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

[Atma]

Usually, inter-dimensional travel is not something that just… happens. It requires preparation, an eye for details, and enough power to bypass the barriers between worlds. Something that it's not easy.

Also, if done wrong, it ends with the recipients a smear of indistinguishable matter on the dimensional walls that surround a reality, so. Not something that many attempt.

In certain times, however, a series of consequences make inter-dimensional travel possible. Never easy, but easier.

A Grand summoning of heroes to save a planet. Direct divine intervention, be it good or evil. A particularly rare alignment of celestial bodies. Or in this case, a giant, man-eating, demonic tree which decides to snack on an entire city in order to grow a single fruit that would grant the power of a god to whoever would eat it.

So, usually run of the mill demons don't have the power to summon things from different realities. On the other hand, when there is such a demonic tree the size of multiple skyscrapers already breaking down the dimensional barriers between Hell and Earth, the situation is… a lot different.

So, this demon hatched a plan. It decided to summon a certain number of mortals into Hell, spin a story that they had been abducted by a demon lord, and they needed to kill it to return home.

It was a lie, of course, for those that haven't already understood this.

"But worry not, worthy people." The demon would say, not showing themselves.

"I have been tasked with giving you enough power to survive and grow, so that you can kill the Demon Lord!" Red orbs would then fall at their feet, while a sinister glow would shine from inside them, making them feel… stronger, powerful, on top of the world even.

"You can use this ancient relic to strengthen yourself with the energy that you would gain from defeating the smaller monsters under the Demon Lord!"

This was, strangely enough, the truth. On the other hand, the gold statue of a woman with a lion mask carrying an Hourglass had such an aura around it that it was pretty clear that it wasn't just an oversized paperweight.

"Fight! Win! Grow! Kill the Demon Lord at the center of this realm and go back to your home, with all the powers you've gained!" And then the voice would disappear, leaving the six groups of exactly One Hundred and Eleven people in various parts of Hell. One such group found themselves in a strange, fleshy room with a single door on the opposite side from the Statue.

Now, the demon that had summoned these people was neither a base demon nor a stupid one. No, it was a Lusachia. Despite being an amorphous blob of mouths and atrophied muscles, it was a specialist in magic and had more than enough power to be a threat. So it knew what it was doing in its attempts to evolve into a greater demon, maybe even a Lord at that. Hence why it summoned people that had very specific psychological profiles, such that they would not attempt to think too much about what was happening. The demon would just lose a bit of power now - planting a small seed of it within the souls of the summoned people - for big returns later. The power was still the demon's, after all, it just needed to safely grow. After that, the Lusachia could just rip it out and recover the initial investment with more than enough interest - and all without risking its own life.

It was an admittedly ingenious plan. Of course, we all know that the plans of mice and men - and in this case, demons - often go awry.

Like in this case. As unfortunately for this demon, two of the people who were caught in the summoning spell had a more... outside perspective of things.

 

[Atma]

The protagonists of this story slowly woke up with a rather pounding headache, laying on something vaguely soft, uneven, and slowly moving.

Unpleasant, to be honest.

One, was a tall, 30 something years man looking a little younger than he should, rather chubby, with long hair that was half dyed purple, half his natural black. He was dressed in a simple hoodie and pants, both black with a white grin plastered on it, one an X, the other a simple horizontal line and the mouth stylized to look like a toothy smile. And soft, fluffy socks with the grippy things under the soles in a blue, white and red spotted pattern. Blue glasses were resting on his face, slightly askew.

The other was an average looking man in his late 20's, with short, dark brown hair and a short beard. Wearing a simple white button down shirt, grey pants, and old sneakers. As he got his bearings, he began to fuss over a pair of red and black framed glasses, while occasionally looking around the assembled people with a mix barely contained nervousness and confusion.

Around them, was a throng of other people. Their numbers included several high school teens and university students wearing varsity jackets, girls dressed to the nines and/or with cheerleading outfits, guys dressed in shirts and jeans and more refined men and women dressed in expensive, professional suits. Almost all of them were waking up with slightly lesser headaches than the other two previously mentioned individuals. Not that they were aware of this, of course.

Then, they registered where they were.

They saw the walls of a cave, or something shaped like a cave, that were a sickly red-pink color. The walls could almost be described like meat going bad, with veins running throughout, pulsating and twisting a little every now and then. Almost as though these veins were actually bringing blood from somewhere to somewhere else.

There was no sun or windows anywhere, but there was still some kind of red tinted light coming from above, softly illuminating the room and making the details of it hard to make out. This bizarre light only served to confuse the people within more.

The silent mass confusion lasted for a minute or two, before someone, a girl by the sound of her voice, started complaining.

"Where are we? What are we doing here?! I want to go home!" Her voice was enough to shock everyone else from their surprise and, soon, everyone was starting to complain. Loudly.

Mostly just repeating the same things over and over, asking each other and shouting over the flurry of similar questions. Some fists were raised and, in moments, tempers were high enough to start a bonfire.

The VOICE spoke right at this moment, when everyone was distracted.

"Do not be afraid, brave people of the Earth."

The voice was feminine, warm, and caring in its tone. It seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Yet, the way the voice sounded, gave the impression of coming from somewhere above the assembled crowd.

"I know you must be scared. Finding yourselves someplace else from where you were moments ago, along with strangers, unknowing of what is happening. It must be frightening."

Everyone calmed down fast. Very fast.

Suspiciously fast…

"You have been brought here by a Demon Lord. A powerful monster that is trying to invade Earth and wage war against mankind to become a God. You have been put in the beginning of this invasion. If you do not fight and kill the demons that will come for you, you will be killed."

It was like a frozen mist had descended on the crowd. Everyone was still, listening to the voice and shivering, the temperature seemingly dropping by the second.

"Yet, I have a way to save yourselves and your fellows beyond this realm. I will lend you some of my power. So that you can grow stronger and better in the face of this evil. Think of yourselves as becoming a mighty tree from a small seed. Once you are grown enough, you could even manage to defeat the Demon Lord that sits in the center of this realm, allowing you all to return home and halting the invasion before it can even begin."

Warmth surrounded the crowd and a faint - sickly, sinister - glow could be seen inside their bodies, around the chest area, before vanishing into nothingness.

Leaving behind, however, a feeling of warmth and power that washed away much of the fear and dread that lingered in most of the assembled people.

"This Hell is going to be hard: only the strong will survive. I have faith in you all. However, when you defeat the various demons that you will encounter, they will drop red gems. Collect these gems and bring them to the Statue at the back of the cave to raise your abilities to greater heights."

Like a veil parting, there was the statue the voice was speaking about. Said statue was a golden woman, with a lion mask and an hourglass on her shoulders. It stood there, motionless and just... watching.

Furthermore, several of those red gems appeared in front of each person, getting absorbed after a moment.

"I bid all of you good luck, people of Earth. We will meet again if you manage to reach the Demon Lord."

And the voice, along with the warmth that was held in her words, vanished, leaving a very confused group of people inside the cave.

For a moment, Sol stood in silence, his mind processing what he just heard, before his eyes slowly moved towards the red orbs. He recognized them all right, the crystalline face in a state of what he could only assume was agony was a big sign of what it was… and also a red flag.

"An angelic voice tells us to partake in its power and fight a demon lord to save the Earth. Normally I'd say this was the plot of an anime… but these orbs? They're from DMC, I'd recognize them anywhere."

At first glance, the orb looked like a standard red orb, but Sol noticed a distinct undercurrent of color there. Ever so slightly, there was a hint of blue-ish purple flickering through the crystalline face.

"No, something is wrong here, they're glowing strangely." Sol thought to himself before attempting to step away from the orb and looking to see if anyone else was doing likewise. Before he could do so however, the orb slammed into his chest, knocking him off his feet. Sol felt something at the point of impact and panic began to creep into his breath.

Alex, the chubby guy near him, was staring at the red gems with a blank face, before it morphed into a strange mix of horror, dread and understanding, along with hopelessness. Right after that, the gems rushed towards the persons nearest to them, vanishing inside them like water in a desert.

That prompted Alex to give a low, hearty "Fuck." He then got up, patted away the dust on his pants, before starting to look around himself with a scrutinizing gaze, trying to see if anyone else was as worried as him.

And his eyes landed on Sol after a moment.

Sol caught the look, slowly nodded and made his way over to Alex, making sure he didn't step too closely to the rapidly dwindling orbs.

When he got close enough, Sol slowly took off his glasses and asked in a shaky voice. "Please tell me that I'm not the only one who realizes that something is seriously wrong here?"

"We are in what is clearly Hell, that statue is the Divinity Statue and the orbs were Demon Blood, Red Orbs or whatever you want to call them. We are in Devil May Cry. Also, I don't believe whatever the voice told us. Like… not a word. Maybe just that there is a demon lord that is trying to invade the Earth, and even then I'm skeptical." Alex nodded, confirming what Sol was fearing.

"Also, I'm pretty sure the power that it has been 'lent' to us is a trap. Like… a huge one. From what I know, humans using the powers of demons always end badly." He waved at his chest, before turning to look at the other people.

Already, several cliques were forming: athletes joining with athletes, girls with girls, businessmen and women with businessmen and women. There were other kinds of people, though: loner kids dressed in gothic fashion that seemed to glare at each other, smiling guys with eyes that were regularly straying towards girls' asses and sycophants that were sucking up to other people.

"How come no one is asking questions about the situation we are in?" Alex mused, just loud enough for Sol to hear.

"Well first, thank you for confirming all that cause I kinda thought I was losing my mind. Second, uhhh… Maybe they don't know or… maybe they don't care. Maybe they're just seeing the power on offer and not the forest for the trees. Yeah, no I agree with you. I think this is a trap. It's gotta be." Sol whispered quietly before looking back at the assembling line.

"I'm guessing right now that this is like a hellish battle royale death game. We die, and the obviously notAngel gets something out of it." Sol continued.

"The voice did say lend…" Alex seemed to get lost in thought for a moment, before his eyes refocused on the people in front of the Divinity Statue. Most of them had already gone and spent whatever amount of Demon Blood had been given to them, some growing several inches, others turning into musclebound hulks, others becoming the epitome of beauty. There were also a rare few who were showing off spheres of electricity or producing great gouts of flame without a care in the world.

"Like a seed that would grow in a mighty tree… The demon - and I'm pretty certain it's a demon - wants us to use the power that they have lent to us, grow it and then get it back when we either die or reach them. Raising their powers without doing anything." Alex's face was white as a sheet, terror etched in every line of his face.

"Then we should try to warn them right? I mean…" Sol quickly turned to look back at the people, and stopped speaking upon really noting their physical changes, "They… they all just bought into that trap hook, line, and sinker." Turning back around, Sol begins to tap his fingers in sequence, deep in contemplation.

"They're augmenting their bodies through demonic energy, right? So… so can we even do anything? Are we too late?" He said before fretting over the situation further. His fingers stopped tapping and he turned back to the long haired guy. "What if we don't do that. What if we get rid of this loan through something like an item, or a weapon…" He trailed off before looking at Alex.

"Something that maybe it won't expect, and then we get out of this place and start trying to warn people or find others." Sol finishes as his fingers stop tapping.

"The problem with that is that there are demons in this place." Alex said, drily, while looking at the queue in front of the statue slowly dwindled more and more.

"Who knows if we can survive without that power? On the other hand, we don't really have any other option, do we? I honestly prefer dying before giving a demon more power or, worse, turning into a marionette for them." His words were almost hissed, before he sighed.

"I'm… pretty sure that the Divinity statue can give us something different for power. The life-augmenting orb, for example. And knowledge, you can get new techniques from it, after all. Maybe magic? Human magic, I mean. Unless you need a Devil trigger… I think it was called Magic Gauge in the first game? I'm not sure. Still worth a shot. Oh, and knowledge of self defense. Parkour. Probably a weapon, but I'm pretty sure that we're going to need something belonging to a demon to create a Devil… Arm…. fuck!"

His outburst was mostly contained, but the way he had gripped his chest was anything but.

"Purchasing a Devil Arm? That's a trap option. I mean, it's also a way for us to remove the power inside of us, assuming it counts, but… no, no, it's not a good idea. If we do that, then there's the risk that the demon will take over us. Arkham showed us that it's too dangerous…" His breath was starting to come faster and faster, as his left hand kept contracting in a spasm, knuckles white as a sheet.

"Wait… Arkham… He was human long before he grabbed Force Edge. Magic is an option. That could be an option! Not a great one but, maybe it'll even the odds somewhat. And we don't have to purchase Devil Arms. They form when a demon's killed, so if we kill a demon, and get a Devil Arm, then the weapons formed that way would be loyal, right? That could work." Sol said more, animated this time.

Sol turns back to the dwindling crowd before speaking again, a slight tremor of confidence in his voice "We'll need something to work with first though, maybe use that loan not for power directly, but for tools to get that power. Like a spellbook, a gun, a blade. Hell! A gunblade!" He all but shouted, causing a few of the remaining people to look his way.

"Just a… brainstorming. You all be on your way." Sol said to the onlookers before quietly saying. "We may have something, it isn't the best idea, but I've got nothing else."

Alex trembled. "No, it's a good option. A Devil Arm is one of the most powerful weapons out there… but we don't have a Weaponsmith to craft one, and no demons to kill to create one. Even then, even if we find the soul of a Greater Demon just laying around, we would need to be stronger than it to command it."


Alex forced himself to slow down, half-curled on himself, hiding behind Sol from the other people. "We could even use the power that has been lent to us, but the problem is that it would be too strong for us right now. It would take control and turn us into puppets."

Sol grimaced before muttering to himself. "I forgot the actual strength aspect of those weapons. Thanks for catching that one for me."

A few beats of silence, before Alex finally got up once again, deep, loud breaths rattling into his lungs, the sensation of tingling inside all of his limbs.

"Ok, I'm calm now. Well, as much as I can be." He really, really wasn't. "The first thing we need is a Blue Orb. More health is the best option. Then, something for self defense. I want magic, more than anything else right now, but that can wait. Survival comes first. So, I'm just hoping to find something I can use. If I'm right and remember things correctly, we can upgrade our own power with Purple Orbs. I don't remember how much they cost, but it's a start."

He looked around, noticing that more than 90 percent of the people were done with the statue and nodded. "Should we go and join the queue? I don't fancy being the last one and getting stopped or mugged for our red orbs."

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Sol says before walking towards the remaining people. As he did so, he took a further look at the remaining people, noticing the increased muscle mass and superficial changes that the others exhibited.

"Okay, so is that tied to power options, life and vitality increases? No, can't be. You can upgrade Lady's stats in DMC4 and nothing physically changes on her. So either that's a gameplay thing or there has to be something more going on." Sol thought as he queued up. "Right, see if there is a simple weapon that you can use, maybe a vial of Holy Water, or else I'm grabbing the nearest sharp rock and using that until something better comes my way."

Sol turns back to Alex and asks, "You good?"

Alex nodded, before passing him and going first. "Let me make the mistakes. No one uses items, not yet, either. As much as I'm going to sound like an asshole, I don't want the others to find out anything right now."

After whispering that to Sol, he fell silent, looking blankly ahead, watching how the girl in front of him turned almost amazonian in moments, before strutting away, clearly enjoying the looks of lust that other people were giving her. Alex ignored her completely, reaching the statue and just… extending a hand towards it, like the others had done.

A moment later, he was in a white space, gold light shining from everywhere, and yet not blinding him. The Divinity Statue was there, observing.

He exchanged a look with the eyes of the leon mask for a moment, before bowing slightly "Thank you and please, guide me so that I'm not making too many mistakes."

He knew that, probably, wouldn't work, but, in his eyes, everything that could be useful was worth a try.

"Items, please."

A window made of gold light appeared in front of him, while a smaller one with the amount of red orbs he owned appeared in the upper left corner.

The only thing that he managed to see in the 'default' page was a series of options that started with Demonic Power (L) Strengthening: Strength. Dexterity. Charisma.

"So, those are the trap options. And without knowing what to ask, they wouldn't know that there are other pages to see. Well, maybe the weapon page, that would be pretty easy to find, I think." His thoughts jarred to a halt the moment the window in front of him finished changing, showing the options.

Items:
Blue Orb: 750 Red Orbs
Purple Orb: 1.750 Red Orbs
Gold Orb: 1.000 Red Orbs

The rest of the items were still there, but he didn't care about them, so they didn't even register in his mind.

Alex blinked, before checking his balance: 1.500 Red Orbs.

"I thought that the Blue Orb cost more? Better not look in the horse's mouth." His face didn't change from his scrutinizing expression, but he also didn't hesitate, tapping the Blue Orb and watching his lifeblood - metaphorical lifeblood, anyway - scroll down.

And then, he felt… good. Better than how he had ever felt in all of his life. The changes were… subdued, if confronted with what the others had passed through, he wasn't a model all of sudden, but he was noticeably slimmer and he actually had a bit more of a muscle tone.

"I think this thing just improved my physical status. Which… makes sense, really." He slapped his cheek before going down a rabbit hole of speculation, focusing back on the screen in front of him.

"Please show me what kind of spell I can use without using the demonic power that has been lent to me."

It was a long shot and he knew that. Yet, with magic so close, he had to try to get some, even if it was the equivalent of a Hail Mary pass.

The strange thing was… Sometimes, those kinds of passes? They hit the mark.

So, when Alex opened his eyes, he found that there were some options. Something that he had no idea was possible.

"Enochian spells…!" He was suddenly smiling, his eyes blazing with hope. Sure, all of them were the basics of the basics, but he could get them and it wouldn't strengthen the power that the demon had given to him.

"A simple, long range attack in the shape of a bullet, very weak but serviceable… and a defensive one. A half-spherical barrier in front of me? Well, the full barrier version is too costly, so I'm going with that." He quickly tapped the two options he wanted, spending the remaining Red Orbs in his possession, before bowing again at the Divinity Statue and thanking it.

"Thank you for your guidance. Please, guide my friend as well."

Right after that, he was back in Hell, no more than a second having passed outside of the strange space that was where the Statue operated. His clothes, while not exactly tight, but still fitting, were now hanging a bit around him. They were now clearly oversized. By a single size, but it was noticeable, if you had seen him closely before.

Alex turned towards Sol, sending him a wink fast enough that no one but him would notice. "Do not take anything with a capital L in parenthesis."

Then, he took a step to the side and walked away from the crowd, his new knowledge twisting in his head.

Sol nodded slightly before approaching the statue.

"Nothing with the L prefix, okay so I guess the other stat boosting items are still good then. Maybe I can get something else then." Sol thought

"Alright, let's do this." Sol stated before placing a hand on the statue. A field of white took his vision before he saw that he and the divinity statue were in a white. He looked around briefly, before asking the statue a question.

"Item menu please."

Two windows of golden light manifested before him, the larger of the two showing a list of available items, and the smaller showing his red orb count.

"1,500 of a bad loan, okay let's see…" Sol trailed off as he spotted the items with an L prefix.

"Demonic Power (L) Strengthening: Strength, Dexterity, Charisma. Prices seem pretty cheap too. And I'm guessing that's how it gets them. We'll avoid that for the infinite future. Thank you very much."

Sol noticed that the Blue Orb only cost 750 orbs, and for a moment he thought back to Alex.

"He definitely looked different post statue, but not so immediately different like the others. It is though half my budget… fuck it. I don't have nearly enough for a Purple, and a Gold orb won't prevent me from getting killed in the first place." Sol thought as he selected a blue orb.

Almost immediately, Sol felt better than he had, well ever. Lighter, he actually felt his standard work clothes feel slightly bigger on himself. Most of all, his vision began to blur behind his glasses. Removing them, he blinked several times before realizing what just happened.

"No more terrible eyesight for me, I hope. Okay… you got yourself a repeat customer, but in order to do that, I need something to protect myself. Now, I'm no warrior but what do you have weapon wise?" Sol asked the statue.

There was a brief moment of stillness before the window closed and opened again revealing a list of very basic weapon names. Scrolling through the list, Sol thought back to what Alex said.

"No one used items, but did anyone actually walk out with a weapon? I didn't see anyone with one." He mused to himself.

Finally, he spent his remaining points on two weapons that the statue offered. The first was a hand axe. Simple, boring, and familiar. It was something Sol had used in the past for chopping wood. The second was a thin dagger, one he could probably try to conceal or save as a last resort. It may not have been the best of ideas purchase wise, but Sol felt he needed something physical in his hands for self assurance.

"I guess this is goodbye for now." Sol began addressing the statue. "Thank you for giving my friend the heads up. Best of luck for any future business down the line."

And with that said, the white field receded and Sol found himself back in Hell, hand pressed against the statue's head. Turning to Alex, he said "It's better than a rock."

"Very." Alex nodded, before jerking his head towards the place where they came from. Away from the rest of the crowd.

"Wanna chat about our strategy to kill monsters?" His lips were quirked in a rather sardonic tilt, but it was pretty clear that he was being very serious. A faint light was now shining in his eyes, a hint of Hope still surviving.

"Also, what did you take? I got a couple of… interesting things…." He was already starting to walk back, his fingers unconsciously moving into strange patterns in the air.

"Yeah I think that would be best, maybe hit and run tactics? I grabbed a hand axe and a knife. No L prefix on either so we're good in that department. I'm better with the axe, mind you, so if you need a weapon, the knife's all yours." A dark look passed over Sol's face. "But I've got a bad feeling about all those people who seemed to have just taken enhancements. Unless they can break stone or steel with a punch, or find weapons out wherever there is, they'll be easy prey."

"I'm going to speculate for a moment here, and say that the demon is going to put them in front of a series of very weak demons so that they can think they are hot shit, before dying when the difficulty spikes upwards." Alex adjusted his glasses nervously, before looking over Sol's shoulder.

"I took two spells. Enochian magic is a thing, apparently, but… Ok, they are not going to use the demonic power that has been granted to us, but my own. Which means that until I get the first Purple Orb, I'm gonna be limited to…." He lost himself in thought for a moment or two, before nodding.

"Three to four shots if casted hastily, five if I can take my time between the shots. As for the barrier spell, same thing, they use the same energy. So, it's an either or. Five weak hits or, maybe, one medium-weak hit. Which is not bad for a beginner, but it's still… frustrating." Alex took a deep breath, before shaking his head and jerking it towards the group of people.

"Look. They are already moving forward." The group of people were all walking - well, strutting, most of them, anyway - towards the room where the monsters would appear. "I think… that most of them wouldn't listen even if we told them the truth."

"Dammit all they're so hopped up on the promise of power that... Okay, well, we just gotta play it safe, right?" Sol asked in response before catching himself.

"You know, we've been planning back and forth like madmen and I never got your name. I'm Sol" Sol said before extending his hand.

Alex smiled before returning the gesture and replying. "Alex."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Chapter 2 will be released this coming Saturday. We're trying to plan around the idea of releasing chapters every two to three days after the previous one. This is so that readers have a chance to read the most current chapters before the next chapter is released.

 

[Atma]

Alex and Sol followed the dregs of the crowd from behind, letting them take the brunt of the demons into the new room. Did that mean that they wouldn't get as many Red Orbs as they would otherwise get?

Yes.

But, and it was an important factor, it would also mean that they would get information, see what kind of enemies they would face and they would save their strength for later, when they would actually fight. Considering they weren't using Demonic Performance Enhancer, it was better to play safe than fast and loose.

Especially because they had no save files.

"So, I can see that a lot of them managed the demons with only small wounds. Only a few of them have actually gotten serious wounds." Alex remarked, from a corner of the new room, looking at the various, demon-drugged, people that were attacking with wild abandon, and without any kind of finesse, the monsters that appeared every now and then in the room.

Marionettes. Falling from the ceiling, made of wood, dressed in colorful clothes and sporting a series of weapons that looked rusty and somewhat crude, but still pretty sharp and dangerous.

Sometimes a gun.

Still very dangerous. For the two of them, anyway. The others were… pretty safe, and getting bolder by the moment.

"Damn, it's like watching a drug commercial: the first hit is free and easy, from the second, though, there will be Hell to pay." Alex stopped and blinked for a moment. "Literally, in this case." He chuckled at his macabre joke.

Sol couldn't help but return the laugh at the dark humor, before miming a smashing motion. "This is your body, this is your body on demon drugs, nobody asked questions." His smile died as he looked at the discarded remains of the marionettes. "Ah… kinda feel like an idiot now, could have bought another blue orb if I knew these would be around here."

Sol then took a moment to really look at the Marionette weapons for himself. Yes they were sharp, and it could probably ruin someone's day permanently, but they were clearly not meant to be handled by normal hands. What bothered him though was that they were still there. If he hadn't bought the hand axe and knife, he knew damn well he'd be trying to rip one of the marionette weapons free. Did the Demonic Strengthening purchases affect the mind of the buyers or was that literally their own pride speaking?

"I feel like I could get tetanus just looking at these." Sol paused for a moment and then continued. "So… we got marionettes here, first fodder enemy type. You're thinking this'll be a theme for a while? Starter enemies like Marionettes, Msira, Prides, and Scarecrows until our 'friend' drops something bigger on us?"

Alex nodded with conviction. "Definitely. Lure them in with something shiny, hook them with easy power and then…" He gestured up in a jerky motion, miming reeling something up. "Reel them up and away from the water, ready to be fileted and served for lunch." His grimy expression made it more than obvious how he was feeling about it.

"I both want to save them and don't want to, does it make sense? I mean, they end in the most stereotypical isekai fantasy ever and they don't even stop a moment to debate the situation? It's kinda shortsighted of them. And, yes, you and I have the bonus of meta-knowledge, but…" He gestured towards the environment. "This whole place is pretty suspect, isn't it?"

He was gesturing at the fleshy floor, the veins that were still pulsating and bringing blood who knows where, the monsters.

"I can only think that they have been affected by magic."

Sol sighed, "It's one hell of a scheme, even without that knowledge I'd be suspect… but I'd probably take the performance boosts without realizing. Demonic power seems to be a helluva thing, no pun intended."

Sol looked around further before continuing. "It can't just expect us to fight through caves, can it? I mean hell in DMC is always a mixed bag. I mean we've seen fleshy caves, marble rooms of stark contrasts, even a giant chess board if I remember right. That blood is going somewhere." Sol trails briefly before he turns pale.

"We never asked, no one made a point to ask the date." Sol turns to look at Alex with a horrified expression, "Is this the Qliphoth?"

Alex didn't answer. Not verbally. His face, however…

It was whiter than ever before, except for his lips, which were being bit between his teeth, so much that a faint trickle of blood was dripping from them. And even that wasn't enough to stop the incredibly faint whine of pure, unadulterated horror that was escaping his mouth. It sounded a bit like a dog being beaten to death.

The whole thing lasted for a few minutes before Alex managed to recover his senses and nodded, jerkily.

"I'm really hoping that it's not the case. But. Considering our luck until now. I'm afraid. It is." His whole speech was stunted, broken in parts, but he managed to not puke or start screaming. Which was a win, in his book.

"You do know what it means, right?"

"Means we're on a tight schedule. Because either Urizen is about to get up out of his chair, Nero's working out 20 odd years of parental abandonment, or the Sons of Sparda are about to seal this breach." Sol responded, before staring at the other people and continuing. "The demon is using these people to get a leg up on the sons of Sparda, this is not going to end well."

"Exactly." Alex nodded, turning his eyes towards the group of people fighting the demonic wooden puppets with wild abandon, using the power that had been granted to them without a care in the world. Without knowing.

"It means we're going to have to take more risks than we planned to. Starting from now." Alex moved away from the wall and extended his right arm, hand open, fingers extended forward, slightly tilted.

Purple light started collecting in it, while a magic circle inscribed itself in the air in front of it. Unknown symbols were written between the outer circle and the inner circle, six of them, with a series of spikes pointing inwards decorated the inside of the inner circle.

"I'm gonna aggro one enemy and attract it near here, then you're going to try and fight it, while I offer what support we can. We need at least enough Demon Blood to get at least the Purple Orb, maybe a couple of techniques for you. Ready?"

As soon as Sol nodded, Alex pointed at one of the Marionettes - one dressed in green - that was on the fringes nearer to them and shot.

The bullet of magic flew almost faster than what their eyes could follow, hitting the head of the Marionette and cratered half of the wooden monster's head. Not that it killed it. It only made it turn towards them, head turned ninety degrees to the side.

Then, with a cackle of wood on wood, it threw itself towards the duo.

Sol began to move along the demonic puppet's side. For a moment he saw the demon telegraph a high swing and moved out of the blade's path, bringing his hand axe down on the extended limb. The axe bit deeply, but the Marionette pulled back and swung again. Sol was forced to backpedal before throwing himself at the demon, striking at once with both weapons.

He aimed the hand axe at its head and drove the dagger into its side. The marionette reeled back, axe still buried in its mockery of a skull, while Sol forced it off balance, driving it to the floor all while repeatedly stabbing the demon with the dagger. He didn't realize it at the time but he had started to yell with each strike. It finally stopped moving, and Sol staggered to his feet.

"Holy… holy shit, that was… I killed it… I killed it!" He yelled with no small degree of shock and excitement. "We can do this, we can do this." The whole thing exploded into nothingness, leaving only a few red orbs that were soon moving towards Sol, adding themselves to his wallet. The body that had been left behind felt lesser, somewhat, and a quick check around the room showed that not every time that a demon died, the body remained after giving up its red orbs, sometimes they vanished.

"Yeah, you did. How do you feel? Tired?" Alex had moved a bit forward, being nowhere near enough to help - at least as a distraction - in case things were starting to go bad.

"Because we need to continue. Without using the granted power, we're going to lag behind in farming the red orbs and I have no idea how much time we're going to need to get the amount of Demon Blood we need."

"A little winded, but good yeah. I can see why Dante has so much fun fighting demons. But yeah, no, you're right. We have to move and make up the difference. I will cover you if need be."

Sol finished before spotting another marionette. "And I've got an idea. I'll call that one over, distract him, and you take him out. Cool?" Sol asks.

"I'll try. Let me prepare the spells now, so that I can try and take them out as soon as possible." Alex started murmuring something, two magic circles appearing above both of his hands, with the energy inside collecting slowly, forming the bullet.

"They are ready. I'm gonna try and see if I can charge them up, but I'm not sure I'm going to make it work. Feel free to go and aggro it, if you want." The long-haired guy nodded at Sol and focused, beads of sweat slowly starting to condense on his forehead.

Sol returned the nod and began to step out of Alex's line of fire. "Hey! Hey you! Yes, you rickety sticks!"

The Marionette turns and begins to shamble toward Sol, not realizing his occasional glances toward Alex.

"That's right! I killed your buddy, took its blood too! What are you going to do about it!?" Sol taunted the demon.

The Marionette's shamble turned into a full charge as it lunged towards Sol.

"Now's your shot Alex, waste this fodder." Sol thought as continued to move away from the bladed limbs.

"Left. Right. Left. Lunge. Right. Left… Right… Lunge… Left…" Alex followed the moments of the Marionette and, the moment it moved right to attack, he shot the first of the charged bullets. It slammed into the side of the monster with a small explosion, destroying half of the body of the monster. That unbalanced it and made it overcompensate on the other side. Which was exactly what Alex was hoping it would happen.

The second bullet hit the Marionette in the neck, destroying the upper part completely. The wooden mannequin wobbled and took another step forward, before falling on the ground, splintering completely and exploding into red orbs. Those went to Alex.

He was smiling at Sol, before folding on himself, his insides were on fire, throat completely dry, head thumping painfully. A series of dry heaves were enough to make him want to puke, but nothing came out of his mouth, only a few strands of saliva splattering on the ground.

"Remind me to never get on your bad side." Sol said to Alex while offering a hand.

"We still have a long way to go, but if we keep this up we should start getting a good amount of orbs. Maybe if we're lucky we could find one of those red orb pillars and get a good amount of them out of it."

Alex looked up from his kneeling position on the ground, smiling sickly at Sol, grabbing his hand to get up, before freezing. And then pointing upwards, to a ledge that was almost invisible from the ground, unless someone happened to look up from a certain side of the room.

Even then, they wouldn't notice what was on it, unless they managed to be at the very edge of the room, like the duo was. On it, there was a faint purple glow from the ledge. A full Purple Orb was resting on it, without anyone the wiser.

"Can you see that?" Alex asked, voice low. "If we can reach that…"

"Then you'll have a better time casting and recovering from your spells." Sol said before looking around, "And I guess no one put two and two together."

"Unless we can split it between the two of us, then yes." Alex said, before turning his head to the side and spitting the saliva on the ground. With violence.

Alex looked around and… yes, the rest of the group was still doing pretty well. They were working in small groups, but the amount of Red Orbs that each single person received was pretty low. And the whole thing was causing a few… problems.

Mostly attrition, if the way some groups were discussing - literally shouting, in one case - on the small amounts of red orbs still on the ground was any indication of what was happening.

"I have the feeling that the first death will be at the hand of a human, not a demon. Wouldn't that be a funny thing?" Alex murmured, leaning on Sol to avoid falling down. His stomach was still cramping painfully and the dizziness was slow to go away, but he was recovering. Bit by bit.

"Anyway, I don't think it's a good idea for us to go and try to take it right now. First, we don't have a way to reach it. Second, we don't want to attract attention to the hidden Orbs, it would end badly for us. And probably for everyone else that is going to take it, it could cause a riot and infighting. More than it's already happening, I mean. It's callous, but I want to survive, damn it." His knuckles were white, fists closed, and he was shaking a little, but he looked serious and determined.

As much as he could while being in the literal Hell.

Sol slowly nodded before responding, "Yeah, those hidden orbs will be a huge help in the long run, but you're right about the other people." Sol said worriedly.

He'd seen enough interpersonal relations, between work and life, to know those tones of voices. It was a bastard combination of the last laugh mentality coupled with 'I'm right and you can't say otherwise' ideology. Bad shit was going to come from those spats and he just knew in the back of his mind that a fight was going to break out sooner or later.

Sol began to speak quietly, "I'm not a betting man by trade, but I'm guessing this is how that first death will probably go down. Some of those jocks are going to get into it, maybe they'll 'think' they heard the other say something and that'll set them off. They'll have it out and one misaimed punch or kick, and someone's forever down and out." He took a moment to look at the other members before continuing.

"Business guys and gals will figure out things real quick and definitely view this in the most cutthroat way possible. Probably use the more malleable jocks and the generally nice people as fodder before dropping them. They get the power, they fight amongst themselves and the demon profits."

Sol's eyes glanced back up to purple orb briefly and then back to Alex. "We'll let em trail ahead slightly. Claim anything to sell it and then… Figure out how to get up there." With a small tsk, Sol added. "I should have seen if I could have bought Air Hike."

Alex looked at Sol with his lips turned into a smirk and a laugh in his eyes. "At least you have shoes. I'm in socks." He lifted a foot to show the thick socks that were already starting to get slightly soggy and dirty.

"I wonder if we can get equipment from the Statue. I mean, you got weapons, so it should be doable. Are those enchanted with anything or are just normal weapons? Well, beyond being divinely granted, I mean." He pointed at the axe and the dagger, curious.

"I wouldn't say no to a pair of good socks and boots… maybe even some armor. Anything that can help me, anyway." And he had a good reason to say this, considering how he was dressed: for a leisure night at home, not for a survival game in hell.

"Maybe, but I doubt these are anything other than basic weapons. We'll probably need something far more worthwhile than simple arms to get through this. To be fair, I'd like a pair of nice boots, but the armor is a better option." Sol said, looking back at the crowds and at possible exits.

"You think with this possibly being the Qliphoth, we'd see anything from the past? We have the Marionettes here, so maybe, I don't know, a memory of Mallet Island would be here? That could be an armor source." Sol posed the question to Alex.

"I… honestly don't know. I mean, I know that the bloodsucking tree broke the dimension between Earth and Hell. It clearly broke more than that." Alex gestured at the room they were in, in lieu of an explanation. "On the other hand, this place is controlled by whatever demon has summoned us, so… Maybe?" He shrugged.

Then his eyes landed on the remains of the corpses of the Marionettes that the rest of the group - still all alive, although some had accrued a few more wounds - had left behind after getting the Red Orbs.

"Do you think we can use the remains for something? I mean, if I remember correctly, it's just possessed wood, but it's still wood that has been possessed and animated by a demon. Maybe it counts for something?" His question hung in the air between them, while the rest of the room kept going down in a spiral of violence and destruction.

The room was very big.

Sol snapped his fingers in clarity. "You've got magic right? Maybe to help with the strain you need a focus, I don't know, like a wand or a staff. If those marionettes have been steeped in demonic magic, especially if they were pulled from Mallet, then that could definitely be something."

Sol tucked the dagger into his belt before continuing. "I'll hack a limb or two off the one you just killed, I mean it might not be a Devil Arm but maybe it will fall under the 'you kill it, you buy it' idea, no?"

"Right of Conquest. I think the Voice had said something like that at the start, yes." Alex nodded, before pointing at one of the Marionettes that had just dropped down from the ceiling. "I'm good for a couple more shots. And we don't have the Red Orbs necessary, so. Let's grind some Blood, shall we?" And he grinned at Sol, teeth in full display.

Sol nodded before setting Alex on the ground and starting on the Marionette Alex killed. As he began to hack away at the leg of the intact side, he kept trying to see if the axe head was beginning to chip. Realizing that that would probably cost him a finger or several, he resumed cutting normally until the leg came off.

Looking at the severed limb, Sol merely grimaced at the grisly puppet leg before leaving it and the dagger with Alex.

"Right, I'm going to see if I can't do the same with the marionette I killed. Probably get some sort of makeshift pick-axe-scythe hybrid thing. But a weapon is a weapon, and it's got to be tempered through demon magic." Sol said before heading towards his respective kill.

"I'm going with support from afar. Oh, try and see if you can get some of the clothes they have on them, maybe we can use it for… something. I don't know." Alex shrugged, before putting the limb to the side and starting to charge a spell to destroy a demon. They did need the Red Orbs, after all.

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

After around an hour of fighting, the amount of demons that were appearing had lowered and against what the rest of the group was doing, they hadn't returned to the Divinity statue even once.

At least, not until they had managed to get around 1.000 Red Orbs each. Which sounded like a lot, but the Marionettes dropped a few of them each time they died, which helped.

"You go first, I need to organize all these spoils of war." Alex panted a little, dropping the collection of wooden limbs and cloth that they had gained from the monsters near the Statue, in two - more or less - neat piles: one for him, one for Sol.

"Remember: Nothing with an 'L' in parenthesis."

"Right, afterwards, I'll start cutting bandages and the like, never know right?" Sol responded.

With that, Sol touched the lion statue and found himself back in the white void with the statue.

"Okay, Mistress of Time and Space, make my day. Abilities please?"

The two windows opened again and Sol scrolled down looking for that one ability, only to stop and grimace when he saw the price.

"2,000 Red Orbs? Really? All right… back to items then."

The window closed and reopened to show the familiar item with Sol making a clear effort not to go anywhere near the Demonic Strengthening options. He was about to purchase another Blue Orb for another vitality boost when he noticed that the price had doubled.

"What? But… oh that's right, the price doubles on each purchase. I bet if you could answer me, you'd tell me that the Demonic Strengthening price stays as it is, wouldn't you?"

The statue, naturally, said nothing.

"Right, I'm saving my 1,000 orbs ma'am, because I absolutely intend to grab Air Hike when I can. Unfortunately, I think that concludes our business. See you next time."

The void receded and Sol found himself back in the previous room. He began with, "2000 for Air Hike, wanted to get myself another Blue Orb instead, but I completely forgot that the price doubles each time. Any luck with the marionette pieces while I was gone?"

Alex shrugged from his kneeling position on the ground. "More or less. I've managed to divide the whole piles in limbs, what few weapons we managed to get and clothes with no mismatch. Try taking these and see if they unlock some new option?" And he passed Sol a few of the blade weapons in the group, specifically the curved ones. "I think they should be able to update your axe. Try it."

"Sure, maybe that'll work." Sol said before carefully grabbing a few of the blades and touching the statue.

The white field returned and Sol addressed the statue immediately. "I know, I know. But I'm not here to haggle for Air Hike or a Blue Orb. I'm looking to see if I can enhance the hand axe you gave me earlier? I even brought some materials that may help.

There was silence before a new window opened. Sol could see his hand axe and an option next to it, stating Enchant, 500.

"Half my wallet huh? Well, I can't say you don't have a way of keeping customers coming, or at least I hope you do. Do you need these weapon pieces as well?" Sol asked as he pressed the option.

The marionette blades disappeared as his red orb count dropped to 500. Sol noticed a faint glow on his hand axe and after inspecting it, noticed the blade looked cleaner, sharper even. He also noticed the price for further enchantment increased to 1,000. He merely gave the statue a flat stare before saying his goodbyes.

As his vision took back the hellish cavern, he stated simply "500 red orbs for a basic enchantment. I'm keeping the rest though, because a double jump is still a double jump."

"That sounds like a good idea. Also, I'm gonna check if there's an option to get some physical enhancement that is not using the Loser option." Alex nodded, before grabbing the limbs and touching the statue.

White bloomed in his vision and gold screens appeared in front of him.

It still defaulted to the Demonic Strengthening Options. Which was a very good scam, he had to admit.

"Can I see weapon options, please? Something to enhance magic, maybe." He asked the statue with politeness, still unsure if it was something that influenced things, but not willing to risk angering the Divinity behind the statue.

Weapons:
Basic Staff: 200 Red Orbs
Basic Scepter: 150 Red Orbs
Basic Wand: 100 Red Orbs
Basic Enchanted Staff: 700 Red Orbs
Basic Enchanted Scepter: 650 Red Orbs
Basic Enchanted Wand: 600 Red Orbs

There were other options, but nothing that interested Alex right now. Maybe one of the Bladed Staves would be useful, but not right now. An image of a wooden staff with glowing purple-red lines twisting up and down the shaft appeared when he selected the option.

"Costly. But I NEED a weapon and this one doesn't use the Loser option, so Basic Enchanted Staff it is." A click and the option was purchased. A moment later, a thought struck him.

"Can I see Physical Enhancement, please? Not the Default option. Anything that doesn't contain the (L) tag. Please." His polite request prompted the screen to vanish and get substituted by another one.

Physical Enhancement:
Basic Enhancement: 5.000 Red Orbs.

"Nope, never mind." Alex closed the store instantly, not even looking under the first option, only to find himself in front of Sol with what was a clearly magical staff in his hands and a realization hitting him all of sudden...

"...I forgot to check the clothes." His voice was flat. Then, he perked up, although his following sentence was clearly sarcastic.

"But, hey! Good news, we can still get the physical enhancements without the demon's powers! They just cost ten times as much."

Sol sighed at that, "That would make sense… still convinced that the L price doesn't change." He then stopped, gave a thoughtful look, and then continued. "Which means if the price doesn't change, then everyone who took that option could have a 3x boost in one singular area or a boost across. If it does double its price per purchase, then the boost is still significant but less than it could be. Either way, that is one hell of a deal considering the other option."

He began to cut strips of ruined cloth with his hand axe before saying. "I am still saving for my Air Hike though, I want that double jump."

"Yeah, definitely. Still, without that enhancement, your jump will just be one of a normal, unenhanced human. Still, better than nothing, I guess." Alex shrugged, before turning towards the room where the sounds of fighting were starting to slow down.

And, all of sudden, everything fell silent.

"I… am afraid of checking it. But we gotta see what is happening, right? Not having information would be a bad situation to be in. And yet…" Alex grimaced, before starting to walk towards the opening.

"Maybe let's try to not get seen. Just… in case, you know." Sol responded, trepidation heavy in his voice.

Looking into the area where the last battle was held, there were marionette bodies everywhere. Broken by the hands and feet of those who had been in the room prior, it was… not completely a bloodless battle but damn close, except for one spot.

Towards the edge of the room, were two figures. The first and more noticeable of the two was a larger marionette, garbed in red clothing and bringing its blade down on a person. It was one of the jocks and by the tears in the marionette's clothes, it seemed that he tried to rip it to pieces before being cut down.

Mindlessly, the demon kept swinging into the corpse and Sol whispered quietly, "It's been a while since I played through Mallet, but aren't marionettes supposed to be, you know, not like that?"

"Honest truth: I've never played the first game, but I did a wiki dive. I think I remember something about multiple variants, with one stronger than the others." Alex whispered back at his companion.

In the meantime, the Marionette - a Bloody Mari - kept slashing against the still moving corpse. Maybe it was just the last spasms of a dead body, maybe the guy was still alive, kept aware and breathing from the demonic power that had been lent to him. Just so that he could try and struggle to the end, without a real chance, but with the impression of having the possibility to win. To survive.

One hand slapped against the side of the demon and the creature just twisted its head towards it, before swinging the curved blades held in its hands, cutting it off at the wrist. Then, the Bloody Mari just kept swinging down on the body.

Until the body started shining. And the human just… exploded. Into harmless indigo light - and threads of smoke that vanished into the air - leaving behind red orbs landing all around the demon, who turned towards its next prey, a girl that was frozen in horror.

"Oh, fuck." Alex's eyes were wide as saucers, while the rest of the people in the room were starting to move once again. "Fuck, fuck, fuckity fuck."

"Blast him," Sol stated before grabbing his weapon. "I'll distract him."

As soon as he said that, Sol was up and running to the side. After a few paces, he swapped the dagger's position and threw it as hard as he could at the Bloody Mari. The dagger flew through the air in a beautiful arc, before striking the demon pommel side.

"Fuck." was the only word out Sol's mouth, before he began to taunt the demon. "Well, come on then, second servings right here!"

The Bloody Mari turned towards Sol, while the rest of the people - One Hundred and Eight people, assuming the victim was the only one dead yet - stood there, watching, stunned. It was like they hadn't even considered the possibility of one of them dying. Like all of this, the entire situation was a simple game.

Alex grabbed the staff in the middle, before pointing it at the demon. A magic circle appeared at the tip, before shooting forward, hitting the hand that the marionette was using to move the weapon, attempting to throw it towards Sol.

"Nine shots!" Alex shouted, before moving the staff slightly and clearly trying to follow what was happening, eyes squinting and focused on the situation.

"Right!" Sol shouted back before partially closing the distance slightly and picking up the dropped weapon. It was another dagger, longer than Sol's but rust-covered and slightly unwieldy in his hands.

As the Bloody Mari approached, Sol waited, trying to bait an attack. The Bloody Mari swung its right arm and Sol dodged to its left, returning the rusted dagger into the Bloody Mari's side, before quickly moving away from the retaliatory back-swing.

Another magical bullet hit the side of the head of the Bloody Mari, removing maybe a third of it and making the stronger marionette turn towards Alex, without caring about Sol. Even if he was right there.

Sol took the opportunity to two-hand the hand axe and drive into the back of the Bloody Mari's head. The enchanted blade driving deeper than before and freeing itself more easily, allowed Sol to swing several more times. By the time the Bloody Mari had fallen like a string less puppet, there was hardly anything left of its head.

As it fell, not only did the red orbs it carried become part of Sol's wallet but so too did the ones from the fallen jock. There was silence from the other humans as Sol looked around.

"What!?" Sol asked the crowd. "You all thought this was a game!? You all think you can punch your way through all this? We gotta think people, we're in hell right now. No room for fuck ups!"

Alex grimaced at the shout that Sol had just given to the others, but another thing attracted his attention: from the ceiling, more Bloody Mari's were starting to descend, fast, sliding down the threads that controlled that specific kind of monster.

"Look above!" Another bullet hit the nearest one to Alex, one that was poised to land on some cocky teenager. Which would have been… a massacre, probably. "More of the same monster!"

While he was shouting, he didn't have any kind of thought about the situation. He was purely focused on surviving. And trying to not think about how several of those people in the room wouldn't.

And those were just Marionettes. One of the weakest enemies in this world. What would happen in front of worse demons?

Then, the Bloody Mari's landed. And the massacre started.

True, the others were now moving, either by moving away or moving towards them, some even sporting greedy looks, clearly remembering the amount of Red Orbs that Sol had gained, but most of them were just trying to survive. And to survive, they would need to eliminate the enemy.

A very simple, very primal Them vs. Us situation.

A very dangerous one, too. Because, with groups already forming, Alex was already fearing the moment the whole thing would devolve into a pseudo-situation of petty warlords lording over the rest.

If not at this moment, then when the hunger started growing. There was no evident food anywhere in sight, if one discounted the walls and the floors. Well, and the other people around.

Sol quickly made his way back to Alex, axe and knife out. Covering the spell caster, and with a shaky 'I can't believe I'm saying this' grin, Sol spoke.

"Well, as the man himself once said. 'This party's getting crazy! Let's Rock!'"

 

[Pajokk]

As one very stylish hero will say JACKPOT

 

[Yuki no Yue]

As one very stylish hero will say JACKPOT

Click to shrink...

You have no idea.
Stick till the end, let's see if we managed to make DMC justice, yeah?

 

[Atma]

The boss fight - if one could call it like that, considering that the Bloody Mari's were just a little notch above the normal Marionettes - ended with three heavily wounded people, five fractured bones, an unknown number of lesser wounds and a few Red Orbs for everyone.

Which was probably the thing that made everyone angry. At the situation, at each other, at the monsters. They were just… angry.

It started with a combination of curse laden muttering and whispers. The majority of the people left standing, only by the infernal grace of their unknown benefactor, began to talk among themselves. Most of the people attempted to keep their voices low enough so as to prevent other groups from listening in. This normally would have worked in a calmer, more sedate setting.

However, with the reality of the situation setting in and the loss of several of their members, whispers soon gave way to shouting.

"Those belong to me!" One voice shouted.

"Bullshit! I didn't see you kill it!" Another voice, in a different group but answering a similar sentiment, responded.

"Everyone just calm down!" An authoritative voice called.

"You're going to let him speak to you like that! Grow a damn spine!"

Throughout the area, more of these shouts began to make themselves known and it didn't seem like there was much to stop them. And like a powder keg, someone was eventually set off.

From one of the crowds, two figures broke rank, landing blows on each other that in other circumstances would be more dangerous. Now, it was more of a show force. One was a man in a formerly high quality, but a now torn, business suit. His tie being used by his opponent to keep him close. The other was a similarly dressed woman who was desperately trying to choke her opponent. The tie eventually tore apart and sent the two to the floor away from each other.

Tired, but still glaring daggers at each other, they arose and began to address the crowd equally, both attempting to out speak the other.

"Listen!" The man began while rubbing at his neck. "If we all work together, I can assure you that we can create a plan of action that will…"

"That will get you all killed!" Spat the woman. "I've worked with this bastard for over ten years, and I know damn well, he wouldn't hesitate to throw you under the bus."

"Like you're any better!? I know what you did to Terence and Andi over the Kinler deal." He looked back to the crowd. "If you follow her, I can assure you she won't hesitate to leave you out to dry."

This continued for several more minutes and people actually began to congregate around both speakers. Maybe it was demonically enhanced charisma, maybe it was the need to follow a strong leader, or maybe some of the people didn't know any better, but a good chunk of the people began to form two camps.

There were however the outliers, two groups to be exact. The larger of the two groups was populated by an almost entirely high school to early college age crowd. A large guy who must have dumped everything into enhancing his strength stood at the front with both arms spread to his side. His now massive wingspan, preventing anyone from stepping beyond his presence.

The high school crowd was a more blended group. Signs of physical enhancement were obviously present as well as a gracefulness that probably wasn't there a few hours ago. The big jock turned to his group and began to speak.

"Look, they talk a big game, but they're pencil pushers! They don't have what it takes to be a part of the team, but if we set our plays right, we can do this. Who's with me!?"

Several jocks in the crowd wearing partially ruined jackets and jerseys hollered in agreement, before moving themselves to the edge of the group and funneling them closer for a bizarre team huddle.

And then, there was Alex and Sol, the only two people in the entire affair to not follow any of the groups. Silently, trying to not catch any attention, Alex took a few careful steps back, keeping his new staff off the floor. Watching the situation degenerate without doing anything.

Mostly because it was a powder keg ready to go off at the slightest spark. And, considering the situation, anything could be a spark.

"I think…" He whispered to Sol, low and slowly. "That we need to take a couple of steps back and let them go their way." The grim look on his face was a clear expectation of things going to the pits.

"Honestly, if the escalation continues like that, I doubt that they will survive for more than three rooms. Four, tops. Two, if we encounter a proper boss." The down turned edges of his lips were enough signal for his mood.

"Yeah, no kidding. We just let uh, let them be on their way and maybe we will try to get 'that' for you." Sol said, stressing the word 'that' ever so slightly. Before looking back at the crowd.

"I think the business people will be the biggest issue in the long run, though. Not the groups, just those two." Sol continued.

Alex nodded, not moving his eyes from the two 'leaders' in silk. The man was preening more than a peacock, while the woman seemed almost feral.

"I'm almost expecting a clichè betrayal where the two of them have been working together all the time. Like we are in court or in a business deal and not in a life or death situation. Well, life or soul, considering… Demons." Alex shrugged, before starting to look around, apparently uncaring of what was happening.

"I'm around 450 Red Orbs and I'm aiming for Basic Magical Knowledge. Which is more of a passive boost than a technique, but, hey, every little bit, yeah? How about you?"

Sol paused before going silent, and responding "I think I'm at 1,700 Red Orbs… I'm holding out for another 300 for that sweet sweet air hike. Honestly though, I wouldn't be surprised if they were planning that, they seemed to mutually know those Terence and Andi fellows enough to be on a first name basis with them."

Sol gave a quick glance over to the sports crowd before looking away. "Though Mr. Spo… that term for sports anime, guy. The one who wouldn't be out of place in a 1950's horror movie, he and his actual crew may be something to be worried about. You think we can get some more red orbs out of the Bloody Mari's?" Sol finished with a question.

"It depends on how it works. Notice, we have been here for a while since the last demon appeared and no more had come. Something's telling me that it's… gonna be bad." Alex grimaced, before looking up to the ceiling.

Nothing.

And yet, the air was subtly colder. Almost like the temperature had dropped.

"Yeah, very, very bad. I'm just hoping it's not Boss Monster bad. If it is, we're all dead, no if or buts."

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH…."

Appearing with the cacophony of laughter, a series of five abnormally large skulls, marked with demonic runes, began to float in, all letting out a bitter, scornful laugh. One of the people who had been injured by the previous Bloody Mari attacks attempted to stand and fight.

In defiance of reason, the Sargasso closest to that individual began to mimic the act of taking a deep breath. The person must have realized something was coming and attempted to escape the potential threat. With the demonic enhancements and in top form, they more than likely could have made it. But they were weakened and in the process, faltered a single step. The skull let out a chill mist that froze the leg of the fleeing person solid. Unfortunately and to make matters worse, because they were in mid-step, the frozen limb was rooted to the ground. The person pitched forward, and their weight, combined with their forward momentum led to catastrophe.

There was a grinding, cracking noise, as the still warm flesh of the leg shore off its frozen half. The poor bastard fell to the ground screaming only for the same Sargasso to close the distance quickly. With a sickening crunch, the lower half of the person's body disappeared into an invisible gullet. The top half soon followed.

The demon seemed to bask in the taste before it and fellows turned towards the rest of the people.

"There we go." Alex said, dejected, with his shoulders slumped, before he pointed the staff towards one of the skulls and cast his bullet spell. The slam of the magical energy hitting the bone of the demon skull and cratering it - although not enough to break it fully - was enough of a wake up call.

"Apparently, they didn't remember what you said to them before." Another bullet flew, this time joined by the rest of the people attacking the group of skulls, some yelling and shouting, some in silence, others crying or wailing.

After the two shots, Alex turned towards the other side of the room. "So, if I'm correct - and I've played this game more than once - more demons should appear on the other side. Hell is a bastard like that."

He wasn't wrong. Five new skulls appeared from a red seal hovering in the air, almost invisible on the fleshy background of the room.

"Yep. A bastard like that." Three quick shots hit the front skull, shattering it to pieces before the remaining four turned and flew straight towards the duo.

"I have five shots remaining. I'm afraid I'll have to depend on you again, I'm sorry." Alex apologized, holding his staff firmly in his hands.

"No problem," Sol responded before he moved to the left side of the small horde. As he did, the Sargassos began to turn toward him. Sol threw his dagger at the nearest one, not caring if the dagger hit with the blade or pommel point. Ironically, the dagger struck true, and a section of the Sargasso's form shattered. As it floated back, Sol was on it, smashing it directly at the nose ridge, shattering the demonic skull.

Sol would have given himself a pat on the back if he didn't see the other Sargasso behind preparing its chill breath.

"You shit!" was all Sol said as he leapt further to his left, landing close to a dead Bloody Mari.

"Oh you boneheads, guess I'm going to be learning how to throw knives today!" Sol shouted before throwing one of the Mari daggers. The dagger did not land as cleanly as the previous one, but it did hit the socket and did seem to disorient the Sargasso long enough for Sol to attack. Several axe swings later, and all that bone was only shards on the ground.

In the meantime, using the time that Sol had bought him, Alex had been charging the bullets like before, one in his left hand and the other on the tip of the staff. When he shot them, both hit a skull - a different one for each - and it exploded violently, destroying both remaining skulls.

The amount of Red Orbs was more than the Marionettes, but not as much as the Bloody Mari, which made sense.

"I don't know about you, but I'm starting to get pretty hungry. And tired." Alex remarked, leaning on the staff with a slight tremble in his limbs, clearly using the piece of enchanted wood as support. He was pale and sweating slightly.

"Wanna go and see if the Divinity Statue can give us some food?" He was half joking, his lips raised in a smirk.

Sol looked back at the crowd, before nodding "I'd normally hate to leave these people like this, but I'm more afraid of them than for them. Besides, I just just hit 2,000. Double jump here I come." Sol said before really taking in what Alex just said, "I guess spell casting takes a lot more out of you than I realize. Yeah, let's get there now. Maybe if we're lucky they'll have moved on by the time we get back."

"I doubt it. And… yeah? It's more that every spell I use is, like… weighing on me. I can still feel the demonic power that I got lent, but I'm not touching it. So, the energy from these spells comes from me. And from the language, I'm not sure I understand it completely." Alex shrugged and kept pace with Sol, giving the mob - and the other demons that were appearing - a rather large berth.

"I'm with you about them, though. Demons, I know they will kill me. Humans can be much scarier if they break. Let's just hope it won't happen.."

After a few moments of walking, they were back in the starting room, the Divinity Statue still there. Alex simply let himself slide down on the ground near it, waving his hand at Sol.

"I need to take a moment to breathe. You go on and take your new trick. I'm curious to see what happens."

"Alright." Sol said before touching the statue. Back in the void, Sol addressed the statue.

"Okay, ma'am. You know what I want. Show it to me."

A window popped up showing Personal Enhancement with the Demonic Enhancement options front and center. Sol merely leaned to one side of the window and gave the statue a flat stare.

The window disappeared and reappeared displaying Abilities.

"Thank you, but I'm not buying into those demonic options. I'm not a chump who doesn't see the web and the spider. Physical enhancement, the 5,000 red orb variant is a future potential investment, but I need movement options first and foremost."

With that said, Sol pressed the option for Air Hike, and saw his red orb counter drop to 0. As it did, he felt a strange sensation in his feet. It was as if the expression, spring in your step, was a legitimate thing. The feeling dissipated, mostly, and with it, Sol gave his goodbyes.

Upon seeing hell again, Sol took a few steps back and jumped. The moment he hit his peak he could feel something underfoot, something for him to jump from. So, he did and his jump height doubled.

"Woo hoo! Double jump!" Sol shouted excitedly before descending and not sticking the landing.

"Oh shi!.." He lay in a small heap for a few moments before staggering up. "Why does Dante and Nero make this shit look easy?"

"Because they are part demons?" Alex said, cheekily, in between snickering and trying to stop his laugh from coming out. "Also, you should have known that everything that goes up, must come down."

In the end, he managed to take several deep breaths and calm himself, before touching the statue and finding himself in the white space.

"Yes, yes, default options. Put them away, thank you very much." As with Sol, the screen vanished, until Alex asked for the Magic section. A list that didn't seem to end appeared in front of him, but he limited his attention to the start.

Magic:
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

Alex seemed lost in thought for a moment, before he started talking to himself.

"Ok, so. Basic magic knowledge sounds like an introductory course to magic, the basics and so on. The Enochian version must be the specialized one. I think I would be better served in choosing the Enochian one, at least for now, to have a better foundation in it. Once I have more Red Orbs, I can take the other one."

He had only 750 Red Orbs, so he couldn't take both. He tapped the Basic Enochian option and a headache started pounding his head in moments.

"Yeah, I don't know what to expect." Grimacing, he moved one hand to his stomach. "Damn, I really want something to eat, there's nothing here…"

The screen in front of him changed and showed a new list. It was titled 'Miscellaneous'.

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.

Alex blinked at the statue, unsure of what had just happened, only to try and tap on the food option, before remembering that he was 50 Orbs short.

"Well, next time, I guess. Thank you for your help." He bowed at the statue before he was back in Hell with Sol.

"So, good news and bad news." He turned fully towards his friend. "Good: the statue sells food. Bad: I'm 50 orbs short." And he shrugged in a 'What can you do' expression.

"Well, we'll just have to save up for that next time round." Sol said simply. "Knowing our luck may very well come after the next fight, so, a victory meal." He finished before noticing the increased volume of sound from the other room.

He gave a cautious look to Alex before taking at his axe and dagger and approaching the entrance. Looking in, he did not like what he saw.

The skulls were dead, their fragments all but cast to the four winds. The fighting that was still going on was verbal spats between the various remaining people, though Sol noticed that the sports crowd were not there.

"You fuck, those were my orbs!" Someone shouted.

"They were my friend's!" Someone else responded.

"Yeah!? Well they're not using them anymore!"

To be fair, the 'friends' mentioned really weren't using them. Beyond the massive skull fragments, there were partially broken remains of ice sculptures that Sol knew damn well weren't there before. It didn't help that besides some of them, there were bloody remains of half-eaten body parts, and unfortunately, there were alot of these bodies throughout the room. Before Sol could try to get a better look, the yelling grew in intensity.

Several people from the two suit gangs were starting to go at it like a public pub brawl. This lasted for only a few minutes before a shout from either side, and two rather large figures pushed through the crowds and separated them. The figures were obviously people from both sides who had physically boosted themselves significantly and as if to say "I'm holding their leash," the leaders were coming.

The female leader was first on the scene and even from the distance he was, Sol could see her hands balling into fists. She seemed to share a look with her counterpart who had just been a step behind, before motioning her muscle to haul the instigator before her.

The instigator, a youngish man with blond hair that looked like it was once slicked back, but now fell across his eyes, tried to struggle out of the grip before realizing what was going on.

"Look, boss," he began, a slight tremor audible in his voice. "We needed those orbs, the glasses guy got his share earlier before everything went to shit, I figured it was only rig…!"

He was cut off when the woman's fist buried itself in his gut. Before he could do anything else, the woman spoke.
"Do you understand what we're dealing with here? The opportunities we have here?" She asked, her voice like venom.

"Ma'am I…" He didn't finish as she backhanded him. Normally a hit like that would stun someone, maybe take a tooth or two even. However…

*CRACK!*

A sharp crack resonated through the room as his head fell limply to the side. His body then broke down into red orbs which flew into the woman.

"You always were disappointing Peter." She said a matter of factly before looking behind her.

Her counterpart had his hand on his side's instigator while tapping a Bloody Mari dagger on his shoulder. He spoke softly but forcefully.

"You see that? if you do that again, that's what's going to happen, understand?" The man asked in a patronizing manner.

"Ye..yes sir!" the office suit managed out.

"Good… good. As that other guy said, we're in hell, no one has room for fuck ups. No, we've spent too much time here. If we're going to escape this place, we'll need to start now. Not one step back." Their leader spoke.

There were some halfhearted protests, but the glint of his dagger stopped those dead in their tracks.

The other group seemed to shrink at the glare of their leader and began to grab whatever they could find that could pass as a weapon and made towards the exit.

Sol quickly backed out of the entrance way and looked at Alex with a pale face.

"Remember how you mentioned that the first death would be at human hands? Woman Boss just backhanded someone so hard, she snapped their neck. Also uh… they're taking my advice about not fucking up here. So… that may be a problem given their attitudes." Sol said as quickly removed his glasses and slipped them into his pocket.

"You can always count humans to be humans, after all." Alex proclaimed, looking both pale and green on his face.

It took a few minutes for both of them to recover. Then, once they were marginally calmer, something happened to send everything spiraling down again.

All three of the 'leaders' came inside the room with the Statue, noticing Alex and Sol sitting there, not doing anything. And, more importantly, not being with any other group.

"Hi there, how are you doing?" Sol said in a polite but obviously nervous way.

All three of them didn't say anything, just looked at the two: one with his weapons in his hands and the other leaning on a stick while sitting on the ground.

Until the college jock pointed at Sol with a smile on his face. "Heeeeey! You're that one that shouted at us when the red mannequin thing killed that guy!" He was panting slightly, sweat on his face, clearly just fresh out of the fight. The man and the woman, on the other hand, looked a bit more composed, but both of them narrowed their eyes towards Sol.

Sol blinked owlishly before responding, "Yeah, well my blood was up and everyone seemed to be stuck in place. Figured they needed something to break the shock of the large puppet-like creature, right?" Sol asked as he pulled the glasses from his pocket but did not put them on. He just left them hanging in the fingers of his off-hand.

"And I mean look what happened next, more of them showed up, along with those skull things. Can you imagine what would have happened if we were all still in a state of shock?" Sol asked while planting his main hand against his hip, close to the axe head that was looped into his belt.

"Right, Alex?" He asked while not taking his eyes off the three.

"Yeah. And who knows what will happen from now on?" Alex asked, rhetorically, keeping an expression of sadness on his face, turning slightly towards the group - as more of the others had come in the room - and shrugging slightly.

"Then you can certainly see why you should join us and try to…" The man started, but Alex raised a hand immediately.

"I won't be of much use to anyone. I'm diabetic, you see, and I don't have any medicine with me. So, it won't be long before I either faint or start shaking and then faint. I would just be a hindrance for whoever is near me. Sol has decided to stay with me until I… fall asleep. For comfort." Alex gulped, before looking away and then back at the others.

Who were now looking everywhere BUT at him.

"I'll move, so you can use the shop however you want. Good luck." Using the staff as a cane, he got up and started moving away, one hand grabbing Sol's elbow to make him move together.

"Yeah, we'll just keep everyone's back covered. I can't see worth a damn without my glasses, so I'd be horrible with you all."

Sol began to move alongside Alex before whispering, "Please tell me the diabetes was a lie because if not, we'll have to hope beyond hope that there's some demonic insulin around here."

Alex didn't say anything, just kept tugging Sol away, until they were on the very other side of the room, away from everyone else.

"Wasn't a lie. But I'm pretty sure I'm cured. Remember the Blue Orb?" And he cocked his head to the side, at the statue. "It's.. well, I know only a little bit from my basic magical knowledge, but I'm pretty sure that it's pure life. So, complete healing of any illnesses. The rest will probably heal everything else about us the more we advance down this path."

He shrugged. "What can you say? Magic." He ended in a singsonging voice, a grin painting his lips.

Sol gave a cautious smile. "Well, God, I hope that's true, might make sense why my vision improved. I meant what I said, I can't see anything very well at all without my glasses, or should I say couldn't. My eyes definitely got better after that blue orb hit… I was about two seconds from chucking my glasses at the first person to make a move if it came to that…"

He breathed a sigh of relief. "I can understand and rationalize killing demons, but people? I don't know if I'm ready to cross that line yet."

"Neither am I. Also, keep the glasses. I'm pretty sure that my sight got better, too, but still nowhere near perfect. Neither is yours, I'm guessing. I'm willing to suffer a bit of a headache until I can get it healed. I'm thinking that the Physical Strengthening should do the trick."

Before he could continue, the sounds of feet stomping on a squishy, fleshy floor came and the group of people remaining - still split in three - was marching towards the room where the Marionettes spawned. And they were clearly aiming for the room after that. Specifically, the giant door made of stone and covered in fleshy vines on a wall.

While they were passing near them, the female leader stopped for a moment, turning towards Sol, and tried to affect a sympathetic behavior.

"I'm sorry for your friend. I wanted to let you know that after he's… gone… you are welcome in our ranks. If you survive." And then she turned and returned at the head of the group.

Sol let the group pass before speaking, "Well, we know who the super bitch is… I feel like that statement is going to become a lot more literal soon. All right, we let them pass and get you that purple orb. More shots mean better crowd control after all."

"You're not going to hear me disagree." Alex muttered, looking towards the door. Under the combined strength of six people, the door slowly opened, showing a floor made of stone tiles, the same fleshy, squirmy walls, and another door, far, far in the distance. Then, the groups of people entered and the sounds of battle started again.

"Let's wait a few minutes and then try to take the Orb? I think You could use the Barrier spell I have as a leaping platform, so you can save one jump for later. Also, maybe use the axe as a sort of hook to grab the edge if you don't manage to reach it completely? Could work, no?" Alex proposed, getting up and stopping overplaying his previous illness.

"Yeah, I'll knock it down. I don't want to accidentally touch it and take it from you." Alex nodded at Sol's proposition and moved towards the nearest point where they could reach the upper platform.

The first attempt did not go as well as one may think. Was the barrier platform a good idea? Yes. Was the use of Air Hike a good idea? Also yes. The execution however…

"Fuck fuck fu…" Sol tried to as he missed his target, fell and landed at the edge of the barrier, tripping over said ledge, and falling back to the ground. He lay there briefly for a moment before getting up and grumbling.

"Oh non-demonic faust bullshit physical enhancement, you can't come soon enough. Okay… round two." Alex snickered slightly, before growing pensive.

"How am I going to get up there?"

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

Spoiler, not easily. Luckily for them, there were a lot of corpses of marionettes around. And a lot of cloth.

Plus what they had gotten before. So, now to create a rope…

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

The axe sailed through the air in a solid arc, bloody red cloth streaming behind. It was Sol's second attempt at the throw from the barrier but at least he wasn't falling like an idiot. The axe struck the Purple Orb, which briefly wobbled in the air, before falling straight down.

"Okay!" Sol said triumphantly, "That's 1,750 you just saved and they did not."

"Assuming they even know that it's there." Alex smiled and grabbed the Purple Orb, way too paranoid of something happening at the last minute to wait.

The thing melted - for lack of another word - into him. And… he was… light.

For a single moment. He shone from the inside, curls of smoke-like purple light escaped from his mouth, eyes, ears, and nose, the shine illuminating all around him. He rose in the air for a second, a few inches and not more, before, slowly, returning to the ground.

Breathing heavily, Alex opened his eyes and smiled, wide, before calling a bullet spell to his hand: it came without problem, without charge time or anything else. Furthermore, he cast six in quick succession and he was still standing without even breathing heavily.

"I think I just got my first basic attack." Alex was clearly on the verge of laughing, no matter what.

"Alright, we have more options now." Sol said before dropping down from the barrier. So, let's see what's behind the door number stone."

Upon looking through the door, there was already a noticeable difference in the layout. Unlike the natural rock and flesh that dominated the previous two rooms, the architecture here was far more uniform. There was still an active demonic presence present with the flesh-like vines that seemed to be attached to and burrowing through the stonework, but all in all, it was at least more inviting.

Unfortunately, the door comment Sol made was a little more on the nose than he realized. As the hallway from the door extended and opened to a larger room with several archways clearly denoting an exit. The signs of battle were present but no human bodies. There were Bloody Mari's strewn about which bode for better and worse. However, most of the potential exits were bricked up, with only four 'open.' Not truly, however, as three of the four were sealed by walls of wailing spectral faces, leaving only one exit for Alex and Sol.

"Well, it seems someone is trying to either split us all up or prevent us from running back to the statue after every battle. What do you think?" Asked Sol.

He gulped, the high of the Purple Orb having been completely eliminated.

"I think that this looks a lot like a problem. That said, we need to choose where to go. If I remember correctly, we could open those seals with the Red Orbs, but it sounds like we don't have enough to do so, so… we can only go forward. Maybe we could farm a bit before moving so that we can upgrade ourselves a bit, but I don't know if it's going to work. Oh, right." He snapped his fingers, before pointing at Sol.

"Keep your eyes open and see if you can find anything secret like before." That said, he started moving forward, his staff held tight in his hands.

"Yeah sure." Sol responded, before walking to the walls and tapping his axe to them.

"Okay Sol, think. This isn't dark souls, so if you hit that, well then you've got a fight on your hands." Sol thought as he tapped each of the bricked up walls with his axe, producing zero results.

"So, the walls aren't budging meaning our only war forward seems to be door number 4."

Alex nodded, before stopping and pointing down a hallway that was in between two arches, right after the penultimate door and the last one. Hard to see, unless you were right near it.

"What's down that hallway? I think I can see a glow… and a corpse. Well, a hand. I don't know if it's attached to a corpse or an alive person, just unconscious." He stopped for a moment, before continuing, with a rather green look on his face.

"Or if it's attached at all."

Down the hallway was indeed a corpse, savagely mangled by something. However, the strangest thing was that the blood trail did not come from the main site of battle but rather the wall directly opposite the corpse.

Sol snapped his fingers and pointed at the wall. "Secret mission challenge room right? This guy must have accidentally touched the wall and… trapped in a demon room. What do you want to do?"

Alex looked at Sol like he had completely lost his head. "You want to try a challenge room while running on Permadeath?" His voice was slightly tilting towards the hysteric side of the spectrum.

"Yes, it could give us a truckload of Red Orbs, but… Oh, damn it. You've convinced me." Alex hung his head low, waving at Sol to go on.

"Alright," Sol said as he drew both weapons and touched the wall. There was a flash and the two found themselves in a similar room as the branching point. The stench of fresh blood stung their noses before a noise caught their attention. From the ground, four summoning circles manifested calling forth a set of Bloody Mari's.

"Well, I guess you guys are here for a little while longer." Sol said with a grimace.

"Fuck you and fuck me." Alex answered, before starting to focus, magic energy collecting on top of his staff in the form of a charged bullet.

Author's Notes:

Next chapter will be posted this coming Friday evening.

 

[Wonderbread16]

have not played DMC V but I am enjoying this so far

 

[Atma]

Sol began to move to the edge of the room, yelling and shouting to attract the Bloody Maris. Two of the Maris began to move in his direction. The other two though, Alex shot one of them and started to move in the other direction, already charging a second shot.

"That's right, this way!" Sol shouted again.

Internally however, "Okay… okay, now or never Air Hike…"

As one the Bloody Maris' lunged forward, Sol jumped, and jumped again, overtaking the first Bloody Mari and landing on the other. Forcing his full weight on the demon, Sol began to hack away at it until its head was destroyed. Looking back, he barely dodged the next attack, the blade making a small cut just above his brow.

Scrambling back, Sol tried to wipe the blood from eye before repeating the same trick. This time landing behind and taking the demon by the knees before finishing it off.

In the meantime, on the other side of the room, Alex was fighting in a more precise manner. Not because he was one of those calculator types that could read forward in a fight by three steps or more, it was simply because he had literally zero idea on how to fight, beyond half remembered martial arts lessons that he had taken years ago.

And, in opposition to what had happened during the room brawl before, the room where the four Bloody Mari had appeared was significantly smaller. So, he was blasting one with a charged magical bullet, then shot as fast as he could the other, charge another shot and repeat.

The monsters were made of wood, after all, and, even with the fact that they were ignoring the law of physics to a certain extent, wood was still light enough that a good enough blast or several smaller bolts were enough to push them back. So, he was basically juggling them while on the ground.

When Sol turned towards him, the first one had just exploded, while three more bolts had slammed in the second one, completely splintering the torso and sending it flying in all directions.

Alex, in the meantime, was panting heavily, white as a sheet with fear, and with a glint of determination in his eyes.

"You good man?" Sol asked, while trying to stem the bleeding with a ragged piece of Bloody Mari clothing.

"No. I just realized that we are horribly unprepared and that we need to get better fast if we want to have a chance to survive." Alex spit out, his hands firmly on the staff to keep himself up.

Without any words or noise, a mass of red orbs began to fall to the ground, as well as two more orbs. One was a pale white orb, smaller than the rest but no less bright while the other was… a fragment.

It was a quarter of a blue orb, sitting there innocently, waiting for someone to pick it up.
"Okay," Sol began, "So, I figure you should get the white orb, because you'll need it a helluva more than me. You want the blue orb fragment too?"
Alex gave Sol what could be considered a 'Are you stupid?' look.

"No, you get it. And all the others until you reach four fragments. You are the one that is melee all the time, not me. I really want you to survive, you know? For both emotional, altruistic and pragmatic reasons." After he was done with his tirade, he went and took the white orb, while the sea of Red Orbs split in two and sank into him.

"1.250 Red Orbs. I want some more to get the Physical Bonus, but, knowing myself, I will spend them in the Purple Orbs, Blue Orbs or something else. Doesn't matter right now."

The room around them melted away, like an orange being peeled, before they were back in the dead end of the hallway, with the mangled corpse. Alex blinked at it, before giving it a light tap with his staff.

The body exploded in Red Orbs.

"Right, corpses do that here. I didn't forget, but I kinda wanted to see if it worked even with the one that no one had… harvested." Then, he lapsed into silence, looking into the distance without saying anything else. "And isn't it telling that human corpses always disappear, while demon corpses sometimes remain?"

"Well, we'll…" Sol paused before continuing, "We'll try to see if we can't at least, I don't know, honor the memory of that person. Doesn't feel right just to let their remains be currency." Sol finished as he tossed the blue orb fragment between his hands before it faded into him. "Alright then, back to the main room?"

"Yeah. Wait." Alex took a single step before stopping. "Usually, didn't demons appear after finding a secret treasure or completing a bonus room?"

"Aw shit." Sol grumbled, "Let's see what we have to deal with."

The answer was… nothing. The antechamber was empty save for the signs of prior battle. With the only way forward being readily seen, Sol took a breath and stepped into the archway. Several moments later he came quickly looking at Alex with a nervous and fearful look.

"This door is to a staircase leading down." He said slowly before looking back at the entrance and muttering something just barely audible in the room.

"Down, down to hell and say that I sent you there..." Sol said shakily."

Alex… didn't exactly ignore what Sol was saying, but he was aggressively NOT thinking about it. Instead, he looked at Sol, at the way down and then back where they came from.

"One last stop at the Divinity Statue and then what is pretty obviously the boss?" He asked, hoping to color his tone.

"I mean, we have some more to spend, and it's always a good thing to be prepared, no?"

Yes, it was a stalling tactic. Yes, both he and Sol knew it. But that wasn't the right question. No, the right question was: would it work?

The path back was empty, and every so often Sol would begin to look up at the ceiling.

"We're heading down, this thing wants us to go further and further down. You think the others caught on to that?" He asked quietly.

Alex didn't stop until he was back in the main room. Only then, after checking thoroughly that it was empty of others, turned and looked at Sol.

"Short answer? No." He started walking towards the entrance to the starting room, where the Statue was. "Long answers: I'm pretty sure that anyone that is going to notice, is not going to say anything. If, and, or when they say anything, they won't be listened to, and if they are listened to, a crisis will make them forget it."

He finished with a shrug of his shoulder, before stopping in front of the statue. "At least, if we were in a story. I don't know if it's going to work or not, so… We'll see, I guess. After you." And he bowed theatrically, taking a step back.

"Are you sure? Well alright then." Sol said before touching the statue.

Looking upon the statue in the void, Sol began to think. He had 1,400 to spar, 100 shy of another blue orb… fuck it he needed something else to go with than failing at the throwing knife.

"Okay, weapons list please." He said simply before the window appeared.

He scrolled through quietly before stopping on an option.

"A little on the nose but what the hell, right?" He thought aloud before clicking on the option Basic Enchanted Handgun 1,000 Red Orbs. It materialized out of the air, a simple semi-automatic handgun with a holster.

"Okay, cool but we're not done yet. Miscellaneous please."

The window closed and reopened, revealing a small list of four items. Looking at his red orb count Sol grimaced slightly. "Only 400 left, I'd have liked to buy more but might as well get what's needed," before taking the Care Package C Option for the medical kit.

"Alright, I guess that'll be all for now." Sol said before reality snapped back into view.

"Okay, I've got a gun which I'll check in a bit, but more importantly, a med kit. I almost bought a vitality star, but figured that could be saved for more dangerous situations."

Alex blinked, before looking at his clothes. "You… didn't take armor?"

There was a moment of absolute silence before Sol dropped his new acquired items, clutched his heads and began to curse at himself. "I'm a certifiable fucking idiot… I'm going to say that I'll buy it next, but watch! I'll spring for a blue orb or, or a vitality star… Ahhh!!! Just, just spend well man. I need a moment."

Hesitantly, Alex patted Sol on his shoulders, before touching the statue.

Yes, the same default page appeared in front of him. Again.

Closing his eyes and praying for patience to the Watcher of Time, he moved away from the windows and went straight to Miscellaneous. He needed something.

"I have a bit more than 1.600 Red Orbs. But I need better clothes. So, Sturdy Clothes for me. then we move back towards the knowledge section and I'm gonna get the Basic Magic Knowledge, so those are 500 more gone. On the other hand, magic, so it's worth it."

He then stopped for a moment, before looking straight at spells. With 950 Red Orbs remaining, he couldn't take a lot, but there was something he could do.

"The upgrades to Bullet are… Ah, here we go. 500 for two bullets at once, 500 for faster fire rate, 600 for faster charging rate, 10.000 for Elemental effects… I didn't expect anything else, really. Also, all the upgrades are clearly the first stage, except the elemental one, so… Let's go with a faster firing rate." After purchasing the option, he was left with too little to do anything else. So, he bowed to the statue and returned back.

Before that, however, he was shown an image of him in his current clothes and then an image in him with his new clothes. Like a paper doll.

Choosing the new clothes instantly, he returned into the room with a pair of black boots that reached his knees, black jeans tucked into the boots to avoid flapping cloth, an elastic belt, a black undershirt and a purple shirt. Over it, a leather duster in black, with gold and purple embroidery.

"How do I look?" He smirked at Sol, deciding to not mention the furious headache that was plaguing him right now, with the knowledge on the basics of magic pushed in his head. They did help in making his spells a little bit stronger, but it was still painful.

Sol was wrapping his forehead in a bandage, before briefly glancing at Alex. "A lot better than me, that's for damn sure. Boots are a good touch too, great for keeping your ankles stable. Ow, dammit." He hissed as he finished the bandage. "That'll probably scar," he said before getting up.

"Well, from what I saw in it…" Alex started speaking, while testing the boots. They were perfectly tailored and didn't need to be broken in. Really magical. "There are two options for armor: these clothes, which are considered Sturdy Clothes. I have no idea how much resistance they will give to blades or similar, but I doubt they are going to do a lot beyond delaying something. Which is good enough for me, I mean. And true armor, I still have no idea what it means. Currently, my mental image is something like the Order of the Sword from DMC 4."

After that, he stopped in front of Sol, a pensive expression on his face. "Where do you think my previous clothes went?

"Well, when I upgraded the axe, the marionette blade went into it, so maybe it was less of you wearing new clothes and more, your old clothes were remade and enhanced to look like that? Who honestly knows, but hey silver lining, new wardrobe and like you said, you'll never need to break it in."

He breathed deeply before continuing "Are you ready to see what lies beneath?"

"Nope!" Alex answered, cheerfully, before turning and starting to walk towards the probable Boss Room. "But the world has never moved as I commanded, so let's go and try to survive. Possibly without the other seeing us. The less times we meet them, the less risk we are in."

His staff swished through the air in lazy arcs, energy sparking over the surface. Still, it was clear that it wasn't a proper demonic weapon. It was just an enchanted one, if the way the sparks came out of random places were any hint of it.

Still better than nothing, but less than the new gun that Sol had gained.

"Speaking of Bosses, how are you going to reload your gun?"

"It said Enchanted, so I'm guessing, more like hoping, it's like Lady's or Dante's pair. Just keep pulling the trigger. If anything it'll be a good way of drawing aggro while you blast whatever we see next into oblivion." Sol stated as they eventually made their way into the branching room.

Sol continued, "Alrighty then, you think this place has nine floors, like in the Comedy. Would this be the first floor and we just keep heading down and down until it just becomes one big ice rink?"

"I really hope not. That being said, I never read the Comedy, so I don't know." Alex muttered, looking around to see if any demon was going to appear in the darkened hallways. For now, the coast was clear. For now.

Still, their steps echoed in the silent air, while the smell of blood and dust was stronger than ever.

The whole thing came soon to an end when they found the stairway down. It was in the same place as before, but it was rather short and brought them to what looked like a balcony made of stone, with what once were comfortable cushioned chairs and an elegantly sculpted balustrade.

Now, it was half destroyed and covered in dust. As well as strange, fleshy looking branches and veins, slightly sticky to the touch and uncomfortable warm. Even then, it was not what was important right now.

No, what was important was that, under them, on what looked like a stage, there were the other people fighting against a big monster made of wood that was also on fire. All three groups.

The University Crew was hanging mostly back, looking like they had the bigger amount of ranged attackers, along with a few defenders that stood in front, along with their Leader.

The Businessman's group were an even mix that kept moving coldly and calculating, their boss shouting orders and calling shots in a very specific way.

Finally, the Businesswoman's crew were going all in with the offense, their leader wielding a giant club like it was nothing.

The two of them didn't say anything or even move, just watched what was happening. Until Alex broke the silence.

"I'm going to guess that we have either missed a Divinity Statue, our way was shorter or they doubled back to gain more power. None of these options are a good thing for us. This said, they are dealing with the Boss, so. Small mercies."

"Maybe, but where'd she get the club? I mean I figured she'd be going all out with her fists but… shit, is that a Fetish down there? Those were the really souped up marionette demons if I remember correctly."

"I honestly don't know, but that's… I wonder what it's called…"

The creature looked like a fetish, if a fetish had a blue overalls and a dual wielded very big flaming blades, along with cackling and shooting balls of fire every now and then.

Boiler Poppet: The Infernal Janitor​

Both of them blinked their eyes.

"Did I imagine the… the superimposition of that, like, a photoshoot?" Alex rubbed at his eyes, his voice still low enough that there was no possibility for anyone to hear him.

"Nope, I just saw that too. Boiler Poppet… I'd have named it something else, I don't know, like Infernus: Demonic Purifier… I'm grasping at straws here but, well at least we'll know what we're fighting." Sol said, forcing humor into his voice.

Alex pointed down, towards the stage. "Well, we're not going to fight it."

Sol turned right in time to see the female leader slam her club down on the head of the Boss Monster, completely destroying it. She landed on the stage - which was, against any kind of sense, still perfectly intact, even if it was covered with shards of wood - while the remains of the monsters fell around her, vanishing on the way down, surrounding her with glimmers of red, before a ridiculous amount of Red Orbs exploded from behind her and zipped around the place, each person gaining a different amount.

"They have managed to kill a boss. That's… terrifying." Alex blinked, before gulping and taking a quiet step back. Better not be seen.

Sol did likewise before stating quietly, "Businessman and Sports Max, may be able to keep their groupies together, but this… Karen? If anyone here terrifies me, it's her."

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

Cassandra Stevens, or Andi as she was known to her friends, roared in triumph as the Boiler Poppet fell. With a majority of those orbs going to her, she could practically taste the power on offer.

In a very deliberate fashion, she began to turn on her heel, lifting the obscenely large stone club she pilfered from a statue earlier as a show of dominance. Her peons cheered for her, as they should have. The idiot kids were too, but not with any real heart to it.

Fine, she thought. They'd either die or fall in line. It didn't really matter in the long run. Then her eyes caught those of her 'rival.' Joseph Terence Goode or Terry as she knew him. He was as deceitful as a snake and while his little clique was glaring at her, he nodded ever so slightly. She thumbed her nose in response, a well made show of insult done up on the spot.

'They' were going to win this little horror show and if anyone said otherwise, well she'd simply introduce them to her new friend. Briefly, however, her eyes caught movement in an upper level of the chamber, two figures specifically. At first she thought they were more demons, but she recognized one of them. It was the man with the glasses and the other one… What was his name again? It didn't matter. It was a dog eat dog world here and only the strongest pack would survive.

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

Joseph caught Andi's line of sight and saw the last glimpses of the two figures departing.

"So they're still alive… fine. Unless they're lucky, they'll never match up to us." He thought to himself.

He had to admit, Andi's plan was on the money. It was easy enough to get people to follow if your voice was loud enough. He just wished, and he knew Andi did too, that they had gotten the others before the resident football, soccer, or whatever sports star opened his dumb mouth. But there was no use crying over lost opportunities. It may actually benefit them in the long run.

"Mr. Goode, she…" One his people began to say before he cut them off.

"Killed that demon before we could, and what should that tell you?" He asked sharply.

"That… that…uh"

"That we lost a valuable opportunity, and next time we speed it the fuck up. Now come on, lick your wounds and do whatever you do best, those orbs won't form themselves."

*************************
Karl was not having a good day but he was trying. After seeing that business woman lift that club with such ease, he knew damn well that Steve would have been grinding his teeth in envy, if he was still alive that is.

For a moment his eyes moved to charred remains of what had once been his most trusted second on the team. He clenched his reflexively, enough where his nails began to draw blood. He never noticed the two onlookers, instead gathering his group into a huddle to discuss what they'd do next.

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

As Sol and Alex back tracked, they noticed that a new path had opened. What was once a solid wall, had partially collapsed to reveal a series of stately hotel rooms leading further into the structure.

"I guess her strike must have caused more damage than we realized." Sol said with a shrug, while Alex peered inside.

"I'm just hoping that it won't bring us in contact with them. I'm pretty sure that neither of us would be able to defeat them right now."
Alex then started walking forward, only peering in some rooms cursorily. A glance here and there, until he stopped around the middle of the hallway.

"Jackpot!" His smile could have cut his face in two, so wide it was. And with good reasons.

In the room on his left there was what looked like a big bush, but without leaves or fruits. No, it had red, bulbous growth on it, intersped with thin black branches with thorns. It sprouted straight from the concrete floor, without rhyme or reason.

"We got a Red Orb deposit. You take it, I'm gonna explore some more, see if there's anything interesting around here. I'll stay in shouting distance, don't worry." Alex reassured Sol, before leaving the room.

He started to move down the hallway, carefully and without moving too far away. During his walk, he discovered something… strange.

Each room had a bed, a closet, a desk, an attached bathroom and nothing else. It almost felt like a single room for a dormitory. With a theater stage attached to the same building.

Well, they were in Hell. Logic wasn't really something that held any kind of power over here. But that wasn't the important discovery that he had made. No, the most important thing was another one.

"The water works! And it's warm!" Alex's voice came from one room, only two doors down from where he had left Sol.

As Sol began to smash the red orb deposit with greater speed and ferocity, more and more red orbs began to pour out from the formation. Eventually, the deposit shattered, shards of red scattering to the floor.

As the shards lost their luster Sol began to think to himself, "The axe must have bit through a weak enough point."

It was then when he heard Alex's voice talking about water. Something hopeful bloomed in his chest and Sol quickly grabbed the med kit and went into one of the rooms. Finding the bathroom, he quickly turned the faucet on, feeling cool water run across his hands. He drank greedily, savoring the cooling water and realizing how much he needed it.

The mirror caught his attention, or more importantly, the blood soaked bandage reflected in it. With a grimace, Sol searched around, and grabbed a towel before placing it opposite the medical kit. Turning the hot water on, Sol slowly unwrapped the bandage, wincing ever so slightly at the act. Looking at the cut, he thought it wasn't as bad looking as it could have been, but he still had to clean it out properly.

"Ah!" Sol exclaimed as the hot water burned at the cut. With greater ease he wiped the blood from his brow, and when dry enough, he redressed it. The mirror however wasn't done with him yet. He noticed something else in the reflection. There was a window overlooking a… city?

"That can't be right." Sol said as he approached the window. Looking out he spied a large city that looked like it fought and lost a fight against a natural disaster. His hands found the latch and in an unconscious attempt, he tried to open the window. It wouldn't budge, and as Sol was seriously considering breaking it open, a large dark shape scuttled in front of it.

Sol backpedaled immediately and had to remind himself that despite the city scape in the window, he and Alex were still in hell.

"Everything's ok?" Alex asked, coming inside from the door, eyes alert. "I heard you yelp. Also, how's the wound?"

"Wound's okay… still hurts… but uh, Spider demon thing, scuttled down the window." Sol said between breaths. "Also tried to get the window open but the latch wouldn't open. You?"

"Found the shower. And the linen closet. Also, here, catch." And he threw a bottle of something at him. It was plastic, dusty and still sealed. It was shampoo.

"I also have body wash, loofah, hair conditioner, towels, and other assorted toiletries. All of them are for girls, but they are closed and - I checked - normal. This place kinda reminds me of a college dorm or something like that. Anyway, You take a shower, I'll stand guard. Then we switch."

Alex's expression turned into a grimace when he touched his hair. "I really need one. Also, food. As soon as possible."

"Nah man, I'm good. That spider thing…" Sol shudders, "I… I don't do spiders and I'd rather just be gone than stay here any longer than we need to."

"I hate bugs, so I understand perfectly." Alex assured Sol, before pointing at the bathroom. "However, we don't know when we are going to get another chance like this, we are sweaty, tired, dirty and we stink. The bathroom's window is too small for a demon to enter easily and, for the weaker ones, breaking the wall is gonna take enough time to let you prepare. Keep your weapon handy, but take a shower. Take the chance to recover for a moment. Trust me, it's gonna be necessary." His eyes were downcast. "Any moment we can get for ourselves is gonna be vital for our mental well being."

"I'm just going to wash my face again, and then find bottles, or other containers instead. Water is more important now, anyway." Sol states before looking for any container he could use.

Occasionally he could be heard muttering the phrase "Fill up the bathtubs with the stoppers down for more water collection, don't leave the water on unless you want to end up like the wet bandits…"

"If you insist. I'm going to take a shower, though. I feel disgusting." Alex twisted his nose, before moving towards the door of the bathroom. "Wash your face, then call me. I'll see if there are any containers around."

"Yeah, will do." Sol said as he began to search the rooms.

"No way in hell I'm taking a shower in a hotel room with giant spiders. That's some eight legged freaks horror right there. I remember what nearly happened to Johanssen in that movie." He shudders from the mental image and begins to turn over various rooms. In each room, Sol stopped every bathtub he could find and turned the water on. While waiting for the water to fill, he looked around, finding several empty flower vases. Washing them out with hot water, he began to fill them as much as he could. Looking at the containers, Sol took a headcount.

"That's five large vases and two smaller vases. That's not great but not bad either… and if we can still get to this area then that means additional water re-supply." He spied the window and carefully looked through it. Seeing nothing, he tried the latch again. Nothing, no matter how much he tried to move the latches, the window refused to open.

"Looks like we have to find the front door." Sol finished before bringing the water vases into the hallway.

"Uh, quick question…" Alex's head popped from a room, his hair already wet. "How are we going to bring the water with us?"

Without waiting for an answer, he returned into the room. Now, people could say that he was being incredibly stupid in taking a shower without anyone checking on him. And they would be right.

But he wasn't completely stupid: he had pushed a small dresser in front of the bathroom door, had checked every corner and, only then, had started the shower. Warm water cascaded on him and he started his routine.

Shampoo, wash away. Conditioner. Body wash. Wash away everything, then dry. Sadly, there wasn't a hair dryer anyway, so he just tied his hair in a bun after toweling them extensively, and walked out.

All in all, fifteen minutes.

During those fifteen minutes, Sol was lightly bouncing his head off the hallway wall.

"That. Was. A. Stupid. Waste. Of. Time." He stopped before stepping back.

"How the hell does Dante and Co. do all these crazy ass adventures and not take care of basic food and hydration requirements?" He asked himself.

"Maybe it's that demon blood? No, no Lady is fully human so… Maybe blue orbs and physical enhancement reduce physical needs while keeping the body optimized? If we get out of this, I'm going to try to have a good long conversation with Nico and ask how any of this works. Pay for the information in… in demon limbs or something."

He looked back at the jugs, "They're ceramic or porcelain vases, which means they're ultimately fragile, which in turns means that it's damn near impossible for us to take them with us for any long period of time… maybe the food package item at the shop has something? Watch it'll be an infinite canteen or just a canteen that can be refilled whenever some suitable source of water is found. Ah… who knows."

Finally, Alex rejoined him, still a little damp, but clean. Which was the important part.

"You are going to burn out. Try to not pull a Vergil on me, please. This said, the offer to shower is still open." He grinned at him to show that he wasn't really serious, before looking at the vases.

"Again, how are we going to bring them with us? They don't really have a stopper and we don't have a way to safely transport them."

"You're right…" Sol said before pausing. He was silent for a moment before he continued. "Funnily enough though, I'm not really feeling tired… In any other situation, I'd just have liked to pass out and hope this was all some sort of bad dream. But I'm not feeling the need to." Sol stressed. He became quiet for a few moments before continuing.

"I'm not going to pull a Vergil, you don't have to worry about that. But the others… they already are if that little display was any indication. Those business people, they have that damn mindset…" He rubbed his face before clearly trying to change subjects.

"Maybe we could carry one or two of the jugs and leave before entrances. Like guideposts. That way if we find a statue we can at least get some water before pushing forward."

Alex looked at him, before looking at the jugs. They were previous flower vases, so they were big enough, without handles and without a way to comfortably carry them.

"I have a sudden premonition that they will shatter with the first demon attack we met, but sure. It works." He then shrugged and put his staff on his back, using the belt to keep it there. Then, he grabbed one, before turning towards his companion. "Now, which way? I've seen a stairway at the other end of the hallway. One goes down and one goes up."

He turned again, towards the window. "Judging by what it can be seen, we are somewhere around the… second, third floor. So, it's either the roof or the ground floor."

"I'd say ground floor, if only because I still couldn't get those windows open and the idea seems to be we're heading further down this, I almost want to call it a hellish dreamscape." Sol says while grabbing a jug.

"Considering we are in Hell…" Alex let his words trail out, before starting to walk towards the stairs.

"You know another thing I noticed? When the demons appear… The barriers don't."

"Yeah, you're right. Usually we'd have seen that wall of faces and…" Sol paused before a suspicion filled look flashed across his face.

"Except the only place we ever saw a barrier was at the antechamber with the four entrances. If those entrances did and would lead to Boiler Poppet, then that means they're like big boss fight warning signs."

As Sol began to make his way down the stairs he spoke again. "Whoever is doing this is banking on the others not knowing and not asking about those barriers, I can almost guarantee it."

Mid step, he stumbles before continuing "If we're in the Qliphoth, why are we seeing cityscapes, and more importantly why are we heading up it? We're being played, we are being played."

"The Qliphoth doesn't answer the rules of space and time, remember? It grew from Hell into the World of Humans, which is usually impossible." Even as he was saying this, Alex frowned and looked down the stairs. Empty.

No monsters.

"You know what our problem is? We don't know how much of the game was in there for the sake of the… Well, gameplay and game mechanics. And how much is because it happens when things are real."

After saying this, he stopped at the first floor and looked out of the window in front of the stairs. The place looked more and more like a school plus dormitory. "We don't have enough information to make an accurate deduction, we can only infer information from what little we have. And, as everyone can tell you, trying to solve a problem with only half the information is an excellent way to make a mistake."

"So then don't solve it and walk past everything? Wait no, that's what the others are doing. Ha… be kinda interesting if that voice from the beginning spoke again, like a saccharine pep talk or something. Guess we have to solve it to survive." Sol responded before opening a large set of doors.

Beyond them, was what looked like a large hotel lobby, brightly lit, well furnished, and generally opulent. Sol looked back at Alex.

"These places aren't supposed to be together. It's like they're blending almost. Maybe… are these places memories?"

"How could we find out?" Alex pointed out, reasonably, before putting down the vase on the outside of the hall. "Also, I never said that we should just go on and not care about what is happening. I'm saying that we don't have enough information, at the moment, to try and hazard a guess about what's happening."

He only peered inside the hall without entering.

"However, this place looks a lot like a boss fight in waiting. Put down the vase and enter carefully?" He asked, grabbing the staff from his back and pointing at the large room.

"Yeah." Sol responded before putting the vase down and readying his weapons. The axe in his right hand, gun in his left.

He began to walk down one of the staircase paths leading from the door. Nothing so far, but he did spot at least three doors. One on either side of the lobby and a much larger door leading to the entrance. He tried the door he was closest too, locked.

"Seems like to me that maybe going forward is the way to go?" Sol asked with a shrug. Alex nodded, before looking at the other door. It was slightly ajar.

"I spy, with my little eye, something different. Do you think it's a secret thing or is it the boss room?" The left door that Sol had tried was closed. The main door was also closed, but the right door looked slightly opened.

"Seems too easy. Almost like it's a trap?"

*Groan…*

There was a groaning noise from, like metal having too much weight on it. Looking up, the two saw nothing. A voice began to emanate from that location and the name super imposed itself in their eyes.

"What is this? Two little humans wandering where they should not be, and stealing? Such activities deserve punishment." It spoke, voice creaking like old wood.

MADAM ARANEA: DEVILISH MATRON​

From an obscured spot by the front entrance a bizarre caricature of a woman dressed in a dark grey and black high collared dress with a doll motif. It regarded the two briefly before continuing forward.

"Oh fuck." Sol breathed out, face steadily taking on a paler shade.

"Oh fuck." Alex nodded, even if it wasn't a question. He had gone a few shades too pale, too.

She looked proper and prim, dressed like a Victorian matron, all straight laced with a grey shirt tucked into a long black skirt going down to the floor. She was also made of wood - or, at least, had skin that looked like wood - and an expression that could curdle milk just by being near it.

"Entering without invitation, wandering around the girls dorm rooms, stealing supplies that do not belong to you, dirtying the floors… I would go on, but I want to hear what you have to say for yourselves, naughty boys that you are."

Sol briefly shot Alex a look. The kinda look that says 'I'm about to do something REALLY stupid, so get ready.'

Sol cleared his throat, "Well, uh, before we go any further, I'd think it best to introduce a third party by the name of BERETTA!" Sol finished with a shout before firing indiscriminately in Madam Aranea's general direction.

"Get into a better position!" Sol shouted at Alex as he kept firing.

"Wastrel! Prepare to pay with your life!" The demon responded.

Alex didn't answer, between legging it on the other side of the room, a shining sphere already charging on top of his staff, leaving Sol to tank the close combat. It was a division of roles that had worked well for them before.

Before.

"Where do you think you are going?" Her voice grated at his ears, before a ball of webbing exploded in front of him.

"Fuck fuck fuck…." Almost by instinct, he released the charged shot towards the webbing, blowing it up to smithereens and avoiding being entangled. Right after that, he pivoted on his foot, staff already extended, and shot a series of bullets at the demon, all of them impacting better than the bullets that Sol had tried to extend. Mostly because magic projectiles were easier to aim.

Sol came up from behind and tried to hook what he thought was a leg by cutting through the dress's skirt. The axe cut through the cloth, hitting nothing, but hooking around something. Any of the other walking demons that the two had fought previously would have been tripped by this maneuver. However, Madam Aranea merely pitched forward, before that something flared out, striking Sol in the midsection and sending him tumbling back.

"Look what you have done to my skirt." Hissed the demon. "Death may be too good for…" She was cut off by a hail of bullets, striking with a better degree of accuracy.

"Don't really care, you evil clone of Mary Poppins." Sol spoke as he began to get up.

"Don't insult Mary Poppins. She doesn't hold a candle to her." Alex muttered, another charged bullet ready to be shot.

Before he could, however, Madam Aranea turned far faster than what her starched skirt should have allowed her and gestured towards Sol. A series of threads, the glinting that the lights of the hall revealed the only hint at their presence, following her hands. And cutting into the stone around her.

It was a fluke, really, that the charged bullet exploded against her back before she could cut Sol into itty bitty pieces.

Sol moved out the way "Were those webs!? Aw, fuck!" He shouted as closed the distance, aiming this time at her waist, instead of her legs. The axe bit in, and while not as deeply as it had on the rank and file, enough where the demoness let out a painful roar before grabbing Sol by the scruff of his neck and throwing him across the room.

"Gahh!" Sol gasped out as he hit the wall, but still managed to stagger to his feet. Dazed he began to move behind some form of cover.

In the meantime, Alex was doing his very best to get killed. It looked a lot like trying to shoot as many bullets as he could shoot at the demon in front of him, his staff moving in a spiraling motion that never seemed to end.

The bullets hit, for the most part, but the damage was really minimal against the demon. Madam Aranea started advancing towards him, her demeanor stately and clearly unconcerned about the bullets.

"Cease your foolish attempt to stop me from killing you. Show at least a fraction of the dignity that one of my girls would have."

Alex stopped. Looked up at her, and then smirked.

"Ok!" And he shot a single bullet upwards. The chain that held the chandelier aloft snapped and the construction of glass and metal fell down. Right on the demon. Right after that, he threw himself to the side, scrabbling for cover behind the first thing he could find.

Sol looked at the broken remains of the chandelier before calling out to Alex "Sorry for the lack of help, don't really know if this could be considered destruction of private or public property."

Sol's attempt at a laugh was short lived, as the bulk that was Madam Aranea began to shift and move under the broken chandelier. As she stood up, shards of metal and glass jutting out of her at odd angles, the veneer of proper society was absent, only a sneer remained. It was one that belied greater depths of anger. She attempted to move, to remove herself from the pile, but the chandelier must have caught and trapped her skirt, because as she did so, it tore away.

Sol realized why his first strike hooked around something instead of biting into it. Four doll-like legs, similar to a spider, maneuvered themselves out from under the torn skirt.

"The web attacks, the spider demon I saw earlier… oh fuck me running."

She looked down and then back up at the two. "Impertinent humans, die!" And she jumped.

Now, all that goes up - as long as it's still trapped in Earth's gravity - must come down. This is true for humans.

For demons, not so much. As Madam Aranea reached the ceiling and stood there almost as if she was standing on a normal floor, her four sharp legs, reminiscent of spider ones, supported her without a problem.

"Any ideas?" Alex asked Sol, charging another bullet on the top of his staff, ready to… try and do something. He wasn't even sure.

"Break… shoot at her leg joints! Demons might be bullshit but I doubt they can maintain a strong grip on walls without at least three points of contact." Sol said before he took and fired at one of Madam Aranea's front legs. He hadn't been counting rounds before but he figured he didn't have to and kept pulling the trigger.

Some of the bullets struck true, others missed and hit the wall behind it. However, only a few kept hitting. As soon as four or five bullets had managed to hit her legs, she jumped away from her position, a blur of movement so fast that neither of them could keep track of her.

Until she landed, in front of Alex. Again, it was a stroke of luck that saved him, as the charged bullet he was keeping got released and exploded right in front of him. And on her.

This time, the blow pushed her away from him, black scorch marks on her body showing where she had been hit.

"I'm getting tired of this!" Aranea shouted before the sound of bullets pinging off wood and metal sounded again. Sol had resumed firing, aiming at the spot he had been targeting. Several more rounds hit before she jumped back and moved across the wall.

Without stopping, she started rapidly spewing webs and white, silk-thin metallic-looking strands of web started to cover the place at around chest height.

"Come here!" Alex managed to shout at Sol, before a thread shot directly at him. Without thought put into it, he interposed the staff between him and the attack.

The top of the staff got cut off without resistance.

"Fuck me." Alex groaned, before dropping on the ground and rolling away from another volley of threads. The weapon was still usable… for the next five minutes. After that, it would either explode or just die down.

Sol wanted to reach Alex while laying as much fire on Madam Aranea as he could but that web blast killed that plan. He looked at the gun in his hand for a moment and tossed it over, shouting "Alex! Take it!"

Sol drew his knife in his off hand and prepared to charge the demon.

"No, don't…!" Alex dropped the staff and grabbed the gun somewhat awkwardly, before pointing the shooting end towards the demon.

"I'm no good with a gun, why did you even…. Argh!" Energy started to collect in front of the muzzle, before it shot forward, the charged bullet working with the weapon.

The charged shot struck the demon in one of her legs, blasting it apart. She pitched forward, howling in pain as her center of gravity was gone. Sol was running, and brought his axe down on the leg he'd been firing at. Swinging several times, the axe cut through the appendage before he had to run as she prepared another web blast.

He just barely dodged it, and the blast sheared through the stone wall behind him.

"You horrible children! I will make stew with your meat, bread with your bones, and pickle your eyes!" The shrill voice of the demon grated on their ears, before she started trying to move once more, her legs managing to keep her vaguely upright. Vaguely.

She was swaying like a drunk, before she shot her hands upwards. Threads latched onto the ceiling and raised her in the air, before her legs started to… move.

One shot forward, extending like a spear, towards Sol. The other, towards Alex.

Alex raised his hand, suddenly remembering something, and a translucent barrier appeared in front of him, the spear hitting it and shattering it, but not killing the guy. Which was the important part, really.

Sol on the other hand, jumped and then initiated Air Hike, dodging the spear and rolling as he hit the ground. As he came up, he threw his knife as hard as he could at the demoness. The knife struck the demoness' head pommel side, causing her to agonizingly twist herself to face his direction.

"Yep, I think I'll be sticking with guns from here on out," Sol said before dodging another spear.

"Good idea!" Alex charged another shot, although this one went wide as the demon swayed on the threads holding her aloft, before throwing the gun towards Sol. "Here, take it back!"

Right after that, he had to raise another barrier to stop the leg from impaling him from side to side.

Sol grabbed the handgun, raised it, and fired. Madam Aranea attempted to dodge, only being able to shift her head, but it wasn't fast enough. Several of the bullets struck one of her eyes, disorientating her. Flailing, the demoness began to throw blasts of web wildly, forcing Sol to retreat.

"Finish her!" Sol shouted.

"Oh, damn you, you stupid demon." Alex muttered, the recovered staff in his hands starting to smoke and spark. Energy flowed from his hands and body into the wood, the symbols on the side lighting up and shedding purple light on his hands.

Then, after a few moments, he changed position, grabbing the remains of the staff like a spear, the start of a bullet appearing at the tip.

"Eat this." And he threw the staff.

Maybe it was the magic that he had poured into it, maybe it was luck, maybe it was because, in her violent thrashing, Madam Aranea moved. It didn't matter, in the end, as the broken staff hit the center mass of the demon.

Then, it exploded.

And the demon with it.

The light and sound from the explosion were deafening, however the effect soon. Where the demon once stood, lay a pile of broken limbs, melted stone, the burning remains of cloth and wood, and an absolute mass of red orbs.

"The only good spider is an obliterated spider," Sol said, grinning before breathing, hissing, and clutching his side. "I think she bruised a rib or two… god I hope it's just bruising." He finished, before the front doors opened on their own.

"That uh… that wasn't me." He continued, shakily.

Behind them there was a short hallway. At the end, a Divinity Statue, and only that.

"Oh, look, a Divinity Statue. Maybe we should use it. I mean we got…" Alex started saying, before stopping and looking like he had just been slapped with a fish. Eyes wide and unseeing, mouth hanging open, body slack, air going out of his mouth, but with no sound.

"Ten… Ten thousand Red Orbs."

"Each!?" Sol responded before checking. "Holy Shit, yeah!" He shouted, before continuing, "Well no time like the present am I right?"

"Definitely. Physical Upgrade, here I come!" Alex shouted, getting up and power walking - as he was a bit sore from being thrown backward from the attack before - towards the Divinity Statue.

However, when he reached it, he stopped cold for the second time in two minutes.

"Hey, maybe I'm… I don't know, concussed or hallucinating or trapped into a coma dream, but… Isn't that a glowing red circle on the ground that is emitting red mist and also having the name 'Gate of Hell' on the edge? Granted, the last thing is in Enochian, so you probably can't read it, but…" He stopped, clearly not computing, before turning towards Sol with a lost expression.

"Are we… Is this a crossover? Are we in Bayonetta? What is happening?"

"Man, I don't know, but if this is and that is the portal to what you say it is, then that probably means yes… Wasn't it implied that Eva was an Umbran? I mean look, if it is, then that may mean better weapons. My axe wasn't doing all that good against the spider back there and you need a replacement staff so… Why not?" Sol responded.

"You are absolutely right." Alex nodded, before running back and grabbing as much of the demon's corpse as he could.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

I meant to post this yesterday evening, but co-worker wanted to hand out last night and I didn't get back in until almost 11-12, and I was touch too tired to do final proofreading. On the upside, doing it now allowed me to catch some tense issues with some of Sol's dialogue. So, that's always a plus. Next chapter is going to be released either on this coming Tuesday or Wednesday.

 

[InZodwetrust]

MADAM ARANEA: DEVILISH MATRON

Click to shrink...

The picture link is not working for me.
Still, good story and creative plot. Don't know much about Bayonetta, but looking forward to the crossover

 

[Yuki no Yue]

The picture link is not working for me.
Still, good story and creative plot. Don't know much about Bayonetta, but looking forward to the crossover

Click to shrink...

Yeah, the image was hosted on Discord and with the way they have changed the whole thing we're having a bit of a problem. We're thinking of a solution, though.

As for Bayonetta, thanks! Hope you'll like the rest of the story.

 

[InZodwetrust]

Yeah, the image was hosted on Discord and with the way they have changed the whole thing we're having a bit of a problem. We're thinking of a solution, though.

As for Bayonetta, thanks! Hope you'll like the rest of the story.

Click to shrink...

You can download it from discord then post on Pinterest. A link from there should work.

 

[InZodwetrust]

I just had an idea. What if when Urizen shattered Rebellion, a splinter of Rebellion fell down the Qliphoth to the general level the MCs are in? The unifying power of rebellion will be helpful in claiming the seed of the Lusachia's power as theirs.

 

[InZodwetrust]

I once made a thread to try to describe DMC without the lens of game mechanics. You can check it out and see if you'll find it useful. Unfortunately it's on hiatus as my muse has dried up.

 

[InZodwetrust]

Yeah, the image was hosted on Discord and with the way they have changed the whole thing we're having a bit of a problem. We're thinking of a solution, though.

Click to shrink...

Which channel on discord?

 

[Atma]

I just had an idea. What if when Urizen shattered Rebellion, a splinter of Rebellion fell down the Qliphoth to the general level the MCs are in? The unifying power of rebellion will be helpful in claiming the seed of the Lusachia's power as theirs.

Click to shrink...

Well without getting into too many details, that's not really in the cards here. But... another sword Dante wielded is. Although it's a bit too heavy to be used at this point.

 

[Atma]

The portal flashed red and the two of them found themselves in a bar. A high-class bar, really. There was a suffused, soft blue light, cushioned couches in red velvet, the architecture was extremely gothic, but also very tasteful and it was utterly empty.

"Oh? New blood? Welcome to the Gates of Hell." The low, rasping voice came from a hulking man that fit the definition of tall, dark and handsome. Also dangerous as Hell itself.

Rodin.

Alex shivered, his eyes raking his figure up and down without caring if he was seen behind the armful of materials that he had with him.

"Damn, I want myself a man like that." His whisper was low enough that only Sol should have been able to hear it, but Rodin chuckled all the same.

"Hey, whatever floats your boat, life is too short for bad wine." Sol whispered back, trying to get some brevity to counter the growing mass of nervousness inside him.

"Fucking shit, this is actually happening. Ohhhhh okay, yeah fallen angel who is probably the only being that can consistently be a threat to Bayonetta. Just breathe man, and you can get through this." Sol thought in a slight panic.

"Thanks uh… thanks for having us. You wouldn't be open for business now, would you? I'm not just talking about a drink either. My friend and I are looking to possibly buy some hardware." Sol asked, stumbling over his words.

Rodin looked at the two guys, before shaking his head mournfully. "These hunters get younger and younger each year. Sure kid, I'm open for business. I see you already have some basic things on hand?" He nodded his head towards the armful that Alex was bringing along. The long-haired guy nodded.

"Uh, yeah. It's a demon that attacked us, some sort of puppet in the shape of a woman. Had web attacks and metallic threads and… sorry, I'm rambling. Adrenaline crash, I guess." Alex almost bit his tongue, before taking a few steps forward. And stopping.

"Do I… just drop it here or…" Rodin shrugged and pointed at the far left of the counter.

"There's fine. I'm guessing you want a weapon from that?" His red eyes were peeking from above his glasses, making both guys gulp.

"Yes sir. Whatever you think it would be best for the materials, really. I don't know how to use anything beyond flailing around, so… I'm in your hands." Alex shrugged, gently putting down the loot: cloth, limbs, threads, anything that he could safely transport.

"No need to call me sir. I'll see what I can do… And if you trust me with the weapon, I'm even going to offer you a first time discount. For both you and your friend there." Rodin gestured with his hand towards Sol.

"Well to be honest, I'm looking for something that packs a little more punch than this axe. It's been serving me pretty well so far, but just didn't do it enough on the former owner of all those limbs." Sol pauses before continuing. "Whatever you do with those materials, give to him." Sol said, pointing at Alex before continuing.

"His staff was partially damaged by the demon we just killed, and well it kinda sort of blew up along with the demon. So, anything you have premade, I'd be more than willing to look at."

"You're a loyal one, uh?" Rodin asked, not really waiting for an answer. He just scooped up the materials and nodded. "Feel free to browse my wares. This will take me a few."

A red portal appeared behind him and he vanished into it. Silence fell onto the bar.

Alex cleared his throat. "So…." He started, only to stop and cough again.

Again, silence.

"That… happened, uh?" Again, he tried, without managing to say much more.

"Yes, yes it did… I can't believe I'm saying this, but outside of you, the only other being I'm willing to put my trust in is a fallen angel… Well, let's check his wares." Sol stated before looking at the wall of weapons that suddenly manifested. Most of them, Sol's eyes glazed over, thinking to look at them again later on. And then Sol went still, looking at one weapon in particular. It was… well a sword, a massive double-edged thing with a Damascus pattern and shovel head tip. Sol took a step back and pointed at the weapon.

"That's… that's Vendetta… how the hell did Rodin get Vendetta!?"

Sol looked back at some of the weapons he glossed over before. "Basic Devil arms, Angel Arms…Longinus? I don't recognize that one, but I thought that sword was only on Dumary Island. Oh I gotta think about this one, man. I have got to think about this one."

"Uh… I can't remember what Vendetta is? Something from one of the earlier DMC?" Alex raised his hand like he was in school, trying to see what Sol was seeing.

"One of the two swords Dante could find in DMC2, something about being made from a fragment of the grim reaper's scythe. I have no doubt in my mind that I'll need at least some straight up physical enhancement to even lift that thing. What else does he have here?" Sol asked, more to himself than to anyone else.

"Looks like he has… a lot. Is that an AK-47?" Alex pointed at the guns behind the counter, careful of not touching anything.

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

It took Rodin an hour or so, but he was soon back with a wrapped bundle of black cloth.

"It has been a while since I worked on something so basic. But it's nice to return to basics every now and then. You look like the type to like this kind of thing, so here. For Five Thousand, it's yours."

The black bundle of cloth fell apart, to reveal…

An umbrella.

Alex looked at it for a moment, before looking up at Rodin, puzzled. "I'm assuming it's full of tricks?" His question was mostly rhetorical, thanks to the fact that he knew some from his games. Still, an explanation would be welcomed.

"Yeah. Can be used to channel magic, of course. The cloth is reinforced and can be used as a barrier. Finally, open it." At his gesture, Alex took the umbrella and opened it, only to see it had a smooth wooden handle.

"If you grab the end of the handle and twist counterclockwise…" A click echoed in the air, before a slim, almost delicate, sword slid off the sheat.

"Will never dull or chip. So, kid, you want it?" He was smirking at the duo.

A moment later, the weapon in Alex's hands thrummed with power, and something that felt a lot like someone brushing against his conscience. He gasped. "This is… a Devil Arm? A genuine one?" Eyes wide behind his glasses, he turned towards the fallen angel, not really believing it. Rodin just nodded, smirking.

Alex couldn't pay fast enough.

While he was twirling the umbrella in his hands, he decided it was worth a shot. "Just a question: does it have a name?"

The question was more than just what it looked like: where they were in, having a name meant… a lot.

"Yeah. Calcabrina." Rodin smiled at Alex, who blinked and looked at the weapon - Calcabrina - with awe…

"You know, I joked earlier about Madam Aranea being an evil clone of Mary Poppins, and I know, sacred name, but still, that's one hell of a weapon." Sol said while clapping Alex on the shoulder.

He then looked to Rodin. "Okay, three, no four questions sir. Can you do anything with this axe?" Sol began while laying the axe on the bar. "Can the statue of time and space be bribed, because we've been seeing a cheaper alternative to physical enhancements with a prefix of "L" next to it."

Sol lowered two of his finger's before continuing. "How much physical enhancement do I need to wield that," he said pointing to Vendetta "and how did you get Vendetta? I heard a few legends about the blade, but I thought it was on Dumary island."

"The Watcher of Time cannot be bribed. He does what he does because he wants to do it. There's no power anywhere near here that can alter his will." Rodin answered, suddenly serious, before calming down after a moment.

"The axe is a mundane axe, simply enchanted. I can do something with it, but it's not going to do much to it. The basic materials are just… meh." He shrugged, before continuing. "Vendetta got into my arms when a fat Italian man sold it to me to pay for the debt of another demon hunter. As for wielding it… At a basic level, you would need to be a bit stronger than what you are now."

After concluding, he took the sword down from its position. "Go on, try to lift it."

"Alright." Sol said before moving over to the wall. He gripped the handle of the large weapon and tried to lift it off the rack. The blade did lift somewhat, but Sol wound up dropping it back down and stumbling backward. Panting heavily, Sol stated, "Damn! you weren't kidding when you said I needed to get stronger… I think I'll go with something else… something below or at 5,000 Red Orbs."

"You mentioned Dumary Island earlier, didn't ya? Take a look at the basic arms. One might catch your eye." Rodin said with an amused chuckle.

Sol did so and noticed a series of simple weapons. He was familiar with Bloody Mari dagger, but the other three. "Scythe from the hell pride right? Not really my style."

There was an axe that looked like it had a misshapen wooden grip. "Scarecrow axe?" To which Rodin nodded.

"You've got good eyes."

"Thanks." Sol, responded before looking at the final one. It was a one handed sword, bloodstains were evident on it and before Sol could say anything, Rodin spoke.

"It's a finis sword. Rank and file demons made from prisoners use them alot. Heh, I had a bunch sold to me a few years ago by an old client. Some corporate bigwig raised a whole mess of 'em and the previous owner of the sword you tried to lift, destroyed most of them."

"How much?" Sol asked.

"1,000 Red Orbs." Rodin responded with a smile.

Sol took the blade off the rack and laid it on the table "And bought."

Alex bowed at Rodin, his new Devil Arm on his shoulder. "Thank you. I don't know how it would have gone without this." He was smiling.

Rodin nodded, before blinking. "Ah, right. Wait a mo'." Uncaring of how the two had reacted, he dug under the counter for a moment, before taking out a box. From the inside, he recovered two leather bands.

"Here. A portable inventory. You can keep your weapons inside when you aren't using them, which will come handy for later, if you survive. Consider it on the house."

So, he had just given them what amounted to a spatial bubble with free access as a freebie. One couldn't say that Rodin didn't know how to get repeated clients.

"You, sir, have just ensured yourself repeat customers, and I promise you, I'll come back to buy that sword… and maybe a drink or two." Sol said with a grin.

As the two left and reality returned to the hallway, Sol looked to Alex and stated "You use the statue first. I want to get a good idea of what swinging this sword is like. I want to know the differences, you know?"

"Comprehensible. Using a sword is… wait a moment. You can buy techniques from the statue. Weapon ones, too. I wonder if I can get a discount for this beauty here." Alex grinned as he took out Calcabrina in a shower of sparks, twirling it around, before storing it away again.

During all of that, he was smiling like a loon. "Let's be honest: we hit the jackpot."

Sol smiled, responding with "Damn straight we have," before moving back into the lobby. Kicking aside some broken furniture, he unsheathed the finis sword and began to swing. It was weighty but it didn't feel too heavy. Experimentally he stepped forward and thrust the blade before an invisible enemy, when an idea hit.

"Alex brought up buying techniques… that genius, Haha! I do have a sword… might as well try for Stinger."

After that, Alex moved towards the statue and tapped it.

"Default screen as always." He scowled, before waving them away and turning towards the Watcher of Time. He bowed, deeply.

"Thank you for your guidance and protection." Without saying anything more, he went straight to the enhancement page and bought the Basic Enhancement (Physical), staying well away from those marked with a (L).

After that, he got out of the statue. And he felt something strange.

Mostly a sudden flash of pain, as his sight became distorted, at least until he removed his glasses. "Damn, I guess I don't need these anymore…" Storing the eye wear in his inventory, he stopped, noticing another detail.

"...Why are my clothes hanging like a tent?" He looked down and saw that, if the belt wasn't there, he would currently be naked from the waist down. Luckily for him, that only lasted a moment, as the clothes resized themselves to be his size once more.

"Whoa. I'm fit." He patted his stomach, flat for the first time in his life. Then, he checked himself over: no more fat, a little skinny, but clearly with lean muscles instead of just skin and bone. "...I kinda like it."

There was some commotion in the hallway ahead before Sol's head leaned into view. Shortly after he began to walk down the hallway, a sheepish look on his face. "I can see now why Dante may or may not have to pay massive amounts in property damage. We uh, really trashed the lobby. Anyway, looking way better than before man, I'm guessing you bought the good version of physical enhancement?"

Alex nodded, before taking a short jump and seeing how different it was from before. A lot.

"Best thing I bought, after Magic. Are you going to buy it, too?" He asked his friend, while moving away from the statue and taking his place as guard.

"Yeah, figured it'd help start evening the playing field, you know?" Sol stated before touching the statue.

Looking at its representation Sol selected Personal Enhancement. The menu opened and he made a concerted point to avoid the L enhancements. Selecting the more expensive version, he watched the counter of red orbs drop from 9000 to 4000 and felt… better, much better. But he could look at the differences later.

He swapped menus and took a second Blue Orb for 1500 Red Orbs, that better feeling only increased. He swapped the menu again to abilities and saw…

"Stinger is here… okay, this is good. We can work with this." He said before purchasing the option. Something seemed to click in his mind.

"1,000 red orbs left… anything else?" He asked himself before remembering something.

"Alex did ask if I bought armor before… Might as well check the price."

The armor option, under Care Package D, was for 600 red orbs. Sol bought the option out right. He felt his clothes shift and change before a visor partially obscured his sight.

"Ah! Oh! Haha, yeah should have seen that one coming. Alright, that leaves me with 400 left over. Til next time!" Sol said before reality swapped back into place.

There is a clanking noise as Sol reappears wearing what is effectively a simple set of fluted steel armor. "Looks like I'll be taking a lot more hits in the future." He said while lifting up the visor.

Alex snorted, Calcabrina on his shoulder and all of his teeth showing. "You look good. You also look a bit taller than before, you know? Someone didn't eat his greens growing up?" He ribbed playfully, pointing out that Sol seemed to have gained an inch of height.

Right after that, however, he calmed down.

"Nothing happened in the big room. And no one appeared, either. The palace is dead empty, emphasis on dead." He gestured with his hand towards the half-open door. "The closed door is still closed and won't open. That way seems to be the only way forward… Unless we want to try and break a window or something."

"I mean, I tried to get a window open the normal way. So why not? They shouldn't be too difficult to break. Sol said before walking into the lobby and looking around until his eyes caught an innocent looking window that overlooked the front courtyard.

"Okay, I'm going to try something new so let's see how this works." Sol said before readying his sword and… zooming forward. He flew through the window and tumbled out onto the courtyard. From the ground, he spoke.

"Okay, I think I underestimated the range and speed of Stinger."

Alex's head popped out from the window, a sardonic look on his face. "Ya think?"

After that, he calmly passed through the broken window without jumping and without touching any of the broken glass. The situation was already dangerous enough without the risk of a cut.

"So, where do you think we are?" He looked around, but he couldn't really see anything of note. It was a courtyard with a tall, metal gate on the other side of the door that led into the building. A few trees, a few bushes, nothing more. "This place looks… dead. Of people."

But no bloodstains anywhere, so there had been no fight. "Wonder where the others have gone…"

"Probably deeper down..or up? Well, further in." Sol said, sitting up. "I figure that's our route too. Now we just need to find the next entrance."

"Well, there's a gate right there. Maybe we can go through the streets, instead of the sewers? Metaphorically speaking, I mean." Alex took a few steps forward, before stopping to listen.

"Hey, can you hear that?"

"Hmmm, what is it?" Sol, note a caution ringing his voice.

"Nothing. There's no sound in the air. Zilch. No demon, no animal, no person. It's completely silent." Alex pointed, before he stood there, silent, to let him notice it as well. The silence in the air was so encompassing that it was making them hear the sound of their own blood in their ears.

"Then we take it nice and slow, keep our eyes sharp, and maybe find a sewer or subway? Something that will go downwards." Sol said before continuing. "Considering this may or may not be stitched together memories of a physical place, I guess animals and other noises wouldn't really exist here."

"Well, if that theory is true, wouldn't the place still have sounds? How many memories do you have that are completely without sound?" Alex pointed out, before finally reaching the gate and pushing it. Closed.

"And the gate's closed, obviously. We'll have to blast it open." Calcabrina was in his hands a moment later, before he took a few steps back. Then, a sphere of energy started collecting on the metal tip of the umbrella, growing bigger than he had ever managed before.

"Let's see if you can take this." Showing his teeth in a mockery of a smile, Alex shot the charged bullet at the gate. The subsequent explosion raised a cloud of dust that obscured in front of them and also echoed in the still air like a bomb.

"Whoops."

"No kidding." Sol said, trying to fan away the dust. "Looks like Calcabrina can pack one hell of a punch. How are you feeling? Any strain on your end?" Sol asked as the dust settled.

"Nah, not really. Devil Arms are really something else, uh?" Alex still smiled at thinking that he had a Devil Arm all of his own. "You know, the next boss we meet, you MUST get something done for yourself. Beyond Vendetta, I mean."

The dust settled and they could see what had happened: the gate had bent and twisted, the explosion not enough to break it apart, but just enough to almost destroy it. Alex took a step to the side, leaving space to Sol.

"Want to do the honors?"

"All right." Sol said, before getting into stance, pausing, moving back several paces, and letting loose another stinger. The thrust sent him forward enough to smash the gate fully open and continue for a few more feet. This time Sol did not stumble or fall, merely getting out of the pose and looking around.

"Okay you're definitely right about something other than Vendetta. I'm really starting like this sword. Maybe it'd be good material for something else down the line?"

Past the gate was a small road which led to a series of interconnected streets. They weren't in the best condition as signs of battle were evident between bullet holes, slash marks, and what appeared to be burn damage, possibly from an electrical or flame based source.

"Okay, it seems we're getting more and more into civilization than before. How long til the demons make their grand re-entrance?" Sol asked quietly.

"Well, if I had to hazard a guess…. Now." From a series of portals, several Scarecrows jumped out, their weapons raised and strangely gleaming under the light of the… sun? Well, it was a source of light and was up above them, so it was the sun.

"Joy, we have passed from the Marionettes to the Scarecrows." Alex deadpanned, before giving his back to Sol. "I'll guard your back, you guard mine."

"Right!" Sol said as he drew his sword and pistol. As one scarecrow lumbered into view, Sol prepared himself. The moment he felt it get into range, he loosed a Stinger. Running the demon through, he pulled the sword out and swung it down, the demonic blade cutting far deeper than the hand-axe would have. There was a spray black writhing mist as the demon deflated, upon which Sol turned and fired at the horde of scarecrows.

"Alright guys, look this way. That's it, pay no attention to the sorcerer with the magic cannon." Sol said, trying to draw their attention.

He definitely had their attention. Of those in front of him, anyway. The ones that approached from behind him, however, were met with a smiling Alex.

"Hello and welcome to my pop-up restaurant. Let me serve you the entree." Calcabrina was pointed at him, his smile showing all of his teeth from above the closed umbrella. "We're now serving: boom." A sphere of magic started charging on top of the tip and shot before the scarecrow could amble near enough, sending them backwards.

"Let me serve you the next dish!" A series of bullets started raining on the monsters, only to stop a moment later, as Alex had to stop to breathe. Devil Arms were awesome, but they used far more magic than what he was used to. Still, it only lasted a moment to recover and focus again.

Sol saw the magical chaos briefly as he stabbed another scarecrow. Dragging the blade out as quickly as possible, he performed an air hike and plunged the blade down, impaling another scarecrow, before being forced to dodge as a scarecrow blade came at him. The blade slid off the rim of his helmet, but the force forced him to roll. Sol managed to fire from his downed position, stunning the scarecrow briefly before it was destroyed in a hail of bullets and slashes.

"Oh yeah, this armor is definitely working." Sol said while getting up.

"Don't get overconfident!" Alex's voice spiked at the end of the word, as he had to juke to the side and open Calcabrina at the last moment, the blades of the two scarecrows sliding over the reinforced cloth.

Still, they didn't stop their assault, which made Alex grit his teeth and take a step back, buying himself a moment of reprieve, more than enough to slide the sword out of the sheath and start charging a bullet at the tip of the sword.

"Eat this!" With a flourish that even he couldn't explain where it had come from, he swiped the open umbrella to the side, making the Scarecrows lose their balance for a moment, and shot the exploding bullet at them, sending them flying backwards in a shower of scraps.

"And that ends that. Either we're getting better, these guys were easier than we thought, or both." Sol said as he began to collect his orbs. "Nice move with that magic shot, got a feeling that might be good to keep crowds at bay."

"It almost wiped me out, sadly." Alex lamented, panting heavily, before straightening up once again and starting to recover the orbs that belonged to him. "I'm going to take the Mystical Enhancement next. Also, is it me or did these Scarecrows drop more Red Orbs?"

Between the two, they had gained something like two thousand Red Orbs, although Sol had gained a bit more than half.

"I just got seven hundred Orbs. From a single encounter. It seems… I dunno, we were struggling to fight a single Marionette less than…" He stopped mid sentence and turned towards Sol.

"How much time has passed since we woke up here?"

Sol is silent for a few moments before speaking again. "Can't be minutes… hours maybe." there's a tone of worry in his voice as he continues, looking around while he does. "It can't be a day yet, can it? Ah, this… I wish we had real light to see, maybe that could give us an idea?" He asks before spotting a clock in a broken window display. Approaching it, Sol leans forward and then backpedals. The hands of the clock are moving in opposite directions. Not fast, but against the understanding of time.
"They… the clock hands, they're moving opposite to each other. What the hell is this place?" Sol asked Alex, horror evident in his tone.

Alex simply stopped in front of the broken window, looking at the clock. Then, without a single hint of his intentions, he slammed the tip of Calcabrina against the glass, shattering it completely and starting to enter from it.

"I don't know. But I'm sure that it's the work of a demon. A smart one, really. To summon people and give them power, only to let them roam free to fight other demons? Doesn't make any sense. So, there must be something more in it." The inside of the shop was… dark. Empty. Dusty.

It looked like it had been abandoned as soon as it had been completed. "Something's not right with this city. Beyond the demonic whatever is happening."

It's not that Alex wasn't feeling horror, fear, and panic at whatever was happening there. It's just that he was pretty good at hiding it.

"It's almost like a scene from a memory… we just, just have to keep moving." Sol states before walking completely into the store. There isn't much he finds, save for a few brochures of sights around 'Redgrave City, United Kingdom'.

"Huh, so we're in Britain then? Well what is here?" Sol asks aloud before flipping through the pamphlet. Reading through, Sol begins to speak. "So, we're currently in or at Pawn Avenue, and we left the Il Chiaro Mondo Hotel, at least I think we did. The front courtyard is similar but I think the damage that we caused may have made it difficult to see the finer details. Now, some of the pages are gone, but one thing that crops up is a place called Burrow Market." Sol turns the pamphlet over to show Alex. "Maybe worth a shot?"

"Considering I have no idea where to go otherwise, I'm trusting you. It's not like I have another idea, really. Before we go, however…" Alex unsheathed the sword from his weapon and slashed the register in half.

It failed to explode in a shower of Red Orbs. "Darn. I hoped it would work."

Seeing a guy like Alex pout was a bit surreal. On the other hand, their current situation was as surreal as it could be, so that said very little about the situation.

"Well, it was worth a shot. If you want something from this… Oh, hey, it's a jeweler shop. I kinda want to rob it? I like jewels. Anyway, if you want anything, you're free to have the first pick. I'm going to go and check the rings."

"Go right ahead, I'm going to check the register for anything cash related. Might as well get something out of this… You think Rodin sells drinks based on red orbs or legal tender?" Sol asks before pulling a few bills from the busted machine.

"Because that could go very well towards a victory drink." He finishes before pocketing the bills, showing the register over the counter and unfolding the pamphlet to its map section. He shifts position occasionally, looking the square outside for map orientation reference before nodding to himself and planning a route.

"Dunno. Probably?" Alex shrugged, before finding a couple of rings he liked: one was shaped like a snake that was biting his own tail, the other was a full on claw ring that covered the entirety of his right middle finger, made of silver and with a gem at knuckles' height.

"Well, I'm mostly done. I'll just…" And he broke a few more glass cases, grabbing as many jewels as he could and sending them to the extra-dimensional space that he got from Rodin. "I'm going to sell them once we're back. We'll split the loot."

After that, he calmed down his trembling hand and wiped his eyes. The 'robbing the place' spectacle had gone on long enough that he had managed to swallow the painful bolo of air and hopelessness in his throat.

"Do we have any water? And did you find the path towards the Market?"

Sol is quiet for a moment before cursing to himself. He continued, "No on the water, I think I was enjoying the energy high too much to remember. As for a route, we go straight on Hoight Street up from Pawn Avenue for three blocks. Take a right into and through Pawn Street Mall, follow that to its other end and then it's a straight shot to Burrow. What do you think?"

Alex nodded, before pointing to the back of the store. "I'm gonna check if there is a bedroom or a storeroom. You never know, maybe there is a challenge room or something in here." He shrugged, before opening the door to the back - it wasn't closed - and strode in.

A moment of silence passed, before a winning shout came from the inside. "Called it! On both counts!"

"Ah well I hope there isn't a body this time!" Sol shouts back before walking in after Alex. He noted that there was a door called STOREROOM and another weird looking door. "Guess that's the challenge room. Alex?" He called out.

Alex got out from the strange room a moment later, face still dripping with water. "No, this is the bathroom. The challenge room is behind that shelf." He pointed at the one that rested at an angle against the corner. "There's the portal on the wall, you just can't see it from this position. Go and drink something, that armor must be sweltering. I'll wait for you here."

Alex gently pushed Sol towards the bathroom, leaning against the wall without saying much more.

"Yeah, okay. Kinda feel like an idiot for not seeing that earlier." Sol said before taking off his helmet and taking a drink.

"Ah… people can claim alcohol all they want, but nothing beats a cool draft of water. He looks at his reflection in the mirror, specifically the bandage around his brow before reaching up and removing. The wound is gone, without a mark to show it was there.

"Okay, so Blue Orbs are amazing. Good to know." He said to himself before putting on his helmet.

"Alright, let's see what's behind secret door number 2." He said to Alex as he came back.

Alex smirked at him, before following him behind the slightly askew shelf. And the scribbles on the wall changed to form a portal into… somewhere else.

The multi-color light whisked them away, only for them to find themselves atop an unstable platform. Beyond five more platforms, there was something that shed blue light all around.

"Ok, so. Not touching the ground, I'm assuming." Alex said, before looking at the platforms. "These look pretty unstable. You should go, I'll cover you from behind in case some demons start appearing around the place." He mimed cocking a shotgun with his umbrella. umbrella which, to be fair, was way more dangerous than a shotgun.

"Sure thing, Air Hike don't fail me now." Sol said before jumping to another platform.

When he landed, nothing happened. Looking back to Alex, he shouted, "Anything?"

"Not that I can see!" He shouted back, making Sol notice that he didn't have his glasses on anymore. "There is nothing coming from the ceiling, nothing from the walls and nothing from the floor. But be careful, it looks like the next platform is slightly more distant than the previous one!"

"Alright!" Sol responds before jumping to the next platform. Again, nothing happened.

"Okay, let's try the next one." Sol said before jumping over. However, this time the platform began to violently shake forcing him to jump a second time. The final platform started shaking even more violently.

"Shit, shit!" Sol shouted before jumping for the blue light. As he did, he realized he wouldn't make it. "Stinger!" he shouted, forcing himself forward and into the light. There was a moment of stillness before the back room reappeared around the two.
"What was… that was… ohhh… I did not like that. What is this anyway?" Sol asked between breaths.

"Puzzle room?" Alex 'answered', before pointing at where the portal once was. "All the same, you got a prize." In fact, another piece of a blue orb hovered there, just waiting for Sol to collect it.

"So that makes one half, huh. Makes you wonder right, what'd happen if the others tried this?" Sol left the question hanging before continuing. "No point in asking that question now. Off the Hoight Street." He said, pocketing the orb fragment and walking out of the store.

"Yeah, better shake a leg." Alex followed Sol out of the room - and out of the building itself - only to find out that things had… changed. A little.

Specifically, the street that had been pristine, mostly, was now covered in corpses.

"What…" Alex was speechless, his face rather green, as he beholden what was in front of him: corpses that had been gored or ripped apart, some had been crushed, reduced to a pulp, while one had the entire chest completely caved in.

"The fuck?" Sol finished before trying to look away. "Where'd all these bodies come from? We weren't gone all that long!" He shouted in terror before frantically looking around the street. But as he looked he noticed something about the bodies.

"Alex, look at the jackets. Look at their jackets! It's the third team!" Sol said.

"Wait, what?!" Alex's eyes moved from his position to the guy with a caved-in chest, only to see that… Sol was right. The clothes, some of the remaining faces…

"How… Who-What could have…" He couldn't even manage to compose a single sentence. Then, a voice was heard from the middle of the corpse mound. Someone was still alive.

"Hang on!" Without waiting, Alex threw himself in the middle of the carnage, moving towards the bigger group of corpses, already moving some.

Sol wasn't far behind, trying to move through the mound and reaching the moving figure just after Alex did.

It was the leader of the sports group. His ruined jacket barely covered a gaping hole in his chest, and it was by the grace of his enhancements that he was still alive at this point.

"What happened to you!?" Sol asked.

"S-ix… people… red eyes… They… killed. Laughing…" His eyes were already glassing over and his words were barely audible. He devolved into incoherent mumbling, the only word that could be recognized was 'sorry' and a series of names.

He died a moment later.

"You think it was the business crowd?" Sol asked quietly, while looking around the street.

Alex was frozen in place, before shaking his head. "He mentioned six people. With red eyes, I think he said. I don't remember anyone like this between the business people." He didn't take a deep breath because he didn't want to breathe in the smell of decaying meat, but he took a couple of steps back.

"Maybe demons that could be mistaken for humans? They did appear in the series a couple of times, didn't they?" He didn't notice this, but he was looking around the street without stopping.

"Yeah, yeah. Like Baal and Moedius, or Trish and Lucia… But why leave the bodies? Wouldn't they want that power? You gotta figure that a high degree of red orbs here right?" Sol asked, still scanning the street, gun now out, trembling in his grip.

"Maybe they have taken the Orbs from their bodies without touching them somewhat? I don't know." Alex didn't shout, but the way his voice was pitched, it was clear that he really wanted to.

"There's an easy way to find out, however." Calcabrina appeared in his hands and he tapped the tip against the corpse near him. At first, nothing happened.

Then, a moment later, it vanished into motes of light and a rather big amount of Red Orbs came out, before being absorbed from Alex.

He was both green and pale. "Five Hundred and fifty three orbs." His voice was trembling and he was trying to gulp down on nothing, the urge to puke rising.

"They didn't even bother taking the orbs." Sol said before tapping his pistol against another body. After they were absorbed, Sol stated, "450 red orbs. Oh god… we… can't… fuck we can't let this all go all to waste… dammit!"

The two began to touch the various bodies, breaking them down into their red orbs. In total each came out with a sickening 50,000 red orbs and more questions than answers.

"I… I guess we can spend all these when we next reach a statue or one of Rodin's gates. I… wish we got their names, they didn't seem like bad people." Sol said sadly.

"They… probably weren't. Probably they were just… kids. Damn, I'm sounding like I'm who knows how old and I'm just thirty-two." Alex shook his head, before turning towards the direction they would need to go.

"That way, right?" He was somber in his delivery.

"Yeah, three, no four blocks up, a right, a walk to the other side and then a straight shot." Sol said shakily.

"Let's… Let's go." Alex started walking, soon joined by Sol. The silence weighed heavily on them, the event that they had just faced incredibly heavy on their mind.

Still, they were powerless to change it.

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

Sadly, the path to Burrow Marketplace was not a straight shot. As soon the two turned the corner from Hoight Street onto the outdoor mall, they ran into a problem. While they could easily enter the mall, the path further on was blocked by a series of deadened Qliphoth roots.

"Well shit, looks like it isn't the straight shot I thought it would have been. We may have to go around." Sol said pensively.

"It's… Yeah, it looks like that. Do you think that we can cut the roots or are they just… Impossible to destroy?" Alex asked, wondering about it. Before Sol could answer, he took out his sword and tried to slash at the 'wood' in front of him.

Without any result whatsoever.

"Yeah, ok. That tracks." Sheathing the sword back, he turned towards his companion and shrugged. "I cannot cut them. And I kinda don't want to try and shoot them, in case they start attacking us."

"Right, best we see if there is another way around. All we have to do is make sure that we keep the potential exit to our right and we should be good." Sol said contemplatively.

Sol looks around the section they're in before remarking. "Man, I would have spent so many days trying different cafes around here… ah dreams for a better day. You ready?" Sol asked.

"And now I'm hungry. Thank you." He falsely complained, before his face twisted into a sight of disgust. "Never mind, I'm not going to get hungry for… a while. After…" He waved his hand towards the road behind them. "You know."

He joined Sol and the two started walking down the street, trying to keep the right direction to their right.

"Do you think we will meet more demons? We only have met that single group of scarecrows."

As soon as he said, a gaggle of scarecrows burst the upper story windows to the street below.

"Goddamn you Murphy and your laws…" Sol groaned out before drawing his sword and gun. "I'll play distraction." Sol said before losing a stinger into the small group of demons.

"Sure." Considering that the impromptu Stinger had taken all four of the Scarecrows, they were all grouped up in front of Sol. Alex started charging the shot and, after a moment, he released it towards them, exploding them up.

It wasn't enough to kill them, but it was enough that several slashes and burns appeared on them.

"They're all yours!" Alex shouted, while charging another bullet, in case one of them managed to escape what Sol was going to do.

"Got it!" Sol shouted before stabbing a scarecrow and using his free hand to hold its blade arm aloft before lining it up with the other three demons.

"Alright, let's see if this works. Stinger!" And so he went rocketing forward catching one demon and sending the other two flying. The two impaled scarecrows dissolved into black mist while the other struggled to stand.

"Take their orbs Alex, we'll never know how much we'll need."

Alex shrugged, before shooting the remaining two. The explosion sent them flying in the air. Once they were there, he started juggling them with several shots, until they disappeared into black mist.

Red Orbs rained down.

Silence.

"Weren't those… a bit too easy to defeat?" Alex asked, looking down at Calcabrina with a puzzled look in his eyes.

"... Yeah, they were, weren't they. I mean they were the fodder enemy in 4, but even then Nero and Dante had to seriously hack them up. Maybe that was just a gameplay thing, and these physical boosts are really worth their weight in orbs. We should get moving, no telling when something legitimately stronger is going to come our way." Sol before looking at the next intersection before calling out, "Looks like we can take a right at this junction."

"I mean, maybe they're just… weaker? It could be that. The Qliphoth could have an effect on them. Or… something." Alex was muttering, not really believing what he was saying. Still, it was his theory.

"Also, another thing about the game: why aren't there any Empusa? I mean, we've seen enemies from the other games, but no demonic ants yet. Doesn't it make you wonder why?"

"Maybe they're all up topside or downside trying their best to get at easy prey? We should keep an eye out for them or really any other enemy from 5. Always got the vibe they were the hardest enemies bar none." Sol said before stopping at the next point.

"So close, yet so densely rooted..?" Sol said gesturing to the mass of roots that blocked the exit. "I can actually see the next street over through the roots. Ah gotta be an open point. Hell, I'm almost willing to just climb over them."

"Aren't those roots moving?" Alex pointed out, aiming his finger at certain spots of the roots that were actually moving and writhing a little, like they were made of flesh instead of plant matter.
"I'm not sure if it's a good idea to climb on them, really." He looked… pretty unsettled by the notion.

Which was fair, really. Considering the fact that it was a human blood drinking tree and the two of them were very much humans.

"You're probably right… Let's find another path." Sol said quickly before looking around, picking a direction and walking. A few moments later, he shouted out, "Found it!"

Alex blinked. "Well, that was fast." He looked at Sol, unsure of the situation. The way the roots were placed, as if the way forward was blocked on purpose was… suspicious.

"Do you think that we are being herded somewhere?"

Sol paused mid step, before sighing and drawing his sword. "I feel like an idiot for not seeing that earlier. Get ready, maybe they'll be some plant demon or something up ahead."

"Like Alraune from Bayonetta 2? Because if it's something like that, I'm not sure we are good enough to defeat her." Alex appeared worried, but he still walked forward with Sol. "Are there any other plant demons in the series?"

"Well there was Echidna, but she was more of a snake plant hybrid, uh… wasn't there that parasite demon from 5? The really, really stupid one? I'm going to kick myself if we get herded by that guy." Sol said with a grimace.

"Fuck off, bitchboy!" A voice came from behind them. When they turned, they noticed that they were in a small plaza surrounded by tall buildings, buildings which were perforated with the roots of the demonic tree. From one of them, a creature that resembled a humanoid only by chance came out, like a red, wriggling, giant worm.

Alex gulped and took a step back in disgust.

Nidhogg, Parasitic Fiend​

"Oh, fuck me." Alex swore, paying attention at the place. The three heads of the roots that appeared in the game had appeared here, too, but they were positioned in a different way: one behind them, one to their left and one to their right, with the main body in front of them.

"No, fuck this guy. We got tricked by this!" Sol shouted angrily.

"What is, this!?" The demon questioned angrily.

"You! Here's what'll happen! First, we'll kick your ass, then I'll kick my own ass for not realizing your game sooner!" Sol shouted.

"What GAME!" Nidhogg roared.

Sol stopped before looking at Alex, "He really is an idiot isn't he?"

Alex looked at Sol, then at Nidhogg. Then at Sol again. "Look, could you… I don't know, NOT sink to his level? I mean, with him here the bar is already in Hell - pun intended - you don't need to start Limbo dancing with the devil." He delivered his own opinion with a deadpan tone of voice.

Nidhogg bristled at that. "Are you calling me STUPID?!" His shout made all the roots around tremble in reflected rage. Alex looked at him, genuinely surprised.

"I… thought it was obvious? Yes, we are."

"GRRRAAHHHH, I'm Going to Kill YOU!!!" Nidhogg roared before sending his three tendrils at the two.

 

[Idiot444]

Nidhogg bristled at that. "Are you calling me STUPID?!" His shout made all the roots around tremble in reflected rage. Alex looked at him, genuinely surprised.

"I… thought it was obvious? Yes, we are."

"GRRRAAHHHH, I'm Going to Kill YOU!!!" Nidhogg roared before sending his three tendrils at the two.

Click to shrink...

Clearly their singular functioning braincell was trying to figure out if they were talking to each other or to him.

Awfully rude of them to be abusing their lack of an intellectual disability to be making fun of the mentally challenged...

 

[Atma]

Clearly their singular functioning braincell was trying to figure out if they were talking to each other or to him.

Awfully rude of them to be abusing their lack of an intellectual disability to be making fun of the mentally challenged...

Click to shrink...

I mean... It's not like Sol isn't going to suggest some equally stupid down the line.

 

[InZodwetrust]

Nidhogg, Parasitic Fiend

Click to shrink...

Spoiler: Nidhogg

 

[Atma]

Spoiler: Boiler Poppet: Infernal Janitor

This demon is a more enhanced version of the Fetish, which in it of itself, is a variant of the Marionette type demons. Clad in Blue Overalls, the Boiler Poppet wields two large flaming blades, and its body is covered in several open vents. These vents emit gouts of flame.

Suggested Listening -- Firewater

Spoiler: Madam Aranea: Devilish Matron

This highly evolved version of the Marionette Demon resides in a zone called 'Girls Academy for High Class Ladies', where she rules with a steel fist and steelier rules. Whoever breaks one of her rules, will soon turn from 'student' to 'lunch'.

Suggested Listening -- A More classical variant of Red-Hot Juice

Spoiler: Nidhogg: Parasitic Fiend

A fully grown variant of a demonic parasite that commonly infests the Qliphoth. While these demons are vicious, they are particularly stupid and can be easily overcome with enough planning and wit.

Suggested Listening -- Splitting Fool (DMC 5)

Spoiler: Archaic Steed: Deep Geryon

A particularly ancient example of the rare Geryon race of demons. This demon utilizes its control over time to overcome the limitations of its aging and weakened body. Despite its bestial nature, this demon has a shocking degree of intelligence and cunning.

Suggested Listening -- Executioner's Chariot (Dark Souls 2: Scholar of the First Sin)

 

[Pajokk]

Cool thank both of you for the pictures

 

[InZodwetrust]

As they are not limited to game mechanics, they don't need to buy everything. Mastering stinger can enable Sol (the fighter MC?) to learn normal high speed movement, mastery of air hike can also enable him to learn mana platforms (just like shinigami in Bleach). Alex (the wizard MC?) can also study the magic circle created by air hike to reverse engineer it.

 

[Bardche]

As they are not limited to game mechanics, they don't need to buy everything. Mastering stinger can enable Sol (the fighter MC?) to learn normal high speed movement, mastery of air hike can also enable him to learn mana platforms (just like shinigami in Bleach). Alex (the wizard MC?) can also study the magic circle created by air hike to reverse engineer it.

Click to shrink...

normally i would think the same, but to do it they would need time what they dont have in the moment, unless they are super genius prodigies (nothing that happen till now suggest it)

 

[Atma]

Bit of an addendum to the Greater Demon Codex. I have added in Suggested listening for each boss encounter. Now the Boiler Poppet theme that we're using was chosen both due to the instrumentation and how the lyrics can be... viewed.

 

[Atma]

Sol dodged the attack and shouted over to Alex. "I'll take one tendril, you take another, we'll deal with the last one aft-!" He was cut off as he dodged another strike, and cut at the offending limb.

The sword managed to make a deep, but not completely destructive, cut on the tendril before it moved out from his range.
Another tendril shot towards Sol, only for Alex to put himself between the two and block the attack with Calcabrina.

"I'll play defense, you go and attack. Tell me if you want to switch. So, don't worry about attacks from behind." Alex stated.

"Got it!" Sol shouted before moving around Alex's guard and stabbing into the tendril and dragging his blade around the circumference of its body. The main body retracted back, but not before the head at the end hung limply, like a broken blade of grass.

"Okay, that's one slightly down." Sol said before drawing his firing at the main mass of Nidhogg itself.

"Gah! It Stings! DIE!" The parasitic demon shouted before throwing one of two tendrils at him.

Sol dodged quickly before muttering under his breath. "Okay, bullets are only annoyances to greater demons unless you're Dante, gotta remember that."

Alex nodded, before deflecting one strike with his blade - and a charged bullet - and the other with a quick cast barrier around the umbrella. Sure, the barrier shattered, but they were not wounded, which was the important part.

"You know… You are kinda wimpy. I mean, you are all the way up there, we are down here. What, you scared of facing us directly?" Alex asked, casually, towards Nidhogg. The way he had phrased the taunt was more than enough.

"GraaaaaahhH!!!" The main body descended on the duo, the two spikes at the end of his arms gleaming in the light.

Sol began to fire rapidly at the demon, drawing its attention.

"Stinging, Again!!!" Nidhogg shouted.

"Yeah, what are you going to do about it!?" Sol shouted back, before he realized Nidhogg was rearing up and began to arc down.

"Move!" Sol shouted to Alex as he dodged the oncoming rush. Alex listened to him and jumped to the side, Nidhogg landing between the two and starting to wave the two blades like a madman, left and right, without a care if he hit something or not.

"Man, touchy touchy." Alex muttered, already opening Calcabrina and defending from the attack.

As Nidhogg continued attacking, it moved past the two smashing into a wall. Retracting and shaking the rubble off itself, it could be heard yelling, "Where did they go!?"

Sol paused, looked at Alex, and asked quietly, "Did… did he just ask what I think he asked?"

Alex looked pained, his face appearing from above the black rim of his umbrella. "Just… End his suffering. Living without a brain must be too painful. So, aim for the heart, as I'm pretty sure that his head's empty." Even his voice sounded like he was in pain.

"Sure thing, but goddamn, this guy is stupid." Sol replied before raising his sword and letting loose a Stinger directly at the center of Nidhogg's back. The sword pierced cleanly through maggoty flesh and Nidhogg howled before slumping forward. For a brief moment, Sol almost thought it might have been a ploy, but past experience proved otherwise. He still hacked off an arm just to be sure.

The demon remained still, and its orange-yellow skin lost its color before breaking down into a mass of red orbs.

"You uh, remember what I said about taking a bath earlier? I think I want a chemical bath after touching that… thing. Very slimy." Sol said, disgust plain in his voice.

"Now though, I gotta kick my own ass for not seeing that for what it was." Sol continued, before sharply performing a butt-kick on himself. "I was an idiot, but I'm true to my word on that matter."

"Yeah, I think… I think this day has been long enough. I don't have a watch or my phone, but I'm pretty sure that it's been more than twelve hours. Maybe more." Alex closed Calcabrina and stored it away, before nodding at the arm. "Take that, maybe Rodin can do something about it. We have an Inventory, the least we can do is use it."

After that, Alex looked around, until he noticed a heavy double door that was half open from the roots.

"Let's go and… take a shower. Maybe eat something. Sleep. I'm starting to get tired and we cannot allow for any kind of error. I mean, things are going well, no major wounds yet, but you never know." He shrugged, before starting to walk towards the apartment building. "Come on, you almost solo'd a boss. You need a bit of celebration and what best way to celebrate in a hellscape if not going for a bit of break in and robbery?"

Alex smiled above his shoulder, before continuing to walk, without even putting into doubt that Sol was going to follow.

Bonds made in the adversity were some of the stronger ones.

"Hahahaha." Sol laughed. "A few hours ago I'd never even considered it. But now? Hell yeah!" Sol said before grabbing a brick and chucking it into a window.

"Only time we may ever do this, so let's enjoy the surprise discount of 100% off."

Alex looked at Sol, before looking at the window, and shrugged. "Eh, the door was opened, but I know the feeling of wanting to take a brick and open a window." He pushed the umbrella against the remains of the glass and removed the shards. He didn't want either of them to get cut, after all.

"Now, let's find something to eat. If the whole place is like that store, there should be something. Hopefully not spoiled, but let's check, to be sure." Alex climbed up the stairs until he found the first door. It was closed.

"Ah, a closed door. Lucky me that I have brought my passepartout." And he shot a magic bullet at the lock.

"Ta-dà! Open Sesame." He strode in, leaving the smoking hole in the door behind.

As Sol walked and looked around before beginning to sing quietly. "Oh what we got is a blue light special on truth! It's the hottest with the youth! We've got nerves we need to soothe… Ah… Yeah we're definitely going to find something here."

The door opened to an apartment that was in remarkably good condition. As Sol took off his helmet and placed it on the table he looked around. "Nothing seems moved… it's like the people never left." His eyes caught the sight of a silvery silhouette and he smirked. "Found the fridge, let's see if we're lucky or not."

Opening the fridge, Sol found it to be fairly stocked with various foods, vegetables, and drinks. His eyes looked at a cartoon milk that sat innocently on the top rack. "Alright nose, moment of truth," He thought as unscrewed the top and smelled the contents. It was… good, no stench of going sour present in the slightest. Just fresh milk. He screwed the cap back on and checked the expiration date. There was none, just lines and slashes denoting where one should have been. "Right, weird demon time logic going on here. Still have to remember that." He thought before calling out to Alex, "seems the contents of the refrigerator are good, did you find anything?"

Alex was rummaging through the cabinets and the various drawers. "Found cutlery. And potatoes, plus various snacks. All without an expiration date, all still good. Also, check this." He lobbed a potato at Sol. "Tell me if you see anything strange on it."

He didn't even wait for an answer, he just went and tried the oven. "This works."

Sol looked at the potato, almost considered cutting it open with his sword to check but swiftly reconsidered. He had no idea where Nidhogg had been. However, he realized that the potato was fresh. Setting it down, he checked back into the fridge and found a carton of eggs which he pulled out and searched for a bowl.

"That potato was fresh, so was the milk, and then so by comparison…" He trailed, finding a small measuring cup in a cupboard and cracking an egg into it. The yolk came out cleanly.

"The rest of the food…" he looked at Alex, before continuing. "We'll apologize to the owners later, but I figure we just have at the place?"

"Yes. Also…" Alex took out the bag of potatoes and let them roll out on the counter. All of them were exactly the same. "We definitely aren't in Kansas, Toto. Still, they are a nice size. And we have olive oil and there's an orange. We can roast potatoes." He shrugged, before checking the rest of the kitchen.

"The oven works and there's a dishwasher. If there's any meat in there, we can roast it with the potatoes. Also, see if there's anything green. I think I can improvise some veggie snacks. Oh, they have pasta. Shitty pasta." Alex twisted his nose at the box of pasta.

"Barilla. Bah, it's serviceable." There was a clattering of pots and pans before Alex took out a big pot and started filling it with water from the sink. "There are knives in the first drawer there. You take care of the meat and potatoes, I try to throw a sauce for the pasta together? Hopefully, they have something like tomato preserves or pesto…"

"I can make eggs easily. Scrambled, fried, or sunny-side. If we find anything that you're not using, I'll fix it in with the eggs, do like a blend, and pack up the rest I guess. Better than paying Red Orbs for what is probably the most basic of food." Sol said.

"Eh, true. Oh, see if there is any bacon. I think I can improvise a Carbonara. And no, there's no Cream, of any kind, in it. Only eggs, black pepper, and bacon." Alex preempted any kind of question before they even started.

"You'll eat it right and you'll like it." And that was that, for him.

"Cream? Why would anyone put cream into an egg mixture? I can understand adding milk to make scrambled eggs fluffier, but cream?" Sol feigned a look of disgust. "Black pepper is a must though."

"Look, I only know some horror stories I've heard about the USA, so don't ask me." Alex waved his hands in a sort of denial, before taking out bowls and other tools. "Peel the potatoes and cut them around a thumb wide. I'll take care of cooking pasta." taking the filled pot away from the sink and on the stove, he threw a bit of salt in it, before raising the flame to high and covering the pot with a lid.

"Now, the eggs… And to cook the bacon, but that comes later…" Alex put the skillet on another burner, while also dicing the bacon. Before tossing everything in the skillet, however, he turned on the oven, around 220° Celsius - luckily the whole thing wasn't in Fahrenheit or he wouldn't have the foggiest idea - and put a baking tray with high edges on the counter. He then poured some olive oil, enough to cover the bottom, in.

"Ok, once the potatoes are cut, feel free to throw them inside. The meat can be put after, no problem."

"Sure," Sol said before getting to work. It was a relatively quick job for Sol to peel the potatoes. Cutting them took a bit longer, but once they were done, he used the flat edge of the knife to slide the cut pieces into the skillet.

"Okay, that's done, outside of the bacon, anything else?" Sol asked.

"Marinade. Well, basically we need to add what my mom called 'odors' to the meat. Rub some salt, a bit of pepper grains and… see if there's any rosemary, be it fresh or ground in the spice rack. Add a little to the meat and a light dusting on the potatoes. Mix the potatoes before tossing the meat in." Alex instructed while beating the eggs with a pinch of salt.

After checking and then starting to beat them again when they didn't pass his test, he continued. "Put the meat in the baking tray, not on the potatoes, be sure that it's touching the metal. After that, take the orange, wash it carefully, and slice half a thumb wide. Put the slices on the potatoes and the meat. When the oven is hot, put the tray inside for 35-40 minutes at 200° Celsius."

"Okay," Sol said as he began to look for rosemary. In the spice rack, was a small glass container, half full of rosemary. Grinning Sol began to go over the steps in his mind as he went about the dish. He began to tap the edge of the container carefully, to ensure that the potatoes were evenly covered, before setting it down and placing the meat on the tray like Alex said. There was still some space between the two foods and in short order, rosemary was sprinkled on top of the meat.

"Okay, now the orange…" Sol trailed off, taking one of the oranges in the apartment and washing it as best he could. "Half a thumb wide," he said carefully before easing the blade into the orange, trying to get as much out of it as possible. Placing the slices delicately on the meat and potatoes, he checked the temperature of the oven. It was getting there, not quite 200 degrees Celsius, but near enough.

"Okay, just a little longer and this dish is cooking." Sol said.

"Pasta is boiling. Box says…. yeesh, 12 minutes? For this pasta? Damn, it's gonna come out a mush. Ok, eyeballing it is." Alex was muttering something very unkind under his breath.

Apparently it was scathing enough that the cabinet's doors started to smoke and blacken, Alex heedless of what was happening while he was stirring the pot.

Luckily, he had stopped after a couple of moments, so the wood didn't go up in flames. He was still watching the pasta - spaghetti, to be specific - with an eagle eye, but he had started cooking the bacon, so it would crunch pleasantly.

"Hey Alex, I think your voice may be magically charged because while I'm not that great of a cook, I'm pretty sure heat from boiling water doesn't char cabinet doors." Sol said while glancing away from the meat and potatoes before quickly looking back and hoping that they didn't show signs of being burned.

Alex looked at Sol puzzled, before looking at the cabinet. And blinked.

"...I think I was cursing in Enochian? By mistake. It's like… Nope, got nothing." He shrugged and started checking the pasta once again.

"Ah, you'd think curses wouldn't exist in the language of angels but I guess they'd have to vent their frustrations against their enemies in some way other than fighting." Sol checked the stove again. "We've got about 35 minutes on this. What's your time schedule like?"

Alex took a single strand of the spaghetti out and bit into it, before looking at it. "Ehhh… this pasta is rubbish. I swear, you can't find a decent brand of wheat pasta outside of Italy. Anyway, recrimination aside, two, no one minute for it to reach the perfect degree, considering it will continue to cook a little even after."

He lowered the flame under the skillet to the minimum, took out a colander and turned on the cold water, before grabbing the handles of the pot and throwing the pasta in the colander. As fast as he was able to, he tossed the spaghetti in the skillet, mixing it with the bacon and bacon fat.

"Set the table?" He grabbed the eggs and, after turning off the stove, he poured it on the pasta, grated a bit of black pepper, and mixed the whole thing. "Two minutes, no cheese, sadly, so it's not a true carbonara, but it should be good enough."

"Can do." Sol said before taking out two plates, and two bowls, setting them on the table and grabbing the rest of the required materials.

"I figured with the pasta, that bowl related, and the meat and potatoes on separate plates. Knives and forks, because I'm not heathen enough to think that spoons are good for a dish like this… even though I did once eat a potato with nothing but a pocket knife. I'm going to grab water only because I honestly don't know if there is anything other than that here and I'd rather save the celebratory bottles of alcohol until after we're free and clear of this place. Oh! I almost forgot, napkins."

"Fuck, the vegetables. I forgot. No problem, I'll… Gimme a minute." Alex checked the fridge and got out a bunch of carrots and some celery sticks. "Well, this works. But I'll prepare them later, I don't want to eat cold carbonara."

So he just left them on the counter, before pouring the pasta in a serving bowl and putting it in the middle of the table. He sat in front of Sol, gesturing at him. "Go on. I want to see if you like it or not."

It was good, really good. The contrast between the crunchiness of the bacon and the pasta was great.

"Man, this is beautiful. I'll have to write that recipe down because… just damn." Sol said with a look of contentment across his face.

"Yeah, it's passable." Alex, apparently, was a pasta snob. On the other hand, he was Italian, so it wasn't really a great surprise. "Anyway, I was thinking… We should sleep some." He was pretty serious, even if he was eating and talking almost at the same time.

Well, he chewed and didn't talk with his mouth full.

"We don't know how much time has passed, we don't know how long we have in front of us and the human brain is not made to stay awake for more than a set amount of hours before starting to hallucinate. I don't need to tell you how dangerous that would be, do I?" And he looked at Sol from under his eyelashes.

"You're right and this is an apartment… we could probably barricade the door easily enough. I'll take the couch for however long the hours are… You know, I don't know about you, but I have a feeling, I wake up next thinking that this was a strange dream and then… reality will come in and say 'hey man, still in hell'..." Sol said trailing off before his head whipped around to the stove.

"Five minutes left, whew… That could have been bad."

"Yeah. Ah, check that the meat isn't too pink in the middle. Personal preference. Oh, and the potatoes. If there isn't enough oil, they'll burn. I'll prepare the vegetables." Alex took out the empty serving bowls and the two plates, putting them in the sink, before taking a knife and starting to peel the carrots and wash the celery. After that, it was a very simple process: a bit of salt at the bottom of one of the very small bowls, oil until it was covered, and a few drops of vinegar for taste.

"You can use pepper instead of vinegar, but it's already in the roast and it was in the pasta, so I thought of something else to break the taste. Here's how it works." He took one of the peeled carrots, dipped it in the oil, grinding it slightly against the salt, and then bit the oiled part.

"One bowl for me, one bowl for you, dip as many times as you want. They're good, as far as vegetables go. And the roast looks like it needs a few more minutes." He, carefully, didn't say anything about his comment on remaining in Hell.

Mostly, because he didn't know what to say.

Sol quietly went about following the instructions until everything was set. "The meat is cooking just right, but…" He said as poured some more oil on the potatoes, "The potatoes needed more oil." He said as he closed the stove back up, grabbed a carrot, and dipped it into the mixture. "This is pretty good. It's light and I'm guessing it works as a palette cleanser like ginger is to a sushi dish?" He asked between bites.

"Yeah, it can be an appetizer or even the main vegetable dish in a lunch or dinner. Easy to make and doesn't dirty too many dishes." Alex shrugged, snacking on the carrots. "It's called pinzimonio."

Soon, the vegetables had been all eaten, the roast taken out and sliced, the potatoes split and the food demolished.

Hunting demons and running for their lives was hungry work.

"And now…" Alex went to the counter and sliced some bread, before rummaging in a cabinet and returning to the table with several wrapped packages in hand. "Dessert. Chocolate on bread."

Alex shrugged sheepishly. "I didn't have time or ingredients or the recipes to make anything else. Well, I can make ONE thing, but I only thought about it right now, so… There's only this, sorry."

"Not a problem at all." Sol said happily. "There was this place I used to go to, a wine bar. They had really good foods, you know, heavily done, spiced, and yeah overpriced. But the dessert they'd always had on hand was an olive oiled bread, and a small bowl filled with melted sea salt chocolate." Sol said before taking a bite, "To have even close to that, just kinda makes me feel better. So, thank you…" Sol finished before reaching for another piece.

"That sounds pretty nice. I had this when I was a kid. My grandma and my mom. It was a mid-afternoon snack, really, but I… There was this thing…" Alex started ripping pieces of bread, before breaking the chocolate bar apart in pieces, too. Then, he put the pieces of chocolate on the bread.

"Little sheeps, we called this." He was smiling, softly. Before he took a piece and tossed it into his mouth, munching it.

"Little sheep huh… That's a nice name for it. Well, when we get out of this hellhole, remind me to thank them for creating this. It's a nice way to end a meal." Sol said before finishing up.

"You're welcome. And, seeing as we don't have to pay any of this or anything else, we can just load the dishwasher and be done with cleaning."

And he proceeded to start doing exactly that. "Go and take a shower. I'll… I dunno, move a shelf or something in front of the door as a protection. There's two bedrooms, so we can each have one and take a few hours of sleep." Alex was calmly putting things in the dishwasher tray, appearing more relaxed since… the start, really.

"Oh!" Sol said, pausing and taking a look at himself. "Yeah, it won't be a chemical bath but it'll do. Seriously, Nidhogg was just ehh.. Thank you for the meal man, I'll be done in five minutes."

"Take all the time you need, seriously. Nidhogg was nasty." Alex nodded at him, continuing his process of cleaning.

As Sol found the bathroom, he took a lot of the armor. The once shiny steel had taken on a discolored and dirtied look to it. It was easy enough to take off though, and he realized that there were period-correct clothes underneath.

"Right because we can't have a corporate knight in this, have to go the full monty." He said before really looking at himself. He wasn't really in shape before all this, but that had changed.

"I could actually fit into som… no all of my vests… Just an ever-increasing payment of red orbs and you too can get the body of your dreams. Call the Statue of Time and Space at 555-555-5555 for a free browsing session." He thought before getting everything else underway.

Five minutes later and dressed in the aketon and pants, Sol walked back out into the main room.

"Okay, so in my personal opinion, and this is being said as someone whose experience with killing demons is on par with yours, there's nothing better than taking a shower after killing demons. It feels so good. I think I could actually fall asleep right now."

Alex was done and the dishwasher was not running, but it was loaded. He turned towards him and nodded at the door on the left of the bathroom's door. "There are two bedrooms, they are basically identical. Choose one and go to sleep. I'm gonna follow in a moment, as soon as I move this shelf."

It wasn't an exaggeratedly big shelf, but it would be more than enough to block the door, so it was good enough. The point was for it to make enough sound to wake them up, not stopping supernaturally strong demons from entering.

"And then I'm gonna go and fall asleep, too. Now that I've eaten, I'm starting to feel pretty drowsy myself."

"Good… day?" Sol said with a question while looking out the window, "See you when either of us wakes up." He finished before closing the door. He propped his gun and sword on and against the nightstand and laid down on the bed. His head wasn't even resting against the pillow for a full minute before he slipped into a dreamless sleep.

For Alex, it was more or less the same. He tossed his clothes on the nearby chair, and covered himself with the sheets, only in his boxers.

Even if, usually, it took him several minutes to fall asleep, this time only took one.

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

Sol had woken up in a daze and felt around for what he was used to. His glasses that usually sat on the nightstand were gone and furthermore it wasn't the one he was used to. There was a gun where the glasses would be and a sword leaning against it. It didn't fully click, until he got up and opened the door. The short hallway leading to what he knew as home wasn't there and as he looked out the window, he noticed he could make out the signs down a very unfamiliar street.

He reached to his face to adjust his glasses and realized he hadn't been wearing them. He hadn't been wearing glasses for who knows how long, and yet he could read small print that even with his glasses he'd have a hard time reading. He remembered the previous… whatever the last few hours were. He'd eventually figure out what to call this strange fugue of time but for now, he just sat there, listlessly.

"Fuck," he cursed quietly. "This is all really happening…" He got up as if on auto-pilot and poured himself a glass of water, downed it, and repeated the process before taking out a skillet and preparing enough eggs to feed two people. It wouldn't hold a candle to what Alex made the previous night, but it was the least he could for him. All the while he began to think about the previous hours.

Ever so quietly, he said to himself, "I can see why Dante drinks, and we've been through a mere fraction of his life."

The sound of water that he hadn't even noticed stopped. From the bathroom, Alex came out, with only a towel around his waist, still dripping water, and stopped in the middle of the room, looking at Sol.

"It's real." His voice echoed… empty, for a moment. It was an emptiness of dreams lost. Something unspeakable that had been done and couldn't be recovered.

"It's… We really have been summoned by a demon."

"Yeah… yeah we… but… well silver linings." Sol began, false cheer blatant in his voice as tried to finish a sentence. "We're still alive, we have food, and we have our souls. Can't really say that about everyone else here." Sol made a face as he finished, a look that said 'I'm a fucking idiot for saying that.'

On the table were two sets of plates, and on them was a simple fare of eggs and toast. "I know it doesn't hold a candle to what you made last night but I figure it's good to greet whatever time we exist in with a full stomach."

"I.. Yeah, yeah, I'm kinda hungry. I mean, I'm… fit, now. But both of us have been moving a lot and fighting burns a lot of calories. So we need to eat." It almost looked like he was trying to convince himself and he strode forward, still half naked, still with his hair dripping water.

"There's any ketchup?"

Sol stopped and gave a shocked look before pulling out a bottle and placing it on the table.

"Keep that wretched, over sugar-ed, tomato paste away from me. The smell, I can't take the smell. My cousins would always pour that stuff on everything. Ew!" He finished with a disgusted shake of his head.

"Fine, fine. No ketchup." Alex smirked, before starting to eat.

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

The roads were the same as the time before, even down to the light from what mimicked the sky. There wasn't a feeling of time passing, which was a problem from the start. That also meant that they wouldn't need to worry about being ambushed in the dark.

"Ok, so." Alex looked at the three roads they could take. "We're going left, right or center?"

Sol looked around briefly before saying "Okay we head up to the next intersection and then make a right. Burrow Marketplace should be just ahead of that point."

"As long as we don't get either delayed or the roots stop us again, you mean." Alex pointed out, already walking towards the three-way split. Calcabrina was already in his hands, swinging around like it was a normal umbrella.

"I mean, Nidhogg should have kept demons away from this place, no?"

"That was probably the only thing he ever could have done that was smart, and I highly doubt that it was intentional." Sol responded as he rounded the corner.

"And here we go, one route to Burrow Marketplace." He said with aplomb.

The roots of the Qliphoth, of course, were blocking the road. As a consolation prize, there was one of those clusters of Red Orbs standing there, in the middle of the road.

"I'm either worrying that we have personally offended Murphy or that we are just that unlucky. You want them?" Alex pointed at the Red Orbs, turning to look towards Sol.

Sol slumped forward, slightly defeated. He had really hoped it was an exit… "No you take them, my just reward for having an IQ slightly higher than Nidhogg."

"I mean, a stone would have an IQ higher than Nidhogg… And I'm shutting up now." Alex stopped speaking as soon as he noticed that his words weren't helping and went to destroy the cluster of gems.

Sol went forward to the next intersection while Alex was hacking away at the cluster. Rounding it, he saw an actual open path leading out. "If I had just stepped x amount of feet forward I would have, gahhh!!! Really not helping my Nidhogg comparison." He thought angrily before bringing out the remnant of the demon.

"I am going to turn you into a complex and well thought out piece of death incarnate, so help me." He said to the limb before depositing it back into its holding area. He called back to Alex, "I found the exit… this time!"

"Good!" Alex came back running, shooting his magic bullets backwards. "I found demons!" Following him, six scarecrows turned the corner and shot forward, towards the duo.

"Ah hell," Sol said before firing at the small horde.

The bullets didn't do much but they did annoy the scarecrows to the point where some were looking at Sol. Two lunged forward, and Sol took the defensive, batting back one oversized axe with his blade and pistol whipping the other as it cackled. Sol stabbed that particular one, turned it to where it was facing its fellow and let out another stinger. The attack impaled both scarecrows who quickly dissolved into mist and red orbs.

Before he could do anything else, he dodged an attack from a third scarecrow before backing up and playing defense again.

Alex, in the meantime, was dealing with his part of the scarecrows, keeping them at bay with the umbrella and slashing with the sword.

He wasn't skilled in any way, but he was good enough. Also, he supplemented his attacks with magical bullets here and there, until the scarecrow had turned into dark mist.

The axe blade scraped along the edge of Sol's breastplate as he slashed down. The attached limb was sent flying before a second strike took the scarecrow's head. He turned and watched the other two scarecrows advance on Alex, before letting loose another stinger at the rearmost one.

A charged bullet shot from the tip of the umbrella was more than enough to destroy one. The other got impaled into the sword a moment later, the weapon in its hand scraping against the cloth of the umbrella itself.

"Well, that was… easy?" Ales asked, dusting himself from the remains of the scarecrows.

"Yeah, I guess they really are like bug swarms, more difficult in packs, but easy enough when separated. Let's get going before any more show up." Sol said, dusting off his breastplate, a noticeable scratch marring its surface.

"I wonder… Do you think there are healing spells here? I mean, there wasn't the Golden Orb… At least, I didn't see it. And, to be fair, it's not like Vergil, Dante, or even Nero needed healing magic, thanks to their demon nonsense…" Alex asked, walking down the road, his face set into a pensive look.

"Maybe in the higher stages of magical knowledge, I mean there's always vitality stars for that, in a pinch. But yeah I can see what you mean." Sol said as they approached the edifice for Burrow Marketplace.

"Well we've arrived, look for some cues to see where to go next?" Sol asked while looking around.

"I mean… Do we even know where we are going? It's not like we have any kind of hint on where we need to go or what to do to escape this place. Whatever this place is." Alex waved his hands around, gesturing at everything.

"Plus, we have two business sharks around, six unknown demons/humans/whatever, and who knows who or what else to worry about." He was still remarkably calm, although his tone of voice had a definite edge on it. "We're just fumbling in the dark, as much as it is depressing to admit."

"Don't remind me," Sol said with a sigh. "But I figure the motif here is that we're heading down, so maybe a sign of the train station or lower walkway might be the ticket."

Alex shrugged, looking around. "Well, I have no idea where to go, so… Unless we need to go towards the Qliphoth itself. I mean, it's either that or down, down, down…" He half-hummed the last words.

"Yeah I know, between that and the time aspect, I figure it's safer just to say 'going forward.'" Sol said before looking and catching something. There was a map system routing various subways that should have been in the area. One of which wasn't very far away.

"Burrow Marketplace Plaza Station, a bit of a mouthful but should just be straight ahead." Sol said with surprise.

"Uh. Oh, hey. It says three minutes walk from the dot. Which is.. where we are." Alex shrugged, before looking down the road. It seemed to be clear, no ruins, no demons, no roots, no nothing.

"Well, a turn of good fortune?" Alex asked before turning and starting to walk in that direction.

"Let's hope it lasts." Sol said following behind.

The walk wasn't long, as the station really was that close. However, the issue the two ran into was that there was a large gate separating them from the plaza proper. Upon looking through the gate, the two could not only see the entrance to the subway station but the remains of a large statue and a horse it must have been perched on.

"Hey, is that a Divinity Statue?" Alex pointed at the other side of the plaza. Hidden behind a decorative column and an iron grate, there was the classic gold shine of the divine statue.

"Yes, it is, maybe even a way to Rodin's Gates of Hell is around here too." Sol said before trying the gate. It was locked with a heavy iron chain and lock.

"Well, I always wanted to try this and this seems to be the shortest route. Stand back, I'm going to shoot the lock off." Sol said before assuming a firing position.

*Bang!* *Bang!* *Bang!*

Three shots rang out in the plaza followed by the noise of the heavy chain and lock falling to the ground.

"Okay, that's kinda fun." Sol said as he pushed the gates, "We'll restock whatever we need at the statue, get stronger, maybe find Rodin and…

*CRACK!!!*

There was a loud cracking noise and part of the ruined statue broke off… followed by another part, until the statue fell over to the ground. The horse seemed to move, its stone-like exterior taking on a blue-ish hue as small gouts of demonic flame began to sputter into life. The horse let out menacing neigh before descending from the platform and trotting forward. Two blue, twisting horns sprouted from the forehead.

Archaic Steed: Deep Geryon​

"Oh… oh fuck…" Sol said with horror.

"Fuck me…" Alex was halfway paralyzed.

The Deep Geryon, on the other hand, was not. Instead, it vanished from their sight. Just… one moment was there, the other was gone. He didn't even have the decency of waiting for both of them to blink.

"What… where did he go?!" Alex started turning around, scanning the place to see if he could spot the demon before… anything happened.

Sol moved to be facing directly away from Alex, to cover any blindspots. There was silence in the square and as Sol looked he swore he could see some form of distortion…

"Alex, move!" Sol shouted, grabbing Alex and using his weight to throw himself and Alex to the side. Where they stood, the form of the demonic steed surged forward, trampling the flowers of the plaza and smashing the earth beneath. Deep Geryon reared back before stomping forward and eyeing the two. It stomped his hooves again, breathing heavily before flashing out existence again.

"Fuck… A Geryon. Here. Weren't they supposed to be extremely rare?" Alex's eyes were wild, darting around the plaza with feverish intensity. "Fuck, fuck, fuck. They can mess with Time. Capital T Time. We need to run away."

Apparently it wasn't an option anymore, as the demonic horse appeared from a gray distortion in the air, landed on the roof of the building near the entrance and… with a couple of stomps, sent half of the whole thing falling down, blocking the way back.

"Well that stops us heading back or relying on any form of high ground." Sol said before firing on the horse. "If he tries to drop a road roller on us, I swear!" Sol shouted as the horse leapt down back to the plaza.

"No JoJo references!" Alex shouted, while also shooting as many magic bullets as he could at the Nightmare Horse that had just landed. Some of them had even hit him!

And made him angrier, but what can you do?

"Scatter! We're going to be easy targets if we remain here!" Again, Alex shouted, before starting to run to one side of the plaza, away from Sol.

Sol moved in the opposite direction, firing at the demonic horse while shouting. "Blame The Stupid Files, they're the one that made the connection!"

The Deep Geryon neighed angrily before flickering out of sight once more.

"Where'd he go!?" Sol asked frantically.

"Above you!" Alex managed to shout, his eyes noticing the gray portal opening over Sol. Thanking everything he could think of, there was a very small delay between the appearance of the portal and the emergence of the demon. That allowed Alex to start charging a bullet, trying to, desperately, hit the Deep Geryon between time jumps.

Sol dodged out of the way as the demon slammed down where he once stood before trotting off.

"If only it could stay still long enough for us to… Alex! I'll play the bait, hit him as he appears!" Sol shouted.

The demon horse stood still for a moment, before turning towards Sol, flames snorting from his nose. Then, a charged bullet hit his flank and exploded, making him jerk to the side. It was a very small jerk and the damage was pretty low, but it was there.

"Don't risk yourself too much!" Alex shouted back, before charging another shot while the horse wasn't jumping around through magical portals and stopping time willy-nilly.

"I got it!" Sol responded before firing at the demon. He stopped before aiming higher towards the demon's eyes. "Maybe I can go for the eyes and make him charge blindly."

The bullets roared from the gun, their path true and aimed for the demon's eyes, and then… The Deep Geryon disappeared from where he was a moment before.

That's when Sol heard the sound of hooves clopping from behind him, moving away, but starting to turn. And an explosion, followed by a low whinny of anger.

Sol spun on his heel, noticing the horse beginning to turn away from him before he fired more at its eyes. The Deep Geryon reared back in anger before looking at Sol again.

"That's right, big guy, keep those evil blues on me!" Sol shouted while backpedaling.

A series of rapid shots from Alex flew from the other side of the plaza. Alex, not even bothering to charge the bullets, just shot as many as fast as he could. Mostly, to try and stop the Deep Geryon from going too close to Sol. And it looked like it was even working! More or less. More less than more, but still. The classic death from a thousand cuts. Assuming the demonic horse didn't trample them both before.

Deep Geryon seemed to become more agitated, stamping its hooves under the hail of bullets and magic before leaping up and then coming down in a bizarre pattern of leaps and stomps.

"Fuuuuuck meeee!" Alex shouted, throwing himself into a roll to avoid the giant stallion coming down on him. Then another one and when the third roll brought him where the remains of the statue were, he opened Calcabrina and cast the barrier as well, blocking exactly one stomp and 'stunning' - well, more or less. It was just the sudden stop mid-motion that did it - that made him raise back in surprise.

"Sol!"

Sol let loose at a Stinger at the Deep Geryon's flank. While the attack did not do nearly the amount of damage that it had done on the scarecrows previously, it did further upset the momentum of the demon, knocking it ever so slightly off its center of balance.

"Fuck you!" Alex shouted, twisting and slamming the umbrella against the neck of the demon horse, before shooting a charged bullet with his hand. Channeling through his body instead of a weapon was far inferior, as far as efficiency and damage went, but it worked.

The explosion against the flank of the demon sent him further stumbling to the side, until he tipped completely over.

Sol was on the demon as soon as it fell, stabbing at its exposed stomach as fast as he could while calling out to Alex, "Keep up the fire! We can't let him get up again!"

However, as Sol went to stab the demon again, there was a moment he couldn't quite describe. The noise of the world cut out briefly in a drone and he suddenly found himself stumbling forward mid stab, where the Deep Geryon should have been.

"What… oh shit, he's moving again!" Sol cried out frantically.

"Left!" Alex shouted, moving and putting himself in front of Sol. His barrier appeared between them and the Geryon's charge just at the right moment. The horns of the demon, twisted and very, very sharp, slammed against the layer of magic and reinforced cloth, stopping for exactly one second and a half.

Then, the barrier broke with the sound of glass shattering, and both of them were thrown back by several meters. Luckily, with only a few bruises for it.

"Damn… That smarts." Well, and a headache for Alex, but that was something he was accustomed to, so it wasn't an immediate problem. "I don't think I can block another hit like that. Think of it as a cooldown." Alex, shakily, got up and kept his eyes trained on the Deep Geryon.

"Understood, I'll distract it like before. Hammer with everything you safely can just in case he pulls another one of those charges." Sol said, before moving parallel to Alex and firing at the Deep Geryon. The bullets, while more of an irritation, seemed to catch the demon's attention again and it turned to face Sol.

"I'll try. Do not get hurt, I can't heal." It was something that Alex had already said, but it was worth repeating. Then, he unsheathed the sword and started charging a bullet on the tip of the umbrella part, while shooting normal ones with the blade.

"Will do, just get ready to move!" Sol said while keeping the fire up. He could see Deep Geryon begin that same stomping move from before and Sol dodged to keep out its way. As he realized he was by the gate, he thought of a crazy idea. The horse kept coming, bearing down on him and Sol fired his gun, to keep pissing it off.

"Come on just a little more." The horse was right above him. Sol dodged while screaming "Now!" The stomp he just barely dodged smashed the remains of the gate, and while the warped iron and steel did little to Deep Geryon, it did tangle around the demon's legs.

"That was dangerous, you asshole! Don't you dare die on me!" Alex shouted, before shooting his charged bullet and followed it with another shower of magical projectiles against the flank of the demonic horse.

The Deep Geryon seemed to glitch for a moment, as if he was trying to free himself, but was missing a few frames, before the magic bullets hit him one after another, the dust cloud big enough to obscure half of the giant horse.

It wasn't enough to not notice when he finally got free and reared on his back legs, eyes burning in rage - and literal fire - before vanishing and reappearing near Sol, coming down for a stomp.

It was a miracle that Sol jerked away at the last moment and the hooves slammed against the ground, sending a tremor all around the plaza.

The Deep Geryon was enraged, and also severely wounded. After all the attacks that had hit him, he was bleeding from several areas and some slashes that Sol had inflicted were still weeping blood.

"Can't you take the hint and just die already!" Sol roared as he fired back at the enraged demonic steed. It dragged one of its hooves deep in the stone, and seemed to visually glitch out for a moment before barrelling towards Sol at breakneck speed.

Sol tried to dodge to the side, just barely missing Deep Geryon as he did so. When he got back to his feet, the horse was gone.

"Can you see it?" Alex shouted, looking around, the fear that he was able to keep under control slipping for a moment. Even if he looked like he was doing well in dealing with the situation, he was terrified.

"I… I don't… Think." Sol managed to gasp out between breaths before his eyes caught that tell tale visual distortion. "Your right side!" He shouted as Deep Geryon made its presence known.

Alex threw himself into a roll forward, not even thinking, just reacting. He was fast enough to avoid the first charge, but not enough to retaliate and the Deep Geryon simply vanished again. When he reappeared, he was in the same charge, however, he was in a perfect collision course with Sol.

Sol dodged backwards, avoiding the charge before looking where Deep Geryon had vanished too. He moved next to Alex as quickly as he could. "We need to end this next charge and hit him with everything we got." He said in a low tone.

"You're right." Alex nodded, his grip on Calcabrina tight, knuckles white. "I can cast the barrier spell once more. I stop him, you stab him in the neck?" Alex whispered, eyes darting to and fro around the plaza.

"Can do." Was all Sol's response.

There was silence in the plaza for a few moments before the image of Deep Geryon began to flicker around them. The demon was galloping in a circle before eventually fading out entirely.

"He's playing with us." Sol noted.

"Definitely." Alex nodded, eyes still sharp. As the only one with a defense worth a damn - and no, he wasn't counting the armor that Sol had on him. Against demons of the Deep Geryon's caliber that thing could as well be made of tissue paper… he would need to react as fast as possible unless he didn't want to get both of them killed.

What happened after was a matter of moments.

The Deep Geryon appeared on the other side of the plaza, already barreling towards them, a fiery aura blue around him that was scorching the stone that he was galloping on, horns elongated and wrapped in a blue aura.

Alex pushed Sol to the side, opened Calcabrina, and poured all his magic into the Devil Arm. The barrier spell appeared on the canopy of the umbrella, making it shine with purple-gold energy.

The Deep Geryon impacted it.

The barrier shattered.

Calcabrina flew away from Alex's hands, as he was forced to let it go unless he wanted his wrists to break..

Geryon was stopped, and looked properly dazed.

Sol moved in without a word and stabbed into Deep Geryon's exposed neck. The blade must have found a gap in the armored flesh as it bit deeply. Sol dragged the blade across as far as he could before he felt something rigid in the neck. He gave a sharp twist as a general 'fuck you' and wrenched the blade out.

Deep Geryon reared back in egregious agony, its neighing replaced by a shallow gurgling noise before it toppled onto its side.

"Fuck you, you time stopping prick." Sol said to the downed demon before turning back to Alex.

"Well, it should be cash out any minute, wonder how much we'll get?" He said, exhaustion evident in his voice.

"I don't… Know." Alex was panting, looking at Sol. Then, his eyes widened.

"MOVE-GHRK!!" Alex pushed himself forward, grabbing Sol by the shoulder and pushing him to the left, as the horns of the Deep Geryon slammed against his stomach, piercing him front to back, and through his spine.

He dropped on the ground with a dull thud, blood gushing down from the two entrance wounds. The demon horse, in its own final 'fuck you', rose on his rear hooves and pushed himself forward, toppling onto Alex with all of his weight.

He landed squarely on his… everything from under the collarbone.

The sound of bones breaking apart could be easily heard.

Only then did a veritable storm of Red Orbs appear.

"No, No, NO! You Fuck!" Sol roared as he ran toward the two in a mad panic.

"I…I… fuck! Alex, can you hear me!? I can't… shit I don't think I can move it off you!" Sol grabbed the sides of his head before pacing and muttering frantically, "Can't move his body, shouldn't move his body… He'll die if I don't do something!" He checked the med kit he brought with him from earlier, it had bandages and antibacterial washes but not much else beyond that. In a rage, Sol threw the kit as far as he could before looking around for something, anything that could offer a hint of salvation for his friend.

There was something that caught his eye, something that elicited a mad, crazy, and stupid idea. The statue of Time and Space was right there. Time stopped there, didn't it? It could give him the time necessary to help him. But he couldn't move Alex close enough to touch it!… Maybe if he bridged the gap? Sol stood between the two and gripped the most exposed part of Alex he could see, a hand. Sol then stretched his other hand as far out as he could trying desperately to touch the statue. His hand just barely grazed the statue a few times before it found purchase and the white void replaced the plaza.

He turned back to look at Alex, hoping he was there, and found that while he was, he was still pinned under the demonic horse.

"What the hell.. should I… Statue! Help me please!" Sol practically screamed.

A golden glow appeared in front of Alex's pained face. Blood was dribbling down the corner of his mouth.

Nothing happened.

And then…

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Well, easy mode has officially been disabled for our heroes. I have added two new entries in to the Greater Demon Codex section for the battles that occurred during this chapter, and the next chapter will be released in the next three days. Enjoy everyone.

 

[InZodwetrust]

A golden glow appeared in front of Alex's pained face. Blood was dribbling down the corner of his mouth.

Nothing happened.

And then…

Click to shrink...

I guess that's the cue for the Lusachia to appear and offer the lifesaving purchase of Regeneration (L)

 

[Atma]

I guess that's the cue for the Lusachia to appear and offer the lifesaving purchase of Regeneration (L)

Click to shrink...

Not exactly, there will be a brief 'poisonous' offer in the next chapter and something... else as well. So, all I can say now is wait and see.

 

[Atma]

The corpse-like coloration of Alex's body didn't change, but a pale, see-through shape formed above him. Whatever it was, it looked exactly like him, if he was a ghost, anyway.

"What…" His voice was echoing, like he was speaking from the inside of a tunnel. Still, he was coherent and, apparently, lucid.

"I'm… dying?" More or less coherent.

"No, nononono! We can fix this! We're here, the statue is here! I can buy a large Vitality Star and, and I can get you back on your feet!" Sol shouted, a naive hope evident in every word that he spoke.

"Sol… I… I.. I couldn't feel my legs." Alex was more and more lucid every moment. "I'm.. I think the Deep Geryon had… Cut my spinal cord. I couldn't feel anything under my waist. And then… what happened?" He frowned, before starting to look down. At what had happened to his body.

After he glanced at it, however, he stopped and returned looking forward, at the screens.

"I… All of a sudden it got up… and then you were pinned… and I couldn't move it off you! Yo…your hand was exposed and I managed to touch the statue while acting like, like a fucking bridge!" Sol explained manically.

"Sol… I'm… You're the best friend I could have asked for in this place." Alex smiled at him, one hand going to pat his head. Only to pass through him, leaving only a feeling of cold and slight wetness behind.

Alex looked down at his hand for a moment, an indecipherable expression on his face, before looking back towards the screens.

"I… don't think that a Vitality Star will be enough for… this." His voice was slowly, but surely, getting fainter. "I… I think I can feel liquid in my lungs? I want to cough, but not really?"

Chances were, his ribs had perforated the soft tissue of his lungs. Probably in shards. Because this was Hell.

"Bullshit! There's got to be a Golden Orb! There's always at least one! It's always there!" Sol shouted before forcing open the menu and looking. For several long seconds, he looked through the item menu as he felt his heart begin to freeze in terror. He had assumed. He had assumed it would be there… and, and...

"F..fuck…" Sol cursed meekly, and clawed at his helmet briefly, before turning to the statue. "Help him, damn you help him! Isn't that what you do!? Help hunters when they're in need!? Do something!" He cried out.

All the screens in front of both of them disappeared and, for a heart-clenching moment, Sol feared that he had offended the Watcher of Time.

Then, two windows appeared in front of Alex. One was his current balance in Red Orbs.

Red Orbs: 83.800

Right under it, in the second screen, there were three options. No more.

The first was…

Life-Saving Device (L): 25.000 Red Orbs

"Of course…" Alex whispered a bitter twist on his lips. "Of course, there would be something like that…"

Sol didn't say anything, but Alex was clearly hesitating. The option was there, and it was like an insidious poison in his mind.

"Maybe… Only one thing… But.. Let's see if… If there's something else…" More than for his friend, it was for himself. A little, flickering spark of hope.

Perfect Geryon Hybridization (Bones): 100.000 Red Orbs

Again, silence descended.

"I… don't have enough." Alex gulped, for as much as it was a useless motion. Completely useless. He wasn't using his body right now, after all.

"I.. I don't want to die…" He was crying. Tears, pearlescent and transparent, were slowly falling from both his ghostly eyes as well as the real ones.

"Wha… what do you mean he doesn't have enough!? We're sitting on roughly 80,000 each. There has to be something you can do! I'll pay the remaining balance!" Sol addressed the statue with venom staining his voice.

Nothing answered him, but there was a certain feeling of impotence coming from the air.

"Wait..." Alex suddenly had a bit more energy in his voice. "Look…" He weakly pointed at the last option on the list, his hands trembling slightly.

Imperfect Geryon Hybridization (Bones): 75.000 Red Orbs

Sol grew still, the rage leaving his body language as he looked at Alex. "Man if you do this… you could probably live, but…" he trailed off silently.

"Yeah… The lack of Perfect… Means something…" He grew silent, before smiling slightly. "But it's either that… Or selling myself to the demon… That brought us here…"

Again, he grew silent, before his smile turned sharp. "What do you say… Am I going to crave carrots… Now?" He chuckled, silently, before breaking out in a fit of coughing.

Sol gave a sobbing laugh "God, I hope not… Be quick, I don't think you have much time…"

"Yeah… Yeah…" Still smiling slightly, the ghostly finger, almost completely transparent now, Sol was right about his assessment of his remaining time - sliding down and tapping on the Hybridization option.

Then, while his Red Orb counter counted down, he gave the middle finger to the first option. "Not today… Asshole."

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

The duo were still in the Watcher of Time's space of influence after the choice was made. Nothing happened at first until the Deep Geryon's corpse started shining. The bone-like scales slid away, clattering on the ground. The pelt and meat were cut open as if something or someone was butchering it with perfect cuts. The internal organs were reduced into paste and then dust. The bones rose in the air, while the dust created by the organs spread all above them, drying them out. They were shining silver.

Alex rose in the air, his chest not moving anymore, eyes glassy and unseeing. The bones started circling around him, forming a twelve-pointed star all around him, before blue fire and silver dust started to run through him.

The sound of cracking bones could be heard from his body and he twisted, head thrown backward and mouth and eyes open, an expression of agony etched on his face. The fact that he was completely silent while doing this was the worst thing for the entire situation.

Uncaring, the magic continued. It only lasted five or six minutes, tops, but they were the longest minutes that both Alex and Sol had lived through in all their lives.

Finally, the magic was done. The circle had been completely consumed. Alex had changed. His hair was now pure black at the roots, turned silver in the middle, and blue at the tips - landed on the ground with a meaty thud.

Something clattered on the ground near him right after, but it was unimportant.

"Alex! You alright!?" Sol asked with concern.

Alex didn't answer verbally. His hands darted out and grabbed Sol around his waist, before hiding his face in his torso, hugging him.

Sol could feel the strength of the grip he had on him, the muted sobs coming from his friend, and his shaking shoulders.

"It's… okay," Sol began. "You're alive, it's okay, it's okay. Come on, let's get out of here and get some air so that you can clear your head. Alright?"

"I -hic- was dying. I was -sob- dead. It was so cold…" Alex was shaking even more than before. "Thank you. Thank you, thank you. I would be dead without you…"

"You… you shouldn't be. I should have made damn sure it was dead. It was my fault, it was all my fault." Sol said quietly.

"You saved my life!" Alex almost shouted, looking up from his position. He was still crying, tears dropping down from his eyes, but he seemed more in control. And he looked slightly pissed.

"If you weren't here, I would have died in the first room! If you weren't with me, I would have never reached this place! And right now, you saved my life! Without you here, the Deep Geryon would have killed me! And, even if I had managed to defeat him, who knows in what state I would have been?! And who was the one that connected me with the Divinity Statue?!"

"It was… it was me…" Sol affirmed before noticing the item that dropped earlier. It was one of Deep Geryon's horns, broken but still potentially useful. He patted Alex on the shoulders to break the embrace, picked up the horn, and offered it to Alex.

"Take it, use it as a final 'fuck you' to Deep Geryon and all of his accursed kin… A… I don't know what but maybe something to make you feel better about this…" Sol trailed off, a bitter note in his voice.

Alex looked at the Horn, before snorting. "You seem to forget, I have taken his bones. His powers. I'm a Hybrid and, yes, I'm aware it will bring problems, I'm not that naive, I've already given my fuck you to him. Nah, you take it. Ask Rodin to make a weapon for you." Alex closed Sol's hand on the horn.

And then he smirked at him."Get a throwing knife. Who knows, maybe you'll be able to hit with the blade."

Sol nodded, before putting the horn away. Maybe he could do something with his gun instead…

The world snapped back to the plaza and Sol gazed out on the carnage before his eyes naturally found the spot where Deep Geryon finally fell. Slowly, with trembling hands, he removed his helmet and stared unblinking at the pool of blood that was left behind.

"There's so much..." Sol said quietly. There was a tremble in his voice as he said that. As if, a greater understanding of what had occurred came to him.

Alex gulped, hands trembling at his sides, before taking a deep breath. He - hesitantly - moved a hand and put it on Sol's head, ruffling his hair. "Thank you for saving me."

Then, steeling himself, he strode forward, purposefully walking on the giant puddle of blood and moving to where Calcabrina had fallen.

There was a noise behind Alex, the clatter of steel against stone. Turning, Alex could see Sol had thrown his helmet to the ground in rage. There was a furious expression on his face, before the other man looked up at the sky.

"You say I saved your life, well I know damn well I wouldn't survive this long, and even if I did… I probably would have taken those poisoned enhancements. How many times did I whiff a throw!? How many times did I draw a large crowd of demons, ones that when we started would have torn me to shreds only for you to blast them into dust!? You know why I'm still alive!? Because you kept them off me. Because you helped plan shit out with me and prevented me from pulling stupid shit! And what do I do to repay you? I forgot to check the kill, and you nearly got trampled and gored to death for it!"

Sol was quiet before speaking softly. "I just… didn't think… and you nearly died because of that."

Alex gulped, his hands tightening on the handle of the Devil Arm, before moving forward and grabbing Sol's shoulders.

"Listen. Listen to me. Yes, you fucked up in that. I fucked up in other ways. We both fucked up and we will fuck up again, it's how these things go. We are still alive. You saved my life. I don't care about anything else, ok?" He shook Sol a bit, keeping his attention on him.

"You saved my life. You fought with me, you didn't betray me, you listen to me and you don't take any shit from anyone. You didn't go with an objectively stronger party when you had the chance. There could be Dante appearing from that street right now, offering to become my partner, and I would still choose you. Do you understand?" Alex's eyes were blazing with conviction, shining with a slight light blue tinge.

They weren't brown anymore. Now, they had a silver sclera with a black and blue iris.

"I… yeah I understand, thank you. I mean it sincerely, thank you." Sol said before looking Alex in the eye. His expression seemed to change. A look of guilt flashed across his features. "Your eyes, they're different." Sol slowly, before grabbing up his helmet and offering its reflective surface to Alex.

"Uh." Alex just hummed, turning his eyes and seeing how his hair was now. "Gotta admit, I look cool. What do you think?" He smirked and winked, being as obnoxiously flirtatious - jokingly, obviously - as possible. "Does it make me look like an anime protagonist?"

Sol couldn't help but laugh weakly at that. "Maybe you have some hidden special eye-related ability now. Fuck, does that make me your friendly rival?" Sol asked.

Alex snorted, stopping his behavior instantly. "Nah, you're obviously the co-protagonist. Who else would you be?" Shaking his head, he got up and took Calcabrina out.

"I still have something like 10k or so Red Orbs, but I'm not gonna go and spend them here. You, however…" Alex nodded his head towards the statue. "Go and power up. Things are gonna get harder and, if you die, I'm gonna kill you. Also, get some better clothes. Maybe there are some enchanted armors that don't look like you just came out of a Ren Faire."

"I... alright." Sol said weakly before touching the statue.

When the white void replaced the world, he gazed upon the statue in silence. "I… said some shit to you earlier. I can't say whether I'm sorry about that, it's just that my emotions were high, I was pissed. At myself mainly. So uh… thank you, for giving my friend a real option for staying alive."

The statue didn't respond but the now familiar window appeared. Sol scrolled through the options, grabbing Physical Enhancement 2, and watched as his wallet count dropped by 10,000. He felt much stronger than he had before. Despite that feeling, it felt hollow at best.

He went back to the item board and grabbed another Blue Orb. Seeing his wallet drop another 3,000 orbs but also feeling much better than he realized, he paused and looked through the menus. Briefly, he looked at the ability 'Trigger Heart' for 7,500.

"Alex could seriously make good use of that." Sol mused to himself before grabbing a Vital Star (Large). He watched the counter drop down before bowing before the statue and saying.

"Thank you, for both your service and for excusing the words of a distraught friend."

The world returned to the plaza.

"Okay, I'm down to just shy of 70,000… I want to find a Gates of Hell point soon." Sol said while pulling the broken horn out. "I want to use this for something."

"Oh, yeah. The idea of a throwing knife is still in the air. Maybe it could clone itself… so you can hit an enemy with the pommel five or six times at the same time." Alex snickered at his attempt at a joke, before nodding towards the street opposite the one they had used to enter.

"It's the only way that it's still viable. The others are…" He waved his hands towards the piles of rubble around the plaza. "Blocked."

Euphemism of the year.

"So, we need to move. I don't know why, but I'm having a bad feeling, for some reason." Alex continued.

"Well, I wouldn't blame you, all things considered." Sol paused a moment before continuing. "When you say a bad feeling, do you mean like in a general way that you're used to or something else entirely?"

Alex stopped mid-step, before pivoting on the foot still on the ground and looked straight at Sol.

"You're right. It's different." His voice was low, grave. Deadly serious.

"I'm feeling it… into my bones."

A moment later, he fell down on the ground, cackling like a hyena.

"You ass. Pulling a dad joke on me, I swear!" Sol exclaimed before joining the laughter.

That was the only sound that echoed in the air for the next few minutes.

"You know, I think I needed that. Alright Bones, which way do you think we should go?" Sol asked with a smile.

"Considering there's literally a single way… unless you can jump all up there." Alex pointed at the top of the buildings that were still intact and high enough to look around. "And see how the streets are, we can only go blind. Well, half-blind. Do you still have the pamphlet with the map? Maybe we can try to find a place to go."

"Yeah, hold on." Sol said before removing that pamphlet and flipping it open.

"Well, the next closest location is… Clostonbury Theatre. Seems if we follow the main road back and then turn left when first reaching Burrow Marketplace, we should be able to at least see it. The only other location seems to be Alberton Graveyard, but that's a good way past that." He said before folding the map up.

"What's this one? The… Whatever it's called Mall?" Alex pointed to a place more to the right than the other two places. "It looks farther, but I don't remember that from the game. There could be more food." He asked, looking around. "We forgot to grab something from the apartment."

"Yeah we did, there seems to be a fork in the road, halfway between here and the theater. If we stay left, we get to the mall, right to the theater. Okay, might as well try the mall first, there could be a subway station by there. Could take us further down." Sol said.

"There could be more secret rooms or pieces of Orbs. We won't know until we try, after all." Alex nodded, before pointing towards the street. "Let's go and see what happens. Also, what did you grab from the Statue?" He started walking, at Sol's side. "I mean, you DEFINITELY didn't grab better clothes, that's for sure… Maybe you could ask Rodin if he can make you some cooler armor…"

"Again, I like the look. Might improve its capabilities, but I really like the simple fluted look. Feel like I should be charging down a castle in Monty Python's Sir Lancelot style. Besides, the one thing I will have Rodin improve are these." Sol said gesturing to his sword and gun. "I still have the Nidhogg and Geryon pieces. Might as well put them to weapons I'm semi-good with."

"You got the Stinger technique from the Statue. You could always take a few more techniques…" Alex lamented, while the two walked forward.

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

The two managed to make their way through the ruins of the city without encountering many additional demons. Eventually, after they took the left path towards the mall, they came upon its ruined front edifice.

"Well, this place sure looks inviting. Probably is going to beat the Willamette Mall any day in terms of potential dangers. You think the food court is on the first or second level? Usually, it's on the second level if I remember correctly" Sol said while looking at the front entrance.

"I. Literally. Don't care." Alex was shivering very slightly. They had been attacked by several demons on the way to the Mall. All of them Empusa.

And Alex HATED bugs. With passion.

"I just want to sit somewhere and relax without having to deal with giant bugs every few minutes." A bigger shiver ran along his spine, before he strode forward, towards the broken glass doors.

"I want chocolate or candy or something sweet. And I'm liable to messily kill someone if I don't get some right now." Alex continued.

"Well, we'll figure that out when we get there. Speaking of which, I doubt the elevators are going to work if any so… escalator?" Sol asked.

Alex just shrugged, before looking around. It was… big. "Man, these malls were big, uh?" Three floors - the third floor was mostly the roof, but it still counted - and several shops. Decorative flora around. Some of the benches were broken, but the concrete only had a few cracks in it.

And, on the second floor… "I can see some tables and chairs. Probably a restaurant up there. Dunno where the stairs are, though. Do you see any maps?"

"No… oh, wait. There." Sol said before moving to a large display that sat dead center of the hall nearest to them.

"Okay, so the food court IS upstairs… there's also a candy shop near there too, so that's got that covered? No shit, hey look at this, they got a Gamestop here as well. I wonder if Rodin's inventory devices can hold onto a few non-essential items, we might as well get something else out of this right?" Sol asked with a cheeky tone in his voice.

"You, my friend, have just read my mind. I wonder if they have any consoles in stock, I kinda want a couple… Either to resell or to use, I'm not picky." Alex shrugged, before looking down at the map, rubbing away a spot of dried blood to better read the names. "They also have an electronic store. How much do you know about computers? I kinda want one, but I'm broke."

"Well, we do have a surprise 100% sale on our hands… might as well use it while it lasts." Sol said before looking over at an escalator. The stairs were moving, which meant that not only was the power on but that the food supplies were probably still preserved.

"Well, let's see what the cuisine is like." Sol said as he stepped into the elevator.

Alex followed him, idly tapping on the steps with Calcabrina.

"You know, there's something that's bugging me all this time." He started speaking, while the elevator slowly rose, bringing them towards the second floor. "Like… like when you have a word right on the tip of your tongue, but you can't remember it. You know, that feeling?"

Alex's face made a very strange expression, before it smoothed out once again, the umbrella migrating on his shoulder. "It's the same thing, but for something else. It's like… I don't know. Ahhh, it's infuriating."

Sol nodded before speaking "Not to sound like an ass, but you wouldn't happen to feel it in your bones would you?"

Alex didn't answer for a long moment, seemingly lost in thought… before bonking Sol on his head with Calcabrina, strong enough that his helmet echoed like a bell.

"Talk shit, get hit." The elevator reached the second floor and he stepped down, only to stop instantly. In front of his feet, there was a rather large puddle of blood.

"Ah."

"Well, that answers that." Sol said while rubbing his helmet. "I think that whatever is in here, we may not be able to just run from it."

"Yeah, there's no dust in here. Well, there's no more dust than what is normal. Someone came here before us." Alex didn't prod the puddle of blood with his foot, but it was a near thing. "Do you think they are still here? Whoever 'they' are?"

Sol calmly drew his pistol before quietly asking "Maybe… you think that 'they' might be the same ones from the square?"

Alex looked around, noticing that the blood was contained: mostly on the puddle in front of him and then a few more, going towards their right, towards the Food Court.

"I think no. I mean, the only time we met their handiwork, it was a scene of carnage. Here, it's just a trail. Maybe someone was wounded? Searching for a safe place to hide. Not that it exists here, but…" Alex grimaced, actively not thinking about what could have happened.

"Well in defiance of every bit of common sense I have, I say we follow it." Sol said as he drew his sword and began to follow the trail.

It led to a pack of three Empusa clawing at what looked like a store called EAT.

Sol looked at Alex before flipping his visor up and giving him a look saying 'Are you seeing this shit?' while pointing at the sign and not at the demons. The situation finally clicked in the man's head before asking, "You want to work out your hatred of bugs quick? They probably won't even realize you're attacking."

Alex took a deep breath, before nodding. "Yes. I would." Then, he unsheathed his sword - he had decided to call it Brina - and shot forward, a bullet charging on top of the umbrella.

The blade slashed the air two, three, four times, cutting through the flesh of the demon like a hot knife through butter, before he turned one last time, decapitating the head of the demon. In the same twist, he aimed the charged bullet at the remaining two Empusa and unleashed it. The explosion sent them flying back, their cries loud enough to be heard.

"Well, while I am certainly agreeable to man-on-bug violence, seriously remind me to never get on your bad side." Sol said jovially as he walked to where the Empusa were crowding. The blood trail had led to a closed shutter but there was nobody at the front, meaning the trail led beyond it.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous. I'm as sweet as sugar." Alex answered, flippantly, before stalking forward, his blade shining in the light coming in from the windows. The Empusa were scrabbling to get back up, but he reached them first.

It was more of an execution, at this point, but he chopped off their heads in moments, the corpses vanishing into Red Orbs.

"I have to admit, that felt good."

"It's the little things." Sol said reassuringly, before trying to open the shutter. He could definitely feel something was holding it down on the other side. A part of him wanted to wrench it up, but something made him stop. That bloodstain might have meant people, maybe… maybe they could use some.

Taking his pistol, Sol rapped it against the shutter rhythmically. "Hello, is anyone there? The demons are gone."

Sol turns to Alex whispering, "Do you think anyone is alive in there?"

"No idea." Alex whispered back, before putting a finger to his lips in the universal signal of silence. Right after that, he turned his head and put his ear against the door, before breathing deeply and holding his breath for a few moments.

Silence. Then…

A breath. Two. More. Alex couldn't really count them all, but he knew that there were more than two people beyond the door. So, momentarily satisfied, he got up and nodded at Sol.

"At least two people." Again, he whispered, before he pointed towards the side of the place and started walking.

"Well, even if there are living people, it's not like we care, no? We just need to find the Divinity Statue and then we'll be on our merry way." He was purposefully loud.

There was a brief moment of pause before Sol caught on to what Alex was going for.

"You're right, they're probably dead. Damn… It would have been nice to meet some other sane people here. Let's find that statue, maybe even raid the food court if we have time." Sol said, matching Alex's volume.

The two walked away, loudly, until they reached the next restaurant. Again, Alex gestured towards it and, this time with much more carefulness and stealth, they hid inside it.

"And now, we wait." Alex was smiling, using the blade of his weapon as a facsimile mirror to see beyond the corner without poking out his head.

Sol's only response was a nod and him raising his handgun toward the EAT.

After a few moments, there was the sound of a shutter opening and a figure walked out. It was… someone younger than Sol would have guessed, male, maybe fifteen, sixteen, wearing mostly black with some well-placed chains and crucifixes. Or at least there were, the clothes had seen better days and the cuts and bruises just barely hidden under the flaps of torn material hinted at a desperate attempt at survival.

"He's just a kid." Sol whispered to Alex while letting the hammer of his pistol drop quietly back down.

"It's worse." Alex's voice was somber. "It's more than one kid."

Right behind the black-clad teen, another one - this one in khaki pants and polo, both that would have looked rather posh if only he wasn't covered in splashes of blood - followed. The second one was holding his grip on a table chair with white knuckles, while the goth kid had a pipe in his hands.

"Something's telling me that there are gonna be more than one kid inside that restaurant."

"I don't think these are our red eyes, what should we do?" Sol asked, unease present in his voice.

Alex didn't answer for a long minute, while he kept watching the two kids. They were busy looking around, almost as if they were searching for something. Or someone.

"I don't know. What do you want to do? Beyond it being impractical or anything else. I mean."

"Maybe… we should just say hi." Sol asked before getting ready to get up.

Alex didn't stop him, even if he had a vague feeling that it wouldn't end well. Considering how fearful the kids had been of them before, there were near zero chances that they could be more welcoming right now.

Sol calmly and quietly got out from behind the counter and walked out of the restaurant entrance. They hadn't noticed him yet, but he made himself known by pulling the hammer back on his pistol. The sound of the pistol going into Single Action was loud enough to catch their attention. The two whipped around fast, their expressions fearful but almost resolute. Behind his visor, Sol looked at their eyes.

"Normal eyes, not red… okay then." He slowly de-cocked the gun, holstered it, and spoke to the two. "Take it easy guys, we're not here to hurt you."

"Who-who are you?!" The goth boy asked, pointing the pipe towards Sol, attempting to be menacing. And failing horribly, considering he was shorter than the guy by several inches and a few tens of pounds of muscle.

"My name's Sol, I'm…" Something was wrong, Sol would never claim his memory was perfect, but he was damn sure he had never seen this kid or the other before. They weren't from the jock group, so who the hell were they?

"I was going to say a survivor like you, but I didn't see you before when we were all pulled together. How'd you get here?" Sol asked cautiously.

"Wh-what? We all came together. Our… It was like…five classes and ten teachers. We were in the auditorium of the school and then we were… Somewhere. In a room. There was this voice, but…" He trailed into silence, instead raising the pipe again.

"But it told you to kill a demon lord and go home with the power acquired here?" Sol asked, finishing the kid's sentence. "Damn, looks like this just became more complicated. Alex, you might want to hear this." He said, calling out to his friend.

Alex got out from his hiding spot, eliciting a drawn breath of surprise from the other two, as they saw his hair and the glowing eyes.

"So. Let me see if I got the news right: you got summoned here with your schoolmates, all of them more or less the same age, and a few teachers. A voice started talking to you, before vanishing. And you got access to a Golden Statue where you could buy powers like RPG enhancements. Did I get everything?" Alex questioned the students.

"Uh… yeah." Said the prep, his knuckles white with how he was holding his improvised weapon before he looked at Sol. "You, you don't have eyes like that do…do you?"

Sol gave out a sigh before lifting up his visor. "Not necessarily yet… speaking of which, you haven't encountered anyone with red eyes have you?"

"Don't worry about my eyes, they are the results of an experimental… thing that's definitely going to bite me in the ass, if I know my tropes, and aren't relevant to this discussion." Alex's voice lowered considerably in the middle of his sentence, but he soon returned to his normal tone.

"So, tell me, how come you and your friend? Are you here? Nobody else remains with your group? Did you get kicked out?"

There was a moment of silence as the two looked at each other before the goth spoke.

"We weren't a large group but we tried to keep together, Mr. Riker wa… is leading us but…"

The prep cut in, "One of the bug things, but uh bigger cut him badly. Fran is with him now but, well we don't have anything to stop the bleeding."

"Then that was his blood trail we saw then?" Sol asked.

"Yeah, probably. Do you still have the med kit you bought?" Alex asked, looking around and then using his umbrella as a cane and leaning on it, mostly for show than anything else.

"Yeah, I…" Sol paused and realized that no he didn't. He had thrown it away at Burrow Plaza when… That feeling of self-hate rose back in his heart like a bitter shadow. However, a ray of light pierced that bitterness as he remembered something he did have with him.

"No, but I have something better," Sol said to Alex before looking at the students and taking out the Vitality Star (Large) from his inventory. "Take me to your professor and I'll have him back on his feet in no time."

"Why should we trust you? Half of those who had bought powers from that strange statue went crazy in minutes! I don't trust you!" Even if the boy looked like he was doing decently, both Alex and Sol could see that he was struggling to not cry.

"I understand you, believe me. There were four groups of us. There was Alex and I, a high school mix of sports teams, and the business people equivalent to a Karen and Ken. Now the two business groups started going, like you said, crazy. I saw the Karen backhand someone so hard their neck snapped, and her rival looked bored of the whole situation. The jock team is gone, wiped out, by a group of people with red eyes. That's why I asked you before if you had seen them. Alex and I, just want to get through this with a clean conscience, so if we can help, then we'd like to." Sol responded in a placating manner.

"How could that many survive? Demons attacked only moments after we had been summoned! Only a few of us had managed to reach the statue. Then we had to run!" It was the prep boy who spoke, this time, following both the boys inside the restaurant they had chosen as a hiding place.

Only four more kids were immediately around, but both Alex's and Sol's eyes were immediately attracted by the bleeding figure on a table.

It was an older man, his once black or perhaps brown hair streaked gray and matted by sweat to his pale face. There was blood pooling around him, a lot and all stemming from a nasty gash across his thigh.

Sol practically let out a hiss of phantom pain seeing the wound. "That's a femoral cut, no wonder there's so much blood." He said before holding out the star, "I can heal with this, do you all trust me?" He asked the group.

"What if that makes him go crazy!?" A girl asked, her voice tight.

"It won't, I've tried myself." Sol lied, but they didn't need to know that.

The kids didn't look convinced. Alex decided to cut the problem at the root. "Look, we don't have either the equipment or the experience to heal him. We either take our chances with something both he and I KNOW will work or he's gonna die. What's it gonna be?!"

Probably it was cruel of him to ask this to a group of terrified school kids, but the time really was short and he didn't have the patience to let someone die when he could save them. More or less.

"Al…alright." The goth began, "But we're watching you." he finished while gesturing with his pipe.

"That's cool." Sol said, before kneeling next to the teacher.

"His breathing is shallow… How much blood has he lost? Alright, let's get some good karma and good luck for the future." He thought before taking the vitality star and placing it in Mr. Riker's hand.

"Mr. Riker if you can hear me, my name is Sol and what I want you to do is crush down on the star in your hands with all your strength. Can you do that for me?" Sol asked softly.

There was no verbal response, but the older man's eyes were partially open and his grip on the star began to tighten until a small creaking noise began to make itself known. This continued briefly before the star shattered in his hand. The light inside and the shards began to flow into the injured teacher and Sol watched in astonishment as the blood began to cease flowing and the wound closed in on itself.

"Not even a scar." Sol said quietly and watched as the teacher's breathing became more relaxed and eased.

"I think he'll be out of it for a little while… we'll talk with the others outside. Can you all watch over your teacher until he wakes up?" Sol asked the group inside the restaurant. They nodded mutely too, to which Sol responded, "Okay cool, we'll just be outside."

Leaving the restaurant Sol looked at Alex and then the two students. "He'll make a full recovery, if you guys escape this place alive, although he won't have a cool scar to show off to his co-workers or at family gatherings. Now, you mentioned earlier that you were part of another group, and how a majority of the people there went crazy after using the Divinity statues right? Did any of you do so?"

"We didn't have the time." The goth said bitterly. " Only some of us managed before the monsters attacked. And they were mostly the teachers. They remained back to stop the monster, while Mr. Riker guided us toward someplace safe. Not that it mattered." He spat on the ground.

"We got attacked again. And again. And we started… losing people… when the attacks…" He started sniffing, tears collecting in his eyes.

"We understand, look this isn't easy for you all, but you're still alive and haven't lost it like the others so that's good. Alex and I have been traveling…" Sol pauses briefly, trying to understand how to say this part properly.

"Technically down is up and up is down here. So, we've been heading up in this place despite physically heading downwards. I know it doesn't make sense, believe me, my head hurts just thinking about it."

"Don't confuse them too much." Alex muttered toward Sol, before turning towards the Goth boy.

"Look… What's your name? I can't keep thinking of you as Gothboy in my head, it's getting kinda silly." Alex appeared vaguely embarrassed about his question, but he didn't know what else to do.

The goth sniffled, before answering. "Name's Kurt."

"Okay. Look, Kurt. I'm not going to tell you where we are, because I'm not sure myself. I'm gonna give you a couple of pieces of information, though: First, I'm sure that whoever or whatever brought us here didn't have our best interests in mind. Second, I'm sure that the discounted version of a power at the statue - you'll see if and/or when you reach another one, trust me - are not to be trusted. Third, the monsters that have been attacking your group can be defeated and even killed. We would know." He smiled thinly. "We've done it."

"Many times." Sol affirmed before placing several items on the table. It was his gun, hand axe, and knife. "You guys need better weapons. Now the handgun cost me 1,000 orbs, and the dagger and hand axe are 250 each. Now, following up on what Alex said, any item or power except the Vitality Stars that have an 'L' prefix next to them should be avoided at all costs. In regards to the vitality star, that's just a denotation of size. I used a Large variant on Mr. Riker."

"Does that mean that you're going to be weaker at the start? Yes." Alex raised a hand before the inevitable protests started. "Listen. Do you remember what the Voice said at the start? The power that's inside you right now is something that has been lent to you. It's not yours. Whatever entity has given it to you, they can most probably recall it back whenever they want."

Sol nodded and followed Alex's train of thought, "So the trick is to cultivate your own power without using those discounted boosts. Buy weapons, blue orbs, and save up for the non-discounted physical and magical power boosts. Also if you see a red portal thing by a statue, use it. That's a way to a place called Gates of Hell. Before you say anything, I know what it sounds like, but it's a bar that doubles as a better place to get weapons."

Alex held Calcabrina in his hands and unsheathed the sword. "Very, very good weapons." He smirked, before closing it back again.

"Any questions? Yes, you all of you inside, too. I can hear your breathing. You lot aren't as silent as you think, especially in your numbers."

Sol gave a look to Alex. He hadn't… oh... right.

A voice called out from the restaurant, "What did you mean about Red Eyes?"

Alex winced. "Yeah, okay, so. There are at least two more groups of people that have been summoned. Probably more. We only know that a group of six people have red eyes and like slaughtering others. Nothing more. So, pay attention and try to stay safe. DON'T try to fight them: their last handiwork was… what, around thirty people, more or less." Again, Alex winced, before shrugging sheepishly.

Sol responded in a shaky voice "Yeah, I'd say about thirty people. They were a, uh mix sports teams maybe not all that much older than you guys. Made their own group and seemed pretty stable. Alex and I were checking out a building in a city square not all that far from here when it happened. Didn't even hear it, next thing we knew, we're walking outside and there were just… bodies everywhere. So if you do see them, hide and hide well. Not telling if they're human or demon, but they're a danger either way."

Silence greeted that answer before the sounds of someone walking away could be heard. Several someones. Alex looked pretty contrite but didn't say anything.

Prep boy looked green, while Kurt had to take a couple - well, more than a couple - of deep breaths before he could continue speaking.

"Thanks… for the information. Is There… there anything else that we should know?" His voice was still a bit shaky. Information overload and fear, probably.

Sol nodded before continuing, "Watch out for the two business groups that started out with us. Their leaders are definitely not all there in the head anymore. I don't know if they'll try to kill you or pressure you into their service, so just stay well clear of them."

Finished, Sol looked around before asking, "You mentioned divinity statues earlier. Is there any in the place? We've been looking into resupplying and well there seems to be a pretty good chance of one being here."

It was the prep boy that answered that question. He sounded a bit like he was a singer. "The… uh, the Gamestop on the other side of the mall. I saw it there when we were running." He was sweating nervously.

Alex nodded. "Thanks. Look, we're going there. If we see any big demon or a big group, we'll try and see if we can take care of it. Either way, we're going to come back and tell you what happened, okay? You try to keep safe and, more importantly, healthy. Eat something, if one of you can cook. And don't leave the gas open. An explosion is going to be dangerous, especially now."

With that, he turned and started walking down the hallway, near the railings.

As Sol began to follow after Alex, Kurt called out. "What did he mean about demons?"

Sol turned, lifting up his visor to give them a serious look. "These are demons, no other explanation for them. Hell, that power-up we told you to avoid is called 'Demonic Strengthening.' Just be careful from here on and take those weapons with you. They're not the strongest, but they're useful and the pistol doesn't need to be reloaded." Sol finished before catching up with Alex.

"Okay, so they didn't know that these were demons and they kinda asked me about that. Kinda generalized an answer but what can you do, right?"

"Yeah. It was a lapsus, I didn't want to say that. But it slipped out." Alex nodded at Sol, before looking forward, towards the other side of the mall. "A statue. You should have a lot of Orbs to spend, no? Any plans on what to buy?"

"A replacement pistol for starters. Then I want to head to Gates of Hell and use the component parts, get better weapons if possible, and then some better abilities for them. You?" Sol asked.

"Eh, I have only a little remaining, but I think I want the next level of both magic skills and something for Calcabrina. Maybe the Mystical Enhancement, too. Who knows." Alex shrugged, before twirling the umbrella like a baton. "I was always horrible with money."

"Well... I'm still sorry you didn't have more to work with, I'll try to get you as much as you need." Sol said quietly before they two came upon Gamestop.

"Dude, just stop. You saved my life, you help continuously, you don't have anything to do to repay me. We'll probably end up saving each other a few more times before the end of whatever this is." Alex shook his head, before looking at the Gamestop with a small smile.

"You know what? Fuck it. After the shit we've been through and will go through, I'd say the bastard who sent us here owes us another we 100% discount, no?" Sol asked.

"Oh, definitely. Now, if I remember correctly, most of the new games are in the back. But first…" And he went to the hanger where the cards for the online stores were before taking them all.

"So, I'm going to split these two in half. I'm going for Playstation and Nintendo, you?" Alex continued.

"PSN mainly. I jumped off the Xbox train when Bloodborne was coming out. Not repeating the same mistake as I did with Demon's Souls. Now, I wonder if they have anything that I was putting off for wish list purposes." Sol responded while looking at various shelves.

"I have NO idea. But I'm going to take a couple of things I wanted and never got. The Final Fantasy with Zack as the protagonist, the new TWEWY, probably a couple more. I wanna browse before choosing anything. Oh, and maybe a new console or two, if there are any."

While he talked, he had split the bounty in two. The PSN ones were split in half, and so were the Nintendo ones. "Here we go, half and half. Maybe look if there's a new Switch for you, too. It has some great games." Alex said as he waved his hands towards him, before pocketing - in the inventory - his part of the loot till now. He handed the other half towards Sol. Then, Alex blinked.

"Ohhh, check if there are games that are only in this… dimension or whatever. I'm gonna assume that they won't have Devil May Cry and Bayonetta here."

Taking his share, Sol sighed. "Didn't even think of that. It really would be too easy for us to get more of an inside track than what we already have." Sol said somewhat bitterly. "Still, thanks for thinking about that."

"You know, I'm happy to have known you. Even with the whole.. thing. You're kinda great, as a person and as a friend." Alex said after a few minutes had passed.

Sol responded, "You too man, thank you for having my back for all this time." A note of genuine happiness in his voice.

"Always. There are a few things that can create a strong friendship, but facing a Demon Boss together definitely counts." Alex was smirking, clearly proud of having done… something.

"Damn straight, let's keep the good times rolling on that and we'll be able to enjoy all this, cause I don't know about you, but I'll take these as a consolation prize." Sol said.

"Still better than a t-shirt." Alex chuckled, before looking around. "Did you see the statue? This place is bigger than the one near my home, so I'm not sure where the counter is."

He started looking on the shelves for interesting games while walking, stopping a couple of times to check a couple of things that looked interesting, and found that the statue was in the back, between the shelves of boxes that were still packed up.

"Well, we found the unopened stuff and the Divinity Statue, you think a Gates of Hell is around here too?" Sol asked.

"I mean, it could?" Alex had several games in his hands when he answered, blinking owlishly. "The other time we found them, they were near a Statue. It looks like a pattern, so it's worth a try, no?" His question made sense.

"But first, use the statue, maybe?" He nodded his head towards the lion-headed woman.

"Alright," Sol stated before touching the statue. The white void greeted him and he addressed the statue briefly, scrolling through the weapons menu until he came across the option of Enchanted Pistol. Watching his Red Orb count drop by 1,000 points, he bid the statue goodbye and reality returned to normal.

"I'm saving up for what sort of abilities I might get when we meet back with Rodin." Sol stated simply.

Alex raised his hands in the gesture of surrender. "Your money, your choices." Alex said as he started walking towards the statue, before stopping and turning his head towards the doors.

"Something's coming. Let's go and see who."

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

The final checking of the chapter fought me like you wouldn't believe. I had thought, that I had completed the final checks and revisions a few days ago. Buuuuut as I went through it this evening, it turns out that that wasn't the case. Due to the lateness of this chapter, the next one will be up on either this coming Saturday or Sunday.

Now, to discuss THE big event of this chapter. All that I really plan on saying at this moment in time, is that Alex is not an exception in this Mimicry-Hell. He's another rule. One that has its fair share of consequences.

 

[Anon-Echo98]

Well, this was an enjoyable binge-read, hoping to see more in the future.

Also, can't help but have a mental image of the Geryon fusion resulting in hooves for our umbrella-wielding chap

 

[Nick Terakidan]

I look forward to more of this