Please Enjoy. I only own the Plot, Wiccan and every other OC. I apologise in advance if any of the characters seem OOC. Please review to let me know your thoughts.
Also the title of this chapter comes from the novel of the same name by Ernest Hemingway, I have not read it but the title fits with this chapter's antagonist and the names of Kyire's parents are made up.

Chapter 9: - For Whom the Bell Tolls

"Wiccan, witch of the Albiona clan, daughter of witch Moira and an unknown human father. Dante, half-demon hunter, son of demon Sparda and human Eva, twin brother of lost half-demon Vergil. Lady, a false name but one you call your own, daughter of human turned pseudo-demon Arkham and human Kalina Ann. Trish, a construct of Mundus made to resemble Eva. Nero, son of unknown individuals but adopted by the parents of Credo and Kyrie. Kyrie, daughter of humans Elizabeth and Robert, sister of pseudo-demon Credo," Death spoke.

His voice was chillingly almost like someone was walking across our graves but I could feel everyone tense up at their personal information being revealed to everyone around them. It appeared that the rumours surrounding Death's powers were a little more concreate than I had though which was worrying as supposedly he could cause wounds without even touching us.

"How… how the hell does he know that," Lady asked, her voice stuttering slightly as she spoke. I stepped forward and detached one of my daggers from my chain and threw it at Death although he easily dodged the attack by stepping to the side, it hadn't been meant to hit him just to draw his attention to me.

"No more mind games Death. You can leave or you can fight, it's your choice," I spoke. My voice was firm but inside I was nervous, it would be almost impossible for any of us to defeat this specific demon as even Mundus and Sparda almost died sealing him away with Sparda having lost centuries off his life by being hit by the poison that was dripping from Death's scythe.

"I have no need to fight you but you are becoming a problem. Defeating Pestilence and Famine is one thing but to critically wound War is another thing entirely, you have become a thorn in the side of the people who freed me and to repay them, I will finish you off," Death spoke. He then dashed towards us and swung at us with his scythe.

I barely had time to raise my shield and it almost shattered upon impact although I managed to keep it enough long enough for the others to jump back with Trish helping Lady and Nero taking Kyrie, knowing they were safe I used my magic to displace myself into Purgatory for a second which allowed me to dodge Death's attack in the nick of time.

I jumped out of Purgatory and landed with the others who looked worried about what to do especially as they had already seen my shield in action and managed to gauge the strength of our opponent from it, with Death being almost capable of breaking it in one swing it showed that he was incredibly powerful.

"Run now and fast," I advised. Dante stepped forward and began to shoot at Death who swung his scythe around to block the projectiles however this did give Nero and Kyrie time to retreat back into the woods however due to Lady's injury the other two women were being slowed down so I rushed over to them.

I knelt down by the injured leg and careful unwound the crude bandage, which I noted was made from Kyrie's dress, I then placed my hand on the weeping injury and pushed my magic into it and began to knit the wound back together by putting my own life-force into the healing process.

I pulled back once the wound was healed leaving only a thin white scar of its' presence, the two women then took off towards the forest but I was left out a breath due to the magic and as such I barely had time to move myself as I was soon tackled by something hard and warm which force me to roll away from my positon although I was contained within its' embrace.

I looked up and saw that Dante was the force that hit me and had he not done so I would have died as Death's scythe was implanted into the ground where I had been knelt, the two of us scrambled to our feet and we rushed towards the forest as I caused a large crevice to appear in the ground which separated the ground thus destroying Death's most direct path to us.

We managed to reach the trees and so I added another layer of protection by having the trees weave their branches together creating a wooden blockade, I thanked the trees for their protection and caught up to Dante who quickly lead us to where the other four were waiting and all of their faces showed their exhaustion and worry.

"We don't have long. My magic will wear off and Death will find us so we either need to trap him or escape," I informed everyone.

"Hang on a minute, can we get some answers? How did he know all that stuff about us?" Kyrie asked, her voice almost bordering on hysterical. Nero wrapped his arm around her and drew her close to him as he looked at me, everyone else also locked their eyes on to me so I took a breath.

"There are rumours surrounding exactly what the Horsemen are. They could be Concepts turned rogue or demons who stole the power of Concepts, either way Death is the most dangerous member of the Horsemen due to his life stealing poison that coats his blade and the ability to gain knowledge from his opponents by gazing into their souls," I explained what I could remember from the scrolls at the Coven's Haven.

"What the hell is a Concept?" Nero asked. I was getting annoyed since the longer we hung around in the opening, the more likely it was that Death would be able to catch up with us and end our lives sooner than they should be ended.

"Human belief turned flesh. If you ask I'll explain more in depth when our lives aren't in mortal danger," I snapped. This comment swiftly silenced everyone as I took in a deep breath to calm myself down so that I can think clearly before anything bad happened however something began to hum through the air and it immediately attracted my attention.

I looked around looking for what was calling to me and I began to set off deeper into the trees to find the object, I could hear the others calling out to me but I ignored them as I focused solely on finding the object that could very well be the key to all of us making it through this battle.

I wound through the trees until I came upon a grove with trees that had leaves which glowed a beautiful lilac colour, I smiled glad to see the sign of infused magic but I wondered what could be here that could cause such a change especially since this area had no known magical contents and the Coven had been meticulous in ensuring we knew exactly where every witch artefact was located.

The humming grew strong and so I carefully stepped in the direction that I sensed it was coming from and stopped in front of the tallest tree, I pressed my hand against the aged bark and began to trace it over the wood to find the source which seemed to be emanating from a small hollow that was tucked into the tree.

I reached into the hollow and felt around until my hand grasped a hold of something circular and so I pulled my hand out and brought the object with me, I saw that the object was a long sceptre carved from pure white rowan wood with the triquetra engraved onto the wood and into the glowing white orb that was nestled within the brambles that formed a hold at the top.

I froze in shock as I instantly recognised the object as the Relic of Sacred Light which had gone missing nearly twenty years ago, I found it incredibly strange that the object was here of all place and exactly when I would need it the most which caused me to thin my lips at the though and so I sent out a pulse of magic but the only presences I detected where Dante and his allies along with Death who was swiftly closing in.

"What is that?" Lady asked. I turned back to them as I spun the sceptre within my hands, feeling it out as a weapon, I wasn't used to using sceptres as that was more in line with Mirage's and Rhea's style of fighting but I would have to use what I had learned from them during our fights if I hoped to get myself and the others out.

"A powerful Relic of my people, it might just be the key to getting us out of this mess. Dante, Nero, Trish whatever happens do not touch the light that comes from this sceptre, it is a container of a Sacred Element which is extremely poisonous to demons," I explained. The three nodded obviously understanding however the rapid shaking of the trees signalled that our opponent was closing in on us and so we all prepared with Nero quickly shuffling Kyrie to hide behind a group of trees a few feet away.

Death jumped out of the tree and landed before us, his scythe glinting menacingly as the dying light reflect off of the poison that laced his weapon, the others already had their guns at the ready with all of them having chosen to remain at a distance although Lady was the most in danger due to her naturally slower reflexes.

Death chuckled as if he found our actions amusing however he was swiftly silenced by Trish launching a volley of bullets at his head which caused him to raise the shadows as a shield although he then used them to attack by turning them into daggers which he sent flying at all of us although we all managed to deflect for dodge the attack.

Death then moved in to action as he charged straight for Lady however it appeared that she had anticipated this as she used the blade of her missile launcher to grapple up into the tree thus effectively dodging his attack and she managed to fire a surprise attack on him which burrowed a few rounds into him before he protected himself with the shadow so Lady jumped down but landed where Trish was.

Nero took this opportunity to fire his own round of bullets however Death deflected them and charged straight for him but I intercepted him by throwing one of my daggers at the warlord which managed to slice across his helmet and so he changed his course and headed straight for me… however this was just what I wanted.

I pulled the sceptre up from where it rested at my side and pointed it at Death however this didn't stop the demon and so I activated the power of the Relic which fired a massive blast of energy which ploughed into Death and sent him flying backwards, luckily the other demons had taken cover and thus the purifying light didn't affect them.

The light faded away allowing everyone to see that no damage had been done to the surrounding foliage however this was no surprise to me as the light only targeted creatures with evil in their blood and thus pure beings like nature were left unharmed although all the others were surprised as they looked around in shock.

Unfortunately this all quickly changed as Nero looked in the direction of where Kyrie was and his face instantly paled as it took on a look of absolute horror which caused all of us to look in that direction, we saw that Kyrie was being held by Malcolm whose claws were poised right at her jugular ready to rip it out at any second.

"LET HER GO!" Nero yelled. Luckily before he could do anything that would get Kyrie killed, Dante seized the boy by his shoulders and kept him back whilst Lady and Trish appropriately looked shocked about the fact that Malcolm was holding Kyrie hostage.

"I'll let her go so long as the witch hands over the Relic," Malcolm commented. I gritted my teeth but knew exactly what I had to do, I walked forward and pointed the spectre at Malcolm which made everyone tense up however I swiftly twirled the spectre so that the orb pointed away from him and placed it on the floor and then I took a few steps backwards to prove my point to the Contract.

Malcolm smirked and removed his hand from the throat of the girl thus allowing her to rush over to Nero who immediately held the girl close to him as she shook violently due to the fear that had taken over her body, I remained in my position as I glared directly at Malcolm who walked forward to the Relic however I reacted faster than he could.

I used my telekinesis to summon the sceptre towards me however before I could grasp it shadows ploughed into me which sent me flying into the trees and thus the sceptre went flying right past me and it landed somewhere within the tree line if the clattering sound was anything to go by, I twisted around and saw that the shadows had come from Death flinging them at me.

The demon was standing but he was still injured from the force of my Sacred attack, his armour was smouldering with bits of the plating hanging off or missing completely and it seemed that one of his legs was severely burned from the intensity of the light that had been forced upon his form.

I lifted myself up but I still felt the pain of the impact coursing through my shoulders and back although I ignored the pain and focused on retrieving the sceptre as it was the only way for us to get away from Death alive however the Horseman turned his attention to Malcolm and pointed his scythe at the Contract.

"I did not need your assistance, human," Death spat. Malcolm raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms as the two enemies kept their eyes focused on each other, this allowed us to begin carefully moving with Trish and Lady moving Kyrie into the trees whilst I began to carefully walk around the edge using the wind to silence my footfalls as I made my way towards were I heard the sceptre fall.

"It seems like you did considering that you just got slammed with Sacred Light. Now why don't you finish them off so we can continue with our plan without any more interruptions," Malcolm commented. I continued on my path and finally managed to reach the sceptre and so I began to reach for it however I sensed something coming towards me so I immediately dodged out of the way of the attack which was revealed to be a pink arrow.

I whipped my head in the direction that the arrow had come flying from and I saw the smirking Incubus that was manipulating my sister and I sneered at his presence unfortunately this attracted Malcolm's and Death's attention to my actions and I had to swiftly dodge a shadow spear that would have gorged my throat.

This attack caused the two half-demons to spring into action with Nero darting forward and swiping his sword at Malcolm's head whilst Dante began firing his guns at Nile which caused his lips to curl into a sneer as he jumped into the air and dived down towards the half-demon with his pink orbs already spiralling around him with some having formed into daggers.

I used this opportunity to dive over and seized a hold of the sceptre just as Death appeared above me and swung his scythe at me, I brought up the sceptre and blocked the scythe just in time although I swiftly displaced myself before a drop of that vile poison could land on my skin and kill me in and instant.

I returned to the normal world and I proceeded to launch a blast of light at the demon although as he was now aware of the sceptre's power he used the shadows to shallow the light and then dashed at me with his scythe prepared to cleave me in half however I jumped into the air and fired another blast at Death.

The demon dodged the attack and threw shadows up at me however I used my own shadows to protect myself from the evil attack and to give me a platform to get behind the demon and I placed the orb right against his armour but before I attack he rolled out of the way and swung the scythe at me, I was unable to dodge the attack due to the range.

Suddenly instead of feeling the cold stinging feeling of poison and the darkness of death encroaching on my form I simply felt the wind gusting around me, I saw that a wind cyclone had somehow formed around me thus preventing Death's scythe from hitting me.

I looked around confused about this fact and so I raised my hand and carefully felt the wind coursed along the form of my hand and I felt an interesting residual magic that was exactly like Mirage's so I swiftly pushed out my magic to sense for her but she wasn't anywhere near by so I returned to the task at hand just as the cyclone dissipated and I jumped away from the blade.

Whilst still in the air I created clones of myself and all of me landed in a circle around Death who looked confused, normal a clone wouldn't fool Death but as I had split my magic between the clones and suppressed my own thus making it difficult for him to detect the real one. To further add to his confusion I had the clones began to run I a circle and simultaneously point the illusion weapons at Death, Death's eyes locked onto my form but before he could do anything I launched a blast of the Sacred magic at Death.

The blast hit Death and forced him backwards although I felt a sharp pain in my thigh and I looked down to see that one of Death's shadow spears had grazed my leg and should have skewered it although my attack had dislodged its' aim, I landed on the ground and watched as an equally injured Nile and Malcolm flanked Death who quickly used his shadows to allow them to escape from us just as the three other female re-joined us.

Everyone was exhausted and even I felt the strain off the battle come over me and I sank to my knees with the Relic landing besides me with a delicate clink, I took in a deep breath as I managed to pull out a Moon Pearl and drop it down my throat so that I could recover my mana, someone approached me so I looked up to see Dante standing in front of me with his hand outstretched towards me.

"Wiccan, have you got any idea where they're going babe?" Dante asked. I took his hand and allowed him to pull me up, I healed my injury, picked up the Relic and swung it onto my back before looking at the half-demon and I saw that the rest of his allies were all looking at me curiously as well.

"Daemon Capitala, that's where we'll find them," I spoke. Everyone nodded having heard me, with Lady immediately heading over to one of the large buildings and she began to pull open the doors, we all headed over and I looked inside to see that there was a small airplane located inside but it was more than large enough to accommodate all of us.

"I figured they were going that way so I hired this for us to use, you're welcome to come along with us besides I think we could need all the help we're going to get to take down those demons," Lady commented. I nodded signalling that I was going to come with them and so we all swiftly boarded the airplane as Lady took her place in the cockpit where she then took the airplane into the sky after gaining enough momentum.