Disclaimer: I don't own Witcher or DMC franchise

Chapter 11: A day unlike any other.

Dante, Ciri and Nenneke had decided to check on Boris's family on Dante's counsel. When Boris messed up with ancient infernal black magic that led to his death, others assumed that his wife Elisa and a 10 year son Mikel are safe except Dante who believes otherwise. Dante being an expert, even close to being a master of infernal magic, he knew the family's still in danger and they need to get rid of the entity that still plague's them.

But why Dante's doing this? He needn't even care about some random family in a random unknown world filled with unknown characters. Well, he pretty sure got his own reasons to help.

The three now have to wait till 1:00 pm outside Elisa's house after Dante gave them instructions on what to do next.

The legendary devil hunter was standing a dozen feet away from the house with his hands folded in a casual posture. His face was intently gazing at everything that's in front of him, a few meters of grassland and then the road where he saw people walk and ride the horse carriages bi-directionally. There were other sounds, the sound of silence of the night, howling of the owl and wolf in a distant,

A recap down his memory lane. This job really had him feel back on loop. All these days ever since he came this world was nothing but a cat-a-pult, being thrown from one place another place looking for the right answers to his problem with no one but a woman who weilded powerful magic in the land of fairy tales helping him for real. This feeling multiplied when he saw his father's statue. Thanks to Avallac'h, he knew why and what had happened. He's no longer confused, he had his senses back and will purely focus on what he does best just like he did back home.

He naturally moved his right arm towards the right pant pocket. But suddenly he felt something negligibly protruded out. He were able to feel it and he moved around the cloth for a couple seconds with his face suspicious. He then took out what was inside.

It was a piece of paper with something printed on it. But that was something Dante would never forget as that reminded him of his previous job.

"Huh, Didn't knew this was sticking with me all the time" muttered Dante. The paper had the name,

"Vie de marli" spelled out Dante with his face instantly turning curious and the next moment, his mind was flooded with memories.

"My previous job! Almost forgot it. After killing Argosax, that's when I was thrown here. Wonder what the old lady and...Lucia are doing!? *SIGH*...aaaahhh!...Damn! I started to miss home" Dante thought with mild despondence.

Of course, Vie de marli is the name of the clan of dumury island people who once fought along side dark knight Sparda on Earth to banish the hell lord Argosax who was sowing chaos everywhere. Dante was invited by Lucia to help them in a fight against the Oroboros corporation headed by an evil sorceror named Arius who wanted to unleash Argosax in to the Earth and tap into his powers. The island old lady Matier guided him of the ancient stories and the knowing of how to beat him. The Son of Sparda, Dante turned Arius's every attempt to ashes and finally went to hell to personally fight Argosax and faced his true form, Despair embodied, a genderless demon. Dante emerged victorious in that fight and was brought here by...Destiny?...or whatever.

That paper was an invitation that Lucia gave him in a museum. He didn't know he had that with him all the time.

Dante was staring at the paper for 2 seconds and then rolled his eyes out of it to give it a thought.

"What if I'm stuck here forever?...What if-...I don't see home again?" were the questions in his mind. He didn't want to pessimistic and doesn't have to be. He's not scared of anything, but just wanted be practical as of then. There is an equal probability that he might not see his home ever again.

Dante again looked at the paper and then started to tear it to multiple pieces. Then he simply dropped it to the ground and sighed.

"Hm, I don't know if I would even need that momento" thought Dante.

That was when Ciri approached him from the back. She stood by his side and turned her face to look at him. She was mildly amazed to see Dante's face expressing a stoic, calm and collected but at the same time, in a deep serious thought. For 20 days ever since he came here, she had seen only his flirty talk and an icy character. But she had to accept that she was stunned to see his face so serious.

"Is anything wrong?" she asked shrinking her eyebrows to which Dante was instantly snapped out of his thoughts. He slowly looked at her and turned again.

"No...Nothing-...Is it time?" asked Dante. Ciri could see that he want's to avoid speaking his mind, though not knowing why.

"Yes. It's 1:00 PM like you said" replied Ciri. Dante took a deep breath and then nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"Fine, let's hunt the bastard!" said Dante turning to walk towards the house. Ciri first looked at him suspiciously and then proceeded to follow him.

"Where did all that cheer in his face had gone?" she wondered.

Dante entered the house to call Elisa.

"Elisa...Elisa!" called out Dante. Even before the two came, Ciri had already entered and was looking for them. Dante's eyes turned skeptical about the house's atmosphere. Something was wrong.

"Where did she go!?" asked Ciri.

"Check the other rooms" said Dante. She nodded and both proceeded to check the other rooms.

Dante while searching already understood that this entity lurking the house is clever for it's class. But his worry got hold of him because that wasn't good for them.

After a minute, both Dante and Ciri met in the same place they split. Before they could talk, suddenly they heard, heavy footsteps slowly starting from somewhere above. Ciri and Dante had their senses heightened. Dante warily moved his eyes around him.

Dante turned his head towards the side of the stairs. There was nothing and then he turned his head towards the door again to see nothing. But he felt something and immediately drew his Ivory gun at swift speed pointing it towards the staircase side, this time to his shock, to see Elisa standing there holding Mikel with her right hand by his chest.

Ciri too got sight of her and half unsheathed her sword and pistol looking at the woman and the kid.

"By the gods!..." Ciri muttered at the stupor.

It was Elisa or...what looked like Elisa. She had fiery eyes and her skin was gray with lots of veins and blood scratches in her arms and face. Above all, she slowly protruded her claws directed towards Mikel's neck slowly.

"Elisa, what are you doing?" asked Ciri staggered at the sight of what's in front.

"Ciri, that's not Elisa" replied Dante in a stoic tone. Ciri startled at the revelation and looked at Dante. She then fully unsheathed her sword and readied it.

"Please help...mmmeee!" staggered Mikel in a low voice out of pure fear. Elisa let a grim, monstrous smirk and then spoke in a distorted voice.

"Dante!" said Elisa or whatever's within her. Ciri was stunned to here Elisa's voice mixed with a inhuman creature along with her original voice.

"What the Hell? Dante, what's happening here?" asked Ciri. Dante didn't answer.

"The entire hell curse your name, Dante. I under estimated you but I can correct it now. When I kill you, Lord Seth will praise and make me more powerful" said the creature.

Dante then understood who that creature was. The demon that haunts the family was none other than a servant of one of the 7 hell lords, Seth. And the 'Ox man', the kid referred to as an imaginary friend.

"Seth? So you are his bitch" said Dante letting a slight chuckle.

Ciri was confused and confounded with the conversation. She clearly found out that Elisa was no longer who she was. The demon that Dante claimed to have still latched to Elisa and her she was unable to figure out the lore of their conversation. They talk as if they knew each other already and had a long time grudge over the other. Ciri's doubt's regarding Dante's origins increased ten folds but didn't want to distract herself as of then.

"What's that they are talking about? And what did he mean by Dante's name cursed in 'Hell'?" wondered Ciri.

"I smell assholes like you miles away. Now leave Elisa or-..." threatened Dante. Elisa smirked and laughed hard.

"Fool! I like it here...Ha ha! grinned Elisa. Dante was annoyed with the demon and decided to finish it off. He just knew what to do.

He immediately pointed his gun towards the roof above Elisa's head. Elisa was foolishly distracted by that move and lifted her head upwards to look at where Dante pointed his gun above. Dante immediately pointed his gun back at her in lightning speed and shot a round at her right arm, a dirty trick he so much hated to do, especially to a human. But , he didn't have a choice. It was better than doing nothing.

"AAAAHHHHH" roared Elisa in pain and distracted enough to put Mikel down and letting him free.

"Kid? RUN!" barked Dante to which Mikel without a second thought ran to hide in the bedroom beneath the bed.

After Elisa gathered herself, she furiously turned to look at Dante and gritted her teeth, holding her bleeding arm in anger.

"You will pay for this!" roared the demon and it instantly flew out of Elisa's body as an invisible mist and knocked Dante through the main door out of the house into the open field.

Dante skid with his back on the ground and then rolled back to his feet, holstering his gun and casually knocking the dust out of his dress, letting a smirk. The people who were walking the road were distracted by seeing Dante like that and stopped on their way.

Suddenly, the demon materialized in front of him and roared. It was a black giant centaur-minotaur demon whose kin he previously faced at the Limbo.

"Hm, Ox-man, huh?" muttered Dante. The people on the road screamed in terror at the sight of the giant creature and it was chaos in few seconds as they ran for their lives.

All of a sudden, Ciri teleported besides Dante with the sword on her hand and glared at the demon.

"Wow! He's big" Ciri commented.

"Ciri, what about Elisa?" asked Dante.

"She is fine. I have put her to sleep" replied Ciri.

"Let's dance" said the demon in a growling voice and then summoned around 50 big fire minions through an infernal magic seal. They all appeared flying besides the demon.

"Ciri, Take care of those minions" asked Dante. She looked disappointed as she thought of fighting the big monster. She didn't wish to argue, so she sighed and replied. In fact she don't like being ordered around.

"Whatever" said Ciri irately. Then she teleported away to fight the minions.

Dante unsheathed his Rebellion and charged at the demon. The demon also charged towards him. After the two closed the gap, Dante skid beneath the demon's left fore limb, missing it's step. The demon abruptly stopped and before it could turn, Dante ran and leapt above the demon to charge it's body with his sword. The Rebellion was 3/4th impaled into the demon's body and it began to gallop violently in pain. The creature was big enough to generate momentum to throw Dante out with the sword still being impaled.

He summoned the sword telepathically and it got out of the demon and reached Dante's hand.

"You cannot stop me...!" the demon growled and then charged towards him with more speed. Dante impaled the sword to the ground and changed his stance and readied his left arm and charged it with red energy that formed an aura around the left forearm. When the demon closed the gap, Dante unleashed the 'Royal release' that caused a violent explosion over the demon's body and knocked the surrounding wind.

The demon was forced back several meters away from Dante. It flew and fell down irregularly with it's body crash landing upon the ground. The demon grunted heavily in pain and tiredness. and it let a cough of it's own. But Dante was still calm and cool, completely feeling that he had not even begun the fight.

On the other hand, Ciri was surrounded by 50 big flying minions that shot fire balls from their mouth towards her. Ciri felt easy to fight them. 5 minions at a time launched fire balls. Ciri teleported away, evading them. But found the other creatures behind her at that spot. She was attacked by them so she had to teleport again. She did nothing but to evade their attacks by teleporting. But in the mean time, she chanted a spell to charge her sword with freeze power.

Then she sprinted towards the 3 minions in front. They all shot at the same time, but she teleported above one of them and impaled it's body by force. The freeze magic instantly killed it and fell to the ground along with her. She then instantly threw her sword towards another minion which also died away. She was about to get shot by 5 minions. She dodge rolled upon the ground to evade the attacks and teleported to her sword and grabbed it by her hands.

She used her powers to see things moving very slowly. This time she saw an amazing pattern of creatures around her which she can kill them successfully in series. She returned to normal time and instantly teleport charged towards the minions one by one, violently slashing them with her sword, connecting her moves smoothly. The minions died one by one and they struggled even to see her as she warped the space near them. After a few seconds, she landed on the ground killing the last minion and slowly got to her feet giving out a heavy breath to watch 20 minions die. 28 remained still.

Dante was watching the demon getting to it's feet struggling to get back to it's senses.

"Your's are a lot more than Sparda. Even if I fail here, my master, Seth will finish the job" said the demon feeling oblivious of the defeat at the hands of the Son of Sparda.

"Tell him, I send my regards" replied Dante coyly. The demon once again charged at Dante in desperation. Dante glimpsed at Ciri, doing a nice job against those minions.

After coming close, the demon rose it's right forelimb to crush Dante. Dante did a cart wheel dodge in the air to the left and connected it with a strong sword blow to the limb, severely injuring it. The demon once again roared in pain.

Ciri decided to kill the remaining all at a time. So she used her powers to severely warp the space around her along with the minions, causing a powerful gravity to pull those creatures towards her. After all the minions dumped around her, she fully charged her sword with the white frost cold she managed to access from the infinite cold space using her elder blood powers and did a single powerful spin with her sword pointed towards the minions. That powerful slash killed all the minions in a single strike and they all vanished away from her, thus finishing off all the 50 minions.

While it may seem a tough fight, it was very easy for her and she used only a fraction of a fraction of her elder blood powers to kill these minions.

"Tough, huh?" muttered Ciri with an evasive smile and then turned to watch Dante dodging the giant demon's attack. Her face turned quite serious as she thought Dante was struggling to fight the demon, almost completely forgetting his past abilities of handling a powerful golem brute.

"He needs help" she said and then charged towards the two.

Dante was evading with ease from the demon's attack.

"Alright, tired of playing 'catch me if you can'. Let's finish this" thought Dante standing yards away from the wounded demon. It had only been 8 minutes since the fight started. He taunted the demon to rise and fight and the demon did just like that.

But all of a sudden, Ciri teleported nearby the demon's abdomen and impaled it with her sword, but not so deep. Dante was stunned to see her.

"Shit! Ciri, What the hell are you doin?" yelled Dante. But Ciri was unable to speak as she was struggling from the demon's violent rumble. She was hanging from the sword and barely had the grip. She grunted heavily in response.

"I-..I'm trying to-..." she staggered and suddenly, the demon's rear limbs made it's way towards Dante and he flip dodged backwards and the same time Ciri was thrown to the ground by force.

"**GRUNT**..." she grunted and gritted her teeth, it was a great force, she almost felt her bones break. Geralt might have taught her to fight with both speed and strength, but she was physically no match for the behemoth. She breathed heavily, lying on the ground trying in vain to get up, but the demon already jumped towards her and was about to land it's body that weighs tonnes on her before she could even react. Her face became despondent and the inevitable thought of death gripped her mind, because she forgot what Geralt had taught her long back, 'Never overestimate yourself and underestimate your enemies'. She was weakened by the force with she was pushed down.

"HA...HAA..." the demon grinned. But when it was about to land and crush Ciri, Dante teleported in between and blocked the demon's fore limbs, each in one palm of the hand resisting tonnes of weight. Dante's face turned little hard at the stress though it was nothing to him compared to the stone savior.

Ciri slowly rose her head to get the sight of the magnificent view of Dante blocking the demon from killing her. She was stunned...No that's an under statement. She was overwhelmed after witnessing his physical strength.

"MOVE!" yelled Dante and Ciri did with out a second thought. Dante after a couple of seconds, tossed the demon away. He then held the rebellion with firm grip. The demon again charged towards him and he immediately took his Ebony and shot several rounds that pierced the demon's body and it roared in pain. Dante leapt behind the demon as it struggled to stop itself a few yards away.

Dante holstered his gun and in split second, he sprinted towards the demon at blinding speed and jumped high above the demon's head...

"You think you have defeated me, you son-..." were the last words the demon snorted and the next second it saw was neither it could remember nor forget.

Dante swung his sword high above the demon's head and surgically cut the creature with brute force in a helm-breaker style, then landed ground in a split second. Ciri, from a distance witnessed the flash from his sword's edge that moved at light speed.

The next moment, the demon was bisected into two, bleeding and then turning to flames and ashes. Thus the fight came to an end. Things were calm and cool, the sound of the clear night came back. Dante slowly sheathed his sword back and walked towards Ciri who was staring at him.

He then helped her to get back to her feet. She took her time to clean herself of dust and then calmed herself after a rough and tough rock slide.

"That's it. Let's go check on Elisa and Mikel" said Dante walking to the house.

"Wait..." she stopped.

"We'll definitely talk once we check on them" interrupted Dante, halfway.

Ciri looked at him confused and skeptic and then after few seconds she followed him to the house.

...

He reached the entrance and then turned left to the bedroom to see Nenneke tending to them. She then turned to see Dante looking at them. Nenneke widened her eyes and raced towards Dante to speak. Shortly after, Ciri arrived and stood near by Dante.

"By the goddess! Was that BIG creature that's been tormenting Elisa and Mikel?" asked Nenneke who witnessed the entire fight along with Elisa.

"That wasn't a big deal. Happy to help anyway" replied Dante with a gentle smile. Nenneke was amazed he took it so lightly. Maybe, but it was a great deal to them.

"You don't understand. It's great that everyone's alright. You just saved an innocent family from grave danger" said Nenneke. Elisa looked tired as she played host for the demon that was already killing her. It just sped up the process when the demon witnessed Dante. She slowly got to her feet and went near Dante.

"Thank you master Dante. If not for you, me and my son would have simply joined Boris. We are forever grateful!" emotionally said Elisa and then turned to face Ciri.

"And you too, young lady" said Elisa with a smile.

"Well, he was the one who really helped you. if he had not told us, we would have never known about this" replied Ciri.

Dante simply listened to her statement but was amazed to see her praising, because in his world, people would ask him help and leave him a lot of bill for the destruction he would cause. Dante sighed and responded.

"It was nothing. Like I said, glad to help. Take care" said Dante and turned to leave.

"No wait! An non-obligatory help shouldn't go un-rewarded" said Elisa that stopped Dante. he turned to look at her.

"I have summed up a hefty amount of coin for a long time to help Mikel's education. But that coin might have gone unused if had lost my son. Please take it" requested Elisa. Dante let an evasive smile and then spoke after a couple of seconds.

"Keep it. Your son's education is important and I insist. So save your breath" said Dante which surprised the three. They never expected him to be generous as this was a dirty job. Dante of course would have obtained the coin, but he has a code by which he lives and don't accept payment under certain circumstances.

Elisa was stunned by his statement and her eyes widened expressing little happiness.

"Huh, may be there's still a speck of kindness left in this world. I thank you once again" said Elisa.

"That demon had taken a toll on you. Herbal extracts can help you with quick recovery, So take care of your health" said Dante to which she nodded in acknowledgement.

"Then it's time we left. See you some time Elisa" said Nenneke to which she nodded. Then she waved her head to the two to move outside.

After getting outside of their house, they all walked a certain distance away and then stopped. Nenneke then turned to face the other two.

"*SIGH*...This day was the toughest. I had never seen anything like that before. But thanks to your timed arrival, that demon was fended off" said Nenneke.

"So you are gonna leave?" asked Ciri.

"Yes, I'll return to the temple. I have lot of work to tend to" said Nenneke and turning to Dante.

"And you? Thanks for helping us in the right time. This continent would really benefit a lot with your skills" she said. Dante rolled his eyes to the ground. While he was happy to help, he knew he can't stay here for a long time. But that wasn't her fault as she never knew he was from another world.

"Looking forward to it" replied Dante. Nenneke then whistled for her horse and it came running towards her. Then he grabbed the saddled and climbed on its back and held the riding curb.

"Fare thee well" said Nenneke and rode the horse into the city while Dante and Ciri stood watching.

...

Then Dante turned towards her and folded his hands.

"I think now we can have our conversation" said Dante which drew her attention. She looked at him and shrunk her eyebrows.

"What happened back there? I thought I told you to stay away" said Dante seriously. And Ciri wasn't amused either.

"How about you tell me about that conversation you had with the demon. It talked to you as if it knew you well and...You managed to block a giant demon just like that. I'm not a fool to believe that it's simply magic. For a week till now, I have a feeling that something is not right about you. You are an enigma, till now" said Ciri folding her hands. Ciri proved herself with her eagle eyes. She sensed Dante being

Dante simply gazed at her in seriousness and then turned to walk a few steps and stopped. He simply glanced the empty space in front of him without speaking a word. Every time, Ciri gets on his nerves. But Dante accepts it this time as every time, he reveals his powers that are way beyond supernatural. His powers would really freak out anyone even if they are magic weilders. Every time he had been letting his true nature out. Dante closed his eyes for a second and then spoke,

"I haven't told much about myself and I still keep it that way" replied Dante to which Ciri disapprovingly nodded and exhaled.

"To be honest-..." she said as she walked towards him,

"I'm wondering if people around here would be safe anymore...with your presence. You seem have dangers stick to yourself" said Ciri. Dante can't deny that. There are always the demons that wanted to kill Dante and because of that, a lot of innocents get caught in the middle.

He turned to face her and glared at her intently.

"Like I wanted to be here! Listen, Shit happens to anyone who's close to me or anyone who even utters my name. That's the reason I keep everything to myself and never divulge anything" said Dante in a serious tone and Ciri's face turned inscrutable.

"If you are worried about other's safety, then I can isolate myself. Remember, without anyone's help including you,, I can adapt to any place and any situation until that elf gets me outta here" said Dante, this time with firmness in his voice like there's no saying otherwise.

Ciri became dumb with his statement. Actually, she couldn't believe this man before her has another side in his attitude. She never got to see him becoming resolute in this 18 days. She always found him cheerful with a laid back demeanor. She then understood, this time for real, the gravity in his words. She decided not dwell into his character. So far, like she previously experienced, he was and still friendly.

"Fine. I'm sorry for-...what I said. I believe you" Ciri apologized. Dante became light hearted this time and spoke to her.

"Ciri, I began my acquaintance with outside people since I was 8yrs old. It's been 57 years after that and still I don't expect people to fully trust me. In fact, that makes my job a lot easier" said Dante.

"And what about that demon?" asked Ciri.

"Evil is everywhere. It doesn't differentiate things or people. Like I said, I've been hunting demons for a long time that every scumbag out there wants me dead" said Dante. Ciri nodded in acknowledgement. She accepted his statements to be true as she too knows how it could be. But she never knows what Dante had been through in his early life, who he truly is.

This was when Ciri decided that she had been overreacting towards him.

"Right, I understand and approve" said Ciri with a slight smile. Dante nodded back with a smile of his own.

"Besides, thanks for saving me back there. But you do know, that I can't keep relying on you, if these infernal demons are a lot powerful" said Ciri. Dante easily understood where she was getting to.

"You've been fighting them for a long time in your world. Why don't you help me? Teach me to fight the infernals?" asked Ciri. Dante was quite taken back by her request, but didn't outright deny it.

He then turned away from her and deeply gave a thought about it. Is it necessary? Should he have to accept her request? On one hand, if he teaches them, like Ciri said they dont have to rely on anyone. Of course, they haven't faced the infernals which really confuses him a lot.

While he was seeing them like he sees common people in his world, he wondered how a separate humanity that was taken to this world from the same earth never knew anything about the Infernals. He wondered if it had anything to do with his father or there's even ugly story in the shadows.

But if he's gonna stick here for quite a long time, then he found no harm in teaching Ciri to fight these powerful underworld creatures. Besides, they are the same humans he sworn to protect a long time back, no matter the place.

Dante blinked and stood like a figurine, glazed, thinking what to say. Ciri then spoke to bring him back to his senses.

"Dante? I asked you a question" said Ciri.

"I don't know what to say" replied Dante.

"Dante, We had never faced the forces of hell. Only through you, we knew all those evil entities we fought were creatures of mirror dimension all these times. Yet, today we fought an underworld demon whose physical strength is outmatched except for you. Perhaps, you can help me" said Ciri this time with a lot of seriousness in her voice.

Dante took the next couple seconds to give it a thought and made a decision.

"Fine, I can teach you the tricks. It would really be helpful to you" said Dante. Ciri became mildly ecstatic at his response.

She might be tenacious, but doesn't go around beat her chest that she knows everything. This day, she understood that there are a lots and lots of unknown to be explored.

"But before that-..." Ciri said as her face turned gloomy and Dante didn't understand why she suddenly become sad.

"Look at this!" she said showing him her sword, or what was left of it. Dante saw the sword broken into two. He knew that it was due to the demon's body being thick enough to cause it to break while Ciri lunged at it.

"Hoo...Too sad. You are gonna need a new blade" said Dante feeling unfortunate for her. But Ciri wasn't amused as this sword, Zireael was something close as her adopted father. She still remembers the day, she got that weapon from Geralt at White Orchard inn. She felt so lucky with that around. Now...it's just gone.

"This sword was more than just a blade to me" she said sadly. Dante was able to understand her feelings. He acknowledges people's tendency to fall in love with inanimate objects. Even he too does that.

"I get it that the sword means much to you. But you are gonna need a lot more powerful weapons if your are gonna fight the Infernals" said Dante trying to console her. Ciri nodded in agreement because lucky sword or not, it's a history now. She had to move on.

"Right" said Ciri. Dante then stretched his arms in relaxation and then spoke.

"So, you know any weapon smith capable of crafting magical weapons?" asked Dante. Ciri thought deeply and finally got the answer.

"Yes, There is this Ofieri rune wright that Geralt had told me about. He used to craft powerful enchanted weapons" replied Ciri, reminded of the ofieri merchant that Geralt had acquainted with long ago. He was capable of crafting weapons with effects like never seen before.

"Good! Where does he live?" asked Dante.

"In Redania, far east of Novigrad" replied Ciri. Dante having learned of the kingdoms and went through the continental map in the last 2 weeks. He were able to identify the place she referred to.

"You know the exact place. Take me to him. And after that, we might have a lot of job to do. We can't train just like that. We need a place isolated from all settlements" said Dante. Ciri instantly got the idea and just knew where to pick.

"Actually, I know of a place" replied Ciri with a smile. Date waved her to go ahead.

"Remember Kaer Morhen, I told you about?" asked Ciri. Dante remembered that name as Ciri talked a great deal about that, something strongly connected to her childhood.

"Yes, the old Witcher's keep?" suggested Dante. Ciri nodded in acknowledgement. Dante was amused with that, as a ruined keep would be a better place for that.

"Yes. That would be fine and it's gonna be a hell of a time to get there. But...there's always a second option" said Ciri with a smirk. Dante knowing what she meant out right refused.

"NO! I don't care how much it takes, Let's go there by a horse" said Dante hastily.

"I've got a horse. But what about you?" asked Ciri keeping her hands in her hips. Dante's face turned un-delighted as he didn't have horse...or that was what Ciri thought so.

"Actually...I DO own a horse" said Dante with a smirk and took a couple steps away from her and then whistled in a different pattern that she didn't understand. It wasn't a standard horse summoning whistle. She wondered what that sound meant anyway.

And then they both turned to the left to witness...

"OH...MY!" Ciri was stunned at the sight,

A blue glowing animal, a steed running towards them. It's eyes were glowing blue fire like, From the forehead till the end of the back neck, there were blue fire. Same fire slightly came out of it's mouth and nostrils. The horse within the bright blue aura, was dark skinned in nature. The horse slowed itself and halted near Dante raising nickering sound.

"DANTE! What is THAT?" exclaimed Ciri, her eyes widened in horror. She grabbed her pistol as that was the only one she had intact.

"Wow...Wow! Calm down Ciri. This is my horse" said Dante loud to distract her. Ciri was still holding her aim at the horse warily, and muddled towards Dante.

"That's your-...FUCK THIS!" she was wailing now firmly holding her aim. The horse nickered and stood silently watching them both. Ciri decided to query Dante about that. She's got enough for one day. She was irate to the core.

"Dante, you better explain this!"

"I will" he said looking at the horse.

"This steed is called 'Geryon'. A magical horse I found and...tamed on my world" Dante said as he rewinded the past for a few seconds. Geryon the time steed was a powerful pain in the ass demon he fought as a teen at Temenigru. But after defeating it, it blessed him with it's own soul and gave him power over time. Dante often said that, Geryon was the most powerful he ever acquired in his life. So far, he never used it as his ride. But this demon is now his servant and his master can summon it at will.

Dante walked near the horse as he explained and touched it and closed his eyes uttering something in his mind, it immediately turned into a black horse that looks as normal as any other horse.

Ciri was astounded by the change. She then gradually lowered her aim.

"See? That was simple" said Dante.

"Well, you seem have a lot of tricks up your sleeve and something tells me there are even more waiting to come" said Ciri. Dante didn't mind her statement but instead focused entirely on something else.

"It's odd that you struggled fighting the big demon. Are you sure that none here is aware of the infernal demons?" asked Dante which was the question that ate his mind. Ciri shrugged and took a couple seconds to reply.

"Uh...well-...I don't know. May be powerful and long lived mages like Yennefer might know" replied Ciri. Dante's face turned confused.

"While people from earth have adapted to these new environment, they are still in shadows to many unknown threats. Why did my father leave them unprepared? Or is there anything more at play? Anyways, I intend to find out why and what's going on here" thought Dante vehemently.

"Dante...?" called out Ciri.

"Nothing. Let's move on to meet that rune wright and then to Kaer Morhen" said Dante. Ciri raised her eyebrow when Dante moved over his strange horse.

"And I may have to part ways after to meet that elf again" thought Dante.

Ciri then called her horse and then both rode off that place.

...

Velen Swamps...
2:00 AM

The vile and vicious demonic entity called 'Black heart' no one but the son of Sparda, Vergil, transformed in to a hideous creature by Samael, was prowling the velen swamps and it seems there are even more greater body counts lying in a pool of blood. He had his minions clear a portion of the forest by cutting down the trees and had them prepare a great big seal upon the floor covering the entire region.

The seal was meant to be a temporary gateway to Aen Seidhe that helps Mephisto to enter this plane as long as the seal exist.

"Tupy za wfppal, darv Mephisto"
("Time to summon, lord Mephisto") Blackheart said loud. His minions started to scatter around the seal and stand at the edges in a circle. Blackheart was technically at the middle of the seal.

He turned his head left and right to look around and then began the ritual.

"Frap zmy vircywz wmivasw...Frap zmy virc tarlyrw ao zmy flujyrwy...Frap zmy ryidp ao zmy 3rv edily...Xe wfppal zmyy...Larv Mephisto"

("From the darkest shadows...From the dark corners of the universe...From the realm of the 3rd plane...I summon thee...Lord Mephisto")

With that, the whole place stated to glow..

And there was someone hiding behind a wood watching it with keen interest...

...

World of Aen Elle...
Lammas, 7th savaed (SEP 21)...

Ida Emean aep Sivney, an elven sage had travelled to her home world of Aen Elle and to the capital itself, Tir'na'lia. 3 weeks back, she and other mages at Aen seidhe decided to investigate the strange occurrences through out the world and many of the attacks. Then they used the fountain of Aretuza to learn of the truth as their conventional magic didn't help to solve the problem.

But that fountain burned their mind with horrific visions of blood and death, fire and rage. She took this matter seriously and had traveled here to meet the only one who can solve this mystery, the one who is elder than the eldest, an Astronomer.

She had reached Tir'na'lia and is already in the king's fort, waiting for the granting of permission to meet him.

Then she watched an armored elven guard approaching her.

"Aen saevherne, you are permitted to go inside" said the guard.

"Diolch..."
("Thank you") said the sage and then proceeded to walk inside.

She made her way along several chambers and finally reached the courtyard.

At the court yard, she saw some guards in patrol and some elven attenders, both men and women. But among them, she spotted a place where there was some man behind a painting board. To his left was a full naked elven woman, giving a posture for that artist to paint the portrait.

Ida instantly drew a sigh and smirk. She then walked towards the artist and started speaking as she got near.

"Looks like our king has not changed his hobby for quite a long time" she jested. The naked elf turned to look at her. Ida waved her head to move away and she complied.

"*SIGH*...You have a peculiar yet annoying way of disturbing me" came a voice. Then the man revealed himself to Ida and it was none other than Ge'els. He was made the king of Tir'na'lia after Eredin died.

Ge'els is unlike Eredin, he's righteous to a point that he withdrew support for Eredin 28 years ago during the battle between the Wild hunt and other Aen seidhe witchers and mages, Nilfgaard forces at Undvik. That was due to his loyalty to king Auberon, after learning that Eredin killed him, he did what was necessary.

"Caedmil, Aen saevherene" greeted Ge'els.

"Na 'habayr 'e" replied Ida. She and Ge'els walked towards the garden from where Ida walked over.

"Take it you are here on an important business. But what would you want from me?" asked Ge'els.

"I'll get to the point, your highness. I seek an audience with the elder" said Ida. Ge'els raised his eyebrow in confusion. He walked near the open parapet with his hands folded and stood silent.

"Why?" he asked.

"It would take a long time to explain. I would rather do it there" replied Ida.

"You should know that the elder should not be disturbed unless if it involved more than losing head" said Ge'els expressing authority.

"Ge'els, This is not about losing one head, but millions...even billions" said Ida to which he glared at her suspiciously.

"So, I insist. Please..." Ida pleaded. Ge'els ran his hand over the temples and nodded dismissively.

"Fine, But I'll come with you" said Ge'els irately. Ida smiled and replied.

"Good enough for you to see reason. Let's go" said Ida. Ge'els nodded and both walked towards the elder chamber, the room where the elven astronomer resides.

...

At the elder chamber...

The hall was full of objects and artifacts that uttered nothing but magic. There were incense being burned to give the hall, a pleasant aroma. There was a small cage and inside, the fire was allowed to burn that provided brightness to the room. Part of the room had equipment and structures to that of an observatory.

The wall had many decorations. One of many was the paintings. There were many portraits and then there was this one portrait...bigger than everything. It was a portrait of a man in royal purple attire, with monocle and back slicked white hair, young and charming. He was standing with the sword impaled to the ground as a support.

In the middle of the hall, in a chair, there was an old elf seated with his eyes closed. It could be a meditation or something else. There was something hovering in the air in front of him, that was surrounded by spherical purple aura. The old man was seated directly facing the large portrait.

It was the elven astronomer. Astronomers are high ranking elven prophets whose wisdom has more power than a powerful king's orders.

Then a guard came in and bowed before the elder a few feet away from him.

"Master, King Ge'els and Aen saev-..."

"Ask them to come in" the elder interrupted with his feeble old voice, like he already predicted their arrival.

"Yes, master" said the guard who went out to bring them in.

After 5 minutes, King Ge'els and Ida entered the elder hall. Ida for a moment soaked in with the internal beauty, but was not much surprised as she had already visited this place when she was a child.

Ida and Ge'els walked in and bowed before the elder.

"ar meas ar an hynaf o'r Tir'na'lia"
("Our respects to the elder of Tirnalia") said Ida and Ge'els in unison. After a few seconds, the elder spoke.

"Rise" said the elder in a gentle voice. They both stood in response. The astronomer then waved his hands at them to come near and have a seat besides him.

Ida took a seat near the elder and besides her was Ge'els.

"Master, We are here-..." started Ge'els but instantly cut by the elder.

"I know and I would have called you anyway" said the elder. He then slowly got out of the chair and walked towards the middle of the room. Ida and Ge'els followed him.

"Tell me what happened at Aen seidhe" said the elder. Ida and Ge'els glanced at each other and then she spoke. Ida face turned inscrutable as she already knew that the elder might have known everything. She eventually prepared herself to face the music though she required the very elder's help. She knew there were things she did that would only cause anger to the elder. She let a sigh and decided to reply.

"3 weeks back, there were strange magical disturbances. Several places were attacked by unknown creatures. Even Dol blathana was attacked by a golem brute. But I don't think you need explanation regarding that" sad Ida.

"Those are things I know. But I asked...what happened at Aretuza? I witnessed a powerful rift in the reality" asked the elder which stunned both Ge'els and Ida even more. Ge'els was wondering what was that the elder was talking about.

"I-...We-...*SIGH*...To learn the truth about the disturbances, myself and the other mages used the fountain" said Ida to which the elder turned and glared at her. Even Ge'els was quite shaken by that menacing look.

Fool...FOOL!...You shouldn't have used the fountain. You know naught of the consequences" said the elder in anger.

"Ida, what did you do?" hissed Ge'els. Ida was tensed and swiftly nodded. The elder walked and leaned over a table that had books and maps. There was silence for quite sometime. Then he spoke.

"Is there anything you wish to say before I ask you to leave?" asked the elder.

"Yes master. There's one other thing" replied Ida.

"Aen seidhe has a new visitor, a man..." said Ida as she turned to look at Ge'els and then the elder.

"From...Another world"

This very much got the elder's attention. In fact this stunned him a lot because as an astronomer, nothing escapes his vision. He can't believe he didn't know something like this even happened.

"What?! How? When did this happened?" asked the elder with quite a shock.

"3 weeks back. Actually all those strange occurrences happened right after his arrival" replied Ida. Both the elder and Ge'els were astounded with this information.

"Another world? Who is he?" asked Ge'els.

"I still can't believe this. He's a human" said Ida. Ge'els nodded dismissively.

"I think you have hallucinated" Ge'els instantly shoved it down much to her dismay.

"I am not stupid, your highness. I know what I saw and he's not a human we have ever seen before. His attire, his appearance and-...he seemed to carry some sort of magic with him, but a lot different. Something I have never seen in my life" said Ida. Ge'els sighed in disappointment.

"Listen Ida, don't waste the elder's time with these pointless fairy tales" Ge'els castigated.

"A human with magic from another world-...could this-..." several thoughts flew in the elder's mind in swift succession and then he hastily turned to look at the biggest portrait of the purple attire man and his eyes widened.

"Ida, what can you tell me about him? I mean...anything peculiar" asked the elder. Ida's face turned bilious.

"By the goddess! I have never seen anyone so powerful like him. He single handedly shattered a golem brute with relative ease which is nigh impossible" she said.

The elder's eyes rolled all over with multiple thoughts and then he looked at Ida.

"It's impossible for me to miss it. Ida, come over here" said the elder. Ida and the elder walked fast towards a magical pensieve. The elder magically hovered the pensieve in the air between him and Ida.

"Give me your hands" he said. Ida then extended his hands and the elder got hold of her palms.

"Now I want you to concentrate on that man you saw. Concentrate harder" said the elder. Ge'els by the time walked slowly towards them.

Ida closed her eyes and began concentrating on the man she saw back at Dol blathana. The elder focused his eyes and mind on the pensieve and as every second passed, the pensieve started to disort with images. As time progressed, the image slowly started to become clear and clear.

After a few more seconds, the pensieve finally revealed the clearer image of a white haired man with sapphire blue eyes, a face so and so familiar and well known. He was wearing a red attire with a giant sword in his hands.

The elder's face turned blissful and his eyes widened in surprise and shock. His breathing became quite faster and he immediately let the hold of her hands and took a few steps back. Ge'els was tensed and he jogged towards the elder.

"Master, what happened!" asked Ge'els. The elder didn't respond. Ida opened her eyes and her face shrunk in confusion after seeing the elder's facial expression.

"Master, is anything wrong?" asked Ida.

The elder didn't talk for a moment and then spoke,

"How is this even possible!? It is as-..." the elder said as he turned and walked towards the biggest portrait in the wall,

"He foretold us before..." said the elder as he stared at the portrait. Ida and Ge'els walked near him and together looked at the portrait of the purple suit man.

"Master, you recognize who that was?" asked Ida. The elder looked at her and Ge'els with a faint smile and talked.

"Yes, He...has returned. So everything Sparda said was true after all" said the elder which stunned the other two.

"Sparda!? The dark knight? What does he got to do with this?" asked Ge'els in confusion.

"Everything that happened for the past 16 millennia came from him. If not for Sparda, every world, every civilization would have met demise at the hands of the underworld creatures. He was the one who gave us the very essence of the Hen Ichaer to be our savior when time calls for it" said the elder.

"The elder blood? But I thought that was our elven genetic program!" asked Ida who was astounded with the fact.

The Hen Ichaer was a genetic program by the Aen elle elves to breed the rarest of the elven being through people having extraordinary abilities over space time navigation. It was an elven innovation or that was what everyone assumed to be.

"This-...This shakes our centuries of beliefs" said Ge'els who was distressed by the information.

"Our ancestors made sure this secret remained hidden. Only a select few individuals like me know the real truth about the elder blood. After the previous conjunction, Sparda gave us the tool to make ourselves the most powerful guardian angel that would protect us at times of crisis" said the elder. Ida and Ge'els were simply blinking.

"Now, you both are the next set of people to know this secret" said the elder.

"But why say this now? How is it related that mysterious human's appearance?" asked Ge'els.

The elder looked at the two and chuckled at their ignorance although not finding fault in that.

"Of course, this may seem irrelevant to you. But this human visitor of the Aen seidhe is none other than...the Son of Sparda" said the elder which stupefied the two to ghostly pale.

The elder noticed their reaction and spoke further,

"And his arrival was foretold..."

...

A/N: Okay, I'll stop it here for now. And as for Ciri, before you start complaining...You may think she acts like child...NO, definitely not. She was ignorant as of that moment, that's it.

And hell, Dante's cover finally blown somewhere...

Hope you enjoyed it.