Author's note: Okay, so I guess I'll start with the bad news. Sadly, I couldn't fit the Dante fight into this chapter. As for the good news: a lot of you have probably been wondering for quite a while now what's really happening behind the scenes in this story, as well as what Dante is really up against. Well, we finally get a glimpse of that in this chapter, and I think it'll answer a lot of questions. I do also feel this is a chapter which will either be loved or absolutely hated. Either way, leave a comment! Tell me what you think of it!
Chapter 41: Chaos Unbound- Finale: The Greatest Trick
Dante dashed down the streets. Every few metres, he could feel himself passing through a portal. There was no time to stop and think though. The energy from all of the portals felt the same, leaving no way to tell for sure which one might lead him where he needed to go. Thus, he had no choice but to straight forward, wherever the path led.
It was eerie. The streets were empty, and none of the buildings he passed by had the lights on.
Where is everybody?
There was no way they had gotten all of the townsfolk already. Unless they had Vergil's speed, something like that was impossible. And even if they did, there were the five demons who lived here and guarded the people.
Whoever did this… it's like they're everywhere, all at once.
It sounded absurd, but he had encountered abilities that defied logic before.
There was a counter. There was always a counter.
If I release my power here, I should be able to blast away the mist…
He shook his head. It wasn't a real option. An explosion like that would kill everyone in the vicinity. The only real way now was to find whoever was behind this, and take them out. As he ran, he came to a turn in the road. Instead of taking it, he launched himself forward into a flying kick, smashing clean through the building in the way and coming out the other side. Without a pause, he continued to run, when he felt a presence nearby. With blinding speed, he drew Ebony and Ivory, sliding and turning to aim them both at the target.
He raised an eyebrow.
"Nevan?"
"Dante…"
The lightning witch was covered in blood, which Dante quickly realised wasn't her own. She was surrounded by her bats.
"What's going on?" he asked. "You know who's behind this?"
"No. I did run into some of their grunts. They managed to get Assaults and Chaos in here."
Dante swore mentally. A bunch of bloodthirsty giant lizards running through the streets wasn't good. But if he went after them, it didn't eliminate the biggest danger. There wasn't even any guarantee he'd be able to find them.
"Damn it all. I'll have to hurry."
"Let's join forces. Do not worry about the people. The rest of the Five are here, protecting them."
It was a sign of how desperate the situation was that Dante didn't even argue with the idea of depending on a group of demons to protect the people. Right now, any help he could get was welcome. And then, there were those kids too. He'd trained them, but he had a lot left to teach. Still, there was no choice: they'd been thrown into the field of duty.
He nodded.
"Any idea how to get through this maze?"
Ruby struggled to her feet. One hand clutched at the wound on her left arm. Despite her best efforts, blood oozed from the gash. She tightened her grip desperately, breathing shallow, heart pounding. Having had her aura unlocked, she had forgotten what it was like to have a wound that didn't heal up in seconds. That aura had always been in her, with her, all around her, an armour to protect her in battle. But no human armour could protect against demonic power. The many cuts all over her were proof of that.
Next to her, Blake breathed heavily, covered in cuts, just like her.
A few feet in front, Valkyrie stood, blade drawn. While the fact that her own wounds weren't healing up bothered Ruby, what was far more worrying was that the demoness' wounds weren't healing either. In a battle between two different demons, the stronger power one. There were a few exceptions, such as when one particular power had a natural advantage against another, like water and fire. But Valkyrie hadn't been hit with the elements. She'd been slashed with blades.
Ten feet away, Jack stood, licking human and demon blood alike from his knives. He turned and spat on the ground.
"Fuckin' worthless, the lot o' you. I heard all those stories 'bout the bloody Queen of War. You were supposed to be so strong. The sharpest. The cruellest. And now that you meet you, you've gone soft like some common whore. Look at you, playing in the dirt with a bunch of fucking humans."
He glanced at Blake for a second.
"... and animals."
Ruby gasped, turning to look at her friend.
Blake looked down, shaking.
It was one thing to learn to face human cruelty, to stand up against injustice.
It was another to be confronted by sheer, remorseless malice.
"Here's a fun fact, kitty. I started by cutting animals. First one was a little black cat. Haven't forgotten the smell even after all these years. Who would've thought you'd give me a little nostalgia."
He spun his blades.
"Don't worry. I'll make sure you join her soon."
"You'll do nothing!" roared Valkyrie. She held her sword up high with one hand, while holding the others open. Three more golden zweihanders appeared, one in each. "They are under my protection."
"Then I guess you'll be dying with 'em."
Both demons rushed at each other.
With her greater reach, Valkyrie struck first, slashing downwards heavily. As her blade descended, it passed through the murderer's body, which dissipated like smoke. Simultaneously, a new form appeared in the mist, on the warrior queen's left. Having expected such a move, Valkyrie swung another sword outwards. Once more, the figure turned to mist, allowing the blade to go through. Before it had even finished passing through, he reappeared, right in front of her. He stabbed, too quick for Valkyrie to react. The knife pierced her side. Roaring in anger, she swung again, but to no avail. Once more, Jack's body dissipated, re-forming behind her this time, and slashing through her obliques.
Valkyrie grunted. Her body's resilience allowed her to continue functioning even with these injuries, but Jack's magic was potent. Her healing was slowed. With each slash, each stab, muscles were cut. Before long, he would find bone and organs. It was only a matter of time before he finished her. Death by a thousand cuts.
She could furl her lower two wings around her. Their unique property made them completely invincible, and would be able to shield her from his attacks. But if she focused entirely on defence, she would lose sight of the humans, leaving them vulnerable to Jack's assault.
Flying away wasn't an option either: if she tried grabbing the other three and escaping, Jack would cut them hundreds of times through the mist before they could get away.
If this battle had taken place only a few days ago, she would have held the advantage. Her army would have levelled the playing field. But Cu Chulainn had killed them all.
As things stood, it seemed she was destined for death.
She glanced at Oscar.
All of her life, she had searched for a purpose, a reason for her existence, and she had found it at last.
A warrior's worth was decided not by the strength of her arms, but what she protected.
She prepared herself. There was no escape from here. Not for her. But she could at least make sure that the humans got away.
There will only be one chance.
She swung again. Once more, her blade could not hurt Jack. The entirety of the mist was his body, and he reappeared wherever he wished, cutting her all over. The damage from all of the blows added up, and her resilience, fuelled by her demonic power, faltered.
In that moment, Jack sliced through both her hamstrings.
Valkyrie fell to her knees. She kept herself upright by leaning on her swords.
"Heh. So much for the great queen."
Jack walked up to her slowly. This was it. She did not move. Her success hinged on appearing helpless. A murderous pervert like him would not be able to resist. He would want to savour the moment. And sure enough, he stood right in front of her, knives held to her face.
"I think it's time for my latest masterpiece."
Not yet.
Until he managed to sink his blades into her, he would not let his guard down. Then, and only then, would she have her chance.
The knives approached her mouth.
She prepared to move, senses stretched to their sharpest, nerves ready to fire.
And then, a gunshot tore through the silence.
Jack's form dissipated, the sniper rifle's round passing through harmlessly.
"No!" Valkyrie shouted. "What have you done?"
Ruby stood, gun held up, pointing at where Jack had been. Her arms were shaking.
"I won't let him kill you!"
"...!"
Valkyrie wanted to scream.
Undone by noble intentions.
The girl's heart was in the right place, but her decision-making was terrible. And yet, there was no time to berate her. No time to teach her how to be a better tactician. The mistake had been made. It was a basic rule of war: lose the one to save the many. Because the child hadn't been taught that, they would all be lost.
Jack's body re-formed, and now, his attention was on the young huntress. His eyes glowed red with hatred.
"Oh… you shouldn't've done that."
Ruby stepped back, nearly paralysed with fear.
Her mistake sunk in, but it was too late. She never saw Jack move. He was far too quick.
Blake hadn't seen her move either. But she had started moving even before him, because she knew what he was going to do. Her clone took its place in front of Ruby, ready to take the blow for her.
And that's why, it came as a surprise when she felt cold steel inside her chest.
"Freezes, doesn't it? People always think a stab to the chest'll kill ya. But you'd be surprised how many holes you can stick in a person before they die. Don't worry. I'll have ya memorize the number before I kill ya."
Blood spurted from Blake's mouth.
In desperation, she turned to look at Ruby. She couldn't breathe. Her diaphragm had been cut. She struggled to raise her arm to reach out to her friend, one last time.
The young girl looked on, hyper-aware. She wasn't numb. She was aware all of this was real. She had genuinely believed, when she had first set out to become a huntress, that she would fight, and win a happy ending for everyone.
On that cold night in Hoperow, she could only stand and watch.
The pain, and the desperate fear in Blake's eyes.
Unable to do anything else, she began to reach out, to hold her hand.
On the ground, Oscar struggled to get up, bleeding from his own wounds. He looked around, searching for something, anything, to throw at him. Valkyrie was a step ahead of him. She had already reared back one arm to hurl one of her swords at Jack. It wouldn't kill him, only slow him down, enrage him further. But she wasn't going to let him kill them all without a fight.
The golden sword hurtled through the air at the murderer with enough force to cut through ten men.
And yet, that was only a fraction of the Violent Queen's strength. She was too weakened to muster up any more.
Jack swatted away the sword with his knife.
"Don't ya fuckin' get it yet? You're all goin' to die here. It's already fuckin' over. The hero doesn't show up, because he doesn't fuckin' exist. Good doesn't win, because it doesn't count for shit. Here's the truth: good, evil, none of that crap matters. You all wasted your lives trying to fight the 'good fight'."
To illustrate his point, he raised his arm and turned towards Blake.
And then he drove his knife forward.
Blake closed her eyes.
It took a full moment for her to realise that a second blade hadn't pierced her.
"It is never a waste to fight for what one believes in."
The Faunus opened her eyes.
A hand had grabbed the knife coming towards her. It was holding it now, by the blade. Despite that fact, it wasn't bleeding. Jack stared with confusion, then anger, trying to drive the knife forward, and failing.
The figure holding the knife bent the blade past the limits of its flexibility, shattering it.
The sound of metal breaking echoed in the night.
In the silence that followed, one could hear a pin drop.
Jack immediately retreated, reappearing several feet away, and removing the blade already impaling Blake in the process. Before the Faunus could react, the mysterious figure reached out and touched her on the forehead without looking. She blinked. Then, her body began healing.
She took a deep breath, air rushing into her lungs as her diaphragm knit itself together. Even the bleeding skin was sealed back, leaving not even a scar.
Jack was livid.
"You… who the fuck do you think you are? That was my bloody canvas!"
The figure was a young, dark haired man in a sleeveless vest. Aside from an athletic build, he seemed nothing special at all. Blake could not sense any kind of aura or demonic power from him. She touched her torso, right below the arch of her rib cage, where the knife had pierced her. The wound simply did not exist anymore.
Who…
"Blake! You all right?"
She turned to see a familiar blonde's face.
"Yang? What…"
Her teammate seemed different somehow. It was hard to put into words. Too much was happening all at once. The Faunus shook her head.
"What's going on?"
Yang glanced at Ruby, then back at Blake.
"Don't worry," she said. "Everything's all right now."
Blake didn't know what to say. She looked at the mysterious youth again. She still couldn't sense any power from him. And she knew for herself just how dangerous Jack was. Her glance flicked over to Valkyrie, all four of whose eyes were wide with recognition.
"Dou Shen," she whispered, bowing her head.
Her reaction hadn't gone unnoticed by Jack, who looked even more furious now.
"Tch. Another one of those do-gooders, huh? No matter. I'll line your head up next to their spines."
The young man briefly looked at Ruby and Oscar, before his gaze met Blake's for a second. Without a word, he turned his gaze towards Jack again.
"You're remarkably stupid, aren't you?" he said to the murderer.
Yang winced slightly.
"Eesh. That's not good," she muttered.
"What do you mean?" asked Blake.
"He's always a nice guy," Yang answered. "If he's not being nice… it means he's proper pissed."
Blake shook her head. She wanted to shout out a warning. She didn't understand how the man had healed her, but he didn't stand a chance against Jack without demonic power.
As if eager to prove her point, Jack chose that moment to disappear, reappearing right next to the mysterious figure while slashing brutally at his neck. Without even looking, the young blocked the knife with the edge of his hand.
Jack's eyes widened momentarily, but he immediately adjusted, vanishing from sight.
Demonic steel flashed in the dark, surrounding the young man in a swarm of stabs and slashes as Jack attempted to disembowel him.
Blake could not see the mysterious man move at all. Yet, none of the knife blows reached him.
What the…
Jack leapt back, growling.
"Fast one, are ya? But ya aren't too bright. Speed doesn't matter if the entire air's your enemy."
The next moment, the entirety of the mist surrounding the young man came alive. Vaguely, Blake could see the blurred silhouettes of hundreds, thousands of knives within the smoke.
The sound that followed was like machine gun fire ricocheting.
Jack's jaw dropped open.
The young man stared at him for a full second.
"... I take it back. You aren't stupid. You're devoid of intelligence altogether. And you're a pathetic worm as well."
Jack took several steps back.
The young man disappeared from sight.
A moment later, he reappeared, next to Jack, who lay on the ground.
Both his knees were bent sideways, bones protruding through skin and clothing. The Ripper screamed in pain.
"Eager to give pain, but unwilling to take it. Pathetic."
From down on the ground, Jack attempted to stab the man's foot, only for him to avoid the strike, and stomp down on the arm. Concrete cracked under the blow. Jack's forearm had been flattened into a pancake, bone and flesh mashed together into a thin pulp.
Blake stared, unable to believe what she was seeing.
He's hitting him faster than he can turn his body into mist…
That wasn't all either.
Jack's body wasn't healing.
The murderer had realised that as well. He stared at the young man, fear all over his face. Turning, he started to crawl away, panting as he tried to drag himself to safety. The serial killer who had once terrorised so many was running for his life.
To no avail.
The young man stepped forward and smashed his heel down on the Ripper's back.
The sound of vertebrae being ground to dust echoed through the night, a sickening crunch.
Jack screamed in agony.
"Who… who the fuck are you?"
The young man's eyes flashed gold. For a moment, black and gold lightning flashed around him.
"I am the wrath of God. And for you to have met me, your sins are grave indeed."
Yang, who had learned to read the flow of combat, knew what was coming, and immediately shielded Blake's eyes, while shouting to Ruby and Oscar.
"Don't look!"
Her voice was deadly serious and urgent, and both of them complied. Yang, who already knew exactly what was going to happen, looked on. This too, was part of the truth of combat. Valkyrie, who knew exactly who the young man was, didn't look away either.
With one smooth movement, he kicked Jack up into the air.
Before he could fall to the ground, the martial artist struck him with a barrage of attacks, each as powerful as it was precise and brutal.
The liver punch was first, sending shards of pain through the body. It was followed up by the spear hand strikes that tore through both lungs, and the knee strike that crushed the genitals. A knife hand strike followed, slicing the torso in half, just below the chest. Lightning flashed around his right hand, and he ended the combination by thrusting it clean through Jack's ribcage, and ripping out his still beating heart.
For a fraction of a second, Jack stared with wide eyes at his own heart, clutched in the hand of a violent god.
And then, the martial artist squeezed, crushing it.
Jack's body never fell to the ground. It faded into dust, scattering in the wind.
The fighter closed his eyes, took a deep breath and exhaled. Opening them again, he turned to face the group.
"It is safe now."
Blake looked at him warily. To the end, she hadn't been able to sense his power at all. More than anything, that terrified her. Her Faunus instincts had not been able to detect anything unusual about him at all… until he had struck. From the very first blow, they knew.
He's unbelievably strong.
"Who are you?" she asked, cautiously.
"A humble student of the fist," he replied.
"He means god of fighting," Yang subtitled helpfully.
Blake's eyes widened.
"A demon powerful enough to be a god?"
"No," said Valkyrie. With Jack gone, she'd had time to heal, and had managed to get back up to her feet. "That is Dou Shen. He does not come from the Underworld, nor is he any descendant of Lucifer."
"I'm his brother," Sura said.
"Lucifer…?" Blake asked. The name sounded powerful. But she hadn't heard it before.
"The First Demon. The ancestor to us all," said Valkyrie. "But not to you," she said to Sura. "God of Martial Arts, son of the Creator Himself. Why do you grace us now with your presence?"
Sura sighed, a look of slight annoyance on his face. "My ever annoying brother has run amok again. The patience of the other Firstborn is running thin. They've been bothering me for a while now to take care of it."
Neither Yang, nor Blake or Oscar had ever had the experience of seeing a demon's face go pale with fear. They saw it now, and it was Valkyrie herself no less.
"They asked you to come here?" she asked.
"Yes, but they tend to exaggerate, so I didn't pay them much heed. It was only when Sparda paid me a visit that I thought something might be going on."
"The Legendary Dark Knight himself approached you?!"
Sura nodded.
"After what he said, I could not ignore the situation any longer."
"W-what did he say?"
"He told you you'd find interesting fights here, didn't he?" deadpanned Yang.
Sura nodded, clearly pleased.
"Verily so, young brawler. And so, I came here looking for good sparring partners. Unfortunately, I found that far too many problematic things have already been set in motion."
Again, the word "problematic", coming from a deity, was not encouraging.
"... That doesn't sound good," said Yang. If she was worried, however, it was nothing compared to Valkyrie, who was outright alarmed.
"My lord," she said. "You cannot mean that you will-"
"No," the god replied. "At least, not yet. I believe in Dante. The worst can yet be prevented."
He waved his hand, and the entire group's injuries healed completely in a second.
"How are you doing that?" asked Blake.
"It's his Ki," Yang replied. "His life force. It's so powerful that even touching it is enough to auto-regenerate."
The Faunus looked at her partner.
"You're able to sense his power?"
"Of course," said Sura. "I always make sure my students learn well."
Blake struggled to retrieve her jaw from the floor.
"St-student?!"
"Yeah, pretty much. It's a long story. Look,I'll explain later. We need to stay focused." She turned to Sura. "What's going on with Dante?"
He looked at each of them. "You, all of you, his friends and companions. You've been misled. All of the events that have been taking place, they are all-"
The next words he spoke did not reach Yang's ears.
His lips continued to move, but she could not hear them. She frowned. Was something wrong with him? However, the very next moment, she saw Valkyrie's lips move as well, followed by a look of alarm coming onto her face. The truth sunk in. Yang could not hear at all. Next to her, Blake had a look of panic on her face, mirroring her partner's, as did Ruby and Oscar.
Sura, who knew what was happening, growled.
"Miserable, pathetic worm. Enough of your tricks. Show yourself."
Several feet away, a figure materialised. Tall and slender, with long silver hair.
"Brother," said Lucifer. "What a joyous meeting."
"Close your mouth. Insincerity drips from it," Sura replied.
Lucifer smiled lightly. "Ah, as quick to anger as before. You always did have a soft spot for mortals, didn't you?"
Sura's eyes were beyond cold. "Release them from your magic. Now."
"I'm afraid I cannot do that, Brother. It pains me to enter the game personally this early, but I cannot have you interfere with my plans."
"I'll make you wish you weren't immortal."
Lucifer laughed.
"Ahahahaha, ah, you amuse me. Such a shame, but you can't even throw a real punch on this flimsy planet, can you? Wouldn't want to accidentally extinct a world now."
When Sura moved, it was so quick, the Lightbringer himself couldn't see it. The passage of time itself ceased to matter. It was instantaneous movement, unbound by time. Lucifer felt fingers of iron dig into his skull. Before he could react, he was thrown, upwards. The force of his ascent blasted a fourth of Remnant's clouds away. Lucifer found himself in orbit. But his movement hadn't stopped. Space around cracked, then broke.
He had been thrown with such force, his body had broken through the fabric of the universe, into the void outside. It was a place Lucifer was familiar with. He looked around at the sheer nothingness that surrounded him, before turning his attention back to Sura, who was already there, waiting for him.
"My, my, how touching. You brought me to the void so that you wouldn't accidentally destroy the universe?" Lucifer's voice spoke in a place with no matter, nothing to propagate sound. His will made its own reality.
"Enough of your babbling," replied Sura, his voice just as audible as Lucifer's. "I will give you one chance. Cease your meddling in the world of the living. You are neither needed, nor wanted."
Lucifer smiled coldly.
"And if I refuse?"
Sura moved with even greater speed than before.
The limitless void was a place without time, or space. Existence itself was an impossibility within it, let alone movement. Yet, even within the absence of time, the fighting god's movements were instantaneous.
As his fist shot forward, Lucifer's spear moved to meet it. Blade clashed with knuckle, and a wave of pure power emanated outward from the collision.
On Earth:
Nero held on to Kyrie tightly, even as he held his spectral wings outstretched all around them as a pre-emptive shield. The building continued to shake wildly. Even Vergil looked perturbed.
"Damn it, we need to get out of here!"
"This is no earthquake," the Dark Slayer replied. "The entire world is shaking."
Outside, clouds and concrete alike rumbled.
On Remnant:
Atlesian soldiers ran about.
"Prepare for emergency measures, now! We're under attack!"
"Belay that order!" shouted Ironwood. He reached out to the armour's consciousness.
What is happening?
The dimensional fabric of your world temporarily folded from an external shockwave.
Dimensional fabric… you mean space-time?
Affirmative. Your entire universe folded for a moment.
The General swore.
Is there anything we can do?
… Negative. This problem is outside the scope of Hellwalker's capabilities.
In the Infinite Void:
"How nostalgic of you to bring me here, Brother!" he said. "To your… home. Ah, but it was never your home, was it? You were banished here."
"Silence, worm."
Both warriors swung again.
This time, both were sent sliding back by the force of the impact.
Lucifer spun his spear around him, loosening his muscles.
"Such a tsundere, brother. All your talk of only being there for a good fight. Yet, at the first sign of trouble, you rush to protect mortals. That always was your weakness."
A third eye appeared on his forehead, and his spear began to glow with untarnished True Magic. Wings of bone extended from his back.
Unwinnable Boss Battle: Bringer of Light, Lucifer.
Sura did not reply. His form shifted. No longer was it that of a young man. He stood taller than any human, his body muscled and covered in scars. His hair was snow white, and in his back were embedded thick arrows.
Unwinnable Boss Battle: God of Martial Arts, Sura.
At the same time, both rushed in.
Lucifer struck first, anticipating having the advantage in reach. His spear descended in a one-handed slash, which Sura sidestepped. Knowing he couldn't be allowed to close the distance, Lucifer followed up immediately with a horizontal sweep, seeking to neutralise lateral movement. Sura leapt and flipped over the blade instantly, barely avoiding the strike. In the same movement, he kicked the shaft of it downward, making room for a follow-up roundhouse to Lucifer's head. The Lightbringer brought his palm up, forming a telekinetic barrier that blocked the strike.
Both fighters slid back from the exchange, then immediately rushed in again.
This time, sheer primordial fire shot forth from the Lightbringer's spear. It wasn't made of flames, based on combustion, or even nuclear fusion. They were the idea of fire, manifested. Ropes made of True Fire whipped toward Sura, who swung his arms in circular movements. Golden arcs appeared, the manifestation of the idea of movement. Bound by the law of Truth, the flames bent away from him.
"I suspect you expected a long exchange," said Sura. "But my patience wears thin."
Lucifer leapt back and snapped his fingers, using his powers of creation.
A single universe could not begin to hold a god of battle.
But a multitude… a multiverse of infinite worlds and timelines, each representing a different possibility, a different way of containing him, a different way of foiling his efforts. That might succeed.
"Naive."
The god of fighting had no powers of conjuration. He was no sorcerer, like Malevar or Lucifer.
What he did possess with pure, absolute strength.
He snapped his fingers, once.
Lucifer's conjured multiverse shattered like a pane of glass.
"No more games. No more playing with lives."
Sura snapped his fingers several more times. Each time, blinding, all-encompassing light and force smashed into Lucifer. Sura could not conjure universes. But he had enough strength to create them through sheer brute force.
He continued to snap, hitting Lucifer ruthlessly with big bang after big bang.
"Yield, Brother. There is no victory for you."
Lucifer breathed heavily. Immortal though he may be, and infinitely powerful, the same could be said for his brother. He nodded his head in a show of respect.
"Well done. I find you after all these years, and your strength and skill are undimmed. Even after we banished you. I admit freely: victory against you in a fight is not possible."
"Save the praise. Yield, and come to your senses."
"Unfortunately, your weakness always lay outside combat."
Lucifer raised his hand.
"To your dharma, I hold you, Sura of Destruction."
The fighting god's eyes glowed gold. Lightning flashed in the void from his anger.
"You dare speak of dharma?"
"Your chosen way, your path of righteousness. I hold you now to it."
"I protect those who cannot protect themselves. I destroy the evil that others cannot."
"And yet, you go against the will of those you wish to protect."
"I do not-"
"Open your eyes. Look at the people of Remnant. Ask yourself. Who do they believe in?"
Sura's eyes widened.
All of the events that had taken place on Remnant. Everything since the death of the Qliphoth, Dante's arrival, the appearance of other demons. It all fell into place, and Lucifer's design was laid bare at last.
Sura's infinite, invincible strength, fuelled by his sense of right and wrong, manifested in his chosen way of life, a code so important, it was a physical reality.
Bound by his own way, he could not intervene.
"Treacherous worm… this was your plan. From the very beginning. To harvest the faith of mortals…"
Lucifer smiled.
"It could not succeed on Earth. That world was… problematic. But Remnant. Remnant had potential. So much. But it needed the right person. The right saviour."
Sura roared in anger. His fist came towards Lucifer with unstoppable force, but the Lightbringer did not bother to dodge. He knew the fighting god would not hit him.
"You used them all," Sura growled. "The Five… the demons you sent to Hoperow, and Dante."
"That's an unreasonably harsh interpretation. I gave them purpose. The Five would have lived the rest of their lives as run of the mill demon lords. Slaughtering, ruling mindless hordes, and one day dying. I gave them a reason, a real reason to live. A meaning to their lives. But I needed them to decide, to make that choice on their own. I could only show them the way. For it to work, they needed to choose it themselves."
The whole truth began to sink in.
"A little flash of inspiration to Sparda. An Umbra Witch who formed a contract with him after his glory days were gone. A meeting with the first human woman for Malevar's ancestor. A meeting with Heracles for Atlas. Valkyrie's decision to go to Cocytus, and fight Odin. Nevan being chosen as one of the guardians of the Temen-ni-gru, where she would one day meet Dante. The easiest of them all to influence was Iris. I only needed to decide what her future-sight would show her. I'll give credit where it's due though: Sparda managed to catch on to it. Though he was long dead by the time he realised."
He had planned this.
For hundreds of thousands of years.
Sura glared at him with sheer wrath in his eyes. Lucifer stared back with just a hint of sorrow in his own.
"How tragic. All of the worlds you have saved, even those where you were hated. And here you stand, unable to save one where you found souls willing to accept you. All because the people of that world have already chosen their saviour."
The Five had become protectors in Remnant, earning the faith of humans.
Dante was hailed as a hero across the whole planet, a demon with the heart of a human.
Yet, all faith in demons, in demonic power, was ultimately faith in the one from whom it came.
Without even revealing himself to the people of Remnant, Lucifer had gained control over their world.
And bound by his dharma, Sura could not strike the one who had been willingly, if indirectly, chosen as its ruler.
"Saviour?" he said. "You mean puppet. You overestimate your cunning, Lord of Lies. Dante will see through your plan. The loyalty and faith of the world lies with him, not you."
Lucifer scoffed.
"Dante? He was the easiest of them all to manipulate. He so desperately wanted to believe in himself. Believe that he too could be happy. All I had to do was tell him it was possible.
Embrace your inner demon. Use your power. Become the hero Sparda was… no, become an even greater hero.
You can win it all.
You can defeat monsters.
Protect your students.
Even win your beloved's heart, and have the one thing you never thought you would: a place where you belong.
I gave that all to him."
Lucifer stared right at Sura.
"You'd take all of that away from him?"
Sura did not reply. Sitting down, he closed his eyes, and remained silent. Lucifer looked at him for a while, then waved a hand, and opened a portal:
"I return to my show. You should come too, Brother. Or will you stay here, in the very place we banished you, even now?"
Sura remained silent.
Lucifer turned away.
"So be it, then. Goodbye, noble hero. May you remain unsung, as you wished."