Author's note: So this is another short chapter. But, there's a lot happening here, since it sets up the starting of the new arc in this story. And I guess I can tell you this: the craziest battles in this story haven't happened yet.

Chapter 28: Journey

You've seen it all. Gods and Demons. Legendary warriors, and legendary battles. Strength and honour. Living beings, fighting to protect all that is important to them, fighting with every last shred of their might. And through it all, you've persevered. Because you've been given a shining vision of what it means to be human. A vision of undying hope, that outlasts even the greatest darkness.

But you know this: hope always shines the brightest in the time of greatest despair.

So, to challenge the strongest hero, I must create despair.

All your dreams will turn to ashes in your mouth, and you will taste bitter loss, and anger, and sorrow. You will be driven through hellfire and stone. Then, and only then will you earn salvation.

To walk the path of God is to walk the path true to oneself. Know this, and carry on, though pain may come your way.

Lucifer looked at the planet in front of him. In many ways, it was the same as Earth. Perhaps it would be accurate to say that this was Earth as viewed through a different lens. Each reality, each dimension, was merely one lens, one perspective, though all lenses looked at the one and only truth. Thus, every version of Earth was real, though it was at best a glimpse at one aspect of the true Earth, the home that had been given to humans.

This particular version had been given another name, Remnant.

As a matter of fact, it had been given that name by the two individuals who stood right next to him. Lucifer looked at them.

"Here you are. Back in the world you deserted. You must feel like the father who left to buy cigarettes, but was forced to return."

Light and Dark stared at him, not understanding.

"What?"

"... It doesn't matter. You've come back. Sooner than you planned to. Yet, here you are, and burdened with glorious purpose no less."

Dark glared at him.

"Because you forced us," he muttered.

"Indeed," said Lucifer. "I will not offer the gift of non-existence, but the curse of eternal agony. So choose wisely, and take the opportunity in front of you."

"Why are you so eager to see your descendant suffer?"

"Because only through struggle is the inherent divinity in all living beings realised."

The Devil turned his gaze back to Remnant, and though he was millions of miles away, he could see his descendant as clearly as you or I could have from three feet away.

"Besides," Lucifer said. "You assume he will suffer, when in truth, the two of you may well be the ones who will end up suffering."

"Impossible," said Light. "That possibility does not exist."

The Devil smiled.

"We shall see."

"You plan to interfere?"

"I plan to ensure a good show. Use everything at your disposal, everything you can. Every unfair means, every possible ally. Use it all. Without it, you don't stand a chance."

Dark glared at him.

"It will take time to find others of our kind. They are scattered across dimensions-"

"You will not need to search that far. Look closely."

Light and Dark scanned the world they had left long ago, and sensed what Lucifer spoke of.

"These powers… they are the same as you…"

"I should hope so. They are my sons and daughters, after all."

"And you wish us to use them as weapons?"

"If you are capable of doing so, why not? Should any of them choose to ally themselves with you, willingly or otherwise, I have no issue."

Light and Dark looked and listened closely, observing the actions of the demons on Remnant.

"Several of them choose to ally themselves with the very descendant you would have us fight," said Light.

"But not all," said Lucifer.

And it was true. There were demon lords on Remnant who had not sworn loyalty to the Legendary Dark Knight. Light and Dark could sense them, could sense their enormous and terrifying power. Yes, with them on their side, they might yet win. But they would have to act carefully. Their servant was still on Remnant, carrying out the purpose he had been given. And the Relics were still there as well. They had learned a little bit of demonic lore from Lucifer. There was no doubt that he had only revealed enough to make things interesting for himself. Yet, that information contained the key to victory. Gathering all the Relics was key. With them combined, they would have what they needed to create what they needed in order to win.

But they would need to buy themselves time.

And to do that, they needed a way to keep Dante busy.

And to that end, the demon lords on Remnant could be useful.

"We understand. We shall begin our work," said Dark.

Lucifer smiled.

"Go on, then. Don't let me keep you."

As the twins left, he turned his gaze back to Remnant once more.

While the presence of two would-be gods would add excitement to the goings-on at Remnant, he was not counting on them to get the job done.

No, he had been following Dante's career from the beginning, and was well aware that the Legendary Devil Hunter had thrashed the absolute hell out would-be deities before, and had only grown stronger since then. No, in order to make this truly exciting, it was finally time for him to play a more active role. And to his glee, there were so many interesting and precious souls and lives that had touched Dante's. All here on Remnant. So many ways to liven things up. And he had plans for them. Of course, he may or may not have opened a portal or two to let a few truly strong demon lords through into Remnant.

Because it wouldn't really be a party unless there were a few fighters capable of actually beating Dante, would it?

"Now then," he said, rubbing his hands together. "Perhaps I should get to work too."

Outskirts of Vale:

Ruby woke up, feeling restless.

She wasn't quite sure what had woken her up. It wasn't a hot night or anything. On the other hand, it was pleasantly cool. A light breeze was blowing in through the window. Struggling to keep her eyes open, she decided to go get some water before she went back to sleep. On other beds next to her own, the other members of RWBY lay sleeping. She glanced at them. None of the others seemed to be having any uneasy dreams.

Did I have a nightmare?

She couldn't remember. But there was no shaking the feeling in her gut. It wasn't quite an uneasy feeling. More like a kind of anticipation. A kind of thrill, as though expecting an adventure. She shook her head. It had probably been some dream she couldn't remember. Trying to ignore the feeling, she made her way downstairs to the kitchen. Perhaps a cool drink of water would help her relax and fall asleep again. As expected, all the lights were off. Everyone else at the Devil May Cry seemed to be sleeping. But the moonlight filtering in through the windows was enough for her to make her way without tripping. Once in the kitchen, she opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle. The feeling of the cool liquid running down her throat felt good. Purely by chance, she happened to look out the kitchen window while drinking, and caught sight off a figure dashing past the house in the distance. Normally, their movement would have been too quick for her to make any details out. But thanks to her Semblance, Ruby was used to quickly breaking to visual information. Thus, she was able to make out the figure that was dashing past the house.

"... Penny?"

Her vision, used to deciphering images glimpsed for fractions of a second, could make out the look on the ginger's face. It was a far cry from the stoic, unreadable look that she was seeing. The girl looked distraught. Her movements backed this up too. Instead of her precise, graceful movements as displayed in her battle against Yang, there was a desperation to her every motion.

Unsure what she was doing, or why, Ruby began to move herself.

She knew her only hope of catching up would be to use her Semblance, so that was what she did.

Bursting out the front door, she dashed after Penny.

The strange girl was incredibly fast, and Ruby's Semblance alone would have been insufficient to close the gap between them. But the young huntress had not been training with Dante for nothing. Recalling her lessons from the Legendary Devil Hunter, she tapped into her power, and redirected it, the way he had taught her to do. Instead of using her Semblance to visualise and become the wind, as she had done before, she imagined moving through the world, through the dimensions the world was made of. This was incredibly difficult, and consumed large chunks of her Aura to do, but she was able to pull it off.

Twice in succession, she teleported.

The second time, she reappeared right above Penny. From there, she shot herself forward using the regular version of her Semblance, and tackled the ginger to the ground. Immediately, she was rolled over, the strange girl taking the top position in the grappling in less than a second. Ruby found herself blinking, with a crimson blade made of pure energy pointed right at her throat.

Knowing that one wrong move here would mean the end of her, Ruby was strangely calm. Despite being in the weaker position, she knew that right now, it was Penny who was disturbed, not her. Of the two of them, the ginger was the one whose spirit was wavering right now. Ruby hadn't come here to fight.

"It's all right," she said softly. "It's okay. I'm not here to fight."

"Ruby Rose, former Beacon student," said Penny. "What do you want?"

"I want to help," she replied. "Something's bothering you, isn't it?"

A tense moment followed, in which Penny said nothing. Then, she leaned back, the blade in her hand vanishing. She got up, letting Ruby up to her feet.

"It's none of your concern," she said. "I have it under control."

"Do you?" asked Ruby. "Because it doesn't look that way to me."

Penny glanced at her.

"... You should worry about your own troubles, disciple of the Dark Knight. Even now, the enemies of your master draw near, growing ever stronger. Even Dante will find himself hard pressed, soon enough."

Ruby's mind was racing now, her heart pounding at a hundred miles a minute.

She had no idea what Penny was talking about, but there was one thing she knew for sure.

"There isn't any evil in existence that Dante can't beat."

"What makes you think all his opponents are evil?"

Ruby blinked.

She couldn't afford to get distracted here. She wasn't sure how Penny was speaking as though she knew what was going on with Dante when she had been here in Vale the whole time. But for now, she had other concerns. She would have to believe that the Legendary Devil Hunter could take care of things on his end. Focusing on the task at hand, Ruby utilised the lessons Dante had given her.

"When an opponent is talking too much, it's usually because they've got something to hide."

"And what about you, Penny? Is there something you can't beat with your flashy swords?"

The ginger's eyes twitched. It was only a split second reaction, but it didn't go unnoticed.

"What's going on, Penny?" said Ruby. "There's something wrong, isn't there? You can tell me."

"Why? Why should I tell you?"

When Ruby answered, there wasn't a shred of falsehood in her words.

"Because I'm your friend."

Even Penny, who had had been raised to be sceptical, and trust her demonic instincts above all else, recognized the honesty in her voice.

And that was why, for a moment, she hesitated.

She had two choices before her. To answer Ruby, or to push her away, and continue, alone.

"I… I had a dream," she said at last.

"A dream?" repeated Ruby.

"I… saw someone," said Penny. While her expressions were hard to read as usual, Ruby could tell that she was troubled. "She was sick. Dying."

"It was a dream, you said?"

"Not just any dream. A vision."

"A vision…"

Ruby's instincts told her that Penny wasn't delusional. That whatever she had seen was in fact real. And if that were the case…

"Why does it matter to you if this person is dying?"

Penny looked right at her.

"Because she is my mother."

Ruby's eyes widened.

"Your… mother…"

Penny nodded.

"I have never seen her before in my life. Never once laid eyes on her in person. But… I know it is her. My… soul tells me."

She paused.

"She is sick. And… she is not long for this world. This I know. One way or another, she will die soon."

Ruby's thoughts were driven back to a part of her life that she didn't like thinking about, to her own mother, who was gone forever. If she had been given a chance to see her once again, even for an instant…

"Then what are you waiting for?" she said aloud. "You can't wait a second! You need to move, now! No matter what, you need to see her, even if it's only for a moment, before she's gone… because if you don't… you'll regret it forever."

Penny stared at her. For a moment, her surprise showed through.

"... Why do you care?" she said, at last.

"Because that's what it means to be human, stupid," said another voice.

Ruby's eyes widened as she turned around to see two familiar faces.

"Yang? Weiss? What are you…"

"We spotted you sneaking off," said Weiss. "And knowing you, it had to be something stupid."

"So, we figured we couldn't just leave you on your own," finished Yang. "So here we are."

"You guys…"

"There's something you need to do, right?" said Yang, cutting through Ruby's protests, and addressing Penny directly. "The way I see it, you need to see your mom, and quick. But the journey isn't going to be easy. Not with the world the way it is. You're going to need some help."

"... And you are offering to help me?" asked Penny.

Yang smirked.

"You bet we are."