Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex Fan Fiction / Bleach Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction ❯ Back togther again ❯ The First Target ( Chapter 2 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]
By: theoryofaninvisibleman
Fayt tells them who there first target is after a small brawl and has to put his plains on hold in order to help the first person that he asked for help.

Anime/Manga: Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex Fan Fiction / Bleach Fan Fiction / Naruto Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Thriller / Hentai / Adventure / Action | Type: Fanfiction Sequel | Uploaded On: 07.20.2008 | Updated On: 07.27.2008 | Pages: 9 | Words: 17.8K | Visits: 183 | Status: Work In Progress

Authors Notes~~~
As you all know by know I don't own any of the characters, show, or anything else in this story I could be sued for except for the character Artemis who is from the deepest reaches of my mind alone.
 
 
“Come on there should be a hotel around this corner,” Fayt said as he led the group down the alley and past another two before going down a third.
“Damn it all, I got bad directions,” Fayt said once he saw that instead of finding a hotel he find a two story building that had a large neon sign that read `Devil May Cry'.
“What is this place?” Mirage asked upon seeing the sign.
“The owner is a devil hunter and I think that I may have actually sent us to another completely different dimension than ours',” Fayt said. “Wait here while I go get some new directions.” And with that Fayt went into the building.
“Welcome can I help you?” A tall woman in a leather outfit asked from where she was sitting on the corner of a large desk.
“Trish who is it?” A voice called out from the second floor of the building.
“We may have a customer Dante,” Trish called up to him.
“Finally,” Dante said as he jumped over the railing and landed comfortable in his chair behind his desk.
“Hello Dante, the names Fayt. And I just might have a job for you if you can handle this,” Fayt said as he summoned his sword.
“Well this could be a fun party. Alright lets rock,” Dante said as he jumped over his desk grabbing his custom handguns Ebony and Ivory and sliding them into there holsters while Trish tossed him his sword Rebellion.
“Como on lets dance,” Dante said as Fayt rushed him. The sound of there swords rang in the building and spark flew from the blades as the pushed away from each other. Dante was first to recover and jumped into the air before coming down with a strong overhead chop towards Fayt, who quickly raised his sword to defend against the fierce attack only to be forced down to one knee.
“What's the matter kid, where'd all that steam of yours go to?” Dante question.
“Right here!” Fayt said as he pushed Dante off of him and charged him again. This time however Fayt was faster than Dante expected and smashed him in the face with his fist. Dante countered by sending a punch to Fayt ribs when Fayt knocked his blade out of the way and threw his fist up and caught Dante with an uppercut. Dante quickly pulled out Ebony and blasted at Fayt. Fayt saw the shots coming and moved his long sword in the path of the bullets.
“Not bad. You're better than I thought a normal human could be,” Dante said as Fayt moved his blade out of the way.
“And for a half demon you're not bad yourself. But I've defeated a half demon that was stronger than you,” Fayt said as he charged again. Dante blocked his blade and his fist fond its way to Fayts' stomach. With all the demon force Dante put into he didn't even hear a single bone fracture and this got Dantes' full attention focused on the fight. Fayt was pushed back a little but simple knocked Dantes' blade from his hands and thrust his sword at Dantes' heart. The only thing he hit though was air as Dante moved out of the way and now had both Ebony and Ivory set against the back of Fayts' head.
“Didn't anyone every tell you that guns were dangerous,” Fayt said as ducked below Dantes' guns and knocked both of them out of his hands with his sword, then placing his sword on Dantes' shoulder with the blade towards his neck.
“Never assume your enemy is defenseless,” Dante said as he quickly smashed Fayt in the stomach although this time he was now had a pair of gauntlets and grieves on.
“This is my devil arm Gilgamesh. Are you ready for round two?” Dante asked as drill point dropped down from each of his wrist.
“Actually you win,” Fayt said as he let his sword dissipate.
“What?”
“Yeah I just had to see if you could go a while with me.”
“So does that mean we have a new job?” Trish asked from the desk.
“Actually this is for Dante only but if he says you can come I don't care.”
“First how about you tell me about this job,” Dante said as he collected his weapons and sat back down.
“Well you might not believe this but there is this race of, from what I can gather anyway, intergalactic machine creatures that are trying to destroy all life in this galaxy in every dimension,” Fayt said as he materialized a chair for himself.
“Well what do you want me to do about it; I can't exactly fight in space now can I?” Dante said propping his feet up on his desk.
“Actually we and my friends outside are collecting materials to finish a set of machine suits that will allow seven people that I chose to fight these things off. Me being one of the pilots and you another if you take the job,” Fayt said casually as he summoned a ball of light and let it float lazily around him. Then back outside Albel was getting impatient as always.
“What the hell is taking him so long? Can he not read a map or something?” Albel questioned as he slashed one of the nearby walls to relieve some of his rage.
“Just chill out man, he'll probably be out in no time,” Cliff said pacing the alley. But the conversation inside was not going Fayts' way.
“What is the payment for this job?”
“Well you get the supreme satisfaction of knowing you help save this galaxy and all its' dimensional counterparts inhabitants.”
“Not good enough, start talking money or get out.”
“Fine I'll take care of all of your existing debts and pay you 100,000 dollars in cash upon us defeating the machine army. Is that more along the lines of what you had in mind?” Fayt asked grabbing the ball of light and smashing it in his hand.
“That will be adequate I think, don't you Trish?” Dante asked grabbing his coat.
“Absolutely,” She said as she also got her two guns.
“Finally,” Fayt said as he got up. Although as soon as he stood up the front doors of Dantes' place went flying past him and a man walked in that looked surprisingly like Dante appeared.
“Nero, I didn't think I would ever see you hear, what brings you by?” Dante asked before he was suddenly grabbed by Neros' Devil Bringer arm.
“Give me back Yamato you jackass!!!” The man named Nero roared at Dante before he threw him across the room.
“What the hell are you talking about kid?” Dante asked as he pushed himself off of the wall he was thrown at.
“Kyrie said that a white hared man that looked like me swiped Yamato from our room a few nights ago. She said he moved to fast to be human and he punched straight threw the gate out of town. Only you or I could have done that so it had to have been you who stole the sword.”
“Stupid it wasn't me search the place if you don't believe me but I haven't been back to that town of yours. Oh, hello there Ms. Kyrie,” Dante said once he spotted her behind Nero.
“Nero I don't think it was Dante who stole the sword, and I said it was someone who looked like the two of you,” She said softly from behind him.
“Shit, sorry Fayt this is going to have to wait but I think my brother may be back,” Dante said as he went to leave his office.
“Fayt are you okay in there?” Sophia asked as Nel somersaulted over Neros' head and landed beside Fayt with both blades dawn and in the ready.
“Don't worry Nel everything is under control there was just a small misunderstanding, good news is I found the first of our seven pilots,” Fayt said as Nel put her blades away.
“What are you talking about?” She asked whirling around to face him.
“Oops, I guess that I forgot to mention that I also have to find pilots for all the suits and it has to be someone from each of the dimensions that we visit to find the last of the necessary materials,” Fayt said rubbing the back of his head.
“Yeah I guess you did,” She sighed.
“So Dante, these new friends of yours?” Nero asked as his arm stopped glowing.
“No actually there new clients with very deep pockets,” Dante said as he also grabbed the large sword that hung behind his desk.
“What is that thing for?” Nero asked as Dante walked outside and smack dab in the middle of Fayts' group.
“Hello, why the hell are all of you standing outside my place?” Dante asked slightly shocked by the small crowd out side his store.
“Well we sure as hell aren't here for your weak ass,” Albel said pushing past Dante to were Fayt and Nel were standing. He stopped suddenly when he saw the worried look on Fayt and Neros' faces. He turned around just in time to see Dante swing at him. Dante missed by less than a millimeter and Albel smashed him in the chin with his clawed hand. The force of the blow pushed Dante back but didn't bother him.
“Awaken, Gilgamesh!” Dante said as the familiar red, blue, and silver gantlets and grieves appeared on Dante. Dante shot forward with his demon speed and punched at Albel, only this time Albel saw the blow coming and grabbed Dantes' fist with his claw and ran him threw with his sword in his other hand. Albel turned the blade for some extra pain before pulling it out and slashing Dante across his chest. Dante stumbled back as blood fell out of his open stomach and chest wounds and swayed a little before Albel grabbed his head and threw him back into his office threw a window.
“Loser,” Albel stated as he swung his sword to clean of the blood on it.
“I guess I underestimated you just a little,” Dante stated as he walked out of his office the cut in his chest and the hole in his stomach completely healed.
“What the hell are you?” Albel roared.
“Well I guess you could say I'm a half demon, but the real question is what are you?” Dante said as Gilgamesh disappeared from him. His only answer was a huff from Albel.
“Don't do that again please Albel,” Sophia said with a puppy dog stair on her face.
“What every,” Albel said crossing his arms.
“Any way, got any ideas were your brother might be?” Fayt asked, drawing Dantes' attention to him.
“If you don't mind I need to do this myself,” Dante said walking down the street.
“Wow, you must really have pissed him off,” Trish said as she hopped of the neon sing. No one commented but they all followed Dante although after the reached the edge of town Dante suddenly stopped and for good cause. As soon as everyone caught up to him they saw why he had stopped. I what appeared to at one point be a forest there now stood a large castle surrounded by thousands of dead trees.
“What the hell this place isn't suppose to be here?” Fayt said taking a step closer to the forest.
“Stop!!” Nero shouted as a tree branch shot out of the forest and slashed Fayt across his chest. Fayt not even flinching from the attack quickly grabbed the branch and with all his might pulled. To his surprise and everyone else's instead of an old tree coming out of the forest, there was a human size marinate looking creature that came out.
“What the hell is that thing?” Cliff asked as five more jumped out of the forest.
“That would be a tree demon,” Nero replied as he grabbed one with his supernatural arm and smashed on to pieces.
“Will bullets kill them?” Maria asked wiping out her new hand gun that Fayt had used to replace her normal laser pistol.
“Yeah, but only if you can hit them,” Dante said as he slashed one of the demon in half when it lunged at him. One of the demons headed straight for Kyrie, Nero and Dante both pulled out there guns but before ether of them could fire a shot Mirage filled the thing with holes.
“Like that, you mean?” Mirage asked with a hand on her hip.
“Behind you!” Cliff shouted as a demon lunged at Nero. The demon quickly sent a tentacle out that rapped Nero up completely and positioned Nero in front of himself. The only problem was it never saw Cliff move. Everyone else did but by the time the demon heard Cliff, Cliff was bringing his fist down and split the demon in half.
“Not bad,” Nero said ripping the branches from himself. The last demon was determined to hurt one of the strangers and charged Mirage. She saw the creature come and charged it. The move caught the thing off guard and she rand her fist straight threw its torso before pulling it in two.
“I guess this means we should be on our guard and proceed carefully,” Sophia said as Fayt took point and headed into the forest. The rest fell in behind him, and although the forest was quite large it was open now that the trees and shrubbery were all dead. It wasn't long before they were attacked again only this time there was a larger number than the first time. They all encircled Fayt and leapt at him as one. Before anyone could react Fayt had slashed them all to ribbons with a modified version of his long sword. Now his blade separated into two and was long than that of his original blade plus it was wider with jagged teeth down the back.
“Those weren't the same demons as before,” Nero said examining one of the corpses, or at least what was left of it.
“I know they were more of a reptile except for the large dorsal fin on there back,” Fayt said as his sword dissolved into nothingness.
“So which way now oh fearless leader?” Albel said flexing his claw.
“How about a little detour,” Artemis said pointing off to the right.
“Why?” Fayt asked curiously.
“Don't you hear them?” Peppita asked holding her jade rings so they wouldn't make noise.
“Oh, so you heard it two then,” Trish said heading off to the right. The rest were soon behind her. They moved to the right for a ways before resuming there course back to the castle and they soon found that the only bridge was guarded by a very large golem that wasn't about to move.
“So what now?” Cliff asked from were they stood on the edge of the forest.
“Why don't we just force our way threw?” Kyrie asked quietly.
“That isn't a bad idea actually,” Mirage said standing up.
“Alright, would you like to do the honors Artemis,” Nero asked, arms crossed over his chest
“Sure, after all you'll have been hogging all the fun,” He said as he walked out of the forest with a small grin on his face.
“Lets wait here shall we,” Fayt said getting a good view for the action.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” The golem question as Artemis continued to walk up to him.
“Hey, I'm…Talking…To you!!!” The thing roared as it reared back its fist for an attack when Artemis vanished from its sight.
“What the hell?” The golem asked, unaware that standing on top of its head was Artemis.
“Hey buddy, up here,” Artemis said jumping off the things head. By the time the creature already looked up Artemis was coming down to fast for it to stop. His blade raised high above him Artemis delivered one devastating attack that to a normal human would have looked like a flash of light. But to his companions they actually saw hem land nineteen cuts into the creature. Now while it still stood unaware of this Artemis formed a small orb in his hand.
“Goodnight sweet prince,” Was all Artemis said as the sphere shot forward and erupted inside the creature blowing him to dust.
“Well I guess you're not half bad,” Nero said crossing the bridge first. The others were close behind with Fayt bringing up the rear. He was the only one on the bridge when Dante stopped and turned around to face him.
“What?” Fayt asked stopping on the bridge of the mote that surrounded the castle.
“Run Fayt, run!!!” Dante hollered, unfortunately it came too late as a large fish demon jumped out of the water and over the bridge taking Fayt with him. For Fayt although he knew it was coming for appearances he went along with the fish attack, but as soon as the water hit him in his human form he knew that this would have meant trouble only about a month ago now even though he had lost most of the air in his lungs; although, he had enough to pull off what he planed to do. The creature was fast he had to it that however it was stupid and didn't notice the orbs of light that were forming in Fayts' hands and the instant it did Fayt blew the fish into two with a beam attack that exploded in the mote wall behind the bridge. He quickly swam back to the surface since he really didn't want to revert to his glowing white winged angle form in front of Dante and Nero. After all that might cause some very unwanted questions and he didn't want to have brought up in the middle of this problem.
“Damn man, what the hell was that explosion?” Nero asked helping Fayt out of the water.
“The damn thing blew itself up.” Fayt said as he moved his hair out of his eyes.
“Lets move, that thing had to call some attention to us,” Trish said sending a bolt of lighting flying at the lever that held the inner gate to the courtyard closed.
“Should have just shot it,” Dante said when the bolt was pulled of target by a lightning rob. And when her attack hit the lightning rob she did just that.
“Just so were clear I didn't miss, my shot was forced off target,” Trish said holstering her gun.
“Of course,” Dante said walking threw the gate, the rest were close behind him.
The castle was huge and it was all so clear to everyone once they were actually in the courtyard looking up to the peak of the ominous towering castle. As they entered the castle they found themselves inside a huge room with six doors set in a stone wall.
“Well who is going to split up with whom?” Albel asked an excited grin spreading across his face as he thought about being able to finally let his new skills he had been working on out on some of these weaklings.
“Well there are twelve of us that can look after ourselves,” Kyrie said speaking up.
“Yeah, so what?” Maria asked crossing her arms.
“So, there will have to be five teams of two and one of three,” Fayt said finishing Kyries' statement.
“So I'll stick with Kyrie,” Nero said as he patted Kyrie on the shoulder.
“I'll go to for back-up reasons,” Mirage said moving over by Nero.
“I'm going with Albel,” Sophia said pulling out her staff.
“And I'm with Arty here,” Peppita said as she jumped up and wrapped her arms around Artemis' neck
“So that leaves me and Nel and then Dante with Trish. And finally Cliff and Maria,” Fayt finished as they all picked a door. Fayt and Nel went threw the door at the far left. Then Albel and Sophia took the next door to the right. Followed by Dante and Trish in the next right door. Mirage, Nero, and Kyrie took the next one, and last Cliff and Maria took the far right door. The each found themselves in a long corridor before branching off into different directions. Cliff and Marias' hall lead them to a dead end, the only problem was that there was an ambush set up. The moment they reached the end of the hallway the walls slid away and a trap door in the ceiling opened up allowing a small army of demons in.
“Damn we let them corner us,” Maria said pulling out her gun.
“Yeah and there are a lot of them. Don't let your guard down,” Cliff said as he rushed headlong into the thick of them. Cliff came in swinging as he punched threw about seven demons and Maria covered him as the demon swarmed them. The sheer number of them was enough to almost over whelm the two of them, but they weren't giving up. Cliff kept punching and kicking his way threw the horde of them when he heard a shriek come from behind him. He quickly jumped above the pack as he tried to make his way back to Maria only to see her be pulled down threw a trap door in the floor. He reached the door just as it closed and tried to force it open to no avail as the demons surrounded him. He paid them no mind as he started to punch the trap door as hard as he could. The demons just stood there and watched until Cliff was to fatigue to even move as he sank to his knees. A couple of demons grabbed him as another trap door opened. The quickly knocked Cliff out as they dragged him down the second trap floor door. Albel and Sophia had somewhat better luck as there corridor lead them to a set of stairs that lead them to a small room which opened out to a balcony. As they stepped onto the balcony a bolt of blue lighting struck a pole at the far end of the ledge. Once the lightning cleared there sat a large leaned creature that stood a towering height of seven foot four inches.
“What the hell is this thing?” Albel asked drawing his sword.
“I think it's another demon,” Sophia said taking a defensive stance.
“Of course I'm a fucking demon you stupid bitch,” He said in an almost metallic voice.
“Well at least you can talk; Although, if you talk to her like that again I swear to all the gods of all the worlds that I will make you death very painful,” Albel said as he unsheathed his sword.
“Are you a demon?” The creature asked pointing one of his electrically charged claws at Albel.
“No, but I am more than capable of killing you,” Albel answered charging him.
“Don't touch him with your sword!” Sophia shouted before she shot a fireball at the demon. As he swung at the demon it burst into a bolt of lightning. The bolt shot around the landing avoiding both of the attacks that had been aimed at him before turning back into the demon above Albel. Albel quickly moved out of the way as the creature slammed into the ground.
“Damn I hope the others are doing a lot better,” Albel said as he moved back by Sophia. She quickly launched another fireball at the lightning demon, although this time he just side stepped it and launched a bolt of lightning at Albel. Albel spun around the attack and ran at the demon. The creature smirked before Albel jumped into the air and heralded his sword at the thing. The demon easily caught the sword before it got smashed by a barrage of fire balls from Sophia. The thing couldn't have done anything to avoid being hit. If he had avoided Sophia he would have been smashed by Albels' sword so even though he didn't notice Sophias' attack it really wouldn't have mattered. The lightning that had previously surrounded his body disappeared as steam poured off of him from were the fire balls had hit him.
“Now Albel, get him while he's vulnerable,” Sophia shouted at him as the demon started to stir. Albel hit the ground and charged the demon. He jumped up and slammed his metal fist into the side of the things face and forced it down to one knee. He pulled his sword free from the thing grasp. The thing looked up as Albel raised his sword and readied for the killing blow.
“To think I was beaten by some stupid bitch and her freak,” The thing said stopping Albel in his tracks. He slowly lowered his swords to his side before his let go of it with his clawed hand. The thing was stunned, but that was what Albel hopped for. Albels' clawed hand shot up to the things throat and squeezed, chocking the demon before he plunged his sword threw the thing stomach and punctured one of its lungs. The demon lost what little breath it had as Albel started to slowly turn the blade inflicting as much pain as possible before ripping the things throat open with his clawed hand and pushed his sword straight threw it stomach, handle and all and part of his arm up till his elbow. Then pulled it out with as much force as he could possible muster.
“Did I not tell that you would suffer if you insulted her again?” Albel question as the thing looked up at him with the last of its strength. The hate in its eyes would have been enough to scare your normal everyday person so much that they would probably kill themselves; however, with Albel he only smirked before he lobbed of the things head.
“Come on, we need to move,” Albel said as they head deeper into the castle.
Nero, Kyrie, and Mirage were doing much better since they had yet to run into any trouble at all. There hallway had lead them to an inner courtyard. The place had tones of trees, flowers, bushes and even a stream that ran threw the middle of the area.
“This is completely strange, and just when I thought this place was weird enough,” Nero said as he pulled out his `Blue Rose' revolver.
“I have a very bad feeling about his place,” Kyrie said grasping her pendent that Nero had given her.
“At least you all knew I was here,” A voice called from what seemed like everywhere.
“Well how about you come and face us,” Mirage said jumping to the top of a nearby tree before jumping off and punching the ground. The force of her attack sent a shock wave that covered the whole courtyard, and it shock the trees' so much that some of the smaller ones toppled over.
“Alright if you insist, then I shall obey. Hope your good enough to defend yourselves,” The voice called as the ground started to shack and crack. Suddenly a large canyon formed cutting threw the stream. As all the water flowed down the chasm eight long tentacles shot up and grabbed the edge of the abyss. Then a large squid like creature pulled itself out of the opening.
“Wow, and here I thought that there was nothing uglier than a frosty toad demon,” Nero said as he rested the barrel of his gun on his shoulder.
“Watch your mouth you fucking half breed,” the creature bellowed as one of its numerous tentacles shot out at Nero. Nero easily dodged the strike when a second tentacle came at him from the right with a third above him. Now of course this would normally not be any means of concern except the demon had its first tentacle at his left was leaving no room for him to move. Not seeing an exit he steeled himself for the oncoming blow that never came. He had closed his eyes as the tentacles moved towards him and the moment he did that and the creature thought it had him Mirage had rushed it slamming he fist as hard as she could into the things side or at least the roundish side that was on her right. The creature stopped instantly as the force of her blow pushed him off the ground a few centimeters. Nero was stunned as he saw the thing hunched over with Mirages' fist still pressed against its side.
“Damn, you're stronger than you look,” Nero said slashing the three tentacles that were lying around him to shreds and shook the demon back to reality.
“Damn it all to hell!!!!! Fuck that hurt you ass,” The thing roared as it smashed Mirage with one of its tentacles. The shear force of the blow pushed her well into the ground and knocked her unconscious.
“Hey slim ball. Come and fight a far fight,” Nero said as he jumped into the air then used his Devil Bringer to pull him straight into the thing as he cranked his Red Queen up. The moment he was upon the thing he squeezed the handle bar causing the blade to burst into flames as he cut clean threw the squid. As he pushed his way threw the things back he used his arm to flip himself around and come back at the creature. This time; however, his used his devil powers to pull himself above the creature before shooting the incendiary liquid over his sword completely and slashing the creature clean in two. As the creature withered and squirmed Kyrie ran to Mirage hoping to try and help her. As the creature dissolved into a large puddle of multicolored slime Mirage rolled onto her side as she tried to pick herself up only to fall back to the hard earth as her arms and her legs were to wobbly to support her.
“Kyrie help support her right side and I'll help her left so we can get out of here,” Nero said as they moved to the far side of the room were a door sat.
Peppita and Artemis had a somewhat less challenging path as theirs' only lead them to a stair case that lead down below the complex. The path had lead them to another corridor although now there were no candles, no torches, no window to allow moonlight in, nothing, There was just the pure untamed darkness that spread around them. Peppita grabbed Artemis' arm as soon as they entered the corridor.
“There isn't anything to worry about when you're with me,” Artemis said softly as he created a flame in his hand to light up the corridor.
“Right,” She said returning his smile as he led the way down the hallway. As they continued walking they eventually came to a large underground courtyard. The small fire that Artemis held couldn't light the areas ceiling or the far wall making the room appear to go on forever in front and above them.
“Wow!!! This place is huge,” Peppita said in awe of the sheer size of the place and at the fact that something this large existed underground.
“Get down!!” Artemis yelled as he pulled Peppita to the ground with him as three blades whizzed past there heads and imbedded themselves deep into the wall behind them.
“Stay low while I draw them out,” Artemis said as he bound to his feet before launching a very large fireball the temporarily lit a large portion of the room up; however, it still wasn't able to light the entire room up. The blast headed in the direction of the blades when three large hollowed screams came from the shadows and extinguished the fireball.
“So you don't like fire huh?” Artemis questioned into the darkness. With a small smirk he dashed forward to where his fireball had been extinguished then jumped into the air were he made flames erupt from his body. The flames that surrounded him soon began to circle him and turned from the normal glow of red to a fierce blue as they increased in intensity. As the flames continued to swirl in there fixed vortex they increased yet again to a blazing white and formed an even larger circle around him this time he was lighting up the majority of the room. The shire power of the flames alone was turning the ground below him black. Now when the shrieks came the pushed against his flames but were unable to extinguish this. A small smirk crossed his face as he started spinning with the vortex making it go even fast. The shrieks soon died away for a few minutes only to come back with an even strong force that Artemis couldn't have predicted and where so strong they completely decimated the flames and caught Artemis in a swirling vortex of sound. The very power of the vortex and the speed that the sound was moving made it impossible for Artemis to move in his human form.
“Stop…fucking…with…me!!!” Artemis shouted over the raging sounds as his skin pealed away as his dragon form emerged and with a single flap of his giant wings put a sudden end to the vortex of sound.
“Now die!!” Artemis shouted as he reared back his head before launching a streak of fire where he felt one of the shrieks came form. There was a painful screech as the flames ran into something. He repeated this as he launched his flaming breath in a second direction to the same effect; however, before he could do this a third time two glowing figures jumped onto him.
“What the hell are you two?” Artemis questioned as he swiped at one with his claw and knocking one to the ground. Another shriek echoed from the darkness as the two glowing figures moved away from Artemis and the moment they were out of his claw attack he was hit by a powerful pressure in his chest, knocking him down onto his back. Although he wasn't completely unconscious, he wasn't able to move out of the way as the two creatures lacked back onto him. This time around they started glowing a light shade of white before he roared in pain.
“Artemis, what is it? What are they doing to you?” Peppita said as she rushed towards Artemis.
“Stop…stay away…AAAAAAHHHH!!!!” He hollered as they continued to glow brighter. Soon the creatures became small glowing white spheres and his screams got louder until he stopped shouting. It was visible the creatures were still trying to cause as much pain as possible before they started to get dimmer until they were nothing more than an outline against his large body. The moment they were barely visible he melted back to his human form and grab both the creatures in a strangle hold. The creatures weren't visible scared by this move however that changed quickly when he literally shattered on of the creatures to pieces by throwing the thing to the ground.
“So you destroyed on of my puppets, hmm,” Came a mysterious voice from the darkness that covered the ceiling.
“Show yourself before I start getting anger,” Artemis said as he decimated the second doll in his grasp. He whirled around just in time to see the third doll struck at him, but he quickly spun around the doll, formed his sword and sliced the thing in two.
“Well, well, well aren't you the violent one,” the voice called from the darkness. “However while you were taking out my puppet, they were able to wrap you in my demon threads. Which means you are my puppet now,” the voice called as Artemis found his body was not responding to his at all.
“Now then, since you are mine. Let us see exactly what you are capable of.” The creature called as it dropped to the floor in front of Artemis.
“Now you will take that sword of yours and plunge it threw your chest.” As soon as the command left its' mouth Artemis arm raised and flipped his blade before positioning it over the center of his chest. Then in one flooded motion his arm plunged the blade threw his chest. Blood dripped to out of the wounds and trickled out the corners of his mouth.
“Artemis, where are you?” Peppita called out into the darkness.
“Answer her.”
The muscles in Artemis' jaw twitched almost into a smile that made the puppet controller gave a look of bewilderment.
“What the hell are you grinning at you stupid fuck,” the creature said before Artemis started to admit the familiar red and white glow over his skin.
“What are you doing no one can use any of there powers in my web. I am the Puppeteer Master Bensito,” it said before one of his threads disintegrated, then another and another until all the treads were nothing ash.
“Now you die for this,” Artemis said charging the puppet master and in one fluid move he ripped the sword out of his chest and cut the puppet master in half. A small smile crossed his face until the two halves shattered like the other puppets. The pieces that were left fell silently to the ground as Peppita came running up to him.
“Stop!” He shouted as one arm flew up erecting a barrier around her.
“Artemis what's the matter?” Peppita questioned placing her hands against the barrier. Artemis didn't reply as he scanned the darkness for any signs of movement when a bolt of lightning came flying at him.
“To slow,” he said as he quickly rushed past the bolt and followed the direction it had come from only to find a wall waiting for him.
“Damn this has to be a trap,” Artemis said as he whirled around and placed his back towards the wall. It wasn't long before another lightning bolt shot towards him from his left; he quickly pressed himself against the wall as the bolt shot past him. As he went to move away from the wall he felt something hold his arms and waist to the wall.
“What the hell is this,” he questioned as he tried to pull himself off the wall only to be held tightly in place. After a few minutes of struggling he went lip against the chains when he heard clapping coming from his right.
“I'm quite impressed by you,” a tall figure said as it walked towards him. “After all I don't encounter many who have the power to break away from my puppet let alone destroy it; however, you seem able to do both. I want to know what you are.” The thing said as he grabbed Artemis by his hair and slammed his head into the break wall behind him.
“I'm your worst nightmare come to life,” Artemis said as he spat blood at the things face.
“You're such a vulgar creature,” the thing said as it wiped the blood of its crystal black skin.
“You we killed you, how the hell can you be alive! Answer me Oblivion!!!” Artemis screamed as he started thrashing wildly.
“I am not this Oblivion person you speak of. My name is Montari Obsidia,” the crystal figure said snapping Artemis back to his collected self as he slammed his fist into his stomach.
“Then I hope you have made peace with this world,” Artemis said as he started trying to pull his arms away from the wall again.
“Why bother with that? If you keep it up you'll cut your hands off,” the creature said as Artemis continued to fight against the invisible strings. The wall that the cords were in wasn't going to give and the muscles in Artemis' arm were being pushed to there limit.
“You don't posses the power to break free.”
“Is that what you think? He replied as he continued to push. Montaris' attention was drawn to the wall when he heard a small cracking sound. And to his shock the section of wall around Artemis was beginning to crack away.
“How are you doing this? STOP IT!!! You can't be this strong.”
“Now die!!!” Artemis shouted as the wall shattered to pieces behind him. As the wall crumbled to the floor his restrains vanished and the world slowed to a crawl around him and Montari.
“What the hell is this?” Montari questioned as Artemis began to move towards him.
“This is your grave, don't you recognize it?” Artemis mocked as he materialized a sword. Montari back away from Artemis as fast as he could only to always find Artemis standing the same distance away from him and slowly closing the distance between them.
“Stay away from me you monster.” Montari commanded as he fired a ball of ice at Artemis, as the ball hit him it froze his left arm and part of his side only to instantly melt.
“Monster. I haven't been called that in a long time; however, that term no longer holds power over me.”
“Just shut up and die!!!!!” Montari shouted as he fired a barrage of ice balls at Artemis. This time he stopped moving as they surrounded him. Montari moved his arms causing the orbs to encircle Artemis. Artemis closed his eyes as the ice balls started to move so fast that they appeared to be a tornado.
“So pathetic,” Artemis mumbled to himself as the orbs moved to attack him. Montari let out a malicious laugh until the orbs that were surrounding Artemis shattered like the stone wall had. Montari was speechless as Artemis dashed forward. Artemis's approach snapped Montari back to life and in panic Montari started fire another barrage of ice balls at Artemis who dodged all of the orbs the second before they hit him. Montari let out a bloodcurdling scream as Artemis came at him and sliced him clean in two. Artemis quickly spun around and let loose a flurry of swings, slicing Montari to bits and decorating the area around them in his blood and pieces. The world returned to normal as he moved back to were Peppita was waiting in the barrier he had made.
“Your okay,” Peppita said relieved that Artemis was uninjured.
“Of course I'm alright. After all I can't die,” Artemis said as he let down the barrier.
“Every one can die you just won't die from ageing,” Peppita said looking down.
“I shall never leave you as long as you stand by me,” Artemis said as he raised her chin so she was looking deep into his eyes.
“Lets get moving now.” They both said together as they left the room threw a doorway on the other side. Artemis lead the way again as he created another flame in the palm of his hand.
Dante and Trish had headed down there hallway, which led them to a set of stairs that took them down a few floors to another hallway that spiraled downward towards the center of the castle. At the end of the hallway they found themselves in a large cylinder like room that shot up to far for them to see, which is pretty far considering both of them have super human eye sight. The room itself was quite large and filled with machines that had flashing lights and data displayed.
“What the hell is this place?” Trish asked pulling one of her guns out.
“I don't know but I have a bad filling about those things,” Dante said pointing to a row of pods that ran around the room. Most of the pods were empty however some held human looking demons in them. As Dante and Trish looked around the room there attention was quickly drawn to the walls as they heard something slide against the stone walls.
“There!” Dante shouted as he pulled out both guns and turned towards an opening that appeared in the wall. He quickly moved in front of Trish when he saw Maria and Cliff come flying out of the wall at high speed. She reacted faster than Dante because as Maria and Cliff shot over there heads two pods opened ready to catch the two of them but Trish blasted both pods full of holes before they could. When Cliff and Maria hit the pods they simply fell out as the pods were no longer operational. Cliff fell on his head coming awake while Maria just curled into a ball and stayed asleep.
“Okay, I saw that happening differently in my mind,” Dante said as he and Trish walked over to Cliff and Maria.
“Hey, where the hell are we now?” Cliff asked as he shock Maria awake.
“Don't know. But my guess is that were in the heart of this place now,” Trish said helping Maria to her feet as she woke up. Cliff filled Dante and Trish in on how they ended up where they did; or at least his best.
“That was when I started to pound away…” He broke off as they heard footsteps approaching fast from different directions. Dante shot Trish a quick glance and she created an EMP field and shot it out towards the lights. The whole room went dark as they hid behind a couple of computers, and soon one of the entrances was lit up by a free floating flame another emitted a bright glowing white light while the others remained dark. Dante, Maria, and Trish all pulled there guns out ready for a fight until Cliff stood up casually.
“Put those away it's the Calvary.”
“What are you talking about?” Trish said maliciously.
“It's our friends,” Maria said as she calmed down and listened to the sounds of the foot steps.
“Hey, Artemis you made it,” Sophia said as she came out of the tunnel next to Artemis with Albel right behind her.
“And so did the two of you. Hey Cliff, is Fayt here?” Artemis called into the darkness before Cliff and the others came out of the darkness.
“Not yet, but I think that he should be here before to long as well as Nero and the others.” Cliff said as Artemis scratched his chin. It wasn't even a minute after he finished and Trish made the lights come on that they heard footsteps again only this time they were irregular.
“Hey we got company and by the sound of it one isn't completely uninjured,” Albel said as he pressed himself against the lip of another of the tunnels.
“Chill Albel there isn't anyone else coming immediately for you to kill or fight,” Artemis said taking all the wind out of Albels' sails. And he was right as it turned out to be Nero and Kyrie supporting Mirage.
“Mirage are you alright?” Cliff questioned as he pushed Nero away from Mirage and helping her sit down.
“Fine but I think I may have broken a rib or two and twisted both ankles,” She said as Sophia came over. Cliff gave Sophia a quick glance. Sophia returned a smile and waved her wand over Mirage as a faint white and blue light shimmered from it. The bruises that were on Mirage an easily visible were healed and here breathing became even again.
“Thanks,” Mirage said as she stood up and stretched her legs to kind them completely healed.
“Who never seen an actual healer before most of our stuff is from alchemist,” Dante said as he showed everyone one of his green life amulets.
“I wonder what Fayt and Nel are doing to be taking so long to get here?” Artemis asked as he sat down cross-legged. The fact was actually one that would probable upset most of the group as Fayt and Nel were actually taking there time to make there way threw the huge maze the mansion was.
“So Fayt, what is this place exactly?” Nel asked as they walked threw a doorway into what could have once been a bed room, as there was a fireplace and four pillars that could have once held curtains for a bed.
“It's actually a mansion from another demotion, and like us it isn't suppose to be here. However I fear that this is due to the reapers affect on the different dimensions. Mostly because of the fact they exist in every dimension if one of them is destroyed in one dimension then all of its counterparts in the other dimensions are also destroyed with it. That is why we need to mass all of our forces in one dimension and hit them with everything we have as hard as we can and as fast as we can,” Fayt said. “Of course that doesn't answer your question does it? I would say this mansion is a gateway to hell and whatever dimension it came out of is probably glade it's gone. However if we can destroy the evil entity that resides in this place then it should return to its own dimension evil free.”
The had never broken pace during Fayts' little rant, but at least she now knew a good deal more about there new enemy and some about the mansion. The path they had chosen eventually led them to a large bridge that spanned the length of a large circular room.
“Wow, this place is huge!” Nel shouted down into the darkness of the room and listened to her echo as it bounced off of the walls.
“You think that's cool you should look up,” Fayt said with his neck craned up. Nel coped the motion and to her surprise.
“What the hell is that thing!?!?!” Nel shouted going to take a step back only to lose her balance and fall onto her ass. Hanging from the ceiling was a large centipede like creature with a head like a lion except for the two large horns that sprouted out of the side of its head and then curled up. Its body and an almost diamond like coating to it with about sixteen body segments that were roughly the size of a compact car, and legs that looked as if they could easily slice threw a person.
“That would be the cause of the dimensional tear between where this place should be and where it is,” Fayt said as he pulled Nel to her feet.
“Shouldn't we kill it or something along those lines?”
“Of course; however, if we fought it here the only way to go would be down and I really don't feel like falling that far down today.
“Then were to?” Nel asked as Fayt slowly and very casually walked to the door on the other side of the bridge.
“To met up with the others of course at the bottom of this pit. This door should lead to a stair way that goes all the way down to the bottom,” Fayt said crossing the threshold of the door. Nel was right behind him as they headed down a hallway that stretched of to the right with a slight drop in the floor. It took them about half an hour for them to travel all the way down the rounded hallway before they came to a sharp right that leveled off and lead Fayt to an outstretched sword that nearly took his head off had he not knocked it away with a rising vertical slash from his sword. He let his sword vanish after he saw that it was Albel who had had the blade out.
“Glad to see all of you here and in one piece. If you would kindly fire a couple of rounds straight up Dante, we can move this along quite quickly and finish this whole mess.” Fayt said taking a very professional tone. Trish gave Dante a sideways glance and he shrugged in response before firing about thirty shots at the ceiling.
“Is that it? No falling monsters, no screams o—” Dante was cut of as a blood curdling roar echoed from the top of the room.
“You all are going to want to step inside this tunnel.” Fayt said before Nel and he quickly dashed inside the tunnel. The others exchanged slight glances before a piece of falling debris almost hit Dante. That was all the encouragement they all needed to shot inside the tunnel with Fayt and Nel. The large creature landed in the middle of the room smashing all of the computer and machines, including the pod to pieces when it landed.
“Hey, umm, what the hell is that thing exactly?” Cliff asked as the let out a ferocious roar.
“It looks like a giant centipede,” Sophia asked as its back was turned.
“Really then what would you say is up with its head?” Albel asked as the thing turned around and slashed a long cut threw the wall above there tunnel with one of its huge legs.
“Can we kill this thing now?” Dante asked as Lucifer appeared on his back and a rose in his hand.
“Only if you promise not to dance,” Artemis said creating two rapiers, one had two bladed edges and the other only had a sharp tip giving him a strong close offensive and defensive.
“Right, lets circle it and hit it from all sides at once.” Fayt instructed as they all formed a lose circle around the demon thing. Dante moved in first but his Lucifer lacks any kind of defensive and he was slammed into a wall as the thing smacked him with one of its legs.
“Stand back guys.” Dante commanded as he tossed his rose at the thing. The rose flew straight at three blades that were imbedded in its leg from where it had hit Dante. The blade exploded in a shower of red sparks, the explosion mangled the things leg to the point it was useless. Dante pulled him self out of the wall as the thing sliced off its mangled leg shocking everyone, and as they watched it sprouted another leg.
“Hey, Artemis you thinking what I'm thinking?” Fayt asked as he let his blade disappear.
“Yeah, the only way to kill a regenerator is to completely destroy it before it can regenerate.” Artemis finished as his two swords disappeared. Artemis circled to the right and Fayt to the left. Artemis positioned himself directly behind the creature as Fayt was right in front of him and they charged forward. The creature kicked one of its back legs at Artemis and swiped one of its front legs at Fayt with the razor edge out and aimed at Fayt. Fayt and Artemis jumped forward above the attack and started to shimmer a faint white and in unison they both launched there Ethereal Cannon. Fayt copied Lucifers' blades and launched about 10000 of them at the demon and Artemis hurled another 10000 rapiers at the thing. Everyone else watched intently as this was defiantly the most stunning feet of there sheer power and a testament of how easily they could bring it to bare. The thing collapsed to the ground as its' dark blue blood pooled out of the wounds. Artemis and Fayt landed silently on the ground as Fayt made a rose appear and said, “Good-night, and my the darkness take you eternally,” he tossed the rose, its petals falling off and forming a spinning tail behind it before touching one of the swords setting off the chain reaction that completely obliterated the top half of the things body. There weren't even chunks of its' upper half, just the torn and mangled part that it had been attached to.
“Well, you certainly know how to use Lucifers' powers; however, that isn't something normal people can do. So who the hell are you two?” Nero asked as he punched his demon arm into the remains of the creature and pulled out Yamato.
“So that was the source of the things power?” Artemis said scratching his chin.
“Why don't you stop the charade and show us your true form. You FAKE!!!!!” Fayt shouted as he made a blade appear and plunged it threw Marias' chest and lifted her high into the air, then spin around and herald her at the remains of the creature. Before she was fully free of the blade her hands gripped the blade and Fayt let her take it as she flew towards the corpse.
“Very perceptive,” she said stopping in midflight, “for you to see threw my disguise.” The copy ripped the sword from her chest slicing threw her side to remove it before dropping Fayts' sword to the floor.
“However I will not show my true form unless the two of you reveal yours.” The imposter said in a perfect imitation of Marias' voice.
“If we did that then we would vaporize everything around us for about ten square miles.” Fayt said placing a hand on his hip as he talked nonchalantly.
“So be it that kind of power won't harm me.” It said as Fayt let out a small sigh.
“Fine Artemis I'll handle this you put up a barrier around me so I don't kill everyone on accident.” Fayt said as he started shimmer white again only this time his skin began to boil and fall off in pieces. Artemis threw his arms forward as he created a barrier to contain Fayts' power while it came out. When his full power came forth Fayt let out an enormous roar of pure rage and with a blinding flash his power exploded with a force that was almost too much for Artemis to contain. Artemis let the barrier down as Fayt cracked his neck in his shimmering white form.
“So still what to hold out or should I force you out of your disguise?” Fayt questioned as he materialized his shining white blade, there was a very unnerving tone in his voice that was almost at the point of wanting to fight with all of his power no matter the consequences.
“This is my true from.” The imposter said as it morphed into a person that looked shocking like Dante except that his hair was spiked up and he wore and all blue attire.
“Virgil, I thought that you might be behind this. What are you after this time?” Dante questioned.
“Silence you filth,” Virgil said as he sent a shockwave at Dante that sent him flying into a wall were he fainted.
“This is between the two of us. So shall we get started?” Fayt asked as Virgil launched another shockwave at Nero, who was also thrown into the air and slammed into a wall were he dropped Yamato. Virgil teleported over to the sword and collected what was truly his, his sword, the sword his father had left him.
“Very well, lets' begin.” Virgil said as he unsheathed his sword and charged Fayt. Fayt moved behind Virgil and attacked with a vertical cut, his blade nearly missed Virgil and blasted the ground with such force it completely disintegrated the small area that it touched and left a crater five feet in diameter. A dark laugh came from Fayt at the look on Virgils' face when he saw the damage Fayt had caused with a single swing and finally understood what he was in for. Virgil shot to the left as Fayt stood still and watched him move before he shot in front of Virgil faster than anyone could follow and punched him square in the jaw. The force of the hit sent Virgil flying into the wall beside Dante.
“You think that is enough to stop me,” Virgil said as he pulled him self up and spat the blood in his mouth out, “Ha, don't make me LAUGH.” The two shot forward with a speed that destroyed the ground behind them there swords clashed in a shower of sparks before the two shot upwards so fast that there speed made the walls around them crack under the strain of there power. The two of them moved so fast that when the punched threw the top of the tower neither of the two of them realized that were now outside. The two spun away from each other then back around swords clashing as the two fell back to the ground. Fayt laughed all the way making Virgil fight with an even greater ferocity than when he stated, to no avail.
“Why do you fight Virgil? You must know in your heart that you can't beat me. Why not surrender and I won't kill you, you could start over.” Fayt questioned as he blocked all of Virgils attacks.
“I must defeat Dante, and to do that I have to fight the strongest opponents that I can find. I will gain the power to surpass even my father.”
“Well if you won't to fight the strongest opponent possible, then you found the strongest in this at least one universe.”
“Good then when my sword slices threw your heart I will prove I am the best.”
“But they power you seek you will never achieve in this fashion. You don't have the heart to wild that kind of power and be victorious.” Fayt said as he let Virgil strike him. Yamato sank dip into Fayts' glowing white body. His body turning back to its' originally form blood freely flowing from the wound in his chest.
“I guess you're wrong, apparently I have all the power I need.” Vergil said as he pushed Fayt of his sword.
“Hahaha, this pain. I always wondered what it would feel like to let someone beat me.” Fayt said as he moved his hand away from his wound and brought it to eye level. Nel ran up to him pressing her hands over his wound.
“Come on Fayt change back you can't let this guy win. You have the power to stop him, us it. Fayt!! FAYT!!!!!!!” She yelled as Fayt lost his footing and she moved him to the ground, tears ran down her face as lay there his blood staining her clothing and his eyes slowly starting to close. Sophia walked over the two of them; no one else was too stunned to move. Sophia fell to her knees next to Fayt.
“Go Nel take care of Virgil, I'll use as every ounce of my power to keep him with us.” Sophia said as she moved Nels' hands away from Fayts' wound. She slowly stood up and drew her two twin short swords. She barely noticed when Sophia started to try and heal Fayt.
“What you think you can stop me when your loser friend couldn't.” Virgil said launching a shockwave from his sword straight at Nel. She didn't even move, the second the attack was within her strike range she slashed it in two sending the two smaller shockwaves crashing into the floor past Sophia and Fayt.
“Well this just might be fun after all.” Virgil said dashing at her. She stopped him dead in his tracks when he swung at her with on of her sword the second came right at his head. He dropped down and rolled away from her and charged her again this time from her left. She blocked his swing again, this time with both blades and her foot shot out and connected with it target. Virgil dropped his sword as his hand grabbed his groan as her foot left and he fell to his knees. He looked up at her with such contempt she finally spoke to him.
“That man you tried to skewer was to be my husband and his name was Fayt not anything else.” She said in a voice that was colder than steel and very much out of character for her. Virgil just sat there and starred at her until she raised one of her swords and plunged her sword down threw his shoulder. The scream he let out awoke Dante, who came too only to find his brother lying on the ground a sword in his shoulder another covering his groan, Nel was standing over him, and behind them was Sophia and Fayt lying in a pool of Fayts' blood.
“What the hell is going on?” Dante asked as he jumped to his feet and rushed over to Virgil and Nel.
“He killed Fayt; I didn't even know that that could ever happen, not to Fayt.” It was as if saying that out loud made it real and she finally broke down, fell to her knees and just cried. Dante pulled out his trusted sword and walked over to Fayt.
“I was told by my father when he gave me my first sword that I had the power to transform demons souls into weapons and I latter learn I had them into energy as well. There power will heal you.” Dante said as his sword morphed into a shimmering ball of black light that he held in his hand. Dante slowly lowered himself on to one knee and moved his hand with the orb in it over the wound in Fayts' chest. Just as he was about to put the orb into Fayts' chest Fayts' hand shot up and grabbed Dantes' wrist.
“I wouldn't do that if I were you.” Fayt said coughing on the words and spitting up blood.
“If I don't you will die from this, your only human after all.” Dante said as he went to put the orb in Fayt again only this time Fayt cracked Dantes' wrist when he tried to do it a second time.
“Sophia I'm fine, you can let go of me now.” Fayt said as he moved Sophias' hands away from his wound and stood up. The wound Virgil had inflected on him and left part of his shoulder hanging as the cut had cut his shoulder blade in two and ran down to right below his heart.
“Well I was wondering if you let him just kill that body or if you were faking it. `Cause it takes about three days for our powers to craft us a new body if our most familiar body is killed.” Artemis said smirking at Fayt.
“Just really wanted to gauge his reaction; however, it seems that Nel was stronger than even Virgil. Course that's my girl for you never stops impressing you.” Fayt said giving her a soft smile as he slammed his shoulder back in place and watched as it sealed its' self closed.
Nel was unable to speak as she watched Fayt take a step towards her tears forming in her eyes' again.
“Oh, Nel. I'm so sorry I didn't mean to scare you so much. You know I would never leave you. There isn't a force in any world or section of time or dimension that could take me from you. Plus there's the little fact that since we are from another dimension he can't really hurt any of us. The giant slug like creature could have, but not Virgil whilst we are in his home dimension.” Fayt said raping his arms around Nel, her hands clenching the front of his shirt in a death grip and kissed the top of her head soothingly.
Behind them Virgil slowly rose to his feet as his blood ran a river down his arm and dripped down to the ground. With his good arm as silently pulled Nels' blade from his arm and moved slowly towards Fayt and Nel, his blood loss plus his need to fight making him forget everyone else in the room. Sophia yelled out at Fayt, but before even Fayt reacted Albel was upon Virgil. His clawed hand grabbed the back of Virgils' neck while his other hand moved to the pressure point at the upper part of Virgils shoulder and with his unnatural strength he applied pressure causing Virgil to yell out in pain until Virgil lost consciousness. As black spots started to dot Virgils view he knew he was slipping and in a blind rage he threw the blade at Nels' back hoping for some form of reprimand, but he lost consciousness before he could see what happened. Fayt saw the blade fly at Nel and quickly made the blade dematerialize before it hit Nel.
“Hold that thought for a moment would you Nel?” Fayt asked looking into her eyes as he whipped away a stray tear as it fell.
“Alright.” She said simply as he pulled away from her and walked over to where Albel was holding Virgil.
“I'll take him Albel.” Fayt said as he took Virgil from Albel and used his power to bring Virgil around.
“What happened?” Virgil asked as he slowly came to.
“Well you happened and you still after being beaten to a pulp tried to take someone's life. So now I feel that you deserve a small token for the actions you have committed.” Fayt said as a small sphere of light formed in his hand.
“Let this be a reminder of the price you will pay for not fighting with honor like you did before.” Fayt said as he shoved the orb into Virgils' chest. A few seconds past before Virgil cried out in pain as he gripped his chest where Fayt had inserted the orb.
“What the hell did you do to me?” Virgil asked threw gritted teeth looking to Fayt for an answer but found none.
“The pain will stop as soon as I leave.” Fayt said as he watched Dante ran over to where Virgil now lay on the ground.
“When do we leave?” Dante asked as he stood up and turned to Fayt.
“I hate to ask this but I feel I must. Dante do you think the kid is stronger than you?” Fayt asked as his eyes traveled over to Nero.
“I don't know anymore. He might de slightly strong but he doesn't have the control I would like him to. I matches me for speed and reflexes, that's for sure.” Dante said eyeing Fayt then Nero.
“Nero I hate to ask this as well but could you attack me?” Fayt asked drawing everyone's attention to him.
“Why?”
“Cause I need to see if you could best me.”
“I doubt I could after watching that last fight.”
“Oh nonsense, you never back down from a fight. Come on give me your best shot.”
“Fine just take a step closer.” Nero said and Fayt did as he was told. Nero gave a small smirk as his Devil Bringer shot forward and grabbed Fayt. With a quick spin Nero sent Fayt flying into the wall behind him. Fayt fell forward materializing his blade as he prepared to attack, but was slammed into the wall again as Nero leapt at him and slammed his demon arm into Fayts' stomach. Fayt brought his foot up connecting with Neros' side and successfully spun Nero into the wall he had just come from. Nero smirked as he hit the wall and in a quick motion he had his Red Queen out and had slashed Fayt across his front. The cut wasn't deep but it was long and it got Fayt winded in his human form. The two of them dropped to the ground silently and charged each other. The blades clashing send sparks everywhere as the two swords rubbed against each other. Nero reacted first and pulled out his Blue Rose and unloaded on Fayt. Two of the rounds went threw his dominate sword arm while another two went threw his lower hip and forced him down onto one knee.
“That's pretty good kid. Now keep it up.” Fayt sad as he stood up and rushed Nero, there swords clashing and sending sparks flying. This time however the two stood there ground, the only way most of the people present could tell the two were still fight was the fact that every time the twos' swords clashed the sparks would fly or they would see where one hit the other and the blood splatter on the ground. The fighting continued for another couple of minutes as everyone watched before Kyrie and Nel stepped forward.
“STOP THIS!!!!!” The two yelled drawing there lovers attention.
“I guess I might have gotten a little carried away.” Fayt said as he made his and Neros' clothes repair themselves.
“Not a problem, it isn't often that I get the chance to cut loose like that.” Nero said as Dante materialized a suitcase in his hand and tossed it to Dante.
“There's the payment I had offered you. Think of it as payment for me breaching our agreement.” Fayt said as Dante caught the case and opened it. Inside were nice neat stacks of c-notes set three deep by five stakes wide and three stakes high.
“That should cover your debts and a little extra for services rendered,” Fayt said as Dante closed the case, “now would you consider working for me on an extended pay.” Fayt said looking back to Nero.
“Well what kind of work is it, or do I not need to ask?”
“This kind we, that is my friends and I aren't from your dimension. We are actually from a different plant in space in time yet it is also the same planet; however you needn't bother yourself with the specifics. What you need to know is that there is any army on the move in every dimension with one purpose, and that is to wipe out every living thing in this galaxy of every dimension. This means that they all exist in some shape or form in this dimension, as well as ours. But the thing is the only dimension with even the slightest chance of winning is our dimension. Ready for the kicker?” Fayt asked as he watched Nero take in everything that he was being told.
“Yeah I guess.”
“Good. If we can destroy the army in even one of the dimensions then all of there counterparts in every other dimension will die with the ones we kill in our dimension. The only problem is I need to go and collect power sources from the some of the strongest dimensions in order to power the weapons that can defeat the army in my dimension so there are still other stops to be made.” Fayt said watching Nero as he thought it over.
“If what you say is true, then I have one question for you.”
“What is it?”
“How are you and your friends able to cross the dimensional void that separates all of the different dimensional plains?”
“Wow, well to put it simply I am the result of taking every copy of oneself from every dimension that one existed in and merging them together into one form with the power of the ether at my disposal. So I just punch a hole into whatever dimension that I want, put my friends in a protective barrier and jump the void with them in tow.”
“Ah I get it but wouldn't that put a huge strain on not only your body but you mind as well you couldn't take more than five people across with you without running the risk of permanently damaging yourself.”
“You're almost right I can take at most nine without pushing my limits twelve is the suicide number even for my immortal self.”
“Fayt if that's true then you'll need to send some of us home if you are going to gather everyone you need to save our home.” Nel said interrupting the conversation.
“I was kind of hoping it wouldn't come to that.” Fayt said as he looked her in the eyes and saw the wore in them.
“Look,” he said addressing all of his friends. “I can't ask you all to go with me and I won't ask you all to go back its' your choice, whatever you all decide.” No one spoke as they tried to think of what they could do none of them were selfish enough to ask him to endanger himself just so they could tag along but they didn't want to go back and not see things threw to the end.
“Isn't there some way we could go with you without you putting your self at risk?” Sophia asked pleadingly.
“I'm so sorry, but there isn't. Even if I were to ascend ever one of you I would still have to put the barrier around all of you when we jump or you ascended powers would destroy whatever world we went to.”
“If that's the case then I'll go back,” Cliff said nodding his head. “Course if you do something stupid then I'll find some way to make you regret it.”
“Same goes for me.” Mirage said nodding along with what Cliff said.
“And me.” Maria said chiming in.
“Same here.” Sophia said in determination.
“Fayt I won't let you take all of the glory, but I can't very well ask you to kill yourself. But you ain't going to get rid of me. I'm going with you all the way to the end of this; however, I do ask that you ascend me. I'm tired of being so powerless. This feeling is driving me mad.” Albel said as he started to seethe.
“I took second to you in speed and power even brains when you were just human. But by the end of our journey I had caught up to you then this goes and happens before I can surpass you. And I just can't take it… ANY… MORE!!!” Albel yell as a firer red aura poured out of him and blanketed everyone. The amount of power he was calling forth wasn't something he should have been able to do.
“Hey Artemis is he doing what I think he's doing?” Fayt questioned telepathically.
“I think he is. But I have never seen a person ascend in this kind of manor. The amount of power that he has is incredible. If I were you I would stop him and ascend him yourself just to be on the safe side.” Artemis shot back.
“Albel stop this and I'll do it!!!” Fayt yelled. The sentence snapped Albel out of his rush and he did just as Fayt asked.
“Good now this is probably going to hurt a little.”
“Whatever, just do it.” Albel said as Fayt created a solid ball of white light. Albel looked at the light carefully before Fayt let it float into Albels' cheats.
“Is that it?” Albel questioned after a few seconds had ticked by, when his hands flew to his chest. His head rolled back as if he was going to scream but it never came as he sank to the ground and curled into a fetal position. The familiar light that had once changed Fayt now enclosed Albel as he too became an ascended immortal. Moments later as the light receded back inside of him there now stood a six foot seven shimmering red creature one of its arms turning into a claw while the other was in the shape of a normal hand it had glowing white slits where its' eye should have been and a dark outline in the shape of smirk where its mouth should have been.
“This power.” It spoke, its' speech slow and careful.
“Is so wonderful, to think that I thought that you were a god now.” It said before it flashed back to being Albel.
“What do you think Albel. Is it all you were hoping for?” Fayt asked as Albel continued to stare at his hands before clenching them into fist.
“It is so much better than anything I had ever dreamed of. Thank you so much. I am now you equal completely.” Albel said as he, for the first time that any of his so called friends had know him walked up to Fayt and gave him a hug. Him alone saying thanks was a feet in and of its self but this hug was completely abnormal for him.
“Are you sure you alright?” Cliff asked taking a step towards Albel.
“If any of you ever speak of what has happened here I swear by this power of mine I will hunt you down and torture you in ways that you can't even begin to imagine.” Now that was the Albel they all knew and they were all just glade he was still himself.
“I will also go with you.” Artemis said giving Fayt a thumbs up.
“So will I, after all you did promise me a wedding.” Nel said as she wrapped her arms around Fayt.
“So I did. Well Nero will you come with our strange group to save all of everything?” Fayt asked looking at Nero.
“Yeah I'll do it, after all I have something I have to protect here.” He said as he turned back to Kyrie.
“Don't worry Nero I'll wait for you like I always do.” She said as she hugged him and gave him a deep kiss.
“Fayt, um… I would like to stay with Artemis but I don't think you could take me with you, could you?” Peppita asked looking younger than she really was.
“Well I guess I could make a small exception for a little while anyways.” Fayt answered as he enclosed everyone that was leavening Dantes' dimension in a force bubble.
“So off to the next place, and guys. When you all get back to my place please try not to cause too much trouble.” Fayt said as he flicked his wrist. Then I a bright flash they were all gone. Dante just whistled and went to leave when Trish stopped him she cast a quick glance and Kyrie and Dante got the message.
“Hey look if you don't want to travel all the way back to that port town of yours your welcome to say at the shop with us. There is plenty of room and it wouldn't be a hassle if you wanted to wait for him there.” Dante said as he lifted the briefcase full of cash over his shoulder.
“Thank you I would like that.” She said as three of them left the now empty dungeon like mansion.
 
 
Authors notes~~~ See that wasn't so bad now was it. Hope you like the cliff hanger I just now started the third chapter and 12:00 on this Sunday evening. So I am officially tired and going to sleep good night and I hope you all enjoyed that chapter.