Chapter 21

After opening the door, the trio found themselves standing before a long corridor, one which looked to have a wall of fire rising up in front of it. They could hear the roars of flames all around them in which they got accompanied by frenzied howls of agony, tormented by these flames that would do so for all of eternity. Not long into their walking through the corridor, a demon suddenly spawned out of a portal on the floor before them, glaring at them with intense malice before taking out its weapon.

"Ah, a Throne Demon." Sparda noted while drawing his fleshy sword from his back. He would have said something more when he felt something rush past him, and he soon saw what that was.

The identity belonged to Shiro, who had used a multitude of Rashomon threads to puncture the Throne Demon's flesh through the chinks in its armor, then push the demon backwards. Of course, the Throne Demon didn't get damaged by these strikes much since they didn't target anywhere fatal...but in its arrogance, the Demon didn't notice what Shiro was really doing.

By the time it felt a scorching heat from the fiery walls envelop it, it was already too late as the demon burned at the flames. Furious and pained howls escaped it while the Throne Demon struggled against the Threads to get out of it, but the heat was too intense and Shiro's Sacred Gear proved much greater than it in terms of physical strength, therefore it died.

After this swift and brutal victory, Jinako spotted a switch and went to it, she activated it, resulting in the fire being extinguished. But as soon as the fire died out, more demons spawned at the path again blocking their journey... had Jinako not flipped the switch again and burned them once more.

A couple Demons, ones which resemble humans but covered in embers (Sparda had called them 'Fire Guardians') were not affected by this dastardly move, however, to which Shiro took out his Kurogane and butchered the lot of them.

They waited for a few minutes before seeing that the demons no longer appeared again, they walked through the halls and turned left, they began to climb through the damned who still screamed in constant pain. They landed on another hall which looks similar to the first one they entered. Then a Throne Demon appeared as it taunted them before going to the switch, Jinako widened her eyes at this.

"Shit! Quickly before it activates the switch!" Jinako screamed as she and Sparda quickly ran to the center of the hall while Shiro just stood there. They rolled as the throne demon flipped the switch, activating the flamethrowers. They got up to see the demon in triumph that it got rid of one of the trespassers of the circle, but Jinako just smirked at the demon. "There is one thing useful about being the descendent of a sun god."

The demon and Sparda was confused before threads appeared, binding the demons as it was in surprise before struggling to get out before it was pulled to the fiery walls.

"They are never affected by any type of fire unless it comes from someone stronger than them." Jinako finished as Shiro walked through the flames like a man on fire, but literally.

Sparda put his hand on his chin. "Interesting looks like this circle would be easy for you then young man." Sparda said to Shiro who ignored the compliment and flipped the switch, deactivating the fiery walls before they continued their walk through them.

After approaching a gargoyle door on the opposite end of the corridor, Shiro forced the gargoyle to open the door to allow them to pass through, finding themselves in some kind of hall that had a light shining at the way to the entrance as if directing them, on the bottom was some kind of old man who looks to be like a saint or something.

"Who do you reckon that statue is supposed to be?" Jinako asked as she looked at the giant golden statue.

"Hmmmmm, I don't even know, young lady. It must be someone important but we haven't heard of this person." Sparda deduced as he looked at the statue with thoughts swimming around his mind before coming up with that answer.

"Less talk more finding our way out of this damned place." Shiro declared, jumping down and climbing on the makeshift human body ropes. Jinako and Sparda quickly catched up to him as he landed on the skeleton rope and climbed forward, passing by the golden statue before dropping down, landing on some kind of room.

They walked through the halls, passing by some kind of statues that looked unfamiliar to them, even the one on the front, when they entered the room the gate suddenly blocked their path and a new type of demon appeared.

It was wearing some kind of robes which made it look like some kind of vile-looking priest, a tall, thin, gray-skinned demon and carried a skull staff with rings around it.

"OADRIAX!"

It said before summoning a line of lighting and threw it to the trio as they dodged before Shiro attempted to cleave the demon in half before dodging his attack and summoned a dark orb, thrusting it to Shiro's chest successfully.

"Gahh!" Shiro screamed in pain, stumbling backwards before correcting his stance.

"Why is it fast?!" Jinako screamed as she attempted to hit the demon with her dangos but it kept dodging them with ease.

Her question would go unanswered, for the demon summoned a horizontal lighting line and threw it towards Jinako who dodged it.

Just as it was about to summon another attack Sparda quickly got behind it and stabbed it before it would summon any servants.

"GRRAAAHHHH! ZEDEKIEL!"

It bellowed before saying a name as it disappeared from black smoke, Sparda flicking his demonic sword while getting rid of the blood.

"It's a Demon we like to call a 'Heretic', they were once warlocks, working as priests to the Old Religion which means they kept their skills even in death." Sparda answered Jinako as the gates opened.

"Oh well that's just perfect. A demon who is able to use its skills from when it was alive." Jinako sarcastically mumbled before walking to the wall.

"There are many things that you don't know about the circle….. And its best to not know them." Sparda said to Jinako who nodded in agreement.

This place….. Really would make anyone fear it, even the strongest beings like her grandfather.

Jinako climbed the wall of the damned as Shiro followed her, she stopped at the edge, a fiery wall was spewing out fire from top to bottom at a time, she waited for the bottom fire to stop before it did, she quickly jumped to the other side as Shiro was already ahead of her.

They soon found themselves back at the first room of heresy with the golden statue on it, they walked around it before gates blocked their path again with the throne demon appeared. Shiro did not have time for this, so he ran to the demon as it attempted to slash him but he dodged it and grabbed the demon with his scythe before throwing him to the ledge as it fell to its death. A Heretic demon appeared and summoned lesser demons with some kind of symbols on top of their head.

"SOAGEEL!"

Shiro grabbed a demon with his scythe and threw him to the ledge, towards his companion.

Jinako this time knew how to deal with the heretic demon as she threw a dango at the heretic, tried to dodge but instead got cleaved in half by her axe.

Once all the demons were killed, one part of the gate was opened which was the switch, Sparda went to it and activated it, there was some kind of mechanic noise before they saw lava coming down like water, the statue went up when the lava was flowing and behind it was a gargoyle door.

"Hmmm, curious." Sparda said as he inspected the gadget and the molten lava.

"What is it Sparda?" Jinako asked him as he looked at each floor layer before deducing as he pointed each one of them.

"I think I figured it out, you see that statue? If we were to go each layer there is a switch that makes the statue go up. What if Lucifer made this place in order to make us spend more time at the circle, to make us confused." Sparda said as Jinako put her hand on her chin as she thought before going with Sparda's idea which is true.

She doesn't know how long she or Shiro has been to the circle.

Eventually, Shiro too took note of his idea as he looked at him.

"But how would we know if it's the exit out of the circle of heresy Sparda? It might be a trap Lucifer made." Jinako asked, she was weary after all, this place and everywhere is trying to kill them in every second.

"We must take our chances, Jinako. If we were to spend more time at the circle, the more we waste days of figuring out." Jinako looked weary before she sighed.

"Alright, you convinced me Sparda, lets… Shiro is already ahead of us isn't he?" Jinako said without looking since it was obvious.

Sparda looked up and saw he was already walking further ahead of them. "Yup." Sparda simply stated.

Jinako sighed before jumping to the next layer of the floor.

By the time she and Sparda caught up with their reckless companion, they became witness to the sight of Shiro fighting a priest that looks similar to a Heretic, although this one carried a staff that was adorned with a goat's skull.

"PACASANA!"

It said as it kept teleporting away from Shiro who kept getting angrier before he was hit by a dark orb. Stumbling back a few steps, the white haired descendant of Karna eventually got an idea, and thus promptly used some Rashomon threads to bind the demon, launching them at it faster than it could react, resulting in it being restrained. Before it could do anything to escape, Shiro closed in and pulled out his Kurogane, stabbing it through the chest to which it screamed in agony, before disappearing.

The enemy now dead, Shiro put his spear on his back and looked around, before noticing a switch. He strolled on over to it and activated it, mechanical sounds being heard around him before lava could be seen flowing down to where the other pool of lava was. When it did, the statue went up, and as soon as it reached the light, it crumbled before destroying the head part.

When he was about to leave, the bowl that the lava was flowing deactivated, making the statue go down. He turned back, trying to think of a plan before he got an idea, to which Shiro activated the switch again. This time however, the male made a fist and punched the bowl hard enough to have it dent, the bowl did not go down this time.

"Really Shiro? This was your idea?" He looked behind and saw Jinako blankly staring at him as Sparda looked amused.

"It's either that or we take the long way Jinako, which I would rather not go with." Shiro said, striding past her.

Jinako slammed her hand on her head as she dragged it down before sighing. "(SIGH) what am I going to do with you?" She whispered as Sparda laughed at her but misery before joining with Shiro, he jumped to the last layer of the floor. He went straight to the switch and activated it, to which the lava flowed down to the statue as it went up completely. The light shining destroyed the statue, making the next path out of the seventh circle.

After making it to that path and traversing it, they went to the gargoyle door and opened it, however once they entered the room, the ground started shaking all of a sudden. Each of them quickly threw their arms out to maintain their balance

"What the?! What's happening?!" Jinako said as she kept her balance,

Virgil appeared.

"It is due to Shiro's astra! The amount of damage he inflicted has caused the circle to become unstable!" Virgil answered them

"Oh, well that's just perfect! Way to go idiot!" Jinako yelled to Shiro who gritted his teeth while observing their route out of this Circle to the one below.

"You must hurry now before the circle will be destroyed!" Virgil warned them before disappearing. They quickly ran through the hall caves as the spikes began to fall, destroying the floors beneath them.

BOOM!

Shiro avoided the spike and Jinako rolled in order to dodge a crumbling floor, whereas Sparda had his insect wings out to skillfully avoid the collapsing debris. Jinako jumped through the debris as she continues to run, Shiro was about to jump but the debris beneath him collapse as he hurriedly jumped on another one as it collapse, the floor in front of him destroyed and he was about to fall had not he used some Rashomons threads to swing onto another floor and grabbed the damned walls as they scream when the circle is being destroyed. He climbed up to the floor before seeing Jinako ahead of him.

He ran through the halls as he avoided the floors being destroyed, he landed one on the left and avoided the spike falling down, but he hadn't escaped danger yet with proof being how the floor in front of him abruptly collapsed, to which he quickly jumped to another one on the right as the floor behind him crumbled to pieces just after his movement. Raising his head, Shiro saw a large rock falling in front of him, so he quickly used the falling rock as a springboard before jumping upwards to the other floor.

Quickly landing, Shiro broke into a mad sprint, running through the rock walls as quickly as possible before he saw Jinako in front of him.

"Hurry Shiro!" She yelled as he increased his speed, looking up and seeing a rock falling down towards his head. To this, the male sprinted faster than previously, before rolling at the end of the entrance as the rock fell just in time when he was out of the hall.

"(PANT)(PANT)(PANT)." Shiro pant for a bit, regaining his breath before standing up properly. 'Ok… that was a rush…' the male thought to himself, setting his breathing back to normal… he got punched in the face courtesy by Jinako.

POW!

"AH! The fuck was that for woman?!" he yelled at her with fiery glare which she returned and pointed at his face.

"You almost got us killed for one! If we hadn't escaped that circle, we would be trapped there because of you!" She spat, her eyes bearing into his own with malice to them that would not be unfitting for an enemy.

Something which quickly prompted a defensive response from Shiro who gestured behind him towards the exit he had just narrowly escaped through. "No one cares if the circle was destroyed!" he retorted.

Jinako wasn't having it however, the girl getting within his space and poking him in the chest with her index finger three times. "That would be true, but WE were in it when it was destroyed, idiot!"

"Who gives a shit when it's destroyed! It's not like a pile of rocks can stop us!"

"A pile of rocks which will take us DAYS TO DIG OUT!"

Thus, after a frantic experience, the two started arguing back and forth to which Sparda and Virgil looked on in amusement, to them it almost seemed like they were seeing a married couple arguing with each other.

"Does this remind you of something Sparda?" Virgil asked him,knowingly.

Sparda thought for a moment before remembering. "Oh yes, me and Eva would argue sometimes like this, even over the trivial stuff. Though back then it would only last until it went straight to the bed, that would solve our issues." he replied with a wide grin, chuckling at some of the fondest memories he had of his time with his wife.

Looking back at the two arguing warriors, Vergil imagined them together in holy matrimony… and strangely enough, he could actually see it. Despite their frantic arguing just now there existed no real hatred towards one another, more like Jinako chastising Shiro for being as reckless as he was while the male stubbornly held the fort. A typical man thing to do, to be frank, he'd seen it many times before back when he had been human. "If you say so, old friend."

After a short while of watching the two, Sparda eventually decided to end their squabbling since it had simply devolved into insults towards one another now, without any sense of what Jinako had been initially pissed off about. Thus, he walked up to the duo till he stood between them before raising both fists and boinking them on their heads.

BOINK!

BOINK!

""OUCH!"" The two yelped in pain, gripping their heads which now had comical red bumps on them before they glared up at the cause.

Said cause remained unaffected by their glares, having gotten used to them from his wife so long ago. Actually, it brought a bit of comfort to the older man, but nonetheless he chastised them with a knowing grin on his face and a teasing twinkle in his eye. "If you two would please stop arguing like a couple, we have a few circles left for us to explore." he told them, already predicting what they would say.

He was NOT disappointed.

""WE ARE NOT A COUPLE!""

The moment his words left his mouth, Sparda became witness to Jinako going tomato levels of red in the face, either out of anger or embarrassment it was hard to tell. Although interestingly enough Shiro's face went into a similar state, hot enough to rival that of the flames that he commands, so if Jinako had paid attention to this fact then she would have been thrown for a loop. Though he would admit their way of countering in unison only hurt their argument in his eyes.

Still, seeing this had satiated some of Sparda's loneliness for the time being, so he decided to roll his eyes in a 'I don't believe you' kind of manner. "Sure, what was that phrase teenagers use? Ah! Whatever you say so." he once again said with a teasing smile, one that a parent would use when they caught their children watching porn and had commenced humiliating him or her for it. One of the many things he wished he could have done with his wife and their son, if fate had been kinder to them.

This made Shiro and Jinako grit their teeth at Sparda, they felt so much like breaking the Demon's head for making such claims about them. Each for their own reasons too, with Jinako fuming at the fact someone would even THINK that she had feelings for such an asshole of a man who didn't care if he risked killing them all with foolish actions.

Meanwhile, the very NOTION appalled Shiro to the core, the word 'couple' making him think back to the days when he fought in the Band of the Hawk in his village, when he saw the states of young girls and boys alike whenever storming noble manors. For him, to insinuate that he would even CONSIDER doing such a disgusting thing as 'coupling' with anyone at all irked him so much that his rage influenced Rashomon to roar loudly within the back of his mind, a strong urge to release it as many Jaws to rip the Demon to shreds filling his being that he suppressed. Though with great difficulty.

They looked at their surroundings before they saw a giant minotaur statue with an axe in its hand.

Shiro looked down before seeing a makeshift human rope and a valley of skeleton ropes.

Sparda let out his insect wings. "I will fly around to see if there are any demons planning on ambushing us." he said before he left them as he flew around, checking every corner. Shiro jumped down and hung on to the makeshift human rope, descending down before reaching the end. Looking down, he noticed that there was a skeleton rope there just below them, but going for it looked to be a risky move, if one missed, they'll fall down to the pits of the circle. So Shiro just took a deep breath before he let go.

As he fell down, he managed to grab on the skeleton rope just in time.

He climbs forward before seeing another skeleton rope and descending onto it. He grabbed on to it intending to move forward if someone hadn't grabbed his hand, he looked at the culprit and saw it was a damned soul.

"Please help me! I don't deserve this!" the damned wailed, to which Shiro narrowed his eyes at him before he dragged the damned and kicked him multiple times before the damned descended into the abyss, screaming all the way.

"That was mean." Jinako muttered behind him as she held on the skeleton rope.

Shiro looked back at her. "Don't feel sorry for these people, they have caused something in their life deserves to be sent here Jinako." he said to her, obviously not nearly as empathetic as the brunette Demigoddess. After all, growing up the way he had and becoming a branded individual tended to remove a lot of humanity from someone.

At this, she remained quiet for a bit before asking him another question. "If that's the case, then are there any innocent sinners we find here Shiro?" She asked him, just as he made to move.

But thanks to that question, he paused for a bit before shaking his head. "There won't be Jinako, even if there was, there's nothing we can do to save them." he answered her before continuing climbing forward.

She held there for a few minutes before she followed him, though she couldn't get that damned soul out of her mind for a bit.

Unlike his companion, an unbothered Shiro descended down another skeleton rope and then climbed forward, seeing another skeleton rope that did not have any ropes connected to it. Therefore, he used some Rashomon threads to connect the ceiling above and swung for a bit before catching on the skeleton rope, he reached it before he continued forward, finally on the bottom was a floor.

He lets go of the rope and descends down to the ground. He looks around before he sees another chain that is blocking their way. Jinako descended down and looked around before seeing the chain. She glared at Shiro.

"I know what you're thinking, no not going to happen. No destructive action is needed right now." She said to him before he could even do anything.

Hearing that caused Shiro to look back at her. "What do you suggest then huh? I know that you can fly but the chain blocks the way, even if you try to go around it there is some kind of barrier blocking it." He remembered that he once tried to go around the chain but he felt something blocking his way every time he did.

"Well you can't just destroy everything in your sight. I mean." she took out her axe as she used it as showing what she means. "Come on, everytime you do so, it ends badly!" she swings her axe behind the pile of charred rocks. There was mechanical noise as the minotaur statue then turned around before hitting the wall with its axe.

BOOM!

"You have to be rational sometimes."

"Jinako."

"I always wondered what's going on with your head? Is it filled with destruction?!"

"Jinako."

"And don't try to stop me while I point out your mistakes!"

"OI WOMAN!"

"WHAT?!"

He pointed something behind her which she looked behind, it happened to be a switch that goes around.

"I was trying to tell you that there was a lever behind you all this time when you smashed the charred rocks." He replied… though judging by the feeling of skin being stretched Shiro guessed he had a bit of a dark smirk on his face right now, a smug twinkle dancing in his eyes as if to say 'whose the violent one again?'

Behind him, Jinako remained silent as she did not look at Shiro but if she did, he would have seen how she had been blushing in shame.

"I may have some destructive issues but at least I know how I can use mechanics."

"...Shut up, will you?" She whispered, still not looking before she stood straight and walked away from Shiro.

Said male went to the switch, inspecting it for a bit before pushing the lever. Upon doing that, he noticed that when he pushed the switch the minotaur statue acted in a similar manner. When he saw that, he soon could no longer push it further and let go of it. Mechanical noises were heard before the minotaur statue hit the wall with its axe.

BOOM!

He then had an idea that if he continued pushing the lever, then it might open a path for them , he turned it around again.

BOOM!

BOOM!

He turned the lever one last time before he let go of it. The statue then turned around a bit faster before the result was in.

BOOM!

The handle of the minotaurs axe was destroyed and so was the chain blocking their path.

"Well….. Looks like I was wrong." Jinako stated, still refusing to look at her companion.

Said actions were mutual though, for Shiro did not look at her when she had said that either. Nevertheless, he still had his darkly smug smirk on his face as if to say 'I told you so', of which if she had seen it Jinako would have lost herself to the urge to punch Shiro in the face. He then used some Rashomon threads to connect with the axe and swung by, he retreated the thread and caught on the human makeshift rope. He descended a bit before he saw Jinako move to him before she too got onto the rope with him, they descended deeper to the circle before dropping down.

Before long, they were joined by Sparda as he flew to them, the trio walked for a bit before they stopped as Jinako's eyes widened in horror, Sparda took a step back a bit and Shiro had his eyes widen in surprise.

"What…..the hell?"

"Oh my god."

"This place!"

There, before their eyes was what could only be described as a river of blood, literally as it flowed down a large canal like an ocean, with countless damned souls struggling to keep to the surface with dozens of gasping and choking sounds emanating throughout. Throughout the river, statues either broken on their sides or shaped like centaurs could be seen, towering over the river itself. One could tell that the river itself looked to be boiling hot due to the sizzling sounds that filled the air most of all compared to the other sounds, with a thin layer of steam being present over the damned souls trapped within.

"What… what is this place?" Jinako whispered in shock, covering her mouth to suppress a scream while her eyes trembled. She had seen some twisted things in her life, most of them coming from this place sure but some came from the few Apostles that she had fought alongside Shiro, but this? So far the Nine Circles did its namesake and kept giving her new nightmare material for every circle that they passed through.

"This is the seventh circle, the circle of violence." Virgil's ghostly voice declared, the said Spirit appearing before them as he cast his gaze across the vast scenario. "This river is called the river of blood, or perhaps you would better know it as the Phlegethon. It is for those who commit violence, wounds, and death inflicted against one's neighbors. The circle torments those who murdered and plunder and every soul who wrongfully smites the other. Tyrants that have lived their lives, their punishment is to suffer within the boiling blood."

"Violence huh." Shiro muttered under his breath and looked around at the river of blood. The male thought back to those whom he had killed back during his band of the hawk days, as well as those he may have killed. Would they be in this circle too? Would they be in any of the other circles? That slut who called herself his 'mother' had gone to the circle of lust and that bastard sperm donor had gone to the Circle of Greed after all, so it could be possible that he might see more faces from his past. He stared at the area before he walked forward, making Jinako and Sparda snap out of their respective trances and follow him.

After a short bit of walking, they came across a green fountain and a purple fountain which looked unfamiliar to them but Sparda recognized it.

"Ah, the purple fountain. This fountain can restore magic reserves which the demons use on a daily basis. I recommend using it." Sparda prompted, grabbing a handful of the purple water and drinking it.

Shiro gazed at the thing with a demeaning eye, he had no use for the purple fountain... but he did feel that his divinity and magic were running a bit dry at this point (now that he thought about it Shiro remembered seeing these purple fountains before but never used them, not trusting them) so he first went to the green fountain, drank it and also the purple one too. Upon doing so, Shiro exhaled deeply while he felt like everything was restored… save for the scar on his face, causing him to scowl. 'Looks like this thing is going to be permanent…' the male thought in irritation, not liking this scar since it was proof of his stupidity against Lucifer before.

After seeing her companion walk away from the fountains, Jinako decided to drink both of them before feeling that her magic and injuries were restored. Compared to Shiro, Jinako felt the restoration effects to much greater effectiveness since she used mostly magic and divinity to help her fight on similar levels to her companion. She was primarily a mage/ support type after all, with some dabbling in close combat.

Once all of them were restored to optimal capacity, the trio decided to continue their path by jumping on the ledge before the fires suddenly blocked their path, a demon appeared as it looked similar to a throne demon but only with the difference that it had wings attached to its back and a pair of swords.

"An Archdemon!" Sparda exclaimed, recognizing the identity of the demon, drawing his sword from his back once again. "Its primary offense is its air superiority, focus on the wings first!"

It roared at them as it used its wing for a wind projectile attack, Shiro dodged it before pulling out nightingale and rained arrows at it, it looked like it could withstand a bunch of arrows, it suddenly screamed in pain before looking back but he didn't see anything.

The reason why? Jinako stabbed her axe on its back while holding on to the demon, she dragged it down before slicing it in half. The demon screamed before it died, never knowing who it was that had killed it.

After emerging victorious, Jinako landed on the rocky platform that was barely above the river's surface, before swiping her axe to get rid of the demonic blood on it.

The fires disappeared the moment the demon was killed, to which the trio continued their journey. After making their way across the rocky platforms, they came to a human made rope that hung from the side of one of the centaur statues, somewhat like a strap on a saddle if one thought about it.

By the time they had climbed to the top, all of a sudden Sparda (who had taken to climbing the rope first) ducked down his head quickly before flames appeared out of the centaur statue' cauldron, located at the base of the back. 'Whew, almost got turned into demon barbecue, there…' the man thought to himself sweat dropping at his near fatal blunder. The Nine Circles were Dangerous to any intruders, it didn't matter what race they were so even Demons could fall victim to this place's machinations. He put his head up a few seconds later, before seeing that it's safe to go up.

The trio got up the floor and saw there was another one, to which Sparda and Jinako jumped to the next statue cauldron when all of a sudden, flames blocked their path again and this time two arch demons appeared on each cauldron. Shiro was still at the first cauldron trapped with an Archdemon looming over him menacingly, hence he gave a dark grin as a silver of maniacal intent appeared within his eyes. To that end, he took out his Kurogane and announced a technique that could end this fight quickly, he jumped higher than the archdemon and pointed his spear downwards. "Blood arts: SKYFALL!" A second later, Shiro descended down to the ground quickly and stabbed the archdemon as it died from the technique.

On the other side, Jinako and Sparda seemed to be having a bit trouble with their Archdemon as it kept on avoiding some of their attacks and could seemingly withstand others. It didn't help when the cauldron would suddenly spew out fire which would force them to take cover by jumping to the next cauldron. Upin seeing his companions land next to him and group up with him while the Archdemon floated over to them, Shiro switched to his Nightingale bow and aimed at the Archdemon's face, his eyes narrowed into slits. When it started to release more wind projectiles, Shiro beat it to the punch by releasing the arrow which stabbed it in the eye.

SQUELCH!

Loud howls escaped its snout while the Archdemon scrambled around in pain, trying to lessen the wound. Sensing heat building to their sides, Jinako and Sparda glanced to the right and saw that the cauldron was about to release more flames, to which they quickly jumped to the next floor as the cauldron spew out its payload. Thanks to his fire immunity, it didn't affect Shiro any so he just stood there with his arms crossed and a twitching brow, being unaffected by the fire.

Once they had regrouped on the second cauldron, Sparda had used this chance to use a technique "Demon arts: Helm breaker!" he slashed the demon high on the air before slashing it downwards to the floor, slicing the demon in half.

Now that the Archdemons were killed, the fire blocking their path disappeared too, allowing them out of the cauldron since they had enough of the constant dodging of the fire. Hence, they went and jumped down to another rocky platform below.

After landing there, the trio got up and looked around, seeing some cages hanging over the river of blood by the statue arms, to which Shiro noticed something about the joint's. 'Hm? That's…' he thought to himself.

Before he could bring this up to the rest of the group however, Jinako jumped one of them… which soon both turned into a grave mistake as well as confirmed Shiro's theory since the cage started to gradually descend down into the river below, much to her startled horror if that shriek she made was any indication. As she quickly jumped back to the rocky platform the rest of them stood on to save her skin, Jinako turned around to look at the cages again, to which the sight of the chains connecting the cages to the statues' arms made her realize that these cages were similar to a scale. If one was heavy then the other rose upwards, but if the other is heavy then the front goes up.

"Jumping the gun there, Jinako. Notice that the arms of those statues were not stationary like the rest of their bodies just as you nearly got yourself killed."

"Oh shut it, Shiro."

After having a brief spat with her annoying companion, Jinako waited for a few seconds before jumping onto the Cage when it rose upwards enough for her to run and leap onto the next cage, which soon started descending down to the river of blood. Not willing to join the many souls trapped within, she ran again before finally jumping to the next one.

Finally, one last leap allowed her to land on the opposite side of the river which took the form of some dry molten land, something which relieved her more than she'd cared to admit. Nothing like playing hop skip and jump over a deadly boiling river to keep one from pissing their pants in fright, right? Derisive thoughts aside, the young Demigoddess heaved and huffed for a bit, legs bent in a crouched position with her hands on her kneecaps for some kind of support, before she raised her head upwards to see that Shiro arrived before her and Sparda had flown across with his insect wings, if them retracting into his back was any indication.

Show offs.

Shaking her head at this, Jinako looked to the space in front of her, before seeing a place that is filled with twisted trees, to which she wondered if this place was a part of the violence circle. She shook her head before having a determined face, the sooner they find the girl, the better for them to leave this place and never come back again.

When they were about to walk forward, they saw a temptress running to them but the branch that looked like a demon fruit dropped down a twisted seed before it unleashed some type of aura that made the demon stop as it had its hand on her head before screaming and killing herself.

"What the hell did I just see?" Shiro questioned, as he looked warily at the tree responsible. He had just seen a Demon commit suicide when the tree's seeds had dropped to the ground, unleashing some type of aura.

"If I were to guess, then this tree must have some kind seed that gives out suicidal thoughts, we must be careful, this place is getting more dangerous than I thought." Sparda said as Jinako nods her head to Sparda.

Shiro carefully waited for a few minutes before quickly running to the side as he avoided the seed. He ran through the forest with quickness, he looked around seeing if there was any type of suicidal fruit, there was one that constantly dropped the seed, he ignored that as they continued to run before they heard a voice.

"Jinako…."

"Huh? That voice..." Jinako said as she heard a familiar voice but could not recognize it.

"Ignore it, it must be a trick that would tempt us to get us killed." Shiro said to Jinako as she shook her head before nodding, but she couldn't help it.

That voice…. It's almost similar to a person she had once known.

While the trio ran, a tree was constantly dropping those same seeds, to which Shiro looked around before seeing it was connected to the tree that had flesh on it, he ran to it and stabbed it with his scythe, the tree died and the bark that had been dropping those seeds no longer had the ability to do so. They are at some kind of arena that had two flesh trees and harpies got out of it and flew around them, not only that but also a heretic appeared before them. Shiro narrowed his eyes at this and pulled out his spear, he charge his attack before announcing his technique

"Blood Arts: CRESCENDO!" He jumped before making a powerful sliding attack that killed the heretic as quick as possible.

Jinako threw dangos at the harpy demons who tried to avoid it but it exploded once in contact.

They continued their journey through the forest for a bit before seeing that there were two paths on it, a small steep hill which looks like that if anyone walks to it then they would slide down, Sparda looked around before spotting a small rock platform.

"Look over there, children." Sparda called to them, they look at his direction before seeing what he's seeing.

"We can use this to get over the step hill."

"Hmph, I'd rather go the other way than dragging a rock, it's better than that." Shiro complained.

"It may be young man, but the forest is dangerous and you saw what those seeds can do, would you rather go with a valley of suicidal seeds or the simple hard way." Sparda questioned rhetorically, arching a brow.

Making to counter that, Shiro then promptly paused for a few seconds, before he reluctantly closed his mouth. It seemed that he was right after all. since even he himself didn't know if he could resist the suicide fruit. As Lucifer had shown him, there were things in the Nine Circles that could affect even him. "(GROWL) fine." he said to him, grabbing the rock platform and dragging it out from its place before going through the rock bridge. As he walked through the rock bridge he arrived at the steep hill.

Jinako and Sparda jumps to the rock platform, Shiro pulls the rock back before pushing it hard, enough force for it to go almost up the steep hill, Jinko and Sparda quickly jumped to the floor as Shiro jumped the rock platform and jumped again to the floor, almost hitting the steep hill had he not did it at the right time.

They walked through the forest again before seeing a flesh part of the tree where the seeds were constantly dropping, to which Shiro stabbed it again with his Kurogane and the tree died. They walked again and dropped down to the ground, they continued their journey on the path to the point where they found themselves standing next to a large red lake, to which the group made to continue on… had flame walls not trapped them in the vicinity, a bunch of tree barks lowered themselves from above, and demons spawned from their portals.

"Tch, more Demons…" Shiro mumbled as the trio linked their backs together in a triangular defensive formation, each of them brandishing their signature weapons. The Demons they came up against consisted mostly of Minions though, so Shiro took out the ones who had charged at him with a few limb-severing moves from his Kurogane, whereas Sparda shifted his Sword to Scythe mode and decapitated the ones charging at him that way. As for Jinako, her opponents exploded upon contact with the energy dangos from her Goblet.

It was a short fight, and seeing this the group waited for the flames to die out and they could continue on their way. However, the flames persisted still much to their confusion. "Huh? Why aren't they…?" Jinako questioned…

Only to get an answer from Shiro who looked up and eyed the Branches coming off the tree hanging over the red lake. "Looks like that thing is the answer…" he stated, gesturing to the branch which started to convulse, a clear sign of a seed preparing to be dropped. Hence why he promptly threw Kurogane at it like a javelin, the Spear's tip becoming its Maw form which chomped down on the branch, eating through it like groceries.

Before he could continue however, more Demons spawned from portals behind them as evident by the loud roars they unleashed, prompting Shiro to turn to deal with them… had Jinako not charged in instead. The Demons, which consisted of a bunch of Throne Demons, charged back at her to which she slid beneath their horizontal axe swings that launched fireballs at Shiro and Sparda, the two blocking them with their own methods.

After halting behind the Demons, Jinako got up and turned to face them, quickly shooting forwards like a human dart and slicing off their legs with a few well placed Axe slashes, to which they all screamed and howled in pain while falling to the ground. Taking advantage of this opportunity she had just created, Jinako promptly jumped into the air, used her Goblet to summon a bunch of energy dangos, and peppered the Demons with them before they could recover, killing them.

Once again, the tree above the lake lowered and the brunette Demigoddess sliced off another tree branch.

Again, more Demons spawned from their portals, this time consisting of both 2 Throne Demons AND Minions.

"Sparda, you focus on the big boys, me and Jinako have the little fish!" Shiro called out as he charged into the hoard of Minions with Jinako following suit before Sparda could confirm his agreement to the plan.

Still, wasn't like he was going to contest that plan, so Sparda quickly closed in on the two Throne Demons while Jinako and Shiro wrecked havoc on the minions. One of them tried launching a fireball at him, but with his large sword Sparda simply deflected it right back at its maker, stunning it just long enough for Sparda to close in and slice off its partner's axe-holding arm. It screamed in agony at the lacking of a limb, stumbling backwards before making to bash Sparda from behind with its shield, to which the old Demon promptly vanished into thin air.

"Here I am, boys!"

His voice came from above, prompting the limbless Throne Demon to look up and see Sparda with his insect wings out… right before he came down and cleaved the thing in two.

The other Throne Demon finally recovered in time to see this fate befall its partner, causing it to howl in fury before charging at him with bloody murder in its hollow-looking eyes. Sparda chuckled after getting to his feet, raising his sword and bringing it to bear against the Demon's diagonal swing.

SLASH-SLASH-SLASH-SLASH!

The two went, slashing at one another with their weapons repeatedly colliding with one another that resulted in sparks flying between them every time. After the fourth hit though, Sparda shifted his weapon into a Scythe and then threw it forwards at the Throne Demon's chest, the weapon spinning like a wheel constantly enough to resemble one. It did managed to block this attack and deflect the weapon upwards, but Sparda simply smirked while raising his right hand up as if to say 'hi'.

At this, the sword halted in mid air as if frozen, before Sparda made a couple circular gestures that made the blade itself mimic them, resetting it back to sword mode. Sparda then flung his arm downwards and the Sword shot forth like a strike from the heavens themselves, an ironic comparison considering the circumstances, and pierced the Throne Demon through its abdomen.

Not done yet, Sparda ran forwards and grasped the blade by its organic hilt, switching it to Spear Mode WHILST it remained inside of his foe, allowing him to swing it upwards and vertically cut the Demon in half, the severed halves falling to the sides like split banana skin.

Finally, for the third time those branches became exposed, to which Sparda tossed his weapon like a circle again to sever one more of them, expecting this to repeat again for how many it would take to let them pass…

"STOP!"

… Only for a woman's voice to pierce through the air and render him stunned silent.

The woman's voice came from the tree's trunk… which once it lifted, it exposed a damned soul hanging from a rope like what one might expect from an execution by hanging… only thing though, this woman's form struck Jinako HARD. So hard in fact that it started bringing tears to her eyes. "No… No!" she exclaimed, stepping forwards like a drone, disbelieving of the sight before her.

"Why do you hurt me so? Do you hate me, my daughter…?"

"No… Mother…?" she fell to her knees and dropped her weapon at the site of her mother whom she looked upon in despair of what had become of her.

"Yes my dear, I too am among the damned." Jinako's mother said as Jinako tears let out like a waterfall.

"But I don't understand, what are you here? You don't belong here. You were supposed to be in heaven!" Jinako said as she refused to believe that she is a damned.

Virgil appeared as he looked solemnly and explained.

"When a soul that takes its own life, Minos judges it to the seventh circle. Here, it sprouts up like a sapling, no body, only pain. For it is unjust that any soul possesses that of which it has robbed itself." he explained to Jinako as she had her face on her hand covering her face.

"I was too weak to resist the poison that the Apostles had inflicted on me. I tried my best to stay strong, but I couldn't, so I….. had to take my own life leaving you alone." she explained.

Sparda looked in pity at the sight of Jinako's mother. Even worse, he could imagine what it would be like if his wife had committed suicide and ended up here… much to his own self hatred.

Shiro did not show any emotion but if he looked closely at his eyes there was a spark of pity on it as he kept quiet.

"I regret leaving you alone with my side of the family, you suffered from them because of me but Ganesha took care of you. I loved your father, but I couldn't repay his love." Jinako's mother said before looking at her daughter. "The girl Lucifer has taken is innocent, she does not deserve this kind of fate. Take this path, it will lead you deeper to the circle." After she said this, the sound of moving branches emitted from their right sides, prompting the trio to glance there to see the branches that had been blocking their path had opened, allowing them passage.

"I will remain here, for it is my punishment for leaving you alone all these years." Jinako shook her head at her answer.

"No no! I can't leave you here! There has to be a way! THERE HAS TO!" she screamed as she looked around trying to see if there's anything to free her before seeing a charred cross, she picked it up and faced it to her mother. Shiro approached her putting his hand on her arm

"You can't save her Jinako. There isn't anyway to save the damned who are brought here. The best way to end her suffering is to give her a quick end."

"NO! I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THAT! PLEASE I DON'T WANT TO LEAVE YOU HERE, PLEASE!" She desperately tried to absolve her mother but it didn't work, she fell to her knees, still holding the cross in front of her. "Please." she weakly said as tears fell from her face as if begging any gods to grant her desperate wish.

There isn't anything she can do, nothing.

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That is, until the divinity inside of Jinako went to the cross as it suddenly lit up, removing all the damage done to it till it eventually looked like a Vatican treasure, there was white light shining at Jinako's mother, removing the punishment inflicted on her. Jinako still cried before she felt a hand on her face and looked up. She saw her mother that made her stunned as tears were still flowing.

"It seems you've freed me from my punishment. I'm so proud of you my dear." she smiled at her before hugging her. Jinako was shaken before she hugged her back. They were light this before eventually they've broken off.

"My soul now belongs to you Jinako, use it well and I hope that one day, you won't make the same mistake as I did before." she was disappearing a bit as her soul was turning into particles, being absorbed into Jinako. Though right beforehand, the woman gave her a rather cheeky yet knowing grin that only a mother could give when teasing her child. "And I hope that you would get a wonderful husband like me!"

"MOM!" She screamed in embarrassment as her face turned red at her mothers teasing. She laughed a bit before taking her hands together.

"And please tell your father that he was never at the fault of my death, I don't want to see him suffer because of my mistake." Jinako smiled at her before nodding.

"I will, mother." Jinako's mother smiled before she was completely absorbed into Jinako, leaving the four alone, Jinako looked at the cross in wonder of how she managed to free her mother.

"...ah, that's right. I remember now..." Virgil said as he walked to her, he had a look of surprise when he saw Jinako had absolved her mother before he had a face of understanding, Jinako looked at Virgil as he pointed the cross on her hand.

"You see in the bible chapter 4 versus seven Paul told the Roman Christians God would forgive our sins and cover them up. When God forgives our sin he puts it out of his mind; he erased it from the pages of time. Gods can absolve the sins others have on their lives with their divinity, but back then I did not think that this would be true. It seems you've surprised me once more, young demigod." Virgil said to Jinako as she looked at the cross before looking at the poet.

"It seems I'm just discovering more about my abilities, great poet." She got up and looked at the cross again before she put it by her right hip.

"Come on, let's go Jinako, we're wasting time here." Shiro said to her as he continued his journey.

"Geez, way to remove the moment Shiro." she dryly said to him, taking a glance at her cross as she smiled at it before following him.

Shiro did not face or respond to Jinako as his face shadowed his entire face.

'Why….. Just why did her mother care about her? Why didn't she showed me the same?' he thought. He saw how Jinako's mother cared for her, how much she loved her, how she showed dedication to her.

'Its….. Not fair. Why do I have to suffer the most?' he gripped his fist in anger before lowering it down.

Why was Shiro thinking like that? Why did he say all those things in his mind?

Simple, he's jealous that Jinako received the love of her mother, and he didn't.