Ash was annoyed. It had been a while since he and Akira were separated, sure, but for the Fighter to be this late...just what was he doing? The Dark Slayer wondered forward more following the Demons as a means to get to his goal. "For how long was this portal open exactly?" He asks looking around.
Suddenly more Demons popped up, all with varying weapons and forms. He got ready to fight when suddenly they all stopped and stared off into the distance toward a room that looked like a 'mid-point arena' kind of thing. They seemed to want him to go there.
He obliged for now, walking into the chamber where he saw a Demon bigger than the one that he and Akira encountered just before being separated: it had two legs and two arms, a pair of giant wings to fit its size on its back and curved horns coming out of its forehead. Aside from that it looked almost like a Demon ourof Dark Souls to Ash. "To think I'd lose a bet to the likes of that bastard." The Demon said, sat atop its chair. It seemed irritated at itself and the foe Ash and Akira were sent to kill. It began to sniff the air; "What is that smell…"
It looked to the Dark Slayer who stayed staring back at it. "So you are here too because of that Demon wishing to be acknowledged as a Devil?" He asked the creature.
"Oh, so you're it's next play thing? Why did it send you down my path...oh I see. That's pathetic!" It yelled out slamming a fist into the armrest of its chair cracking it a bit. "You can't use your powers on a halfling so you send it to me to deal with. Bastard...to think I, a true Devil and one of the Seven Dukes of Hell, would be lowered to this." This piqued Ash's interest. Dukes of Hell...so this world's Hell follows the same logic as that of the Seven Princes of Hell back in his world. Interesting.
"So if you're a Duke...then you must be at the lower end with how you lost to something such as that wannabe Devil who controls this area." Ash said; funnily enough he wasn't trying to provoke or make fun, he just was stating his thoughts and observations out loud. The Demon...no, this one was a true Devil. The Devil gritted its teeth in anger at the half-breeds reminder of its current predicament.
It stood and grabbed a strange object...was that a mirror? And a greatsword? "How about you come test that theory out bastard!? I am Iz'gath! Come and face your-" Iz'gath was cut off however as within a moment Ash unsheathes Yamato, with blinding speed climbed up and sliced at the Devil, then landed perfectly fine and clocked the Katana back into its scabbard. "Death?" Iz'gath asked as suddenly it burst out blood from the many cuts it had before falling apart. A flow caught Ash's attention as he saw an orb float down to him; grabbing it he was very surprised to see the outcome.
"Alright then...this changes some things." He says walking away with whatever he got as the Lesser Demons looked on at their fallen Duke.
/Back to Akira\\
Akira looked around again after entering his next tear of the day. "Alright you bitch I'm gonna...fucking really!" He yells out seeing that this one was too not the real world. "First was that business thing, then it was some crap anime, then some BS about saving the world from invaders, after that it was saving monsters from the underground; now this!?" He yells out seeing what was before him.
It was essentially a human's heaven. A garden of needs essentially, containing all that which a human needs to survive. Further ahead was a bridge that led to what looked like the only blank place in the area. "I tried to give you things to ease your mind into death, but now I'm pissed off!" The Demon said from wherever it was. "You shall die here unable to have or do anything aside from survive!"
Akira wandered around for what felt like hours. He had no clue to this illusions breaking point like the others; was he really trapped this time?
He walked across the bridge to the spot that was blank. There a single chair and desk of monitors stood. Sitting down he powers everything on and observes different cams of different illusions, all broken by him or still holding people that Arkham reaches out to. "Shit, they're still alive." He said pounding his fits on the desk. The illusions they were in all were different as well: one was in a 2D scroller, another in an 8-bit game. One was..."Are those tentacles?" Akira asked in disgust as he saw what happened to one of the adventurers. "Disgusting...Ash isn't on here though, so he isn't caught in an illusion like we all are. Why?" Akira asked, thinking for a reason. "Because they wouldn't work on him. We're all human and he's only half! Damn it I should have thought of that." He says to himself.
He looks for a bit longer before getting even more frustrated at the lake of anything. "If only I had some coffee to help with this." He offhandedly muttered. Just then however a cup of warm coffee appears right before him giving him a startle. He pokes it to be sure before picking it up and drinking it. "Tastes and feels real enough...I mean I guess it's worth a shot. This is an illusion after all right?" He asks standing up. "A door..." nothing happened. "Uhhh...a slab of wood on hinges?" He asks randomly. Still nothing. "Jesus ok, how about...an exit." Suddenly a crack appeared on a spot where nothing but air was. "Haha! I get it now!" He says going up to it and tracing the crack. "This is all based on whoever is trapped inside; their cognition! So since I wanted a good life before that's the first one I got! And since this one requires no effort to live this is my desire to have an easy life." He says excitedly.
He backs up and starts to watch as the cracks spread out and shattered the illusion for the last time; on the other side of the hole in the 'wall' was a barren landscape that looked to be a mix of the Human world and Hell. He noticed one person in the center of a huge fight: Ash.
Smirking he jumped out and landed on a Demon that looked like a version of the Scarecrow enemies from DMC4. He used the creature as a skateboard, pushing with his foot and charging up Gilgamesh as he did so before launching it at Ash. The halfling leaned to the side as the blade passed his face, seeing his own reflection in it noticing the Chaos rolling toward him. Turning back Ash brings up the Yamato and blocks the creature's attack before parrying it and Slash Dashing forward cutting it in half. He looked over to Akira who had taken out a few Nobodies and Hell Prides. "Finally decide to join me huh?" Ash asks him as they get back-to-back.
"Yeah sorry, the damn thing had me stuck in illusions for a few hours. But good news is I broke out and know where the other adventurers are." Akira said with his fist up as they dashed forward, killed some Demons then came back, now side by side hitting Demons.
"A few hours!?" Ash says grunting between swings. "I've been at this for two days now!" He says cutting the head off a Hell Wrath and palm striking its bomb away from him but into a small group of Abyss' blowing them up before they could teleport. "I've been wondering when I'd get help...I must admit two days of this with minimal rest is tiring." Ash said as the horde was stopped for now. He fell back into his butt and held Yamato as he caught his breath.
Akira looked at him with a shocked expression. "Two days?" He asks. Ash nods making Akira wonder just how bad time is distorted here. "Then we gotta close that portal fast." He said.
"That is obvious. But it's not going to be easy. I've fought my way to get here and my guess is beyond that gate" Ash points ahead of them to a large gate that was closed "is the Demon and the portal." He says confidently.
Akira smirked and nudges his shoulder. "Then come on! Let's end this." He says punching his fist into his palm. However Ash shakes his head no.
"I'm tired Akira. Like I said I've been fighting for two days. Sadly these things are so low in ranking in the Demon world, with a few exceptions, that they didn't provide any level boosts so I couldn't up anything to help me keep going." He says.
"Well how much have you got so far?" Akira asks. Ash brings out his card and hands it to the Fighter. "Only 6 levels? What the actual fuck is this." He says hands the card back.
"I assume since they are near the bottom of the food chain in Hell, that means they are lower then the Human World enemies. I get more experience from killing toads then this." Ash says bitterly at the outcome. Sure he got some points and was able to upgrade his abilities and sword play but still no DT path yet. He almost felt something but couldn't quite get it. "I guess this much rest will have to do...let's go end this." Ash said as he stood. He walked up to the gate and scoffed. "A puzzle to find the parts for the crank? I'm too annoyed and tired for this shit." He said as he simply began to Concentrate. He then started to quickly take out Yamato and slice at the gate before clicking the swords back into the scabbard. He watched as it fell apart as he finished and turned to Akira who looked on in shock. "What? I did level up still even if only a bit from this, let's go, I'm starving." He says walking forward.
Akira shakes himself out of his shock and looks back to the hole where he came from. "To think my desires were that distorted for me...I guess I gotta be better and work on myself or something; having it that easy seemed way too boring." He said to himself.
"Akira!" Ash yelled out making the human smirk and chuckle.
"Coming!" He called out as he jogged forward to be next to his companion.
Ember: Nice!
Lula: What are you watching anyway?
Ember: Some random world we screwed up, sent some people over on a bet with Aqua and I'm watching as they go.
Lula: That's nice!
Ember: Oh yeah, gotta loove the bloodshed they make!
Lula:...I thought you were the God of gambling!
Ember: Hey I like some good ol action too; Junith isn't the only person who likes violence.
Lula: You're inane.
Ember: Only a little, hehehehehehe.