The Devils Cry Chapter 2-16

[eiahmon]

Title: The Devils Cry Part 2 Chapter 16
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Devil May Cry and it’s characters and situations are the sole property of Capcom. I am making no money or profit off of this fanfiction and no copyright infringement is intended. On the other hand all original characters and situations are mine so please don’t run off with them without my knowledge or consent.
Summary: A year after the events in “The Devils Cry”, things in the Sparda family have calmed down, well, as much as possible with them at any rate. But when strange things start happening, including a reappearance of Alastair's dreams of the unknown castle, they realized that they still have a long way to go.
SPOILER WARNING!!!: Spoilers for all three Devil May Cry games.

16.

Sparda looked evenly at Terln Ximorn. The red haired demon was on his guard, but, if he looked close enough, Sparda could see eagerness flickering in his eyes. The Ximorns had been searching for years for the reasons for Ifrit’s mysterious death and had come up empty. He knew that Terln had two reasons for being so eager; he truly wanted to know what had happened to the former patriarch, and if he were the one to discover the truth, it would secure his place in the family history and gain him notoriety.

Sparda thought it was disgusting. And shallow.

“So what can you tell me, Sparda?” Terln asked, getting straight to the point.

Sparda leaned back in his chair, acting casual, though he was still very much on his guard. “His Ensouled gauntlets were found by my son, on Mallet Island, 26 years ago. They challenged him, he overpowered them, and he used them for the next several years. He eventually handed them down to his daughter, and she still uses them.”

“So they are your granddaughter’s possession now?”

“Yes. And, no, she won’t give them back, so I wouldn’t even consider asking.”

“I wasn’t intending to.”

Sparda looked at him, his doubt of that statement plain on his face. Terln met his gaze, and they stared at each other for a few moments. Terln was the first to look away.

“So what other information do you have for me?” he asked.

“I can’t tell you anything other than my suspicions now, but if you come to Lar’cincel, I will be able to tell you everything there. Hopefully, the other patriarchs will be there as well, and we can discuss what to do then.”

“This has you worried, Sparda.”

“As you should be as well, and rightfully so, knowing Mundus.”

Terln smiled wryly. “He is planning something. As always.”

Sparda nodded. Terln thought for a moment, then he sighed.

“If your suspicions are correct, which they likely are as I’ve had the same suspicions myself, then we have a serious dilemma on our hands. I will join you at Lar’cincel, Sparda. I want to hear what you have to say.”

“Fair enough.” Sparda said, rising from his chair “I will speak to you then.”
Terln did not rise from his chair, showing that he held no respect for the Sparda patriarch. “Until then.”

Sparda nodded and walked out of the room. It did not escape his notice that he wasn’t given an escort out of the tower. He shook his head sadly; even after all the facts were revealed, he doubted that he would ever be respected in the demon world again. Pushing those thoughts aside, he hurried on his way; he had one more patriarch to see before the meeting.

*****

Sri Sris looked over his small family in their large communal room and wondered what was going to happen to them. As the weakest and smallest of the seven families, Mundus seldom bothered them. It had been during the human/ demon war that they had last done anything for their emperor, and, thinking about it, Sri was somewhat glad that he never called them to serve him, otherwise he might realize just how weak they were.

And in the Underworld, weakness was not allowed to exist.

Few willingly married into the Sris family, and as such, their birth rate was the lowest in the Underworld. Marriages were often carefully arranged with the other families, and only the weakest daughters were given to them. Never the stronger ones. Females born of the Sris family married into the other demons families all the time, thought it was normally the lower three that accepted them. The Spardas, Sarcestis, and Bolverks rarely did, preferring not to weaken their bloodlines.

So it was with curiosity, and fear, that Sri went to see who was knocking at the door. Swinging it open nonchalantly, not daring to show how frightened he was, he was surprised to see Sparda Achida Sparda on the other side. Resisting the urge to swallow heavily, he asked, with as much power in his voice as he could muster:

“What do you want?”

“Rest easy, Lord Sris,” Lord? Him? That was laughable. The other demons, hell the members of his own family! considered him only slightly less of a spineless fool than his father was. “I come only with an invitation.”

Sri couldn’t believe what he had just heard. “An invitation?”

Sparda smiled. “Yes, an invitation to come to Lar’cincel, where the patriarchs, and one matriarch,” he added thoughtfully “will convene to decide the future of the Seven.”

Sri thought that it was more likely to decide the future of the Six, but he wisely kept that thought to himself. Instead, he only nodded at Lord Sparda.
 

“I will be there.”

“Bring your heir if you wish.” Sparda said in parting “It would be best if the heirs were aware of our plans.” The, In case we don’t survive those plans, was left unspoken.

Sri nodded in agreement. “Thank you, Lord Sparda.”

“Then I bid you good day, Lord Sris.” Sparda bowed respectfully and turned and walked away. Sri stood there, with the door open, contemplating the short conversation he had just had.

“Who was that, Father?” his son, Elaan, asked quietly as he walked up behind him. Sri closed his eyes for a moment, deep in thought. Then he opened them and turned to look at his son.

“Dress your best, Elaan and gather your weapons. We are going to Lar’cincel.”

*****

“What is Lord Sparda planning, Father?” Thenal Bolverk asked as he straightened his clothes and picked up his lance “What is happening at Lar’cincel?”

“I have an idea on that.” Rithas said. He did not elaborate.

“It has something to do with Mundus doesn’t it?” Rithas didn’t answer. Thenal growled; he hated it how a patriarch in the Bolverk family was supposed to learn things out for themselves, without any help. He knew why it was that way - it taught him to pay attention to details and gather information and, as such, gave him a much better chance of surviving as patriarch - but he still hated it. He rolled his eyes at his father’s back, confident that the elder demon wouldn’t see it. So he was shocked, and angered, when he felt a sharp crack across his cheek, causing his head to snap to the side. He looked at his father while rubbing his stinging cheek.

“Don’t ever show me such disrespect again.” Rithas growled threateningly

“You aren’t the patriarch yet.” Thenal bowed his head.

“My apologies, my lord.”

“Don’t do it again. Now, let’s be on our way.” Rithas gestured for Thenal to leave the room first, and he followed, careful to stay out of range of the younger demon’s lance. He knew that he could easily defeat any assassination attempts, but he had not remained patriarch by being complacent. He loved his son and didn’t think the boy the type to try and murder his own father, but, in the Bolverk family, there was no such thing as overcautious. So intent on watching his son, Rithas never noticed the shadow that detached itself from the wall behind him.
Elsec watched his brother and nephew walk out of N’mir’kus and thought about what little he had overheard. Lord Sparda was planning something, and Elsec, who had also been brought up to listen and learn, had a suspicion that he knew what it was. He slunk back off to his room.

He had some planning to do.

*****

Nestor and Kastor walked calmly out of Kei’serse, chatting amicably, presenting the picture of a father and son who just wanted to spend some time in each other’s company. Mostly everyone was fooled by their ruse. Mostly.
Himar Valters watched as his hated nephew and grand nephew walked out of the front doors. His eyes narrowed. He knew the real reason for their leaving; it was amazing what one could learn with a scrying spell. Once they were out of sight, he turned and went back to his rooms. He cast a small, nondescript spell, and two small dots of what appeared to be molten silver appeared and began to circle about him, waiting for instructions.

“Go to Exis and Mesim.” he told them “Tell them that I expect them here and that I have a plan. Do not be seen by anyone else.” The two dots almost seemed to nod in understanding before darting out of the room, moving too fast to be seen. Himar sat down in the nearest chair and waited. A few moments later, in two flashes of teleportation, two figures appeared in his room. His cousin, Mesim, and another grand nephew, Exis.

“Sit down.” Himar said “We have much to discuss.”

*****

Sparda waited anxiously in Lar’cincel’s council room. He could sense that the first of the patriarchs was close to the tower, and he was more than a bit nervous. What they would discuss would decide the fate of the Seven families. Already, Zenedris Sarcesti and her daughter Nasilii, heir to the matriarchy, were seated to his right, talking in low voices. Sparda wondered briefly about the Sarcesti matriarchy. Nasilii had only one daughter, his former wife Atalia, and she had already made it clear that she was not going to remain in the Underworld. He wondered, when Nasilii had passed on, would the matriarchy go to Atalia, even though she was in the human world? Or would it pass her over and go to Zenedris’ younger daughter, Kase? The Sparda patriarchy had jumped to Dante, and he lived in the human world, but then, there had been no one else fit to lead the family then either.

“Whatcha thinking about, Dad?” Sparda broke from his thoughts and looked to his left to see Dante looking at him. Since the magic had already shown that the patriarchy would go to Dante, he was in attendance as the Sparda heir. He was sitting on Sparda’s right for now, but once the meeting began, he would take the place at the other end of the long rectangular table.

“Nothing really, just wondering about something.” he replied.

“Is everybody coming?”

“I believe so. One has almost here. I believe it’s...” He closed his eyes and focused on what the tower wards were telling him. “Terln and Silien Ximorn.”

“You can tell that?” Dante asked in surprise.

“The wards tell me. The patriarch has full control over the wards, and they communicate with him to a certain degree to tell me what is going on in and around the tower. If you had wanted to, you could have done so as well.”
 

“So I could’ve locked Luxian out or something?”

Sparda chuckled. “Yes.”

“Damn! Wish I’d had known that!” Sparda chuckled again, and even Zenedris and Nasilii grinned at them.

“You’d better get a move on, Dante.” Zenedris said, still grinning.

“What? Oh, right. I gotta greet them, don’t I?”

Sparda nodded. “Don’t forget what you are supposed to say.”

“I won’t. Be right back.”

“I should mention that you have to stay by the door until everyone is here.”

Dante paused and looked back at his father. “I gotta stay standing by the door!”

“Yes.”

“Damnit.” He walked out of the room, grumbling to himself.

“He’s a find boy, Sparda.” Zenedris said quietly once Dante was out of earshot “You did good with him.” Sparda smiled.

“I like to think so.” he replied “Just don’t let him hear you call him ‘boy’. He’ll be offended.” He grinned.

A few minutes later, Dante appeared, leading Terln Ximorn and his son. He nodded respectfully to his father, as was protocol, and returned downstairs once the Ximorn lord and heir had seated themselves. They sat four places down the table, on opposite sides. The patriarch and the heir always sat on opposite sides, alternating as they went down. Zenedris sat on Sparda’s right, and Nasilii had taken the chair that Dante had previously occupied. When Rithas arrived, he would sit to Nasilii’s left, and his heir would sit to Zenedris’ right. The seating arrangement was to keep anyone from taking anyone else’s heir hostage. If you took the heir next to you as a hostage, then the patriarch sitting beside your heir could do the same.

“I haven’t know Dante very long,” Zenedris remarked “But I have a hard time imagining him speaking a formal greeting and following protocol willingly.” Sparda was prevented from answering by the tingling of the wards, and a moment later, the appearance of Rithas and Thenal Bolverk. They took their seats, and no sooner had Dante left the room than he returned, this time leading Nestor and Kastor. Nestor took his seat next to Thenal, but Kastor hesitated. He looked over at his father with pleading expression on his face. “Sit down, Kastor.” Nestor ordered, forcing the patriarchal magic into the words. Kastor nodded jerkily and sat down next to Rithas, who smirked at the Valters heir. Barely a minute later, Dante returned, leading Sri and Elaan Sris. Then a few minutes after they had taken their seats, he returned a fifth time, leading Lian and Shimon Itarls. He then closed the doors before taking his own seat.

Seeing everyone together, Sparda began.

“Thank you all for coming here today. We all know the risks of angering our ‘emperor‘, so I appreciate you taking those risks. We are gathered here in Lar’cincel to discuss the future of the Seven, and determine what shall be done about Mundus. I promised you all that, once inside the walls of my home, I would share my suspicions with you, and now I will honor that promise.

“First, let me list the events that have led me to the conclusion that I have made, and see if you agree. Eight thousand, four hundred and ninety nine years ago, the Patriarch Ifrit Ximorn expressed concerns to the then Emperor Magnus about his son’s greed and lack of concern for the laws of the Underworld. Less than a month later, Ifrit died in a mysterious accident, and shortly, after that, his Ensouled Hellfire Gauntlets vanished without a trace. Five thousand, seven hundred, and fifty six years ago, Mundus murdered Magnus to take over the throne. Four hundred and ten years later, I nearly failed my birth inspection, and it seemed to my parents that Mundus had expected me to be more powerful. It was also around this time that the feud between the Bolverk and Valters families erupted into bloodshed for no apparent reason. Five hundred and seventy years before the start of the war, Alastor Valters and his wife Lilith left to go visit the human world and never returned. Alastor’s Ensouled was lost with them. And then we have the start of the human/ demon war, and Mundus never gave us a good reason for it. Nine years after it began, Patriarch Luka Valters and his three sons were all found dead in a part of the Underworld so isolated that very few knew of its existence. One of those few was Mundus. There were no signs of any fatal injury, and all of us are aware that only the Imperial family is capable of causing fatal wounds that leave no mark.

“Fourteen years later, my three and a half century old son somehow left the Underworld and was found murdered outside of a human village. A year later, I overheard Mundus and his guards discussing the war and how now that he had taken care of my son, I had more time to devote to doing my duties. And yes, that is why I rebelled. I daresay the grief drove me mad. Before I left the Underworld, I encountered my mother and sister. We spoke, and when I next encountered Mundus, he informed me that he had killed them for failing to stop me. After I left and sealed the gate, my father was forced into stasis, supposedly to ‘protect’ him from me, yet since the gate was sealed, and I was on the other side, it was not possible for me to reach him, even if I wanted to do him harm. Exactly four hundred years after I left, my former mate also overheard Mundus blabbering on about our son’s true cause of death, which prompted her to leave as well.

“Not long after, there was a rash of family artifact thefts. The Death Sentence from the Sarcesti family, the Pride of Lion from the Bolverk family, the Melancholy Soul from the Valters family, and the Guiding Light from the Sris family. In all four thefts, there were no signs of a break in, and the four artifacts vanished without a trace.

“Forty eight years ago, I was lured into a trap and was captured and brought back down here to be imprisoned. I was forced to watch, three years later, as Luxian attacked the home of my human wife and two half human children. My wife was killed in cold blood, and one of my sons was captured. The other -” He nodded at Dante, who waved cheerfully at everyone. “-escaped. I watched as Vergil was brought down here to live in this tower, with my brother Luxian. I watched as part of his soul was stolen, and he was molded into a killing machine with one goal - to claim my sealed power. To do so, he had to raise the Temen-ni-gru and break the seal between the two worlds. He also had to face Dante three times. When the seal was broken, and the boys had claimed what was theirs by right, Vergil stayed down here instead of returning to the human world. For his failure to keep the gate open, he was imprisoned and tortured by constructs in the shape of me and my wife, especially my wife, until he lost all sense of self and became just a mindless solider for Mundus.” He saw Dante’s face pale suddenly.

“Thirteen years later, I watched as Mundus commanded the Valters and Sarcesti families to create a gate for him under Mallet Island. He then sent his construct that wore my wife’s face to the human world to lure my other son, Dante, to the area, so that he may be killed, ending my branch of the Sparda line. When Dante defeated him, and the Sarcestis and Valters were unable to hold the gate open, Mundus took his rage out on three people: Lady Sarcesti,” He nodded at Zenedris. “Lord Valters,” He nodded at Nestor. “and Vergil, who Dante had faced, and defeated, three times on Mallet Island. My son was tortured to near insanity. The construct that resembled my wife, who had assisted Dante in closing the gate, lived in the human world briefly before she was killed by Mundus for her betrayal.” Dante’s face paled again, and Sparda guessed that he hadn’t known about that part.

“It was also that year that Argosax the Chaos tried to enter the human world, using a wealthy human named Arius as his puppet to open a gate on Dumary Island. Once again, Dante prevented it and closed the gate, but not before he had fought, and defeated Patriarch Bolverk Vimors Bolverk, who as the events there were not the work of Mundus, had no reason to be there. He should not have even known about them.

“A year after that, Mundus sent Sirce Valters to the human world, with instructions to do anything necessary to become pregnant by Dante. She succeeded in doing so, but she was prevented from leaving Dante’s home until after the child is born. Once Alastair Sparda was born, Sirce returned to the demon world without her. Three days later, Mundus killed her for her failure.” Nestor closed his eyes and bowed his head. “Three years after Alastair’s birth, Mundus sent Cele Itarls to Vergil’s cell in the Forgotten Levels, with orders to do whatever possible to get herself pregnant by him. She also succeeded, but was kept in Mundus’ private chambers during the pregnancy and not allowed to return to her family’s tower. Once Larcersa, who was later renamed Vergil, was born, she was killed, and the child was given to my brother to raise here in Lar’cincel. Any questions?”

“So what is the conclusion that this all leads you to, Sparda?” Rithas growled. Sparda looked at him.

“Simple, Mundus is carefully, gradually, taking steps to bring us under his firm control. Despite everything, the Seven have never been firmly under the Imperial family’s control. We have wills and agendas of our own, and we have refused to carry out an order that we didn’t agree with. So he has set out to systematically eliminate those that he considers a threat to his plans: Ifrit Ximorn, Magnus, Alastor Valters, Luka Valters and his sons, Akemus Sparda, Talthos Sparda, Bolverk Vimors Bolverk, Zenedris Sarcesti. The only people that stands in his way that he failed to remove from the picture are myself, Dante, and Lady Sarcesti.”

“Remove the powerful ones from the picture, and most of your resistance is gone.” Terln said thoughtfully.

Sparda nodded. “Exactly.”

“What makes no sense me is that Mundus is over 10,000 years old, yet he seems to not be slowing down any.” Nestor remarked “How is it possible that he is still alive? He is past our life span.”

“He didn’t seem all that powerful to me.” Dante said “So either he was going easy on me, or his power was being directed elsewhere.”

“Using his power to extend his life?” Nasilii added “Has that ever been done? Is it even possible?”

“Yes, it’s possible.” Zenedris replied “It is our power that allows us to live so long, so yes, it can be done if one knows how. Even magical humans live longer than their non magical counterparts.”

“Would he know how to do such a thing?” Kastor asked timidly, ignoring the disapproving look Nestor sent him for using such a tone of voice.

“That is the question of the day, isn’t it?” Sparda said, leaning back in his chair as he pondered.

“When did the Imperial family come to power?” Sri wondered out loud “If we look at their start, we may be able to better see their end.”

“Are you suggesting what I think you are, Lord Sris?” Elaan Terln said incredulously “Destroying the Imperial line once and for all?”

“What choice do we have?” Sri replied “We all know that Mundus will do anything to stop us from getting out from under his control, even if it means killing us and our families. And if realizes that we’re going after him, he will waste no time in siring a son to continue the cycle.”

“Lord Sris is right.” Rithas said “Mundus has to die. The question is: how are we going to do it?”

Sparda smiled - not a good smile, but a predatory one. “If I could defeat him single handily, and if Dante could as well, then he will stand no chance against all of us at once.”

“A mass rebellion?” Thenal said wonderingly. He seemed to ponder it for a moment, before grinning widely. “I like it!” Rithas smiled, baring his many fangs.

“Are we all in agreement then?” Sparda asked. He looked around the table; no one objected. “Now, let’s figure out how we are going to approach this.”

*****

Elsec Bolverk knelt at the foot of the dais, while Mundus thought on what he had just told him.

“So they are meeting in Lar’cincel?” Mundus growled “What are they meeting about?”

“All I was able to hear was that they were discussing something that Lord Sparda had planned and something to do with you.”

“So they are planning on removing me from power.” Mundus’ eyes narrowed

“Bold of them. And so very foolish. They will pay for this.”

“Master, if I may, how do you know what they are planning?”

“What else would they be discussing, Elsec? There have been rumblings to remove me from the throne for longer than you have been alive.”

“What do you wish of me, Master?”

“I want you to decide the best way to take your brother by surprise and remove him from the picture. Once you have a way, come back to me, and I will give you your orders then.”

“Yes, Master.”

“You are dismissed.” Elsec rose to his feet, bowed respectfully, and backed out of the throne room. As he went, he had to fight to keep the smile off of his face.

He would be patriarch, one way or another.

*****

“So what is our dear patriarch doing?” Mesim Valters asked sarcastically, putting as much loathing as possible into Nestor’s title.

“Currently, he is conferring with the other patriarchs, deciding on the future of the Seven.” Himar replied “I imagine that they are discussing how to remove Mundus from power and restore power to the Seven, as it once was.”

“The Seven ruling the Underworld again?” Exis said, one eyebrow raise

“Such a dangerous undertaking, and actually, not a bad idea.”

“No, that is true.” Himar said “But I suppose we could use the ah, confusion when that happens to, shall we say, take care of our patriarch.”

“Kill him?” Exis asked.

“Of course, and Kastor too, since the heir cannot be allowed to live.”

“There are many risks involved in this, Himar.” Mesim said “There is no telling where the patriarch will go once those two are eliminated.”

“That is true, but since my brother was the former patriarch, there is a very good chance that it will go to me.”

“There is an equally good chance that it will go to Lestor or Vector. They are Nestor’s younger brothers.” Exis said dryly “We have no guarantee that it will go where we wish. And the magic cannot be forced.”

“Then we will have to find a way to force it.” Himar said fiercely “Even if it means killing Nestor’s brothers and all of their children. Ever since Luka died, the power has been in the hands of the son of that inbred bastard. I will have what is mine!”

“Settle down, Himar.” Mesim said easily “First we must plan how we are going to do this. It must seem like an accident or the work of Mundus or his little friends. We all know that murder of a patriarch is punishable by death in this family. Sit down, and let us plan."

Chapter 15 -- Chapter 17

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