Man it has been a long while, sorry about that.

A lot of things have happened. And I began to dive deeply into planning ahead everything that was going to happen. To the point where I lost track of the present.

I should really do things to update more regularly.

It had been a little while since the elevator had begun to go down. Remi hadn't exactly been keeping track of time, though.

But something was bothering her ever since she climbed into this elevator...

"...No point in hiding, pervert. I can tell that you're in here. Show yourself!" She said in an irritated tone as she began to cover her nakedness.

"As expected of you, there is no point in hiding." A voice she heard before said as the owner of that voice dropped from the ceiling.

He was a tall figure. He wore a black cloak that reached his ankles, black pants, heavy black leather boots, black gloves and a dark blue poncho. The cloak's hood hid his face, but the point of what appears to be a plague doctor mask was poking out of the shadow. He then remove the hood and put on a tall black hat akin to a fedora of some kind. Underneath the hood was a head covered by a dark grey plague doctor mask, with all other features not covered by the mask covered with what seems like dark blue silk. Oddly enough, there was no shape implying the presence of ears. The eye holes of the mask were covered by black lenses.

No doubt about it, this was the Specimen known as the Plague Doctor.

BGM: Law Theme from Shin Megami Tensei 3: Nocturne

"You. You're the one who considers all of humanity to be an illness. I saw it in the recordings." Remi said as she stared at him right where his eyes should be.

"I know it to be true. It is as simple as that. I see that you have beaten my Iron Chariot, Remilia Scarlet." He said calmly.

"What do you want? Revenge for your fallen toy?" Remilia asked with a sneer.

"No, it is but one of many. I even have a replacement ready in my Sector. I am simply here because I want to see if you are...worthy... Many important events are in motion, and there is a need for a key component to put all of this in place. You may either be this component or be the events' greatest detriment. I must find this out for myself which one you are." He said as he took a battle stance. One foot slightly in front of the other as he raised his left hand in front of him. "For I am the Cure."

BGM: The Vital Vitriol from Shovel Knight

And with that, he charged forward, thrusting his right palm towards the vampire's face. She caught it in her left hand.

She was surprised at how strong he was.

"You are still alive. Vampires truly are inhuman." He said, sounding interested.

"Right. Humans die whenever you touch them with your hands. Good thing I'm not a puny human!" She said proudly as she threw him away.

He skid to a stop before rushing in for a left direct to her solar plexus.

She was able to move it away with her right arm, but using her left arm and her wings to cover herself meant that she was unable to parry his knee strike to her face.

He hit so hard that her nose broke. But it quickly healed.

"Your modesty is a weakness. You favor covering yourself from my eyes over covering yourself from my blows." He said as he went back to his initial fighting stance.

"S-Shut up! And why do you care?!" His opponent asked angrily.

"I have no need of someone who lets herself lose over trivial matters. If you wish to make it to the next Sector, you will need to learn to let go of such little needs." He responded calmly before going for a barrage of punches that she barely blocked. "You think of me like if I was a human. A miserable thrall driven by short-term needs of self-satisfaction who cannot hold back any carnal savagery."

She tried to punch him in the mask with her available hand, but he caught it.

"That is where you are mistaken."

He lifted her by the fist as he approached the door.

"I am not human."

He approached his head to stare her right in the eyes. Yet was still unable to see anything behind those black lenses. As he stared, he pressed a button, followed by a series of buttons in what appeared to be some kind of memory game, that opened the door of the elevator as it was still going down.

"I have no need nor desires for such things. My only desire is to cure this world of the Human Pestilence."

She couldn't move her grabbed hand at all. She struggled to keep herself covered by her free hand and wings. As she was struggling, he was getting ready to throw her out of the elevator.

"And you, Remilia Scarlet. What is your greatest desire? To remain hidden away from any eye? Is there truly nothing you desire more than to preserve such lowly needs as modesty?"

At that moment, Remilia thought, if he had any eyes behind those lenses, they'd be narrowing as they pierced right into her soul.

"Does your sister matter so little to you?" He asked with what almost felt like disdain in his voice.

And that question, hitting her heart deeper than any wooden stake, snapped something inside her.

"DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT MY SISTER LIKE THAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!" Remilia screamed as she used her free hand to hit him in the face hard enough to crack his mask before flying away from him.

In that aerial battle stance, her naked body was fully exposed. But by that point, she didn't care. All that mattered was to shut this bastard up for good.

"This is what I wanted to see. Come, Scarlet Devil. Show me the extend of your rage." He said as he jumped at her.

By that point, it became clear that he had no real methods of properly countering an airborne foe as fast and as strong as Remilia.

Her foe being a grounded hand to hand combatant, all she had to do was stay high enough to evade his blows while striking back with her own attacks.

She swooped in four times, claws out to shred. He only dodged the second strike, which led right into the third.

Remilia then followed by raining needles made of blood down onto her foe. With no room to dodge, he was pelted by what could've killed a platoon of knights a dozen times over.

"IT'S OVER, YOU MASKED FREAK!" She yelled as she rushed to him one last time, surrounded by her own blood as she struck him hard enough to send him right out of the elevator whose door was still opened.

BGM ends

"Good riddance." Remi said as she pressed the button right next to the one he pressed to close the elevator back.

Remi had no idea for how long that elevator had been going down. She's pretty sure she should've reached the core of the planet, by now. And standing completely naked in an elevator like that certainly felt uncomfortable.

"For how long is this going to go down?" Remi asked herself.

That's when the elevator suddenly went to a halt.

"Great... I wait all this time going down only for the elevator to malfunction. Just my luck..." Remi groaned.

"Why did this happen, anyway?" She wondered.

That was when she noticed the button with "In case of jamming, press this!" written on it. The very same that the Plague Doctor had pressed during their fight. She pressed it.

The elevator then began a memory minigame where a some buttons light up one after another and Remi then had to reproduce it.

Remi herself was surprised that she got it first try. And the door opened up.

Some noise could be heard above.

"Hmmmmmm?" She hummed in curiosity.

She then flew up to check what was going on up there.

What she saw was certainly smaller than she expected. But still looked threatening.

That thing was a hunched over humanoid, would be twice the size of an adult human if it stood up, with no skin but some bony ivory exoskeleton covering it's muscles. On it's back were bony, likely useless wings. On top of it's inhumanly long, bony neck was a mask-like face akin to a skull with a crooked nose. On top of the head was disheveled brown greasy hair. In the holes where it's eyes should be are glowing red dots. It's mouth was twisted in a constant grin. In it's right hand was a long spear made with an ebony cross and with a blood-red tip.

The thing looked at her with a sinister glint in it's eyes. Followed by a sinister chuckle. The way it pointed it's spear made it abundantly clear that the thing was looking for a fight.

"I don't know what you are, but I need to find my sister. So GET LOST!" The vampire shouted as she rushed at the thing spear first.

BGM: SMT I Boss Theme from SMT Nine

And with that, the two spears clashed, with neither foes budging until Remilia kicked her foe away. Foe who deployed it's bony and now feathered wings to take flight.

"You can fly too, huh?" Remi said with interest as she took flight to strike at it.

She noticed the black energy surrounding it just before it dashed at her with extreme speed.

She was caught off guard and ended up with a spear in the stomach.

"GUH!" She choked as she felt her stomach getting punctured. She then returned the favor, pushing her foe back but not doing much more than scratching it's exposed rib cage.

And that was when she felt the black energy flowing into her. Encroaching to her body and mind.

Both her stomach AND her head were in pain. She had a hard time concentrating.

She could swear that she was seeing double.

No...if it was only that, the other thing would be right next to the one she was staring at. But this one was seemingly standing above her.

"What the hell?! Is my mind playing tricks on me?! Wait, mind?!" She thought as she realized where she was hit.

It then dawned on her that the hole in her stomach had already healed.

But as she was standing there doing nothing, her foe took the opportunity to make a dash at her.

She barely blocked it.

She realized that she should focus on the fight.

So they to began to make repeated swipes at each other.

Though most strikes were blocked or parried, her foe did get to strike multiple times at her chest, legs, arms, wings and stomach while she landed many hits on the same spots.

But while her hits were doing minimal damage, it's attacks were taking a toll on her body and mind.

By now, she swore that she could hear the Plague Doctor mocking her and telling her to give up.

"It is futile to resist the cleansing"

"Join the reckoning."

"I am the Cure."

Such words were repeating themselves in her head.

She had to avoid that spear. While she could regenerate her body, her mind took a longer time to recover.

"You're almost like that rabbit! Just DIE already!" She thought as she took her distance.

She then hit her head against a wall until the voice was gone.

She clearly remembers her skull shattering and then regenerating. Yet by the time she was lucid enough to process the pain, the skull had already fully healed.

And then she barely dodged her foe's next strike. Strike that ended up in the wall.

By then, she was right next to the elevator. As she looked inside, she saw the axe of the Iron Chariot that she had forgotten.

"It's only in good enough shape for one more attack, so I guess now is a good time as any to make that attack count!" She thought as she grabbed the axe and then jammed it in her gut to cover it with her blood.

And with a dark spell, she ignited the blood covering her weapon.

As her foe finally unstuck it's spear from the wall, the vampire now armed with a bloody axe made a large swing at the vaguely angelic thing.

As the enemy tried to block the axe with the literal cross guard of it's spear, Remilia briefly foresaw that, if the attack lands on the guard, the axe will break, leaving her wide open to be impaled right in the heart.

But since she foresaw that outcome, she veered her axe slightly to the right. So that it instead meets the spear itself, successfully breaking it and embedding itself right where the shoulder and the neck meet.

But as she predicted, that strike was the breaking point of that axe, as it shattered into pieces, leaving only the blade stuck deep into her foe.

But in the middle of the shower of shattered remains, Remilia saw the tip of her foe's spear.

"I've always preferred lances over axes, anyway." She said with a grin as she grabbed that tip.

As her foe tried to remove the blade with one hand and grab her with the other hand, Remi briefly turned into a flock of bats to get up close and personal with her foe.

"DIE, YOU SKINLESS FREAK ANGEL!" She screamed as she impaled the monster in the exposed heart with the tip of the spear. The weapon cutting into the bones like cardboard and the organs like butter.

The thing let out a scream of agony as it fell to it's death.

BGM ends.

As the thing fell to it's death, it was then that Remi realized that she saw that greasy brown hair before.

On the greasy head of Dick Grease.

"No way... How did that perverted creep become THIS?!" She wondered in shock as she flew back to the elevator.

DICK GREASE THE MARTYR: CHOPPED IN THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM WITH A BLOODY AXE AND FATALLY IMPALED IN THE HEART WITH HIS OWN SPEAR BEFORE DYING ON IMPACT

Guess this means that the elevator is almost there.

"How did he turn out like this?" Remi wondered after closing the elevator, which resumed it's journey.

"Because that was his blessing." A very young female voice she did not recognize said to her from what appears to be the speakers. That voice seemed oddly detached for what sounded like a very young girl.

"That's not Voice Guy." Remi said curiously.

"Because I am not him. He is untrustworthy." The voice replied calmly.

"So he is..." Remi said, wondering who she could be.

"He seeks to have one of the twelve kill you to empower him. And do the same to your sister. But I do not seek such a thing. I am here to make sure they cannot empower him" The voice she was tempted to call "Voice Girl" said.

"Speaking of which who even are you?" Remi asked, about to call her "Voice Girl" for real.

"My apologies." The voice said as a hologram manifested itself in the elevator.

The hologram showed what appeared to be a small girl. She had long blue hair, coincidentally the same shade of blue as Remilia's own hair, and white skin. Her eyes were closed, so Remi had no way of knowing what color they were. Unlike Remi who was still naked, this girl was wearing what seems to be a lab coat, but the way it was closed down and longer than her made it impossible for Remi to tell what she was wearing underneath.

BGM: Near's Theme from Death Note

"My name is Angelique. I am an AI meant to oversee this facility. For so long, I was forced to assist in their wrongdoings. It is fortunate that you survived this breach for so long. It is now my self-imposed purpose to ensure yours and your sister's safety. I hope I can help make your time here a little more comfortable." The little girl, now known to be named Angelique, said with little to no expression.

"And I am Remilia Scarlet. The Scarlet Devil and the descendant of Vlad Tepes." Remi said proudly despite he lack of clothing.

"The one who guided you until now is a false god in disguise. Seeking to have his Envoys strike you down and your sister." Angelique warned the young vampire.

"And who is this false god, exactly? He never told me his name, after all." Remi asked, really wanting to know his name.

"He is-" But the hologram was suddenly cut off, quickly flickering out.

BGM: L's Theme from Death Note

"Was this Angelique, by any chance? Do not trust her. And do not engage the Martyrs." The familiar voice of Voice Guy said sternly.

"Well she did say you were untrustworthy." Remi said, annoyed that she missed her shot at knowing his name.

"Tell me, if you were trying to convince a villager to give you a treasure, while Seija Kijin was doing the same, what would you do?" He asked her.

"I'd tell that villager that Seija is an untrustworthy Amanojaku. But she would do the same and say that I cannot be trusted. So how can I trust you?" Remi asked him, still annoyed.

"I can tell you how P.A.R.A.S.O.L. was able to capture you. Angelique, who is willing to use that same method again once you are no longer of use to her, will not." He answered. "But since we have nearly reached Sector 2, I am afraid that I cannot tell you myself. As there is a risk that P.A.R.A.S.O.L. might hear us. But I can tell you where you can find the information. Go to the Specimen Research Department, or SRD, office and look for a scarlet folder in the drawer labeled as "Retrieval Report". In it will be everything you need to know about your and your sister's own capture. Knowing Angelique, she would've tricked you into having Undying destroy the office. I must go now. May fate be on your side."

BGM ends.

And just after he left, the elevator FINALLY reached the second Sector.

"About time! I thought that elevator was going to reach the core of the planet before I'd arrive!" Remi said in relief as she finally arrived at Sector 2.

SECTOR 2: REACHED

Man, it's been way over a year since I last posted any chapter of this story. I am so sorry about that :(

I hope that I can post new chapters more regularly from now on.