As I quote Arnold Schwarzenegger, "I'm Back!"
I need a new job!
Nothing else to say but;
enjoy if you do,
leave if you don't.
Let's begin:
Mission 15: Pizza, Monsters and Maids in Trouble
／人◕ .◕人＼
Excerpts from an old journal of a mage knight:
"After the enemy's defeat, we took measures to insure that this will never happen again… I just hope this will be enough to stave...it."
／人◕ .◕人＼
Fantasy pic: Siesta is straddling someone off picture, possibly Dante. She's looking shy since she is currently wearing a bikini made of white icing, with the camera capturing the image is from 'Dante's' POV.
(Yum!)
／人◕ .◕人＼
In a deep, dark, stone-walled dungeon,
The silence in the dark is betrayed by the sound of squelching, slurping, and slithering.
Accompanied by an incorrigible gurgling that is simply too familiar for those who could hear.
Simply too human to be ignored.
A gurgling which cries for help.
But the effort found none, as all of the pleas fall on deaf bricks and mortar…
The obviously useless cry was stifled, choked, as though the mouth of the crier was stuffed full by something slimy…
A loud CRUNCH…
A dying whimper…
And then, a brief silence, only to be interrupted by slow, methodical chewing, crunching and…
A very loud gulp.
Then came a sound that seems to convey of something large crawling, slithering in the dark…
And finally, true silence… as if nothing ever happened in that dark place.
／人◕ .◕人＼
Tristain Magical Academy.
A middle-aged man stands before the Old Osmond sitting on the desk as the Old professor writes a letter.
He wears a red cape, frilled collar, blue coat, and the usual Victorian pants, long white socks and a stylish shoes, a typical noble.
(More like a pimp in modern standards.)
Smoothing his meticulously combed brown hair, ridiculously curled sideburns and eyebrows, he is obviously impatiently waiting for the Academy Head to finish the letter.
Meet Count Mott, a noble and the royal messenger of Tristain, who arrived with messages from the Royal Palace, and one of them regarding the coming wedding of the princess,
Osmond finishes the reply letter, magically rolls it and levitated towards the now smirking Noble.
"Humph. I'm grateful that the academy understands." He said,
"Well, it is a request from the Palace, there's no reason to say otherwise..." the Academy Head replied,
"Then, I will take my leave."
Mott turns around to leave.
As Osmond heard, every time the Count comes here, he tries hitting on the young teachers of the academy.
The head is disgusted with the way this man carries himself and the way he approaches the opposite sex.
Who the heck could someone turn a normal greeting to a perverted proposition?
The fact that Old Osmond is a lecher himself, that says a lot.
／人◕ .◕人＼
As Mott passes by a corridor, he sees a white haired young man clad in strangely designed crimson coat.
He accompanies a young, pink- haired girl whom he recognized as the daughter of Duke de la Valliere.
She appears to be arguing with the man in red who looks obviously not a noble of any kind, talking to him as if the man was equal to her status.
The man notices the noble and turns to look at him.
A chill ran down his spine as the crimson-clad man's gaze scanned him.
His instincts tell him, that his man is something more than just a mere commoner, and that he is dangerous.
Mott quickly tries to recover from his moment of weakness as gave a façade of stoic, dismissive air, and passes by the conversing pair.
／人◕ .◕人＼
In Dante's point of view…
As the Noble turns his back on the two…
The devil hunter couldn't get a finger on it but there is something strange about the noble that passed them by.
He takes note of this, knowing whenever he felt suspicious…
"Hey! Dante, are you listening?"
"Yeah, yeah…" the devil hunter replied, looking annoyed right now…
"I mean, what is this pizza that you are talking about?"
"It is the greatest baked goodie you could ever taste…" Dante declared as he dreamed of that last pizza he had…
And an idea was born…
"Well the sundae worked before…" he mused,
／人◕ .◕人＼
"And so that is why we're here Marteu, I was kind of hoping if I could borrow a small part of your kitchen…"
The large head chef carefully thought over at the matter…
"If it is our beloved 'Heartbreaker' who requested it, I would be honoured to have my kitchen at your service."
Especially after Dante introduced the 'San-day' dessert to the kitchen, the said confectionary became an instant hit amongst the students and teachers.
With the usual assistance of Dante, courtesy of Cerberus, who made the near-instant ice cream, though later he taught the crew how to manually make them…
A large storage room in the academy especially spell-crafted to store the large barrels of ice cream, and also led to the discovery of refrigeration…
You guessed it; the room has a spell of indefinite frost, made by the combined effort of the Academy faculty and staff.
Before we get too far away from the main subject, let us return to the present as Dante expertly kneads the dough back onto the floured surface and punched it down, getting rid of any bubbles formed. He divided the dough in half and let it rest a few minutes.
As he let the dough rest, he took his attention to the preparation of the rest of the ingredients. Chopping up the onions, green peppers, sausages, mushrooms, and a strange fruit that bears a striking similarity to a pineapple in taste (I have no idea what the fuck it is either, give it a name if you wish : D ).
Dante then prepares the tomato paste, as well as the ground beef, and the finest grated 'royal' cheese.
To the devil hunter, it felt like he is simply cooking at leisure, but to the eyes of the two people present at the scene, he was moving at a speed no ordinary man could have done.
With the preparation of the toppings done, Dante then checks the preheated oven.
Nodding his head that the desired temperature has been met, he returns to the waiting dough.
The dough has now puffed up a bit; the devil hunter tosses and spins the dough to a pair of roughly 15 inch wide circles, one on each hand.
Having no pizza pan around, he had to make do with the pans used in making bread.
Greasing the pans earlier, Dante then places the prepared pizza crust on them, and expertly added the sauce, cheese and the rest of the toppings.
Dante grins as he finally puts the pizzas in the oven.
Finally facing the wide-eyed onlookers, amazed at the speed Dante made the whole thing.
"Now, we wait." He said.
A delicious smell then permeates throughout the kitchen as the pizzas are baked.
After a few minutes later…
Dante carefully takes the baked pizza out.
The smell of the baked food made Louise and the head chef water.
"It looks so tasty." Louise commented, looking at the pair of smoking pies.
"Yes, I do agree." A sultry voice spoke up from behind the two.
It was Kirche, beside her is Tabitha, reading a book.
"What are you doing here?" Louise exclaimed as the two newcomers took their seat casually.
"We saw you two go here, so we followed." Kirche shrugs, while making her way to the devil hunter.
"Hi there Darling…" Kirche greets as she gave Dante a hug, obviously letting him have a feel of her breasts…again.
Not that he's complaining.
"Hi there cutie." Dante grins at the redhead, causing her to look away blushing.
A very rare thing for a Zerbst to do.
Dante leads the blushing girl to the table where the rest are.
The pizza looks nicely done, with a nice golden top, the crust is nicely browned and cheese is beautifully melted.
"…" Marteu was rendered silent as he savoured the pie's aroma and the presentation.
"Enough with the admirin' and let us get eatin'." Dante grinned, with a quick movement of his wrist; he cuts the pizza into eight equal slices with a knife.
Picking up a slice with a fork and placed them on small plates, Dante then presents the finished product to the five people on the table.
"Well, what do you think?"
"My word…You are a genius. Msieu Dante." Marteu cries… as he took bites of his piece of the pie.
"Exquisite, my Darling." Kirche comments, as she ate her piece of the pie.
It doesn't escape from the devil hunter's observation that the redhead is looking at him lustily as she, instead of taking small bites the pie; she suggestively licks the top of it. Over and over.
'Seriously, she never runs out of ideas on turning guy on.'
Dante then turns to the others,
Tabitha, daintily nibbles on a particularly large piece as she continued reading her small book. Only to pause in mid-bite, to complement the cook.
"Good." She said to him.
'As always, a woman of a few words.' He comments to himself,
Louise, on the other hand was at a loss on seeing how the capable his summoned being was.
She had to admit. This pie is great; it has a perfect balance of melding of the flavors of the different ingredients, where each taste compliments the other in a seemingly never ending cycle.
Compared to her, who has just managed to barely grasp basic magic, she's still far off the other end of the spectrum to most of the basic stuff…such as cooking.
She had no idea, how much pain and suffering Dante had to go through to attain the level of at least managing to cook the damn pie properly.
And also the fact that Dante; only knows how to make Pizza and Strawberry Sundae competently.
"Dante-san is really good with this." Someone other than the three nobles and the head chef piped up.
Yes, it was Siesta.
Somehow, she managed to join the group much earlier without the rest of the people noticing.
"Could you please show me how it's made?" she asks suddenly appeared in front of him, with hands clasped in front of her and eyes glittering.
Just how the heck did the maid appear unnoticed and move like that?
"Leave it to Siesta to quickly wanting to learn how to cook new things." Marteu.
Kirche saw this as well and joined in the fray.
"Teach me how to do this as well, Darling." KIrche asked the devil hunter, pulling herself close to him and began playing her finger on his chest.
"Hey, I asked him first!" Siesta complained, showing a behaviour different from her usual demeanor.
"I don't mind 'sharing' him with you," Kirche replied giving a knowing smile at the maid, causing the girl into a blushing fit.
"M-me, sharing Dante-san with Mselle Kirche?" She stammered, her head is already lost in the clouds of fantasy.
'I'm probably sure she's thinking of something other than cooking' Dante reflects.
Marteu just stands there, apparently enjoying the fact that the commoner's hero of the Academy is very popular with women.
"Hey Dante, can you teach me how to make this one?" a small voice then asked.
It was Louise.
Dante isn't so much as interested in teaching stuff, unless if that is all about devil hunting, training and blowing stuff up.
Something in Louise's eyes remind him of himself when he was still starting to learn about baking pizza.
'Why do I feel like I'm going to regret this?' the devil hunter thought.
"Alright girls."
Later,
Siesta baked a rather nice cheese, onion, bell pepper, and bacon topped pizza.
"P-please, have some."
"Hmm… Wow Siesta, you actually nailed this one." Dante compliments the girl, causing the girl to blush again.
The maid began thinking again of what she plans to cook for the devil hunter when they get married, living in a nice small house in her village, with a cute puppy, and lots of silver haired children, all bearing the same cute visage as their father's.
"Ahh…" she sighed, with her hands to her cheeks.
'Somehow, I get the feeling that I seemed to have sealed my fate somewhere, whatever I did just now.' The devil hunter thought,
Kirche made one as well, a massive pizza with a nicely browned crust, and a completely red top.
"Well, what can I say… Red is my favourite color. Care to try?" Kirche said, offering the glowing red pie.
Seconds later,
"WAAAAATEEEERRRRRRRRRRRRR!" Everyone who ate Kirche's pizza, except Dante and Kirche screamed as they ran together to the nearest fountain.
Tabitha, a wise girl that she is, didn't dare to touch Kirche's cooking.
'Yeah, you're best friends with Kirche alright.' Dante thought as he nibbled on the pizza. Stifling a slight choke as the devil hunter forced the searing hot food.
'Wow, even the food in hell can't compare with this one. This can kill lesser demons at best.'
"Hmm, I guess it's too spicy for them." Kirche comments, as she took bites of her own creation as if it was nothing.
"It's too damn spicy, you busty bimbo." Louise shouted between gulps of water.
Louise's turn…
In front of Louise, lies a shiny, dark disk, still smoking from the smelting furnace that was once an oven…
Seriously… how on earth did it get so wrong.' She thought.
"I think, we should take a break now." Dante said gravely, putting a hand on the shaking shoulders of the pinkette.
"One more try…"
"It's already the 10th time already, please stop." Marteu begs to the girl.
For 10 times, Louise tried to bake pizza, and 10 times; it ends up with the same result.
A black disk that is as hard and heavy as steel. These dark colored heavy disks, look like they are strong enough to pierce the castle wall if driven with enough force.
How on earth would someone make something akin to steel out of dough made of baking powder and water?
It is this trend that Dante begins to think that Louise should take up metallurgy.
"10 times…" Louise's eyes shivered as tears begin to fall from her eyes.
"I never thought I would get to tease you as a Zero again." Kirche chuckled.
Only to get a nudge and a glare from her tiny bluenette friend.
"Please, don't speak to her that way." Siesta said, looking at Louise with pity.
Tears began to well even more from the pinkette's eyes.
"Umm. Louise? are you…" Dante asked tries to approach her.
"WAAAAAAHHHHH!" Louise runs out of the kitchen, bawling her eyes out.
"Louise!" Dante runs after her, but not before thanking Marteu for the use of the kitchen, and saying goodbye to the rest of the girls.
／人◕ .◕人＼
Louise lies on her bed, hiding under the sheets, crying softly…
Now that she managed to learn basic magic, and tried cooking…
She never thought she would fail in it too.
Sure, she could now cast spells, but only with the help of her summoned being.
Now, she really needs to do something for him for a change… at least to cook for him…
Or something,
*Knock, Knock*
"Go away!" Louise shouts at the person at the door, casting a lock spell on it.
A moment of silence.
Then the door bursts open, as someone drove a force stronger than a Battering Ram, manned by two dozen heavily muscled men.
"Oops. I think I gave it a little bit too much push." A familiar voice said as steps told the pinkette that the person entered her room.
A sound of someone putting up the door again. and a strange shimmering sound.
"You do realize, practice makes perfect." A voice from the door spoke.
Dante.
Louise looks up from under the sheets, appearing more like a sulking two-year-old in such a big bed…
"Yeah, you heard that right, even I messed up a lot of times. You should have seen the damage I made in that cooking class…" Dante stated, as he sat on the bed next to the cocooned mini-mage.
He tells a small tale…
"There was once this man…"
A flash back…
A building burns brightly in flames as a dozen fire trucks do their best to put out the fire.
A silver-haired man in a cooking student's apparel looks on with shock,
"Why?" he asked himself in frustration, "Why can't I get it right?"
The building continues to burn to the ground…
As the memory of that moment fades, the inevitable tinge of pain and regret slightly hung on a bit on the devil hunter's mind. In his frustration with the failures with the pizza making, he unconsciously set the place on fire with an unchecked oven, or was it his powers?
Probably both.
"Yup, that was hell lot worse, compared to yours."
Literally.
Louise meekly came out of her hiding as she sat on top of the bed, looking childishly cute as she asked,
"Really?"
"Yeah, so just continue practicing till you get it right." Dante assured the girl,
Then the devil hunter thought, and then said to the girl,
"But before you do, try to ask yourself, what did you do wrong with the process? Then try working that off and see what happens."
Though clumsily, Dante managed to keep the pinkette from dropping into depression,
"Come here, you." The devil hunter reached out with his arm, and pulled the girl close to him in a hug.
Louise tried to squeak a protest, but covered by the warmth similar to Cattleya's hug; she relents and enjoyed the strangely familiar feeling of having someone who genuinely cares for her.
At least now she realizes that her mixed feeling to her summoned being is somewhat like a surrogate family to her.
An older brother?
Well, more like a crazy, violent, and obviously dangerous elder brother, who likes picking on her on occasions, and someone who will protect and defend her from anything that could hurt her.
／人◕ .◕人＼
Afternoon on the same day...
Guiche falls down on the Academy lawn, panting really hard.
Dante spent the afternoon tortur-er training Guiche.
"What? Getting tired already? This is just a warm up." Dante chuckled darkly; a naughty glint can be seen in his eyes.
Guiche gasps for breath for a while, "Easy for you to say." He retorted
Dante constantly trains Guiche once more by making the boy run around the Academy perimeter, wearing what appear to be, 100 pound weights strapped to his arms, legs, and torso, in order to improve Guiche's base strength.
And also to scratch Dante's itchy trigger fingers.
"Don't be such a baby, I'm doing this for your own good. How can you be a good ladies man if you can't even defend the dame you are wooing?"
"But.."
"No pain no gain. Now, get up."
Guiche groans in protest.
Until,
*Click*
Guiche suddenly leaps from where he lay seconds earlier,
Only one thing that sound meant.
"I'm up! I'M UP! PLEASE DON'T SHOOT!" Guiche pleads as he broke into another lap around the Academy grounds with sparkling tears running down his eyes.
'Even in these situations, he still has that annoying melodramatic streak.' Dante thought as he emotionlessly watched the poor boy stagger but bravely continued to run.
Considering how large the Academy is, he hoped that Dante won't chase him down with his guns blazing like a wild demon like the usual.
"I'm surprised the Academy head hadn't had you arrested already with you shooting those things" Louise comments, while sitting under a large propped parasol as she tried to get some notes done on how to write an edict for her best friend's wedding.
She's not getting anywhere.
"I had his permission to do what I see fit. As long as I don't demolish anything around here." Dante said, shrugging.
"Somehow, sometimes I get the feeling that you are keeping something from me." Louise eyed the red-clad man in question.
"Here." Dante deadpans as he takes something out of his infinite storage room.
A large glass vase of Strawberry Sundae was placed on the tea table next to her.
As soon as she saw the confectionary, her eyes sparkled like diamonds.
Yes, she is also infected with Dante's Sundae Affection.
She also forgot her interrogation of the devil hunter.
Dante amused himself watching the boy run around the Academy grounds, as Louise happily consumed his gift/bribe.
／人◕ .◕人＼
That night.
Dante hangs out at the many windowed outer halls, watching the moon,
Dante spent the time clearing his thoughts as he tries to figure out what exactly is the true purpose is behind the recent movements of the Reconquista and the person or organization pulling the strings.
A shadow hangs over the devil hunter as he rests on the academy window.
"Siesta."
Dante greets the maid as he barely managed to hide his surprise at the maid's presence.
She seems to have the uncanny ability to sneak up on him.
"What are you doing, Dante-san?"
"Just hanging out."
Silence
"Oh by the way, I haven't thanked you for helping me out when I first came here, haven't I?" Dante tries to start up a conversation,
"N-no need to thank me, It is my job to help out after all." Siesta stammered as her blush turns her face bright red.
"Besides, I'm also grateful of what you taught me earlier, I will treasure it in my heart." Siesta bows to him.
"Hey, you don't have to be so formal with this. After all were..."
Wind blows…as Dante looks out at the moon falls silent again,
'Dammit, what's wrong with me tonight?' the devil hunter reflects.
"Umm.. Dante-san?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you!"
She bows, just like Japanese in his world would…
"What's this all of the sudden?"
"No matter what terrible things happened, I never saw you cower. You even stood up to a Noble though you are a commoner."
Well, the noble mentioned is currently sleeping like a log in his room due to exhaustion from Dante's training. Probably having nightmares of the brutal training.
Siesta then smiled… Oh such beautiful a smile it is…
"Your image as you did that gave me a lot of courage, because of you I can still continue to go on…"
"Well, thanks for the compliment." Dante replied, as he scratched his head in embarrassment.
'Wait, where have I heard that line before?' Dante thought as he tried to remember.
Then the maid suddenly bows toward him, and said, "Dante-san, Good night."
"Uh, yeah. Good night to you too…"
The maid gives a final smile and turns to walk away. Dante could have sworn that her expression changed in a split second…
A sad face.
It felt like, the maid is trying to say something to him, but couldn't put it into words.
She'll tell him that when the time is right.
／人◕ .◕人＼
Siesta heaved a heavy sigh as she walked about the castle. Despite how some of the nobles would be mean to her, it really wasn't so bad.
There was always something to do in the Academy, and that is also kept her homesickness in check, and just recently she had made a very special friend.
"Dante…" she whispered,
He showed her that nothing was impossible. He showed her that even a commoner like her can stand a chance in this world ruled by magic wielding bastards.
He proved many times over that nobles aren't invincible as they claim, and they can be humbled as well.
Siesta continued to walk away with heavy steps…
The castle was really beginning to feel like…home…and now she had to leave.
She just hoped that she could at least be able to say goodbye to the one she really cared for.
"Dante…" she whispered into the stars, looking out the window of the lonely halls.
But she couldn't muster the courage to even say anything…
Siesta struggled not to cry as she walked away from the man who gave her so much courage and confidence.
She didn't want to leave.
Unfortunately she doesn't have a choice.
It was Mott who insisted and she couldn't go against his request.
All she could do now is do the best of what she could, and hope for...something...
Things could no doubt eventually get better.
It was all she had now.
／人◕ .◕人＼
Dante heads back into the Academy dormitories, whilst thinking of what Siesta said before,
'You…gave me a lot of courage; because of you I can still continue to go on…'
Something in her words gave Dante a sense of foreboding… he just couldn't point out what?
Passing by a corridor, a door opens, and a familiar figure comes out.
"Hey, lover…" She seductively greets,
'Kirche…' Dante inwardly sighs,
She is dressed in a tight-fitting pink laced negligee, in a design that threatened to make any sane and rational man into raving, sex-craving animal.
And it's currently affecting the 'devil within' so to speak…
So, yeah, it is working perfectly.
She approached the rather sleepy devil hunter, much like a beast of prey stalking its next meal…
"Yo, good evening Kirche. I'm just passing by…and I need to get up early tomorrow."
"If that's the case, let's continue this conversation inside." Kirche said as she grabs the devil hunter's right arm, and hugged it, intentionally pressing it between those bountiful mountains of flesh of hers.
"You could sleep inside whenever you 'want' to.." Kirche used the most seductive voice she could muster just to capture this dashing beefcake that is the target of her love/lust.
Man of steel he may be, but Dante admits to himself that he could feel the softness assault his senses.
There is this rightness of it all…in the obvious wrongfulness of the situation.
"Well, if were just going to 'talk'..."
Seconds later, Dante found himself inside the Germanian girl's room once again,
As he remembered, the last time he was in here, something was about to happen then…
'Round two baby…' a voice in his head whooped.
But then again, he should ask her of her motives.
"May I ask you something, why me? I mean you have a legion of guys at your feet already…"
"That's because you have many things that they don't. It's not worth comparing you to them."
She smiled.
"Really, like what?"
"Like the way you talk, the mannerism, and the words that prove that you weren't raised in a civil way."
'Well, civil in your world anyway.' Dante thought, unconsciously looking down at those huge jugs.
Looking at those things that would suck you into them, making you suck them back in retaliation.
The fuck is he thinking.
"And the way you melded beauty and savagery in dealing with your enemies, just makes me want to…"
He may love to play with fire at times, but he is currently not in a mood…
"Well look at the time." Dante tries to steer the thing off topic,
Kirche suddenly launches an attack, hugging the devil hunter and forcing him down on the soft bed.
"This time, you will not escape. The Hunter of Love, my Von Zerbst blood is excited."
"Really… Whatever do you mean by 'Hunter'" Dante couldn't help but ask, as the redhead's hands began stroking for his hidden sword in his pants.
"Hey..."
"I get more aroused when my prey resists more."
'Oh it's on girl…' Dante thought as he's actually fired up by now.
Suddenly, the door bursts open,
Louise is at the door, looking really tired and very annoyed.
"Oh, the pest appears…" Kirche deadpans, apparently losing interest.
Louise wordlessly drags Dante out of the room, again…
"Seriously…" Louise huffed
'This is getting old,' Dante couldn't help but sigh, as the mini-mage slams the door, leaving the busty redhead to her devices.
'Dante managed to escape tonight, but the next time, I will trap him and ravish his body. Whether he likes it or he loves it.' Kirche thought as plans began to plot…
／人◕ .◕人＼
Morning...
Siesta is looking up at a window, eyes filled with regret. She's currently not wearing her maid uniform; instead she's in her simple casual clothes. In her hand is what small amount of luggage she has.
Sighing, Siesta turns to get on the waiting carriage.
／人◕ .◕人＼
Later…
Dante is hanging outside with other familiars as Louise took her lessons.
Watching magic can be fun but as soon as the novelty fell off, it became a bore. So much that he usually ends up falling asleep. And his snoring distracts the class...
Besides that, most of the young ladies can't concentrate with him around, especially after the Guiche duel.
Dante now has been a target of their fantasies so much that instead of taking notes of their lessons, some of them instead end up either making an extremely detailed sketch of Dante as he intently watched the lessons, to poems dedicated to him, a bust sculpture,
There's even a series of fictional novels with him as the main character authored by a mysterious writer calling him/herself the Flaming Admirer.
It is written in the most colourful of the French-like language, describing the most 'interesting' love stories ever published.
Louise fainted the first time she read it. Then steeled herself to read it again, for the sake of the research.
Then Siesta began carrying around a copy of the series as well, this includes whenever she goes for a bath for some reason.
Passers by could sometimes hear faint moans emanating from within whenever she goes there.
Thus the two girls began a strange friendship built on erotic novels…
"Hey watch where you're touching…" Dante complains as a boa twines itself around Dante's legs.
Then the other familiars began crowding, and snuggling against the devil hunter.
Dante sighed. He needs to be somewhere else right now.
／人◕ .◕人＼
The devil hunter then proceeds to visit the Academy kitchen, and was greeted by the head cook, Marteu.
"Hey, it's the Heartbreaker." A strong slap to the back, announced that the chief cook is here.
"The Heartbreaker has come to the kitchen once again!" the burly, yet kind man bellowed.
"Hey, don't make it sound like I'm a VIP here."
"But of course you are, Dante, you're our hero."
Sitting next to the worktable Dante was given a small keg and a mug of beer, as well as some soup.
"Thanks for letting me chow here."
"Don't worry about it; it's just the surplus of the nobles after all..."
The devil hunter looks around for a certain someone...
"By the way, where is Siesta?"
The head Cook falls silent.
"Oh right, her job isn't to cook meals, so it won't be like she's here all the time."
Then, Dante noticed the dark look on the cook's face.
"Was it something I said?"
"Have you not heard from Siesta?"
Minutes later… after Marteu explained to Dante what happened.
"What? She quit?" Dante blurted out,
"Wait, Siesta didn't tell you?"
"Where is she now?"
"Aye, she is now serving a Noble named Count Mott. Early this morning, a carriage came to pick her up."
"Are you kidding? Why all of the sudden?"
"In the end, commoners just have to do whatever the nobles want them to."
The Chief Cook gets angry, but he knows he can't do anything about it. He then walks off with slumped shoulders.
"Now back to work again,"
Marteu leaves Dante with his thoughts
'Siesta, why didn't you say anything?' the devil hunter thought...
He remembered the sincere smile she gave last night.
／人◕ .◕人＼
Later, Dante is with Louise in her room...
"Count Mott is the royal messenger and every once in a while he comes to this school." Louise said as she brushed her hair
"Unfortunately, my family and him are...maintaining a close relationship. The Vallière family helps him on occasion, and the count use his influence with other nobles to help us as well. But, he's always so arrogant not to mention lecherous, so I don't like him at all."
"But…Why would Siesta work for someone of his stature?
The sword interjects…
"You do realize, in this world, Nobles had all the fun right? And that when a Noble specifically calls for a young girl, it normally means for her to be his mistress…Don't you even know that?"
"Mistress? Are you serious?"
Looks at Louise,
"I've heard stories like that. There are many types of Nobles out there after all."
Dante looks out the window as the sun sets over the horizon.
Louise remembered something…
In a hushed voice she tells the devil hunter,
"Besides that, there are stories being told that many of the hired help he took were young women, and that no one has seen them after a while."
"Siesta." Dante whispered,
／人◕ .◕人＼
At the Academy's indoor fountain...
"This is Wonderful! A mithril brooch?" Montmorency asked her boyfriend as she takes a closer look on the brooch given to her.
"It matches you well, does it not, Montmorency?" Guiche declared, rather overactingly said.
"Are you trying to erase what you did?" a voice suddenly cut through whatever romantic atmosphere he was trying to build up.
"You can't honestly believe that…" the voice added.
His jaw nearly dropped when he saw Dante, with his arms crossed looking rather impatient...
"Master, W-What are you doing? Are you trying to get in the way of my love again?"
'Idiot.' Dante thought,
"Nope, I'm just here to ask you something…"
／人◕ .◕人＼
It's already dinner time but Dante hasn't been back yet.
Louise wondered,
" Oh, where's Dante?"
Kirche then pops up. Pushing a cart filled with goodies, obviously looking for her 'Darling'.
"So now you're going to seduce him with food?" Louise huffed
"Well, I can't give it to him if he's not here. Where ever did he go?"
"He said he's going out, and hasn't returned since. Where did he go to…"
Oh not too long ago, he asked me where Count Mott's mansion is..." Guiche supplied the information,
"Count Mott's?" Louise sputtered,
"I wonder if he got tired of you and ran off?"
"Though, I have never heard of a familiar that has betrayed their master." Kirche laughs,
"But, this is Dante we are talking about here..." Guiche adds,
"Oh, that is true." Kirche agreed
"But, Count Mott has been a favoured Noble by the Palace..." Guiche said,
In a flash, Louise suddenly runs off
"Louise?" Kirche
／人◕ .◕人＼
Mott's estate, Dante arrives on Sleipnir.
"Is this the place? It seems to need of more landscaping..." Dante comments as he looked around the scenery. A palace like house and a yard a mile long, dismissing the thought as well as his ride, the devil hunter proceeds to enter the gate...
As soon as he entered the estate, a familiar air can be felt by the devil hunter.
'Shit, don't tell me...'
Suddenly, an armoured guard appears,
"Who's there?"
"I'm bringing a message for a Count Mott. It's urgent." Dante tries the Pizza Delivery Guy ruse as he wore the most charming smile.
／人◕ .◕人＼
Meanwhile in the Count's home...
Mott lounges on the couch as he recounted how he acquired Siesta.
"Oh, the fun we will have my dear maiden, I just hope you won't break easily." The count giggled madly…
"Am I interrupting something?" a cold voice cuts the giggling like a knife.
Mott quickly switches his façade into a business-like one,
"Ah Mr. Blue, what brings you here?" as he nervously scanned his room.
A sudden cold wave of wind blanketed the room as a wisp of smoke coalesces into a human shaped form.
In seconds, a solid form of a hooded figure in blue, like an immovable mountain despite its rather small stature, stood in front of the noble.
"My master wishes to know your progress on finding the items he sought."
"I'm still looking for it…"
Suddenly a wave of ethereal daggers sailed through the air, catching the noble in surprise.
He prepares for the worst, only for the daggers to stop in mid-air, just inches from his face.
"Master said this, 'if you don't have any information on the whereabouts of the Founder's items in Tristain within three days, you die. If you hear me, nod, if you don't, you can die right now."
Mott, shaking with fright, just nods.
"Good." The cloaked figure said as it once again disappears into a cloud of smoke.
／人◕ .◕人＼
An hour later…
Siesta waited for the Count's further orders, as she stood in front of the noble.
"So, have you gotten used to work here?" he asks the maid,
Siesta withheld the urge to shudder as she tried to answer.
It had been her hope that by showing she was a good maid and worked hard, he'd forget about making her his mistress. A commoner she might be, but she's not stupid.
For some reason, it seemed like the manor reeked of something strange, something alien.
As she worked around the house, she can't help but feel like she's being watched.
Mott had asked for her by name and she had actually received her own quarters along with very fine clothes to work in as well as furniture.
It is obvious that the Count did not want her as his maid, but as a bed partner.
'Screw this...' she thought. But she replied, "Yes, just about."
Mott rose from his chair, and approached the maid saying, and moves behind the maid.
"I see, I see. Don't push yourself"
Mott then puts a rather heavy hand on her shoulder, squeezing it lecherously, bends over next to her and whispered "I didn't just hire you for these petty tasks, Siesta..."
He actually nuzzled up to her and whispering in her ear as if he were her lover.
Ugh! Just having him touch her like that made her skin crawl. Her instinct wanted her to run away, but her common sense tells her that he'd probably have her tracked down and captured.
By that time, he wouldn't nearly be as merciful since his pride would have been wounded by her actions.
She heard from many stories that when a noble's pride was wounded, terrible things happened to the people whether they were responsible for it or not.
She then remembered her family.
The only choice at the moment is to get detached from herself if she wanted to survive…
…why did this have to happen to her?
"Umm." Siesta mumbled,
A knock to the door interrupts the Count,
"What is it?"
"A person calling himself, Dante is asking for your presence."
"Dante? I've never heard of such a name."
'It can't be...' Siesta thought.
／人◕ .◕人＼
Count Mott sees the white haired man in a red longcoat with a sheathed long sword strapped on his back, waiting for him at the receiving room being flanked by the guards. He looked familiar.
Dante took his time to look around; Mott's parlor was actually quite pleasant; thick red wood panelling, finely polished and cut lent the room a sort of cozy atmosphere. The comfortable chairs and the smoldering fire in the fireplace did nothing to detract from that. The thick green carpet was soft and very luxurious. It almost reminded Dante of his old family home. Indeed, the devil hunter felt like eating up in the whole scene, metaphorically speaking. It tasted of nostalgia, and the fire lent the whole room a sort of pleasantly smoky scent.
"I wondered what this nonsense was all about." Mott said irritably as he looked at the strangely dressed man.
Dante's eyes narrowed, even as he filed such talk away. "I came here for a certain handmaiden. I understand she was recently brought here."
"Hmm?" Mott asked. "And who is this young lass?"
"Her name is Siesta," Dante replied.
"Ah," Mott said. That will be something of a problem. You see, Siesta is mine."
'That line there sounded dangerous.' Dante thought, preparing his mind, body and weapons for a quick strike, just in case.
"Be gone! Be grateful that I even allow my presence in front of you, commoner!"
Standing up, the noble waves the man off and begins to walk away.
"Seriously, if you return Siesta back, I probably won't have to hurt you."
The count stops.
"You, hurt me? How absurd. Alright, I'll play along then, what is your relationship with Siesta?" the noble demanded
Dante shrugs saying,
"Well, I guess you could call us...coworkers."
"So you're just a servant of the Academy then?"
'Not really' Dante thought, and said aloud.
"Nope, I'm employed by someone else. I heard that when a noble calls for a specific girl for a servant... they usually end up as their mistresses. Is that what you're planning?"
"Siesta is now a formal servant of the Mott estate. How the master treats his servant is under his own jurisdiction."
Mott confidently said as he plays with his moustache in one hand.
"Just as I thought" Dante said,
Mott turns smug.
"So what? For a nameless commoner to serve under a Palace Noble as myself should be considered a great honor. After all, she is mine to play with, mine to discipline"
Mott prided himself, looking down at the much taller devil hunter.
"Honor, my ass. You're just taking advantage of the fact that Siesta can't refuse. You damn stinking catfish."
Dante tries to approach the count but was held back by the guards by crossing their spears in front of the silver haired man.
Mott laughs at the commoner's show of outrage, as well as his apparent helplessness.
But he then realized what Dante has just said, and turns red in anger.
"You! Do you think its fine for a commoner to insult a Noble."
"Nope, But I think IT'S COOL TO INSULT A NOBLE."
He takes a long staff leaning on his chair and quickly turns around to face the grinning devil hunter.
"Bow down and apologize!" He roared, pointing the staff at Dante.
'Oooh. It's on.' The devil hunter thought, mentally preparing himself for the next event.
*Crash*
Siesta bursts out of the door, surprising everyone present in the room.
"Stop it Dante-san," she pleaded as runs in front of the count and bows down to the count.
"Sir Count. Please forgive that man's rudeness."
"I will not. For me to take an insult from a meagre Commoner is a heavy offense. Move Siesta!"
"I won't."
"What?"
"Count Mott, I beg of you. I'll take any punishment that you desire!" Siesta pleads.
"Siesta! Get out of my way!" Dante said coldly,
Mott gives a thought,
"You there, the one called Dante..."
"Yeah,"
"How would you like a duel for Siesta's meat then? That sounds like wonderful sport," Mott replied. "And you look like you can amuse me for a while..."
Something with the way this creep speaks, irritated the devil hunter.
Standing tall, he replied casually,
"Ditto."
In a quick motion, Mott pulls a tasselled rope hanging beside his chair.
A click.
Dante suddenly found himself falling approximately four stories deep through a trapdoor.
"Ah, Crap."
／人◕ .◕人＼
In the skies… a blue dragon soars the night sky.
"If he draws his sword in a Noble's house then the Commoner can't complain if he gets executed on the spot." Kirche said to Louise as the they along with Tabitha, rode Sylphid on their way to Mott's estate.
"I know."
"But then again, this is Dante we're talking about here. It won't end well with the Noble crossing him that's for sure."
"I know."
"Tabitha, let's hurry."
"Landing at the mansion."
"Huh?"
It would seem that they have arrived.
The dragon quickly dived to the designated landing spot with the screaming two holding on for dear life.
／人◕ .◕人＼
"Wow, he sure pulled a rug from under me there."
Dante finds himself in a pitch dark room.
As Louise told him earlier, this might be the place where those people disappeared into.
Since seeing is out of the option at the moment, he quickly put his other senses to use.
Assailing his sense is the overpowering stench of rotting things.
And then he felt that he's no longer alone.
"I need a light." Dante said to no one in particular as he channels a bit of Beowulf's light energy in to a small floating light orb, flooding the room with light.
All of the sudden, the room comes alive with the cacophony of groans, roars and a bunch of other noise that sounded alien, yet appallingly human at the same time, sounds from someone's worst nightmare.
The light reveals that Dante is currently surrounded by scores of ravenous, horrible parodies of creation that only the twisted minds could conceive.
Some had body parts placed in the most insane places like eyes on the palm of the hands, or on the forehead.
Some had misshapen and huge sized limbs, sewn together like some do-it –yourself dolls, only crazier.
Meet the hordes of Flesh Golems, creatures made from corpses of either human or animals, clumsily sewn and put together, infused with Dark Magic, to give a mockery of life to them.
So that explains what happened to the missing people.
Turned into obviously bizarre and inhumane experiments. The realization made Dante very pissed.
"I'm coming for you. You damn catfish." Dante coldly said, as he draws the two pistols, Ebony and Ivory, spinning them on their trigger guards, then instantly stops, and points the guns at the nearest living corpse and began an insane barrage of magically reproduced lead at the golems.
Each of the bullets found their marks, easily rending, tearing, and vaporising all that was not Dante.
The deranged creatures howled, roared and groaned as the large numbers of them attacked the man clad in red only to dwindle with the devil hunter's overpowered onslaught.
None of them even managed to land a hit on Dante as he stood his ground in the middle of the room shooting in such speeds that could rival a battalion firing their guns, all at the same time.
Dante kept the two meter radius circle free from the steadily piling Flesh golems in the room, as he madly rained death on the creatures, killing them again.
'Just think of them as those sparkling vampires and shoot them on sight.' Dante reminds himself, sporting a smirk as whips out the Coyote-A, his shotgun, and began handling it in a manner similar to how he uses nunchucks, and shoots the shotgun with unlimited ammo. It made a constant sphere of lead impeding and killing every thing in the shots' path.
Dante's showing off the Fireworks to the Flesh golems.
It was this trend until,
*Bang*
The devil hunter finished off the undead straggler.
Looking around the now a literally room full of corpses, he finds a large, heavy doubledoors.
Obviously locked.
Dante then simply kicks the door down with enough force that the door was completely annihilated.
／人◕ .◕人＼
The next room Dante ended up to was Mott's "playroom."
If the sign written over the door isn't an obvious to the onlooker
Located under the manor, there was a long flight of stairs leading down into the dungeons just to get there.
And if Dante thought he'd seen bad stuff earlier, all of that paled in comparison to what he saw when he arrived here.
The first thing he noted was the smell. Human waste mixed with sweat, and something else that his conscious mind could actually identify from his experiences, spoke of fear.
The second thing he noted was the sobbing that came from within Mott's "playroom." It sounded familiar. It sounded like a group of girls' in there.
Dante stepped in, eyes flashing in readiness, walking like a shadow, silent.
The third thing he noticed were group of young women, chained to the far wall, as nude as new born babes. Two men in fire-blackened robes seemed to be preparing them for something, but what?
But from look of the girls' bodies, it looked like he'd arrived just in time; they hadn't yet had time to start doing unnameable things to them in earnest.
"Oho, I see you're still with the living. So, what do you think, commoner? The playroom is my pride and joy. And I plan on putting Siesta in here later as well."
Dante then turned towards the speaker.
Mott standing with his back turned to him.
"You sick bastard," Dante gritted his teeth in anger.
Mott stopped and turned.
"Come now, peasant. That's no way to talk to your betters. What ignorant fools like you consider depravity, I consider this as entertainment."
"You call this entertainment?" Dante coldly queried,
"That it is, my white-haired friend."
"Yeah, and the results now lie in the room back there. Squicky, if you ask me." Dante retorted, pointing his thumb back to the room from whence he came.
"Those are nothing more than scraps from my earlier work. To be honest, I wanted to get rid of them anyway, so I guess I should thank you for it."
"What the hell are you doing? These are people were talking about here! Those were once people too! What happened to the 'Noble' in your Nobility?"
"Even the royalty knows of this. They know the value of my little ventures."
"Bullshit! If your "ventures" are anything like what I've seen here, this is really sick. I don't think that the royalties know of this extent."
"Yes, I admit that the royalties have no idea of my real business. Besides the production of Tristain's best wine, I also dabble on trading of slaves, already broken, and ready for consumption. It is one of my pride and joy of a business." Mott replied, looking rather proud of it as well,
"They simply... Let us say that they just want the political capital my support gives them. They don't particularly care how I get it."
"Even here, corruption runs deep as well. Might as well stop you here on in." Dante declared, readying the guns hidden within his coat.
"Stop me? I have never heard of a commoner that's as stupid as you." Mott points his staff at the devil hunter.
"Yeah, I hear that a lot."
"Well, then, since you unveiled to you my little secret, you could at least try to entertain me a bit more. A duel it is..." Mott said
"My runic name is the Wave. I am a triangle mage."
It is apparent that Mott is not planning to let Dante leave this place.
"My 'runic' name is 'I'll-kick-your-ass-bigtime'!" Dante declared mockingly,
Suddenly, a water torrent appears out of from countless vases throughout the mansion as the count gathers them to form a huge ball of water...
"Oh, I forgot about that." Dante deadpans as he curiously looked at the huge body of water forming above the count.
"You do realize this guy is a Count, right? As in, hello? Count = Noble = Mage ever ring a bell?" Derflinger removes itself from the sheath to speak.
Dante simply stands and shrugs…
"Quit showin' and just bring it." Dante said, gesturing a cocky 'come hither' stance.
"I will so love to 'discipline' you." Mott hissed,
Mott sends torrents of Water Spears at Dante, who only disappears and appears right in front of the mage.
His face was a look of surprise, at the speed of the devil hunter.
"Good form sir, but it's a no sell in my books." the devil hunter grinned.
Mott was so surprised that he hadn't had the time to register what happened next.
"Guh!" the Noble grunts as he doubled over in pain with the force of the punch Dante nonchalantly throws to the nobleman's gut.
On the side note, he also knocked out the two robed men, at that same time too.
The perks of the Trickster skill, Air Trick.
"Sweet Dreams, buddy…" Dante joked as Mott falls to unconsciousness.
"As much as I want to impale you through your posterior with a rusty spear, I suppose leaving you to the authorities would be enough for now." Dante spat at the
As much as Dante wanted to kill the man, he's still a human. He will face the judgement of the royals once this little fiasco comes to light.
Dante then shoots Ivory at the shackles that held the girls, breaking all the manacles in one shot.
"Get to the surface, quick!" Dante orders them as he heard something slither in the darkened dungeon corridors…
.
It seems that his job is not yet over, as he felt a surge of malevolent energy flowing from the top.
The receiving room.
／人◕ .◕人＼
During that moment, the maid is left sitting at the receiving room, as ordered by Mott.
More like imprisoned.
Siesta, not knowing much of Dante's other abilities, is still a bit worried of the devil hunter.
Mustering what courage she had left, she then tries to reach out of the door, only to hear a sound akin to a disembodied hiss…
A shiver ran down her spine, as a feeling of being watched assailed her now overdriven senses.
All of the sudden, the wall crashes behind her,
Siesta then looks at the darkened hole in the wall.
The alien, palpable presence assailed the maid anew, as this seemed different from the fear she felt from Count Mott.
Her common sense tells her that she needs to run away, NOW!
In a blink of an eye, a number of long thick, ropy things snake out from the hole, tying themselves around the maid's limbs and her waist.
Too late for Siesta to realize that she was ensnared by a number of grayish, slimy tentacles.
And the more she struggled, the more tightly the tentacles wrap around her, as it roughly explores the rest of her outer body, groping her bountiful breasts, waist, and began to slither down her crotch.
She is repulsed at how these things slither as these things begin to violate her.
But at her current state, she is helpless. She can't even scream as one of these things covered her mouth.
The things now began ripping her clothes off.
"Mmmph?"
Meet the resident all-tentacled abomination. Cthuloid.
Perverts might recognise where this thing might be going…
The tentacles now had free reign as they undulated, crawled, and slithered over her white flesh, eliciting whimpers and struggling from the gagged maid.
The situation looks hopeless, as the tentacles seem to have another idea to pull. The slithering things that had her legs pulled down and slowly began the raise her up into the air, as well as gently spreading her legs, as another tentacle eagerly waits for the chance to…
Yup, you guys could see where this will go…
Siesta's pendant begins to glow golden white as, for some reason the maid began to feel like she's getting stronger.
"Break free, my child." A voice whispered to her mind. She could only describ it as a voice of a goddess, kind, gentle, benevolent but possessed strength and authority, someone familiar to her.
In a desperate bid for freedom, Siesta pulls out from the clutches of the creature's grasping tentacles.
Falling hard on the floor on her feet, Siesta lost no time and began to sprint out of that horrible creature's reach in such speeds she never thought possible for her to pull off.
That thing chased the maid through the chambers and out to the receiving hall, ending up with the playroom, for some reason…
"Kyaaah!" she screamed as she ran.
There she saw the red coated man, setting the rest of the prisoners free.
"Dante!" she cried to him, causing the devil hunter to look towards her,
"Holy sh-"
Dante's jaw dropped, stunned as he unconsciously watched the now half naked Siesta running towards the devil hunter, with her large bare breasts gracefully bouncing around as she ran to him.
It was seconds before Dante noticing the creature chasing her. The source of the malevolent energy.
*Bang*
A gunshot stops the creature in its advance.
"Yeah, I got to admit, you have a pretty good taste in women,"
Dante steps between the maid and the creature, with the shotgun, Coyote-A, trained upon it.
Quicker than a rattlesnake strike, the creature's wormlike appendages began slithering towards the maid.
*Bang*
The attacking tentacles were blasted to pieces by the shotgun.
"Keep your dirty tentacles off my girl!"
"M-my girl?" Siesta stammers,
Though Dante might be half joking with the statement,
To Siesta's mind, he is half serious.
Then,
Much to the horror of the maid, the mass of tentacles began writhing again, and in a flash, leaped into the air, engulfing the devil hunter in a deadly embrace.
A pulsing ball of slimy worm-like things stood where Dante was earlier.
Before the maid could express her grief,
"Don't worry child, he's fine." the voice assure her.
As soon as the voice said this, the ball of tentacles suddenly explodes in a flare of light energy.
Courtesy of Kirche's Uber hot Pizza, which the creature consumed when it accidentally fell from the devil hunter's infinite armory as Dante tries to get the best Devil Arm for the job.
"Cough, Cough. Never thought I was right about Kirche's pizza." Dante, said amidst the smoky crater made by the exploding monster.
He then turns to the maid,
"Siesta, are you al—gwah"
Dante gets an extra powerful glomp from Siesta, as tears flowed from her eyes, sobbing softly.
"How could she glomp me like that?"
"Hey, don't cry anymore. You're safe." Dante assures the maid as he hugged her and patted her…bare back.
'Oh, yeah, I forgot, she's practically naked ' Dante thought producing a cloak out of thin air to protect the girl's modesty.
As the maid cried, she felt the burst of strength leave her body as she hugged the devil hunter for support.
／人◕ .◕人＼
After the rescue…
Louise and the rest of the girls were shocked to find out what actually has been happening within the Mott estate.
Apparently based on some documents found in his room, the Count has been a well known figure in the business of slave trading. Then also as a devout researcher on the forbidden arts side of magic.
Thus, Mott has been arrested to these charges. And is currently in Tristain's Dungeon while awaiting trial.
The Mott estate has been reclaimed by the Royals to withhold until the suitable Landlord or any of Mott's relatives would claim it.
After that fiasco, it'll take some time, and someone with steel balls to take the manor under his care.
"Really, I can't thank you enough." Siesta said as she continued to bow at Dante in gratitude.
"Don't mention it, I was glad to help."
"But it was you, Dante, who didn't give up on trying to save me when no one did."
Siesta moved closer to Dante as the devil hunter tries to explain, "But I was just-"
The words never came as Siesta sealed his lips with a kiss.
Then a brightly blushing Siesta runs off with her luggage back to the Academy.
"G-good night!"
／人◕ .◕人＼
"You know," Dante began to talk to Louise,
"We're going back to our room." She said, ignoring what her summoned being is trying to say.
"I gotta say..."
"Just shut up."
As the two arrived in Louise's room, Dante notices a familiar smell.
Lo and behold, there stood a large pizza pie on the tea cart.
Dante then looks at Louise, who looked away saying 'W-well, I thought of what you said earlier, and did find what was wrong, and I, did it just like you told me."
"Thanks." The devil hunter gins as he tried a slice. "Not bad, kid. Keep it up."
Louise runs to the devil hunter and hugs him,
Dante then pats the mini-mage and gently ruffles her hair, much like how Cattleya did to her.
"Thank you," she whispered to the winds…
／人◕ .◕人＼
With the Tristain castle dungeons. Mott was suddenly stirred awake.
A blue cloaked figure appears out of thin air, as Mott comes around,
Cobalt.
The figure then throws something at the feet of the disinherited Noble.
And sees the piece of the tentacled chimera.
"But-But!" Mott cried. "My finest creation!"
Cobalt indicated the part of the now desiccated carcass that was the Chtulian.
"Yeah, and now it's dead, and so are you."
Cobalt's ethereal blade moved so fast that it looked like it never moved; only Mott's wand-hand clattering to the stone floor told the story.
Mott stared at his severed hand in shock. Cobalt's grin grew wider.
He is good at disarming targets, both figuratively and literally.
"Are we having fun yet?" Cobalt asked, sporting a devilish grin from within the dark confines of his hood.
"You know what? I think you were right. Torture is a wonderful sport."
"Mercy! Mercy!" Mott cried, clutching his profusely-bleeding stump. "Please don't kill me!"
"Mmmhmm. I'm sure lots of people have begged that very same thing of you over the years for the sake of your 'research'. So tell me, why should I?"
Mott noticed that Cobalt placed particular emphasis on "people."
"But what about my services towards the Master?…" Mott replied, eyes nearly rolling up due to shock and the blood gathering up in his mouth threatening to drown his lungs.
"You have been rewarded for that, right? The forbidden knowledge of bringing up the dead for your twisted pleasures came from him you know." Cobalt sliced off the other hand. "Better make the next plea good, I'm running out of body parts to lop off."
"The Master needs my support," Mott was remarkably coherent for someone who just suffered such wounds.
"If it has anything to do with the retrieval of the items, I can do it alone." Cobalt said in a chillingly cheery voice for a second.
Cobalt took a leg this time, sending the noble collapsing to the ground in a heap.
Mott turned towards the assassin, using his bloody stumps for leverage. His lips were red with blood, his visage pale. "Spare me. Please spare me. Let's have a deal, just you and me."
Cobalt cracked a nasty smile, as the assassin raised an inquiring eyebrow at the corpse to be.
"I'll give you money. Servants. Anything you want. Just spare me," Mott continued. "I'll-"
Cobalt smiled, eyes narrowed and gleefully glinting. "Time's up."
Cobalt felt alive, so alive. He felt euphoric, like his head was in the clouds. His limbs felt light and tingly.
Yet his inner turmoil is not reflected in his expression.
Remaining the same cold, silent, and calculating creature outside, as Cobalt approached the dying man in slow, methodical steps.
Killing scum, he really liked it. Oh, how he loved it. He enjoyed that heady sense of power, of holding life and death in his hands. He loved watching the slow realization creep into bastards like Mott's eyes as his mind grasped that one point with crystal clarity: There was no mercy to be found.
Mott is now a useless piece that only needs disposal.
Mott's remaining blood splashed on the walls.
For some reason, his inner self couldn't rationalize how could the assassin enjoy seeing people die?
Cobalt revelled in Mott's suffering, just as he revelled in the suffering of all those people he destroyed all these years in the battlefield.
This isn't him. Something in the back of his mind screamed at him,
If this isn't him, who is he?
Dismissing this confusion, his eyes coldly eyed his desiccated victim as he effortlessly lifts what is left of the dying man on one hand; he gave the final thrust to the Count's head with Dainsleif, using the bastard sword form, impaling the twitching freshly killed corpse to the wall.
Like an insect pinned to the wall in display for all to see.
And that was that…
"Mott, tonight you dine in hell." He comments,
'What am I doing?' a voice screamed at the back of his mind, and for some reason, the voice was his.
Cobalt leaves the messy scene, contemplating on his thoughts.
He is needed somewhere else.
／人◕ .◕人＼
Somehow, this is a clusterfuck of unforeseeable events…
Sorry for the long wait…
I do need to work.
Got an inspiration from a hentai movie I *ehem* 'accidentally' saw.
And had nighmares thanks to it.
I'll never see shit the same way again.
Took brain bleach, but bleached the wrong side of the brain, thus my constantly recurring memory loss.
Currently, getting my ass kicked by the Muse.
Till next time. : D
Please review, and thanks for the patronage.
"Stay thirsty my friends."