EG: The Devil Might Lie

It’s raining today.

Honestly, that didn’t really surprise him.

After all, he’d bothered paying attention to the weather forecast so he knew it would be raining today.

Besides, it’s been raining for a few days now, so finding out it was raining once again didn’t really surprise him that much.

Regardless, knowing that the rain was coming down today didn’t change anything. After all, people still had to be out and about. Had to go somewhere - anywhere really to get their required education or fulfill their 9-to-5.

After all, people still had to make money, and those bills still had to get paid somehow.

Of course, with that being said, there were very few who actually wanted to step out and get pattered by rainfall, which of course wasn’t too surprising. Only time someone really liked getting wet was when they were either in the bathroom or the bedroom.

For one well dressed young man in particular though, neither option seemed available at the moment. Staring out at the city from its tallest building, the Silver Sacks Towers, he couldn’t help sigh in annoyance as he watched the rain come down.

“Hell of a view.” The figure muttered as he stared outward, attention focused on the rain that continued to fall across his city.

Limbo, that was the name the world gave it.

It was a strange name, truly, but it was no stranger than the names given to some cities like Capulet or Enamel.

With that said, he had no idea why the founders chose to call this place ‘Limbo’ of all things was honestly beyond him. The city wasn’t situated in Limbo after all - ‘the Edge’ where the borders between realms was weakest.

Pushing such thoughts aside, the young man kept his gaze fixed on the city that rested beyond his window.

Disregard the rain, it didn’t look any different from any other city out there. It was a well-developed metropolis with skyscrapers and boroughs. He couldn’t see the people from up here, but that was fine. He didn’t need to see them, not really; but if he wanted to, all he had to do was look through the CCTV cameras installed throughout the city.

While he was busy looking outside his office phone went off, and it was with a bit of reluctance that he found himself stepping away from the window that he was next to headed over to his desk as he picked up the phone.

“Yes?”

“Mister Ryder, Lostlight and Paleflame have returned.”

Ah, about time.

“Good.” Ryder mutters, nodding his head. “Send them up.”

“Yes sir.”

That brief conversation ending, Ryder took a moment to walk around his desk before settling himself down in his chair. It’s quiet for a while, there’s no noise outside of the rain coming down and hitting the window. It ends only when two figures step through his office door. One of them with a head full of white hair while the other was blessed with a mess of black.

“Hey boss.” The black haired one, Paleflame, did this light wave and smiled as he walked over to one of the office chairs and settled down. “Sorry it took so long to get back, traffic was a nightmare.”

“I bet it was.” Their boss muttered as he looked to Lostlight who seemed to just be standing at attention and waiting for something. He just made a gesture, allowing the white haired youth to sit as he gave an appreciative nod. “So, what’s your report?”

“It’s as you thought, Mr. Ryder.” Lostlight stated. “The uproar in Red Grave was caused by the Qliphoth appearing in Red Grave.” He admitted.

“And as you predicted, Dante got involved.” Paleflame stated as he made a swinging motion with his arm. “Took him a month, but he finally chopped the damn thing down.”

“I’m not surprised.” Ryder muttered as he rested his cheek on his knuckle. “Still, who was it that planted the seeds of the Quiphoth?”

“Some guy named Urizen.” Paleflame stated with a shrug.

“Never heard of him.”

“Likewise.” Paleflame grumbled. “Arte glanced through Lemegeton's Guidebook, and couldn’t find a damn thing about this Urizen guy, so he’s not from the Demon Realm.”

“That means he was probably from this side.” Lostlight stated.

“I see…” Ryder muttered as he seemed to think. “If that’s the case, how were they able to reach the Demon Realm and the Qliphoth?”

“Nero.” Ryder raised an eyebrow.

“Dante’s heir?”

“Think so.” Paleflame stated as he raised his right arm and tapped it a few times. “Saw him sporting a prosthetic.” He admitted. “Seems Urizen ripped that demonic arm off and pulled the Yamato out of it. And given that Yamato can cut through dimensions~”

“They used it to reach the demon realm and acquire the Qliphoth seeds.” Ryder rubbed his temples. “Makes sense… and what else is there for you to report?”

“For one, Dante got his ass handed to him before settling things.” Paleflame stated as Lostlight reached for something he had carefully wrapped up and presented it on the table. Ryder’s eyebrows shot up slightly. Though they could have been mistaken for the shards or any random blade, he knew on an instinctive level that these shards belonged to a very specific demonic blade

“Rebellion?”

“Yes.” Lostlight couldn’t help but nod. “It seems that the Rebellion was shattered during combat.” He states. “We’ve collected a few shards, but the remaining pieces as well as the handle are still missing.”

“More than likely it’s still in Dante’s possession.” Ryder grumbled. “Regardless, even with the broken Rebellion, Dante managed to pull through in the end. That’s good at least.” He muttered as he seemed to stare at the fragments of Rebellion for a moment. “Now for the bad news.”

“Well, in order to seal off the Qliphoth, Dante would have needed to go to the Demon World and sever the roots himself.” Lostlight stated. “Not to mention seal the portal it created with the Yamato.” Ryder didn’t say anything, letting the words echo into his head before taking a breath.

“I see.” He muttered after a while. “A one-way trip.”

“That’s right.” Paleflame muttered. “But knowing his luck he’ll find a way out again.”

“Till then the Legendary Devil Hunter is gone.” Lostlight added.

“And as such he’s out of our hair.” Ryder muttered as he made a face and started fiddling with a piece of Rebellion.

“So.” Paleflame spoke up again. “What’s the plan, boss?” Ryder didn’t say anything, just chose to continue fiddling with a fragment of Rebellion and made a noise.

“To start, we ensure Dante can’t get back to this side.”

“Oh?” Ryder just stopped messing with the fragments of Rebellion and seemed to look at his guests.

“The Qliphoth opened a portal to the Demon Realm, but as you know it’s not the one.” He stated. “Two thousand years ago, Tenen-Ni-Gru was created by mortal hands to act as the true gateway, and countless other structures were created to act as portals as well.” Ryder stated. “If every last one of them is destroyed…”

“Then we ensure that Dante can’t return.” Lostlight whispered as Ryder gave him a nod.

“I get it… but if we destroy all the Hellgates, then won’t more demons be unable to cross over as well?” Paleflame asked.

“No, actually.” It was Lostlight that answered him. “Remember the Hellgates are a human creation.” He stated. “It was their way of bridging the worlds, but in truth the demons never needed them.” He stated. “After all, we have our own methods of crossing over.”

“Ah~” Paleflame leaned back in his seat as he put his hands behind his head. “Right.” Was all he said as he seemed to think. “Well if that’s the case~.” He smiled. “When do we start, boss.”

“You in particular?” Ryder began as he sighed to himself. Without a word he reached for something in his desk before pulling out a file for the two. “Ever heard of Canterlot?” Lostlight nodded as Paleflame raised an eyebrow.

“Nope.” Paleflame admitted as Lostlight reached for the file. “Must be somewhere in the middle of nowhere.”

“Well, you aren’t wrong.” Ryder admitted with a smile. “There’s no airport, there’s no trains, just a single road leading to a beach and beyond.”

“Wow, that is in the middle of nowhere.” Paleflame muttered as Lostlight continued looking through the file. “Either way, we're going to destroy the hellgate there?”

“Yes, though we aren’t entirely certain if it’s a Hellgate at all.” Ryder admitted. “Regardless, there is a portal there. “And if there's a portal that means that there's a possibility that Dante can come through it.”

“So where is the portal?”

Lostlight showed Paleflame the file as his eyes shot up and he started to laugh. “It’s in front of a school? Who puts a portal in front of a school?!”

“I’d love that answer myself.” Ryder stated, shaking his head. “Regardless…”

“Right.” Paleflame returned the file to Lostlight. “We’ll get right on it, boss.”