Chapter 3
Devilish Duo
Alright, guys. Time to get going with the newest chapter. Let's kick it up!
Lincoln moved Ronnie Anne directly behind him as Grace had finished approaching him. He then dropped the guitar case to the ground, the impact making it open before Red Queen came to his hand.
"Woah. A little quick to the draw there, hos." Grace said with a laugh.
"Who are you?" Lincoln asked, the blade of his sword pointed towards the other white haired person.
"Relax. You can put that away. I just came to see what was up with you because I sensed another demi demon. But it's clear from that wall you're making of yourself I don't have to worry. Name's Grace, by the way." The other quarter demon said, Lincoln somehow feeling comfortable enough around her to calm down.
"I'm Lincoln." Sorry about going strait to combat mode. Last demon I ran in to kind of... ate my arm." Lincoln said while putting his weapon back in to it's case.
'He doesn't seem like the way Dad described Uncle Vergil. So, if he is his son, he wasn't brought up by him.' Grace thought as she looked at her suspected (to her, at least) cousin.
"I don't think I've ever seen you around. What brings you to Royal Woods?" Lincoln asked.
"Well that's a bit of the story." Grace said, not knowing if she should tell Lincoln why she was there despite her feeling he could otherwise be trusted.
"Okay. Well, we just heading out to get some BBQ to take home. Wanna come with?" Lincoln asked.
"Heck yeah. I am starving right now." Grace said before gesturing for Lincoln and Ronnie Anne to lead the way.
(Elsewhere.)
A young girl in a plum gown was reading through an old looking book. While placing ingredients in to a circle
"Let's see. Hair of prized stallion. Feather of a crow. Flawless apple. And finally..." The girl said before nicking her palm. "The blood of a witch." She finished before placing the knife with her blood on it in the circle. "If I've done everything in this spell..." She began to say before closing her eyes and focusing on the circle which then began to glow brightly.
(Meanwhile back at the Loud House)
A bell that had been placed on the coffee table began to violently shake and ring.
"Oh no." Rosa said as she looked at the bell.
"Let me guess. That bell is some king of demon detector." Lori said, gaining a nod from from her husband's grandmother.
"Nail on the head right there, sweetie and based on how it's shaking, it's an upper A-class. Meaning it's quite a bit stronger than the one that attacked last night." Al warned.
"We'd better warn him." Lori said in concern for Lincoln and Ronnie Anne.
"Not to worry. With Lincoln's demon powers awakened he'll have already sensed the demon." Rosa explained.
(Back with Lincoln)
Rosa's word's proved true as Lincoln and Grace both stopped walking, the former looking off in to the distance.
"Uh. Everything okay?" Ronnie Anne asked the two with white hair.
"There's another demon in that direction." Lincoln said as he continued to look off in to the distance.
"We'd better take care of that before it becomes to big of a problem." Grace said, Lincoln nodding before turning to Ronnie Anne.
"You'd better stick back." Lincoln said as he put his arm on his closest friend's arm.
"Like hell! I'm not just gonna let you run off and fight a demon on your own!" Ronnie Anne all but shouted, grace smirking at the fire that Ronnie Anne was showing.
"Doesn't seem like she's gonna back down. So here." Grace said before pulling out a large belt fed machine gun. "You can cover us with the needle gun." She offered before handing the weapon to Ronnie Anne.
'Where the hell was she even keeping this?' Ronnie Anne thought before putting the needle gun over her shoulder. "Okay. Let's get moving." She said, Lincoln shaking his head with a smile.
"Ronnie Anne. Me and Grace are the only ones who know which way the demon is." Lincoln said, making Ronnie Anne stop and laugh at herself for getting carried away with herself. "Just follow us." Lincoln said as he and Grace began running with Ronnie Anne right on their heels.
A short time later, the quarter demons and Ronnie Anne arrived at a clearing inside the woods where they saw a large scaley grey horse with two horns and yellow flames serving as the mane and forming over the hooves.
"Oh no." Lincoln said as he looked upon the dead eyed person on the back of the horse. "It's Haiku." He said in a slight panic."
"Friend of yours?" Grace Asked.
"She's my sister's best friend. She also happens to have bit of a taste for the arcane.
"She must have summoned that Geryon. We'd better get her off of it quick." Grace said before putting her hand above her shoulder before her sword appeared.
"Got it. Let's move." Lincoln said as he pulled out and revved up Red Queen. The two quarter demons then moved in opposite directions. The demon horse turning to face Lincoln as Grace went for a rear. Suddenly, Haiku's head turned around, the Geyron using her eyes to see behind it and attempt kick the girl out of the air only for her to swing her weapon causing lightning to shoot from it which hit under the Geyron's stomach.
Seeing that the demon was off balance, Ronnie Anne opened fire with the needle gun to fire at the ground and make a dust cloud. Just the opening Lincoln needed. Having switched to his combat arm, he fired out his grapple arm to pull Haiku from the back of the Geyron and jumped to where Ronnie Anne was.
"Get her out of here. Me and Grace will be right behind you." Lincoln ordered as he put Haiku's arm over Ronnie Anne's shoulder.
"Alright. But be careful." Ronnie Anne urged as she began to take the other girl away from the area before Lincoln went back to stand next to Grace before the two of them got in to fighting stances.
"One moment." The two heard before Grace looked down to her sword.
"What's up Alastor?" Grace asked as she and Lincoln both jumped to the side to avoid a charge from the Geyron.
'Her sword talks. Okay.' Lincoln thought, having quickly adapting to the strangeness around him.
"I sense in the Geryon a spirit as mine was before I met Dante. The steed longs for a rider." Grace's sword, Alastor explained to the two.
"So maybe one of us could overpower it with our own will power like Dad did with you." Grace reasoned out, beginning to wonder which one of them would do as the demonic horse charged at them before Lincoln grabbed it by the neck and flipped it in to a tree.
"Out power won't make us stronger if we get on it and lose control, will it?" Lincoln asked.
"No. Even if your power proves not to be enough, it would not be added to the creature's own." Alastor explained, gaining a nod from Lincoln.
His path clear to end the fight as quickly as he possibly could, Lincoln leapt on to the back of the Geyron, the beast's yellow demonic aura fairing to life before Lincoln's own blue aura coming in response.
"You sure he can handle it?" Grace asked as she watched the events unfolding.
"He is strong enough to take control of the Geyron. I could sense it when you called me out. He has the blood of Sparda running through his veins and by the way he holds his sword, it is clear he has the will to match." Alastor assured his wielder.
"You... hurt... my... friend." Lincoln said through gritted teeth before his aura began to overtake that of the demonic horse before it began to glow as its form began to slowly shifted in to that of dark grey motorcycle with a yellow window over the headlights and the profile of a horse skull on the front painted on the caps of the front wheel.
"Huh. You were right." Grace said as she placed Alastor to her back and he vanished. "You alright?" She asked.
"Yeah." Lincoln confirmed only slightly winded. "I did not expect that to be as easy as it was." He noted.
"Lincoln... have you ever heard the name 'Sparda'?" Grace asked, her suspicions all but confirmed.
"Yeah. It turns out, I might be his grandson." Lincoln said.
"No 'might' to it. Even without Alastor confirming it, you overcame that Geyron like that even if it hadn't reached adulthood. There's no doubt about it. You've got my Gramps' blood in you." Grace said, Lincoln keying in on two specific words.
"Wait. Your Gramps? That would make us..." Lincoln lead before Grace nodded.
"Yeah. We're cousins." Grace confirmed, Lincoln being stunned for a moment before he laughed slightly, getting off his bike and giving the girl a hug. "Come on. Let's go check on your friend." She said as the two cousins left the area.
[Acquired: Redemption]
A few minutes later, both quarter demons arrived to where Ronnie Anne was looking after Haiku who was beginning to wake up.
"What happened to the Geyron?" Ronnie Anne asked.
"Oh. I turned it in to a bike." Lincoln said, Ronnie Anne just shrugging away the weirdness of that statement while Lincoln knelt down next to Haiku? "Hey. You okay?" He asked.
"Lincoln? What happened?" Haiku asked as she sat up.
"I was hoping you could tell us. We found you on a demon horse." Lincoln said to the confusion of the girl.
"Demon Horse? But I was trying to summon a horse spirit to surprise Lucy for her birthday." Haiku explained.
"Ah I think I know where you made your mistake." Grace said before everyone looked to her. "I saw that summon circle of yours. The crow feather is where you messed up. You needed an owl feather for a spirit." She explained.
"Dang it. I can't believe I made such a rookie mistake." Haiku said while putting her face in her hands.
"Don't worry about it. I took care of it with Grace here." Lincoln said while pointing back to his cousin.
"Wait. What? How?" Haiku asked in confusion, Lincoln chuckling slightly.
"I'll tell you all about it. In the meantime, I was heading to get some dinner for my folks. You're welcome to have some. I'm sure getting possessed can give you the munchies." Lincoln said, gaining a nod from the gothic girl before the group left the area.
Shortly after, Lincoln and the others arrived back at the Loud House where they explained what had happened.
"Well, it's good thing that you kids were around before. Geyrons have been known to drain energy from entire towns looking for a worthy rider." Rosa explained.
"I know you wanted to surprise me an everything. But maybe next time we'll do a summoning together to check each other's work." Lucy said to Haiku, the two friends smiling at each other.
"By the way, Grace. You said something about being here on a job." Lincoln pointed out to his cousin.
"Right. So, I came here 'cause I'm looking for a super powerful Devil Arm. It was last spotted around this area." Grace explained.
"Well, I'll help you out in finding it in any way I can." Lincoln offered without a second thought.
"And naturally, you're free to stay here while you search." Rita offered to her son's cousin.
"Thanks. That'll definitely help me out." Grace said with gratitude before the group continued their meal.
After everyone had finished eating, Lincoln had taken grace to one of the upstairs rooms of the house which had several guitars around.
"Man. These are some top notch guitars." Grace noted.
"Yeah. Even after my sister, Luna moved out she still uses this room for her collection.
"Wait. Luna Loud. The Moon Goats. Those guys are great." Grace said, having quite the love underground bands.
"She'll love to hear that compliment." Lincoln said with a slight chuckle before his face got serious. "So, what exactly were you hiding about the Devil Arm you're looking for?" He asked asked, Grace chuckling at how easy it was for Lincoln to read her.
"Alright. Here's the deal." Grace said before she began to explain.
(Elsewhere)
Within a strange lab, two figures hidden in shadow were running readings on their computers.
"Strange. The readings have lowered again." A female voice said.
"Yes and it s-seems to have once more coincided with the appearance of the that lower S-C-cl-cl-class demonic energy." A male voice said while fixing the position of his monocle.
"What should we do?" The woman scientist asked, a slight chuckle from the other.
"That should b-b-be obvious. We find a way t-to track this d-d-d-demon and use it for our research." The man said while he looked upon a broken katana floating in a tube.
[Preview. Narrator: Grace]
In this line of work, you often hear about some morons summoning demons for revenge. A girl can't even enjoy some good music without crap like that turning up. Oh well, looks like it's time to rock and roll. Next time on Loud Devil. Devils in D-Major
Well, there you go, guys. I really hope you enjoyed the chapter. So, as you likely guessed from the preview, we're gonna spend the next few chapters with the older Louds coming to learn of Lincoln's nature and meeting Grace. Until then and as always... Keep on keeping on.