The next morning Cassius and Xenovia, who was still mad at him for his attitude with Pier the previous day and as a result... was not talking to him.
He even had to do the nightly challenge alone! Honestly she wasn't missing much. Although he did receive an achievement for completing all 20 of the available Bloody Palace floors more than 100 times, so it wasn't all bad.
He even received some sort of small box as a reward. What was in the box he didn't know. He could only use it when a certain condition was finished, according to the box itself. He didn't know what the condition was however.
But he digressed... The point was that Xenovia and himself found themselves surrounded by hundreds of their peers and their mentors as they listened to the god damn Pope of all people ramble out a prayer about unity and God's love. He didn't really care enough to listen to the whole prayer and instead chose to scope out the competition.
Pier's team, consisting of Jeanne, Martha and him, stood not to far away from them. Something seemed off about the adult of the team however not that Cassius cared about that lecher.
A ways off was another pair of faces he recognized. It was Father McCormick and Irina Shidou of all people.
Cassius blinked in a little bit of surprise. He didn't think that McCormick would ever be a teacher... let alone to Irina.
Once the sermon was over Cassius decided to greet the man who had saved his life.
However as he took one step Xenovia was on his ass.
"Where do you think you're going?" She glared at him like he'd taken a shit on the Pope's robes.
"Sheesh it's like all that bonding we did the past few months just went out the window." Cassius thought bitterly as he just walked past her.
Xenovia froze, shocked by his dismissal of her.
Griselda however watched her daughter with a critical eye, she too knew something was wrong with the girl. She was acting out of character ever since they met Pier and his group.
Cassius approached McCormick with a wave.
"Yo. Father McCormick, been a minute since we last met." he greeted the man with a smile.
McCormick snorted.
"Aye it has. I see ye're doing well for yer'self." McCormick said referring to his new coat."
"What this thing? Oh yeah you wouldn't believe what I had to go through to get this beauty." He said with a fake exasperated tone.
McCormick rose a brow.
"Oh?" he asked.
"Well I don't wanna brag but... I had to beat a demon's ass straight back to hell to get this." He said with a cocky tone and a pop of his collar.
Irina, who had been silently watching their interactions, giggled at his apparent joke. She had no way of knowing that's what actually happened.
Cassius however decided to have some fun.
"I'm sorry I didn't get you're name miss...?" Cassius trailed off with a hand extended towards the girl.
"I'm Irina Shidou... Please to meet you mr..." she trailed off in a manner that copied him.
Cassius grinned. Oh he liked this girl.
"Sparda, Cassius Sparda. Demon Hunter." Cassius introduced himself with a light kiss on her knuckles.
Irina's face flushed a little.
McCormick let out a sigh before his hand whipped out and slapped the back of Cassius' head.
"That's enough out of ye' both. Ye're both too young to be flirting, especially in a church." The older man scolded.
Irina let out a slight squeak before looking completely embarrassed at their action.
Cassius just shrugged.
"Besides I don't think your lady friend over there is too happy with this." McCormick noted with a nudge of his eyes.
Cassius looked back to where he'd come and saw Xenovia looking crestfallen.
"Shit..." Cassius cursed himself for his behavior.
"I better go. It was nice seeing you Father McCormick. And it was an absolute pleasure to meet you Irina. Oh and... fair warning... stay away from Father Pier's team. Especially that boy, Rikard is his name." Cassius said before shooting a deadly glance at the offending team.
McCormick rose a brow at the hostility but knew the boy had good instincts.
A quick nod later and the devil hunter in training was on his way back to his group.
Upon returning he stopped in front of the saddened Xenovia.
"You come to your senses yet?" He asked her with a critical eye.
She looked up with a confused look in her eyes.
"What do you-" He shushed her while he looked deep into her eyes.
She actually blushed from the way his eyes looked into here's.
"Still under the effects... but only a little..." He muttered much to her confusion.
"But if it's just this then..." his eyes lit up red with the alpha stigma which began to spin slowly. Xenovia stared into the eyes etched with a red magic circle and suddenly she felt like her mind just had a fog lifted.
"What just-?"
"Happened?" he asked with a quirk of an eyebrow.
She nodded.
"You got his by a Glamour, or a Charm I should say. Usually those are reserved for children of love deities in pagan religions. However demons like Succubi and Incubi can also use them. And Vampires to a lesser extent." He said with a shrug.
"And you know this how?" she asked with a raised brow.
"Uh lady we fight demons like every night... would it kill you to learn the strengths and weaknesses of the ones we kill?" He asked, as more of a deflection than anything.
Xenovia narrowed her eyes but didn't press the subject.
"So how did I fall under a charm?" She asked him.
Cassius spared a glance at Pier's group.
Xenovia was about to look but he snapped his fingers to keep her focus on him.
"Don't look at them. That's how you got charmed the first time." he explained with a deadpan tone.
Xenovia had the decency to look embarrassed before she spoke again.
"Well can't you just remove it like you did just now?" she asked him.
He shook his head.
"The skill I used to free you isn't anywhere near leveled enough to be able to break the charm... I could spend the blood orbs I've been saving to level it to that point but would it be worth it for a low level scumbag?" He explained.
Xenovia gave it some thought before an idea came into her head.
"Go for it... I've got a plan. But it requires me to be Charmed again." She said with a smirk that made him wonder just who of them was the devil.
"Mind filling me in?" He asked with a curious raise of and eyebrow.
Her smirk widened further before she began to explain her plan, neither noticed Griselda watching them intently.
Once she was finished with her explanation, Cassius too found him grinning like the devil he was.
"Sounds like a plan to me, when do the exams start?"" he asked before they were suddenly engulfed in a bright light and appeared in some kind of town surrounded by mountains, forests and a oceanside coast that was completely devoid of life.
"Now." Xenovia said to him, her hand grasped his coat tightly. He guessed it was to ensure they don't get separated in the teleportation process, considering they were now alone in the town.
"Oh... so where are we then?" He asked her.
"Nowhere. This is an artificial space created for the exams." she informed.
"Ah so it's basically like the rating game spaces that Devils create for their sport matches." Cassius said.
Xenovia shrugged at his comparison, he wasn't wrong after all.
"Pretty much. But our's are used for both training... and to imprison stray devils that may possess information the church needs." She said.
"Ah private torture room. Got it." He said as he examined their surroundings.
The town bore a resemblance to a fishing village judging by the small row boats that lined the docks.
He saw no modern vehicles of any kind, but he did detect the distinct smell of horses in the area.
Likely this ghost town was based off of some remote village or one from the distant past.
"Alright then how does this test work? What exactly do we have to do to pass?" He asked her.
"... you didn't listen to the pope did you." it wasn't a question.
"Not even a little bit." Cassius said with no shame whatsoever.
Xenovia sighed.
"Thought so..." She muttered. "The test begins the second you get transported to the testing zone, like we are now... The goal is simple, hunt down any "stray devils" you come across, the test is stocked full of holographic Strays that will act as out opponents. To pass and become an official exorcist you have to kill at most 3 devils To be part of the top ten you have to kill more than anybody else." She explained.
"Ah alright... I mean that kind of defeats the purpose of a devil hunt though right?" he stated a little glumly.
Xenovia however smirked.
"The hologram devils are based off of data from actual hunt, some dating back to when devil's had no use for a human form and went as their true demonic selves." She said. That peaked Cassius' interest.
"What's the hardest devil in this test?" he asked her.
Xenovia paled at that.
"We're not fighting that thing!" she practically howled at him.
"Aw... oh well What's the next hardest?" he asked.
"Still not happening..." she deadpanned at him.
"Tch... fine. We'll hunt like normal people then." he sighed completely dejected.
Xenovia sweatdropped at his behavior.
(*Bang!-Splat!*)
Satanael's smoking barrel was pointed to where a demonic creature used to have been. now it was just a headless corpse that was quickly dissolving into red mist.
He let out a low whistle at the sight.
"Damn. These Holograms are super realistic." He said with a grin.
"T-that's impossible... they're supposed to just shatter into polygons of light!" Xenovia stuttered in worry.
Cassius glanced at her.
"I take it they're not supposed to do that." He said as he approached the corpse.
A quick poke of Satanael told him that the body was in fact solid.
"Yeah that's a demon alright." he muttered.
"What's going on... How could this have happened?" Xenovia muttered to herself.
"That doesn't matter right now... We've got company." Cassius said as he readied his gunblade, the flat of the blade tilted at an angle so that his face could be reflected in the steel.
Xenovia looked around them and saw that they were surrounded by demons that were identical to the one Cassius had slain.
"Shit... right..." She said as she pulled Lux from her waist and materialized the blade. Giving the weapon a quick rev, she stood ready alongside Cassius.
"One thing's for certain... this is gonna be one hell of a party!" Cassius shouted as they both charged the hoard of hell spawn.
The room was in an uproar as all the mentors watched their trainees both kill and be killed by, actual demons!
Someone had messed with the space within and now it had turned the fake demons and stray devils in living breathing monsters.
Michael and Gabriel had left the room, and tried to find out who had done such a thing.
Unknown to them, Griselda was on the tail of Pier, who was chuckling and muttering to himself in a manner that made him seem crazy.
"I did it... just like he wanted! Hehehe now I'll be perfect forever! Hahaha!" Pier cackled, and that was all the proof Griselda needed.
"Pier stop! You've sinned against God and his people. In his holy name I will bring you to justice!" Griselda said with Excalibur Destruction pointed at his neck.
Pier however slowly turned his head in a disturbing fashion. Griselda could almost hear the sounds of his neck breaking as he turned to look at her.
"Griseeeelda mon'cherie! How wonderful of you to come to me! Come come! Let us be together for eternity!" Pier babbled before he whirled around and attempted to attack her.
He never even managed to take a step before Excalibur Destruction did what it was known for and completely obliterated him. The man's remains vanished in a crimson mist.
"He was a devil..." Griselda muttered to herself before whirling around to face the other presence she sensed, but found only nothing.
But she knew where the presence was going.
"Valper..." she muttered with distain before rushing after the presence.
Meanwhile Michael and Gabriel were putting their heads together to find out who could have possibly messed with the exams.
"How could this have happened!" Michael cursed his incompetence as he pounded a fist onto a certain large Halo.
"Brother please! There's no need to be hard on yourself, no one could have expected this to happen!" Gabriel tried to soothe him as best she could.
Michael knew she was right but still couldn't help but blame himself.
"We've done this thousands of times... why is it now of all times that something like this happens?" He wondered aloud before he paled.
"Valper... Someone is coming to free him before his trial! This is a distraction!" he shouted in realization.
Gabriel went white at the reveal.
"We need to stop them!" Michael said as he made to leave, however Gabriel grabbed him by the arm.
"I'll go Michael... those kids need you to free them!" she said with conviction before leaving without so much as waiting for his response.
Michael found himself smiling. He'd never stop being amazed by his sister. Even in an imminent crisis, she still focused on the children's safety.
He wouldn't let her down. He resolved himself and began to try and fix things with the use of the Halo. However he froze as a sound reached his ears.
It was laughter, and it was coming from all around him.
"Foolish Michael. You cannot save them. And Gabriel will not stop me from taking Galilei." The voice said.
Michael narrowed his eyes into a glare.
"Kokabiel!" Michael spat the name out.
The voice merely chuckled again in response.
"I hope your so called Exorcists like my little pet. I had it specially bred just for them. Hahaha!" Kokabiel's voice rang out before fading away.
Michael clenched his fist before working with a newfound fervor to save the children. However the system seemed to have locked him out, and all he could do was pull up a few windows of the exams.
Cursing again he made to try again, when he happened a glance at one of the windows. The image displayed Cassius and Xenovia utterly devastating the demons around them with the use of perfect, it was like they had been working and fighting together for ages.
He couldn't help but be in awe at their skill, especially for ones so young.
"Maybe they can-" he was torn from his thoughts when, on another video, something massive walked into frame.
"What... manner of creature was that?"
He had a feeling that was Kokabiel's pet, and it was clearly hungry.
He needed to send them a message... or a warning.
Cassius and Xenovia sprinted through the town in a seemingly random direction.
Not long after killing the demons they had come across, they, collectively had heard a scream coming from down the dirt paths that made up the streets.
Springing into action they charged the source and soon found themselves looking at the corpse of one of their fellow examinees.
Xenovia made the sign of the cross as a sign of respect for the dead, while Cassius focused on the wounds inflicted upon the corpse.
They sizzled with some kind of acid that was quickly disposing of the remains.
He'd never heard of any stray devil using acid before... other than that one from the first season... the titty guns demon chick. Gah he was so bad with names... Oh well she was unimportant anyways.
Upon further inspection he found that the body had also been bitten at the midsection, but is seemed like it's own acid prevented it from eating its victim.
"That not a good sign..." He muttered.
Xenovia came to a stop next to him.
"What is it?" she asked.
"What ever did this tried to eat the body but was stopped by its own acid. Meaning it hasn't been able to eat... and a hungry demon is a dangerous one." He explained, just as he noticed something and stooped to remove it.
A large triangular piece of ivory bone with many small serrations on the edges.
"Is that a..." Xenovia trailed off.
"That's right... it's a shark's tooth." He finished her sentence.
"Shit... Is now a bad time to mention that I'm scared of Sharks." Xenovia said getting a wierd look from Cassius.
"You kill literal demons and sharks are what make you scared?" He asked her incredulous.
"Yeah so? Shark's have those soulless black eyes and those teeth! Why do they need to regrow them?! Ugh!" She shivered in revulsion to the animal.
"Yeah well guess what... we're going Shark Hunting." He said with a cheeky grin.
Xenovia winced.
"I was afraid you'd say that..." she sighed.
That said the pair followed a pair of massive unidentifiable tracks that lead towards the docks.
"Wait!" the familier voice of Michael shouted directly in their ears.
They flinched from the sound and nearly tripped over one another.
"Mikey buddy I love you but... if you ever yell in my ears like that again I will rip out your wings and stick them where the sun don't shine." Cassius grit out as he held his poor ears.
Xenovia agreed with the sentiment as she stuck a finger in her ear to stop the ringing.
"...Noted. But we've got trouble." Michael said with an apologetic tone.
"... You mean more than the so-called fake devils and monsters of this exam suddenly coming to life and actually killing the examinees?" Cassius asked, not liking where this conversation was heading.
"... Kokabiel is-"
"Stop stop... all you had to say Kokabiel." Cassius pinched his nose in annoyance.
"... he's using the chaos of the exams to free Valper Galilei from our custody." Michael finished, a little annoyed at being cut off.
"Oh joy... is there anything else?" Cassius asked completely fed up.
"He... also sent the creature you're tracking to ensure things go smoothly for him." Michael told them.
Xenovia facepalmed.
Cassius' eye twitched.
"Ok... then what about the devil hiding amongst the participants? Besides myself." Cassius asked him.
"There's what?!" Michael shouted, having apparently not known.
"... how are you the ruler of Heaven again?" Cassius asked rhetorically.
"We took a vote... I voted for Metatron but he uh... he's been missing." Michael explained.
Cassius blinked as he struggled to process what he'd just heard. Xenovia looked up at the sky and seemed to be questioning her faith.
"I'm going to pretend I didn't just hear that and fill you in. Basically one of Father Pier's students is a devil. A very specific devil in fact. And if you want to know then well just keep on watching the show." Cassius said with a wink.
"I see... for the time being I'd like you to take care of Kokabiel's pet." Michael said.
"Already on it." Cassius said as he glanced towards their destination.
He had a choice to make... and he knew what was the best one.
"Xenovia... our plan hinges of you getting close to him. I'll go after the Shark. You go make sure the plan stays on track." Cassius said.
Xenovia was of course against it but knew it was the best course of action for the situation. So she nodded in acceptance.
"You better not die." She shot him a glare to hide her worry.
"Heh who do you think I am? Yamcha?" He joked.
Xenovia didn't understand the joke but to his surprise Michael laughed.
"Good one." the angel said.
Again Cassius had to pause, but this time chose not to say anything more. Instead he gave one last look to Xenovia who nodded again and took off in a seemingly random direction.
Cassius cracked his neck and shook out the tension in his arms and shoulder.
"Urgn... Alrighty then... let's go see what ol' Sharkey's been up to." Cassius said before taking off towards the coast.
The room of mentors watched with fear for their students, however soon enough they began to notice that more and more of the demons would flock to a certain area. Upon examination they noticed that they were focused primarily on a single examinee.
White hair and blue eyes on display, dressed in black wielding a demonic looking gunblade, one arm in a sling, he tore through the hoard of demons with skill that far surpassed his age.
They recognized the direction the teen was heading. Towards the coast, where the majority of the exorcist trainees were currently being slaughtered by an acidic abomination that suddenly appeared out of thin air.
"HUNGRY!!!!!" The beast suddenly let out an blood curdling howl before it went into a frenzy and began to devour many of the bodies of their student... only to spit them out.
"So Hungry..." the beast groaned.
They could only pray that the majority of the students would be saved...
As Cassius sprinted towards the coast, he had to take care of numerous demons that seemed intent to keep him from his target.
However as he got closer he suddenly heard something that sent chills up his spine.
"HUNGRY!!!!!" The howl startled him but he pressed on.
Soon enough the sounds of screams and the sickening squelching of bodies being torn apart.
As he finally reached his destination he skid to a halt and took in the sight before him.
The creature was absolutely massive, twice the size of the Hulk! It's head was completely a shark's, while it's body was mostly human... except for the eight black, barbed, squid tentacles that replaced its legs.
The closest comparison he could think of was if King Shark from DC comics and Ursula from the little mermaid had a kid.
"Well you don't see that every day..." he thought with a disturbed expression as he watched the creature try to eat its latest victims, however it spit them out due to its acidic saliva.
Cassius noted that the saliva only turned acidic in response to mixing with blood.
[《Urgent Mission Accepted: Defeat Curruid the Starved. Failure Penalty: Death. Reward: 1 Gold orb, 1 Temen-ni-gru Key, 1 store item choice, 1 ??????. Recommended Equipment: Nevan》]
Cassius' thoughts ground to a halt when he read the last part of the Window.
"Ok... and just how the hell am I supposed to get Nevan? I can't just pull a sexy Succubus/guitar scythe out of my ass!" He cursed the system.
It didn't respond of course. Cassius rolled his eyes before he decided to ignore the system's recommendation, due to a current lack of Nevans in the world.
Instead he switched Devil Arms to Hollow S Jack and sprinted towards Curruid, as it bent down to bite at a still living exorcist trainee. Performing a double footed drop kick, he impacted the shark demon's nose and sent it reeling back in pain.
Using his momentum he back flipped and skid back slightly, stopping just before the scared and stunned trainee.
"Yo rookie! Let me guess. First time facing real demons?" Cassius asked without so much as a glance to whom he was speaking.
"Y-yeah." the trainee stuttered out in response.
"Freezing up is natural the first time. Don't worry about it. Instead focus on overcoming that fear for the sake of your survival. I'll worry about paying back sharkey over here for what he did to your friends." Cassius reassured the other boy, as he bounced on the balls of his feet.
The trainee couldn't take his eyes off the one who had saved him, however he knew he needed to leave the area and find a safe place to hide.
"FOOD!!!" Curruid roared as he got back upright and faced Cassius.
"Down here ugly!" He shouted to the massive creature.
Curruid looked down at him with drool practically waterfalling from his jaws, which also revealed that his teeth had begun to melt away due to flecks of blood in them meeting his saliva.
"Wow you're even uglier up close." Cassius taunted with a smirk, however on the inside he was uneasy.
He couldn't stop thinking about the system's recommendation.
"Why would it recommend a weapon I don't have?" he kept repeating that thought over and over inside his head.
Curruid, despite his frenzy addled mind, he knew he had just been insulted and responded in kind.
With a bloodthirsty roar mere inches from the unflinching Devil Hunter's face.
Cassius coughed and waved a hand over his nose.
"Two words. Breath Mint. Your breath is rank dude!" Cassius insulted the demon again.
The demon paused at his lack of fear before in a curious bout of sentience it lifted a hand to breathe into and smell. He actually cringed at the scent.
Cassius blinked at that.
"Ok... that's a new one." he muttered, referring to the reaction from the demon.
The demon's stomach rumbled which reminded them both about what the situation was.
"FOOD! HUNGRY!!!" Curruid bellowed before swipping at the half-devil.
Reacting quickly, Cassius back-flipped to allow the massive paw to pass him by.
Curruid's clumsy attack sent it stumbling off balance, but it quickly steadied itself and looked up just in time to see the brightly glowing barrel of Satanael, as he charged a bullet with enough Holy and Demon energy to nuke a small building.
"If you're hungry... they why don't you snack on this." Cassius said before releasing the bullet from his gunblade.
The bullet, which was closer to a beam than a projectile, impacted Curruid directly in his face and detonated.
The explosion could be seen for miles as Cassius just stood there, watching where Curruid had been.
He didn't receive the quest completion window for killing the demon... that's how he knew it was still alive.
"Gulp..."
Cassius froze, the sound of swallowing having reached his ears.
"You've gotta be shitting me..." he muttered as he witnessed the massive explosion of holy and demonic energy being eaten by the Shark-topus demon.
"Yummy..." Curruid let out a burp as he finished swallowing the last of the explosion.
"... You know when I said to snack on it... I didn't mean literally." Cassius said with a bead of nervous sweat rolling from his forehead.
Curruid glared down at him.
"MORE!" The demon charged at him woth reckless abandon, razored mouth agape.
Cassius cursed his luck and dodged the massive jaws of the Shark demon, however one of Curruid's tentacles lashed out and grabbed him by the foot.
"Oh Shiiiiii-"
Curruid spun him abounding like a propeller before slamming him down into a random building.
Cassius groaned in pain, his back planted firmly on what was probably once an Anvil.
He couldn't really tell because his tough body had reduced it to a crumpled metallic mess.
He tried to rise to his feet but he was pretty sure he had a minor concussion, if the spinning and dizziness was any indication.
As blood dripped from a wound on his head, he could feel his temper start to boil.
A quick glance at his HP told him all he needed to know... he had nearly died from that attack. Opening his inventory he used two small Vital Stars to bring his heath back up to almost full.
He'd never been hurt as badly as he was just now, not since Aetna... Cassius narrowed his eyes, which flashed with an Ultraviolet purple light.
"Fuck this..." he thought as he glanced down to his covered arm.
"Michael. You listening?" He asked the air.
"Yes I am still here... Are you alright you took quite a beating...?" the angel asked with concern.
"No... I'm pissed. Am I being recorded right now?" he asked.
"Yes, there is a live feed of this exams being streamed to the mentors as we speak." Michael informed him.
"Anyway you can... say, oh I don't know... cut the feed?" Cassius asked, hopeful.
"Unfortunately... I cannot Kokabiel's done something that has interfered with my System access, the most I can do is talk to you." Michael informed much to Cassius chagrin.
"Tch... Guess there's no choice then. Well whatever happens... it's been fun Mikey, hope you'll vouch for me after this is all over... because I'm done holding back." Cassius said as he began to walk out of the remains of the building, while slowly removing his sling, which he then dropped to the ground.
Griselda reached the holding cell where Valper was kept only to find the cell wide open.
"Tch... Galilei... you bastard." She cursed before turning to leave the cell, only to nearly bump into Gabriel who was slightly panting.
"Where is Galilei?" She asked Griselda.
"Gone... taken." The nun answered with disdain.
Gabriel hung her head, she hadn't made it in time.
Griselda placed a comforting hand on the archangel's shoulder.
"We'll catch him again one day... but for now we need to take care of those kids." She said.
Gabriel sniffed a little, showing that she was slightly in tears, before smiling.
"Yeah right. We should check in on Michael to see if he's managed to free them yet!" Gabriel said before practically dragging the woman away in a flash of light.
Curruid stalked through the town looking for more victims on which to feast.
After it had lost sight of the delicious one who smelled like a demon, Curruid's appetite had returned and as such it needed to hunt once again.
It's nose never failed it, and as such it found a congregation of a large amount of Foodlings, who had taken refuge in a large Cathedral, which was the largest building in the town.
"Food..." Curruid growled before it charged the Cathedral.
The Foodlings that guarded the doors noticed it immediately and began to pray. Curruid soon found his path blocked by a golden barrier made of numerous images of the crucified Jesus, whom glowered down at the demon with pity and righteousness in his eyes.
The shark demon growled at the image, where had Jesus been when he was needed by it!? God was nothing to it now!
Curruid grasped at the barrier with its clawed fingers and opened wide.
The Foodlings watched in abject terror as it took a massive bite out of the barrier like it was made of fish, then another... and another!
The sight made their faith waver and as a result... the barrier fell.
Curruid stood over them with a malicious grin of shark teeth.
"Lunch.." it stated before opening wide to devour them whole, not even biting them. The blood would make its mouth burn.
They didn't even have time to scream.
Licking it's lips it entered the Cathedral.
Almost immediately it was met with resistance from the foodlings.
Some ran, they were captured by its tendrils, some fought, they were crushed by its mighty paws. Others just collapsed and gave up.
Curruid decided to save those for later.
However before he could begin his feast he felt something lightly hit him on the head.
Looking to the source he saw a scared girl with her chestnut colored hair in twin tails, she had thrown a rock at him.
"L-let them go." She whimpered as her knees buckled under the weight of her own fear.
"Or... what?" the demon asked curiously.
The girl said nothing, she never got the chance to.
"Or else this!" a familiar voice shouted just before something sent it flying.
Curruid released his prisoners by mistake as he flew through the air, before impacting the nearby wall, which was made of piled up stone.
It stumbled back to its tentacle legs and glowered at the one who had struck it, only to blink in surprise.
Cassius stood there, flexing the fingers of his demonic left hand, a demonic black and purple guitar that sparked with lightning was held at the base of the neck by his right hand.
"You... demon?" Curruid asked for all to hear.
"Half. But that's still enough to kick your ass. Now come here you ugly son of a bitch!" Cassius shouted before taking up the guitar and strumming it with his human arm.
Purple lightning arched across the floor of the Cathedral and converged on the shark demon.
Pain exploded throughout its body as it convulsed.
"Let's rock this party." Cassius said with his signature smirk.
Several minutes earlier.
Cassius raced through the town, following the trail of blood and gore left in the demon's wake. Each body left him feeling more and more pissed. However he was getting worried about Xenovia. He hoped she was able to find "Rikard" and was ready to keep the plan on track.
As he ran a hoard of demons appeared in front of him.
Cassius grit his teeth.
"Grrrr- Our of my way!" He shouted before slicing through them with Satanael, however more kept coming.
"Tch how many of you bastards are there?!" He growled as he continued to kill demon after demon, but there were soon too many for even him handle, and he was steadily being overwhelmed by their sheer numbers.
As he slashed at one demon, three more would converge on his blindspots, whenever he would turn to fend them off eight more would attack!
They didn't really deal mich damage to his body... but it was steadily adding up to the point his HP was down to three bars already!
"Dammit!" he shouted as he summoned the bastard sword of light to cleave through the demons, but there were still to many.
The demons, sensing his struggle, all converged on him, and as they dove down at him, he received a system window.
[《Due to Extreme Danger to user's life... conditions for Item: The Devil's Giftbox have been lifted. Pleased choose your reward. Choices: Devil Arm: Nevan.》]
"Not much in the way of choices but fine..." He claimed the weapon just as the demon's dogpiled him.
Play: Devils Never Cry HR/HM mix.
Purple lightning explodes from the pile of demons, revealing Cassius to be the one playing the music.
"Steel your Soul for a second chance... But you will never become a man! My chosen torture makes me stronger, in a life that craves the hunger! A freedom and a quest for life... Until the end of Judgment Night!" Cassius sang before riffing the guitar once more. Bats of lightning and shadow swirled outwards and vaporizing many of the demons.
Several tried to get close, only for Cassius to spin the guitar around and shift the guitar into its infamous scythe form and spin it around his entire body with the use of his phantom arm.
Grasping the scythe out of the air he sliced at a demon that managed to slip past the whirling weapon, before returning it to its guitar form and strummed it several more times.
"WHOO!" He cheered as he held the guitar up. Purple Lightning struck the ground behind him.
"Not bad... no one has played me like that since Dante. Before he sold me..." The voice of Nevan spoke in his head, a hint of bitterness at the end.
"Woah... that's freaky I didn't realize that devil arms could still talk after being turned into a weapon... well besides Agni and Rudra... those two never shut up." Cassius spoke to the devil arm.
"Oh Lover... that's not all I can do." She said before a spectral image of herself appeared before him.
Her appearance was that identical to the game, a beautiful green skinned woman with fiery red hair that covered her exposed chest, the only thing that remotely could be considered clothing were the multitudes of black bats that acted as a long skirt.
"Woah..." he said as he looked her up and down.
"See something you like~?" she asked him in a flirty tone.
"Lady... under normal circumstances I'd say yes... but you see the thing is I'm pressed for time." he said while looking her in the eye.
"A pity... perhaps we can speak more freely another time?" She pouted to him.
He smiled at her.
"Thanks for understanding. And yes we will definitely talk later, but for now... I've got a shark to hunt." He said to her. Nevan blew him a kiss before fading away.
"Then let's go Lover." she said.
Together they raced through the town towards where they saw a giant golden barrier crumble into shards.
Present time.
Cassius launched himself at the shark demon, Nevan brandished in her scythe mode. He sliced upwards at Curruid's lower jaw and knocked it up into the air. Nevan, now behind his neck, shifted back into a guitar which Cassius immediately began to strum. Black and purple bats of lightning swarmed the airborne demon.
"Raaaaaah!" Curruid bellowed in pain from the lightning and tried to eat it, but that only caused it more pain.
For the first time... Curruid felt fear.
It never knew it was weak to lightning before that day... the idea it had a weakness at all scared it.
Cassius didn't miss a beat and leapt up to meet demon and slammed the guitar down on its body, sending Curruid crashing down.
While in the air he shifted Nevan back into a scythe and spun the weapon around his body like a vertical buzzsaw as he somersaults back down to the ground.
Nevan dug into the fallen demon's body and sent more jolts of electricity through it.
Cassius landed on the demon's chest and looked down.
"That's better. I couldn't stand you looking down at me the whole time.
"K-Kill...me!" Curruid practically begged as it yearned for the pain to stop.
"Weak to pain eh? Well..." Cassius began before strumming Nevan once more.
"that's a shame... because this is gonna hurt!" He then slammed down on the lightning strings and back flipped off the demon's body, just in time for a massive bolt of purple lightning to descend from the heavens, completely vaporizing the demon.
"Not so tough now are ya'?" Cassius said as he walked towards the ashen remains of the demon with Nevan on his back. An orb of crimson light framed by an acidic green floated in the air.
"My my... another devil arm so soon after summoning me? You're not cheating on my already are you?" Nevan teased.
Cassius snorted in amusement at her joke before holding out his hand towards the orb. The second it reached his hand it revealed itself to them all.
It was a spear, but the shaft was made of ten crimson chains. The spear head was a long barbed sharks tooth. The bottom end of the spear shaft ended in what looked like a sword hilt that had no guard.
[《Urgent Mission Slay Curruid the Starved complete! Rewards delivered. Devil Arm: Curruid Coinchenn acquired.》]
Opening the description he saw the capabilities of the weapon.
[《Devil Arm: Curruid Coinchenn. A shapeshifting weapon starving for Magic power. Devours magic and holy powers alike to release a corrosive acid from the blade. Change the weapon from Spear to chain blade to a Greatsword to unleash this weapons devastating power.》]
He rose a brow at the weapon, wondering how a spear would turn into a greatsword.
"Oh my. It seems we have company." Nevan spoke from her place on his back.
Cassius looked up to see that the wide open doors to the Cathedral displayed more demons, being led by a certain someone.
"Well well... looks like things are about to wrap up on their own." He said before walking away from the crowd of onlooking exorcist trainees.
As he walked he caught sight of Irina and shot her a wink.
"Nice job distracting him. You're a brave one that's for sure. Get stronger. Without strength you can protect nothing not even yourself. Remember that." He said before exiting the Cathedral, whilst twirling his new spear.
The room was silent as the mentors watched the white haired apparent Half Devil use a shape shifting guitar scythe to destroy the shark demon and turn what was apparently its soul into some sort of weapon.
One could hear a mouse fart if they were to listen for it.
That was until the room exploded with shouts of outrage, with forces dividing into two groups.
"Who dared to enter a devil spawn in this holy sacrament!?" one demanded.
"Who cares! He saved the children!"
"But at the cost of the sanctity of God's house? Bah! I would rather those children die than allow some devil to desecrate Him!"
The exorcists were divided amongst themselves, and the scene was one that Michael, Gabriel and Griselda saw upon arrival.
"Enough!" Michael demanded.
The room sent silent once more before they all turned to bow.
"Lord Michael! A devil has infiltrated our ranks!" one exorcist informed him.
"I am aware." Michael said.
"Then-"
"I was the one to invite him. I intend to recruit him. He is only half devil and a survivor of Valper Galilei's experiments!" Michael shouted in anger.
Silence reigned as they processed what had been spoken.
"Now... I will not tolerate any disrespect towards that boy. He has not only saved the lives of your students... but he is facing the real threat that walks amongst the students.
"Real threat?" One asked with concern.
"Yes... a devil known as-"
"Well well well... if it isn't Rikard... or should I call you by your actual name... Diodora Astaroth. Up to your nun stealing tricks I see." Cassius clapped as he approached the hoard of demons lead by Rikard aka Diodora, Martha, a hypnotized Jeanne, and a hypnotized Xenovia.
Diodora sneered at him.
"So a filthy half breed has decided to join forces with the church eh? I must say I'm surprised though. Half breeds like you are usually hunted down by even us devils. How you managed to convince the fools in the church to take you in is beyond me." Diodora spat.
Cassius merely yawned at the devil.
"Wow is that really the best you can do? I've hurt better insults from your mom when I'm reaming her." Cassius returned with a smirk.
Diodora's eye twitched before he leveled a glare at Cassius.
"You better watch your tongue half breed. I am the younger brother to the Satan Beelzebub! I will not be-"
"Oh shut up already! Everytime you open your open your mouth its "Weeh! I'm Diodora! Weh! My brother is Beelzebub! You're filth! Weeeh!" Cassius insulted while making baby noises to describe how Diodora sounds.
"Y-you dare speak to me this way!?" Diodora asked in disbelief.
"Yeah I dare. Now what are you gonna do about it?" Cassius spun his new spear around, his glacial eyes flashed red for a split second, which went unnoticed by the devil due to his anger.
"Grr! Demons! Kill him!" Diodora ordered the hoarde, which immediately sprung into action.
Cassius took up a stance that he based off of what he'd seen from Cu Chulainn from Fate, and waited for the first demon to reach him.
Upon doing so, one random demon vaulted at the half-devil and soon found a barbed shark tooth blade lodged in its mouth.
"Hyah!" Cassius shouted as he slamed the impaled demon down like a hammer onto another demon, before doing a full body spin that sent the demons tumbling away. He wasn't finished however, as one of the demons flew it suddenly found the barbed spear head lodged in its chest.
"Where do you think you're going? Get over here!" Cassius shouted as he pulled back on what was now a chain blade, yanking the demon back close enough for his demonic hand to deliver a haymaker that turned the demon's head into a red mist of blood.
The chain blade coiled itself up like a whip, with his hand how on the guardless sword hilt.
More and more demons charged him and he responded by spinning the chainblade like a lasso and lashing it onto on demon's leg. The demon looked down at its foot... then back to Cassius... then to its foot... back to Cassius.
The demon shook its head pleadingly.
Cassius merely nodded with a grin, before spinning around in a manner that lifted the demon off the ground and slammed into many of its compatriots, before dying from too many impacts to the head.
"Aww... it's broken." Cassius sighed piteously.
"Ah well what can you do... Time to see what this greatsword form looks like!" Cassius said before lashing the chainblade out to the side, the chain stiffened straight but didn't return to the full length of the spear, instead several sharp barbs extended along the length of the chain creating a wickedly serrated edge. The hilt also had gained a pair of barbs that curved up to act as a pseudo cross guard.
"Ohohoho! Hell yeah! Let's dance baby!" Cassius cackled as he charged at what remained of the demonic hoard.
Executing his recreation of Dante's Stinger, he pierced through one demon's torso... and then got stuck...
"Huh... well that's never happened before." Cassius mised as he tore the weapon free from the demon's body... by cutting straight through the side.
"I guess you're more of a slashing weapon in this state... that's fine." He said before slicing at a nearby demon, the serrations tore the creature in half.
The next demon to die, did so through sheer stupidity... it tried to run, tripped and fell in a puddle of acid left over from Curruid's rampage.
The remaining demons facepalmed at the stupid demon.
"I'm guessing he was the "special" one of the group." Cassius stated with a raised brow.
The demons didn't respond however they did sigh before attcking again.
Cassius decided to end things there and then.
Curruid Coinchenn returned to being a spear and he retook the stance he based off of Cu Chulainn, he summoned his Phantom arm with Light blade in hand, however it wasn't a regular blade or even a sword, it was a red spear of it's own.
The spear of red light overlapped itself with Curruid Coinchenn and both began to glow red.
Cassius flashed a bloodthirsty grin.
"Gae Bolg!" He intoned mostly as a joke before thrusting the spear forward, the weapon burst forth, the chain body of the spear seemed to snake around the battle field and impale itself into the hearts of every remaining demon.
"Whoo what a rush!" Cassius whooped as he shook off the after battle jitters.
"H-holy shit... just who the hell are you!?" Diodora stuttered as he took a step back.
"Who me? I'm Sparda, Cassius Sparda. But you can call me Daddy. And guess what? I'm back with the milk." Cassius taunted with a flourish of his spear.
Diodora's face went red from the humiliation before he smirked as he realized something.
"Oh how could I have forgotten... you've met my friends haven't you? Well... I say mine but... one of them is actually your's isn't that right?" Diodora asked as he gestured to Xenovia and Jeanne.
Cassius narrowed his eyes.
"What did you do to them?" he demanded with steel in his tone.
"Hm? Oh that. You see I'm rather good a defensive and support magic, but my real talent lies in my... charms you could say." he said with a sardonic smile.
"You hypnotized them." Cassius summed up.
"A crude explanation but essentially yes I did well except Martha here, she came to me willingly. Now... Xenovia... why don't you go and kill this half breed for me." Diodora said with a dismissive wave.
Xenovia didn't move.
Diodora blinked at her, stumped.
"Did you not hear me? I said kill him!"
"Pfft-" Xenovia barely managed to suppress her laughter.
"Bahahaha- I'm sorry but- You really didn't notice did you?" Cassius laughed, which drew Diodora's attention.
"What are you blathering about half breed?" he demanded.
"Neither Xenovia or Jeanne have been under your control since the moment you sent your demons after me." Cassius explained with smirk.
Diodora's face paled and he made to turn around only to see Martha throw herself in front of Xenovia's blade that aimed to kill him.
"What?! Impossible my charms are unbreakable!" He hissed as he leapt away from the girls.
Jeanne followed after him with a pair of holy infused longswords courtesy of her blade blacksmith sacred gear.
Diodora erected a barrier in front of himself to fend of the pissed off blonde's attack.
"Not really... you see your charm is nothing compared to a Succubus or even an Incubus. These eyes of mine can detect, understand, copy, and destroy all magic that exists. Oh by the way... thanks for the barrier skills." Cassius said with a flash of his Alpha Stigma.
"W-what the hell kind of ability is that?! Just who are you!?" Diodora demanded to know.
"I told you didn't I? I'm Cassius Sparda... and this..." he switched Curruid Coinchenn with Satanael and aimed the weapon at the devil.
"... is checkmate." he said charging the shot before pulling the trigger.
Diodora sneered before putting up another barrier to block the beam of light, however his sneer was wiped from his face when the beam shattered straight through the barrier and pierced his shoulder.
"Gah!? My arm!! You bastard! I'll get you for this! Count on that!" Diodora hissed before summoning a hasty magic circle and teleporting away.
"Tch he got away..." Cassius clicked his tongue before looking to his friend, who was extremely shaken up by having killed Martha, who was still impaled on her sword.
He approached her and knelt beside her.
"It's alright... you heard him... she gave herself to him willingly. You didn't mean to kill her... but you did what you had to do. There's no shame in that." he said in a comforting tone.
She latched onto him and buried her face into his jacket. He gently stroked her hair. He heard her sniffle.
"Hey now... There's no need for tears." he said as he raised her hear to wipe away her tears with his human thumb.
She flushed from the gesture and removed herself from his person.
"Ahem..." the voice of Jeanne said from nearby.
They blinked at her, having forgotten about her completely.
"Uh Hi?" She said unsure.
"Hey/Yo." They both said in sync.
"Could someone explain what's going on?" she asked them.
Cassius and Xenovia looked at each other before looking back to her.
"Exams gone wrong." they said in sync again.
"Wow that's not creepy at all." Jeanne muttered before turning and walking away.
"Rude." both of them said together.
"Ok yeah that is a bit much we should stop." They said together.
"Totally." They finished before snickering.
"I'm back in control of the system! I'll be getting you all out now!" Michael informed them.
Cassius felt a bit nervous at that. He had revealed his devilish nature before professional exorcists!
He turned to Xenovia.
"Well... whatever happens I hope we'll still be able to be friends after this." he said with a wry smile.
Xenovia understood what he meant and nodded in response.
"I wouldn't want any other partner than you." She said with a fist outstretched for him to bump.
He grinned at her words and reciprocated the gesture, their fists touched just as they were teleported back into the room full of mentor exorcists, all of whom were silent.
"Uh... Hi?" Cassius waved to them with a nervous drop of sweat running down his cheek.
(*Clap... clap... clap!*)
It started with one person but soon grew into a roaring applause from every exorcist in the room.
Cassius stood shocked by the reaction, and felt a hand rest onto his shoulder.
Looking up he saw the arm belonged to Michael.
"Well done Cassius. Thanks to you... only 23 of the 200 examinees perished." He said.
"Only? Peh... 23 is still 23 too many." Cassius said bitterly. If he'd had his Devil Trigger unlocked he could have beaten Curruid without breaking a sweat! However the system said his stats were all capped until he unlocked the DT... but to do that he had a condition to fulfill.
He just didn't know what it was.
Michael gave him a soft smile, Cassius was a good kid, he knew that for certain.
"Now... despite everything that has happened... I would like to announce that everyone who remains of the testing student has passed and from this moment onward be officially an Exorcist of the church! You will spend two more years under the tutelage of your respective teachers this includes any missions they may recieve. Once those two years are up you will be allowed free reign to travel and spread the lord's name to any stray devils that you come across." Michael said to the crowd of relieved students.
Cheers resounded all around.
"Now please... would Cassius Sparda, Xenovia Quarta, Jeanne D'Arc, Irina Shidou, Lint and Freed Selzan and finally Siegfried please follow me." Michael said as he gestured for them to follow him.
Cassius tensed at that last name before his eyes scanned the crowd.
"U-um..." A voice said from behind him.
Cassius spun around and saw the owner, the Chaos Edge himself, Siegfried except... he was very innocent looking, kind of reminded Cassius of Gasper in terms of how young he looked.
"Th-thank you for saving my life..." Siegfried said.
Cassius blinked at that before remembering something.
"You were the rookie I saved from the Shark demon at the coast!" Cassius stated with surprise.
"Y-yes! You remembered me! Thank you once again for saving my life." Siegfried said with a wide smile filled with childish innocence.
"Yeah uh... no problem." Cassius said with a strained smile.
He was uncomfortable with the situation, and it seemed like Xenovia noticed.
"Come on Cassius let's go. We don't want to keep Lord Michael waiting." She said as she dragged him away by the collar of his coat.
"Oh shit right! Uh come on Siegfried!" He said with a wave.
Michael led them to a vault deep below the building, upon opening it Cassius and the others were hit by the sheer force of the holy power within the vault.
"This Vault contains every Holy weapon that the church has ever recorded. Some that even they cannot access are also stored here... please go on inside, if you possess enough holy power within your body... you may be chosen by one of these weapons upon entering. However... you must each go in one at a time. You do not have to come back out but only one person goes through that door at a time." Michael said before gestured for them to enter the room.
The first to go was Siegfried, however the second he entered the room... nothing happened. The boy looked down in shame. He knew it was because of his heritage that he would never be able to wield a holy item like an Excalibur fragment.
He was, afterall, an unholy creation made by man and not God.
The next to go was Freed. But he also recieved nothing. He spat out a quiet curse befire sulking next to Siegfried.
Lint was next. This time something did happen. A massive cross of burning purple fire appeared, the Incinerate Anthem.
All seemed surprised by what had chosen her, but not Cassius, he already knew what she would wield.
The next was Jeanne, however despite nearly every item she passed lighting up... she chose none of them of her own volition.
Irina entered and once again items lit up... but they then flickered and died. She didn't possess enough holy energy to properly wield them. But Cassius knew she was best suited for Excalibur Mimic and just needed the crystal produced by Galilei's research to give her that boost she needed.
Xenovia stutted in with confidence, she knew her natural Holy Stat was higher than most humans and it had only gotten stronger since her training with Cassius began. Her confidence was not misplaced as nearly every holy item lit up and seemed to fight over her... before being drowned out by a blinding light that originated from the massive blue and gold greatsword known as Durandal.
Michael was pleasantly surprised by this. He would likely need the sword's previous master to teach her how to control the highly destructive blade.
Finally it was Cassius' turn. As he walked into the room he found himself not really caring if he gets chosen or not. He was rather content with his current weaponry. That in mind he set foot into the room... and immediately all of the holy relics lit up and Cassius found himself assaulted by an endless flood of system messages... all telling him the same thing, that he hd acquired the rights to wield every single holy weapon in that armory.
[《New Title acquired: The Ultimate Swordsman. Passive Skill related to title acquired Allows user to wield even claimed sacred gears.》]
"... Passive skills are so broken..." he thought as he walked through the room. None of the items really interested him, he was honestly just tempted to say fuck it and not choose anything... that was until he noticed an orb of light in the back that seemed to change shape constantly.
"Hey Michael... what's this one do?" He asked the angel who approached where he stood.
"Ah yes... The Grave Artificer... it is a creation type sacred gear that was originally Blade Blacksmith however in that past as swords became unpopular during combat... a past user decided to experiment with his own copy of blade blacksmith... to create a gun instead of a sword. The backlash from the experiment killed the man... but he succeeded in overwriting the original concept of the sacred gear, at the cost of his life. That is where it gets the name The Grave Artificer." Michael explained.
Cassius rose a brow at the story.
"So basically it makes guns." He simplified.
"Yes it does... but more importantly it makes Guns and melee weapons." Michael said which caught Cassius' attention.
"I'll take that then." Cassius said before grabbing the shapeshifting orb.
[《Sacred Gear: The Grave Artificer acquired.》]
Deciding to test the item he created a familiar pair of black and white handguns.
"Ebony, Ivory... missed you girls." He joked to the guns, say what you want about the DMC reboot... but at least there were some funny lines to quote.
The handguns vanished before being replaced with a certain pair of shotgun gauntlets, which he'd dyed black for aesthetic purposes. The gauntlets vanished again before being replaced with...
"Hey now lover... you better not be cheating on me already!" Nevan said as she took in the sight of Cresent Rose, a highly customizable highimpact sniper rifle... that was also a scythe.
Cassius looked over the massive weapon with a satisfied look.
"Jackpot." He muttered.
Alright so that's done. I was originally going to keep this around 6 to 8k words. But things kinda kept writing themselves. Took me a while to figure out what Curruid's devil arm would look like and it's capabilities, but I am satisfied with it. As for Nevan... come on Nevan was an awesome weapon in the game! Plus what better weakness for a mana eating shark demon... than fucking lightning! I'd already planned for her to be part of this story. Also I'm sure you noticed that I removed Jeanne from the pairing... yeah I did that because I don't really have a lot of information on her. Lint Selzan on the other hand has a lot more information available that I can get a decent enough grasp on her personality.
The Grave Artificer is another original by yours truly. I made it because I wanted something versatile to act at another range weapon, but at the same time I wanted something to pair up with Satanael and Hollow S Jack.
A reviewer asked me about Cassius getting his own gun, and I will say that Satanael was supposed to be that gun. when it came to Nero and his Devil bringer I always felt it was a bad Idea for him to be constantly putting his sword away to switch it out for his sword. So I had created Satanael's concept to completely eliminate the need to switch between range and melee and still leave the devil bringer open for use.
But then I realized... so many combos wasted because his left arm was free while the phantom arm held the light blades. Which was why I had him obtain the shotgun from before... but eh I'd prefer another gunblade or other firearm than the two shot shotgun.
The shotgun will likely be modified or scrapped in later chapters, I haven't thought that far ahead though.
Anyways hope you enjoyed. See you in the next one.