The Devil of Zero
Disclaimer: Neither The Familiar of Zero nor Devil May Cry belong to me.
The Watchers
– The Devil –
Tristainian Forest, Near Tarbes
Late Night
They were silent as they proceeded through the forest, heading for the nearby village of Tarbes. Vergil was in front, trailing Tabitha, Kirche and Guiche behind him. Siesta was in his arms, carried bridal-style.
The wound from Ehecatl's tail swipe wasn't as dangerous as it would be for a full human, and it wouldn't even be a concern of Vergil's...but for a minor Cambion like Siesta, it was rather debilitating, seeing as it sliced straight through her stomach and nicked her spinal cord. Adding in the fact that it was a Devil's attack that inflicted it, it would probably be an hour or so before she could move properly.
In the meantime though, Siesta was making full use of the opportunity to snuggle close to Vergil, who pretended he didn't see the childish expression of a stuck-out tongue she directed at a pouty Kirche.
Within the hour, they reached the outer limits of the village, small bright lights marking the houses out of the dark forest. Walking through the main road, which was basically a lot of dirt packed down by the tread of generations of boots, hooves and wheels, they continued on until Siesta pointed out one particular home, which was somewhat larger than the rest. While it had the same basic construction as the rest of the houses, with piled stone held in place by mortar and a thatched roof, it was at least twice as large as the others, almost the same size as a normal house in Vergil's world.
Arriving at the door, Vergil nodded at Guiche to knock for him. There was then the sound of rushing feet and chattering voices before the door was wrenched open to reveal a small boy, about nine or so if Vergil had to guess. The boy stared for a second at the people arrayed before him, switching from Guiche, to Tabitha, to Kirche, and finally, to Vergil and Siesta.
"Siesta!" He cried, jumping up to try and hug the former maid. He fell a bit short, in part due to his own lack of height and in part due to Vergil pulling slightly away from him. Smiling, the Cambion reached out and patted the boy on the head, even as six other children of about equivalent size and probably age suddenly swept around the burdened half-devil, followed shortly by a weary-looking young man who seemed to be about the same age as Siesta.
Vergil carefully lowered Siesta to the level of her brothers and sisters, keeping a good hold on her so that she wouldn't be wrenched out of his arms by some misfortune. As she greeted them, Vergil gave the small swarm of siblings a once-over. Of the seven, two had the same black hair that Siesta did. The rest, however, showed the same eccentric colors Vergil had seen in the rest of Halkeginia. Three of them had various shades of blond, one a young girl with pale tresses that nearly matched Vergil's, a young boy with a more normal dirty-blond mop of a head, and a second girl with extremely exaggerated strawberry blond locks that neared Louise's pink hue.
The final two had red hair, the first a girl with a bright copper shade, while the second, the young man, had a deeper, auburn coloring.
"Welcome home Siesta." A tired-sounding voice called out, and in the doorway appeared a man with a graying black mess of hair, an expressionless face and dull, dark eyes.
"Father!" Was the excited reply of Vergil's apprentice, as she tugged on Vergil to approach the man. In the few steps he took, Vergil studied him, glancing over his rough, albeit relatively clean clothes, callused hands, and a posture like that of...
Hm. Interesting.
Drawing even with Siesta's father, Vergil looked dead in the man's eyes. He met the half-devil's eyes evenly, not at all flinching from their chill hardness or the look of expectation within them. Instead, one side of his mouth twitched.
Vergil smirked, and dropped a very confused Siesta into her father's arms, upon which the parent turned and carried his daughter into their home, the other children mobbing him as he did so. The eldest son, the redhead, gave Vergil a brief nod of respect before following.
Vergil's smirk shifted into a cold, thin-lipped smile.
It seems Siesta's family is one to beware.
He followed the family, the trio of student mages behind hesitating for a moment before walking into the house as well.
Inside, they found a fairly typical interior of a Halkeginian peasant's house. Cheap, wooden floorboards surrounding a central brazier that provided most of the heat for the building, with what appeared to be the beds of the children lined up along the back wall and some wooden chairs and stools scattered around. To the right was what appeared to be a dedicated kitchen space, with a simple wood-burning stove, several handcrafted cupboards and other various typical kitchen accessories. To the left, was simply empty space, most likely serving as a playplace for the younger kids.
Siesta was already sat down on a stool, and starting to regale her siblings with tales of her time at the academy as well as tastefully edited versions of their treasure-hunting mishaps.
It was maybe an hour after their arrival, Kirche and Guiche having jumped in on the story-telling some time ago to object to some of Siesta's descriptions of them - dragging Tabitha along with them - when Vergil noted the father standing off to the side, near the far left corner of the house. The dark man nodded towards him and beckoned him to follow, turning towards the corner as the shadows in it deepened.
Bemused, Vergil walked over, and followed the patriarch into the darkness...and found himself inside what appeared to be a traditional Japanese sitting room.
"My apologies for delaying this." Siesta's father said, pouring some tea from a tea set in the middle of the room where he sat seiza. "I wanted to be sure those nobles were distracted before I spirited you away."
"It was no trouble." Vergil demurred, kneeling into seiza himself and accepting the cup of tea he was offered.
"Kiritsugu, Son of Norikata."
"Vergil, Son of Sparda." There was no reaction about his father from Kiritsugu, just him pouring himself a cup of tea.
Vergil took a sip of his cup. "Hm. Surprisingly good."
"Thank you. Shirou, my eldest son, cultivates the herbs."
"My compliments." They sat in silence for a while then, sipping absently at the tea, until it was gone.
And then the story began.
"As I'm sure Siesta told you, my grandfather arrived in this world over sixty years ago, during one of your world's wars. After imprisoning the opponent that had been inadvertently brought along, he assumed the form of a human, and lived as one for a while, even marrying a woman of this world and siring my father."
"Grandfather was a stern traditionalist, and raised my father to respect and obey the traditions of the culture he hailed from. They built this room and hid it in shadows of sorcery, retreating here every so often for Father to learn and Grandfather to reminisce. Eventually, Grandfather hid away to hid his growing weakness and obvious inhumanity, and Father married and had children, a string of six daughters ending with me as the only son." Here, Kiritsugu paused and a gaze that had been drifting ever further away sharpened and refocused on Vergil. "Siesta says your group happened upon a tribe of orcs?"
"Indeed. They were slaughtered."
"Survivors?"
"Minimal." The part-devils stared at one another, before the quarter-devil nodded.
"Good. No need for a hunt this year." Kiritsugu poured another cup of tea. "As with many settlements in the area, Tarbes is a farming village. The men work the day as the women watch the children and take care of the household. One day, as my father and the others were preparing for the spring, orcs came and took...everyone. I was told that my father's fury upon his return was terrible. All I know is that when he found those orcs that had taken me, my sisters, mother, and many of the villagers captive, he massacred them. That day, he saved many of Tarbes' people...but was too late for my mother and sisters."
Vergil sat, still as stone.
"From then on, my father gained a reputation as the Orc Hunter, for every time rumors came of orcs approaching our area, he went out and slaughtered them. Again, and again, almost twice a month for twenty years. And then he began to bring me along."
Here, the elder Cambion paused, and reached his hand out to the side, dipping into his shadow, before drawing out of it a blade. It was a katana, short even compared to a regular katana much less Vergil's long-lost Yamato, black as the Void and with an aura of malevolence and bloodlust that wafted off of it like fog off of dry ice.
"I've grown accustomed to killing. After my father left Tarbes to conceal his youth and inhumanity, I took over as the Orc Hunter. It is rare these days, to find a tribe that will dare venture as close as the one you found." Running his thumb along the edge of the blade, Kiritsugu looked up at Vergil, and in those black eyes was a deep red glow, like coals burning in the night.
"The reason I tell you this is so that you know, and understand what it means, when I say: Thank you, for helping my daughter with Mott. It wouldn't have been good for the children to live a life on the run from petty nobles."
Vergil smirked.
"You're welcome."
They sat for another hour, mostly sipping tea and making small talk, until a shudder ripped through the ground. Neither bothered glancing at each other, instead just bolting through the shadow that separated the chamber from the main house.
Bursting out of the shadow, Vergil was in time to see an enormous golden axe, the head alone nearly twice as big as him, smash into the house from outside, only just missing Siesta due to her brother's actions, the redhead pulling her aside and throwing her to the other side of the house, the children quickly following her in a rush as Kiritsugu stepped out of the shadows, his blade in hand.
And then, the rest of the wall burst inward, as six figures charged into the house.
Each was twice as tall as Vergil, wearing bright red plate armor, wielding a large golden falchion with feather-like patters in one hand, and a large gold and red shield in the other. They greatly resembled the angels that Vergil had faced a few days ago, if larger, lacking true wings and with completely different arms and armor. One thing that remained the same, however, was the same tarnished chains and manacles that bound them to themselves.
"More Laguna." Abaddon's voice spoke. "Ardor, Principalities of the Third Sphere. Quite a jump from common Angels and Archangels...someone wants your head Vergil."
"Well, they shall not have it, today or any other day." Vergil declared, mist forming into the icy Zima gauntlets and greaves, and a small breeze gusting forth, encircling Vergil's right arm until the chain whip, Ehecatl emerged from it. "Now Ehecatl, it's time to show me what you can do."
"Y-yes Lord Sparda!" The Wind Devil stuttered.
One of the Ardors suddenly crouched and burst forth, a straight-lined charge with the falchion leading, the shield immediately behind.
Feeling the influence of the Gandalfr runes, Vergil simply tossed his arm forth, and Ehecatl unraveled, generating a gust of wind for thrust, and speared right through the shield and into the Ardor's chest. The Principality stumbled, going down on its knees and dropping its sword and shield to collapse, wheezing. Drawing his arm back, Vergil brought the whip into a steady swing, right next to his body, the speed of the whip creating a sound like the howling of demons. The startled five Ardors left glanced in shock at their coughing companion.
In that instant of distraction, Vergil stepped forward, brought Ehecatl to swing on his other side, and altered its wing to make it wrap around his neck. Then he spun, unraveling the chain whip and bringing it to swing out at the Principalities with enormous force behind it. The whip was, however, not close enough to cut them with its dart.
What did the trick through was the blade of razor wind following it, cutting deeply into the chests of the two less vigilant Ardor, breaking the shields of the other three, in both cases hurling the Celestials back out the shattered wall they burst through.
The wounded ones, their torso armor shattered and revealing their red, fleshy bodies, fell onto their backs while the now-shield-less three stumbled slightly before righting themselves.
They barely had any chance to prepare themselves further before Ehecatl lashed out of the house, wrapping around the neck and torso of one of the standing Ardors, an instant before a flying Vergil smashed into it, Zima boot-encased foot crushing its chest armor inward. The second boot followed closely, slamming into the Ardor's head, generating a sickening snap.
Back-flipping off of the Celestial, Vergil tugged on Ehecatl. A shriek of wind ripped through the air, just as the chain ripped through the Ardor, leaving bloody chunks that dissipated into particles of light, leaving behind a tarnished gold halo.
This time, the remaining Ardors moved quickly, The two closest sweeping in with broad sword swipes, as the others regained their feet. The two assailing Celestials were close to Vergil, and when he turned, they were surprised to find a confident smirk on his face. A lash of the chain whip wrapped it around one of the Ardor's blades while Vergil physically grabbed the other and stopped it in its tracks, the Zima gauntlet preventing any damage from being dealt.
Vergil kicked the one whose falchion was caught in Ehecatl, the blow making the Principality's knee crunch before he swiped the chain whip around, the entangled blade kept at a certain angle through the use of a minor wind until it impaled a rising Ardor right in the heart. Releasing the blade in his hand, Vergil turned and plunged the claw-tipped fingers into the side of the Ardor he kicked. Curling those fingers, he ripped his hand out of the Principality, at the same time tugging on Ehecatl and loosening the Devil-whip from the blade stuck in the fallen Ardor and lashing around with it.
That single motion cut both Ardors standing beside him in half.
The last Ardor finally stood, and was greeted by the sight of its slaughtered brethren. It looked quickly around, its movements growing more and more desperate as it did so before it finally turned to face Vergil and found Ehecatl's barbed dart buried in its throat.
"Get over here."
A tug on the whip sent the Ardor flying to Vergil, who caught it by the neck in his left hand. The Principality struggled, hands scrabbling uselessly on the Zima gauntlet. Vergil leaned towards the Celestial, a cold smirk gracing his lips as it gasped for air.
– The Others –
"My, I can see why Siesta likes him." Kiritsugu commented blandly. "By the way, you don't want to stand there, I painted a Soul Disturber rune there a minute ago."
In that moment, the Affinity that had been sneaking up on him glanced at its feet, where, true enough, the sickly red glow of an Infernal Rune shone. It squawked in panic, before its flesh bubbled and the Celestial burst, painting the floor and ceiling with its blood. Kiritsugu calmly wiped some of its blood off of the side of his face as a trio of dark arrows nearly the length of a javelin pinned an Affinity and an Applaud to the wall.
Shirou, standing to the side of Kiritsugu, lowered the enormous bow he used to fire the shadow-bolts and glanced to the side to nod to Tabitha in thanks, for the sleep spell she cast on his younger siblings.
The ice mage nodded back, before ducking her head and focusing a bit too intently on the book in her hands. Next to her, Guiche had wrapped his arms around his knees and was shivering.
"Never again! Never again going anywhere with HIM!" He muttered to himself.
Kirche, next to him was...let's not go there.
Siesta was staring where her father was, at Vergil, a blush on her cheeks.
– The Devil –
The bloodied corpse of the Ardor dropped to the ground, Vergil standing above it and glancing about the battlefield with a satisfied expression on his face.
Well, he was for all of two seconds, before a giant golden axe smashed flat-first into him, sending him flying into the forest. Several crashes and broken trees later, Vergil rose unsteadily to his feet, stony-faced.
Five ribs broken...punctured lung...shattered collarbone...shouldn't take more than three minutes.
Check of his injuries complete, Vergil turned to face the approaching Celestial. It was twice as tall as the Ardors, with pale marble flesh protected in the knee, thigh, shoulder and forearm by bracers of green and gold metal, each connected by a tarnished chain. Topping this was a head with what looked like two infantile faces, one smaller one on the forehead decorated by an ornament looking like twin golden wings while the larger one took up the rest of the head. Around the neck was a collar of sorts that looked like a sunburst, while from the ears dangled enormous green and gold ribbons as long as Vergil.
In one hand, it clutched the same enormous, double-headed golden axe that had just sent Vergil flying moments earlier.
Swinging the axe and toppling a tree, the Celestial let loose an unearthly, somehow beautiful roar, its mouth a divot in the larger baby face's chin stretching wide with thing ribbons of flesh connected the two jaws.
"Beloved, a Power of the Second Sphere." Abaddon identified the angel.
"Ah, so we finally exit the Third Sphere, do we?" Vergil muttered, throwing his left hand out. A column of flames lanced out of the air, compacting into the Infernal spear. Spinning around once to add momentum, Vergil threw Abaddon at the end of the spin, the spear bursting into a bolt of hellfire and blasting into the Beloved's face. The Celestial reeled back, falling...and then it regained its balance, bringing its head back down to glare at Vergil.
Where once the smaller baby face had been was now an enormous eye, with golden irises and a black slit of a pupil. The larger face was mostly intact, except for the shattered right side, which showed a bloody red orb where the eye of the face had been.
It roared, and this time the sound was rather less beautiful.
"I think you made it mad." Zima chimed in helpfully.
Abaddon reformed in Vergil's hand, just in time for the half-devil to dodge aside as the axe cleaved into the earth where he was standing. Lassoing Ehecatl around it, Vergil leaped onto the giant weapon and up it, fleetly sprinting up the Beloved's arm and onto its shoulder. Ignoring the third roar from the Celestial, Vergil readied Abaddon to strike at it again, when he noticed a large red sphere embedded in the Power's back.
"That looks important."
Dropping off of the Beloved's shoulder and using Ehecatl to rappel down, Vergil stabbed down with Abaddon on his last jump, the spear striking the orb directly, chipping and cracking it. A pained roar from the angel confirmed his guess, and another blow split the sphere down the middle. Another agonized roar, with a bit of rage behind it, and suddenly Vergil was yanked from the Beloved's back by Ehecatl's grip on the axe, as the Power swung its weapon about madly.
Vergil went with the flow, digging his feet into the dirt as he was dragged along by the axe. Seeing him on the ground, in front of it, the Power gave a chortle, and swung its axe back in a horizontal blow that would take off Vergil's entire upper half if it connected.
It didn't, Vergil leaning back until the axe simply passed over him, splinters and small branches trailing in its wake. Dropping Abaddon, he grasped Ehecatl in both hands and pulled, as hard as he could. The axe was pulled out of the astonished Beloved's hand, and was dragged by Ehecatl to Vergil's hand, upon which he dismissed the chain whip, grabbed the axe with both hands, and swung as hard as he could.
Something pulled in his shoulders, arms and abdomen, burning pain lancing throughout his body as he gritted his teeth and smashed the axe into the Beloved's neck. The Celestial's head flew into the air before dissolving into light, dropping a halo the size of Vergil's torso into the dirt as the half-devil struggled to stay standing under the pain of so many broken bones and torn muscles.
Minutes passed before he was finally healed enough to walk without wincing with every step, and he made his way back to the house, stepping over felled trees and then the corpses of the Ardors.
At the house, past the shattered wall, he found Kiritsugu standing, holding the black katana from earlier, under which a puddle of blood was dripping upwards onto the blade.
"Ah, Vergil," Kiritsugu greeted while still observing his blade, "You've taken care of it?"
"Yes. There were some minor problems, but the assailants are dead." Vergil, noting the red-headed son, Shirou, standing to the side with an enormous bow. The boy's wrist was dripping blood, and some sort of shadow swirled around his fingers as they readied to draw the bowstring.
"Foolish...abominations..." A deep, guttural voice spoke in heavily accented Halkeginian, interrupted by hacking coughs and wheezing as it spoke. Everyone's gazes drifted to the Ardor that had been pierced by Ehecatl's dart at the beginning of the fight, the Principality down on its back and struggling to breath. "Lord Kokabiel...sh-shall smite...y-your...damned s-sssouls! The Watchers will rise again!" And with that, the Ardor finally expired, a choked gasp and dying wheeze sounding before it disappeared as all the angels did, leaving its halo.
– The Abomination –
Heya Devil of Zero Readers! K'GoN here! Now, I know you're probably not as familiar with me as the Gundam readers are because of how Knightmare kept his barriers up around this story, but now that Gundam Age has broken his mind, I'm free!
Now, I'm sure some of you have some concerns about an insane, mechanical abomination of the author's mind taking over the writing...don't worry, everything shall be awesome! I'm just gonna genderbend Vergil and get him/her shackled to Siesta...Yuri for everyone!
[Crunch!]
[Bwhoop! Bwhoop!]
Uh...Neb, what was that?
(That, K'GoN, was the Fourth Wall Alert. Hi Vergil. What's this? A note from Knightmare? Alright...
"Dear K'GoN. If you are reading this, then I am incapacitated in some way and you've taken over writing my stories for me. If you change so much as a single detail in any of them, I'll have Vergil and the other main characters eviscerate you-)
Hah! Shows what he knows! I can turn off my pain receptors and put myself back together-
(And then give you to HK-47.)
Oh. Shit. Well, there went my fun. Ah Well, there's always next time.
A few things before I sign off.
First, a bit of irony here, I said in the Knight of Orb author's note that I had to read the next few chapters of Familiar of Zero...but it turns out that I didn't need any of that, since this chapter took place outside of canon events. Funny, huh?
Second, since Knightmare's gone nuts, I've been indulging myself in reading, and in particular, Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Zero has caught my eye. Just a cool thought, if anyone who's familiar with the series would like to whip up a Servant profile for Devil of Zero's Vergil, that would be cool...and might fuel a few ideas.
Third, anyone have an idea for a cover art? Knightmare's barely sane enough to draw at the moment, so I want to take advantage of that before he goes even more bonkers.
Fourth, I'm bringing back the Review Replies.
Review Replies:
Zaralann: I'm sure Knightmare would thank you...if he wasn't wrapped up in a straightjacket, foaming at the mouth right now.
pyromania101: Sorry about the lateness, but insanity will do that to a guy. As for Siesta, she might have something interesting coming up for her...
Kane: I dunno, going by Knightmare's notes, we're moving out of Devil territory here...hmm...maybe I'll be able to pull something off, but Vergil does already have several ranged attacks with all of his Devil Arms. Throwing Abaddon, firing icicles with Zima, launching razor wind blades with Ehecatl...he can even do Dimension Cuts with Derflinger.
Akuma-Heika: Going by Wikipedia, the only difference between the two is length...and given that Ehecatl can lengthen or shorten, that's pretty much irrelevant.
Lunatic Pandora1: I think she already has...
bakapervert: Welcome.
janechong: Well, don't have to worry about that. Even in insanity, Knightmare still updates...sure, it's using a mad splinter of his mind, but eh.
death5367: Ehecatl is a deity in Aztec mythology associated with the wind...also known as Ehecatl-Quetzalcoatl...and may be an aspect of Quetzalcoatl...so...yes...I guess?
Matthew Blackheart: Thanks.
Joey 066: Thank you.
Strife Atreyu: Eh, I dunno. Maybe.
Alright, see ya all later!
K'GoN, Soon-to-Be Meatbag Master