan's hind-leg serving as the left front leg. It had the bulky and muscular body of the Minotaur with the right arm being a large claw-appendage from the Lycan with the Basiliks's snake-body serving as the left arm. It also had a four large wings in total from its back; two were large bat-like wings from the Werebat, the other were eagle-like wings from the Griffin. The most unsettling feature was the giant dragon-skull serving as the head with Belphegor's face inside its open jaw as the rest of his body was covered in a mass of flesh.
Naturally, Trish and Modeus could not contain their shock. "What the hell is that thing?!" Trish questioned in shock.
"Chimera…" Modues uttered. "The very name of his spell…. A Chimera is an amalgam of multiple different creatures! It would seem that Belphegor has merged his strongest creatures together in the form of some sort of armor!"
"Wow, got it one." Belphegor said, his voice being heard from inside his 'chimera-armor'. "Yeah, something like that. But like I said, it's a pain to use cause I gotta move around in it, so I don't use that often. I'm not happy to be using it now, so… do me a favor and let me kill you quickly so we can be done with this whole thing!"
He lashed out his Basilisk-arm, which stretched out like a snake, causing Modeus and Trish to separate and avoid its fanged strike into the ground in-between them. Trish grunted as she sent an electric blast at the giant beast.
"Bet all that bulk isn't too fast." She smirked, however, with a flap of all four of its wings and a surge on all four of its legs, it surged directly toward her and underneath her lightning strike.
"What?!" Trish questioned before she was clawed at by the Lycan-claw, blood gushed out of her back as she screamed in pain before landing painfully against the wall.
"Demon Sword: Phantom Moon!" Modeus launched multiple crescent-moon projectiles at Belphegor, but he turned around and the Skull Dragon mouth opened and he shot out a stream of dark blue fire to blast away Modues' attack. He couldn't react in time as the attack hit him dead on and blasted him toward the opposite end of the chamber.
However, before Belphegor could deliver the finishing blow, he felt multiple shocks through is armor on the back as he turned around to see Trish running around him, pointing both her pistols and shooting multiple electric bullets at him. They each impacted him, though they did sting, the armor did protect him.
"Why won't you just die already?!" Belphegor groaned in annoyance as he actually spread out all four of his wings and took to the air.
"Are you kidding me?! You can fly?!" Trish voiced out loud.
"Of course I can, why do you think I have all these wings?" Belpehgor then shot right at her, Trish tried to use her own lightning to blast herself above him as he landed, but as she came down, Belphegor's basilisk-arm shot at her. She quickly took out her Sparda-sword and just barley blocked the fanged strike, but it knocked her into the air and that left her open for the snake-arm to curl around her body before he slammed her down hard onto the ground.
Belphegor raised both his back legs in an attempt to crush her, but Modeus had already leapt to his front with both his swords in his hands and impaled them into the chest portion of the armor as the surged with white energy. "Demon Sword: Residual Moon!" He sent quite a bit of power into the armor as two white crescent-moon-shaped marks formed along the side before it exploded and Modeus had jumped backwards.
However as the smoke began to clear, he could see Belphegor's chimera-armor stills standing as though it had only received a little amount of damage.
"Wow, I almost felt something from that." Belphegor dulled as both Modeus and Trish looked in shock.
"You have got to be kidding me." Trish groaned as she tried to pick herself up, but blood fell from her wounds and she fell on her hands and knees, both injured and exhausted from this long fight.
"You should consider yourselves lucky, you two are the only people to actually last more than a full minute against my Chimera Armor." Belphegor said. "You at least eased my boredom a little bit, enough so that I can take a nice long nap after this. But anyway, it's time for you to die."
As he loomed towards Modeus who was the closest, the black-robed demon grunted in frustration.
"I hesitated to use my full power, only because I don't have a full grip on it, and there is the possibility I might injure Trish in the process. But… if we are to defeat this man, I have no choice! I have to use it now!"
The Skull-Dragon-head of the Chimera Armor shot out another blaze of dark blue flame at Modeus, but it only touched him for a second before he roared and surrounded himself in white energy. In a powerful explosion of white light, Modeus' human form had vanished. Now he had assumed his demonic appearance with a bright silver aura surrounding him. Modeus had now activated his Devil Trigger.
Trish was rendered speechless. She had heard Modeus acquired his own Devil Trigger during their final confrontation with Faust and Nelo Angelo back in Edolas, but this was the first time she'd seen it with her own two eyes. Needless to say, she was more than impressed.
"Have you been holding back this whole time?" Belphegor asked. "I don't know whether to be flattered or insulted."
"Don't take it as a complement or an insult." Modeus spoke in a deep demonic voice. "This is only the second time I've used this power, I hesitated because I don't fully control it yet. But, with the life of my comrades on the line, I must take this risk. Rest assured that I will use this power to defeat you!"
"I'd like to see you try!" Belphegor tried to lash out with his Baslisk-arm while also using his unnatural speed to try and come in and slash at Modeus with his Lycan-claw, but Modues had vanished in a flash of white light and had zoomed past Belphegor, appearing behind him briefly before a powerful force suddenly hit him with enough power to send him flying and crashing through the door they previously entered and outside onto the balcoy.
Belphegor tired to stabilize himself as he stood up in his Chimera Armor, but felt something come down his chin. He looked down in surprise to see he was actually bleeding.
"He… He made me bleed…? Inside my Chimera Armor!?"
The Devil Trigger Modeus stepped outside slowly to face Belphegor as he pointed one of his swords at him.
"Just remember, Belphegor. You brought this on yourself."
The laziest member of the Seven Sins was now experiencing something he never experienced before. An emotion, but it wasn't just any emotion: it was fear.
Satan roared as he delivered another strike to Gajeel's face, but he kept himself firm due to both his Iron Dragon Scales, and the blades he had on his feet to keep him in that one single spot. Satan kept laying punches over and over across Gajeel's body, but he did absolutely nothing to retaliate, and that made Satan all the weaker.
Natsu hated this; not just for not being able to fight, but for also being forced to stand there and watch as one of his own comrades take this amount of punishment. He wouldn't openly call Gajeel a friend, but he was still a member of Fairy Tail and it pained him to see one of his own get this kind of treatment. He clenched his fists in frustration and gritted his teeth. Panther-Lily, while he kept a cool head and maintained a stoic demeanor, was greatly worried for his newfound comrade; but he still knew this was necessary, he could already tell Satan's attacks were getting weaker, evident by his shrinking muscles.
"Come on fight back!" Satan exclaimed as he punched him again. "Fight back! Fight! FIGHT ME!" He jumped back to prepare another attack. "Cerberus Fang!" He launched the large attack which hit Gajeel dead on with explosive results. When the dust cleared however, Gajeel was still there. Though he fell to one knee to take several deep breaths, he slowly began to stand, albeit shaky as steam was coming off his Iron Dragon Scales, and several were already beginning to chip and crack.
"If he tried that five minutes ago, it would have probably gotten through my scales and took me out. But it doesn't have enough force as before." Gajeel saw Satan's muscles were already quite small and he looked exhausted, causing the Iron Dragon Slayer to smirk. "He looks about tapped out."
"Come on? Don't tell me that's all the wrath you got, red-boy." Gajeel taunted.
"NOT EVEN CLOSE!" Satan yelled as he punched Gajeel across the face again, but he barley even moved.
"What's the matter small fry?" Gajeel continued to taunt as Satan threw another punch that was even weaker than the last one. "No more gas in the tank?" Satan threw another punch, but Gajeel caught his fist and gave a borderline evil smirk towards the de-powered dark wizard.
"What are you waiting for?! Hit me! HIT ME!" Satan shouted.
"Sorry, but don't think so." Gajeel stated. "All your strength comes from other people's energy, their own anger and wrath. But you face off against a passive foe, you ain't got any energy to feed off of. Now you're just a scrawny twerp."
"He's got him." Lily said with a smirk, even Natsu smirked as well.
"Not bad Metalhead, not bad."
"So, what are you gonna do? You gonna kill me now? Come on, I'm weak and vulnerable! Do it!" Satan continued to yell.
"Let me guess, I do something to kill ya, it'll take your strength to it's peek and you'd be unstoppable, right?" Gajeel guessed, causing Satan to look in surprise as his pupils shrank. "I'll take that as a yes. But I don't need to kill ya, cause you're already done."
Gajeel pulled Satan in slightly and delivered a quick chop to the back of his neck, causing him to fall flat on the ground in an unconscious heap.
The Iron Dragon Slayer smirked and chuckled in victory before the pain finally caught to him. His scales all vanished as he groaned and fell down on his side. Though he wouldn't voice it out loud, his whole body hurt like hell.
Panther-Lily immediately flew towards his injured friend with Natsu close behind. "Gajeel, are you alright?" The black warrior Exceed asked as he set down near him.
Gajeel grunted as he looked at him. "Yeah… peachy…" He chuckled a bit.
"You're crazy, you know that Gajeel?" Natsu told him.
"Takes one nutjob… to know another…" Gajeel joked despite being in pain.
"You gonna be okay?" Natsu asked, not really voicing any contempt towards his fellow Dragon Slayer in a rare occasion.
"I just… need to… sleep it off…" Gajeel grunted. "Give me some iron… and I'll be right as rain… but you got somewhere else to be… right Salamander?"
"He's right." Lily agreed. "Go, find Vergil, Arkham, and the remainder of Devil Hand and stop them. I'll look after Gajeel and try to find more of our comrades."
"Okay." Natsu nodded. "You guys watch each other's backs, this is far from over." He said as he stood up and began to run back outside, leaving Lily to tend to Gajeel.
The Devil Trigger Modeus took to the air with Belphegor in his Chimera Armor chasing after him. Trish stumbled a bit as she walked out the massive hole and could see the two clashing in the sky outside the balcony of where they were on the side of Temen-ni-gru.
Though Trish was grateful for Modeus' help, it also made her a bit upset with herself. She was a demon to, yet she hasn't displayed this sort of power. What good could she do if she didn't have her own Devil Trigger or anything else like that? She hated being helpless, but all she could do now was watch as Modeus got to work.
Belphegor shot another blue blaze stream from the Skull Dragon's mouth but Modeus was able to slice through it with his blades as he crossed them both and prepared an attack.
"Demon Sword! Chaotic Moon!"Both his blades glowed a dark red as a spectral image of a dark red moon with lighting surging around it formed in front of him and he blasted straight at Belphegor who couldn't dodge it even with his own natural speed. It hit and exploded and sent him crashing along the side of Temen-ni-gru. Belphegor didn't even get a chance to fully recover as Modeus had already came in with a powerful slash that cut the Chimera Armor completely in half.
Belphegor could only look in horror as the lower half of his armor fell all the way down to the ground below to where he could no longer see it. He tried to fly with his wings on the upper half and desperately shot his Basilisk-arm at Modeus, but he cut it with little effort, letting the head of the Basilisk fall as well.
Getting desperate, Belphegor exploded a massive blue fireball from his mouth to create a smokescreen to temporarily blind Modeus. When the smoke cleared he could see that Belphegor was no longer there. It appeared that he did not even notice Belphegor trying desperately to fly away from the tower.
"Forget this! Fighting for Vergil's world isn't worth it! I may be lazy as hell, but I'd still prefer to live!" He tried to fly away as best he could, but he could see from the back of his eyes a faint white light and could only look in terror at what he saw.
Modeus was preparing an attack with a transparent bow and arrow made of white energy, with both his blades acting as the arrow and he had pointed right at Belphegor. Despite having flown away quite the distance, Modeus would not let him escape.
"Lunar Goddess of the Hunt: Artemis!" He shot a large light-arrow which moved faster than any lightning bolt and it pierced through what was left of the Chimera armor before it exploded in a bright flash of white light.
The armor was completely gone, all that was left now was Belphegor himself as his body fell. He screamed as he fell, but Modeus quickly flew over and caught him before flying back to the edge of the tower where Trish was waiting. He set Belphegor down as he looked up at the Devil Trigger black-clad demon in terror.
In a flash of white light, Modeus had deactivated his Devil Trigger and transformed back into his humanoid appearance, he fell on his hands and knee in exhaustion as Trish set down near him.
"You okay?"
He took multiple deep breaths. "Yes… my body however… isn't quite used to my Devil Trigger yet…. It consumes quite a lot of my energy… I'm no Dante."
"Not yet." She smirked in a joke, Modeus gave an amused smile as the turned their attention toward Belphegor who continued to look in terror. "Hey, you don't look so bored anymore. Guess you really aren't a sloth, are ya?"
A contempt look then formed on his face. "Well congratulations." He voiced in obvious sarcasm. "You must feel so fulfilled with yourselves. But do you really think this will change anything? Even if you do beat Vergil and Arkham, someone else will try some other doomsday-stunt or whatever. All these fights of yours, they'll never end. Aren't you exhausted? Why not just give up!"
"No." Modeus stated. "We'll never do that. True, if one evil is defeated another one may rise to take it's place, but there will always be good to rise against it and stop it. Even the most grueling of battles are less tiring than taking no action at all. I would rather endure a battle that puts me on death's door than just sit back and let a disaster happen when knowing I can stop it."
"But, speaking of Vergil…" Trish pointed her large blade at Belphegor's neck. "What exactly is he planning? And where does Arkham fit into this?"
Belphegor grunted as he tried to stand up. "He wants the power of his old man, what else? As for Arkham? I don't know, the guy's a real enigma. But I…"
*SLASH!*
Modeus and Trish backed up instinctively as they saw a horizontal line across Belphegor's neck before his head completely fell off. Blood poured out of his severed neck as his body fell to the ground revealing Vergil with Yamato unsheathed, blood at the tip of the blade.
He shook his head in disappointment. "What a waste of life."
Trish glared daggers at Vergil while Modeus stared in shock at Belphegor's decapitated body before he gazed with shaky eyes up at Vergil. This was the first time he ever met Sparda's eldest son face-to-face, and the first time he'd seen his dark and cold eyes.
"You are Modeus." Vergil acknowledged the elder demon. "Apprentice to my father, alongside your late twin brother Baul. Am I correct?"
"How could you do that?" Modeus questioned. "He was your comrade! You were his guildmaster! How could you kill him so mercilessly?!"
"He outlived his usefulness." Vergil answered. "The whole point of the Seven Sins being gathered was to unlock Temen-ni-gru. With that purpose now fulfilled, all they're good for now is to simply keep Fairy Tail and other interlopers off my back while I work. However, it would seem I've overestimated some of them if this one fell to the both of you so easily."
"I see you're about as heartless as ever." Trish said as she pulled out both her pistols, but Vergil had already zoomed past her. Before she could even react, a powerful slash had appeared on her side that not only cut her but also sent her crashing into a pillar.
Modeus immediately rushed to Trish's aid. He could see the long bleeding gash on her side, as well as her other injuries from fighting Belphegor. She would live, but all that plus the fatigue during the fight meant she would be out of commission for a while. Modeus however also noticed her sword was missing. He turned around to find Vergil holding the Devil Sword Sparda in his hands.
He glared as he addressed the eldest son of his late mentor. "Vergil, you will relinquish that weapon immediately."
"Why would I do that? I need it if I am obtain my father's power."
"But why would you want to obtain his power?" Modeus questioned. "What is it you hope to achieve from all of this?! By resurrecting Temen-ni-gru, you are undoing everything your father worked to protect this entire world! Why do you seek to go against his wishes?!"
"You appear to hold my father in high regard." Vergil noted. "Sparda may have been among the strongest of all demon kind, but he was a fool. He wasted his power in protecting the weak when he easily could have ruled this world. He could have accomplished so much and yet he let all his power and talent go to waste. I intend to put it to better use."
"And what use is that?" Modeus questioned further.
"First, I aim to kill Mundus." Vergil began. "The one thing my father could not do, even with the aid of the dragons. Afterwards, I will join Earthland and the Underworld together and rule over both of them."
"You are deeply misguided."
"I am afraid it is you that is misguided, Modeus." Vergil continued. "Power and might control everything. Without strength you cannot protect anything, let alone yourself. I will become the ruler of both Earthland and the Underworld and I will destroy anyone who threatens my rule."
"You insist on this?" Modeus questioned.
"I do." Vergil nodded.
Modeus couldn't help but give a remorseful sigh. "Then I am sorry. It pains me to have to do this, but if you insist on continuing such a dark path, I will do everything I can to stop you!" He pulled out both his blades, and attempted to strike Vergil, only for the aforementioned half-demon to vanish and reappear behind Modeus with Yamato being half-unsheathed.
The former apprentice of Sparda couldn't even blink until Vergil finished sheathing his blade while a large bleeding gash formed on his chest and he fell onto the ground. He was severely wounded, but Modeus would live.
"I could have easily cut you in half." Vergil said to Modeus. "But I choose not to. I saw your battle and while you do indeed have great power, you cannot fully control it, not yet. You had abandoned your way of the sword several centuries ago, only to take it up again rather recently. The same goes for your newly acquired Devil Trigger. Though I won't deny the potential you have, clearly my father saw something in you, which was why he chose you as his apprentice. Should you live through this, master your power, only then will we face each other."
Vergil began to walk away until he heard Modeus speak up in strains. "Is… that why… you have spared Dante… and Natsu…?" Vergil stopped as he kept his back to Modeus who continued to speak. "I'm not as…. naïve as you would believe… Vergil. You could have… killed Dante before… or when you try to abduct Lisanna… you could have killed Natsu…. But you didn't…. and it's not because you view them… as insects… beneath you. It was those two…. Your brother… the Son of Sparda… and the Son of Igneel… who defeated you before. You want to… face them again… and get stronger…. Because you view them as worthy opponents." He chuckled in between strains. "That is… a human feeling… and the same goes for why… Trish still lives. She bears a resemblance… to your mother. You can hide it all you wish… but I can see through you… you aren't as cold and heartless as you believe…."
Vergil had enough of this as he used the larger Devil Sword Sparda to cut down on Modeus' back. It didn't kill him, but it silenced him as the force from the impact knocked him unconscious. Vergil's right eyebrow twitched slightly before he straitened himself up.
"Did he strike a nerve?"
The blue-clad half-demon looked to see Arkham sitting on a rock, apparently reading his book. "It's none of your concern."
Arkham then closed his book and stood up. "It would seem we have some complications. Ultear has escaped; several more wizards from Fairy Tail have arrived; and aside from Belphegor; Satan, Mammon, and Asmodeua have all fallen, we've lost more than half of the Seven Sins."
"Will this all be a problem?" Vergil questioned.
"No." Arkham replied. "By the time Ultear contacts Grimore Heart, it'll be too late. I've also made sure that no other Fairy Tail wizard shall enter this tower, not without facing countless demons. And while four of our comrades are defeated; Iblis, Leviatha, and Beelzebub all remain, and they are the strongest of the Seven. It would also seems you have fulfilled your end."
"I have." Vergil nodded. "I now have the Devil Sword Sparda and both halves of the Perfect Amulet."
"Good, then all that remains is to proceed to the Lair of Judgment." Arkham then began to lead Vergil back inside the tower. "Follow me, the hour is close at hand."
Erza, Wendy, and Carla ran into the massive room that was known as the Tranquil Souls Room of Temen-ni-gru and looked around for a bit until they spotted who they were looking for.
"Lady!" Erza exclaimed as they saw her, still strapped to the coffin with some webbing covering her mouth. She looked at them in surprise as she still struggled to get out.
"Hello Wendy." The trio turned around to see the glaring Leviatha sitting on a coffin on the opposite side of the chamber. "I've been waiting for you."
"Sheeree."
Done! So, two more of the Seven Sins are finished, which means that there are only three left, but they are the strongest of the pack so don't count your chickens just yet.
It would seem that reinforcements from Fairy Tail have arrived, however Arkham has sent pretty much every demon inside the massive tower outside to keep them occupied.
Elfman is still dealing with Beelzebub and his Wendigo Take Over; while Wendy, Erza, and Carla are about to rescue Lady, but they need to go through Leviatha and her Magical Drain ability first (which will be very difficult as she even copied Mira's Satan Soul and used it to bring her down). That leaves just Iblis out in the open, where is she?
And it looks like Vergil not only has both halves of the Perfect Amulet but also the Devil Sword Sparda as well! We are nearing the climax so stay tuned for more.
And one thing to note: Vergil beat Modeus relativley easily because he still hasn't fully mastered his Devil Trigger and saps away at his own energy relatively quickly. So he was already pretty drained when he tried to confront Vergil.
Also, Modeus may have been more right about Vergil than even he knows. Vergil didn't kill him, or Dante, or Natsu, or even Trish and it was for those exact same reasons he mentioned. Trish shares the same face as his mother; and Vergil (though he won't admit it) wants to fight strong opponents; he knows his brother is already a worthy candidate, but he also sees potential in Modeus and even Natsu (which is the real reason he didn't kill him back when he tried to kidnap Lisanna. He was also in a rush to activate Temen-ni-gru at the time so he couldn't afford a dragged-out fight). However, before ANYONE says that is OOC for Vergil, take a look at him when he made his reappearance in DMC5 (spoilers for those who haven't played the game). He knew Dante was weakened from the previous fight and Vergil gave him an opportunity to recover and regain his full strength so they can fight evenly later on.
I hope that clarifies some things up for all of you. I'll see you soon with the next chapter :)