[Part 18]

Damon’s P.O.V

The grim atmosphere that set in between us could not be lightened with any joke that Dante ever tried to make. In fact, it was such a strong atmosphere that Dante’s lips remained shut throughout the entire journey, nodding seriously at the instructions passed to him.

But of course, what else could we do in such a situation? We were attempting acts in which no man, no demon and no half-demon have ever thought of, much less even try. No one ever had gone insane to the extent in which we have all been driven, and yet no one had ever been given the power we were all given.

We were the only ones in this game, and it was last round. It was Mundus’s last draw of the cards, our last round of this sick game of death.

“Damon.” Trish’s voice was soft and concerned, her slender fingers intertwining with mine gently. It was hard to remember the days were Trish was just my girlfriend, just the woman I fell in love with so crazily, and yet refused to accept it. How was it that I ever thought she would fall in love with her savior Dante who saved her from Mundus? There was never any romantic feelings –it was only respect. What Trish and I had… it would never be simple as just respect. What we held for each other was more than that, more than words and feelings. More than souls and beings.

“I will give it my all, Trish. All that makes me who I am hinges on this. But if I don’t come back, say sorry to Wynter and Damien in my stead.” I replied equally softly, watching as Dante began fidgeting, obviously ready for some action. Vergil himself seemed a little nervous, but it was nothing that the son of Sparda would ever let show.

My wife knew enough than to protest against my words. In the severity of the situation, there was no guarantee that I would live. It was clear between us that if either of us were put at danger, I would risk it all to save Trish. The mother of the children could console and watch them grow up. I, a demon, could not replace Trish’s place in their heart.

“I will take care of them.” Trish nodded seriously, and the simple sentence burst warmth in my heart. After the amount of preparation I put in to usher Mundus into this world, to destroy him, it seemed ridiculous if I felt unprepared.

But I did. I felt as if I hadn’t done enough, as if I hadn’t protected my family enough. My soul, my very being laid with them, and I felt I hadn’t protected it enough. The hole torn where Daniel was, it was letting all the fears and concerns in and Trish was only beginning to heal them up.

“If I don’t make it, I love you. You are what makes me Damon. You are who dictates my entire being.”

A single tear rolled from the corner of her eyes, but she nodded again seriously. There was not even the need for a kiss –we were pass that. We were pass the days where we could kiss the worries away. All we needed now was to know that we would love each other no matter what. It was difficult to ever ask this of anyone, but in the moment that we stood at the large field, ready to kill a Demon King, I knew Trish would never betray my deep love.

Turning back to the field before us, feeling the soft breeze against light clothes, I closed my eyes and breathed deep.

Demons wormed their way from the ground, their moans and groans filling the silence of the field. Neither Dante nor Vergil moved, though the younger son of Sparda gave a small whistle of awe. Gathering the demons from each sin to each circle mapped out on the field, I breathed out once.

Demons screamed, and release was given in the form of spurting blood, the heavy, choking scent of metallic blood in the air. The wind stopped blowing, as if someone heavenly had decided that a zephyr had no place to be here.

“Demon King Mundus, the blood of all seven sins have been spilled. Let their blood boil their way into Hell, and open the door to this world. Come forth, crawling out of the pit of disgust and despair, and meet your end. Answer to my invitation, Demon King, or be labelled forever as a coward in the midst of Hell.” The order came from the deepest pit of darkness in my heart, as was needed in the summoning of a King of Hell. Only the blackest of hearts could call a Demon King into the world, and in the moment, as a demon, there was no heart blacker than mine as I watched the blood flowing in rivulets, seeping deep into the ground.  Green grass stained black and red.

“Come forth and face me down. I, destroyer of all seven Princes of Hell Damon Kries, summon you here.”

The explosion of power rocked the entire earth so hard there was almost certainty in my heart that the ground would split open in that instant and swallow us up. It didn’t happen, but the bloodied and blackened ground began to glow with crimson intensity. Slowly, bit by bit, the glow brightened to a dangerous hue, until we were all forced to look away for fear of being blinded.

The flux of demonic power in the air thickened considerably, and there was no questioning as to who had answered to our call.

The glow stopped as quickly as it started, and Vergil unsheathed Yamato. Trish’s finger twitched on her guns, but I betrayed nothing at all.

“It seems like you won’t die until I kill you personally. It will be a pleasure, Damon Kries.” The greeting came from the cold, cruel voice of someone I knew well.

“It will be my pleasure when you die at my hands.” I replied coldly, summoning Lucifer to my hand. There was a moment’s worth of hesitation while Mundus stared at the sword –what used to be his favorite demon Prince –in my hands, in my control.

Then he laughed the maniacal laughter perhaps only entirely insane beings could be. The businessman appearance could do nothing to tone down the concentration of immense deadly power radiating from his very being, and there was no questioning what I had summoned onto this world.

“You think simply you and that sword can kill me? You must be mistaken, Damon Kries. You have killed my Princes, but you will never reach my level.”

“That’s why I’m here, big boy! Remember me? The guy who kicked your fat ass back into Hell? Well, this time I’ve joined in the welcoming party. Stay a little while longer, won’t you? It’s going to be your death day party coming up next!” Dante interrupted before more could be said, and I watched as Vergil suppressed his sigh with clenching fists. There were some things that Dante would never lose, and his cocky attitude was one of it.

“I see you’ve invited Dante and Vergil Sparda.” Mundus observed mildly- much to the annoyance of Dante at being ignored –as he addressed me again. “But you are foolish if you think I did not anticipate it all.”

Dante’s imminent protest died on his lips, and the cocky attitude turned into a frown immediately.

“You see, I found a certain demon roaming down in Hell days after you escaped. Looking for his wife, I understood. But it’s a pity how he has become so weak. So I decided to take him in, and decided to change a little of his rebellious attitude. He’s a little too servile for my taste now, but what else can I expect? You break a man like Dante, and you’ll get a puppy back.” Mundus began to explain while my mind raced.

I had expected Mundus to be ready, but the problem with a Demon King was that there was no saying the number of ‘last resorts’ he had. His ‘secret weapon’ was supposed to be Kalina Ann, but now that her existence was exposed with her killing of Daniel, what else did he have up his sleeve that neither Vergil nor I have found out about?

Roaming down in Hell… Looking for his wife… You break a man like Dante…

It clicked at the same time Mundus snapped his fingers. A portal of crimson red slashed itself into existence, and a singular demon jumped out from the tear in the world, sunlight shining on his silver white hair.

Vergil cursed, and everything became real. Of course, when Vergil cursed, it meant that shit was about to go down. Dante, for his part, seemed to be shocked beyond words –and this was a momentary scene of comical relief whereby the two sons of Sparda changed personalities.

The moment only lasted for a single second’s worth of hesitation and Sparda fell to his knees before his… Master.

“What service do you require of me, Master?” Sparda’s deep rich voice spoke low and subservient, and Trish gasped in horror. The demon had been missing ever since I returned to my world… and no one had heard of him since. His sons had not asked about his whereabouts, trusting him to protect himself, but what if… What if Sparda’s heart was weakened at his inability to find Eva?

“Deal with your sons, Sparda. Damon Kries and his pretty little wife is mine.” Mundus spoke, the grin drawing ever wide across his face as the first of shock struck. I had expected him to come up with some counter to my summoning of him –there was always something to be expected from the Demon King –but to control Sparda, to control the one person who had the chance to destroy my two aids, the sons of Sparda… I hadn’t expected that.

Even if he called for Kalina, there was no doubt that the female demon could be dealt with by the teamwork of both sons of Sparda. But to send their father after them…

“I understand.” Sparda spoke low and respectfully, then straightened up, shoulders square. No hesitation laid in his movements as he turned around smoothly to face Dante at one end of the field, his back to Vergil who stood at the other end. Sparda raised his long sword above his head, in the stance I had seen so often in Dante and Vergil, and braced himself.

“Father…” Dante said weakly, but there was no denying the red glow in Sparda’s eyes. I didn’t even need any sort of confirmation –the look of evil in Sparda’s eyes was enough to erase any doubt.

“Dante!” Vergil gasped, and the sound of swords clashing rang aloud. I blinked, taking to understanding that Vergil had jumped through a fast portal, intercepting Sparda’s charge towards his younger brother.

“What the hell, old man!” Dante exclaimed, then stabbed Rebellion towards Sparda weakly, as if he wanted to push his father back, but didn’t want to hurt the man. There was no questioning where Dante’s heart laid, but at the moment, Sparda left them no choice but to counter with the fast-paced attacks that he laid on both his sons.

“Don’t take your eyes from me, Damon Kries.” Mundus announced in a booming voice, cracking thunder in the sky as he spoke.

It wasn’t a surprise when I found Mundus’s true form standing a few steps in front of me. One wing of white sprouted from his back, the other black wing forming a direct contrast of colors. Distantly, my mind was filled with theories and myths of Mundus being a fallen angel, but at the moment, none of it mattered as he stood before us.

“Feast your eyes on my true form. It will be the last thing you will see.” Mundus must have been reading from the same book of clichés as all videogame villains, for he declared loud and strong, thunder booming against the background.

Well, if this was going to be a videogame, then I was the main characters.

Main characters always win.

Mundus started out by summoning demons all around us to take us down, but I spared them all no care as I made towards my target, Lucifer tightly grasped in my hand. Trish hung back, keeping the low-leveled demons off me.

I took in a deep breath, standing almost too close to the Demon King. His radiating power could be easily felt, trying to push me away. But I am Damon Kries, and I had killed seven Princes of Hell. Killing a Demon King; it would simply further color my repertoire of demon hunting. The ultimate goal, the ultimate kill.

The ultimate mission.

Mundus took to the air with his strong winds, but I caught up in an instant, devil triggering to gain the power of flight. There was no fear of losing myself to my demon now as I let it free, let it go to gain the power I needed. The demonic power of all seven Princes of Hell washed through me, as I gained enough speed to meet Mundus in midair, hovering above ground.

Then we were on. A supposedly half-angel King of Hell against a half-human Damon Kries.

Mundus was not King of Hell for no reason, as he put up with more resistance than I had ever met. Even Lucifer did not give as much resistance, as I began to feel my powers wan. Mundus seemed to slow too with our never ending high-speed fight, in which we countered and parried, dodging in midair. Mundus lent power from lightning in efforts to strike me down, but I lent power from the element of fire to even odds. Swords crafted from demonic powers, very much like Vergil’s creations, rained from the air, aiming to hit me anywhere –even in my heart. But it was no use trying to kill me like that –similar to how it was impossible to kill Mundus with just a stab through the heart.

We weren’t aiming to kill. We were aiming to trap each other, and to do so, we needed to injure each other greatly.

A cut formed on my cheek from a sword slicing too close, and I let up a demonic growl as I slashed Lucifer upwards, dislodging a few feathers from Mundus’s white wing before he drew back. Still levitating midair, he backed up a safe distance and we took to notice that we were both breathing hard. I was pushing Mundus close to boundaries, and he knew it. I was his hardest fight yet, and I knew it.

He began charging up his power, the angry black aura beginning to rise from his very being as he remained levitating, fists clenched. Unafraid, I charged my own powers too, to meet the imminent power play that I knew he was resorting to. I was ashamed to say that I had no plan, nothing in mind to take Mundus down. We had planned on how to summon him, how to deal with his demons. But there was no plan when it came to taking Mundus down long enough for me to kill him truly.

All I had left was to hope that I could defeat him, but it was slowly becoming horribly real that maybe Mundus was just that little bit stronger than I was.

“You’ve been a thorn in my side for too long, Damon Kries! I should have destroyed you where you stood the first time you ever dabbed with the beings of Hell.” Mundus growled, his aura so thick that black smokes rose from his very being.

Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to build enough power, but it was becoming obvious that I could not meet the speed and rate at which Mundus was building his power. The smirk drew itself across the Demon King’s face as he –impossibly –amped up the effort, the smoke rising from his very being so strong and thick that the sounds of fight below us stopped to watch as spectators.

“No!” Trish’s cry was a good indicator on how much I was losing to Mundus, and that drew the smirk into a wide smile as he continued drawing enough power.

“Even your wife knows you are going to lose, Damon Kries. So give up and let me dominate your entire being. If you are strong enough, I might even make you my second-in-command. You have left an empty seat after what you did to Kalina; you can make a good replacement for my loss.” Mundus laughed, voice rumbling deep like the thunder occurring all around us.

I closed both hands over Lucifer and brandished in front of me, as if the mere sword could protect me from whatever that was about to hit. In terms of swordplay, I might be even to Mundus.

In terms of power, it was obvious who won.

“Get your ass out of there, stupid!” Dante screamed from where he stood, and I spared a single look beneath me to see the desperation in his eyes. He knew.

“How does it feel? Even Dante Sparda doesn’t believe you will make it. Where is the familial support you emphasized endlessly about? What is the family spirit I hear about?” Mundus taunted, but I refused any reply, determined to build enough power to hold against Mundus. I had promises. I had to survive this.

I had to go home to Wynter and Damien.

“Damon, LOOK OUT!” Vergil screamed, but it was too late.

A demon’s sword sliced through the air, and the aiming proved true as the crimson red tip of the sword appeared from within my chest, stabbing through the heart. Mundus laughed, and blasted his powers.

Screams came all around as I flew through the air, battered and beaten. I was barely aware of my body tearing through the bodies of several demons, tearing them to shreds with the pure speed as which I was thrown towards them. All that I knew was the jarring, excruciating pain that finally caught up with me as I hit to a stop in the ground, a crater made at my own extreme impact.

All was silent in my hearing, and all I saw was the black clouds covering the previously blue sky. Time passed in my silent reverie, as pain burnt through every synapse of my being, and even breathing lit acid fire-pain through my chest. The tightness of my chest was almost too hard to get past, but the tickling I felt beneath the pain registered.

It was still power. Still my power. I was still alive.

Trish appeared suddenly in my vision, looking as if she were calling me. But I could hear nothing, as her tears dripped on my face, my cheeks. Her hands cradled my body, touching my face, asking and peering at my face. But I could hear nothing, as I looked up at the beauty in the backdrop of black clouds.

I got the idea that she was asking about my well-being, but I could do nothing as I let myself be pulled up in her embrace, her shaking me to get some sort of response. The pain flared on every particle within me, but with her warmth, I could feel a soft salve on the wounds. Her bloody hands removed the sword from within my chest, inspecting the wound worriedly as the tears flooded her cheeks.

I could still hear nothing.

Painfully, even though it took everything within me to move even the slightest bit, I reached up and brushed the tears, rubbing the moisture of my lady’s tears on my fingers. Tears… If Demons and devils could cry, then why could I not defeat Mundus?

If even Devils may cry for their family members, why could I not defeat the Demon King?

If even I, a full demon, cried for my brother’s death, why could I not win this game and end all that had happened?

I grabbed tightly onto Trish’s hand to show her my remaining strength, and forced myself to sit upright. I could not hear a thing, but I could see. I could still sense, and I sensed that Mundus was still hovering above us, watching the show with mild interest. Something about Mundus’s blast of power had taken away my hearing, but it was all he would take. It was all I would ever let him take ever again. No more. Daniel was enough. My hearing was enough.

It took some time to find my feet again, and I was mildly surprised that the demons had not dared to take a step into the crater I’d made with my landing in the earth. Trish stood with me in the middle of it all, as Mundus landed smoothly before us, grinning outright now that he had blasted me weak with his power. It was a matter of time before I lost to him in terms of power play. He knew exactly what he had done to me, but it wasn’t enough.

He raised his hands and clicked his fingers dramatically. The influx of demonic power raised alarms in my instincts, but I kept the fear safely hidden as a crimson red portal appeared beside him. Similar to Sparda’s appearance, a demon jumped out too, and landed right beside him. But the demon –no, the demonness –didn’t bow to her Master. Instead, she raised both hands up high in a beckoning motion, and other demons jumped through, laying down their loads on the ground before us.

Trish and I staggered backwards. There was no need to look; our faces had turned pale as Kalina Ann smirked.

If my wife made a cry, I couldn’t hear it, but I could feel the tightening of her clutch on me as the shock and hope spiraled downwards. I could sacrifice myself pitting myself against Kalina and Mundus. I could sacrifice everything. Anything. Anything except for my children, my family. Wynter and Damien seemed to have suffered no physical wounds, but they were knocked unconscious on the ground, as were Marcy and Lady.

Mundus’s grin got even wider, as he sent Kalina to step backwards, taking a step even closer to our unconscious family members. My heart jumped, the extreme anger coursing through me as Mundus raised his long sword high, the tip hovering above Damien.

There was no thinking. There was nothing else to do in the singular moment.

I screamed, even though I could not hear myself.

And I blasted everything I had at the son of a bitch who had ruined my life.

Mundus flew backwards, taken by surprise as Trish took the chance to jump forwards, diving for our children. I lunged too, as Kalina clutched tightly to her sword, swinging it up high, intent clear in her eyes. I watched, even as I flew towards the children, desperate to protect them with all I could, as Kalina swung her sword down.

My hearing must have returned me in the single sick moment whereby all that I heard was the sound of sword piercing through flesh. The spurt of blood rang horrors in my mind, as I looked up, terrified of all that had happened in the single moment.

Mundus looked up from his chest, up to his demon servant, and down at his chest again. Then he glared at me, the accusation clear in his eyes as I slowly straightened from covering Trish and the children. Kalina, hand holding on tightly to the hilt of her sword, turned and gave me the sweetest smile that no demon could ever hope to replicate. It was the smile deeply from Kalina’s soul, the real human Kalina that I had seen struggling when I fought her.

Kalina had won her demon.

“You bitch.” Mundus spat. “You will pay for this.”

“I know, Master. I am willing to pay the price.” Kalina replied, undaunted even in the face of death. The anger at betrayal flew angrily to Mundus’s face, and there was a charging up of powers. There was no time to even protest before the demonness flew in a blast of demonic power, sailing through the air similar to how I had done.

“Kalina!” I cried helplessly, watching as she disappeared into the midst of a demonic crowd, dust in her wake.

“ENOUGH!” Mundus screamed, and there was no more words I could say as he charged towards me again, raining all sorts of attacks on me. I, taken weak by the previous blow, could only backtrack and do my best to block the blows thrown to me, praying and hoping for something else to happen, because there was no questioning how Mundus would take me. In any moment, Mundus would find a flaw in my swordplay, and he would exploit that.

He would stab his sword through my heart, and remove all seven sins of Hell from my demonic being. I would be reduced to being a simple son of Sparda. He would slice me through my throat, like how Kalina had done my brother.

Then I would be on my way to join Daniel.

The cheap, dirty play from Mundus took me by surprise again, when a low-leveled demon sneaked up on me while I was busy deflecting Mundus’s attacks. This time, instead of stabbing me, the demon sliced at my back, causing me to flinch uncontrollably at the sudden movement. Mundus grinned, and swung his sword down.

My life flashed before my eyes, but the movie-tape was interrupted halfway with the loud sound of metal crashing to metal.

I fell once again to the floor in pain, but looked up in desperate surprise to see Dante and Vergil holding back the Demon King with their swords. Their clothes were in tatters, and their arms and legs were covered in blood. There were cuts and bruises, but they were alive.

“If you want to play dirty, I can play the same game. Damon’s too much of a good guy to do that, but I’ll play with you anytime you want.” Dante gritted his teeth, and together in joint effort with Vergil, they pushed the Demon King stumbling back.

“What? This cannot be! How can the two of you have defeated your father?” Mundus barked as Vergil pulled me to my feet, Dante covering our backs.

“We had help.” Vergil explained emotionless, gesturing to the side, where I gasped to see Marcy and Lady standing and grinning. The children were missing, but there were unmistakable sounds of my son laughing along with the screams of demons dying.

“How can this be? How are all of you alive?” Mundus demanded, but Kalina staggered forwards, bleeding heavily from her chest. Her wings dragged behind her on the floor, but at the moment Kalina never looked more powerful than she was. She was powerful enough to go against her master –and that was the ultimate form of power any demon would ever wish to have.

“Today, Mundus, I break our connection. No longer will you be my Master. You, who have made me and put all seven sins into my soul, will no longer control. My master from this moment henceforth will be Damon Kries, and Damon Kries alone.” Kalina gasped, gaining support to stand properly from Marcy as she leaned on my sister. There was no asking how Mundus’s blast of power had treated her, but Kalina was still somehow alive…

“You know, I got a little jealous when my Kalina Dear said she wanted to pledge herself to my brother.” A new voice interrupted, and the air escaped me in a pained gasp. My heart pounded, but I forced the pounding in my ear to soften, concentrating on the new voice in the air, the voice I had never expected to hear ever again.

“But then again, it’s ten times better than being your servant, Mundus. You know, you’re really bad at keeping your servants with you. Trish, Vergil and now Kalina. You need some inter-personal relationship management courses or maybe some leadership courses from yours truly.” The bored tone of voice would have never been better replicated by Dante, and there was no one else in the world who could ever copy the amazing sound of those words from a voice so similar to mine.

“Y-You!” Mundus was also in shock too, but the emotions other than shock that filled me… no words can fully express the complexity of the confusion, love and relief.

Movement tagged our attention, as Dante, Vergil and I turned to take a look at the newcomer who had come appearing at Kalina’s side, taking a hold of her arm and supporting her. Marcy’s grin grew wider at the man, but it was clear that the extreme shock wasn’t shared.

“I would give you a crash course of one, Mundus, but I’m afraid you’re going to die soon, so I won’t waste any unnecessary efforts.” Daniel grinned, smiling as if he had never died, as if he had never bled dry from the line of blood on his throat. With a black trench coat that covered him from his shoulders to his ankles, my twin brother stood at the top of the crater I’d made, the brightest smile I had ever seen on his face.

“Go on,” Daniel gestured to the empty space between Mundus and us, “don’t let me interrupt you. I’d hate to get lectured by Damon for hogging the limelight again.”

“D-Daniel…” I managed to say weakly.

“Hey, brother. Missed me?” Daniel folded his arms across his chest, in the usual laidback pose that I would never have seen replicated any better in anyone. It was the usual Daniel move, but it had never seemed so amazing, so strong before. “Now, before you ask questions, I’d like for you to kill that motherfucker for me first. Then we’ll talk about me marrying Kalina for the rest of my life, Capisce?”

There was no changing this man. Not even death could wash his mouth. Not even death could change his personality.

I wiped the tears from my eyes and nodded, determination renewed. I wasn’t alone.

I’d gone back home after killing Lucifer, looking for my family, and promising to kill Mundus as a family. I would not back out of this promise, now that I had my entire family here with me.

We were about to create history.