[The End of All Things {Devil May Cry Fanfic~}

[Prologue]

Hell is a place that is very much changed, but no better than it once was in the past. In the past, there were winged creatures flying in the sky of red, non-winged creatures taking care of their own piece of land on the fields of red and black. The distortion of color had been a physical manifestation of the sins of the demons, the blood of innocents filling the region below. Once, where there was organized chaos, now, there was simply a mess.

No demons dared to roam out in the open, and Hell was an empty plane. In marked places, ruins of buildings, crumbles of what used to be foundations littered the land. Demon fire had licked the ruins to blackened and charred bits, and no one had done anything to remove the stain on the landscape.

A single woman walks through the endless field on a cemented path, head turning occasionally to view the situation on both sides. She held the physique of a well-known demon hunter, her waist small with alluring hips. Yet, instead of the usual get-up of a short skirt and tight blouse, she was dressed differently this time with a simple fitting red top, denim jeans and long black coat. Her mid-length hair was messed up, and as distant wind blew at her face, her freckles seemed to take dominance in the paleness of her complexion.

Her walk was determined with strong paced strides, and never once did she stop even as the passed the palace that once used to be the throne for the Prince of Hell, Lucifer. Lucifer had been the last Prince to go down, and when he did, it meant the start of war.

War; that she was hired –made –to wage.

Eventually, the field of black and red panned out to a singular door standing at the end of the pathway. Without hesitation, she closed her hand over the knob, opened and stepped inside, finding an utter change in scenery at the other side of the door. No longer was she in the open air, as a high domed ceiling of –irony –tainted church glass allowed barely any light in. Soft firelight lit the corridors that led her further down a long hallway, but the woman was neither in a hurry nor taking her sweet time as she let her paced walk carry her down.

Here, a few lesser demons could be found as they bowed down at her presence. If they were waiting for her, then they must have waited long. With the Princes gone, she held one of the highest ranking. For that fact, even while the Princes were still around, she had been the highest ranking demon, second to only their King –her creator. It had only been the fact that she had been in hiding –stolen behind a seemingly normal life of a human –that no one knew about her. She was the secret weapon, the elite of all demons.

The ultimate weapon.

She knocked on the door at the end of the doorway and waited a second longer before she confidently made her way through, closing the door behind her.

“Took your time.” Demons had their own mannerisms, and the King of Hell took the appearance and mannerism of a man in his mid-twenties with deceivingly suave features. Short, slick black hair decorated the top of Mundus’s head, and the sharp jawline took her attention first –as it was meant to do. The sharpness of the corners of his eyes were the only prelude to his inner psyche, for on his face held a deceiving friendly smile.

“It took time to realize that I was finally being called by you, Master.” She replied respectfully, offering a small bow of greeting before taking a seat opposite Mundus at the desk. His room had the gilded atmosphere of a rich businessman, and though his ‘business’ was wreaking havoc on the worlds above, it didn’t deter him from appearing neat and serious.

“Yes, I haven’t found the need for you.” Mundus agreed, still smiling but closer, she spotted the lines of strain and tension drawing from the corner of his mouth and eyes. There was little that the King of Hell could keep from his second-in-command, and his reaction was understandable.

“Not until now.” She replied impassively, and immediately Mundus’s friendly smile faded. There was no asking what she was finally called in for. Her first mission; the first time Mundus was desperate enough to send her in. It made sense; for all seven Princes of Hell had failed him. Even Lucifer, Mundus’s favorite.

“I want you to watch how Lucifer failed.” Mundus replies, and before she can air her opinion, he swivels his chair around, waving a hand over the blank wall behind him. Quickly, as if acting like a screen, the white wall began to project a clear image.

It didn’t take long for her to recognize the setting depicted in the images; it was Lucifer’s hall, where the ex-Prince had been fond of taking his seat. Lucifer himself was sitting at the chair at the end of the long hall too, languidly as if unafraid. The image was frozen, and she waited expectantly for some sort of an explanation from her Master.

“This came to me right before the palace went down in flames. No one made it out alive.” Mundus informed blandly, but beneath that tightly controlled tone, she detected anger. There was no confirming if Mundus was disturbed by the recent turn of events, but even she herself was surprised at how much her master was showing unconsciously. Surely a Demon King could school his emotions better? “Watch for the man that you are going to destroy.”

With definitely more incentive to watch the death of Mundus’s favorite Prince, she nodded seriously now and kept her eyes attentively on the projected screen. Mundus waved again, and the images moved as if in a cinema.

The images moved, as a door at the end of the long hall opened, and in strut a man that was unfamiliar but easily recognizable. She knew immediately that he was the target she’d been called to eliminate, and scanned him up and down. He held the physicality of a thirty plus man –and he looked every bit that part with the way he walked languidly down the hallway, not rushing –similarly to how she had done. It was a walk of confidence and power, as if the man were relishing his time, unafraid of his situation.

His blue eyes seemed to twinkle but his expression was schooled to keep a straight face.

“I see now you have come to exact your revenge.” Lucifer observed, not betraying any fear. With consideration of how Mammon and Leviathan had once been so cowardly and fearful of the man in the image, she considered Lucifer a good demon in hiding his emotions.

“I promised you ten years ago that you have my body, but not my mind.” The man replied clearly, in the same tone of voice as Lucifer.

“And I promised that I would have broken you by then.” Lucifer agreed, and for a single moment, she saw the flash of failure in Lucifer’s eyes.

“You played your cards right and had me for ten years. But it’s time for me to go.”

“You know I will not let you.” Lucifer replied informatively, still blinking easily. The only thing that betrayed Lucifer’s pretense was the straightness upon which the demon Prince had been sitting. With that simple said sentence, Lucifer waved up a round of demons –elite bodyguards –effortlessly. It was easily seen in Lucifer’s face that the Prince himself knew that such low-leveled demons weren’t enough to destroy the man standing before him. But it was an effort that Lucifer had to do to pretend.

The man didn’t even have to step a single inch from where he stood. Raising his palm above his head, the man did not even speak a single word. The advancing demons stopped in their tracks, eyes –or what substituted as eyes -on his upraised palm. Slowly, he lowered his hand, and so did the demons lower their bodies. It was almost as if watching a trainer train a dog to bow and lie down. Every single demon save the Prince followed the same synchronized movement, as the hand lowered below his waist level.

Then the man closed his fingers into a fist. Instantly, the demons exploded into sand, falling to the floor uselessly.

Lucifer didn’t betray a single emotion at this display of power.

“We can play this game forever, but you know that I have destroyed all your brother Princes. There is no pride in my actions; only need. You cannot control me by my pride, for this game has come to its end. It is time for you to take your chips off the table, and I leave the winner.” The man stated flatly, stepping one single step forward.

“How did you kill Asmodeus? In his lava hell of passion, you should have succumbed.” Lucifer asked, in a simply enquiring tone of voice and the man replied equally impassively.

“How will I ever fall to lust, knowing that the woman I love with all my heart is waiting for me? Lust no longer has effect on me knowing now that I have Trish and my children waiting for me.”

“You cannot know that they are still waiting. Ten years is enough to make a woman desire another.” Lucifer states, but the man finally breaks a small smile on his face.

“You mistake. You think my wife is someone vulnerable and weak. She was an ex-demonness created by Mundus. You forget that she’s stronger than your average woman. My faith in her, and hers in me is enough to keep us going and wishing.”

“To break you, I can easily capture both her and your children.” Lucifer stated, but the man shook his head confidently.

“They are back in my world. You, a simple Prince of Hell, cannot hope to reach them. You can lie and speak your prideful words, but I have said once and will repeat; I do this because of need, not of pride. I need to be free of you, and free of all that is holding me back. My children are turning ten soon, and I need to be home.” The voice that spoke was simply informative.

The moment of silence that followed went for almost too long.

“Fine, then you are free.” Lucifer gave in with surprising ease, but neither man show any facial reaction to his words at all.

“I have been free since the moment I killed the first Prince of Hell. Mammon went down easy, and from the moment of his death, I found my freedom. There has been no need for me to obey your words these years; there is no need now.”

Lucifer finally stands up from his seat on the throne and walks down the few steps to stand right before the man, till they were nose-to-nose.

“Then you are here to kill me.” Lucifer said. Before more words could be exchanged, a squishy, wet sound came, and the image flickered to the sight of Lucifer’s bloodied hand within the man’s body, right in where his heart should be. Blood poured, but the man didn’t show any facial reaction, holding Lucifer’s eye contact fearlessly.

“I am here to end our game satisfactorily.” The man replied, no sign of pain in his voice at all. Closing a hand slowly over Lucifer’s in his body, holding his heart, the man concentrated.

She gasped when a thin line appeared on Lucifer’s wrist, and his hand detached from the line onwards. Lucifer’s black demon blood poured and spilled, and the demon Prince stepped back in shock, staring at the stump that was his hand. Their enemy only calmly removed the disembodied hand from his body, dropping the bloodied hand to one side, a free hand covering over the hole in his chest.

“You won once because I misread your advances. Now, read my advances.” He clicked his fingers, and Lucifer’s hand on the floor caught on black demonic fire.

“I refuse to play your game.” Lucifer adamantly rejected, but she could see the pain in Lucifer’s eyes. Princes of Hell weren’t supposed to hurt at such a wound. But Princes of Hell were supposed to heal at such a wound –and Lucifer’s hand hadn’t shown any signs of regenerating back at all. Black blood still poured from Lucifer’s stump and yet the demon Prince refused to do anything about it.

“Prideful.” The man stated simply. “Your success and your downfall.”

This time, it was the man’s turn to step forward till they were nose-to-nose. The man placed a hand fearlessly over Lucifer’s heart, flat against Lucifer’s thin cotton shirt.

“Perish by my hand, as your brothers have done, Lucifer.” He whispered, and all was silent and emotionless for a moment longer.

Lucifer gave a strangled noise from his throat and she watched as the emotionless demon Prince’s eyes widen, expression taken with shock.

“How do you-” Any further last words the last surviving Prince of Hell had to say was taken away when Lucifer crumbled into ash without a warning.

She gave a little cry of shock at the image. How could it be that he killed the demon Prince so easily? What did he do to Lucifer; just by placing his hand over Lucifer’s heart? A demon’s heart wasn’t even the way to kill a Prince. Lucifer’s creation core wasn’t even his heart. Lucifer –as all other Princes –had been created by the souls representing their respective sins. Lucifer had represented pride.

The only way to have killed Lucifer –turning him into ash and dust –was making Lucifer lose his pride. How could the man have done that without moving?

The man stepped back calmly, then bent over to the pile of ashes. He put his hand in the pile of what used to be Lucifer, and waited for a moment. Then, the next moment, he withdrew a long, black sword –a katana –from the pile. He didn’t miss a single beat of what was expected, as he grasped the katana tightly in his hand. He turned back the way he came, and began walking out of the hall full of demon sand remains.

He raised his katana high above his head, and the columns holding up Lucifer’s hall began cracking. Still, he walked slowly, fearlessly –in power. It was as if he considered this a simple job done, as she watched the back of him disappear out of the hall, right before the entire hall crumbled and destroyed itself into ruins.

Finally the image froze again, and Mundus turned back to her expectantly.

“Damon Kries has done enough in Hell. No more do I give him anymore leave. No more do I see him a minor prick. I send you after him and his family. We cannot hope to harm him the way he is –the way he has adapted while in Lucifer’s chains. Go, and get me his brother. His brother will be our way of destroying him and his people once and for all.” Mundus said seriously, the frown in his voice as he watched her seriously.

Quickly, she schooled herself and nodded back in reply. When Mundus asked for something, there was no leave for questioning. She walked back the way she came, Mundus’s trust in her to do her job well.

Lucifer had failed her Master.

She would not.                   

Damon Kries will be destroyed.