Chapter 19
"WHERE IS YOUR BERSERKER?!"
"SIRZECHS CALM DOWN!"
Within the Castle belonging to Shiva, a red-faced and FURIOUS-looking Sirzechs screamed at the said God, his body oozing with the power of destruction which threatened to level the entire building. Cracks had already started to form beneath the enraged Satan's feet, spreading across the floor to about a good 15 inches while two small craters had formed beneath his boots. Truly, he looked absolutely LIVID right now, more so than the rest of his group which had consisted of the 4 Satans Serafall, Falbium, Ajuka and himself. None of them had a escort though, since their numbers currently didn't allow that to be a possibility, plus there were many families grieving over the lost loved ones who had died defending their home from an impromptu incursion by the one who Sirzechs had called the 'berserker'.
In contrast, Shiva gazed on with a neutral expression while Vishnu was same as him, a bald muscular individual with pearled necklaces and bracelets, watched the Devil fume at them with a flustered Serafall trying to keep him calm to no avail with a rather serious expression on his face.
Next to him stood Brahma, the Hindu god of creation, who also remained unfazed by his scream as his eyes were closed, while next to him stood the head of the Hindus Indra.
It had been about 4 days since the attack on the Hindus had occurred by the Apostles' hands, 4 days since Shiro and later Jinako vanished into the Nine Circles of Hell to rescue Arjuna's descendant, and things had not been on the way to getting better very much.
The attack had utterly DEVASTATED the whole of the Hindu faction, breaking through a lot of their defences and killing a great number of their members. Many great sources of beauty and wisdom had been ravaged, fields had been turned into ashen wastelands, and buildings still partially burned with smoke trails rising upwards into the atmosphere. It was only fortunate that Shiva's castle allowed him to look away from such devastation, otherwise he probably would have lost his temper and made things worse.
They had still been counting the casualties with the last recorded amount being in the thousands already, when all of a sudden a Transportation Circle from the Devils had appeared in the middle of Shiva's throne room, the aforementioned Gods having sensed this happening and immediately teleported to the said deity to deal with the unwelcome visitors.
Which had led to their current predicament.
"You've come to our land without any announcement, barged into the temple of Shiva and you have the decency to demand give our berserker to you?" Vishnu declared, joined by the two girls Ushi and Xuanzang who gazed scornfully at the devils. "It seems you've gotten more arrogant over the years."
His words deeply contrasted the fury that the red haired Devil had emitted from his person as he stepped forwards, creating some new craters and cracks while gritting his teeth so hard that they may have just shattered under the strain. "ARROGANT?! WE DID NOT DO ANYTHING TO YOUR FACTION, AND YOU DECLARE WE'VE GOTTEN ARROGANT?! I'LL-"
Before he could say something that could likely make things all the worse for them, Serafall quickly tried to placate her fellow Satan by holding him back, an urgency in her tone when she pleaded with the following words. "Sirzechs plea-"
"Silence." A deep voice boomed throughout the throne room, making Sirzechs feel that a mountain had landed on top of him. He wasn't the only one who had been affected either, for Serafall had sweat dripping all over her face, Ajuka had his eyes wide open in horror, and
Falbium for the first time lost all the sleep he had in him.
The voice belonged to Brahma who had opened his eyes, the man standing there seemingly doing nothing. Yet when they sensed their fellow Hindu's energy spiking, Shiva and Vishnu looked at their fellow Trimurti before turning back to the devils.
Brahma then proceeded to step forwards a few times as the pressure gradually increased in its potency. "Haven't done anything you say? Have you forgotten how the heir of your murmur clan attempted to reincarnate our Nagas for his personal use? RIGHT under our noses, I might add?"
"Oh, how can I forget about that Brahma?" Upon hearing THAT piece of information, Vishnu narrowed his eyes at the devils, he was unleashing his aura at them as they began to remember the last time they had provoked the Hindus.
Hundreds of years ago when the evil pieces were still in their infancy, the devils had begun a mass expansion in their numbers which swelled thanks to them, their intent being to gather as many members of their peerages as possible to bolster their forces. This had made the copious other factions around the world hide from the devils so that they wouldn't be their slaves for life, though not all of them had been lucky.
One time, a Devil heir of the Murmur clan, a now extinct Devil Clan, had attempted to persuade a Naga member to join his Peerage (which had been mostly filled with women who had similar beauty levels to her) because she just looked beautiful, not giving a damn about her circumstances nor her feelings on the matter.
Obviously, the naga had refused to even consider joining with him, especially with the way he eyed her like a creepy stalker observing their senpai's that japanese boys tended to froth at the mouth over. Just as obviously, this did not sit well with this Devil heir, so during a night several days after he had tried diplomacy with her poor family which had failed, he had attempted to kidnap this Naga with the help of his clan, intending on erasing her entire family and erasing any evidence against him before the deed could have been found out.
What this heir had NOT counted on was for these Nagas to frantically pray to their gods for help, creating a surge of faith so great that it would have been impossible NOT to have noticed their pleas. As a result, this had caused the Hindu Gods to immediately investigate this strange occurrence in their lands, and boy did they not like what they found at ALL.
One of them, Vishnu himself actually, had personally gone out to the underworld, tracked down and razed the murmur territory to the ground, saving the nagas while leaving no Devil survivors. This incident left behind a taste of his power, as well as a 'demonstration' to any would-be attempts by other arrogant heirs on why he along the Trimurti were among the top ten powerful gods.
Back to the topic at hand, Brahma narrowed his eyes at the Satans when he had confirmed that they would be open to discussion. Not like they would have any other option as far as he was concerned, but still. "What have we done to anger you? You didn't come here without a reason, did you? Even your lot wouldn't be foolish enough to do that, unlike a lot of your kind." he questioned them with his arms crossed in front of his chest like a father disciplining his unruly children in front of millions of people.
This caused Sirzech to almost scream at them once more, but Ajuka thwacked him upside the head before he could do so. This caused the red-haired man to glare at him, but Ajuka ignored him while taking the crimson Satan's place before the Hindu god of creation. That done, he waved his hand before conjuring a jar that had a light on it.
Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva, Indra, Ushi and Xuanzang leaned forward at this before sensing that it was an Astra spell and it had Brahma's energy on it to which Brahma narrowed his eyes.
"My Astra..."
The green-haired Satan nodded his head at this statement, his lips pressed together in a firm line. "Yes, we did some digging before finding out what this spell was and where it came from. We spent days figuring out who attacked our capital city before we found the answer. The only one who had the description of white hair and had the energy of a demigod which would have been your berserker." Ajuka explained.
On the Hindu side of things, Shiva narrowed his eyes, getting the feeling that Jinako was involved.
Regardless, the questions continued. "What makes you think our berserker would attack your faction without a reason Gremory?" Vishnu said to the devils.
"Apparently, the initial attack had only been a distraction. when he destroyed Lilith city, the true reason why he would go there was that….. He was looking for an entrance to the nine circle."
THAT bombshell exploded throughout the room, stunning all who had heard it.
Vishnu looked with wide eyes as he pale a bit, knowing EXACTLY what kind of place the Nine Circles had been. He himself once had the misfortune of having to visit that place to retrieve someone who had been wrongfully imprisoned there, and he NEVER wanted to go there again.
He wasn't the only one who had such a reaction to this statement, for Brahma raised his eyebrows in surprise and Shiva with wide eyes before narrowing.
Ushi gasped in surprise while Xuanzang had a similar reaction to Vishnu.
Meanwhile, the God of Destruction internally fumed but not at Sirzechs, as much as it galled him to admit it Sirzechs and the Devils were the victims this time at the end of the day this time. 'Dammit! Why the hell would he….?' Shiva wondered internally about why Shiro would go to the nine circles. Heck, thinking about it even Shiro shouldn't have any interest in going there since it wasn't filled with Apostles, or related to them in any way.
So why? Why did…?
His thoughts then grinded to a halt as a possible theory entered his mind, though he internally hoped it wasn't true. Sneaking a glance at Indra, the Deity noticed that he didn't look too fazed by this information compared to the rest of them, which didn't bode well for his gut. While he did his best to quell his growing anxiousness, He looked towards Indra while asking the following question slowly. "You know something about this, don't you Indra?"
His question rendered the man silent for a few moments… before eventually, Indra wound up sighing, slouching his shoulders. 'It seems I can't keep the secret anymore, I'm sorry.' he mused mentally before he slowly nodded his head. "Yes, I do Shiva." he replied, facing the Hindu God without flinching nor hiding his haze away from him. "The reason why he's gone there… is that I told him where the nine circles were."
INSTANTLY the shitstorm that Indra knew was approaching, erupted throughout the room with its core being a certain red haired Devil. "YOU! YOU WERE RESPONSIBLE!" Sirzechs bellowed, his energy exploding out of him while he pointed his finger at Indra. Worse still, was that he had started preparing to leap at him with his hands enveloped in his Power of Destruction. "YOU'LL PAY FOR-"
BOOM!
Before he could do so however, Sirzechs widened his eyes when a bolt of lighting hit the space beside him, stopping the Devil from taking further action. While feeling an increasing pressure from the Hindu Gods, Indra looked at him with electricity cackling around him. "I'd advise you to keep that tongue of yours shut before I make sure it doesn't." Indra spoke with calmness, in spite of the energy he emitted at the moment.
"You've overstayed your greetings. I think it's time for you to leave now." Brahma said to him.
Those words brought the spark back to his rage though, setting it alight within his eyes while Sirzechs looked like he was about to explode. "LEAVE!? AFTER SO MANY DEVILS DIED IN OUR LAND, YOU TELL US TO JUST LEAVE!? I WILL NOT LEAVE UNTIL I-"
"For fuck sake!" Before the red-haired Satan could say more, Falbium and Ajuka jumped on him, pinning him down and restraining his movements. Of course, the Devil ranted and raved like a madman, his eyes bloodshot and bulging with almost twisted malice which almost made him look completely alien to his companions.
Behind them, a paling Serafall watched how the Hindu gods were getting riled up if the energy spikes she could sense were of any indication. At this point, her experience as a diplomat told her to get the fuck outta dodge before things got worse and a potential war broke out, hence why she hurriedly bowed apologetically towards them. "We are so sorry to barge into your faction, Trimurti."
"LET GO OF ME! LET GO OF ME!" Sirzechs roared, his voice echoing throughout the throne room while he struggled frantically to get out of their grip.
"For once in your lifetime just shut up or else you'll get us killed or make our race go to extinction because of your attitude!" Falbium yelled while he and Ajuka worked harder (probably harder than their entire lives) to restrain him. Though they knew for a fact they wouldn't be able to hold him for long, it had been a well-established fact that the gremorys were considerably more emotional than a majority of Devils… which could be seen as a double-edged sword.
Serafall conjured a magic circle and ran to it as Falbium and Ajuka dragged him into the circle's centre, though judging by the sweat rolling down their foreheads it seemed like a strenuous task.
Just before entering it, Sirzechs directed his bloodcrazed gaze towards the Hindu Gods, eyes promising nothing but merciless wrath upon them while he delivered some parting words when it became clear to his fury-ridden mind that he would not have long left. "YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS INDRA! I SWEAR I WILL KILL YOU FOR DESTROYING OUR CAPITAL CITY AND THOUSANDS OF DEVILS!"
With those last words bellowed at the top of his lungs, the Satans all entered the magic circle which then dispelled moments later. Once it did and the Hindus were all alone once again, a tense silence enveloped the room, one which lasted a few moments before Shiva glanced forth towards Indra with his expression one that demanded an answer.
Brahma too.
"Tell me Indra…...why did you send Shiro into that woeful realm?"
Indra kept silent, closing his eyes while he imagined the inevitable fallout this will bring to them. If this recent attack wasn't enough to be worried about, they had to have this too. If it weren't for his wife, perhaps Indra would have retired already, because that kind of life seemed more and more like a promising option by the second. Once he had steeled himself for what would soon be coming, he opened his eyes and gave his answer. "The apostle was only a distraction." This made them confused at Indra's explanation before he continued. "They did not want to destroy our faction, instead they were looking for the person who bears the mark of sacrifice." He finished, not saying any more.
Once this became clear to the other Hindu gods, they proceeded to ponder about what Indra had meant by the 'mark of sacrifice'. Though, this didn't last long before Shiva formed an expression of realization when it hit him. "Brihanna." he whispered, going ghostly pale in horror at this.
To compound this feeling, Indra nodded as he took out a piece of paper. "Yes, but apparently someone else had other plans for her." he explained, handing the paper to him as it says when Indra repeated the words on the paper. ""You want the girl? Go to the circle." Someone wanted Shiro to go to the nine circles, they had help from someone."
Shiva paused for a minute before he looked at Indra. "But that does not answer the question Indra, why did you send him there to that cursed real… you sent him there to rescue that descendent didn't you?"
"Yes, he was persistent in finding the circle, you know why I vowed to never let any of my family die, after Vali and Arjuna."
"... Was Jinako involved?"
"... you can already guess the answer to that one, Shiva."
Indra's words were like a powder keg being set to explode, with Shiva being the catalyst for the ensuing explosion of his destructive aura that got aimed at him.
Absolutely FUMING right now, Shiva looked like his namesake while he glared in seething anger at Indra. "Why?" he demanded, realizing he sent his granddaughter to the Nine Circles of hell. He may be fully supportive of her desire to become strong enough to fight the Apostles, heck he remained proud of her for that one, but the fact that she had gone to THAT realm did NOT sit well with him at ALL. There was a reason why none in their right divine mind would even 'disclose' that place's location to anyone, heck he and many others had hoped that knowledge of that place would be eventually lost to history and they wouldn't have to worry about it ever again.
Now that dream had become a distant memory for them.
Before Indra could answer however, intervention came when Brahma raised his hand which caused Shiva to look at him.
"Your granddaughter wanted to help our berserker in pursuit of Indra's descendant. She already has her reasons, you must know it Shiva." Brahma said as Shiva gripped his hand in anger before opening it and sighing.
"She's always so damn freaking reckless….. just like you in the past." Vishnu said to Shiva.
"But whatever the case is this does not go unpunished Indra. You sent him and Ganesha's daughter to the forbidden realm." He pointed his finger at Indra. "For this reason your punishment is to go to the asura faction and mend their bonds after you killed their previous leader."
Indra had his eyes closed before nodding, he leaves the room preparing to go to the asura realm.
"When the berserker comes back-"
"How do you know that he will come back lord Brahma?" Ushi interrupted Brahma as she heard of the reputation of the nine circles. He looked at her as Ushi became weary at Brahma since his figure looked to be divine and a powerful god just by looking at him.
"I noticed that every time he gets close to death during his fights against the Apostles, something happens that prevents that from happening. As such, his existence will likely have become something that makes even the various death gods grow to hate him… he always avoids death no matter where he goes. Not even the pits of hell would stop him."
Down in the Nine Circles, the Circle of Greed…
BOOM! BANG! CRASH! BASH!
So far, round two… wasn't going as promising as Shiro and Jinako would have liked.
To start, the massive monstrosity Gluttony had become moved just as fast as previously, striking at them so fast and then moving quick enough to leave afterimages in its wake. It also kept trying to lunge at them and gobble them up in one bite which it showed itself to be MORE than capable of doing with its new form, with its Tails forming mouths and little legs that… somehow, helped it dart across the platform in unorthodox patterns resulting in much more unpredictable attacks from different directions.
THEN there was…
"Urgh, this guy's hit box is broken af!"
One of many frustrated yells escaped Jinako's lips while she flipped and darted about the battlefield, firing energy dangos at the various Tails launching lunging bites at her only for them to regenerate seconds later.
Shiro once again ignored this just like the rest of the ones she's made before, partially due to being in a similar situation and partially because she wasn't wrong in vocalizing her frustrations with this enemy.
With its apparent shapeshifting ability the monster that was Gluttony kept striking at them without care for the platform they all occupied, and from how it seemingly glided across the molten gold like it saw the pool as another solid surface, and it held another unfair advantage over them. It probably managed to do that since it was the boss of this Circle, the ruler one could say, which would suck if it were true since Gluttony had been an influential noble in its past human life, and had been one of those who preach about it being a Noble's birthright to be rulers of the weak.
Activating another Crescent Arc Blood Art, Shiro swung Kurogane multiple times to launch a bunch of energy circles at several approaching Tails, intending on slicing them to ribbons before they could get too close. Unfortunately, while he had been able to strike one of them the other managed to dart to the side and dodge his strikes, then dart right back at Shiro with its jaws wide open for a bite. Growling under his breath, Shiro quickly jumped into the air and performed another Blood Art. "Blood Art: SKYFALL!"
With that yell, Shiro enveloped his Spear's tip in his reddish orange aura before starting his rapid descent down to the Tail still beneath him. From what he had seen these things were fast, but if he was quick enough with his reflexes then he'd be able to get a few good hits in, though the rest of his previous attempts had mostly ended in failure. Still he gave it a shot… and failed once more when the Tail jerked out of the way and thwacked him across the side, launching him across the platform.
As he tumbled away, the other two tails converged onn Jinako while she had been preparing some more Energy Dangos. Said girl noticed them, and quickly jumped forwards to dodge them but…
SMACK!
"Gah!"
A strangled cry escaped her lips when the hungry Demon smashed its large left hand on top of her from above with enough force that she could have caused the gear-shaped platform to splinter under the force behind the blow. It would have tried to grab her and lift her up to its mouth for a quick snack, had she not recovered halfway during that process and swung her Axe across its face to temporarily take out its eye sockets, effectively damaging its sight.
"GGRRRRRROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
A wild shriek escaped Gluttony's stubby maw while it slid backwards, holding its face with both its large hands (which looked quite strange from an outsider's perspective). Behind it, its three Tails swerved about like frantic headless chickens, striking at the surroundings adjacent to its vicinity as well as denying any chance for one to close in for further CQC action.
That suited the two just fine honestly, with Shiro quickly landing beside and grasping Jinako by the arm, yanking her up to her feet. "You're not dead yet." he stated, simply making an observation with the most deadpanned expression possible.
Not one which Jinako saw much humor in though, evident by the glare that she gave him in response. "Thanks for worrying…" she responded with a tone dripping with sarcasm though she soon let an exhale out through her nostrils to release her pent-up frustration for the moment. Even under normal circumstances, Shiro wasn't the most affectionate or the most sensitive person around, so it wasn't right for her to expect anything like that from him. "Anyways, its not going to be long before that thing gets its eyesight back, any ideas?"
"Hmmm…" Shiro muttered while the creature before them howled in agony while the sounds of regeneration could be heard and, judging from their volume, he believed that they really didn't have long to form a plan. "That healing it has is powerful, odds are it could likely be similar to the Phenex Devil Clan's." he stated thoughtfully while Rashomon growled in hunger within the back of his mind. Although thanks to the strenuous combat he had been in with it, his Sacred Gear's bloodlust felt more manageable for the moment, yet right now all he focused on was formulating a plan of action. One which he managed to do, actually. "Looks like our best bet is complete destruction of his body, so there's nothing to heal, but our best bet there is my Brahamastra."
Upon hearing that, Jinako hissed in frustration as she mauled it over in her mind for a few seconds. "But that would destroy our platform, and without careful control we may risk destroying the entire circle before we could escape." She personally did't give a flying fuck if this place bit the dust in the middle of divine fire. Divinity brought it into existence; it could erase it as well as far as she was concerned. But dying alongside it? THAT she couldn't accept. However, Shiro did indeed have a point, and while Rashomon would be able to devour anything it bites into, she didn't think that it could form a head big enough to swallow Gluttony in one big gulp. If he had trained enough in preparation beforehand, Jinako believed Shiro's Sacred Gear could have done that however. Still, his words DID give her an idea. "Still, you're right… ah, alright Shiro listen up…"
By the time that she finished whispering the plan into Shiro's ear, the male nodding his head resolutely, the monstrous Demon finally lowered its hands to show the regeneration almost done, about a few seconds away from completion, it made to launch its Tails once more out of anger.
However…
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM!
The very INSTANT that the healing completed it, multiple explosions rang across its form, created by Jinko who had rained a bunch of energy dangos on it from above in a similar manner to before.
As for the girl in question, she jumped backwards towards the edge of the platform, her eyes wide with a grin spreading across her lips, her very body language just OOZING confidence like sludge. "Alright ya fatso! Ya want this booty?! COME AND GET IT, YA FUCKTARD!" She yelled in an attempt to taunt it into attacking. She even turned her back and wiggled her backside at the Demon for good measure.
Seconds later, and her attempts showed results… good ones.
"GRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHHHHH!"
Furious (and by the gods she hoped she had imagined the faint sense of desire there), Gluttony howled as it darted towards her with the intent of grabbing her. However, Jinako continued swinging her goblet to launch more Dangos one after another, having forced herself to keep creating them as single shot rounds to slow it down as much as it could as well as keep its focus on her. She hoped that this worked, but if that fucker grabbed her…
"I'LL MAKE SURE YOU KNOW YOUR PLACE BEFORE EATING YOU, WHORE!"
"... I wouldn't be so sure about that, asshole."
A low, masculine voice sounded nearby, causing the demon to freeze up with its eyes shaking violently. Not only that, but seconds later it got followed by a large beast head slamming into it's back with enough force to send it flying across the area… and right off the side of the platform.
Panicked squeals similar to those of a pig erupted from its throat while the Demon frantically launched its tails to try and grab onto the side of the platform to anchor itself onto, but the moment the Tails bit into it several jaws suddenly bit into THEM as well, causing pained squeals to escape it while the Demon looked to the source…
Only to find Shiro with multiple Rashomon jaws holding his free hand up to the skies, a massive Brahamastra fireball hovering over his raised hand.
"... Burn."
"SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
FWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!
Without remorse, Shiro ironically directed a cold glare towards the Demon while throwing the scorching hot fireball right at the Demon's face. Plus, since it had anchored itself it couldn't really move in any way that could help it dodge the fireball-shaped Brahamastra either, hence the result that followed wasn't avoidable for it…
A massive explosion erupting and enveloping its form. Seconds later a massively burned, downright scorched, head belonging to Gluttony shot out of the explosion and flopped down onto the centre of the platform. Red electricity crackled around its neck while the regeneration ability started to kick in, only for a beast head to bite down into it from behind and essentially render the ability moot, devouring the cells faster than they could regenerate.
"Huh, so you survived." Shiro remarked, standing before the head while looking down on it, both figuratively and literally. The glutton breathed heavily while he groaned in pain and exhaustion, grimacing at the power of Brahma's astra. It didn't help that his severed head hadn't fully escaped the flames either, for some still clung to the base where his body would have started regenerating from. They also added to Shiro's Rashomon and its ability to stop him from properly healing, so if something didn't change for him soon then even his demonic body wouldn't last.
He would have thought the boy would have tried to end his life at that moment, but just then Shiro stepped to the side instead. "I would love to kill you again but this time she will have the pleasure of killing you." he declared, looking away from the head to somewhere Gluttony wasn't sure. He soon got why he did that, though, since as soon as he said that Jinako walked to the glutton man, who would have tried to move away had Rashomon not kept him pinned in place, plus he couldn;t muster the strength to grow any limbs to help him move either due to his weakened state.
In the end, Gluttony couldn't do anything but watch while Jinako grabbed the back of his head and forced him to turn around, Rashomon helping so that his gaze could face upwards towards her. This allowed her to watch the fear build up in his eyes while she raised her axe in preparation to bring it down and finally end his miserable life.
"W-wh-waaaaaiiiitttt! Don't let her kill me! Please!" In a desperate bid to save his own skin, Gluttony glanced towards the white haired descendant of Karna and attempted to plead with him.
However Shiro did not accept it, merely watched with arms crossed and Sacred Gear restraining the Demon for the final blow to be dealt.
Though what came next from his mouth stopped Jinako in her tracks, her Axe frozen in a reared back motion for an overhead smash. "For your father! For who brought you this world!"
Those words stunned Jinako for a minute and Shiro looked at him with rage. "What…...what was that?...care to repeat that glutton?" Shiro questioned him, his eyes shifting into their beastial state once again.
"L-lu-lucifer showed me the prostitute that I had sex with! You! Don't you see why we almost look similar to each other? Have you not questioned that?" Gluttony exclaimed in a stammering voice, all the while he tried to explain more about how he was apparently Shiro's father.
Jinako thought about his words, and soon realized that perhaps there may be a bit more truth to them than he was letting on. She did recall what he had looked like before and there HAD still been some vague resemblance between him and Shiro. She may not have seen the same vision Gluttony had though, so she couldn't say if that first part was correct or not, but then she remembered what that bitch from the Circle of Lust had said… to which her eyes narrowed while she gripped her fists in anger. Looked like Shiro's entire family had been rotten to the core…
Still, how would this affect Shiro himself?
A new layer of worry placed her being at this revelation, to which Jinako directed her concerned gaze towards the white haired male to see his reaction. Her worries proved to be a bit more valid when she saw how he had been rendered silent, his hair shadowing his eyes while his body showed signs of exploding into action at any moment. Her worries grew even MORE when she saw him start walking to the bloated man. What was he planning to do?
Soon enough, Shiro stopped when he was standing in front of his supposed father who begun to think that he must've forgiven him, that he was going to let him go. It was what any normal person would do in this situation, the former human had thought, plus this boy couldn't possibly kill his own flesh and blood, right? These thoughts got combined with the thought that he would live another day, resulting in the Demon putting up his hand to reach forth for Shiro.
But instead of that...
"GUH!"
Shiro quickly reached out and grabbed his throat, choking him for a couple seconds. Then, he yanked him up off the ground with the suddenly VERY frightened Demon frantically trying to get out of his grip. Thanks to him not being able to do anything since he was just a head at the moment though, combined with the strength behind this grip, all this struggling would end in vain too.
"Let me tell you something." he brought his face close to the fearful glutton man. "I. HAVE. NO. FATHER." with that he coldly threw him into the molten gold.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" he screams in pain as he attempts to get out of it but instead is melted into the gold where he would spend the rest of his life. Gold for eternity.
Shiro watched him melt into gold before turning away. He saw a golden coin on the ground as he picked it up, showing an ancient face from the old ages before he heated his hand and melted the gold coin into liquid.
Jinako looked at Shiro as he jumped out of the platform before she joined him, there she saw him drinking the green fountain which heals up his wounds and walks away from it. This time Jinako did not look in disgust at the liquid, knowing that such behaviour would invite the male's wrath, so she simply got a handful of the green liquid in the fountain, lifted it towards her mouth and drank it, healing her wounds. Afterwards, her eyes glanced over to see how Shiro had forcefully opened another one of those gargoyle doors with his bare hands instead of using his scythe.
'He's becoming more of a beast.' She thought in worry watching as how his Tailcoat had fallen off him, too damaged from combat to remain on his person. This not just shed another layer of himself, another barrier impeding his descent into insanity, but it also exposed his chiseled muscle, a build fit for a mixed martial artist. Now that she thought of it, in this place those clothes he wore seemed to symbolize something: his grip on his own self, his own madness, and the more he shedded them the more frenzied and vicious he became in future battles.
Vergil's warning played out in her mind, filling her with dread for the future. She only hoped that his sanity would not break before all was said and done, cause she feared the end result of that. If it did…..then she will have no choice but to….
End him.
Once they entered the door, they saw a large black metallic platform connected to a chain which ran across another deep dark abyss, the surroundings being similar to a cave once more… save for a few differences. Those being a bunch giant golden damned scattered about, frozen into statues in various positions of agony, torment and anguish, almost resembling a piece of beautiful yet terrifying art. The platform had a lever on it, so Shiro and Jinako stepped onto it and pulled the lever together, starting the Platform's movement towards the other side. While this happened, a bunch of flying Demons ambushed them from all sides prompting the two to resort to their ranged weapons to deal with them.
Upon reaching the other side, they saw that it was an elevator shaped like the platform they had used previously, with a golden statue bathed in waterfalls made from molten gold. Upon them stepping onto the second platform to pull the lever, it suddenly sank into it while a bunch of Demons manifested from the ground, soon being met with Rashomon Threads and energy dangos.
Afterwards, the lever returned so Jinako went and pulled the lever, with the platform slowly descending downwards as they exited out of the fourth circle and now they approach to the fifth circle.
When the platform stopped, they found themselves in some kind of room where there was a burned hand of the damned gripping each other as if trying to get out of the molten lava on both sides of the wall. They walked past it and see that they were some kind of ledge with a statue of the damned next to it as it spew out water from a giant artifact pot next to it, they climb down at some kind of human makeshift rope, there Shiro swings by before destroying another chain that was on his way.
As soon as he destroyed it, he jumped to another human makeshift rope, climbing down it before landing in... some kind of dark, barren-looking forest akin to what one would look like after a large forest fire going out of control.
All of this just made him think back to the Eclipse though, with Shiro growling beneath his breath. Unbeknownst to him however, his growls got deeper and deeper the more he did them as well as the more his rage grew. If one were to look at him from an outsider's perspective, one would nearly have a heart attack at how… animalistic Shiro had looked at this point, with the faint silhouette of… something, looming over him from behind.
THUD!
A thudding sound behind him signalled that Jinako had landed next to him, but in his current state Shiro ignored it. Though the whole silhouette thing vanished too so it remained unseen, still its effects lingered.
Behind him, Jinako took note of the wavering sanity surrounding her companion, briefly worrying about what could happen soon before it got replaced by the sights surrounding her. Turning her head about, she looked around with confusion at what this all meant, before joining up with her companion again to which they walked forward for a bit, before stopping in front of a river with black sludge and instead of the damned being tortured, fighting each other.
"Well-well... this is new." Jinako remarked, seeing the damned fighting each other while ignoring the sludge below them.
"This is the fifth circle, anger." Virgil appeared before them as he spoke. "See the souls over whom anger has prevailed. In the warm bath of the sun they were once hateful down here in the black sludge of the River Styx to which they wish had never been born."
That was a worrying thought, Jinako mused as she continued to talk to Virgil. By 'worrying' she meant that this Circle may be the one which would finally do Shiro in since anger was DEFINITELY a major boost for the derailing of his sanity. Maybe it would serve as the final nail in the coffin for him, a thought she tried not to focus on too much in favor of her pursuit for knowledge. "There is something I want to know, great poet." she asked Virgil who turned to her.
"Go ahead young lady."
"I've read a poet called the divine comedy by Dante Alighieri, how is it that these circles are similar to him?" she asked of him, to which Virgil nods at.
"A good question young lady, you see Dante Alighieri had a dream sent to him from Lucifer who did not want the world to forget what the true underworld is. His intent was to make sure that the gods would ALWAYS remember what a terrible place the woeful realm is. As such, they punished Dante Alighieri but he convinced them that the poem is only a story to the human world and the younger generation won't remember what it was."
"I see so the poem was real after all." she muttered under her breath, huffing. Looked like that poem was another example of the whole 'legends are based on bits of truth' thing their world revolved around. Thinking back, she remembered why her father had always been weary of the divine comedy as if he walked into something terrible. Looked like the circles had been real after all.
Meanwhile, Virgil turned towards Shiro, momentarily forgetting how to breathe when he saw the state he had been degraded to, before pushing past it and giving out some words of warning directed at him. Although, deep down, he wasn't sure if they would be helpful at this point no more.
"Be weary young warrior, for angry souls know no end to their fury, there might be some you've met while they were still alive." Virgil warned Shiro before disappearing.
Those words did succeed in one thing, briefly snapping Shiro out of his previous trance. The male grumbled at them, thinking that there had to be QUITE a few who would have their revenge on him.
Deciding that enough was enough, although the fact that Rashomon kept growling impatiently within the back of his mind which would have driven him mad before long, Shiro shook his head before proceeding to head on towards the first platform. It would be a manageable jump across to be sure, but once that was done a much bigger gap between that one and the third platform awaited him. Luckily, Shiro had spotted a rope similar in appearance to a human spinal column that ran above and across the black sludge of which he could see a bunch of damned souls beneath trying to rip each other apart. Walking to the first platform's edge, Shiro jumped across it onto the second, a thud happening behind him that signalled Jinako's accompanying him.
Afterwards, the male got up and hopped into the air, grasping onto the skeleton rope with both his hands and feet. With those secure, the male began to scramble across the rope on all fours like a rabid animal as opposed to his previous means of transportation.
Behind him, Jinako could be seen flipping on top of the rope and then proceeding to walk along it as if she were a circus performer along a tightrope.
As soon as the duo reached the other side, both of them dropped down with two hard THUDS onto the next platform, with the male landing on all fours with a growl escaping his lips, his lower lip vibrating from the sounds leaving his throat, while the female landed on her two feet after performing an elegant flip through the air.
Just went to showcase the differences between them, huh?
That done, Shiro strode forwards with Jinako following behind him with her Axe in hand while he had his Kurogane Spear in his at the ready. The two of them travelled up a small slope before turning right onto another slop, and thus finally reached a higher elevated platform which had an entrance into a large, creepy forest.
"Looks like this place is good ol' little red riding hood's worst nightmare…" Jinako muttered under her breath with Shiro remaining silent, much to her concern since he had only been speaking briefly and when specifically spoken to.
However, just as they had made it about a 1/4 of the way across the platform, a loud rumbling abruptly shook the atmosphere prompting the two to quickly get into their battle stances. As a result, a couple seconds later tree branches suddenly burst out from the ground at both the entrance to the forest as well as behind the slope behind them, blocking their way out.
Before anything else could be said, Shiro and Jinako observe how just like with the previous Circles, two glutton worms from the Circle of Gluttony burst out from the edges of the platform, with flying demons and some smaller ones in a large group hovering around the edges. Add in the whole usual accompanying zombie horde and one got an annoying pain in the ass which these two had enough experiences dealing with for multiple lifetimes
"(GROWL)... shit, I don't have time for this." Shiro spat, wincing as loud roars from Rashomon began to fill his mind with the urge to kill, his bloodlust exploding inside of his chest like a bomb. His vision began to turn red as he readied his Kurogane and charged his energy for another blood art. "Blood art: CRIMSON GLIDE!" He announced his attack, Kurogane's tip starting to glow red before he thrusted it forwards. As a result, the attack promptly launched him forwards like a bullet, a streak of red accompanying him to which his technique pierced through a large group of zombies including one glutton worm that had foolishly tried to grab him in its jaws upon him entering a close enough proximity.
On her side of things, Jinako used her axe to cleave the smaller zombie in two diagonally, then kicked its decapitated upper body away from her. She didn't remain idle for long, thanks to having the instinct necessary for dodging a glutton worm that had been about to eat her, though she returned the favor in that instant by summoning her Goblett to form some Dango. She then settled the favor by putting those Dango in its mouth as she jumped away, letting it wiggle around a bit before watching it explode into pieces.
The remainder of the fight didn't last long, and a good thing that it did, Jinako internally mused as she felt the hands of death creeping up on her thanks to witnessing the beastial aura around Shiro swelling in size, his veins almost pulsating at this point while sweat ran down his back to stain his upper body's remaining clothing, A strong heat wave erupted from him at this point, heating his body up and evaporating the sweat, to which Jinako would have gotten more worried about the Armor she remembered Shiro having at one point. Since those clothes were meant to be its standby form, him discarding them like that didn't bode well for it in her mind.
At least his lower body remained covered still, so the armor would still appear completely whenever Shiro would call for it.
Once there weren't any more demons around them, they continued forward, passing through the entrance into a narrow walkway. They occasionally had to go about jumping across areas covered by a black sludge that had hands which shot out as if trying to reach out towards them.
Only when they exited the walkway did they find themselves in another swamp-like area, though unlike the first one this one had 2 small platforms that sunk into the murky sludge below (Jinako knew this because she had been the unwilling test dummy, much to her chagrin). After that little demonstration, Shiro looked around for a way to proceed, narrowing his eyes when he spotted that two damned were fighting each other atop the second platform while it slowly descended down into the sludge, taking them with it.
He wasn't the only one searching though, for Jinako kept looking around before she spotted something: the outline of a cave-like walkway behind the second swamp platform. "Shiro, could you deal with that?" she questioned, pointing her right hand towards it.
Looking there and seeing what she had, Shiro switched his Kurogane out for Nightingale, using his divine energy to form an arrow while pulling back the bowstring and letting it loose.
BOOM!
The platform that had been blocking the entrance, got reduced to a smouldering pile of ash the minute that the divine arrow had made contact with it, the scalding remains left behind reflecting within the descendant's eyes while he glared forwards, dismissing Nightingale. He then proceeded to use some of Rashomon's threads (ignoring his companion's reaction) to swing across a tree branch to the cave-like walkway and continued his journey with Jinako… who he had taken along by wrapping his arm around her waist similarly to how they had first met.
Strangely enough, she didn't complain this time, although that might be due to her knowing his mental state.
Soon enough, the duo came to a cube-shaped area where the bottom looked to merely be another sludge-filled swamp, one with many hands reaching out from the surface. Furthermore, the way forwards seemed to be on the right and the best way to get there would have been through another climbing wall. Hence why Shiro and Jinako both got climbing with the former leading ahead of the latter like normal, although the male showed a greater urge to get moving along as quickly as possible which worried Jinako all the more.
'This is bad… he's getting worse and worse…' she thought in worry as the two of them eventually dropped down to the ground and walked onwards… although they didn't get too far. Instead, they came to an area which had a dome-like shape to it, with many dead-looking trees surrounding the area to block out any view of the dark green skies above. Furthermore, there was a small pond made from the same black sludge just bubbling ominously, filling Jinako with a sense of unease.
That unease only intensified when she saw how tree branches burst out of the ground in front of and behind them once more, REALLY making her wonder if this Circle was out to get them… and then the desire to smack herself up the head manifested within her for asking such an obvious question. 'Alright, cool your tits Jinako!' She yelled in her mind to forcefully calm her raging emotions, something she actually partially envied Shiro for his ability to do so easier than her, that is. 'This will just be like all the other fights against minion-level enemies, so just…'
Before she could finish her thoughts, Jinako saw a bunch of balls made from sludge emerge from the pool, balls which spread across the ground and soon expanded into large puddles. Instinctively she and Shiro detected something wrong with them so the two of them peppered them with rounds from their Nightingale/Dangos respectively… that is until something tried to strike at them from behind forcing the two to jump to opposite sides to dodge it in time. By the time the duo landed and regained their proper bearings, they raised their heads to find a bunch of Demons having already filled the area and were eyeing the two with downright psychotic gazes of bloodlust.
While Jinako cursed under her breath at being cornered, Shiro on the other hand had his Kurogane at his side while in a defensive stance, warily eying the many Demons around him. None of them had attacked yet, and in any normal situation he would have ripped them into pieces by now either with his Spear, Nightingale or Rashomon (who currently kept roaring within his head so much that it sounded like it was right next to him, goading him on and trying to get him to let loose already) but… this wasn't the same as the norm.
Nope, especially not when he observed despite his reddening vision that those Demons didn't resemble the classic Zombie types that he'd fought so many times now. No… they were something else, something that briefly broke through the haze in his brain and sent waves of shock rippling through his system, leaving nothing untouched.
These Demons... they resembled countless soldiers whom he had personally sent to the grave!
This thought sent no small amount of chills down his spine, though there was no running from that fact. Not like Shiro had any intention of doing so, not with the haze in the back of his mind fighting for dominance over his emotions once more. Regardless, he recognized them by their tarnished garbs that were mere shadows of what they had worn before the Eclipse had changed everything. Their skin color had turned into this deep, pale purplish color with glowing hollow orange eyes, like the flames of war which had ravaged their village at one point. Their mouths glinted with hollow orange interiors, exposing their sharpened canines while their hands and feet remained exposed, showing their clawed states with some of them having spikes protruding from their persons here and there, areas which Shiro figured out had been the areas which had been their fatal injuries that had claimed them in life.
Some of them even rode atop zombified horses, which were basically horses with exposed rib cages, skulls and breathed out this green gas from their nostrils. Some of those horses even let out similar gas from their mouths which had glowing interiors. A couple even moved only on 2 legs with the other two being what looked like elongated tendrils shaped like human spinal columns.
'This...This is…!'
"We've been expecting you here." One of them suddenly spoke, fury laced within his tone as he addressed Shiro, all while identifying himself as the leader of this little group. This succeeded in not only breaking his thoughts, but to also recognize him as one of the men who he had butchered during that first raid he had participated after being forcefully indoctrinated into the Band of the Hawk. Regardless, Shiro narrowed his eyes and kept quiet.
Obviously, the man took that as a sign to continue, and thanks to doing so with the words he did, Shiro's already boiling blood began to bubble, redness appearing around the corners of his vision.
"It seems that karma has been so kind to us, kind in that it brought you here. Where are your companions? Where is your little band of hawks?" The demonic soldier questioned with a fake sense of politeness to his tone that sounded more acidic than acid itself. The demonic soldier even made a show of it when he looked around as if pretending to look for something he already knew wasn't around, if that sinister smile on his fanged maw was any indication.
"Oh that's right, they aren't here, are they? Instead, your leader betrayed them all for power and lust for something he had wished. Left the rest of you on the gourmet table, didn't he? Ufufufufu, just what those worthless flesh sacks deserved, I'd say. You will never leave here, especially that whore of a companion who Lucifer keeps as a pet. Oh, I can SO imagine what he's doing to her, making her scream and beg for his dick like the slut he will make her become. Probably will share her amongst his demons to further break her, turning her into a slutty succubus who would fit well within the Circle of Lust. Wouldn't you agree with me gentlemen…?"
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Shiro's mind became blank for a moment as he registered the words that STUPID, PATHETIC waste of life had just said. Not only that, but the uproarious laughter that the others conducted filled his ears as everything became quiet for the male. He had been so dumbstruck that his arms became slack, his jaw falling open and his form stiffening like it were frozen within a block of ice.
In that moment, his form felt colder than even if he stood naked in the north pole, the edges of his visions briefly pulsating between normal and a light reddish color…
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...That is, before the edges suddenly SWELLED with fucking CRIMSON with matching VEINS crawling across those areas, his mind finally processing the words said to him. Inside of him, the roars of Rashomon intensified to such a degree that they would have hurt him in any other circumstance, but right now all he cared about was one thing, and that one thing made everything else either become secondary or not be seen as much of a bother:
RIP. AND. TEAR!
"GGGGRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRGH!"
A massive, loud and furious roar ripped through Shiro's lips into the surroundings around him, loud enough to even cause the dead trees that made up the dome around this place to tremble violently. Rashomon manifested above him as a beast head while he darted forwards, faster than he had ever gone before. Heck when he had begun sprinting the trees behind him had literally got blown backwards and thus, got shattered into pieces just from the force created alone.
SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!
Nobody, NOBODY could have anticipated the sheer SLAUGHTER that followed the moment Shiro had clashed with the many Demons around him, Demons who had sure smirks on their faces thinking that they would be able to take him down with sheer numbers.
They could not have been more wrong.
Kurogane gleamed in the midst of the incoming bloodshed while Shiro hacked and slashed away with reckless abandon, shredding through the many Demons around him with little difficulty. But that wasn't enough for him since he had to order Rashomon to go wild too, the massive beast head ripping through and chomping down on as many Demons as possible. Furious roars escaped the both of them as if they were simply one entity, not a person and a Sacred Gear.
The Sacred Gear in Question chomped an entire horse with enough strength in its jaws to snap it in half like it were a twig, a pained whinney escaping it as it died once more. Rashomon didn't let up, quickly scooping up a few Demons who tried to stab at it with their spears only to become its next meal when it chomped down on them. It then darted towards another Demon who had quickly jumped into the air to try and strike at it from above, only for several arms to erupt from the beast head which it used as bouncing platforms to leap into the air after the Demon, smacking the weapon out of his hands before chomping down on his shoulder and severing his arm off. That Demon howled in agony at the feeling, only for Rashomon to silence him by coming around and reaching with its arms, grasping onto his left hip and right arm to hold him while it bit into his head then tore it off his body, devouring it with fervor.
Tossing the corpse aside to let it disintegrate, Rashomon dove down towards two Demons on horseback, scooping them right off and doing the same thing to them both at the same time.
While Rashomon ate more than a Gluttonous Demon on a good day, Shiro himself carved his way into a bloody path of carnage, with blood splattering everywhere alongside bones and internal organs, stuff which he heated up and incinerated with spouts of fiery breath which he occasionally launched as if to further enhance the feeling of being a hellish beast tearing apart the prey before him. His swings tore through multiple Demons at once while his thrusts impaled horses through their rib cages, allowing him to rip them in half with almost practiced ease. Nothing remotely technical could be viewed about his current fighting style at the moment, no it would be more exact to say that what little technique he practiced now had flown completely out the window…
Making way for the beast within.