The protagonists of this story slowly woke up with a rather pounding headache, laying on something vaguely soft, uneven, and slowly moving.
Unpleasant, to be honest.
One, was a tall, 30 something years man looking a little younger than he should, rather chubby, with long hair that was half dyed purple, half his natural black. He was dressed in a simple hoodie and pants, both black with a white grin plastered on it, one an X, the other a simple horizontal line and the mouth stylized to look like a toothy smile. And soft, fluffy socks with the grippy things under the soles in a blue, white and red spotted pattern. Blue glasses were resting on his face, slightly askew.
The other was an average looking man in his late 20's, with short, dark brown hair and a short beard. Wearing a simple white button down shirt, grey pants, and old sneakers. As he got his bearings, he began to fuss over a pair of red and black framed glasses, while occasionally looking around the assembled people with a mix barely contained nervousness and confusion.
Around them, was a throng of other people. Their numbers included several high school teens and university students wearing varsity jackets, girls dressed to the nines and/or with cheerleading outfits, guys dressed in shirts and jeans and more refined men and women dressed in expensive, professional suits. Almost all of them were waking up with slightly lesser headaches than the other two previously mentioned individuals. Not that they were aware of this, of course.
Then, they registered where they were.
They saw the walls of a cave, or something shaped like a cave, that were a sickly red-pink color. The walls could almost be described like meat going bad, with veins running throughout, pulsating and twisting a little every now and then. Almost as though these veins were actually bringing blood from somewhere to somewhere else.
There was no sun or windows anywhere, but there was still some kind of red tinted light coming from above, softly illuminating the room and making the details of it hard to make out. This bizarre light only served to confuse the people within more.
The silent mass confusion lasted for a minute or two, before someone, a girl by the sound of her voice, started complaining.
"Where are we? What are we doing here?! I want to go home!" Her voice was enough to shock everyone else from their surprise and, soon, everyone was starting to complain. Loudly.
Mostly just repeating the same things over and over, asking each other and shouting over the flurry of similar questions. Some fists were raised and, in moments, tempers were high enough to start a bonfire.
The VOICE spoke right at this moment, when everyone was distracted.
"Do not be afraid, brave people of the Earth."
The voice was feminine, warm, and caring in its tone. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Yet, the way the voice sounded, gave the impression of coming from somewhere above the assembled crowd.
"I know you must be scared. Finding yourselves someplace else from where you were moments ago, along with strangers, unknowing of what is happening. It must be frightening."
Everyone calmed down fast. Very fast.
Suspiciously fast…
"You have been brought here by a Demon Lord. A powerful monster that is trying to invade Earth and wage war against mankind to become a God. You have been put in the beginning of this invasion. If you do not fight and kill the demons that will come for you, you will be killed."
It was like a frozen mist had descended on the crowd. Everyone was still, listening to the voice and shivering, the temperature seemingly dropping by the second.
"Yet, I have a way to save yourselves and your fellows beyond this realm. I will lend you some of my power. So that you can grow stronger and better in the face of this evil. Think of yourselves as becoming a mighty tree from a small seed. Once you are grown enough, you could even manage to defeat the Demon Lord that sits in the center of this realm, allowing you all to return home and halting the invasion before it can even begin."
Warmth surrounded the crowd and a faint - sickly, sinister - glow could be seen inside their bodies, around the chest area, before vanishing into nothingness.
Leaving behind, however, a feeling of warmth and power that washed away much of the fear and dread that lingered in most of the assembled people.
"This Hell is going to be hard: only the strong will survive. I have faith in you all. However, when you defeat the various demons that you will encounter, they will drop red gems. Collect these gems and bring them to the Statue at the back of the cave to raise your abilities to greater heights."
Like a veil parting, there was the statue the voice was speaking about. Said statue was a golden woman, with a lion mask and an hourglass on her shoulders. It stood there, motionless and just... watching.
Furthermore, several of those red gems appeared in front of each person, getting absorbed after a moment.
"I bid all of you good luck, people of Earth. We will meet again if you manage to reach the Demon Lord."
And the voice, along with the warmth that was held in her words, vanished, leaving a very confused group of people inside the cave.
For a moment, Sol stood in silence, his mind processing what he just heard, before his eyes slowly moved towards the red orbs. He recognized them all right, the crystalline face in a state of what he could only assume was agony was a big sign of what it was… and also a red flag.
"An angelic voice tells us to partake in its power and fight a demon lord to save the Earth. Normally I'd say this was the plot of an anime… but these orbs? They're from DMC, I'd recognize them anywhere."
At first glance, the orb looked like a standard red orb, but Sol noticed a distinct undercurrent of color there. Ever so slightly, there was a hint of blue-ish purple flickering through the crystalline face.
"No, something is wrong here, they're glowing strangely." Sol thought to himself before attempting to step away from the orb and looking to see if anyone else was doing likewise. Before he could do so however, the orb slammed into his chest, knocking him off his feet. Sol felt something at the point of impact and panic began to creep into his breath.
Alex, the chubby guy near him, was staring at the red gems with a blank face, before it morphed into a strange mix of horror, dread and understanding, along with hopelessness. Right after that, the gems rushed towards the persons nearest to them, vanishing inside them like water in a desert.
That prompted Alex to give a low, hearty "Fuck." He then got up, patted away the dust on his pants, before starting to look around himself with a scrutinizing gaze, trying to see if anyone else was as worried as him.
And his eyes landed on Sol after a moment.
Sol caught the look, slowly nodded and made his way over to Alex, making sure he didn't step too closely to the rapidly dwindling orbs.
When he got close enough, Sol slowly took off his glasses and asked in a shaky voice. "Please tell me that I'm not the only one who realizes that something is seriously wrong here?"
"We are in what is clearly Hell, that statue is the Divinity Statue and the orbs were Demon Blood, Red Orbs or whatever you want to call them. We are in Devil May Cry. Also, I don't believe whatever the voice told us. Like… not a word. Maybe just that there is a demon lord that is trying to invade the Earth, and even then I'm skeptical." Alex nodded, confirming what Sol was fearing.
"Also, I'm pretty sure the power that it has been 'lent' to us is a trap. Like… a huge one. From what I know, humans using the powers of demons always end badly." He waved at his chest, before turning to look at the other people.
Already, several cliques were forming: athletes joining with athletes, girls with girls, businessmen and women with businessmen and women. There were other kinds of people, though: loner kids dressed in gothic fashion that seemed to glare at each other, smiling guys with eyes that were regularly straying towards girls' asses and sycophants that were sucking up to other people.
"How come no one is asking questions about the situation we are in?" Alex mused, just loud enough for Sol to hear.
"Well first, thank you for confirming all that cause I kinda thought I was losing my mind. Second, uhhh… Maybe they don't know or… maybe they don't care. Maybe they're just seeing the power on offer and not the forest for the trees. Yeah, no I agree with you. I think this is a trap. It's gotta be." Sol whispered quietly before looking back at the assembling line.
"I'm guessing right now that this is like a hellish battle royale death game. We die, and the obviously notAngel gets something out of it." Sol continued.
"The voice did say lend…" Alex seemed to get lost in thought for a moment, before his eyes refocused on the people in front of the Divinity Statue. Most of them had already gone and spent whatever amount of Demon Blood had been given to them, some growing several inches, others turning into musclebound hulks, others becoming the epitome of beauty. There were also a rare few who were showing off spheres of electricity or producing great gouts of flame without a care in the world.
"Like a seed that would grow in a mighty tree… The demon - and I'm pretty certain it's a demon - wants us to use the power that they have lent to us, grow it and then get it back when we either die or reach them. Raising their powers without doing anything." Alex's face was white as a sheet, terror etched in every line of his face.
"Then we should try to warn them right? I mean…" Sol quickly turned to look back at the people, and stopped speaking upon really noting their physical changes, "They… they all just bought into that trap hook, line, and sinker." Turning back around, Sol begins to tap his fingers in sequence, deep in contemplation.
"They're augmenting their bodies through demonic energy, right? So… so can we even do anything? Are we too late?" He said before fretting over the situation further. His fingers stopped tapping and he turned back to the long haired guy. "What if we don't do that. What if we get rid of this loan through something like an item, or a weapon…" He trailed off before looking at Alex.
"Something that maybe it won't expect, and then we get out of this place and start trying to warn people or find others." Sol finishes as his fingers stop tapping.
"The problem with that is that there are demons in this place." Alex said, drily, while looking at the queue in front of the statue slowly dwindled more and more.
"Who knows if we can survive without that power? On the other hand, we don't really have any other option, do we? I honestly prefer dying before giving a demon more power or, worse, turning into a marionette for them." His words were almost hissed, before he sighed.
"I'm… pretty sure that the Divinity statue can give us something different for power. The life-augmenting orb, for example. And knowledge, you can get new techniques from it, after all. Maybe magic? Human magic, I mean. Unless you need a Devil trigger… I think it was called Magic Gauge in the first game? I'm not sure. Still worth a shot. Oh, and knowledge of self defense. Parkour. Probably a weapon, but I'm pretty sure that we're going to need something belonging to a demon to create a Devil… Arm…. fuck!"
His outburst was mostly contained, but the way he had gripped his chest was anything but.
"Purchasing a Devil Arm? That's a trap option. I mean, it's also a way for us to remove the power inside of us, assuming it counts, but… no, no, it's not a good idea. If we do that, then there's the risk that the demon will take over us. Arkham showed us that it's too dangerous…" His breath was starting to come faster and faster, as his left hand kept contracting in a spasm, knuckles white as a sheet.
"Wait… Arkham… He was human long before he grabbed Force Edge. Magic is an option. That could be an option! Not a great one but, maybe it'll even the odds somewhat. And we don't have to purchase Devil Arms. They form when a demon's killed, so if we kill a demon, and get a Devil Arm, then the weapons formed that way would be loyal, right? That could work." Sol said more, animated this time.
Sol turns back to the dwindling crowd before speaking again, a slight tremor of confidence in his voice "We'll need something to work with first though, maybe use that loan not for power directly, but for tools to get that power. Like a spellbook, a gun, a blade. Hell! A gunblade!" He all but shouted, causing a few of the remaining people to look his way.
"Just a… brainstorming. You all be on your way." Sol said to the onlookers before quietly saying. "We may have something, it isn't the best idea, but I've got nothing else."
Alex trembled. "No, it's a good option. A Devil Arm is one of the most powerful weapons out there… but we don't have a Weaponsmith to craft one, and no demons to kill to create one. Even then, even if we find the soul of a Greater Demon just laying around, we would need to be stronger than it to command it."
Alex forced himself to slow down, half-curled on himself, hiding behind Sol from the other people. "We could even use the power that has been lent to us, but the problem is that it would be too strong for us right now. It would take control and turn us into puppets."
Sol grimaced before muttering to himself. "I forgot the actual strength aspect of those weapons. Thanks for catching that one for me."
A few beats of silence, before Alex finally got up once again, deep, loud breaths rattling into his lungs, the sensation of tingling inside all of his limbs.
"Ok, I'm calm now. Well, as much as I can be." He really, really wasn't. "The first thing we need is a Blue Orb. More health is the best option. Then, something for self defense. I want magic, more than anything else right now, but that can wait. Survival comes first. So, I'm just hoping to find something I can use. If I'm right and remember things correctly, we can upgrade our own power with Purple Orbs. I don't remember how much they cost, but it's a start."
He looked around, noticing that more than 90 percent of the people were done with the statue and nodded. "Should we go and join the queue? I don't fancy being the last one and getting stopped or mugged for our red orbs."
"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Sol says before walking towards the remaining people. As he did so, he took a further look at the remaining people, noticing the increased muscle mass and superficial changes that the others exhibited.
"Okay, so is that tied to power options, life and vitality increases? No, can't be. You can upgrade Lady's stats in DMC4 and nothing physically changes on her. So either that's a gameplay thing or there has to be something more going on." Sol thought as he queued up. "Right, see if there is a simple weapon that you can use, maybe a vial of Holy Water, or else I'm grabbing the nearest sharp rock and using that until something better comes my way."
Sol turns back to Alex and asks, "You good?"
Alex nodded, before passing him and going first. "Let me make the mistakes. No one uses items, not yet, either. As much as I'm going to sound like an asshole, I don't want the others to find out anything right now."
After whispering that to Sol, he fell silent, looking blankly ahead, watching how the girl in front of him turned almost amazonian in moments, before strutting away, clearly enjoying the looks of lust that other people were giving her. Alex ignored her completely, reaching the statue and just… extending a hand towards it, like the others had done.
A moment later, he was in a white space, gold light shining from everywhere, and yet not blinding him. The Divinity Statue was there, observing.
He exchanged a look with the eyes of the leon mask for a moment, before bowing slightly "Thank you and please, guide me so that I'm not making too many mistakes."
He knew that, probably, wouldn't work, but, in his eyes, everything that could be useful was worth a try.
"Items, please."
A window made of gold light appeared in front of him, while a smaller one with the amount of red orbs he owned appeared in the upper left corner.
The only thing that he managed to see in the 'default' page was a series of options that started with Demonic Power (L) Strengthening: Strength. Dexterity. Charisma.
"So, those are the trap options. And without knowing what to ask, they wouldn't know that there are other pages to see. Well, maybe the weapon page, that would be pretty easy to find, I think." His thoughts jarred to a halt the moment the window in front of him finished changing, showing the options.
Items:
Blue Orb: 750 Red Orbs
Purple Orb: 1.750 Red Orbs
Gold Orb: 1.000 Red Orbs
The rest of the items were still there, but he didn't care about them, so they didn't even register in his mind.
Alex blinked, before checking his balance: 1.500 Red Orbs.
"I thought that the Blue Orb cost more? Better not look in the horse's mouth." His face didn't change from his scrutinizing expression, but he also didn't hesitate, tapping the Blue Orb and watching his lifeblood - metaphorical lifeblood, anyway - scroll down.
And then, he felt… good. Better than how he had ever felt in all of his life. The changes were… subdued, if confronted with what the others had passed through, he wasn't a model all of sudden, but he was noticeably slimmer and he actually had a bit more of a muscle tone.
"I think this thing just improved my physical status. Which… makes sense, really." He slapped his cheek before going down a rabbit hole of speculation, focusing back on the screen in front of him.
"Please show me what kind of spell I can use without using the demonic power that has been lent to me."
It was a long shot and he knew that. Yet, with magic so close, he had to try to get some, even if it was the equivalent of a Hail Mary pass.
The strange thing was… Sometimes, those kinds of passes? They hit the mark.
So, when Alex opened his eyes, he found that there were some options. Something that he had no idea was possible.
"Enochian spells…!" He was suddenly smiling, his eyes blazing with hope. Sure, all of them were the basics of the basics, but he could get them and it wouldn't strengthen the power that the demon had given to him.
"A simple, long range attack in the shape of a bullet, very weak but serviceable… and a defensive one. A half-spherical barrier in front of me? Well, the full barrier version is too costly, so I'm going with that." He quickly tapped the two options he wanted, spending the remaining Red Orbs in his possession, before bowing again at the Divinity Statue and thanking it.
"Thank you for your guidance. Please, guide my friend as well."
Right after that, he was back in Hell, no more than a second having passed outside of the strange space that was where the Statue operated. His clothes, while not exactly tight, but still fitting, were now hanging a bit around him. They were now clearly oversized. By a single size, but it was noticeable, if you had seen him closely before.
Alex turned towards Sol, sending him a wink fast enough that no one but him would notice. "Do not take anything with a capital L in parenthesis."
Then, he took a step to the side and walked away from the crowd, his new knowledge twisting in his head.
Sol nodded slightly before approaching the statue.
"Nothing with the L prefix, okay so I guess the other stat boosting items are still good then. Maybe I can get something else then." Sol thought
"Alright, let's do this." Sol stated before placing a hand on the statue. A field of white took his vision before he saw that he and the divinity statue were in a white. He looked around briefly, before asking the statue a question.
"Item menu please."
Two windows of golden light manifested before him, the larger of the two showing a list of available items, and the smaller showing his red orb count.
"1,500 of a bad loan, okay let's see…" Sol trailed off as he spotted the items with an L prefix.
"Demonic Power (L) Strengthening: Strength, Dexterity, Charisma. Prices seem pretty cheap too. And I'm guessing that's how it gets them. We'll avoid that for the infinite future. Thank you very much."
Sol noticed that the Blue Orb only cost 750 orbs, and for a moment he thought back to Alex.
"He definitely looked different post statue, but not so immediately different like the others. It is though half my budget… fuck it. I don't have nearly enough for a Purple, and a Gold orb won't prevent me from getting killed in the first place." Sol thought as he selected a blue orb.
Almost immediately, Sol felt better than he had, well ever. Lighter, he actually felt his standard work clothes feel slightly bigger on himself. Most of all, his vision began to blur behind his glasses. Removing them, he blinked several times before realizing what just happened.
"No more terrible eyesight for me, I hope. Okay… you got yourself a repeat customer, but in order to do that, I need something to protect myself. Now, I'm no warrior but what do you have weapon wise?" Sol asked the statue.
There was a brief moment of stillness before the window closed and opened again revealing a list of very basic weapon names. Scrolling through the list, Sol thought back to what Alex said.
"No one used items, but did anyone actually walk out with a weapon? I didn't see anyone with one." He mused to himself.
Finally, he spent his remaining points on two weapons that the statue offered. The first was a hand axe. Simple, boring, and familiar. It was something Sol had used in the past for chopping wood. The second was a thin dagger, one he could probably try to conceal or save as a last resort. It may not have been the best of ideas purchase wise, but Sol felt he needed something physical in his hands for self assurance.
"I guess this is goodbye for now." Sol began addressing the statue. "Thank you for giving my friend the heads up. Best of luck for any future business down the line."
And with that said, the white field receded and Sol found himself back in Hell, hand pressed against the statue's head. Turning to Alex, he said "It's better than a rock."
"Very." Alex nodded, before jerking his head towards the place where they came from. Away from the rest of the crowd.
"Wanna chat about our strategy to kill monsters?" His lips were quirked in a rather sardonic tilt, but it was pretty clear that he was being very serious. A faint light was now shining in his eyes, a hint of Hope still surviving.
"Also, what did you take? I got a couple of… interesting things…." He was already starting to walk back, his fingers unconsciously moving into strange patterns in the air.
"Yeah I think that would be best, maybe hit and run tactics? I grabbed a hand axe and a knife. No L prefix on either so we're good in that department. I'm better with the axe, mind you, so if you need a weapon, the knife's all yours." A dark look passed over Sol's face. "But I've got a bad feeling about all those people who seemed to have just taken enhancements. Unless they can break stone or steel with a punch, or find weapons out wherever there is, they'll be easy prey."
"I'm going to speculate for a moment here, and say that the demon is going to put them in front of a series of very weak demons so that they can think they are hot shit, before dying when the difficulty spikes upwards." Alex adjusted his glasses nervously, before looking over Sol's shoulder.
"I took two spells. Enochian magic is a thing, apparently, but… Ok, they are not going to use the demonic power that has been granted to us, but my own. Which means that until I get the first Purple Orb, I'm gonna be limited to…." He lost himself in thought for a moment or two, before nodding.
"Three to four shots if casted hastily, five if I can take my time between the shots. As for the barrier spell, same thing, they use the same energy. So, it's an either or. Five weak hits or, maybe, one medium-weak hit. Which is not bad for a beginner, but it's still… frustrating." Alex took a deep breath, before shaking his head and jerking it towards the group of people.
"Look. They are already moving forward." The group of people were all walking - well, strutting, most of them, anyway - towards the room where the monsters would appear. "I think… that most of them wouldn't listen even if we told them the truth."
"Dammit all they're so hopped up on the promise of power that... Okay, well, we just gotta play it safe, right?" Sol asked in response before catching himself.
"You know, we've been planning back and forth like madmen and I never got your name. I'm Sol" Sol said before extending his hand.
Alex smiled before returning the gesture and replying. "Alex."
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Chapter 2 will be released this coming Saturday. We're trying to plan around the idea of releasing chapters every two to three days after the previous one. This is so that readers have a chance to read the most current chapters before the next chapter is released.