Disclaimer: I don't own Witcher or DMC franchise
Chapter 16:
Outside the Kaer Morhen fortress...
Early morning 3:15 AM
Kaer Morhen is one of the oldest Witcher fortress, for the school of the Wolf. Surrounded by mountain passes and lakes in Kaedwen, it is a beautiful sight at any time. But it had also seen trying times, like the sacking of school where the witchers and mages were once killed by a mob led by another mage who once had grudge against these monster hunters. Then decades later, an assassin named the Professor, who ran a syndicate called the Salamandra attacked the fortress to steal the witcher trial of grasses potions to make abominations. Then years later, the Witcher Geralt assembled a team of other Witchers and Sorceresses to protect Ciri from the Wild hunt.
Its not in its former glory, but the fortress still stands active with whatever defenses they were able to muster.
*ZAAAP*
Ciri, Geralt, Regis and Dante came out of their teleportation, though not in the intended place. They all landed outside on the road, few meters away from the castle's main gate.
"Hmmm, I'm pretty sure I focused on getting us directly inside" Ciri said wondering where did it went wrong.
"My medallion's humming, something's here!" Geralt said as he tried to sense anything magical, any sort of interference.
"You dont say! There is a magical barrier here. I can see it. Must have been to prevent any intrusion" Dante said seeing with his enhanced demonic senses which Geralt noted as one of the most powerful witcher, even he couldnt see a raw magical energy. He wished to learn more about him.
"Must be Yennefer" Regis surmised as they all of a sudden saw a portal open up in front of them, in the other side of the barrier. Then in the next instant they saw Yennefer come out.
"Ciri! Glad to see you're safe" Yennefer screamed in joy as she ran and gave her a solid hug which the empress of Nilfgaard returned. Then she smiled at Geralt and rushed to kiss him.
"Thank you so much for coming back alive to me!" Yen said placing her palm on Geralt's cheek. Dante watched the heart warming reunion though it had been only 3 hours since they separated. Dante observed how Geralt and Yen had a degree of paternal concern to Ciri which brought him the memories of him, Vergil, mom and dad when they were one big happy family, before they were shattered.
"*SIGH*...Thanks Dante, Regis for having their back. I hope all went well. I sensed a powerful magic in velen all of a sudden which I still don't understand" Yen said to Dante and Regis and explaining her dilemma, although feeling relieved of seeing everyone.
"About that, we will talk inside" Ciri said to which Yen nodded as she created a opening in the barrier for the others to pass through.
"So this is your fortress eh!? Well, looks pretty beat up!" Dante said taking a look at the Witcher fortress with broken walls and pillars toppled, the whole place looked its about to go underground anytime.
"Well, its not a king's palace, but lying between the mountain pass makes it quite unreachable for normal folks" Geralt said.
"Wait, where is Avallac'h?" Yen asked as she noticed the missing one member.
"He's gone to Aretuza" Dante replied.
"Aretuza!? Why would he go there?" Yen was both troubled and confused. It didnt make any sense for the sage to visit a magic institute all of sudden as there were no elven mages or any elf in particular even lives there.
"That will be explained too, once we are inside" Ciri said taking a glance at Dante and Geralt.
"By the way, Yen? I guess, you may find this helpful" Dante said as he pulled a book from under his jacket. It was the infernal tome that the assassins got it for Mephisto.
"The tome!? Thank goodness! I made zero progress with that demon body! No magic was able to crack it. Triss did her best too" Yen said which caught Geralt and Ciri by surprise.
"What!? Triss is here?" Geralt asked stunned at the revelation as it had been decades since they even met, during the last fiasco with the wildhunt.
"Any help is better than nothing. We need to hurry Yennefer. The Underworld demons have a much sinister plan for this world" Regis said in a serious tone that shook Yen a bit. But having been through a lot lately, she was prepared to hear whatever bad news it is.
"Hmm, fine. Lets move" She said as they walked the path and crossed the first gate in the entrance.
As they all walked, Dante stopped midway, looking down. As all of a sudden, he felt his brain was on a bad acid. The others noticed this and were a bit worried.
"Dante!? You alright?" Ciri asked holding his arm. But for Dante, all of a sudden, he started seeing multiple death echoes. He saw spectral visions of some big humanoids in black armor fighting some one. Then he watched an old man with long hair and an armor what he assumed as a witcher armor set was lifted by his neck and killed by something with a neck snap. He saw fire and magic raging across the place.
The visions then stopped as he regained his senses back and shook his head to turn and look at Ciri who was calling out his name. The others were looking at him with concern.
"*SIGH*...Its nothing. Saw some intense death echoes. There was some serious shitty fight that happened here" Dante said and the others instantly knew what he was talking about.
"Yes, we all fought the Wildhunt here and keep Ciri safe. We fought, we bled and even lost one of us" Geralt said reminiscing the old days with not much of a fondness. To him, it was opening the wounds again.
"Lost? You mean an oldman in an armor?" Dante asked to which Ciri's eyes widened in horror.
"Thats Vesemir! The Witcher I told you about before! The Witcher who taught me and Geralt everything, here. He-...he was family!" Ciri said despondently, which now Dante understood. This was the witcher she once told him about and how she mourns his passing even now.
"Intriguing! You picked those sensitive energies here? Not even highly trained mages/sages and witchers can pickup that kind of faint echoes" Yen said as she started to grow a bit suspicious about the Devil hunter.
"Lets keep moving!" Dante said as they all walked inside, through the rocky stairs, seeing the broken ballistas, wooden walkways, even some dried blood stains on the floor. Then finally reached the main building with a big door.
Geralt walked in front as he opened the door. Everyone were greeted with the sight of tall walls with murals depicting some warriors. Dante at the distance, saw a lot of cabinets, shelves with books and bottles and many tables with alchemy apparatus and herbs. The place was lit up with lanterns. As they all walked in, Dante saw a mural of none other than his father Sparda in his human armor, to which he smirked, recalling Geralt's statement on how Sparda influenced the witchers to become the best swordsman.
As they all reached the hall, to the right, they saw the huge black demon lying on a big table with a red headed woman in green and pale yellow attire. Dante found her attractive and he assumed that woman to be this Triss they mentioned.
"Triss?" Geralt called out.
"Geralt! Ciri!" she called them as he face was abliss in joy as she jogged to give a hug to Ciri.
"Happy to see you again, Triss! Been a long time!" Ciri said smiling.
"How have you been? Guess Maribor was boring with politics" Geralt said jokingly to which she smiled.
"Well, you know!? Some work here, some work there...turns out working for kings are not always fun! So I turned as tutor in Aretuza" she said.
"Well, dear Marigold, I totally agree on that. At times, I wished I never had to put up with my elders in the past" Regis said.
"Gallant as ever Regis, hah!" she said finally turning to look at the white haired swordsman.
She was not afraid, but she was so curious about this new fellow that she was told by Yen. Yen has told her everything from this man's arrival to this world and how he and Ciri travelled a lot around the continent. She was also stunned to hear that this man was also a human from another world and that they themselves once belonged to Dante's world millennia ago. She already decided to revise her knowledge in ancient history.
"You-...must be Dante! Yen told me everything about you! Guess too many white hairs are going to cause some confusion around here!" Triss said as she smiled at him.
"Well, I knew this will be brought up again. But sorry, cant dye my hair, wont look cool!" Dante said winking at her that made her blush a bit.
"Ahem, so Triss? We have the tome now. Lets study the spells and see if anything works" Yen said as she handed over the tome to her.
"These are infernal magic, forbidden. I'm not even sure what consequences it will bring for the user itself!" Triss said voicing her concern.
"Dante, you said you want to tell something about this black demon, back at Velen. What is it?" Ciri asked as the others curiously watched him. Dante sighed as he felt it time to reveal the truth.
"Fine, the human I mentioned as trapped inside that demonic shell? Thats my-...Brother, Vergil!" Dante said as he dropped a bomb shell on them.
"WHAT!?" Yen yelled in shock.
"How is this even possible?" Geralt asked equally stunned and concerned.
"You already said back at Nilfgaard that your brother died!? How come he is here-...like-...this thing!?" Ciri asked loud, glaring at him. Having known that Dante is a half demon, she is not surprised if thats his brother. But what concerns is how he got to Aen Seidhe in first place.
"Thats what I thought too. Before I got here, I was in a limbo. Thats where I met Vergil, his soul trapped. But turns out, I believe Mephisto took him and locked him inside this thing!" Dante explained.
"Limbo!? Never heard of that place" Regis said.
"Trust me, thats the last place any poor soul wanna be in the afterlife!" Dante said it in a blunt manner.
"Wait WAIT! What are you even talking about!?" Yen asked frustrated, now completely thrown out of loop.
"Dante is a half demon!" Geralt said finally hitting the nail in her head which stopped her from further talking.
Everyone in the hall went silent, though this news only shocked the two ladies, Yen and Triss who were not aware of this, stood there paralyzed. Triss slowly took her arms up and slowly summoned magic in her hands unsure of what to do next.
"Whoa whoa! Easy there missy! We're already chill with that" Dante said trying to calm the red headed sorceress.
"So that was the odd magic I felt, a sudden release of power I've never seen before! Are you one of O'dimm's demon trying to trick us into something?" Yen asked as she took few steps back and readied her gaurd.
"Listen Yen, I don't know any O'Dimm dim-wit you are referring to" Dante said calmly not wanting make a drastic move that could injure her.
"No! This must be his trick. Geralt said he volunteered to help me to cure my wounds I sustained from this demon's attacks. His kind always looks for payback! Are you here to collect on a deal on his behalf!?" Yen said now stressing her words in tense. Others were not sure what to do as they too were tensed at the growing situation.
"Yen! Wait! Don't do anything you'll regret! He's not O'Dimm's men and has nothing to do with him. He is the SON OF SPARDA!" Geralt finished stating the ultimate fact that stupefied the sorceresses.
"Sparda!? I thought he was a myth! A legend told by the ancient elves! I know many cultures across the continent revere him. But-...huh-... Sparda's son-...thats too much of a stretch! Triss said confused and not sure if she can even trust the tales.
"At Undvik, Avallac'h once told us about the conjunction and how after the war, he went to the old human world and fell in love with a human woman and had twin sons. So you are one of the two and that demon-..." Yen said turning to look at the black demon.
"Vergil, my elder brother-...Whom I thought was dead. But here-.." Dante said with a hint of sadness.
"But still, how can we even believe what you say is true!? You are talking about myths and forgotten legends linking them with yourself! Triss said still not trusting him.
Dante knew that they wont trust him fully on this, so he decided to show them all, his story.
"I know you wont trust me, so let me tell you our story in detail. Perhaps even show you bits and pieces from my memories through my blood. Maybe then, you guys and gals will understand" he said.
"Fine, so who you really are!?" Yen asked as other got ready to hear his tale.
"Me and my brother here were born on Earth, the original human world. Of course, Sparda is our oldman and our mother's name is Eva. We were all one big happy family. When we were 7 years old, our father left and we never knew reason to this day. When we were 8, a few days after our birthdays-..." Dante spoke as he hesitated further.
"What happened!?" Yen asked out of curiosity.
"Mundus, the emperor of the underworld sent his demons to kill us. My mother hid me inside a wardrobe and went out to search for Vergil. But-...the demons ripped her to shreds and I watched it" Dante said to which others felt a bit troubled. They can already see he had a tragic past despite he always projected himself as charming enthusiastic man.
"What happened to your brother back then!?" Ciri asked.
"Well, I assumed he was dead. So I left and ended up with an old lady who taught me a lot of things. I started to take jobs as a mercenary and then crossed paths with demons. I learned demons were walking among in huge numbers disguised as simple bartender to crime lords. I started hunting them down. Even decided to make a business out of it, Devil hunter for hire. Taking all sorts of paranormal cases, some times the pay is great and sometimes is utter crap!"
"I second you there" Geralt said as he know how this always played out as monster hunter for hire. Ciri chuckled at that as she herself as a Witcher has faced it at times.
"I did this so that one day I would look eye to eye with the demon that killed my mom and brother" Dante finished.
"Then I believe somewhere along the way, you met your brother!?" Triss asked on a hunch.
"Yeah. But he-...he went on a different path. He was on this mad lust for power. We crossed paths and almost killed each other because of our differences. He wanted to shed his humanity as he saw it as weakness." Dante said to which others were surprised.
"Weak!?" Geralt asked confused.
"Yeah, he felt like he let down our mother as he was weak because of his human side. He embraced the devil much and went to many lengths even to destroy our world to gain power to make up for those losses" he explained.
"Well that's quite a fanatic approach I would say. All those powers are still not gonna bring your mother back" Regis said understanding Vergil's motives though he knew it doesn't make any difference.
"Funny you should say that, coz I said the exact same thing to him. We fought one last fight in the underworld itself where he was seeking our father, Sparda's sword" Dante said becoming serious in his tone.
"Thats where you saw him at last!?" Geralt asked sensing the glimpse of loss in Dante. He could see all sort of human emotions in him wondering if he's truly a devil.
"Yeah! He's my brother, but seeking too much of power at what cost!? All of humanity!? I never talked about my father much, back then. Even I despised him a bit for leaving us alone and not there to protect us. But we still carried his legacy. For the bigger picture, I was ready to kill him. But the bastard still helped me get off the demon world and he dropped himself even deeper-...*SIGH*...thats when I knew I lost him!" Dante finished saying.
Others were feeling a bit sad as they could see the weight in his emotions even though he was casually hiding it. They understood, Dante had to move on alone in his life for a long time.
"I am sorry Dante! Maybe we shouldnt have brought this up. We always thought you were being sarcastic all the time and kept your head cool. But this-..what happened in your life was tragic!" Ciri said feeling empathetic about him. Others shared the same sentiment as they felt they were prying too much. But one thing they under stood, he may be a demon, but he never look or act like one.
"And how did your brother survive? Now that he is here!?" Yen asked.
"7 years later I went to a place called the Mallet island. That was the place where emperor Mundus awakened. I was lured there to my death. But I managed to find my way through. And before I could face the Dark Prince, I fought Vergil again, now corrupt and turned into a minion by Mundus himself, brainwashed with no memories of the past. I managed to defeat him and free him of his captivity from Mundus. But I didn't know Vergil was already dead before he was manipulated. His soul reached the limbo and I didn't see him after that"
"So you managed to stop Mundus and moved on with your life?" Triss asked feeling sad for what happened to his brother.
"Yep! I then gained new allies, hunt many demons for years and decades, even killing a couple of demon lords along the way. But before I ended up here, I was on another big demon hunting business. A powerful Demon god, Argosax the chaos was unleashed upon our world. Before he could be fully summoned, I entered the underworld directly into his domain to kill him" Dante said.
"Kill a god!?" Yen asked a bit nervingly.
"Yeah, that son of a b**ch was so powerful I gotta admit, but then I have seen and fought demons of his calibre a lot. So I killed him" Dante said casually, though others didnt take this lightly.
"Wow! Thats-..truly something! But after I saw everything back at Velen, I will take your word for that" Geralt quipped about his strength. They also got to see his demonic side that managed to overpower and kill Mephisto easily.
Others had the same opinion though. To them, the most powerful being they have ever seen was Ciri herself who was the lady of space and time. But Dante, the Son of Sparda was on a different league, even way above her.
"So how did you get out of the underworld!?" Triss asked.
"I was riding deep inside till I found a portal that led me here. But recent events have been a lot suspicious that my arrival, the demonic activity, a hell lord showing up are all somehow connected" Dante said.
He then went near the table and took a surgical knife and cut his palm a blood started flowing. He filled some amount in a bowl and poured water in it.
"What are you doing!?" Yen asked.
"I am about to show everything I said now. Everyone place your hands on the bowl" He said as the other did as he instructed.
All of a sudden, they felt they were being pulled to the ground as they all started to feel as if they were falling into an endless abyss. Then suddenly live memory flow started to appear around them as they peeked into Dante's memories. They saw the Sparda family, the brothers playing and fighting, the tragedy that befell, Dante's Journey from then on as how started hunting demons and crossed paths with his brother again. Rising of a big tower with demons spreading around. Dante and Vergil fighting and Dante unlocking his demonic side for the first time. The final fight in the underworld as Vergil fell deeper.
Then gaining new allies in the form of Mary(Lady) and years later Trish, who lured him to Mundus to his death, how he sealed the emperor away. His other long life of demon hunting and fighting hell lords. Also the one that piqued their interest was Dante meeting a young knight named Nero who had demonic powers too but fighting for the good. Dante fighting a towering demonic statue and holding its punches with his brute strength that stunned everyone.
Then years later the final mission to hunt Argosax. They saw the flaming figure with fiery wings and horns that only gave shivers in their spines. Dante tapping into a Majin devil form and killing the God, which was the same they saw when fighting Mephisto. All these memories ended with Dante coming to Aen seidhe meeting Ciri.
Everyone were snapped out of the memory trip and felt a little disoriented and took few seconds to regain their composture.
"That-...That was-...!?" Yen came back to her senses as she spoke.
"That was a one wild trip!" Geralt said as he shook his head to clear his senses.
"Those were all true, not forged memories-...they were real as if we lived through that!" Triss said as she sat on the chair.
"Thanks to my Vampiric senses, I was able to get a hold on to that psychic adventure" Regis made a sarcastic quip.
"*SIGH*...So that was your family huh!?" Ciri asked to which Dante nodded.
"That was-...beautiful! To see it ripped apart-..." Ciri said with a glint of sadness in her voice recalling everything she saw.
It may be weird to see a demon, a human and two half demons as family but it was one nonetheless. This reminded her of her own family by blood and by destiny. Besides, she was not full human either. She had to live with a fact that she has elven blood in her veins. Dante used his powers and did a lot of good things to people, protecting them and keep evil at bay. She did the same after she stopped the white frost, her life as a witcher, helping people. She may have lost a few of her loved ones along the way, but she still has a near perfect family with Geralt as a father figure, Yen as mom and then the others, but what Dante had to go through was brutal.
"Yeah well, I'm far too old to even dwell on that. Not my style. These things happened and nothing I can do to change that. Besides, are you guys done with that!?" Dante asked as he wanted to wrap this up.
"Actually there is still one thing. Samael! We dont know when and how he is going to strike" Yen said.
"I will send the ravens to look out for any unusual demonic activity, armies marching in precisely" Regis said to which other agreed as Regis always considered them intelligent and trust worthy.
"But what bugs me is that why the demons are targeting this world? Why now!?" Triss asked confused, but it was the same question burning in their minds.
"Thats because this world as Avallach mentioned, the center of the magical energy. I gotta say, the moment I landed here, I felt-...felt a bit more powerful than I did back home. I believe Samael wants that full power and then merge this world with the demon world, you get a recipe for an apocalyptic cocktail"
"Well that makes sense! A lot of things have not been told about the history of this world. A lot of obscure facts. Maybe we can question them later once we sort out this mess" Geralt said.
"Great, then anything else!? Any more questions about me you're still freaked out about!?" Dante asked.
"Aside from the fact you are a half demon which-...we still have never heard before. Its good to have met you, a fellow human and the son of a legend we used to revere for over a thousand years" Geralt said with a warm smile.
"By the way, so those weapons you have with you, they are demons you killed?" Yennefer asked as she saw a few demons that turned itself into weapons.
"Yeah, we call it the devil arms" Dante replied.
"By the way, who was that teenage swordsman? He seems to have powers like you do" Triss asked about a certain young knight. Dante chuckled at the memory and started laughing.
"That kid...His name's Nero. He's...our blood.." Dante said looking at the black demon.
"Blood, you mean relative?...Wait is he your son!?" Triss asked to which Dante was wide eyed.
"WHAT!? NO-...no no...Not my son. But he is somehow related. I will tell you once Vergil is awake" Dante replied.
"Which brings us to that part. It will take atleast a day to understand these spells in the book. I am not even sure If the spells would work. I tried to scan it and it revealed me something dark. I mean this kind of evil curse can't possibly even exist" Yen said. She was bit terrified of the curse as she had never seen like this one before.
"Well, take your time. Meanwhile, I think I need to help some poor soul in Toussaint" Dante said that got Geralt, Ciri and Regi's attention.
"Toussaint!? What would you possibly have to save in that land of elven ruins!? Regis asked.
"This actually! I picked it up in Novigrad" Dante said as he pulled a parchment. Ciri took it and started reading it as Geralt also took a peek into it.
"Its Anna Henrietta! She needs some sort of help with the paranormal!" Ciri said surprised a bit. Its been a long time since she posted a contract.
Geralt was thinking the exact same thing, the last time she posted a contract was for killing a powerful higher vampire. That was 28 years ago.
"Yeah wanna see what that deal is. Have this feeling it could be important" Dante said.
"Then I'll come with you" Ciri said.
"Me too" Geralt said decided to follow up as its been a while since he met them and also he was curious what was threatening the Nilfgardian duchy.
"If you all gone, who's gonna help us with curing the curse!?" Triss asked.
"I will help you dear ladies. I can help you get everything you need for this" Regis said offered the sorceresses help.
"Well then its settled. I will take us there" Ciri said as Dante and Geralt held her hands and the three vanished from the spot.
...
Velen forest...
In the forest of Velen, Gaunter O' dimm was walking the red energy that is flowing around as he gazed at it with a grin.
"No one would have believed two devils would make a deal with each other, haha! Call it a cruel irony!" a deep growling voice came as O' Dimm turned to look at it. I was a 9 foot tall horned demon with heavy armor and hulked out arms and a big gauntlet and a blade tied to it. It was Waiboch, Samael's general.
"Well, a deal is a deal, Waiboch! I gave you the information that Samael seeks about Ciri's blood holding the key to open the hell gate. In return for Mephisto being lured here and the Son of Sparda to kill him and I can take his entire essence with me"
Though I wonder why would you want his life force!?" Waiboch asked.
"A hell lord's life force will empower my mirror dimension. A power unlike anything to hold on. Tell Samael that it was a pleasure doing business with him" O' Dimm said as he took a lantern and absorbed all the red energy in the place. He then chuckled as he walked away slowly and vanished into thin air.
"Lord Samael, it is time-...It is time to open the gate. I will take the army there, to Aretuza-... as your harbinger" Waiboch said loud as he vanished to the ground in fire.
...
A/N: Thats all for this one. Next chapter, Dante will get one of the DMC5 weapon. And then it will Dante facing Samael, Qliphoth storyline and well Vergil will be asleep for now...See ya all in next chapter.
