Blood of the Covenant: One Demon Plan, Two Men Laughs (DMC V - Double SI)

[Rise Shine]

Oh hey Cassandras here! And shes gone! And she's back! And she's going! And he caught up to her! And she's gone!
Cassandra, do you or do you not want to be in the chapter.

I always struggle to keep track of PoV in fights when they switch so rapidly like that.

Deformuo Angelo huh? I like it.

 

[Yuki no Yue]

Thanks. We tried a bit of classic horror. How did it land?

 

[Atma]

Statue of Infinity

Items:

Blue Orb: 750 Red Orbs
Purple Orb: 1,750 Red Orbs
Gold Orb: 1,000 Red Orbs
Vital Star (S): 250 Red Orbs
Vital Star (M): 500 Red Orbs
Vital Star (L): 750 Red Orbs
Devil Star (S): 750 Red Orbs
Devil Star (M): 1,500 Red Orbs
Devil Star (L): 2,250 Red Orbs
Holy Star: 500 Red Orbs
Holy Water: 2000 Red Orbs
Untouchable: 3000 Red Orbs
Life-Saving Device (L): 25.000 Red Orbs

Personal Enhancement:

Demonic Strengthening (L) Strength: 500 Red Orbs (?)
Demonic Strengthening (L) Dexterity: 500 Red Orbs (?)
Demonic Strengthening (L) Charisma: 500 Red Orbs (?)
Basic Enhancement (Physical): 5,000 Red Orbs

• Advanced Enhancement (Physical): 25.000 Red Orbs
• Peak Enhancement (Physical): 50.000 Red Orbs

Basic Enhancement (Mystical): 5,000 Red Orbs

• Advanced Enhancement (Mystical): 25,000 Red Orbs
• Peak Enhancement (Mystical): 50,000 Red Orbs

Weapons:

Basic Wand: 100 Red Orbs
Basic Scepter: 150 Red Orbs
Basic Staff: 200 Red Orbs
Basic One Handed Melee Weapon: 250 Red Orbs
Basic Two-Handed Melee Weapon: 300 Red Orbs
Basic Enchanted Wand: 600 Red Orbs
Basic Enchanted Scepter: 650 Red Orbs
Basic Enchanted Staff: 700 Red Orbs
Basic Enchanted Handgun: 1,000 Red Orbs
Basic Enchanted Shotgun: 2,000 Red Orbs

Spells:

Enochian Magic Level 1 – Basic: 500 Red Orbs
Enochian Magic Level 2 – Intermediate: 2,500 Red Orbs
Enochian Magic Level 3 – Advanced: 5,000 Red Orbs
Enochian Magic Level 4 – Master: 10,000 Red Orbs

Magic Knowledge Level 1 – Basic: 500 Red Orbs
Magic Knowledge Level 2 – Intermediate: 5,000 Red Orbs
Magic Knowledge Level 3 – Advanced: 10,000 Red Orbs
Magic Knowledge Level 4 – Master: 20,000 Red Orbs
Bullet Spell: 250 Red Orbs

• Rapid Fire 1: 500 Red Orbs
  • Rapid Fire 2: 4.000 Red Orbs
    • Bullet Storm: 8.000 Red Orbs
• Double Bullet: 500 Red Orbs
• Charged Bullet 1: 600 Red Orbs
  • Charged Bullet 2: 2.700 Red Orbs
    • Bomb Bullet: 9.000 Red Orbs
• Elemental Infusion: 10.000 Red Orbs

Barrier Spell: 500 Red Orbs

• Full Barrier: 2.500 Red Orbs
• Strengthened Barrier 1: 2.000 Red Orbs
  • Strengthened Barrier: 2: 8.000 Red Orbs
    • Castle of Stone: 16.000 Red Orbs

Beam Spell: 500 Red Orbs

• Empowered Beam 1: 2.000 Red Orbs
  • Empowered Beam 2: 6.000 Red Orbs
    • Laser Beam: 12.000 Red Orbs
• Elemental Infusion: 10.000 Red Orbs

Abilities:

Stinger: 1,500 Red Orbs
Air Hike: 2,000 Red Orbs – Use Demonic Energy for a double jump
Enemy Step: 3,000 Red Orbs – Use enemies as a platform for a higher double jump
Table Hopper: 4,500 Red Orbs – A dodge that shifts the user behind their enemy
Trigger Heart: 7,500 Red Orbs – Reduce the rate of magical use

Hybridization

Imperfect Hybridization (Demonic Body Parts Required): 75,000 Red Orbs
Perfect Hybridization (Demonic Body Parts Required): 100,00 Red Orbs/ (No Body Parts Required) 25,000 Red Orbs
Hybrid Power Enhancement: 250,000 Red Orbs
Greater Hybrid Power Enhancement: 500,00 Red Orbs

Miscellaneous

Care Package A: 200 Red Orbs – A set of sturdy clothes for use in battle
Care Package B: 300 Red Orbs – A pack of generic food rations
Care Package C: 400 Red Orbs – A set of basic first-aid supplies
Care Package D: 600 Red Orbs – A set of armor from an earlier time.

 

[Atma]

Gates of Hell Shop

Devil Arms:

Devil Arms Basic Type: These pieces right here are standard fare for low ranking demons. Easy to make, and not important enough to matter if bought and sold. Only thing is, these weapons are more quantity than quality. So even though they'll hit harder than anything in the human world, don't expect them to hold a candle to more legitimate devil arms.

• Devil Arm – Basic Type A (Marionette Dagger): 1000 CP
• Devil Arm – Basic Type B (Finis Sword): 1000 CP
• Devil Amr – Basic Type C (Hell Pride Scythe): 1000 CP
• Devil Arm – Basic Type D (Scarecrow Axe): 1000 CP

Nidhogg: 10,000 Red Orbs

• Whip, Health Drain on Hit

Geryon: 10,000 Red Orbs

• Time Altering Lance

Malphas: 10,000 Red Orbs

• Demonic Magic Staff

Vendetta: 10,000 Red Orbs

• Sword claimed to have been forged from a fragment of Death's Scythe

Nightmare Gamma: 10,000 Red Orbs

• Demonic gun fueled by magic energy

Angel Arms

Angel Arms Basic Type: It's not what you'd usually find down here, but there's always a market for what the other side is using. These babies are some of the basic arms of the forces of Paradiso. But watch yourself. The energies of this place don't play well with 'em, so unlike the devil arms here, they'll eventually break on ya. But if you want something that'll last, you'll have to pay a premium, ya dig?

• Angel Arm – Basic Type A (Spear): 2000 Red Orbs
• Angel Arm – Basic Type B (Sword): 2000 Red Orbs
• Angel Arm – Basic Type C (Channeling Staff): 2000 Red Orbs
• Angel Arm – Basic Type D (Breaker Wheel): 2000 Red Orbs

Infinite Circuit: 10,000 Red Orbs

• Golden Rings that can mimic basic angel arms

Longinus: 10,000 Red Orbs

• Spear used by Lumen Sages

Elysium: 10,000 Red Orbs

• Bladed shield that can be used like a whip

Madonna: 10,000 Red Orbs

• Heavenly Mace with the image of the Virgin Mother

Please note, that a lot of these items were created early on to create a baseline of what we wanted to work off of. As seen in previous chapters, the Punks absolutely purchased some of these weapons for their own personal use.

 

[Atma]

Alex Skills:

• Calcabrina (Combined Form)

  • Float (Keeping the umbrella open will slow down any fall to a gentle float) - 2.500 Red OrbsBought
    • Levitate (As long as the Umbrella is open, the weight of the user is reduced to almost nothing. Higher jump, can walk on fragile and liquid surfaces) - Require Float,5.000 Red OrbsBought
      • Fly (Glide/flight for a short distance with directional momentum chosen at the start of the movement) - Require Levitate, 10.000 Red Orbs Bought

• Calca (Sheath)

  • Rainproof (Require Barrier) (Strengthen the Barrier and extend it beyond the Umbrella's edge) - 5.000 Red OrbsBought
    • Waterproof (Require Rainproof) (Barrier is strengthened and extended more) - 15.000 Red Orbs Bought

• Brina (Sword)

  • Running Stitch (The tip of the sword is charged with magical energy and, on hit, releases a thin beam of energy in the enemy) - 8.000 Red Orbs Bought

• Seraphim

  • Sing! (Basic attack)(An area attack that uses sonic waves to hit everyone around the user. Short range.)
    • Contralto (The Sing! Attack rises in power and pitch, shattering hard materials and flying back the enemies around the user) - 7.500 Red Orbs Bought

• Geryon Hybrid Powers

  • Blink (Move from one place to another without any time in between. Limited to five seconds of movements, only places that are physically accessible): 7.500 Red Orbs - Bought
  • Time Bubble (Create a bubble of slowed time in front of you that lasts for three seconds): 15.000 Red Orbs - Bought

• Devil Trigger Techniques

  • Calcabrina
    • Geryon-Iai, First Chime: Cutting Between the Seconds (The cut is done between moments, making it basically unavoidable as long as the victim is in range of Alex. Doesn't extend his range, but grants the use of Blink to move before striking) Already owned
    • Geryon-Iai, Second Chime: Heavy Blade of Times Past (The incredible amount of possibilities of cutting in his range turns Calcabrina into what looks like a greatsword. The cut is repeated innumerable times once it hits.) Already Owned
  • Seraphim
    • Sing, O Muse, of the Rage of Achilles! (The feathers detach and vibrate, turning into a storm of sonic lances that shoot toward the enemy) Already Owned

Yuki no Yue

Let me know if I missed anything or added too much.

 

[Atma]

Sol Techniques

• Air Hike

• Stinger

• Basic Physical Enhancement x2

Sol Weapons

• Gevaudan (Sword State)

  • Rush Cut (5,000 Red Orbs) – Sol rushes forward, performing a wide two-handed horizontal slash BOUGHT
    • Beat Cut (15,000 Red Orbs) – Upon completion of the first slash, Sol can perform two more slashes for devastating effect. BOUGHT
      • Thriller (20,000 Red Orbs) – The final version of this attack, Sol unleashes a devastating series of slashes at a target. BOUGHT
        • Breakaton (30,00 Red Orbs, Requires Thriller) – A finishing downward strike that is meant to shatter armor or hard skin/scales. BOUGHT

• Gevaudan (Whip State)

  • Dragline (5,000 Red Orbs) – Allows Gevaudan's whip form to extend to greater lengths than physically possible. BOUGHT
    • Constriction (10,000 Red Orbs) (Dragline Required) – Allow the whip to wrap around foes, holding them in place for a brief period. BOUGHT

• Vendetta

  • NO SKILLS

• Geryon B

  • Time Step (10,000 Red Orbs) – Sol can use the inherent time-altering nature of the demon-infused armor to extend a dodge by a second or two. BOUGHT

• Demon Arm

  • Abyssal Punch (20,000 Red Orbs) – Sol can channel the demonic energy in his left arm to unleash a devastating blow. BOUGHT

 

[Atma]

Over the next few hours of planning, darkness had descended on the copied city as a demon of truly gargantuan size slowly moved across the sun. As the new 'morning' rose, the nazi that had been tasked with watch duty gave his report to his supervisor and went to catch some sleep.

Sadly for him, he wouldn't get to sleep at all. In fact, the alarm sirens started echoing through the tower a few minutes after the light of the sun had reestablished itself onto the city when the new watcher saw that there was a veritable army moving towards the Tower. Well, an army was a big word to use, but it was most of the Punks, along with Richie, that was coming towards the Tower like a pack of hell hounds. Ten more were jumping from roof to roof with Alex at the helm, proudly flying in front of everyone else, as a massive 'fuck you' to the nazis in the tower.

In the depths of the building, Sol and ten more punks blasted their way in. With the sounds of battle manifesting on three fronts, the nazis scrambled to their defenses. However, it wouldn't be enough. Alex started the assault with a barrage of bullets, before finally managing to destroy the gate with a charged bullet. The resulting explosion was the first signal for the underground team to be ready.

The nazis scrambled to their defenses, but they didn't manage much before Alex hit the outer doors. The doors were sent flying inside, now mere twisted remnants of what they once were. That let the group of Punks stream inside, meeting the nazis face to face. While they could have met the punks with some degree of success, the nazis quickly faced another problem. From behind their ranks, Sol and the punks with him had arrived.

"Abyssal Punch!!!" Sol roared as red demonic energy flooded from his arm and charged his punch. The chest of the nazi he targeted detonated and they fell back into the crowd in a boneless heap.

"No Quarter!" Sol shouted to the ten punks with him before joining the fray.

Alex smirked before he bellowed out a challenge to the Leader, his voice roaring, displaying his whole might since the start of his summoning. "COME AND FACE ME, IF YOU DARE!"

The shout was so powerful that made everyone in the room cower a bit and cover their eyes, while the glass windows vibrated from it. Sol had just slashed the throat of another nazi before looking up to where the noise came from.

"Alright everyone, finish them off and make your way upstairs. Avoid the elevators, they could cut the cables." Sol shouted over the din before turning to the stairwell and ascending. He had climbed several flights of stairs, hearing several punks trailing behind him before a door was thrown from its hinges in front of Sol. Before he could react, a clawed hand grabbed him by the neck and threw him into the room.

"What did you do to me!? I can't turn the armor off! I can't do anything with it!" The figure raged.

Sol recognized the second Deformato he created. He then spotted several punks looking in, before he quietly signaled them to continue on and faced down the Deformato.

Raising his arm, Sol stated hotly "We're both pumping demonic power into ourselves, I just made you honest about it."

"Damn YOU!" The Deformato roared and charged at him.

******************************

While the inside of the Tower turned into a battleground to rival an ancient war, the outside was… increasingly calm. Alex had flown upwards, as fast as he could, until he had reached the roof. On it, as he had expected, the Leader was waiting for him, already shining a pale gold, his wings extended and floating there.

"So, you've come. What, you don't have enough people? Your running away yesterday has filled you with bravery?" His tone was obviously mocking, but Alex simply smiled and stepped down on the roof, Calcabrina back in his hands.

"I remember singing a serenade for you before getting away. Not exactly the behavior of someone that's running, now, is it?" Alex asked mockingly.

******************************

Sol was forced to use Time Step to dodge the strikes by the Deformato. It wasn't that it was faster than the one Sol had inadvertently created earlier. It was that the pain had faded and the Deformato was fueled by directed anger and rage, focused directly at Sol. This didn't prevent Gevaudan from carving a deep gash in its side.

"Gah!!! Stand Still!" The Deformato roared.

"What and make it easy? This is a world where you try to rule without humanity. Deal with it." Sol stated before raising both Gevaudan and his new shotgun.

******************************

Alex kept the staring contest between himself and the Leader going for a few seconds more before he vanished from sight in a spontaneous Blink and tried to land on the Leader from above. Alex only managed a long scratch on the armor, but he also didn't fall down from the Tower, so there was that.

"Mutt! Insolent traitor! I will skin you and burn you alive!" The nazi shouted while taking the long way around and attempting a flyby on Alex, a giant sword made of light firmly in his hands.

Alex just smiled and shot forward, his feet easily finding the flat side of Calcabrina.

*****************************

The shotgun blast didn't do much to the Deformato, but it was enough to blind it momentarily. With the opportunity presented, Sol loosened Gevaudan and wrapped it around the Deformato's neck, and tossed it through a wall.

In the ensuing dust cloud blinded Sol for a moment, but a moment was more than enough for the Deformato to leap up and tackle him through the opposing wall. Sol managed to free himself through a punch that left a sizable dent in the Deformato's skull. It thrashed backwards and the two eventually squared off against each other.

******************************

Alex and the Leader clashed several times in succession, the larger blade of the nazi hitting the cane-sword that Alex was brandishing. Each meeting caused a ringing of steel to echo in the air, but neither of them was gaining any advantage over the other.

Alex was in a slightly worse position, though, because of his lesser maneuverability in the air. Still, he was more than a match for the leader.

At least, until he started blasting down with rays of light that easily pierced the stone that made the tower.

"Stay still and die like the bug you are!"

******************************

Sol glared at the figure and decided it was time to end this. He raised the shotgun and fired. The Deformato tried to dodge but the wound to its eye slowed it down. The pellets threw it off its game, partially spinning it to the side and Sol was on it. Using the knowledge that the statue gave him, he unleashed Thriller. The resulting series of slashes tore through Deformato's armored body leaving weeping wounds. Sol took a step back and leaped up before coming down.

"Breakaton!" He shouted and he slashed down. Gevaudan cleaved through the Deformato from head to groin. Tearing Gevaudan free, Sol watched the Deformato collapse into a mass of red orbs. Content with the end of the fight, Sol rejoined the rest of the conflict.

******************************

Alex managed to avoid several shots from the Leader, seemingly waiting for something. Then, that something did finally happen.

The glow around the Leader started to diminish. Only a little bit, at first, before falling rather rapidly.

"What…" The nazi choked out, before falling toward the roof, his wings suddenly not working anymore. He slammed against the concrete, leaving a deep imprint on it, and then stood there, motionless.

"What… happened…" He managed to choke out, while Alex simply walked to him.

"Simple: your soldiers are being slaughtered. I was a distraction, the army outside was a distraction, the true attack came from the sewers. A pincer maneuver, with a twist: there were three parts to it, not just two." Calcabrina vanished inside the inventory, before Seraphim appeared in his hands.

"You see, I'm not so arrogant to think that you are stupid. You are the right kind of smart that can control a bunch of nazis, after all." Without taking care of what the Leader was attempting to say, Alex put the tip of the staff right on the forehead of the nazi leader. "So, you must have some kind of intelligence. I just banked on your arrogance and superiority complex. I mean, your enemies were punks and two people that ran from you just the day before. It was obvious that they would join forces and attack you. It was obvious that they would go for the full frontal attack. And it was obvious that they would have something in reserve, like an attack from the roofs." He placed the bottom tip of his weapon against the forehead of the nazi leader, his expression a mask of coldness.

A moment of silence. Then…

"You… played…. me…." The Leader rattled out, his breath going fainter and fainter, the glow around him now completely gone. Alex chuckled.

"Like the cheap kazoo you are. Now, goodbye forever." Seraphim's feather fan opened and vibrations traveled down the ribbons and the shaft, until it exploded out from the tip at the bottom in a tight cone of sound that splattered the head of the nazi leader in red and gray paste.

"And so it ends."

**************************************************

Sol followed the signs of battle, passing several punks tending to their wounds and bodies of nazis that had been patrolling the upper floors. He made it past the Alto dissection room and came across Alex.

"It's done?" He asked simply.

Alex didn't say anything, he just remained on the floor, his torso propped against the wall and his head thrown back, eyes towards the ceiling. Not that it matters, he had his eyes closed.

Still, he answered Sol's question. "He died like a dog."

That was probably one of the harshest sentences that he had ever said. Even then, unbidden, he kept speaking.

"It was just a simple game of keep-away. I had only to stall for a few moments, you and the punks did the heavy lifting. He literally fell on his back like a beached turtle." One of his hands waved in the air. "I did basically nothing. And I got Fifty Thousand Red Orbs for playing at being an executioner." Alex then lapsed into a pregnant silence for a moment as he said nothing else. Only a little hiccup escaped his lips before his expression smoothed back down into pallidness.

Sol didn't say anything when he heard the hiccup, merely looked at his left hand, clenched and relaxed it several times, and moved past Alex to look at the skyline.

In an attempt to put the inevitable discussion aside for a little while, Sol began to speak. "I guess now that that has been handled we can move on, maybe find our way to the next ring or level through the sewers. I doubt it'll be a nice trip, but I don't know about you, but I really want to meet the son of a bitch who sent us here and deliver a formal complaint."

"I can imagine what you mean by 'formal complaint'. And I'm in favor of it, no doubt." Alex answered, still not looking at Sol. "But I need a couple of moments more. Before... Before we take the Alto Angelo, put an end to his suffering and use his parts as replacements. I do want to be free of the risk of killing myself with my own power. And the Alto Angelo is the only other humanoid demon that I have found lately."

He lapsed into silence for a long moment, before exhaling. "But… give me a few minutes. I need to… I need to… I need... I need a moment."

Silence.

Sol put his hand, his human hand, on Alex's shoulder. "Take as much time as you need. I'm feeling... okay with this. They would have I'll be with the Alto, and I still have the eyes if you need them." Sol said, his voice choking up ever so slightly before he attempted to leave the room.

Alex's hand on his own stopped him.

"Talk to me. I need to be distracted. You need to unload. I need to unload. Choose a reason, I'm not picky. I don't want to be alone with my thoughts right now." His tone wasn't pleading, but almost.

Sol was quiet for a few moments before lowering his arm. "You know when… when Geryon struck you, I damn near lost it. People used to joke that I have a martyr complex about things. I guess it manifested there. I made a promise to myself then and there, that I wouldn't let you be alone in the process that saved your life… I'd have wanted it on my own terms, but we can't change the past, no matter how much we try…"

Sol raised his demonic arm to Alex. "This is a test… a long-term test of our humanity, and unlike these fucks." Sol spat, "We're not letting this place warp us, and we're not being Arkham's vying for stolen power, losing our humanity like that fuck Allan. At a basic level, like I said before, I'm okay with what we had to do today. If we prevent people like this or the Red Eyes from escaping here and wreaking god knows what sort of havoc on the world, I can live with that. I could look at myself in the mirror and I can live with that."

Alex shivered. "You are right. Without a doubt. And he was a nazi. And I have tried to not kill anyone. And I still did it, I'm not making excuses, I'm offering explanations, no matter what others might say. But it still… It's… It's not like Red Eyes or the demons or even the guy that attacked me while in the mall. He was… I made the plan that ended with him being killed. With all the people down there killed. And I'm… I have… Can I really go home like this?"

Sol took a moment to think the question over before he responded. "I guess we're going to have to… We're not chosen ones sent to battle a great evil, we're the sacrifices to it, or at least we're meant to be. If we don't stop it here… then it'll just keep doing it again and again. I think all we can really do is just move forward and hope that our actions save more lives than destroy," Sol paused for a moment before finishing with, "Or at the very least avenge those that were lost."

Alex stilled for a moment before he exhaled all he had in his lungs and nodded. "You're right. Also… I have an inkling that we are not going to be able to go back home. I… You know how I got the latest Magic Knowledge that the statue offered, yes? Well…" He seemed rather choked up, but he tried to continue.

"Where we are from… it sounds like… The dimensional barriers. The Qliphoth is… Look, I'm trying to say that…." The more he tried to explain, the less he managed to say.

"This demon fucked us in more ways than one." Sol finished before looking towards the skyline.

There was an expression of anger on his face, a quiet fury that seemed to seethe as he looked onto the mimicry city. As if reciting a line, Sol began to speak. "Be you angel or demon… you will regret giving us this accursed power."

"Was that a quote?" Alex asked, his mood broken by the sudden sentence, a bewildered look on his face.

"Yeah… Gale of the Embyron..." Sol replied while beginning to hold his left arm before continuing. "We're going to kill that bastard, one way or another."

"I find myself in perfect accord with what you just said: whoever or whatever brought us here… will not escape with a house on the head. There's no ruby slippers for them to send us back home with them unscathed." Alex's face was now back into his bland smile, but his eyes… they were cold, a silver light that shone like a torch in the darkness. Then, as that coldness came, it went, leaving him looking a bit more normal. "At least we didn't end up in Shin Megami Tensei. I mean, it's not like Warhammer 40k or Worm or similar, but still…"

"I'm with you. I'd rather not be dealing with nukes, psychotic angels, or any of the other cornucopia of nightmares that could exist there." Sol finished before giving Alex a look. "Are you feeling better?"

"I'm feeling like myself." Alex's answer was a non-answer, in truth, but still better than before. "I'm feeling like I need to eat a crapton of chocolate in various forms, pizza and soda and candies and whatever else comes to mind. I want to sit in front of a computer and read for hours. I want to go back home. But I cannot. I know that I cannot. And I also know that I - and you, I'm so sorry for this - will not be able to return."

His expression was somber. "There's only one way for us to go back home with a hundred percent success rate: eat the Qliphoth's fruit. That alone - unless you want to sacrifice the entire population of New York or London - would give me enough power to rip open the dimensional membrane, create a passageway that can stay solid for enough time for us to travel through it and not destroy us when the physics of reality reassess themselves upon our bodies."

Sol gave a mirthless laugh, "We're not taking that option. I want to go home, I truly do. But I'm not about to kill innocent people en masse for that to happen. I truly couldn't live with myself if that's what it took."

He turned to Alex. "If preventing more of this happening means I stay here in this world then so be it. There's always other options, we'll just need to find them. Dante made it to SMT, maybe we could hitch a ride on the Amala Network?"

Alex blinked at Sol for a moment, before something seemed to… click, for lack of a better word, inside him.

"The Amala Network… no. No offense, but I want to stay as far away from that specific iteration of YHVH as possible. But…" He seemed to sketch something in the air with his fingers, something that shone silver for a moment, the air itself shivering and twisting slightly.

"At the end of Devil May Cry Five, there's a dimensional rip right at the top of the Qliphoth, after the duel between Dante and Vergil, remember? I can use that. It's gonna be rough, but I can use that." Alex began before smiling. "It's not going to be precise or anything, but I can… basically throw us somewhere else than here. Somewhere where the edges of the dimensional barriers are less solid."

Sol snapped his fingers "Yes! Yes, that could work!" Sol responded, matching Alex's enthusiasm. He turned back to the skyline, "We're going to beat you! We're going to win!"

"Suck it!" Alex joined Sol in his shouting, laughing like madmen all the time.

The Punks that had just reached the entrance and were choosing what to do stopped moving for a long moment, before looking at each other and, silently, stepped back, closing the door and leaving the two madmen alone.

*************************************************************

The duo standing in front of the bound Alto Angelo were mostly silent while studying the chains that kept the angelic-looking demon tied down.

"So…" Alex started, looking at the places where the chain connected to the wall. "Do we break the wall and bring the whole thing with us? Or just kill the demon and sever the chains?"

"I…I guess." Sol said while looking at the body with no small degree of horror. "It's best that you do, though… how much do you think is left?" Sol asked.

"So, here's a little tidbit of nightmare fuel for you." Alex's tone was far too cheery. "You see the Alto Angelo in front of us? The one that looks like a torture victim? It's still alive."

"And they called themselves human." Sol said bitterly before looking around the room. "I'll see what else I can find here… end that thing's suffering."

"While it would be the humane thing to do - and isn't it ironic, coming from my mouth - a dead demon starts to vanish and we need it as intact as possible. So, we'll search together, then we will move to the statue as fast as we can." Alex kept his tone light, but he still moved, starting to look around the shelves and the crates all around the room. "Let's get a move on: I'm tired of this."

Sol nodded before sorting through whatever he could find. There were files catered everywhere but he managed to find a few that were still relatively together and he began to read some of them.

<Date Unknown, Location Red Grave City. The city name was provided to us by a resident who had joined the cause sometime prior to arrival. Time and date are difficult to get an exact read on, as a large demonic entity seems to move across the sun at irregular intervals. We will be referring to these day-to-night transitions as cycles.>

Sol paused and searched the papers for more information on the Alto Angelo. He didn't find anything on it per se but he discovered more.

<Cycle 5, Location Redgrave City. The subhumans, both full-blooded and tainted, have fully sullied their bodies through demonic prostheses. Proof of their weakness, both physically and mentally. We have found a means to circumvent that weakness through our own superior intellect. We have discovered several demons clad in armor and with the power of the statue, we could harness that armor safely and surely…>

There was more.

<We have successfully created an armor system based on what we have taken to calling the Great Angel. We may have lost some members of our burgeoning empire to capture it, but their sacrifices were needed. Unfortunately, our enemies have tainted their lesser bodies too much for proper testing, so we'll test the system on some of our weaker members. Should the control device work, it combined with the power of the statue will assure our victory over this realm. A new future is ahead of us, we must take it for the pure. D. Ofnir.>

"You did all that, and we still ripped you guys to pieces," Sol muttered, more to himself than anyone else.

"Alex," He began, still looking at the note. "May have found something, but nothing concrete as to how they did it, just how and why they captured the Alto Angelo here," Sol said while handing Alex the files he found.

"Whoever this Ofnir guy is, I hope he died painfully." Sol said quietly.

"I'm going with him being the scientist that did all of…" Alex waved his hand towards the bound demon. "This. On my side, I haven't found anything. Lots of tools and… assorted equipment, probably something to make those armors, but nothing particularly… Oh." Alex's sudden silence was louder than any word that he could say.

"Yeah, no need to say…" Sol began before Alex interjected.

"No, not… Look." He took a few steps to the side and showed the spidery runes that formed the magical circle on the wall. They were glowing, for some strange reason, a menacing white that instilled in them a strange feeling of terror.

"They are different. I don't know how, but they are different." Alex pointed out.

"Let's look around for more files, maybe they could explain something about this array," Sol said, trying to shield his eyes from the runes.

"I hope." Alex answered before they started looking all over again.

However, it appeared that scientists had either found nothing, or the runes were a recent development. Considering the situation and effort in the room's set up, the last one was the more probable.

"I haven't found anything. You?" Alex asked, moving another crate of useless mechanical trinkets to the side.

"No… wait hold on." Sol said as he began to read a series of papers.

<Cycle 7, Location: Redgrave City. We've been having a difficult time keeping the Great Angel contained. Yes we have used physical cages to maintain a sense of separation, yes we have 'given' it lesser demons to consume for sustenance, but it is too willful. The Great Angel must learn to bow before its betters! We have some time, but the subhumans are whittling our numbers. We need this demon's armor and we need it now! D.Ofnir.>

Sol kept reading.

<Cycle 8, Location: Redgrave City. We may have had a breakthrough. One of our middle-ranked members, a Karl Raines, recently purchased the magic capacity. While I believe that science is a more stable and proactive method of our progression, the results have begun to speak for themselves. Raines utilized his new capacity with runes he had been learning, rather he had been reading from the Edda, and the tale of Fenrir's imprisonment. It is no chain, but it is keeping the Great Angel in a consistent location. D,Ofnir.>

<Cycle 11, Location Redgrave City. Extracting material from the Great Angel has been an exhaustive affair. Not in the actual removal of said material, but in keeping the demon docile enough to do so. Breaking the runic line seems to cause an immediate and violent reaction. This shouldn't be a problem, but the materials used to create the line are flimsy and fragile, hence easily broken. Raines has also become a problem himself, demanding that he be given greater access to the Great Angel for his efforts. I have studied medical sciences for years, endured humiliating circumstances, and I will not let this up-jumped street performer upstage me… Since he is such a fan of the Poetic Edda, I think I should expand his knowledge of it. There was an old ritual known as the blot. Most of the time, animals were used but there were occasions where a human offering was given unto Odin. I'm sure that in this place, blood will act as a more permanent binding material, and besides, no one said that I couldn't buy that capacity either. D.Ofnir.>

"Alex," Sol called out. "Looks like this Ofnir started using blood sacrifices for his work… and stabbed his aid in the back." Sol finished while handing Alex the files.

"He does mention runes… Do you think that the runic circle there is the remains of that ritual? It would explain the location, why it was hidden, and why there weren't any mentions of it in the files…" Alex mused, looking at the white runes.

"Still, the main question is… Do we attempt to use them?" His eyes searched for Sol's eyes, waiting for his answer.

"You need that demon alive, and considering its current state even if it were to attack we could still kill it easily. So I say we wipe the runes away and end its suffering." Sol said grimly.

"Makes sense." Alex touched the runes, ready to wipe them away. And then the duo of them were in a white space, on a circular platform made of white stone, with thirteen pillars around it. In front of them, a man in a white doctor's coat, his face a disfigured mess of blood and cuts, with hands ending in talons, two white bat-like wings sprouted from his back, and a series of snakes sprouting from a hole in the place where his navel should be.

"Ahahahahah… Other sacrifices? Other test subjects? Yes, yes, yes, more tests… AhahahahAHAHAHAHHA!"

Sol let out a sigh. "So that's why we didn't see or know of you?" Sol looked at Alex, "Alex, I think we just found our Arkham."

"Or equivalent, yeah." Alex's answer was filled with sadness. "We're going to release him from this prison, I'm guessing? Well, how do you want to deal with him?"

"End him, better we do it than have another potential Red Eye out about," Sol said in resignation before drawing Gevaudan and his shotgun.

"Eh, true. " Seraphim appeared in Alex's hands, while his face settled. "I'll give you ranged support, you go in close. Let's do this fast."

"Alright," Sol said before whipping Gevaudan at who he assumed was Ofnir.

"You fools, how could ever hope t…Gurk!" The deranged man was cut off as Gevaudan's coils wrapped around his neck. Sol pulled the man closed and struck up.

"Abyssal Punch! Blast him now Alex!" Sol shouted as Ofnir went into the sky of the void, with red, demonic, energy burned off him in waves.

Alex just aimed Seraphim, and a tight beam of sound shot toward the demonically altered human soul, hitting him straight in the chest and perforating it. He didn't bleed, though, as only more snakes came out and tried to bite Sol wherever they could reach.

"Do you have to call the name of the attack every time you use it?"

"Absolutely! It's no Falcon Punch, but any super punch deserves to pay homage to that move." Sol said while slicing several more serpents that slithered out from Ofnir.

"What manner of inanity is this!?" Ofnir shouted as he got back to his feet.

"It's a highly important conversation for people who did not become weird snake-batmen," Sol said simply.

"Also fuck you." Alex answered, shooting three more waves of sound, before charging a bullet on the top of the feathered part of the fan. "Sol, dodge when I give the signal."

"Understood." Sol responded.

The battle continued for a few moments more, the demon-soul completely outclassed, until Alex shouted a sudden "NOW!" that echoed even over the chaos of the battlefield.

Sol dropped and rolled out of whatever attack Alex had planned without hesitation. The bullet that Alex unleashed was bigger than his usual fair. As a result, the explosion was much more powerful. Whatever that soul or demon was, it ended up shattered into thousands of pieces, that soon were starting to smoke and vanish away. Then, a moment after, the two of them were back in the lab, with a purple orb floating in front of them.

Alex blinked. "I didn't expect this. Anyway, you want it?"

"No, you better take it. You may need the power with our friend here." Sol said, gesturing to the Alto Angelo. Or he would have if said Alto Angelo hadn't collapsed on the floor in front of them in a heap of twisted limbs.

'I think we should get him and you to the statue now." Sol said quickly.

"Yeah." Alex grabbed the purple orb - which melted into his body - and went to the other side of the Alto Angelo, grabbing it by the shoulder - what remained of it, anyway - and started sprinting up the stairs.

"Let's get moving on!"

**********************************************

The sprint up the stairs while carrying a demon that was clearly dying was a strange sight for the punks milling about. For Alex and Sol, the situation didn't even rate a four on the strangeness scale. Still, they entered the top room with a screech of soles on stone, making the group that was around the Divinity Statue jump in fright.

"What the hell?!" "Is that another nazi?" "What is that-holy fuck!" "The nazi tortured a demon?" "What is even happening…?"

"In that order, it's us, no it's a demon, there is nothing holy about this, yes, and he's using it to finish his hybridization." Sol finished while pointing at Alex.

"Yeah, so. I need the statue." Alex's words were calm and polite, but all the Punks in between them and the statue moved to the side, forming a parade for them. They didn't wait a moment more.

With a simple touch, the white gold space of the Watcher of Time manifested around them. "Ok, so I need the internal organ. I think you can empower your arm some more, but let me do this first." Alex nodded at Sol's demonic arm, before he started tapping at the screens in front of him, dismissing the ones that called on the demon's loaned power and found the option rather quickly.

Alto Angelo Perfect Hybridization (Lungs, Part of Stomach, Part of Intestine) (This option will completely Hybridize the subject): 75.000 Red Orbs.

Alex started smiling. "It's here. It's really here!" He didn't start to laugh, but it was a near thing. Without waiting, he tapped on the option and, gleefully, saw his Red Orb counter drop by the required amount.

Then, he stepped back and let Sol do whatever he wanted to do.

"Take it all and finish what you need to do first, I've still got the eyes and I think I could get Rodin to do something with them. Besides, I'm not in that bad of a condition… I'll probably grab some Blue Orbs and Physical boost. while I'm here." Sol said easily.

"Nah, I'm done. I want to see what happens after the hybridization is complete and I don't want to risk anything else. You know that changes are delayed until we are out of the Statue's space. Go finish what you need to do." Alex encouraged Sol to go on, smiling warmly.

"Alright," Sol said before opening the menus. The purchases came easily and Sol watched as 9,000 and 25,000 Red Orbs bled away respectively.

"That's two Blue Orbs and one Advanced Physical Enhancement," Sol said as the feeling of strength and vitality settled in. His arm began to spasm again and he clutched it tightly.

"I'll try to hold off on 'that' as much as possible. I'll want a stronger demon before I make that final change." Sol said with some strain.

"Stronger than an Alto Angelo? Remember that they need to be humanoid." Alex reminded him, his expression morphed into a worried one. "Don't wait too much: remember what happened to me after the Red Eyes attack."

"Yeah…" Sol said before something seemed to click with him. "Alto Angelo, a being evoking light… Maybe, maybe go the opposite route. There was a basis for them, right? Kinda feel like it would be Karma to use one of those demons." Sol said with an odd smirk. "Figure a certain white-haired man obsessed with power should pay some of it back right?"

"I seriously doubt you are going to be able to get Vergil to give you one of his limbs, but feel free to try." Alex's answer was dry as dust, but a bright spark of amusement danced in his eyes.

"Nelo Angelo was Vergil. That means… Well, we either find a Proto Angelo somewhere or you take the Alto. Choose, though, because I don't know how much more the demon will resist, especially after part of its inside has been removed."

"Nah that deadbeat took a limb and still lost, I'll take from the Proto though. It's relatively strong and even a failed copy still holds an echo of power." Sol said with a slight flourish.

Alex smiled, before shaking his head. "And where are you going to find a Proto Angelo? Here, specifically? I was surprised by the appearance of the Alto Angelo when Rodin…" Then, Alex lapsed into silence, looking at Sol.

"You want to ask Rodin to find a piece of music that will attract a Proto Angelo." Notably, it wasn't a question.

"You know, that's not a bad idea. But the question remains where would be best to do so? Maybe the next level will have it." Sol responded.

"No, the question is: HOW is Rodin going to craft such a CD? He doesn't have anything for it. Except…" His eyes dropped on the Alto Angelo. "I may have an idea."

"Shoot." Sol replied.

"The Alto Angelo. It is a crafted demon, after all, and it possibly came from the Proto Angelo. So, if we bring this…" Alex gestured at the demon still held in their hands. "... to him, he may be able to do what we are asking. Do you think it's worth a try?"

"Yeah, yeah no that could work. Hell maybe to attract a Proto all Rodin would have to do is invert the track? Let's try it." Sol said, a grin creeping on his face.

"May as well try. You do know what it entails, though, right?" Alex smiled, wickedly. "The entrance to Rodin's bar is pretty far and the Alto Angelo has already started to degrade. If we want to reach it in time, we'll have to fly, and I cannot balance the Alto Angelo, keep myself stable, and guide the flight alone."

His smile was a thing of beautiful wickedness.

"I hate you so much now," Sol said with a suffering tone.

********************************************

The shape of two guys balancing themselves on an umbrella, flying in the air, while holding the slowly disappearing corpse of a demon between the two of them, was a rather odd sight to see. What made the scene stranger, was the fact that one of the figures was screaming at the top of their lungs for the speed the umbrella was going and the sudden stop and starts that, every now and then, made the whole thing dip dangerously.

*********************************************

The entrance to Rodin's bar flared red and Sol and Alex landed inside, with only the upper parts of the Alto Angelo remaining.

Rodin turned towards them with a surprised look on his face. "You did it, I see." He nodded at Alex.

Sol collapsed into a chair and rubbed his face, muttering along the lines "Sweet merciful ground, your wisdom is absolute."

"Drama queen," Alex muttered towards Sol, before smiling at Rodin. "Yeah, yeah, I did it. Anyway, Sol wanted to ask you something. It's tied to this." He raised the remaining parts of the Angelo, before kicking Sol lightly to make him move.

"Gah! What? Oh, right… So, uh I lost my arm, I think a day or so ago and replaced it. But I've been experiencing muscle spasms and I'm looking to take on a certain demon to perfect the process. We thought that you could use the leftover parts of this Alto Angelo to make another CD and attract a Proto Angelo." Sol said while lifting up his left arm.

"Mmhh…." Rodin grabbed the remains of the demon and moved it to the counter, observing it carefully. "Tricky. Not impossible, but tricky. You're saying that this… 'Proto Angelo' is a more powerful version of this one?" His question was mostly rhetorical, but both Alex and Sol nodded.

"I can do something like that… But it will cost you." Rodin's white teeth shone against his dark skin, his eyes gleaming momentarily ruby red.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

So, this chapter was supposed to come out on Wednesday and due to a variety of personal issues, I was unable to post on that day, and the next few days to follow. As such, I will try to post the next chapter tomorrow, that way we can get back on track with the posting schedule.

Enjoy Everyone.

 

[firefrog600]

Part of me hopes this fic continues in dmc after this game finishes.

 

[Atma]

Part of me hopes this fic continues in dmc after this game finishes.

Click to shrink...

That's something we need to discuss between ourselves because there's something at the end of this story which may make that a very dangerous prospect to say the least.

 

[Atma]

Sol looked at Rodin and nodded. "How many red orbs you want, I'll pay it forward. Besides that's not all I want." Sol finished before placing the canister of the Alto Angelo eyeballs on the counter along with the shotgun.

"I lost my old handgun with my arm… I probably should find it but… Maybe it could throw some people off the trail. I guess it doesn't matter at this point, what matters now is that I want a little more bang for my buck. Any chance these could be integrated with the shotgun?" Sol asked, gesturing to the eyes.

Rodin eyeballed the jar on the table and the corpse of the demon, before sighing. "You'll send me into debt. 30.000 Red Orbs for both."

It was pretty clear that he was selling at a discount, but he had decided to do so for some reason.

Sol wincing, handed over the red orbs with much complaint. "It'll pay for itself in the end."

"Definitely. A good weapon is worth more than its weight in gold. Now, sit down and drink something. I'll be back soon-ish." Rodin rose into the air, before vanishing inside the red circle that had manifested behind him.

Alex took his words as true and started pouring himself something that smelled strongly of chocolate and sugar.

"Want anything?" His question was directed straight at Sol.

"Eh… I would have gone with something alcoholic but I'll go with whatever you've got. I'm not sure how I'm doing internally and would really not want to suffer at the wrong time if I don't have to." Sol replied, looking at his hand and slowly massaging the knuckles.

"You know what's weird? I keep looking at it and I tell myself that it's not my hand. Yet… if I don't tell myself that, I wouldn't even realize it unless I mentally tell myself that… I'm going to have to invest in long gloves to hide it." Sol said.

Alex passed him a glass of the same thing he was drinking. When Sol tried it, he would discover that it was more than a bit alcoholic.

In the meantime, the full hybrid swished his glass in a small circle. "Mhhh... Well, I understand how you feel. I always expect to see my old gut every time I look down. And the nails… Or the hair. Really, just the fact that I'm slim it's a huge adjustment. And that's without speaking about the other physical changes."

Alex gestured at all of himself. "It will take time. But it's still my body, it feels like my body and I'm happy with it, all things said. I still wake up in the night with nightmares about what happened - well, when we can manage to sleep more than a couple of hours, anyway. And that's how it is." He downed the rest of his drink with a long pull, before pouring himself another one from the bottle.

"There are other things that have changed: I react faster than before, much faster. I can break a stone wall with a hand and not feel any kind of pain. But, in the end, I'm still me. The reading-obsessed guy that you found when you woke up on the floor, in that room."

"First." Sol began raising a hand. "That's kinda strong, but it is nice, so a very good choice. Second, now that you bring it up, I'm expecting to be cleaning my glasses every five seconds, and… I just feel strong. I can see how the others became so… addicted to that." Sol finished before drinking a large amount of the glass.

Savoring the taste, Sol raised a finger, "You think we have any of that stuff still inside of us? I mean we haven't used it or bought into it but, well outside of Rodin, Sparda, and several other demons, most are self-serving and deceitful or just attack dogs with extra steps."

Alex stopped for a moment. Then raised a finger, mouth half open, and lowered it instantly after.

"I…. I don't know. Give me a few minutes, I need to meditate. You drink. I have the feeling that you need it. And I will after I'm done meditating." This said, Alex stalked towards a small couch on the side of the bar and sat down, starting to breathe slowly and deeply.

Sol was slightly alarmed by Alex's response and didn't even hesitate before topping off. "Oh I really hope I didn't just kick over a mental hornet's nest," he said before taking a sip.

***********************************

Rodin reappeared with a flash of red light, a few scratches on his arms that were healing as he got up from his slightly crouched position. "It is done. The CD is-"

"OH, THAT ABSOLUTE SON OF A BITCH!" Alex's shout shook the entire bar, his fury so strong that the very air was tinged silver. And the glass that Sol was holding was suddenly full again, as time was rewound.

Rodin only raised a single eyebrow. "What happened to him?"

Sol looked back and forth between the two before addressing. "I think the great voice in the sky just pulled a fast one on the Statue of Infinity."

Sol looked at Alex, "On a scale of One to ten, how bad is it?"

Alex didn't even answer, he just marched straight to Rodin with a scowl so deep on his face that he was leaving afterimages behind him. "Rodin. Would you be able to take out the power that a demon has left inside someone else and how much would it cost?"

He wasn't shouting. Yet. But it was hovering on that edge.

"Alex, what's going on?" Sol asked, concern evident.

"Whatever summoned us here lent us power, remember?" Alex's voice was vibrating with restrained fury. "And we never strengthened it. But the power didn't go away, as I thought it would. It's still there. Still inside me. Still inside you. And it's too dangerous to leave it there, so I want it out of me. And of you."

His eyes found Rodin's own. "How much to remove it and can you use it to craft a weapon? I'm not going to get used to it."

"You never used it?" Rodin seemed to ask again before continuing, "5,000. It should cover the costs and holding fees of that power." Rodin continued.

Sol tapped the bar briefly before saying, "That parasitic power shard of mine, use it for whatever Alex needs. I think I'm pretty well-rounded at this point."

Alex frowned. "You sure? You could strengthen a weapon or even… I don't know. I don't want to take something from you."

"No, it's fine. For one thing, I took that Geryon horn and blended it with my armor, so this is my way of paying you back. Second," Sol said while lifting the new weapon. "I have this, and I think I'll have a lot of fun with it."

"If you are sure. But I'm paying for both." Alex turned to Rodin and, before Sol could say anything, he nodded towards the fallen angel. "Do it."

The taller man pursed his lips for a moment, before bringing his hand back. "This may sting."

Then he drove the palm, the hand, and the entire forearm in Alex's chest, around his heart. It exploded from his back in a shower of red light, but there was no blood whatsoever. Instead, in his hand, there was a squirming red thing that looked a lot like a snake made of crystal.

"What in the goddamn?" Sol asked horrified, before killing his drink and nearly but not quite shouting to the fallen angel. "Get… that thing out of me!"

Before anything else could happen, Rodin performed the same maneuver on Sol. Sol dropped backward and clutched at his chest. "Fuck, that hurts! Gah! How… how long was that thing there?" Sol asked while sitting up.

"From the start, it seems. It has signs of long-term possession. But not a lot of strength." Rodin remarked before he dropped the two things in a jar, a pickle jar.

"Whatever you did to starve it, you did well. Even just a little bit of power and it would have sprouted like a seed. Grown inside you, until you would need to rely on it to even survive, no matter what power you had."

Alex growled an inhuman sound that made everything around him age rapidly, visibly decaying into wrecks of former furniture.

"Hey. You break anything, you pay for it." Rodin's admonishment was enough for Alex to snap back to normal, the time effect around him resetting and all the furniture returning to their normal look.

"Yeah, sure. Sorry."

Sol sat up and took at the two shards, "My demonology is a bit rusty but do either of you recognize what those could be from?" Sol asked.

**************************************

In the Heights of The Qliphoth​

The demon that resided in the shadows of battles long since passed stirred from its monitoring briefly. It had grown bloated and powerful from the human lives snuffed out within the depths. Yet for all that growth, there had been a disturbance. Brief and sharp, it noticed that two of its 'gifts' were cut off from the hosts they were attached to.

It normally wouldn't have cared too much though, they were weak hosts after all. However, the orbs that it should have received didn't manifest, and that concerned it. Its vision scoured over the depths that it had called its own. It passed over those who were well on their way to becoming demons but not quite there, the bodies of the slain, its lovely little pet project that it had molded so carefully and subtly, and any other remaining humans that existed.

However, it couldn't see what caused the disturbance. It would have to look harder, but that would come in time when it was stronger. After all, the Lusachia could already feel a second face growing alongside its body.

*******************************************

Alex shook his head. "Nothing. I would like to say something like Malphas or… I don't know. But it doesn't look like a part of them." With a frown, he put back up a stool that he had knocked down before. "I'm guessing we'll have to deal with it when we reach them. And kill them."

Rodin nodded, unconcerned, before tapping the CD that was still on the counter. "Your CD. Works like the last time, but I suggest you find a large space where you can maneuver."

"Thanks, I really mean it. You could have left us to rot. I know business is business, all that jazz and the bag of chips to go with it, but again thank you." Sol said before looking at the disc. It wasn't the gold disc from before, it looked more like a regular CD with an all-black finish. He put the disc away and grabbed the new weapon before considering something.

"This shotgun is looking more angelic than before… hmmm… maybe." Sol seemed to be lost in his musings before he began to hum something. He smiled as if remembering something.

"There was this old song I used to listen to. Haven't thought about it in years but… It was always nice. It was called 'What a Beautiful Sunset' by a band called Angelwing. The song itself was from an album called Nymphaeum… So I think that's what I'll call you, Nymphaeum." Sol said almost reverently before holstering the new weapon.

Alex smiled, before nodding at Rodin. "Thank you. I don't know what I can do to repay you, but, sincerely, thank you."

Then, the duo walked out of the Gates of Hell with their prizes, Rodin's eyes on their backs as he smirked at them.

*******************************************************

Making their way back to the Punks, Alex turned towards Sol, a dark look in his eyes. "Do you think we should…" And he jerked his head towards the Punk's current base of operations.

The silent question, coupled with the tap he gave to his own sternum, was pretty obvious.

Sol nodded before opening the lid to the manhole and descending into the darkness. It didn't take the two long to get to the planning room, exchange a few pleasantries, and find Richie. There was an expectant look from the older man and Sol began to try to find the best way to explain their next major complication.

"Listen we uh… we have something we need to tell you about."

Richie's expression, which had been one of contentedness and relief changed when he heard the tone of Sol's words, and gave the other man a hard look before wordlessly motioning him to continue.

Sol paused before continuing, "You've bought abilities with an L prefix, haven't you?"

Richie's eyes narrowed before he responded. "Yeah, everyone here has. Before we needed prostheses, it was the only thing keeping us on anything close to even footing with everything else here." He responded.

Alex winced, very visibly, which only made the entire group of people around the two look at them with a rather hard stare.

"What is it?" Richie asked, voice stony, a sort of tiredness weighing him on his shoulders.

"Yeah, ok, the problem is… Well, anything with that L that costs outrageously low… It's basically a trap from the demon that brought us here. We can't be completely sure..." Alex admitted for the first time, but he didn't let himself stop. "But, considering the clues that we have managed to put together, we are pretty sure that it works like a parasite: the demon offers us power at a cheap price and then takes it back to grow himself. A literal soul-sucking pyramid scheme."

Sol spoke up at this point, "We had ours removed a few minutes ago. It didn't really cost much for us, but I hate to say it, but for you all, that price is going to be higher."
The crowd began to curse and bicker among themselves, a few even addressed Sol and Alex, demanding why they hadn't told that sooner.

Sol looked at them all before sheepishly shrugging his shoulders. "We only just found out recently, and besides there is a silver lining to this. After that payment, no more demonic parasites wrapped around your hearts."

That got a few nods and stares from the crowd.

"Now I get that you're angry and believe us we were livid too, but knowing our collective troubles, there'll be more than enough demons to go around, and fingers crossed, you'll all rack enough orbs to cover the… exorcism, let's call it that." Sol finished.

"I mean…" Alex continued, a self-deprecating smile on his face "If I managed, you all can definitely do it."

That lame joke managed to steal a ragged cheer from the Punks, who started to plan all while bearing shaky smiles on their faces.

***************************************************************************

The Punks were waving at them. Well, those that had come to see them go, anyway. Most of the others were busy putting the Tower back up in place and, a few of them were leading an 'expedition' towards the Mall, to see if they could help the kids, and the rest were planning. It was something that Alex had said to Richie to try and shift things towards the better. It was a long shot, but better than anything else.

"So, where to now? We could try and fly up, try to see if we can see anything important. Or we can just go and travel at random, maybe we're going to get lucky. Or unlucky. I'm pretty sure that there isn't anything particularly different in this place."

Alex was walking without care, hands in his pockets, a strand of red-gold hair - he had gotten a streak of hair tinted red and gold from the Abyss and the Alto Angelo parts, right to the left side of the head, near the eye - having escaped from his ponytail and hanging near the side of his head.

"Well the only way to go is up, so down I guess. See if we could use the sewer system to find out if there's a route further down?" Sol asked, as not only was it their best option, but also because he'd rather not fly again.

"You know, I'm pretty sure that your Devil Trigger will have wings. Considering the Proto Angelo parts you want to use." Alex, 'casually' mentioned his theory, strolling down the street. "So, if you are saying no because of fear, you'll have to think about it."

Sol paused in mid-step and looked at Alex critically "Man, I will freaking hate that if you are right on that one." He said glumly. Yet as they walked, Sol switched back to the earlier point. "I figure we could use the sewer system and see if it connects to - I don't know - a subway or something, maybe a collapsed tunnel that is geographically impossible. You know, something like that."

"I mean, that could work. Considering how much logic has gone into the city, I'm kinda surprised we haven't found a subway station yet. Still, the city itself is a maze and the starting voice mentioned something about a center. We're going to need to go towards it and, if I'm correct, it will be near the main trunk of the Qliphoth."

Sol nodded and looked around till his eyes seemed to land on a point in the distance. "Guess we'll have to follow the roots then. At least they'll be consistent." He said with a shrug.

It was then that Sol saw something out of the corner of his eyes. At some further distance, he could see the tattered remains of a pant leg peeking out from a corner. Sol quietly pointed out to Alex and placed his hands on Gevaudan and Nymphaeum.

"Well, interesting." Alex simply said, before nodding towards it. "Shall we check it out?"

Sol didn't really wait for an answer he already knew of, he just started walking, only to the corner of the next building, where the street kept going for a while until it reached what looked like a small plaza packed with people. People that, even at a distance, they could recognize.

"Talk about the devil and here comes the tail. Aren't those people from the businessman and businesswoman group?" Alex asked.

"Yeah, they are…" Sol said while trailing off. He looked at Alex, a very worried look on his face before he spoke again. "Cassandra mentioned something around the time I killed her… Something about someone called Goode, you think that may be the businessman's name?"

Alex didn't move for a moment, before nodding slowly. "I mean… It's a possibility like any other. To be fair, not a single one of them had said their names, so…" And then he shrugged, before pointing at the street.

"What do we do? Search for another street or try to pass them?" Alex asked.

Sol began to count them up in his head before stopping and quietly said, "I think we should head back to Richie and his group. Let them know what we found and then make our way around them. We're good, better than when we last saw them, but I think I remember Rodin saying something in the first Bayonetta about quantity being a quality of its own."

Without much else, Sol began to turn, before stopping dead in his tracks. There, watching them with a strange and unsettling gaze, was the businessman. His hair was a mess and his suit hung off his frame in tatters exposing large swathes of his body, now heavily corded with lean muscle. The Bloody Mari dagger was clutched in his hand so tightly that his knuckles were white. His eyes seemed to lose focus briefly, before glancing between the two and he made a step forward.

"Sol and Alex, right?" He asked, his voice hoarse and strained, before his face bloomed into a sickeningly saccharine smile. "I'm so glad I saw you too, we really could use the help. After all, we're all part of the same group, right? It's only right that we all… stick together." He said with a slight hitch in his voice.

"If I remember correctly, both you and the other two groups left me and Sol behind to find… what? I don't even remember. I just remember you all leaving us behind because we couldn't be useful to you all." Alex responded in a hard tone.

"Oh, I know, yeah. I remember that. I'm going to put that under bad business decisions because look at you two now. You survived, you've changed too." The businessman said while taking another step further.

"I think in our case it may have been for the worse," Sol said in an attempt to mislead and deflect the businessman away from the more prominent differences.

"We almost died. A lot of times really. VERY bad business, that one." Alex added, changing his expression into a smile, with his eyes partially closed. So that nobody could see that he wasn't really genuine about the smile. Not that the subtle movement behind his back wasn't a hint about it, either.

The businessman nodded at that, his eyes slightly widening before he slowly pulled out a strange device from a pocket that had miraculously survived this far. "Speaking of bad business decisions, and please don't try to deny this, a friend of mine and I made a deal with some people that were around here. I know they're dead, I could hear the battle from a ways away, and there were plenty of demons that tried to reach it. Good red orbs source they were." He said with an unhinged chuckle, before his expression stilled, shifting into a venomous look as his gaze drifted to Sol.

"Cassandra was a good friend of mine, we studied together and dealt with the same deals. She was the heat and I was cold… And YoU KiLLeD HEr." He stated, his voice warping. "I could hear her scream aS yOu cuT HEr iN HaLf!" He finished.

"Now…" His voice seemed to level out… "Now, I'm going to kill the two of you. I'll make this slow." He said, his coming out like a serpent's hiss as he raised his long dagger.

Alex stopped him. Not by doing anything strange or attacking, but simply by… laughing. Once his fit of mirth had passed, he turned fully towards the businessman, tears still in the corner of his eyes. "Oh, please! You are all angry because we killed a woman that sold us to the nazi and tried to kill us before even trying to talk! She reaped what she sowed, and you're going to end the same way."

Something… something seemed to snap in the businessman. The look in his eyes changed ever so briefly as his eyes flashed a deep crimson. Then in a sudden motion, his neck seemed to jerk itself to the right as he lunged towards the two.

Alex didn't even take out his weapon: he just created a Time Bubble right in front of him and the Businessman plowed into it without a moment of hesitation, stopping right in the middle.

"That was… easier than I thought it would be." The hybrid looked at the enraged face of the businessman, before turning towards Sol. "What now?"

"Kill him, and warn Richie, that fifty-some-odd people who've been juicing up on demon power aren't too far from them." Sol responded with a weary look before turning to Alex.

"I mean, I…" Before Alex could say anything, the businessman had managed to escape from his confinement, in his place, was a replica made of ice. As the businessman stumbled to a standing position, his eyes started to shimmer the color of blood, and he looked far calmer than before.

"I see. I see. I see. You gave in to the demon inside, didn't you? It's whispers?" His face morphed into a crazy grin. "That's why you killed her. That's why you killed the group that was in the tower. It was you two that killed the other kids that came here with us, and my poor subordinate that went to the Mall and never came back." The more he spoke, the more he grinned. Alex and Sol blinked at each other, in confusion.

"I'm sorry, what?" Alex was straight-up bewildered. The businessman was now smiling so wide that it showed all of his teeth, slightly open.

"So, I can do that, too, right? I just need to sacrifice power to the demon to evolve like you two?" He licked his lips, eyes vacant, the shimmer of red coming and going. "I can do that. But where do I find the power? Where do I find the orbs to…"

His eyes, crazed as they were, landed on his own group in the small plaza. His grin turned even more crazed and an unhinged laugh escaped his mouth. "Yes. Yes, that will do nicely."

Then, he turned back towards the duo. "Thank you, my fellow kidnap-pees. I can now see that my actions were… hasty. Truly, I am sorry." Then, before either Alex or Sol could do something, he vanished in a flurry of snowflakes.

"I'm not the only one that was creeped out by that, right?" Alex said, wide-eyed and looking around, a sense of wariness settling in his bones.

"No, I'm creeped the fuck out too… wait, he mentioned demon inside. Oh fuck, remember what Rodin said about those parasitic shards? That's possession with an added Faustian pact right there!" Sol all but shouted.

"Look, I know, but we don't know what he really wants to do. He's a creepy fucker, but that doesn't mean that we should go and kill him. He's still human, and he's not actively attempting to attack us anymore." Alex answered, waving one of his hands in the air, frustration clear on his face.

"We cannot be judge, jury and executioners. That's a slippery slope that NEVER ends well." Alex continued.

"I get that, trust me I get that, but our hands are already stained with blood, he just tried to stab us, his head just did a head snap thing which was creepy in its own right, and his eyes turned red briefly. That's a problem." Sol responded.

"I'm not contesting that. I'm saying that it's not enough." Alex shook his head. "Look, I understand that I'm coming out as a sort of hypocrite, considering the whole mess with the nazis, but he's... I don't know. It feels like we are already slipping because we know the underpinning of this reality."

Sol raised his arms in a placating manner, "Ok, ok we'll… we'll take this as it goes and maybe we won't have to do too much. Maybe we could talk him down." Sol said.

"Thank you. I know how it sounds." Alex stopped and took a deep breath for a moment, before releasing it with a sigh.

It was in the moment after that they heard it. The silence. Before, there was a small background sound of chatter, breathing, moving, and people living. The plaza where the remainder of their starting groups had congregated wasn't that far from them. There were more than forty people together in a city that was otherwise empty. They were aware of the group while dealing with the businessman and could hear them in the background. Now… Now, only silence remained. Heavy. Cold. Like a wet quilt tossed over them.

Sol looked at Alex, uncertainty clear on his face before readying his weapons and quietly walking toward the area where the chatter had been. He didn't go too far before stopping dead in his tracks.

"Wha… what the fuck?" He asked aloud, horror clear in his voice.

The area where the remaining group members had been was now a frozen hell with bodies partially frozen, some being shattered completely, and a few were whole, throats slits and cooling on the icy floor. Among them was the businessman only... he had changed. The remains of his jacket and shirt were gone, torn away by two large tendrils that grew from his shoulders and dragged on the ground, each capped by a worm-like mouth. His skin had taken a mottled, frostbitten appearance. Whatever he was before, was gone, utterly consumed by the power he so coveted.

Alex was speechless, his gut twisting in guilt: if he had listened to Sol, probably they could have killed the businessman before he caused this massacre. But, no. He was right when he said that they couldn't become judge, jury, and executioner. It was just that, this time, the man they had decided to spare was a monster in human skin.

"What did you do?" In the end, Alex's voice was as cold as the air around them.

"EmBraCEd tHe SaME DEMONS YOU HAVE. THIS POWER, WE SHOULD HAVE DONE THIS FROM THE START!"

"You are an idiot, that's what you are." Alex's words were harsh and sharp, his scowl something worthy of ballads. Calcabrina was suddenly in his hands.

"And me and Sol are going to free you from this mortal coil."

TERENCE GOODE: COLD HEARTED PRODOTES​

Sol raised Nymphaeum and fired. What he expected was a blast of buckshot striking Terence dead on, not twin scatterings of demonic energy that forced the warped businessman back.

"Damn… I really have to thank Rodin for this one." Sol said in shock.

"Best demonic smith since Machiavelli." Alex agreed, grimly, before he Blinked forward, his blade already falling on one of Goode's arms. The tentacle coming from the back stopped it, frost and ice starting to creep up the blade.

Without waiting another moment, Alex was already back, near Sol's side, shaking Calcabrina.

"Ice aura. Not a good sign." Judging by his face, Alex was thinking that this was going to be a problem. A big one.

"Then we stick with range!" Sol shouted as moved along Goode's side and fired another blast. The demonic energy scattered along his back eliciting a roar of pain from the businessman. He turned swiftly towards Sol and the two tendril began to emit beams of cold that streaked Sol's way. Barely dodging them, Sol continued to fire until he eventually slid on some ice. Letting the momentum take, he wound up getting behind the frozen remains of several individuals.

Alex, in the meantime, decided to use another approach. Exchanging Calcabrina for Seraphim, he started releasing a wave of sound that cracked the ice underneath the man-turned-demon, before he had to move, a series of sharp icicles being sent like needles from the two tentacles where he was just moments more.

"Why are you running? I only want to give you a business proposal, like I did with the others." The smile on Goode's face was incredibly genial and charming. If his face wasn't a mess of blackened flesh and crystalline scales that looked like they belonged on a lizard.

"Oh, sure!" Shouted Sol from behind his cover. "A lifetime guarantee for cool air all year round. I'd say pull the other leg, but it seems you did that with everyone else!" Sol roared before moving again and firing. This time though, he aimed for the tendrils on Goode's balance. The demonic energy missed mostly, but a few pellets struck one of the tendrils sending it back before it shook itself out of a demonic bullet-induced daze.

The demon slithered forward, leaving behind him a curtain of snowflakes that danced in the air before the entire thing turned into a series of floating spheres of ice that shot freezing rays.

Alex had to take time out of his attack to hit them with his sonic waves, to remove them from play.

"That and much more. You see, in my company, we all are a great, big family! WE take care of each other! We cover each other's weaknesses to rise upwards in the world!" Goode declared.

Sol peeked out from his next set of covers when he heard those words. "The hell kinda corporate doublespeak is that?" He asked himself before realizing something. His shots wouldn't hit reliably at this range and he could easily hit Alex if he wasn't careful. He could... His hand rested on the frozen remains of his cover and let out a long suffering sigh. "Whoever you were, I'm sorry. I hope that wherever you are, you can find it in yourself to forgive me." Sol thought before pulling his left arm back.

"Abyssal Punch!" Sol's voice rang out before the jagged and broken remains of one of Goode's subordinates struck him dead on the back.

"Well if you were all one great big family, then maybe you should have treated them as such!" Sol hissed.

Alex Blinked forward, using the distraction that Sol had caused to reach Goode and unleash a wide-area sonic attack, sending the demon hissing back, with his hands on his ears. That was a direct hit.

His tentacles, however, didn't react that way. No, they elongated and burrowed in the ice underneath him, before exploding out where Alex was a moment before, having managed to escape the ambush with a quick sidestep, although the demon had scored a long cut on one of his arms.

Sol reared his back and lashed out with Gevaudan. The weapon, in bone whip form wrapped around one of Goode's back tendrils and Sol began to pull back.

"Time to really try this out," Sol gritted out before channeling Geuvadan's power and invoking Binding Life. There was a pulse of demonic energy as the tendril began to spasm and wither slightly.

Goode whipped around, sending Sol flying through the air and through another frozen person, releasing Gevaudan's hold on the tendril.

"You! You would never be accepted in the company. No one with any brains would accept you into their team!" Goode howled at Sol's slowly rising form.

"You say that like it's a shame." Alex's words came right from Goode's right ear, the blade of Calcabrina sprouting from the demon's chest, the hybrid having blinked forward and buried it from behind, using the moment of distraction that Sol had caused.

Goode's blood dribbled down his chin, but he didn't die. A hit like that wasn't enough to kill a demon, sadly.

The tentacle that wasn't ensnared by Gevaudan rose and smashed against Alex's flank, sending him and his blade flying back. He managed to get up with a roll, the slick ice taking a precious second to regain his balance.

Before Goode could make another move, he felt himself be pulled backward. Geuvadan's grip was still there and Sol was only making it worse. Sol pulled back on his weapon before dropping his knee on the whip to hold it down before firing on Goode with his gun.

"You know that might have hurt, but that's the beauty of a well-made weapon made with a clear mind," Sol said in a slurred manner, visibly disorientated from being thrown through the frozen form of someone.

"I see that you keep trying to apply to my own company. I'm sorry to say that you are permanently rejected and banned from interacting with me ever again." Goode's words were soon followed by twin rays of frost that targeted Sol fully, coming from his hands, while the tentacles turned towards Alex and shot a volley of needle-thin and razor-sharp ice shards at a speed that resembled a bullet.

Alex managed to open Calcabrina just in time for the storm of shards to slam against the barrier on the canopy.

Sol released Gevaudan and tried his best to flee, before slipping and sliding away. Recovering, Sol shook his head before reaching to adjust his helmet and quickly pulling his hand away. One of the horns had been covered in frost.

"That's some potent stuff… Okay, get your head in the game." Sol said to himself before firing on Goode and yelling "You can take your protection order and shove it!"

His shots hit empty air: Goode wasn't there anymore.

The entire arena was completely empty, only the frigid air kept whistling around the two companions, bringing the temperature further down.

"Where did he go?" Alex was looking around - and even upwards - trying to find the demon.

Sol looked around the area before he saw... something. It looked like a shadow cast against the ice. He motioned at it to Alex, before he saw something else. There was something attached to the shadow. It was Goode, he was inside the ice! But how!?

"He's in the Ice!" Sol shouted.

Alex blinked, unable to understand what he was saying for a moment, before he looked down, seeing the shadow move underneath - or was it inside - the layer of ice on the ground.

"Oh no, you don't!" Calcabrina exchanged for Seraphim, a wave of sound exploded from his staff, all around the Hybrid, the ice cracking and shattering from the vibration of the sound.

The shadow roiled briefly before Goode launched himself from the ice with a scream. His body was covered in a series of deep gashes courtesy of Seraphim's blast.

"Dammit, dammit, dammit! This shouldn't be happening!" Goode yelled.

"And who's saying that? You?" Alex asked, eyes blazing, before another wave of sound shot from the staff in his hands and towards the demon, the ice in its path cracking apart in diamond dust.

"Grah!" Goode shouted in pain as he grabbed his ears in the resulting sonic before he jerked backward. Gevaudan had wrapped itself around one of his tendrils.

"I told you! You weren't to interact with MEEE!!!!" Goode began to speak before screaming in pain. Sol had drawn Nymphaeum again and fired it as much as he could at the tendril. The resulting damage had left the tendril dangling by only a few shreds of muscle and skin rendering it useless.

"And I told you to shove it. But I guess based on the fact that you victim projected yours and Cassandra's bullshit onto us before killing your own people, you're not going to listen!" Sol shot back.

Alex stopped to avoid the two tentacles that had lengthened and tried to spear him in his midsection, Blinking to the side and shooting another wave of sound.

He seemed to be saying something, but the sonic attack was too loud and no one could hear what he was saying.

Meanwhile, Sol wrenched Geuvadan back, severing the tendril. He couldn't do the same with the other as the remaining tendril began to fire a stream of ice at him, forcing Sol to slide away.

"If the circumstances were different, I'd actually be having fun." Sol thought as he let the momentum take him while he fired some more.

Goode vanished into the ice where he had been standing. The moment he did so, a series of ice spikes shot upwards, each one as big as Terence's arm.

"He's trying to run!" Alex's shout was clearly aimed at Sol. "He's in one of the shards!"

"Of course he is!" Sol shouted angrily before firing on as many shards as he could.

"Ok so Elder Geryon pulled a jojo with a time stop and now this asshole too? Where's a psychic Frenchman with cigarette hair when you need him? He can't exist in all the shards at once, he has to come out… That's it!" Sol thought as he continued to blast away.

"Alex! Time bubble around the shards!" Sol shouted.

Alex Blinked to the side, flashing in starts and stops. The silver bubbles of stopped time appeared one after the other until they had covered an entire circle around the shards. Due to the speed at which they were traveling, some escaped, but not all. Around half got suspended, while a third of those that had managed to pass shattered as soon as they hit the ground.

"Okay, unless he moved between the shards and the floor, he can move between the shards, right? So you gotta figure that he's moving faster than we can visibly track him. Hence the Time Bubble." Sol said, attempting to explain his idea.

"That's… an assumption that we have no way to confirm." Alex pointed out, breathing deeply. "We have NO idea how his powers work. For all we know it's like Mirror Master from the Flash."

Before he could say anything else, a ray of frost hit him from the back, sending him stumbling forward and freezing him to the floor. Goode had emerged from one of the shards that had passed the encirclement and had attacked while the duo was distracted.

"Sorry, I need to freeze my assets before the situation gets the better of me. But don't worry, I'll invest heavily into it, and make it have a return. Not like you, who's wasting the occasion." Goode's smile was unhinged, showing all his teeth, before the remaining tentacles - the other one had sealed over, but wasn't done regenerating - rose from behind him, a giant icicle hovering above it.

"You motherfucker!" Sol roared as he charged. Sound seemed to die around him as he charged demonic energy into his arm. He was going to smash that shit-eating grin right off this fuckers face! He… he… he felt something snap. There was a flood of power, and… and a voice… Someone was talking, no singing?

"T e Man o t Sh w r s e h w l. Tell m u dreams a d fanatical n s."

Without realizing it, Sol's fist had connected with Goode. The demonically charged punch shattered Goode's jaw, and before he could say or do anything, Sol grabbed him by the neck and just kept punching, completely oblivious to the armored specter that not only mimicked his moves but added to each punch.

"Talk about wasting occasions! How can you freeze your assets when I waste your FACE!" Sol roared as each punch pulped Goode's face further and further until he punched through the demonically mutated man's head, shattering the ice beneath it in the process.

The feeling of ice shattering under his blows dragged Sol from his moment of rage, and he staggered back, looking at the body like he was in a dream.

"Alex… fuck he's still trapped under the ice," Sol mumbled before trying to approach Alex's downed form. He only made it a few steps before he felt his arm spasm wildly followed by an intense wave of sickness. He lurched forward and coughed into his hand, revealing a large mass of blood, and a spectral hand following his movements.

"Dammit all…" He trailed off before collapsing onto the ice.

While Sol was falling towards the frozen-over form of his companion, something happened: a silvery light shone from under the ice, only for two wings made of shiny metal feathers to punch through the ice and shatter it apart, before Alex rose, floating above the ground, seemingly without a scratch.

He was clearly in Devil Trigger, only unlike the streamlined version that appeared when he was wielding Calcabrina, the one that manifested when he had Seraphim in his hands was more ornate: a long, toga-like armor, two wings behind his back, face covered in what looked like a bridal veil.

"Sol!" His voice reverberated through the air, the ice around him shattering in dust, before the transformation ended and he crashed on his knees in front of him. "Are you ok? Can you breathe?"

"Is… he dead?" Sol's voice croaked while his arm began to spasm wildly.

Alex's head turned towards the corpse of the businessman-turned-demon, who was currently missing a head.

"Yes." He declared with absolute certainty. "He's surely dead. Want to use the body to create a weapon?" Alex offered, clearly saying the first thing that came into his mind. Then he winced, embarrassed by that.

"I already have Nymphaeum, he's alllll yours." Sol began to say while trying to sit up, only for his arm to spasm and him to fall on his back. "Besides, I'm a stand user now. I have a magical punchy ghost that punches with me and stuff." He finished deliriously.

Alex's face twisted into a disgusted frown. "Ew. Who knows where it's been? No, thank you. I'll use whatever demon brought us here to create a new weapon, don't worry."

He then turned towards the corpse and, Seraphim in hand, blasted it with all he had.

"Ahhhh… I feel tired man… really tired. Is this what it felt like when you used that armor before?" Sol asked while gazing up at the sky.

Alex stopped his onslaught of sound, breathing deeply, before turning towards Sol with a puzzled expression. "The armored form? You mean the Devil Trigger?"

"...Wait what?" Sol said, his voice sounding more clear as tried to sit up, somewhat.

"You mean that, and the stand… Oh, oh…" He trailed before grabbing his left arm to try to stifle its movements. "I don't feel so great at the moment but please correct me if I'm wrong. You're in devil trigger mode now?" Sol asked.

"I was. Can you actually see or are your eyes closed? I stopped that when I saw that you had already killed him. It costs a lot of energy to stay in that mode, using it willy-nilly is not a good idea." Alex grimaced.

Then, he pressed his hands on Sol's forehead. "You don't feel warm. Look at me. Pupils seem normal…"

"Yeah I can see, it's just I never thought that was an option. It's my arm. It spasms a lot more than I'd like and… I just feel awful right now, just a really sick feeling." Sol said as the arm jerked in his grip as if to express this sentiment.

"Mhh… Let me try something." Alex gently moved his hand to Sol's demonic one and gripped it gently.

"This may sting a little bit. Tell me when you're ready." His voice was trying to be as soothing as possible.

"Ready as I'll ever be," Sol said wincing in preparation.

Alex took a deep, deep breath, and called upon his own power until there was a visible aura around him, silver streaked with gold, red, purple, and black. His eyes were blazing.

"Ready? Three… Two… One…" And nothing happened, exactly as Sol tensed in anticipation. After a few more seconds, he blinked his eyes open, to look at Alex and see if something had stopped him. THAT was the moment when a river of demonic power poured into his arm and Sol SCREAMED.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This chapter was honestly, a lot easier to edit and check for any last-minute mistakes. So, beyond that, a new weapon has been introduced, we've seen a few more of the things going on behind the scenes, Sol's physical issues with his new arm have been more greatly expressed, and a partial... goodbye to one Mr. Goode. More on that in the next chapter.

Enjoy Everyone.

 

[firefrog600]

So I was curious is it normal there's been no sign of dante this entire fic or should I be worried?

 

[Atma]

So I was curious is it normal there's been no sign of dante this entire fic or should I be worried?

Click to shrink...

You shouldn't be, without spoiling to much, the main man himself will make an appearance later on.

 

[Luca Nox]

You shouldn't be, without spoiling to much, the main man himself will make an appearance later on.

Click to shrink...

To bounce from this, We also generally speaking, know that there's absolutely no power comparison between all of them there and Dante. In fact, I'm pretty sure Dante at the start of DMC 4 could walk in there, take on every single character there including the demon who brought them here simultaneously and slap them around like errant children.

 

[Yuki no Yue]

To bounce from this, We also generally speaking, know that there's absolutely no power comparison between all of them there and Dante. In fact, I'm pretty sure Dante at the start of DMC 4 could walk in there, take on every single character there including the demon who brought them here simultaneously and slap them around like errant children.

Click to shrink...

You are not wrong. You'll see when we reach the end, but let's just say that whatever the two protagonists are doing, Dante would curbstomp them without breaking a sweat.

I mean, it's by design, but yes.

 

[Otritzi]

Dante's so far above their bullshit that they're not even ants in comparison. If they encountered Dante the two of them would have maybe half a second to persuade him not to kill them if he was truly in extermination mode.

They'd have slightly longer if Bayonetta found them (mostly because she doesn't off demons out of hand unless they start attacking her first, it's a waste of effort for her, she doesn't get anything from demons most of the time.), but still not by much.

 

[Yuki no Yue]

Dante's so far above their bullshit that they're not even ants in comparison. If they encountered Dante the two of them would have maybe half a second to persuade him not to kill them if he was truly in extermination mode.

They'd have slightly longer if Bayonetta found them (mostly because she doesn't off demons out of hand unless they start attacking her first, it's a waste of effort for her, she doesn't get anything from demons most of the time.), but still not by much.

Click to shrink...

To be fair, Dante would attack them only if they attacked him first. It was shown several times that he offered to avoid confrontation. Just...demons.

Bayonetta is kinda the same.

Also, both Bayonetta and Dante can recognize a hybrid when they meet one, so there's that, too.

 

[Atma]

"GRAHHHH!" Sol tore his arm away from Alex. His arm seemed to stop its spasms in the meantime. "Wha… What the hell just happened?" He asked with shock.

"I gave you some of my energy. But foreign energy is painful, as you have experienced." Alex answered, shaking his hand like it was stinging. "Sorry for hurting you. But you felt way too low for my taste."

Alex winced apologetically, before shrugging, not knowing what else to say.

"How does that ev… No! I was hacking up blood earlier, so I'll treat it like blood. It'll make more sense if I think of it that way." Sol said while massaging his hand.

"I really should be pacing myself then… was it the emotion or the power I drained off Goode?" Sol asked more to himself than Alex.

"I honestly have no idea. My own Devil Trigger works a bit differently than yours, I'd wager. With me being a full hybrid and you only having one arm… And an incomplete one, at that." Alex shrugged, before looking down the street, where the ice was starting to vanish into mist as the demon's corpse was slowly evaporating, leaving behind a massive amount of Red Orbs.

"How many people had he killed to get that much…" His voice was barely more than a whisper, but it was audible to Sol, as close as he was.

"Too many, far too many," Sol said gravely.

"I know our hands aren't clean of this… but at least. Hell, there's no way I could say anything that makes this situation better. Let's, let's just take the orbs and go." Sol continued, bitterness heavy in his voice.

"Yeah, you're right. I don't... I don't know what to think, honestly. It's just… Why would he do something like that…?"

"You heard him before he turned right? He thought we were bad and had given into some sort of… inner demon…" Sol said trailing, horror. "Son of a bitch! It was right there in front of us the entire time!" Sol shouted out.

"What do you… me- Oh, come on!" Alex shouted a moment later, suddenly angry. "The demon that brought us here! He gave the Red Orbs he gained from killing the other members of his group to him to turn into a demon!" With a frustration-filled cry, Alex kicked the nearest rock, sending it flying against the wall and shattering it into pieces.

"Not only that!" Sol began in agreement. "But remember what Kurt and the other high schoolers said back at the mall. The people who were with them went crazy after buying enhancements. And, if we add to that, what Rodin said about those parasitic shards, then it very could be that Goode taking all those red orbs boosted it to untold heights."

"Fantastic. So, it's either him turning into a demon by selling his literal soul to the parasite inside him or him being consumed by the demonic parasite inside him." Alex didn't shout, but his voice was definitely on edge.

He started pacing to and fro in front of Sol, like a tiger in a too-small cage. "We can't know for sure. And it doesn't even matter! What's next, more demons?!" As the hand of Murphy manifested itself, several Marionettes pulled themselves into view.

Sol looked between them and Alex. "You just had to tempt Murphy didn't you?"

"Shut. Up." Alex already had Calcabrina in his hands, a shining point of energy on the tip.

*******************************

He felt himself fading. It started just behind his eyes and had been happening ever since he confronted those two murderers. Then… then that power hit him. So what if he killed his lackeys? They'd never amount to anything, they lacked ambition, talent, and luck. They were worthless, beyond being good, little workers.

The power felt so amazing, he could feel himself become stronger and stronger… and… and... then... then something... smothered him. Buried him in waves of might. His mouth moved without his command, and his arms and legs powered through despite his attempts to exert control. This… this wasn't him, this wasn't what he wanted. He wanted power and control, dammit!

They had come and seen and his body moved. He tried to direct it and end the battle quickly. Kill them for Cassandra's sake, but it just wasn't working. He… he managed to take some control back and freeze the murderer with longer hair, but the other one charged him, and then… He could see his body reflected from the ice. He tried to move it, to fight back but h..e…j..st….c….d………………..

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

At the top of the Qliphoth, Lusachia paused in its machinations. It felt a great source of its power being snuffed out, and a fair degree of power returned to it. But something was strange about the event, It couldn't have been just another demon. Even untrained, its personal enhancements would put weak humans leagues above most rank-and-file demons. It thought back to the anomalies it had experienced earlier. There must be a connection it realized. Yes, something had caused that. Lusachia could feel anger welling up within itself.

"Interlopers and scavengers, my faithful shall make them into excellent sacrifices."

Lusachia smiled to itself, and deep below a figure resting in a large ornate chair mirrored that same smile.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
*******************************

The Marionette's remains were slowly vanishing, and Alex sheathed Calcabrina once more and made it disappear inside his inventory.

"And that's that. At least it was good to remove some stress, that's for sure." Alex let himself rest, sitting down on a nearby rock, before asking.

"What do we do now? I have no idea where we are or where we need to go to find the demon that brought us here."

"Well, I say we hit the sewers and see where that leads. Up is down and down is up right?" So it's either that, a subway, or that watery whirlpool we saw back at the mall. However, I'd rather not see how long I could hold my breath." Sol while resetting Gevaudan.

"Ah, yeah, let's try to avoid adding drowning to our possible death…" Alex's laugh was more of a sarcastic chuckle, but he still steeled himself and rose to his feet. "Ok, so. Sewers. It's a shame that we don't have that map anymore, but I think we can just find a manhole and move down there."

Almost as if he expected to notice one, he looked down. But, contrary to the demons, no manhole appeared.

"Figures. I'm checking that side, you check that one?"

"Sure," Sol said while lifting a manhole cover on his side of the street. He climbed down a few rungs of the ladder and looked around. It was much more expansive than he thought it would be.

"Well, I guess we're dealing with either really well-thought-out sewers or video game sewers."

Alex followed Sol down the hole, grumbling while putting the cover back. "Of course, he finds what we are searching for instantly, while I only get demons…"

The tunnels inside the sewers were, in fact, extremely spacious. Which was strange, but not unwelcome. There was no light, but that was solved by Alex writing something in the air and summoning what looked like a ball made of light.

"So, I have magic. It's not gonna be a lot useful in combat, it's more of a… ritual kind of thing, but it works. Now!" He turned fully towards Sol. "Which way?"

"Down I guess, or really in any direction that has directions to an office for a map or diagram of the place," Sol said while looking in either direction.

"I mean.. we're in a sewer. I can't see any kind of direction on the walls, to be honest, and the floor looks level." Alex made a complete turn on himself, before returning towards Sol and shrugging. "Choose a direction and we start walking?"

Sol began to move his index finger left and right several times, mumbling "eeny meeny miny moe," before eventually settling on left.

"Left it is," Sol said with a shrug.

Alex followed his friend down the tunnel, the sphere of light bobbing above their heads, throwing in stark relief the fact that the place was empty. No water, no sludge, no smell, nothing. Just stone, some cracks and pebbles, and various side tunnels.

"Yep, still as creepy as the first time we came down here," Alex commented while looking around.

"Well then let's make sure we leave this place as quickly as possible," Sol said as they continued forward. The tunnel was beginning to go down a decline so that was good for its given value. However, in the soft glow of Alex's spell, Sol began to notice something with walls.

"Hey Alex, do you notice anything off with the walls here?" Sol asked.

Alex looked around for a moment, before stopping. He backtracked for a few steps, before walking forward once again, very slowly.

"Yeah. The walls have changed, look."

The uniform slate gray walls of the sewer had given way to carefully laid brickwork. The path kept leading down until there was a large gate that had a somewhat small degree of standing water in front of it. Beyond that gate was what appeared to be a large garden, a gentle misty light illuminating the trees.

"Alex… my brain is hurting trying to figure this out," Sol said while taking off his helmet and massaging his temples.

"I'm not even trying to figure this out. The logistics of the whole thing makes no sense." Because, although it looked like a simple change of brickwork, the main problem was that the two of them had kept going downwards until they had reached that garden. And yet, clear as the day, they could see the city beyond the garden. Specifically, down the cliff. By going down, they had ended up.

Sol looked around quickly before spotting a door hidden in the gloom. Opening it, he saw that there was a large lever in a panel just opposite the door. He pulled the lever and heard the noise of a gate opening.

"Well, this is not where a sewer is supposed to end." Alex's voice was rather puzzled. "Why is there a garden here? Shouldn't there be a landfill or a trash yard or... something else?"

He gestured towards the lush garden in front of them.

"I'm guessing, as we go further up, 'Should' will be a word we'll probably be using more often," Sol said as he looked around.

The garden was more than likely beautiful in the past. The presumably neat and orderly rows of plant life had been overgrown and the metalwork that was visible throughout the garden was rusted by exposure. Alex shrugged, before taking the first step into the garden, then paused, as nothing happened.

"Well, it seems that there aren't any traps, at least." Alex blinked, before looking around: overgrown plants curling around each other in a stunning display of green. Metal that should be rusted, but it was clearly made like that, with red spots that were just different coloration in the metal.

Here and there, flowers in various states of bloom, white, yellow, blue, red and orange, like miniature fireworks.

Sol began carefully nudging a few of the flowers. He wasn't knowledgeable of flowers, or really gardens in general, but just by looking at how they were arranged, he could tell that they were set up with no small degree of love and care.

"I guess, still whoever owned this place previously must ha…" Sol was cut off as a shriek of terror and pain ripped through the air. Sol quickly looked back at Alex.

"That… Do you think another group got here before us?" Sol asked as quietly as possible.

"Who?" Alex asked, face set into a grim expression. "The kids at the Mall? Doesn't sound probable. The Punks are entrenched and the rest of our group is kaput. So, it's either the Red Eyes, but I don't think that someone would scream like a kid in a horror film, or it's the next group. The sixth one, I think. Probably the last, if my theory is correct."

Then, he grimaced. "I mean, this is all speculation. But I can't think of anything else. You?"

"It's the only explanation that makes sense." Sol looked at the house doors that opened to the garden. "Looks like the only way to go is forward. You ready?" Sol asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be." Alex nodded before the duo made their way out of the garden and towards the sound. Considering how overgrown the whole thing was, they were able to only see a part of the house from where they were.

When they eventually got to the door, Sol gave the door a surprised look. "This house definitely belongs to someone who sold their soul." The door was extremely ornate and well-carved with meticulous detailing and design work. Upon opening the door, the sunroom inside matched the door's opulence in design and detail. In better times, sunlight would have naturally poured into this room but the overgrown plant life had stopped that. Still, there was something odd about the room and by extension the whole location. Sol couldn't quite put his finger on it, but something was definitely off here.

"Or at least several organs. Possibly not their own." Alex commented with a small grin before he moved to the door towards the inside of the place. "Ready?"

He raised a hand, with three fingers extended. "On three. One, Two… Three!" And he opened the door.

The air was still when the two entered, and a fine coating of dust could be seen on the furniture.

"Someone has not been in for a long time," Sol said before looking to see if he could find any other clues in the room. The only thing he could see were some smashed picture frames. However, the associated pictures were removed.

"Then, who screamed?" Alex asked, looking around: even under a heavy coat of dust, the place was clearly upscale: wood paneling on the walls, marble floors, tasteful furniture, gold and silver on the chandelier…

"And, more importantly, where are they?"

"Further in, I guess," Sol said uneasily. "Okay, so I don't like to make bets but… it's either a haunted mansion with Sin Scissors, or one big demon and the screams are bait for us."

Alex sighed and Calcabrina appeared in his hands. "I really want a third weapon, you know? I thought of using Goode, but it felt… wrong." He said, while stalking towards the door to the rest of the house.

"If we find another Red Eyes, however, I'm going to carve them up like a Thanksgiving turkey."

"No issues with that one man," Sol said before opening the adjacent door and stepping through. It led into what Sol had guessed was an equally lavish hallway of dark woods and tasteful ornamentation. Drawing Nymphaeum, Sol began to walk down one end before stopping. On his left was a medium-sized painting. It… looked like a painting of a castle, but warped and twisted as its predominantly red and blue colors gave the painting a hellish vibe. For some reason, Sol swore he recognized the castle in some way.

"Alex, I've got a weird painting here and something about it is bugging me," Sol called out.

"What? Oh. Well, I can see how it would bug you out. Me, it kinda creeps me out, but it's just.. Well, I mean, this place was made by a demon. I expected some kind of horrendous painting, sooner or after." He kinda shrugged after that, before looking down the hallway.

"My main problem was this hallway, to be honest. It feels too long to me."

"Almost like it's being stretched too far?" Sol asked calmly

"More like…" He trawled off, before he took a few steps forward, looking at the wall. He was counting under his breath.

"Nine, ten, eleven, twelve, thirteen… Ah. Yeah, I got it." Alex turned towards Sol and called him towards himself. "Come here. Count your steps until you reach me. Or, more accurately…"

And he pointed at the wall. "Until you reach the painting here."

"Huh?" Sol said before counting off.

"Ten, eleven, twelve… What the hell?" Sol asked aloud

The painting on the wall had changed. It was the same size but depicted a different scene. Sol looked at Alex, and then back at the painting before walking an additional thirteen steps.

"It changed again, this is going to be weird, isn't it?" Sol asked from his new position.

"Considering the wall from this painting…" He pointed at the one near them. "Change from wood paneling to square-cut gray stones, along with the floor moving from parquet to more stone, I'm going with yes." Alex sighed.

"I'm not even going to try and guess about what is happening. I have no idea and, to be honest, I just want to stop and eat something." He patted his stomach. "It's been a while, after all." Alex continued.

"Yeah, you're right, back to the sunroom area for a bit then? Any hallway that arbitrarily stretches on and on may not be the best place to eat." Sol said while massaging his temples.

"That's definitely true. Still, I would feel a bit more safe if we could find a room that didn't have that much glass in it. You never know when something is going to smash it and use it as a weapon." Alex grumbled a little, looking around the hallway for doors to a room that failed to materialize.

"Bah. Let's just move." He turned to walk back before a scream of fear made both of them freeze on the spot. The sound came from further down the hallway. Near the end of it, in fact.

"Well, I guess we can wait on that, rather not get attacked while eating thank you very much," Sol said before looking down the hallway and sighing. "This is gonna suck isn't it?"

"Definitely." Alex sighed with Sol, before turning towards the end of the hallway and starting sprinting towards it.

"Well might as well," Sol said before running after Alex.

The hallway was, in fact, longer than it should be. In their frenetic run, they passed at least six different paintings, with accompanying changes of walls and floor. A few doors passed by their sides closed and made of either heavy wood or the same panels as the walls and floors. Finally, they reached the end of the corridor, finding a single double door at the end, once they pushed it open, they saw what was clearly a dining room, big enough to host at least a hundred people inside.

And with the exception of Sol and Alex, there were more than a hundred people inside. There was a mix of men and women in their late teens to early twenties. As Sol looked them all over he began to notice something common among all of them. Greek letters.

"Oh… fraternities and sororities… not exactly what I was expecting." Sol while slowly lowering Nymphaeum.

"And that's a Divinity Statue. Wait, how many…" Alex lost himself in counting the people around, ignoring the way several of them had stiffened at their entrance, before approaching them with a hostile swagger to their steps.

"Just who the hell are you two?" A rather square-jawed-looking guy asked them. Sol blinked slowly at what he realized was an on-the-spot intimidation check and gave a sheepish look.

"Two people who aren't going to fire at first sight? We thought someone was in danger and came to help. Guess not…" He said trailing off.

In the meantime, Alex was still counting... "Sixty, sixty-one, sixty-two, sixty-three… Move a bit, thanks… Sixty-four…" He grabbed one of the boys that had moved in front of him and lifted him, moving him to the side without even stopping counting.

"Wh… what's he doing!?" The guy who spoke first asked in shock, finally noticing Alex's counting.

"Proving a theory we developed. If he's right… well, it's best you all try to stay alive for as long as possible. Best to not give the, uh… what would be the term, uh… mastermind behind this nightmare an edge." Sol said simply.

"Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, One Hundred, One Hundred and One…" Alex wasn't listening. He was just… counting.

"Watch," Sol said to the lead, well he was going to say jock before wincing at that memory, before continuing. "Your group will probably have 111 people in it."

"One hundred and Ten, One Hundred and Eleven people. Yep, as I had guessed." Alex nodded, before turning towards Sol.

"Yeah, these are the last batch. When did your group get summoned here? How much time ago, who used the statue, have you been attacked? Anyone heavily injured?" He turned towards the lead jock, asking without worrying about the fact that he was large enough to be two of him side by side.

"He…hey, we asked the questions first?" The jock stammered a little taken aback.

"We understand that and we answered them. But for the sake of you and your fellows here. That information is really damn important." Not just for your physical safety, but your spiritual as well." Sol responded.

"Are you some kind of preacher!?" The Jock asked loudly.

Sol paused for a moment before slowly shaking his head. "Absolutely not, but if you got the whole kill the demon lord speech, then whatever power was forcefully gifted to you is… parasitic."

"Well, what were the questions? Who are we, where we are, what is happening? I'm guessing, nothing more. Anyway, in order…" Alex cleared his throat, before assuming a tone of voice that sounded like he had mentally rehearsed what he was saying.

"You have been summoned by a demon to try and reach the center of the city we are in. Except that the power that the Voice said it has given to you is just something the demon has lent to you, not given, so if you grow it by using the statue, you'll just feed the demon's power. If you don't, however, your growth will be restricted to what you can do. That doesn't mean you can't become as awesome as we are. Also, it is a parasitic power that will consume you from the inside. No, we don't know where we are, my best guess is a pocket dimension. No, we don't know if we can escape, I'm guessing we need to kill the demon that brought us here. Other questions?"

"Uh…" A voice from the crowd began to ask in a sheepish tone. "How do we get the parasite thingy out?"

"Excellent question!" Alex didn't really shout, but he swirled with his index finger raised. "There is a portal around here: a circle, completely red and glowing. If you step inside it will bring you to a bar called The Gates of Hell. The owner, Rodin, is a blacksmith of incredible power and he can remove the parasites from you… for a price."

He shrugged. "Those Red Orbs that you got at the start? You'll need those."

"It's 5,000 to remove it from yourself. For now, until you can reliably get that, buy blue orbs and weapons and avoid anything marked with an (L). Those are the trap options, and we've seen what that can lead to firsthand." Sol said while shivering at the memory of Goode.

"Full on possession and demon-hood. Not a good look for anyone, and not good for anyone back home."

The group of people was white as a sheet and the rest of the group was chatting with each other, clearly worried. Until someone, from the very back, shouted something.

"Why should we believe you?!" A female voice, high pitched and with a rather high-class accent asked, cutting through all the noise.

Sol let out a sigh and looked at Alex before raising his left arm. The crowd recoiled.

"See this!" Sol said in a loud voice. "I lost my arm to a demon known as an Abyss and took its arm as recompense. Now before you all start having wild and crazy thoughts, know that I am having a lot of problems with it. Guess you could label them under dystonia and that's without getting into what the blood flow is doing to my internals." Sol said as he lowered his arm.

"I'm not even going to start explaining why I have tri-colored hair and silver sclerae. Let me just say that it was exceedingly painful and I almost died… three times? Four? I honestly lost count." Alex deadpanned, before pointing at the statue. "Now, if you will, I need to go shopping."

Sol shrugged at the crowd before letting Alex go first. Looking at the crowd he began to say, "If any of you have any other questions, I'm free to answer those questions."

Alex ignored the voice that rose behind him and strode towards the statue, eyes mostly blank. With a touch, the dining room vanished from his sight, to be replaced by the white-gold empty space of the Watcher of Time. Only then, did he let go of the breath that he had been holding. "The sixth group. This… either proves my theory or disproves it completely. But I'm thinking that 6 groups of people of One Hundred and Eleven each makes a lot of sense. Ahhh, not the moment!" With a shake of his head, he focused on the screens in front of him.

And the first thing he noticed was that this time, the option to buy things from the demon that had called them there… wasn't present anymore. It took him only a few moments, but the image of Rodin removing the corrupted power from inside himself and Sol was still vivid in his eyes.

"Finally… Now, how much do I have in store?"

When he checked, his eyes turned wide with surprise.

Red Orbs: 173.650

"When did I… no, it's not the moment to start and think about this. I have a wallet to empty."

The windows of possibilities opened in front of him. Almost literally.

Calcabrina (Combined Form)

• Float (Keeping the umbrella open, it will slow down any fall to a gentle float) - 2.500 Red Orbs Bought
  • Levitate (As long as the Umbrella is open, the weight of the user is reduced to almost nothing. Higher jump, can walk on fragile and liquid surfaces) - Require Float,5.000 Red Orbs Bought
    • Fly (Glide/flight for a short distance with directional momentum chosen at the start of the movement) - Require Levitate, 10.000 Red Orbs Bought
      • Defying Gravity (Unlimited flight, cost Magical Energy) - Require Fly, 300.000 Red Orbs
• Tar Beam (Only combined form, charged.) (Charge the entire surface of the Umbrella and shoot a giant beam.) - Require Beam Spell to be bought, 25.000 Red Orbs
  • Improved Tar Beam (Can charge the beam for longer. Damage is increased) - Require Tar Beam, 50.000 Red Orbs

• Calca (Sheath)

  • Rainproof (Require Barrier) (Strengthen the Barrier and extend it beyond the Umbrella's edge) - 5.000 Red Orbs
    • Waterproof (Require Rainproof) (Barrier is strengthened and extended more) - 15.000 Red Orbs
      • Impervious (Require Waterproof, Require Funeral March for a Marionette) (Extend the shield further, the barrier is strong enough to block any attack once. Cooldown after this use) - 50.000 Red Orbs
  • Puppet Waltz (Require Beam Spell) (Lasers come out of the tassels hanging from the spokes of the umbrella, can be kept active during movement) - 15.000 Red Orbs
    • Funeral March for a Marionette (Require Puppet Waltz) (Calca gets thrown up in the air, lasers come down from the tassels and it starts turning on itself, the lasers hitting all around in a casual pattern) - 35.000 Red Orbs

• Brina (Sword)

  • Running Stitch (The tip of the sword is charged with magical energy and, on hit, releases a thin beam of energy in the enemy) - 8.000 Red Orbs Bought
    • Cross Stitch (Require Running Stitch, Require Beam Spell) (The tip of the sword can now leave behind up to two trails of energy that will shoot forward. Charged) - 20.000 Red Orbs
      • Cross Stitch (Require Cross Stitch) (The number of trails of energy that can be used is now unlimited, but need to be continuously chained) - 40.000 Red Orbs
  • Back Stitch (Require Barrier Spell, Require Beam Spell) (Enlarge the size of the sword by overlaying cutting barriers on it. The size can change from slightly bigger than normal to greatsword size. Weight is unchanged) - 25.000 Red Orbs
    • Blanket Stitch (Require Back Stitch) (Can now enlarge the sword to bus size. Weight is unchanged) - 50.000 Red Orbs

• Seraphim

  • Sing! (Basic attack)(An area attack that uses sonic waves to hit everyone around the user. Short range.)
    • Contralto (The Sing! Attack rise in power and pitch, shattering hard materials and flying back the enemies around the user) - 7.500 Red Orbs Bought
      • Mezzo Soprano (The Sing! Attack rise in range, now reaching until middle-range from the user, sending the enemies even further away.) - 20.000 Red Orbs
        • Soprano (The Sing! Attack is now at the strongest it can possibly be, rising in both strength and range, turning every material around to dust in an even wider range.) - 75.000 Red Orbs
  • Solo: (A single wave of sound erupt from Seraphim in a narrow cone forward, with greater strength, but lesser area, than Sing!) 10.000 Red Orbs Bought
    • Acuto (Solo now gains greater penetrative power and hits enemies behind the first one with piercing sound waves.) 25.000 Red Orbs
  • Choir: (Summon a sphere of light with wings that shoot sonic projectiles at the enemies in range.) 30.000 Red Orbs
    • Choir 2: (Summon three Choirs to help the fight, instead of only one.) 55.000 Red Orbs

Even just the weapon techniques were something that he wanted. He really, really wanted them. So, he took them.

Rainproof (Require Barrier) (Strengthen the Barrier and extend it beyond the Umbrella's edge) - 5.000 Red Orbs

• Waterproof (Require Rainproof) (Barrier is strengthened and extended more) - 15.000 Red Orbs
  • Impervious (Require Waterproof, Require Funeral March for a Marionette) (Extend the shield further, barrier is strong enough to block any attack once. Cooldown after this use) - 50.000 Red Orbs
• Puppet Waltz (Require Beam Spell) (Lasers come out of the tassels hanging from the spokes of the umbrella, can be kept active during movement) - 15.000 Red Orbs
  • Funeral March for a Marionette (Require Puppet Waltz) (Calca gets thrown up in the air, lasers come down from the tassels and it starts turning on itself, the lasers hitting all around in a casual pattern) - 35.000 Red Orbs
• Tar Beam (Only combined form, charged.) (Charge the entire surface of the Umbrella and shoot a giant beam.) - Require Beam Spell to be bought, 25.000 Red Orbs

It was overly focused on his main weapon, which made him a little uncomfortable. So, with a look of indecision on his face, he decided to take a step back and reevaluate. In the end, he decided to change a couple of things.

Rainproof (Require Barrier) (Strengthen the Barrier and extend it beyond the Umbrella's edge) - 5.000 Red Orbs

• Waterproof (Require Rainproof) (Barrier is strengthened and extended more) - 15.000 Red Orbs
• Puppet Waltz (Require Beam Spell) (Lasers come out of the tassels hanging from the spokes of the umbrella, can be kept active during movement) - 15.000 Red Orbs
• Choir: (Summon a sphere of light with wings that shoot sonic projectiles at the enemies in range.) 30.000 Red Orbs
• Tar Beam (Only combined form, charged.) (Charge the entire surface of the Umbrella and shoot a giant beam.) - Require Beam Spell to be bought, 25.000 Red Orbs

Then, after choosing what techniques he wanted, he moved to the non-weapon skills. Specifically, his half-demon powers. And he immediately chose one that would be invaluable, going forward.

• Blink (Move from one place to another without any time in between. Limited to five seconds of movements, only places that are physically accessible): 7.500 Red Orbs - Bought
  • Blink 2 (Time of movement is extended to ten seconds): 20.000 Red Orbs
    • Blink 3 (Time of movement is limitless, depending on magical energy consumed): 75.000 Red Orbs
• Time Bubble (Create a bubble of slowed time in front of you that lasts for three seconds): 15.000 Red Orbs - Bought
• Haste (Speed your personal time up, moving faster and doing more things in less time): 35.000 Red Orbs
• Slow (Slow down a target's personal time, making them move like they are in slow motion)(Consume Magical Energy): 50.000 Red Orbs

"Yeah, I'm taking Haste and Slow. It falls precisely in my budget."

The final tally ran him exactly 175.000 Red Orbs. Precisely inside his own range.

"Back to being a pauper. Oh well, I can always kill more demons." And, with a smile, he bowed to the Watcher of Time and let the white-gold space vanish.

In the meantime, Sol was being asked a lot of things. Some were smart.

"What exactly do you mean by demons?!"

And some were…

"What do you mean there's no open shop where we can buy booze?!"

…less smart.

Sol paused, pinched the bridge of nose, and pointed to the person who asked the smart question.

"Yes, demons, the forces of hell, led by…" Sol paused, before continuing, "Not sure, there's been some inter rivalries that have spilled over topside and dragged us all in. Now there's some demon who's looking to capitalize on a power vacuum left by the proverbial dead beat that ruined all of our respective days. There's a very long story with that one, that probably involves at least twenty years' worth of tax evasion. Hence why you don't take anything with the L prefix, unless it's a denotation of size for healing items. Stay clear from the life restoration option." Sol said, partially reiterating an earlier statement.

"Still there are a lot of demons here, we're basically in a pocket of hell right now. The good news though, there are dedicated businesses that perform demon hunting at a fee, So I'll be sure to give you all referrals when we get out of here. Due note that at least one of the businesses is run by a man who's addicted to pizza and strawberry sundaes. I guess if you are in the business that long you start to pick up eccentricities."

Then he turned and gave a withering stare at the idiot who asked him about the booze.

"I meant what we said, there is a place that sells liquor but that's called Gates of Hell and booze is much less of a concern there than you'd like. It's a wholesale arms dealership with nothing, but demonic weapons on offer. Bonus points if you bring your own scavenged demon parts for trade. If you are really desperate to get drunk, then scavenge around for whatever ruined store or house for your fix. Just don't come crying to me when you bring a horde down on yourself because of your poor life decisions."

"Are you scaring the kids, Sol?" Alex's voice was a little bit rough but steady. He was smiling, a faint silvery aura slowly vanishing from around him, his eyes glowing visibly for a few seconds more.

"But, yeah, whatever he said to you all is true. Or a well-focused theory. Anyway, I'm done with the statue, Sol, you can go on. You all will take turns later, so start thinking about what you want to get."

That drew some puzzled stares from them. Alex rolled his eyes. "What do you want as a power? Do you want to be stronger, do you want to shoot fireballs, create barriers, or heal wounds? Start thinking about it."

Sol took in what Alex said before ruefully shaking his head, "No, just one of them asked a really stupid question and it kinda ticked me off."

"Hey, I thought it was a smart question!" The voice that asked before Sol responded indignantly.

"And now the whole crowd knows your college major if they didn't already." Sol shot back before looking at Alex.

"Got what you needed?" Sol asked easily.

"Yeah. I prepared as well as I could. My suggestion is to not be stingy with your funds, we are entering the endgame. I fear." Alex answered, before casually walking towards one of the doors to the side of the room.

"I'm feeling a bit hungry. Where's the kitchen?" He asked one of the college-age students around, who just blinked and pointed at the other door. "Thanks. Well, I'm going to go and make a snack. You all remain here and if something or someone appears and starts trying to kill you, shout."

"Wait, wait, are you going to leave us here? All alone? While there are demons around that want to hurt us?!"

The person who spoke was a girl, one of the stereotypical ones that could be seen in a horror movie. Alex blinked, almost not believing in his eyes. "Well, yes. I am hungry, after all."

"Can't I come with you?" She asked, trying to come off as sultry, blinking her eyes and pouting. A guy behind her didn't like what she was doing if his expression was any indication of it. Maybe her boyfriends?

"Eeehh…" Alex took a step back, his demeanor turning rather unsure all of sudden. "I mean…"

Sol found himself in the realm of the Statue of Time and Space and began to open the menus.

"I know Alex said to splurge but… I need that Angelo… So let's see what I have and we'll work our way down." Sol said before checking his wallet.

"194,550 Red Orbs… how the… oh…" Sol said, horror creeping into his voice. "Right, let's… let's put these to better use."

He scrolled down through the menus and paused at one of the options. It was expensive but, better to grab it now than later. He selected a skill called Demon's Dance for 60k and watched his wallet drop in value.

"Leaves me with 40k or so left to work with. Let's continue." He said more to himself before buying the skill Sequence Life for another 30K.

"That leaves with just above 100K, okay fuck it, might as well." Sol said before moving down the list and purchasing Restrictive Centrifuge and Restrictive Suffering for a combined value of 45K. He then returned Gevaudan's sword state and purchased Faultline for 40K. Then he paused and looked at abilities. His finger, his demonic finger, hovered over the option briefly. Sol, remembering the pain he was in before, purchased the option Trigger Heart and watched as his wallet dropped to 12,050. He looked back at the Items and purchased Two Vital Star Larges and Two Devil Star Larges, depleting his wallet to 6,050.

"I think that does it for me for now. Really not looking forward to what sort of conversations are awaiting oh the other side." Sol said with a slight grimace.

What awaited him on the other side was a rather high degree of commotion. A young woman and a young man were arguing, loudly, in the middle of everyone, while Alex was near them, in the middle, trying to take a few steps back from them. Sadly, the crowd was so closed off that he couldn't move away unless he forced his way out. Which wasn't something he wanted to do.

Sol grimaced, before drawing Nymphaeum and almost firing. He realized that would be incredibly stupid for a multitude of reasons and decided to move through the crowd on his own… by placing his demonic hand directly in peoples' faces.

As the people recoiled from the visibly demonic limb, Sol simply began to say, "Excuse me, pardon me, trying to get on by, thank you," before quietly grabbing Alex and making his way out of the crowd. The two who started the argument, were oblivious to what just occurred.

"Why the hell shouldn't I talk to him!?" The girl shouted to her male compatriot.

"I wouldn't care, but you were clearly coming onto him!" The male shouted back.

"Well, at least he's obviously down more than you!" She hissed.

"Yeah!? Well, I'll show you what I can do!" He roared before turning to where Alex had been only to stop and gaze at the empty spot. "Hey uh… where'd he go?"

"Good grief." Alex's voice came from above them, where he was floating above the couple. "Are you done with your lover's spat?" His voice, now that he had recovered, was only barely amused, instead of surprised or unsure. Then, he let himself drop down, the umbrella vanishing into his inventory.

"Look, it doesn't matter if she was coming onto me. I'm gay, so it won't work. Either way, I'm hungry, so I'm going to eat. Sol, take care of them for a few minutes, I need to not be here for a bit."

And then, before anyone could say anything else, he Blinked away, vanishing from where he was standing a moment before.

Sol wordlessly looked back between the spot where Alex had been and the crowd, before stating simply, "My brother in all but blood, people. If he ever offers you a flying ride, don't. I am now thoroughly acrophobic as a result. Real speed demon if you catch my drift… Ah hell, I gotta answer questions again don't I?" Sol asked with a weary sigh.

Silence.

For only a moment, though. Then the questions started to come: How they were here, why they were here, could they really get powers, what about the demons, could they survive, would he protect them, do they need to offer something to Sol and Alex for their protection, there's anything that they can do to survive better, what were his suggestions for a power to choose, what did he mean with loaned power…

Sol groaned before muttering to himself. "I really want to punch the shit out of demons right now… Okay! Since all you seem to want are twenty questions, demon edition! Let's begin!"

The deluge of questions didn't stop. If anything, it had turned faster and louder. Sol tried to answer as many as he could, but soon he realized that the people here were not only asking while he answered, but they were also talking over him. He paused, spun on his heel, and walked to the closest wall before he began to slowly and deliberating, smack his head against it.

"I. Really. Want. To. Punch. A. Demon." He said between each hit.

After a few moments, he realized that the flood of questions had stopped, but not the whispers. People were now looking at him like he was mad.

Then, after a minute of hushed whispers, one of the guys took a step forward and asked, his voice trembling slightly. "It's… everything ok?"

"I have dealt with scared teenagers and some kickass punks, both of whom were way more on the level and willing to listen than you lot. So no, everything is not okay. I want to go home, I replaced my arm with a demon's, watched someone I vaguely knew turn into a half-man, half-tentacle monster thing that wouldn't look out of place in the Umbrella Corps' reject pile, and now I'm dealing with you all who can't be bothered to actually listen! So, I'm fucking fantabulous right now." Sol said angrily.

The slightly nervous man looked confused for a moment, before asking another question. "What's Umbrella Corp?"

Sol's mind stopped for several sections before he turned and smashed his head into the wall, denting the wood. A few seconds later, an answering whisper saved Sol from having to respond. Sadly, the one who asked - the same one who asked about the booze - took a step back with an expression of both fear and disgust on his face.

"There are ZOMBIES now?!" His voice was a little shrill from the shout.

Sol removed his head from the wall. He almost responded immediately before he stopped and considered the universe. "No, Yes, Maybe? Probably not, but… wait I mean technically Arius counted but his corpse was possessed by a demon so, no? Look I've had a day and stupid questions are really only serving to piss me off."

"Wait," Another voice asked. "You said Arius, like Arius Vogel the former CEO of Ouroboros Corp. I have an uncle who used to work at a London branch office before the CEO died. You're telling he was possessed by a demon!?"

"Finally a good question! Okay, so it was less a possession and more of a demon wearing his skin like a meat suit after he suffered a deadly case of .45 Auto poisoning and terminal velocity. So, uh from here on out, don't trust mega-corps, 'cause they're probably like Ouroboros or Umbrella." Sol said before leveling a glare at the human booze hound.

"Holy shit..." was the response before the target of Sol's ire spoke up again.

"What? It was a valid question! You can't come here and glare at me for asking if there are zombies when you said that we have to deal with demons!" The guy half-shouted, crossing his arms in a defensive position. He seemed to be vaguely offended by the glare that Sol was giving him.

"No, it was not a valid question, nor was the question about booze. Demons do not always equate with zombies. If they did we'd have already seen them by now!" Sol yelled as began to devolve into a rant, listing every demon he and Alex had encountered to that point, while wildly gesturing with his hands.

While Sol was loudly explaining the differences between a Hell Caina and a Hell Antenora, Alex returned with half a sandwich in his hands, already chewing a mouthful, and stopped at the door.

"I did hear shouting, but why are you holding class?" His question was just loud enough to cut through the chaos, making everyone turn towards him.

"They think zombies exist here because I equated Goode's appearance with something from Umbrella and one of them didn't know what Umbrella is. Booze Meister over here jumped on that train of thought real quick." Sol responded sharply.

"My name is not Booze Meister!" The now-nick-named individual responded angrily.

"Well, it is now!" Sol shot back.

"I mean, I'm not going to discount the appearance of zombies. Not anything from a virus or anything, though. You do remember the flaming corpses, right?" Alex's question was aimed more at their shared knowledge about the game than any specific enemy they had met personally. Still, it was a good point to make.

Yet, before the panic could spread, Alex clapped his hands loudly. "Ok, everyone listen!" His voice echoed around the room with a weight to it that made it clear that everyone needed to listen to him.

"I want you all to divide yourself into two groups. For simplicity, we're going to divide you into male and female, to start! Male on this side, Female on the other one!" He waved his arms in two opposite directions, to keep everything clear. There was some grumbling but unlike with Sol, the group seemed to actually listen to Alex, as they began to move into the separate groups.

"Good! Now, to simplify things even more! Starting from you!" Alex pointed to a random person in the Female group. "Start counting! Starting from one, then the next one will raise their hands and say two and so on and so forth, until there are no more. Be orderly!"

And so they started doing exactly that. The girl that Alex had pointed at raised her hand and shouted "ONE!" Then there was the second, the third, and so on until the last one lowered her own arm and then shouted "FIFTY-FIVE!" Died down.

Alex nodded, then pointed at the Males. "Do the same thing!" They grumbled a little bit, before shutting up and starting when they saw the expression on his face. That group was fifty-six.

"Good, good. Ok, now. Divide yourselves into groups of five people! No more, no less! Get a move on, I'm trying to save your lives here, people! Except one group will have six, for obvious reasons! No, I won't accept arguing!" Alex stated.

Sol looked at Alex perplexed. "What's going man? Feels like I'm missing something." Sol asked.

"I'm dealing with a problem before it gets worse." Alex answered, a serious frown on his face, before he pointed at a group of ten people clustered together.

"I don't care about your reasons! FIVE people! Not more! MOVE!" His voice reverberated around the place for a few seconds after his shout was done and everyone was now moving faster.

"Sol, go eat something. The kitchen is fairly well furnished. And… there's something you need to see." He pointed the tip of his umbrella towards the door from where he had come from. "Beyond the kitchen, the door on the left. There's a parlor with something interesting inside. Go."

"Alright," Sol said quietly, any irritation gone from his voice.

Walking away from the room, Sol passed through the kitchen, pausing briefly before snatching up an apple and continuing forward. He could always return and grab something more substantial on the way back. Entering what Alex had called the parlor, Sol began to look around. The room was vaguely familiar as if he had seen it once before but he couldn't quite place it. The sense of vagueness died when his eyes fell upon a large portrait hanging in the center of the room.

Now, Sol was more of a modern art kind of person, but he figured that classical would be the best term to apply to the painting's style. It depicted four figures against an, admittedly unappealing to Sol, dark background and setting. The first figure to draw his eyes was the woman in the middle. She was... a picture of beauty, with long blonde hair that stood out against the dark reds and blacks of the middle and foreground. Then he looked down and froze. In front of her were two boys, both with white hair that was styled differently and showing body language that somehow perfectly expressed their attitudes. He felt ice form in his chest and he looked to the final figure on the right side of the painting. With his stark white hair that almost affected the downward curvature of a pair of horns, it was clear to see where the boys had inherited their looks.

The apple dropped from Sol's hand. "That's the Sparda family portr... This is, this is, this is.... oh fuck!" Sol said before hastily picking the apple backup and returning back to Alex. Once there, he saw what Alex was doing. With a stern face and a sterner tone of voice, Alex was directing the group to buy their own upgrades at the statue. Starting with a Blue Orb, at a minimum, and then talking with them to decide what they wanted to learn. Alex was not forcing anyone into making certain purchases, just using his own knowledge to make suggestions. And, to speed things up, he was alternating between males and females, so that they could talk with the rest of the groups and make the subsequent decisions go faster.

When he noticed Sol's appearance, he raised a finger to his lips for a moment, making the universal sign of 'Shhhh', before choosing another group to go.

Sol watched the group briefly before getting close to Alex and whispering, "This is 'HIS' house!"

"I. Know." Alex's whisper was barely more than a movement of his lips, but he still managed to say it. "Don't say anything. Take over the counseling part, I'll finish ordering the groups. The faster they are organized, the faster we can move on."

Sol moved to the newest group and began to make suggestions. "Uhhh, right! So, you want to get yourselves a Blue Orb for increased vitality and physical capabilities. It's not going to be on the level of the L prefixed items but it won't drive you insane. Next you want to…" Sol's voice began to trail off as he explained which things to get, which to avoid, and which to save up for.

By working in two, the whole thing sped up, and soon, everyone was lined up in front of the statue, touching it and getting away a few seconds later, quietly amazed by the changes.

***************************************************

After a little less than an hour, everyone in the room had had their turns. Some, those that didn't want to fight, had taken healing powers. Many had taken physical power. Around the same number had chosen ranged magic attacks. It was fairly balanced, all things considered.

Alex was sitting on a chair, head thrown back and staring at the ceiling. "I hope it will be enough." It was just a whisper, but Sol was more than good enough to hear it.

"If we clear the way forward then it should be safe for both them, the punks, and the teens. We probably got pretty lucky with our location. They? not so much." Sol responded in turn before finally finishing the apple he had taken from the kitchen.

"To think we're in their house, in a pristine condition. That's… I never would have imagined that." Sol said quietly, a slight hint of awe present in his voice.

"I kinda didn't want to imagine it. But it happened, and that's it. Now…" Alex sighed, before getting up. "Now we have to prepare."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Oh yeah, the location has changed to one of greater importance and the last group of surviviors has been encountered. Now, that doesn't mean that things are any safer. We've seen what happened to the original manor afterall. There's also the matter of Lusachia, and that's only going to well... well we'll cross that proverbial bridge when we get there.

Enjoy everyone!

 

[Krazyfan1]

thanks for the update.

kinda hope the group listens to them.
Also

"Well, I say we hit the sewers and see where that leads. Up is down and down is up right?" So it's either that, a subway, or that watery whirlpool we saw back at the mall. However, I'd rather not see how long I could hold my breath." Sol while resetting Gevaudan.

"Ah, yeah, let's try to avoid adding drowning to our possible death…"

Click to shrink...

Lucky you! Dante can breathe underwater, meaning both of them can probably do the same!

 

[Yuki no Yue]

Lucky you! Dante can breathe underwater, meaning both of them can probably do the same!

Click to shrink...

Gotta be honest, but me and Sol completely forgot about that little factoid.

 

[Atma]

Gotta be honest, but me and Sol completely forgot about that little factoid.

Click to shrink...

Looks at boat level in DMC1 and kicks himself.

That's an unfortunately missed routing opportunity.

 

[Jackofcookiejars]

Bayonetta can too, wonder if it's something to do with her contracts, or just magic in general.

 

[Yuki no Yue]

Bayonetta can too, wonder if it's something to do with her contracts, or just magic in general.

Click to shrink...

I'm going to say magic. I mean, wouldn't you, if you had the possibility?

 

[Jackofcookiejars]

I'm going to say magic. I mean, wouldn't you, if you had the possibility?

Click to shrink...

Oh, 100%. I was just wondering if it was something that could be learned instead of requiring some demonic interaction.

 

[Yuki no Yue]

Oh, 100%. I was just wondering if it was something that could be learned instead of requiring some demonic interaction.

Click to shrink...

I'm going with a guess and say yes. Assuming you have magic, it should be doable. Some sort of environmental shield or something.

 

[Atma]

Sol carefully and somewhat regretfully set the apple core on a small table before popping his knuckles, his left arm beginning to spasm slightly in the act. Sol grimaced before getting and handing Alex two items: a large vitality star and a devil star.

"I bought two sets earlier, just in case… When they move on or we find another statue with a wide-open area, I will use that disc. I'll take that short moment of blinding agony, then deal with the risk of losing muscle control at a pivotal moment or anything else that comes from this arm." Sol said in a low tone.

"I think there's an inner garden or something... The whole place is mixed with a castle, so it's a definite possibility." Alex murmured back before turning towards the group of college guys. "Give me a moment." And he went and asked.

A few moments later, he turned back, nodding to Sol. "Let's go!"

"Wait, you are going? But we don't know what to do!" "Yeah! We have no idea how to use this power!" "Can't you stay a bit more?!" Those and more voices rose in the air, from both males and females, their expression rapidly approaching a scared one.

"Not too far, but we have some business we need to handle." Sol raised his left arm. "I need to stabilize myself, so it's best you all steer clear of the garden for as long as possible. There'll be a strong demon there that you won't be able to handle at this time."

"Wait, what do you mean stabilize…" Alex closed the door in the face of the guy who was asking, cutting him off.

Then he turned with a beatific smile on his face. "Shall we?" He started walking forward rather fast. "Also, do you want me to help you? Or do you want to deal with him alone? If there are small fries, I can keep them off you."

"I won't say no to the latter. I don't know what will come when we play the track, so again, thank you… And thank you for shutting that door when you did. They're… I really hate to say it, but the questions were getting on my nerves." Sol said before looking at the hallway.

"Lead on."

Alex shrugged, while walking down the hallway. "I mean, they are young and in a place that is pretty isolated from their normal environment. Plus, demons and powers and whatnot. Also, I don't know if you have noticed, but they didn't say anything about the rest of the palace. I'm going to guess that no one had tried to move away or use the statue until we reached the place."

After passing the kitchen and the door to the parlor with the portrait, they reached another door that opened on the inner garden. There was a water fountain in the middle, with stone benches around it. And, while overgrown, the place was lovely.

"Here we are." Alex said.

Sol took in the inner garden and began to nod. "I really wish I had a camera for this… I also wish we didn't have to set up a fight here. You think wherever Eva is, she'll forgive us for this?" Sol asked.

"I really hope so. If you want, I can try to repair the possible damages with magic after. I have a lot of knowledge, but it's not like I have had any kind of chance to actually use it beyond what I did in the nazi prison." Then he shrugged, giving Sol a sardonic look.

"Still, it's a copy. Even if I fail, the original should still be good."

"True," Sol said before looking skyward. "We know it's a copy, but we still ask for forgiveness." He looked at Alex before shrugging. "I'm sure Sparda moved from place to place over two thousand plus years, but I also know damn well that messing with someone's garden is always an open invitation for catastrophe." Sol finished before moving to the center of the inner garden and setting the CD player in a safe-ish location. He inserted the disc and pressed play before quickly backing back.

The song began and sounded… wrong. Like a half-finished song with distorted vocals and instrumentation. A corrupted and broken version of what could have easily been a masterpiece.

"Alright, it's game time," Sol said while drawing his weapons.

"Hope they will get a move on. This song is horrible." Alex winced, covering his ears with his hands while, at the same time, trying to see if demons were appearing from anywhere.

Then, a ray of light descended from the sky, carrying something in it. Several somethings. Five figures materialized from the light. If the Bianco and Alto affected the idea of an Angelic Knight, then these were their antithesis. Sol pointed at the center most one, which he quickly saw was the target.

"I'm going to sound like a bad anime villain when I say this, but your power belongs to me." Sol declared before lunging at the Proto Angelo.

Alex facepalmed before slicing with Calcabrina, the sword leaving a trail of light behind that slammed against the cohorts of the Proto Angelo, four Scudo Angelos that were sent back by the attack. "Take care of him, and I'll keep these ones out your back!" Right after that, a silvery aura enveloped him, and he started moving far faster than normal.

Sol surged forward, lashing out with Gevauden. The Proto Angelo leaned out of the way of the slash before retaliating by bracing its off hand against the side of its blade and charging Sol. Sol was forced to dodge to the right with Time Step before firing a blast at the Proto with his gun. The energy shot caused the demon to stagger slightly before it leaned into its momentum, spun, and swung at Sol.

Dodging, Sol began to backstep while thinking, "Okay, so you're fast and adaptive. Guess that's why Urizen kept you all around. Let's try something heavier." Sol switched to Vendetta and clashed once more with Proto Angelo. The moment both demonic swords struck, the sound of a tremendous thunderclap filled the garden.

While the duo was busy with their one on one duel, Alex and the four Scudo Angelos were busy to the side. The Hybrid was flashing from side to side, Calcabrina always slashing and cutting away at them until one's shield cracked and broke in a shower of shards. Capitalizing on that, Alex switched to Seraphim, and a wave of sound sent the whole group flying backward, landing on the ground in a heap. A moment later, the shield-less one was decapitated.

For a brief moment, Sol and the Proto Angelo were in a blade lock. That moment ended when Sol roared Abyssal Punch while aiming directly at the eyeless face of the demon. It responded by breaking the lock, raising its sword in defense.

*crack*

The force of the strike sent the demon back several feet and through one of the overgrown sections. It began to charge right away, and Sol was about to press the attack when his eyes caught something. Barely visible along the giant blade it wielded, there was a small but noticeable crack.

Sol began to grin and charged. The Proto Angelo swung in response, prompting Sol to leap above the swing and initiated an air hike. Using the extra air time, Sol swung down as hard as he could. The strike was partially blocked as a section of Vendetta had cut into the Proto Angelo's right shoulder.

*crack*

Before Sol could do anything else, the Proto Angelo seemed to take a page from his book and used its free hand to deliver a punch directly to Sol's midsection. Sol flew backward, landing hard against one of the stone benches. His breathing came out sharp and ragged.

"That's gotta be another broken rib or two," Sol said in a pained tone before quickly using Time Step to escape, for in the time it took him to fall and speak, the Proto Angelo was already moving. Holding the flat of its sword in front of it, the demon charged with the intent of crushing Sol against the bench and fountain. As Sol dodged the charge, the Proto Angelo altered its movement to swing down on its foe. However, the wound to its shoulder threw its arm off slightly, causing the blade to miss Sol by a hair's breadth. It tried to swing again only for Sol to recover and attack.

"Abyssal Punch!" Sol shouted as his fist collided with the blade once more.

*Crack*

The Proto Angelo staggered back before retaliating, though thanks to the two previous hits, the cracks along its swords were growing more and more visible.

The three remaining Scudo Angelos tried to reach their commander, only for Alex to blast them once more with Seraphim, sending them back more than once. He was breathing a bit hard, considering that this wasn't the proper use for his weapon. Still, it was more than enough to keep them there and, at the same time, crack their shields bit by bit. It wouldn't last much more than this.

For an instant, the two looked at each other before charging, with Vendetta and the Proto Angelo sword ringing in the clash. Sol attempted a thrust that was parried and was forced to step back, swatting various blows from the Proto Angelo as best he could with the help of Time Step. Seeing an opening, Sol sidestepped and swung his blade directly at the Proto Angelo's neck. The strike was blocked, but the force of it damaged the enemy sword that much further, leaving a noticeable crack in the sword.

*CRACK*

Upon seeing this, the Proto Angelo adjusted its grip and swung, sending Sol across the garden. Quickly rising, Sol charged and swung down with all his might. The Proto Angelo responded with a rising cut and…

*CRACK!!!*

A tremendous sound made itself known as Sol was sent flying backward, Vendetta flying out of his hands and embedding itself into the fountain. However, for the Proto Angelo, its sword shattered in its grip, sending shrapnel into its body. Bleeding heavily, it gave a low roar of rage.

"Time we finish this." Sol hissed before drawing Gevaudan and attacking once more. The Proto Angelo lashed out in fury, its countenance lost along with its blade, and Sol dodged to its side and countered.

What was one slash became two, then three, and then more as Sol unconsciously initiated Thriller, and yet as he finished the attack, Sol began to feel something, a spark of the demonic power now coursing through his veins.

Without realizing it, Sol called out, "Demon's Dance". His slashes became faster and stronger, carving deeply into the Proto Angelo's body. Each strike carried it a little further in the air until Sol paused briefly. There was a glow of demonic energy around Gevaudan as he struck one final time. The head of the Proto Angelo was separated cleanly from its body, its eyeless face a mix of shock and agony.

The two descended back to the ground, and Sol dropped to his knees, breath heavy and left arm hanging limply at his side. Meanwhile, Alex was dealing with the remaining monsters.

"Choir." A sphere of white light, with wings, appeared above the Seraphim, before it started floating around the place, shooting rays of pure sound that kept at least one Scudo Angelo busy at all times. With their inability to attack flying enemies and the constant knockback from the wall of sound that Alex was using, they were essentially blocked.

After a few more moments of battle, their shields shattered and the next few attacks reduced them into paste. Only Red Orbs for Alex to absorb.

"Hey, you did it." With a wave of his hand, the Choir vanished. "How do you feel? No, wait, not the moment. We need to return to the statue before the body disappears." The hybrid changed gear between blinks, striding towards the corpse and lifting it with a single arm.

"Come on, you're going to be happy that it's done. No more arm spasms for you."

"That… was… I… think I just did a limit break." Sol said between shaky breaths. He tried to get and stumbled. His arm felt like it was going numb.

"Damn it, of course it happens now." Sol hissed before staggering to his feet, quickly stumbling to the fountain to retrieve Vendetta. De-summoning the massive blade, he used his good arm to grab a hold of the Proto Angelo's body.

"This will hurt, but it'll be worth it." Sol said as he crushed the devil star in his good hand. The numbness in his arm vanished in an instant.

"Okay, no pain that time, but it's coming," Sol said while getting a better grip on the demon's body.

Alex grabbed the corpse and pushed Sol slightly back. "I didn't get hurt. Perks of being a mostly ranged fighter. Let me carry it, you go forward." With a smile, he moved the corpse into an easier to carry position and started moving back towards the door they had come from.

"Come on. I want to see the face of the kids when we come back with the corpse."

************************

Sol struggled to open the door to the main room only to find himself staring into the eyes of one of the survivors that was by the door. There was an awkward silence before Sol spoke.

"So we've got the slowly disintegrating corpse of a demon here and if you could move, that'd be great…"

"U-, uh, sure." The person said, shuffling awkwardly out of the way.

"If someone can free a corner, please and thank you. Maybe one near the Statue, that would be ideal…" Alex's voice was more than a bit prodding and people were soon obeying him. "Thank you very much. Now, Sol, go and check how much it costs. I'll be here, preparing for when you get the info."

And he gestured towards the Divinity Statue.

Sol gave Alex a thumbs up before entering the statue's domain.

"Okay, let's see how much I've got vs. what you want." Sol said more to himself. Looking at his wallet, he saw that he had 42,050 Red Orbs. He looked at the price for Full Hybridization, 100K.

"W…well that's a problem. Say any way I could pay you to hold the body on ice for the time till I make up the scratch?" Sol asked in a pleading manner.

The statue remained silent.

"Well… Shit." Sol remarked before leaving the void.

Looking at Alex, he gave a sheepish look. "I'm about 57,950 Red Orbs short of what we need. Think we can get another record from Rodin?"

Alex blinked, before whistling, reluctantly impressed. "Damn, same cost for an arm as it cost for an entire body? At least it has their priorities in order!" Right after that, he turned towards the area near the statue and took Calcabrina out. A moment later, he had slashed the back of his arm, blood dripping down it.

"Well, at least I have an excuse to try this." Not that his words were being heard over the sounds of screams that his actions had caused. At least until he started using his own blood to paint on the ground.

Then silence came.

The only thing that could be heard was Alex humming a song, while tracing bloody symbols on the floor..

Sol looked at the symbol before realizing what was going on. "Well I hope that works, that'd make holding them a lot easier."

Although privately he asked himself, "Was Lady Gaga strictly necessary to use in creating the summoning circle, and if so, what would happen if other artists were used."

"Mhmh, yeah…. Ra-ra-ra…" The humming continued for a minute more, before the whole circle was done. Once Alex got up, the whole thing was shining silvery red.

"And that's that. Now, we only need to…" He grabbed the corpse and let it tumble inside the circle without a moment of hesitation. The moment it touched the ground, it froze in time.

"Ok, this should keep it still for a few hours. I poured as much magic as I could to make it work, so it should be good for a minimum of six hours and a max of twelve." Then he turned towards Sol and the rest of the people in the room. "That means that we need to go and hunt demons for their Red Orbs. Who wants to come with us?"

"Well you know I need them, so no question from me." Sol said easily, before turning to the crowd. "If anyone wants to come, stay back and focus on pot shots and wounded demons. This one…" Sol pointed to Proto Angelo. "Was a helluva fight, so watch yourselves."

"Wait, you want us to go out of here?" "To hunt DEMONS?" "And risk being attacked by zombies?" The cacophony of voices that answered Sol was both shrill and panicked. Which made sense, considering the situation.

"For all that is good and right, there are no zombies!" Sol shouted. "Demons yes, but there has never, nor will there ever be zombies in this plane of existence!" Sol finished in an exasperated tone.

"YAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" A shrill, high and panicked shriek came from the door on the opposite side of the kitchen. A moment later, a girl ran inside, face streaked with tears, an expression of pure fear on her.

She was stuttering, barely able to talk. "Th-there-there are…. Z-z-z-ZOMBIES!"

*********************************************************************

Once everyone was in the room near the main dining room, looking through the giant windows, they could see the lawn in the front of the house. And the horde of zombies that was shambling forward towards the main door.

"Mh. Look at that, those ARE zombies." Alex's voice was faintly amused by the situation.

Sol raised hand, demonic energy roiling off of it. "Not another word, I'm going to find whatever demon did this and make them regret it, because I know damn well, you will never let me live this down." Sol said angrily, moving past the girl. He turned to the crowd and spoke.

"Everyone! Hold the doors and barricade everything as tight as you can, be prepared to move upstairs if anything should happen… and please don't try to hide in the cellar. No one needs to be a Mr. Cooper right now." Sol said before turning back on his heel and heading outside.

"Who, me? I'm not that kind of type, really." Alex answered playfully, Calcabrina already in his hands.

"I'm only going to remind you of it for most of your life. Not all of it." He almost skipped behind Sol, smiling widely.

Sol just began to make grumbling noises before leaving the mansion and confronting the horde. It wasn't exceptionally large but as Rodin would say, quantity was a quality all its own. Sol paused briefly and tried to see if he could unfortunately recognize any of the bodies and, to a degree of growing horror, he realized he couldn't.

He drew Nymphaeum and fired at the nearest zombie. It was a male, wearing jeans and a T-shirt with a band name he didn't recognize. Its head was all but vaporized in a blast of demonic energy before its body broke down into red orbs.

"Well, at least head shots are still the gold standard of zombie killing," Sol commented as he drew Gevauden.

"I'm gonna let you do the bulk of the work. You do realize that, right?" Alex asked, with Seraphim in hand, the little Choir sphere already out and shooting at the nearest zombies. "You need the Orbs more than me. Go nuts." He then stopped to think for a moment.

"Also, you need to work out the frustration of being wrong about the zombies, so killing them all should be therapeutic enough."

Sol just silently flipped Alex the bird and uncoiled Gevauden before angrily slicing into the horde, the demonic weapon parting putrefied flesh as easily as a hot knife through butter. Sol let his anger carry him forward, always keeping some distance from the horde, though. He'd seen more than enough zombie movies and played enough resident evil to know damn well that getting surrounded was to invite the ants and scorpion analogy.

He didn't quite know how many he was cutting down, but he began to realize that if it weren't for the rotting features, they'd look… almost normal. The effects of poisoned fruit of the L enhancements were ever present, but the question was still in the back of his mind, where had they come from?

Alex was hanging back, taking potshots at those who were managing to avoid Gevaudan's blade and were starting to get too close to Sol. At least, until he stopped and looked upwards.

"There are a lot of crows in the sky." His voice was normal, barely loud enough to let Sol hear it.

Sol heard the observation while using Binding Life on a zombie, noting with no small measure of disgust how the body dried into a husk before lifting it and throwing it into the dwindling horde. Backpedaling, he looked at Alex and then at the sky. There were a lot of crows and… had they even seen other animals here? He voiced that question immediately.

"Alex, when was the last time you saw an animal here!?"

"Yeah, kinda my point." Alex's face was worryingly expressionless. Just a blank slate without any kind of hint of humanity. Then, a moment later, a series of bullets flew towards the birds.

Several hit, and instead of a shower of feathers, blood, and meat, only dark smoke remained.

"Not true crows. They're constructs. Someone's using them for… something. I'm going to hazard a guess that they are spying on us. And, considering the thematic ties that crows have to death, I'm going to say that it's the same one that is creating and controlling these zombies."

Sol nodded before calling out, "Fire on those crows. It may piss off whoever is using them and draw them here! Shit, they're probably using the zombies as shock troops!" Sol finished before cleaving through the skull of another zombie.

"Shock troops? I think you mean Free Red Orbs!" Alex answered with a grin, giving Sol finger guns before jumping and flying upwards, standing on Calcabrina. Once he reached the same height as the crows, he started shooting as fast as he could, spheres of energy hitting and missing in equal measure, covering the skies in dark smoke.

Sol fired on several more undead before trying to scan the sky. "This is like House of the Dead. Fuck, I'm actually expecting Hanged Man Type-041 to show up any minute with these birds." He thought frantically.

More and more zombies started coming and shambling forward as a solid mass of undead. The smell of their rotting flesh filling the air. There were enough that even Sol and Alex were starting to have a bit of a problem.

It was exactly as Rodin said: quantity had a quality all of its own.

"What will it take for you all to remain dead?!" Alex's shout was followed by a blast of sound that gave both Sol and him a few moments of respite.

Only for the crows to start cawing, echoing one another, until the cacophony was so high that no one could hear anything. Then, like a fountain in reverse, the crows fell downwards, an almost solid mass of black feathers obscuring the sight of everyone.

And then, a man stepped out. Dressed in a black cloak, a wooden staff with a red gem atop it, and two crow wings behind him, he looked at them with malevolent red eyes.

"Well, shit… that explains why we couldn't recognize the corpses," Sol said, realizing the color of the eyes of the summoner.

"These were your people, weren't they!?" Sol asked angrily.

The Red Eyes didn't answer, only cocked the head to the side, analyzing Sol. Specifically his arm.

"You have… No, that's not just a graft. The melding of the energies in you is unstable but much more refined than if you just decided to replace your arm with a demon one. How did you do that?" The Red-Eyed man asked.

"You should know that yourself!" Sol shot back, pointing at the Red Eyed man's wings.

"These have been gained by pouring more and more power, killing and killing until the entity that gave us power let us gain a new level of existence. A new height of existence." His words, while calm, were lit with a fanatic's fervor. "Yours, however, is different. Tell me, and I will spare your life."

Sol looked at Alex, horror plainly written over his face. "He… he's just like Goode." Turning back to the man, Sol spoke. "You dumb bastard, any part of you that was human was forfeit when you submitted. We killed one of you before, and we'll do it again."

"You know, I would honestly be more polite. Ask what you want to be called, try to chat or something. But, really, I don't need to do so anymore. And I don't want to do so, either." Alex said absentmindedly before pointing at him with Calcabrina.

"So, I'm going to ask just a single question: What's your name?"

The Red Eyes gave the impression that he was smiling - although his entire face was obscured by the hood of his cloak - and tapped the staff on the ground a few times, wings ruffling and unfurling.

CALLUM ALEXANDER: NECROMANTIC HYBRID​

"Callum, you may call me Callum." The now-identified hybrid spoke.

Alex raised a single eyebrow. "Nice to meet you."

And then he shot a beam from the tip of his umbrella, only for Callum to explode into a swarm of crows and reappear a few feet to the side. "Expected."

Alex smiled. "Worth an attempt." And then he, too, vanished into a silver Blink before his blade came down on the necromancer's head.

The necromancer raised his staff in defense. There was a flash of demonic energy before he disappeared into a murder of crows in partial retreat.

"Missed. Well, on to the next attempt." Seraphim appeared in his hands, and a Choir manifested around Alex, already shooting at the enemies around him. Then, he started shooting, waves of sound that vibrated the zombies apart.

"Won't you stay still and let yourself be killed?" Alex asked angrily.

From the murder of crows, Callum's voice rang out, "Why should I? I wish to live beyond this place and bask in my power."

From the murder, a pale light began to manifest before streaking towards Alex.

With a twist of his wrists, Seraphim was stowed away, and Calcabrina opened in front of him, magic blazing on the surface of the canopy in a barrier made of interlocked symbols. The streak of light impacted against the umbrella and shattered in shards of light.

"Oh, please! As if you are going to live after the demon that lent you his powers will reclaim it! You'll be an empty shell if you're lucky and a puppet if you're not!"

From behind the umbrella, Alex started channeling his magic into the umbrella, the entire surface of the canopy shining with silvery light. It was like a giant light spot on him. As far as he considered it, it was all well and good: the more Callum focused on him, the more time and space Sol had to act.

To which he did. In the moments between Callum shifting into the murder and Alex's counterattack, Sol had used a zombie as a platform before air hiking for further height. At the peak of his jump, Sol lashed out with Gevauden. This time, lady luck was on his side as the bone whip wrapped itself tightly around Callum's staff. Sol began to fly below the murder, only avoiding the grasping rotting hands below by bringing his knees as close to his chest as possible.

The movement of the murder of crows began to shift and grow more violent. Briefly, Callum could be seen among the crows, trying to unwind the whip from his staff before taking it in both hands and swinging. The act changed Sol's flight path and sent him to the manor's second floor. With a resounding crash, Sol slammed into a window and disappeared for a moment, and then the murder halted as Gevauden had yet to relinquish its hold.

A moment later, a giant beam of energy shot from Alex's position. It wasn't faster than his normal beams, but the destructive potential was much, much higher. Sadly, the size and the glow before the firing would have made it very easy to spot.

Unless someone was unable to move for some reason. Like… something was blocking their weapons and stopping them from dodging before the beam hit.

In the second story of the manor, Sol was holding the whip in a death grip and had his legs wrapped around the leg of a heavy armoire. Ignoring the glass poking into his arms, he began to pull on Gevauden's whip, keeping the hybrid in one position and also closer to Alex's shots.

Callum was attempting to unwind the whip from his staff and was almost successful, but between the shock of being caught in such and the sudden halting of movement, he was too preoccupied to account for Alex's shot. The magical attack hit him dead on, and the murder of crows lost much of their volume.

"Dead center."

Sadly, their success didn't last for long. The giant beam had sent the Red Eyes flying back, untangling the whip from his staff. So, with a hiss of fury, Callum got up once more, a dark nimbus of energy surrounding him. His wings opened in full, the feathers falling down and leaving only skeletal appendages.

"You were interesting enough that I wanted to study you, but you are clearly too dangerous for me. Die in agony." A smog-like mist started expanding from his position, anything that it touched decaying almost instantly.

And then a series of blasts came from the window, striking Callum several times.

"Thanks for starting the process of really getting rid of the zombies for us, but you can flock off with your 'Never Ending Story Nothingness' featherface." Sol's voice called out.

Internally, however, Sol's thoughts were a little different. "I really need to shorten my one-liners!"

"What makes you think that I'm done with the zombies?" Callum's voice was rather calm for someone who didn't have any zombies around him.

Well, until rotted hands rose from the ground, closing around him and stopping the hastily shot bullets that Alex had tried to use. More and more bodies rose, closing and fusing around him, in a mixture of melted flesh and amalgamated bone, growing and growing. Until it was a giant, taller than the house behind them, with bone armor and sparks of evil in its eyes.

Sol leaned out the window. "First, wow. Second, Clive Barker called and wants his nightmare fuel back." Before jumping out the window and using an Air Hike to arrest his momentum.

"Alex, are you good for this?" Sol asked, brevity gone from his voice, his left hand spasming briefly before he made a tight fist. This wasn't like before; there was only one opponent here, and it didn't have to go down that route.

"Yes." Alex's voice was rather low before he raised both of his arms. "If you can keep it busy for a few moments, I can do something to weigh the scale on our side." Silver-indigo light started collecting between his palms, almost like pollen.

"The only thing that that discount-rated necromancer did is give me a bigger target, after all."

"Can do," Sol said before holstering Nymphaeum and getting Gevauden ready.

"NOW DIE!" Callum's voice roared before attempting to attack the two. Sol managed to dodge several attempts of crushing him, using Time Step to clear several near misses before he attempted a somewhat… alright, incredibly risky plan. He could tell where Callum had hidden himself on the body, but it really didn't matter, as either he or Alex would get the shot.

Sol leaped between the legs of Callum's bone mech, used an Air Hiked to jump just above his waist, and began climbing along its back. His goal was to reach the base of the neck.

Sadly, it was not to be - for now - as the giant zombie was faster than it looked. With a spin, the monster twisted and slammed a hand against Sol, who managed to block with his own demonic arm thanks to the inhuman reflexes that he had gained in these last… well since he had gotten summoned here.

Then, after the giant had stopped moving, Alex acted.

"Slow down, will ya?" The pollen-look-like energy coalesced into a single bullet before it shot toward the giant, hitting it in the middle of the chest. And the monster started moving slowly. It was like he was going at half-speed.

Right after the shot hit, Alex started again charging his giant beam. "Go! It won't last forever!"

"R… Right!" Sol responded while getting up, his arm momentarily numb before spasming briefly. Wringing his hand, Sol made a second attempt. This time he made it to the neck joint and wrapped Gevauden around the bone mech's neck. Using Binding Life, Sol could feel himself getting stronger before he began to use Abyssal Punch on the neck joint.

The shockwave was more than enough to send the giant staggering forward - also in slow motion - before the attack that Alex was preparing slammed into it from the front, a blinding flash that lasted for at least three seconds before dying down.

Once it was done, the giant was… very damaged. Its chest had been cratered, the back of the neck looked like blades had sawed through it, and the dregs of the Slow spell that Alex had used were still slowing it down.

"I'm gonna slow it again! Keep it busy!" Again, Alex started collecting energy, silver light surrounding him.

"Sure thing!" Sol responded before leveling another Abyssal Punch at the back of Callum's Bone Mech Head. The bone mech lurched forward from the blow, and its descent slowed down to crawl through Alex's spell.

Within the mech, Callum was attempting to understand what was going on. Between the efforts of the two, the fighter and the sorcerer, he was at a loss. He could understand that the sorcerer cast something that improved their speed, making it more difficult for him to put them down like the threats they were. However, there was also another sensation, a slow, agonizing feeling of weakness that was leaching through his combined bodies. He knew that it was through the man with the demon arm that he was feeling this through. If he could only move fast enough!

Alex brought his hands down once more, the spell hitting the giant zombie and bringing it stumbling forward to a crawl. The sheer size of the whole thing made it extremely easy to hit. Still, Slowing something so big wasn't easy or simple: Alex was expending more energy than he could recover. If the fight went on for much longer, he would need to either stop trying to slow it down or find another option.

It took several more seconds and the realization that he was punching a rudimentary spine without a pilot in and or around said spine that Sol realized that he was wasting his time. Time which could have been used better elsewhere. His mind raced, and he began to think of places where Callum could be. If he were in the head area, he'd have seen something by now… so that probably meant the chest. Sol sighed, loosed some slack on Gevaudan and prepared himself for something potentially, no, absolutely stupid.

He shifted his weight and threw himself over the shoulder of the bone mech, making himself level with the chest. It was heavily damaged from Alex's last strikes and Sol was going to make it worse.

With a shout of Abyssal Punch, Sol began to punch as hard as he could. Each punch began to splinter the chest piece further, but not enough to do anything. Naturally, the lack of results and the potential for being crushed in the world's worst bone-based bear hug was enough to make Sol's next successive strike more frantic… more angry.

"Why. Won't. You. JUST. BREAK!!!" Sol roared as more demonic energy filled his strikes. Unknown to him, the energy surrounding him exploded into the same armored specter from before, its own fist adding to the assault. Finally, the cavity fully caved in on itself, and for an instant, Sol saw Callum's face before he tore the man from his mech. There was an awful tearing noise as Callum flew through the air, blood pouring from him and scattered feathers falling to the ground.

He landed between Sol's position and Alex, but his eyes were fixed on Sol. Wide, surprised, and scared eyes, he stumbled up.

"How… How can you do that?! Only the Leader can…" He was clearly dazed, and Alex would have gladly killed him on the spot, if his last Slow spell hadn't drained him enough to send him on his knee, clearly trying to recover his breath.

Sol dropped down and stalked towards Callum. "Humanity is a special thing. It gives us power that demons lack! That you lack! RESTRICTIVE SUFFERING!" Sol roared before unleashing Gevaudan once more. The bone whip broke apart as its shards mercilessly tore through Callum's body before reforging themselves into the complete form. The Red Eyed man stumbled back and, like a puppet whose strings were cut, collapsed onto the ground.

For the next few moments, Sol stood there, taking in the sight. The anger and adrenaline were bleeding off, and as the power he could feel in him faded, his arm violently twitched as he fell forward, specter vanishing from sight.

Alex was at his side, grabbing him and blocking his falling down on the corpse of the Red Eyes necromancer. The crows in the air, the residual mist, the dark energy in the air… everything vanished slowly, while Alex and Sol just stood there, breathing. Recovering from the intense fight they had just faced.

"Calm. Breathe slowly, ok? Take your time."

"Wha… that power… that was a rush… is he dead?" Sol asked between breaths.

"I think so. Still, to be safe…" Calcabrina arched in the air, and Callum's head was swiftly separated from the body. And then, it was incinerated by a beam of energy.

"To be safe." A moment later, the whole thing exploded into Red Orbs, an amount that surpassed any other they had seen before. From a single enemy, anyway.

"That, that should be enough," Sol said, struggling to get to his feet before falling again. His vision swam as felt an intense wave of sickness wash over him.

"Help me up, please. I don't… feel that great." Sol said quietly.

"Too much demonic energy in your system. You need to complete the hybridization before your arm rots off." Alex said, a matter of factly, trying to stop the trembling of his own hands, grabbing Sol from under his armpit and getting him up without a second of hesitation, already power-walking back towards the mansion.

"Also, don't be surprised if you see a sort of vision, like an anime cliche. It happened to me. You never know." His smile was strained, and he opened the door with a kick. The people that were behind it were also sent flying back.

"I need to reach the statue now. MOVE!" They all scrambled away from Alex's path, leaving a straight shot to the statue. He didn't wait.

Sol could hear, but he was feeling too ill to speak. His arm had stopped twitching and just hung at his side limply, unresponsive. He fell forward, stumbled to his feet and used what strength he had to grab the body of the Proto Angelo, pull it from Alex's binding circle, and to the statue.

"Too much, too much is riding on this!" He thought frantically as he approached the statue and fell against it.

The void greeted him, and the ever building nausea mostly faded, only to be replaced by an ebbing numbness that stemmed from his arm. He looked down at it. The pale white and blood-red undulating patterns were almost still, and he could just barely move it. With a shaky breath, Sol looked at the menu options and selected Perfect Hybridization (Proto Angelo - Full Body).

He could hear movement behind him, and he turned to see the body of the Proto Angelo lift up like a broken marionette and fly towards him. Instinctively he tried to protect himself and raised his arms in defense. It didn't matter. The moment the Proto Angelo's form touched his body, it began to alter, becoming a flowing yet solid shadow. Sol's mouth was open in a silent scream of agony as the demonic body became more and more entwined in his own.

His arm began to violently jerk and twist as the pale flesh began to darken to a hardened black material, reminiscent of an arthropod's sclerite plates, and the red lines altered into a more uniform pattern, violet lines flowing easily from his elbow down to the tips of his fingers. Sol's eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he collapsed in the void, blinded by pain.

Yet he dreamed…

He heard what he believed was the sound of metal falling against metal, and then it resolved itself.

"Not metal, an instrument." He began to think before he heard the sound of footsteps.

"A man without shadow promises you the world. Tell him your dreams and fanatical needs." A voice began.

"He's buying them all… with cash." Sol finished before opening his eyes and looking up at himself.

His doppelganger grinned softly. "Dr. Mabuse. Couldn't think of a better track. We can't play instruments worth a damn, so I couldn't attempt anything from say… Gunhed."

"Who are you?" Sol asked while slowly getting to his feet.

"You… well, not entirely. The human you." The doppelganger answered, and Sol realized that he was looking at himself from before, more than likely before he first used the statue. The doppelganger still wore the red and black glasses, still wore his business casual clothes and not the armor he had been living in for who knows how many days or hours.

"Wha…?" He began before being cut off.

"Alex mentioned having a vision, and I guess this is it for us, and them…" The doppelganger said before pointing beyond Sol.

Turning, Sol saw a figure in the void. It was and was not the Proto Angelo. While almost complete and whole, an Abyss seemed to be fused with it at the left arm, hanging over the Proto Angelo's shoulders like a mockery of a cape.

"They're you, or your demonic half, now. Pretty poor conversationalists, but I can't say we were ever the ones to start conversations ourselves." The doppelganger gave a sigh before holding a copy of Gevaudan and continuing. "You know you have a choice to make. The same choice Alex made, the same choice Goode sorta made, and the same choice the Red Eyes made." He finished before holding out the sword to Sol.

Sol looked at the blade for what felt like an eternity before speaking. "Demon, Human, or Both. We can't go back to what I was any way we look at it, can we?" He asked.

The doppelganger gave a sad smile, and the fused demon moved to its opposite side. "If you and Alex managed to escape before you went too far in, then maybe, just maybe. But we both know that the physical state of our being isn't the question here. It's the spiritual one."

Sol was silent for a few moments before making his choice. "I can't change what I've done to myself. Whether it's tainted humans who become demons, and tainted demons who became human." Sol asked rhetorically before breathing. "What delicious irony, the universe is quite the comedian."

The doppelganger grinned again, "Paraphrasing Angel? I'll admit, the words of a Darwin-obsessed misanthrope may not be the best to use here… But I guess we can make a case that Sparda himself was one such demon. So? What will it be?" The doppelganger asked.

"Both. I'll accept both halves into myself. The body of a demon and the soul of a human. But you knew that already, didn't you?" Sol said in as resolute of a tone as he could manage. With that, the fused demon also took hold of Gevaudan, as did Sol.

The doppelganger gave Sol one last parting smile and spoke. "I'd suggest you get yourself a pair of sunglasses sooner rather than later. Irony can be quite the bitch, especially when they conjoin together in a situation such as this."

Before Sol could ask what the doppelganger meant, the void retreated, and he found himself slumped against the statue. He felt… better, better than he had in a while. Like he had taken a long nap and was ready to take on the day again. Pressing himself against the statue, he used it to stand back up. He looked down at his arm and noted its changes. It wasn't necessarily like Nero's arm, far less translucent but the more insect-like nature of the skin and claws was something that he knew he was going to have to get used to. If he'd had a mirror, he'd have also noticed two other changes. The first was that his hair had gone from dark brown to jet black, and the other was that the color of his eyes had changed from a similar shade of brown to a deep red.

"Sol? Are you ok?" Alex's voice could be heard over the sudden silence that fell on the room, the various people inside looking amazed at what was happening to Sol.

"Please tell me that you are still you." Alex almost pleaded before smacking a guy on his mouth to stop him from saying anything.

Sol blinked several times before asking, "Why wouldn't I be? I mean, yeah, I encountered a doppelganger of myself singing Dr. Mabuse, but the worst part was the pain. After that, it was all existential questions and SMT."

"Oh, good. I was kinda worried. Well, welcome to the ranks of the partially demonic. Hope you'll have fun with the empowered physique, super regeneration, and more magic." Then he lowered his voice to a whisper and spoke directly in his ear.

"Also, libido goes up a bit. Don't worry about that."

After that, he turned towards the rest of the room. "We're not a circus attraction, you know? Go on, go back to the other room!"

The crowd began to move back and away from them, and Sol gave Alex a look. "If that part is true, then how the hell does that explain Dante, or does he just transfer that to pizza and sundaes?"

Alex shrugged. "No idea. I mean, violence, maybe? Beyond that, we have no idea how Dante behaved while not being immersed in violence, so…" And he shrugged once more.

Sol just quirked a brow before saying, "God, I bet it's all just fixations, like the pizza and strawberry sundaes."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Red Eyes #2 is down! I repeat Red Eyes #2 is down! Only four more to go of this merry band of psychopaths, as well as whatever else lurks within this twisted parody of the world. Now, that's not to say we're done with Sparda Manor. There's still some business to take care of in the upper and lower floors.

I will seriously try to update Enemy and Shop info over the next few days. It's just been kinda, and certain plans of mine were derailed because of the weather and a poor sleep schedule over the last two days. Please, do not try to edit and perform final checks on a chapter at 11:00-ish pm. I wanted to get this chapter out last night, but after a certain point, I realized I just couldn't make successful changes.

Enjoy everyone!