NOVPUB"You want me to... pull the pope's corpse out of the bowels of this wreck... with magic?"
Morgana asked, her voice laden with incredulity, staring at the huge demon stretched out in the center of the living room like someone observing a work of art made by a lunatic.
Kraggor, lying on his stomach, let out little snores that sounded like muffled earthquakes. His skin trembled occasionally, as if his stomach was fighting an internal civil battle.
"Exactly," replied Vergil, without the slightest trace of shame or humor in his tone.
His eyes fixed on her, as if he had just ordered something as normal as coffee.
"I've already tried... conventional methods," he added, flexing his hand which was still vibrating slightly with energy. "A punch. A kick. A push with Yamato. Nothing. He's already digesting. Besides..."
KRGOOOOOOOO!!!
The sound that came from Kraggor was apocalyptic.
A monstrous belch, powerful enough to make the whole room vibrate like a war drum.
A beam of golden light exploded from the demon's mouth, piercing the ceiling like a divine spear and opening a perfect hole - revealing the starry sky above them, framed by black clouds.
For a few seconds, everyone simply stared at the hole in the ceiling.
The silence was almost respectful.
"...He's going to kill us before our digestion is finished," commented Gwen, with her arms crossed, arching an eyebrow as if that were the most logical conclusion in the world.
Morgana rubbed her temples, taking a deep breath. "This is so absurd that it offends my magic..."
She sighed resignedly and approached, already conjuring circles of restraint around Kraggor's belly.
"Hold him," she ordered, as black runes glowed beneath her feet.
Kraggor gave a sleepy grunt and moved a leg, breaking some of the surrounding furniture.
Gwen quickly secured his huge arms with ethereal chains, while Vergil waved his hand anyway and Kraggor's shadows held him to the ground, pressing him down like a hug.
"That might... hurt a bit," murmured Morgana, placing both open hands on the brute's stomach.
"A warrior can take any pain!" Kraggor said proudly.
Morgana looked at Vergil as if she wanted to kill him, then... She began to recite an incantation in a strange language, each word reverberating like muffled thunder through Kraggor's flesh.
The demon's body arched violently.
Its belly emitted a strange sound - a mixture between the noise of a clogged pipe and distant thunder.
Suddenly, Kraggor's skin began to glow with a sickly golden hue, and his chest rose in spasms.
"Uh-oh..." said Gwen, already preparing to dodge.
Then - with a grotesque roar - Kraggor vomited.
A golden torrent of light and sacred fragments shot out of the demon's mouth, along with a grotesque object wrapped in a viscous mass of light energy.
The impact threw Gwen and Morgana back a few meters.
The object fell to the ground with a heavy thud - a mutilated carcass, but still glowing with holy energy: what was left of the Pope's body.
Vergil approached, observing the half-digested corpse with calculating eyes.
"Excellent," he said simply, as if appraising a piece of merchandise.
Gwen coughed, wiping golden goo off her cape. "Good. Now we have a half-eaten porridge. What a feast."
Morgana, still wiping the dirt from her face, looked at Vergil with a murderous glare. "Next time, try to solve it before the bug eats the dead pope's corpse."
Vergil completely ignored the provocation.
He was already examining the body: lines of power still pulsed faintly through the torn clothes.
"He still has value," said Vergil. "The blessings impregnated in the body can be used. And most importantly..." He knelt down, touching his shadow. 'I'll talk to you later. Itharine.' Vergil thought and she swallowed his body in the darkness.
Vergil stood up slowly, wiping his gloved hand as if he had just solved an unpleasant task. His eyes scanned the wrecked hall, the golden light coming from the hole in the ceiling illuminating the mess - and the absence.
He frowned.
"Where are they?" he asked quietly, almost to himself.
Then, more firmly, he turned to Morgana, who was still squeezing golden goo out of her hair: "My wives. Where are they?"
Morgana froze for a moment, as if trying to invent an acceptable lie - and failing miserably. She gave a mirthless little laugh, looking away.
"So... about that..." She cleared her throat. "Technically, they were here... But this morning, something happened."
Vergil crossed his arms, his shadow stretching across the room as if threatening to devour Morgana whole if she took too long to speak.
"Go on," he said, his voice as sharp as Yamato's blade.
Morgana took a step back, smiling nervously.
"Well... it's just that... two demon queens have decided to settle their differences..." She gestured in the air, as if this were a neighborly squabble over fence boundaries. "And... our girls thought it would be fun to watch."
Vergil didn't answer.
He just tilted his head slightly - a small movement, but full of cold menace.
"Which queens?" The question hung in the air like a knife without a handle.
Morgana opened her mouth, closed it, opened it again - until she finally snorted in defeat.
"Raphaeline seems to have had problems with Cabernet... so... they decided to fight it out." The temperature in the room seemed to plummet.
Vergil clenched his fist until his knuckles cracked. "Raphaeline..." he repeated in a low voice. "Against Cabernet."
Gwen, on the other side of the room, stopped cleaning her cloak to stare at them with an expression that mixed interest and sheer terror.
"What the fuck... what did that fucking Japanese demon come up with," Vergil said slowly, "If something happens to Raphaeline and the others..."
Morgana held up her hands, defensive. "Hey! I'm not the one who set up fights between demon queens! I just... well, I just didn't stop them from seeing it."
Vergil walked to the center of the room, the Yamato still dangling from his right hand.
He took a deep breath, controlling the impulse to walk through the nearest wall.
"The Colosseum, you say?" His gaze flashed with dangerous determination.
"Yes, the one where you challenged the Phenex family asshole," Morgana added hastily. "It even looks like he was going to see the fight... something like that..."
Vergil turned to Gwen, who had already finished conjuring a black portal in the wall. Magic crackled in the air, eager for action.
"Take care of Kraggor, will you? Then go back to the underworld and tell me what you know. Ask Kaori and Valerie to seek information from the Gremory family maids," Vergil said simply.
"If Raphaeline and Cabernet are fighting... something could happen... even more so after Katharina, Ada and Roxanne were attacked by vampires at the hand of Spectre and his faction." He sheathed Yamato with a dry motion and launched himself towards the portal without waiting for an answer.
Behind him, Gwen sighed loudly. "Understood, Master." She replied.
Morgana glared at Gwen. "Don't you think you're taking this too seriously?"
The atmosphere froze.
Vergil stopped a few steps from the portal.
His presence became a wall of pure steel and controlled rage.
He turned slowly, like an avalanche about to collapse, and faced Morgana with eyes so cold and lethal that the ground seemed to buckle beneath his feet.
He smiled.
Not a friendly smile - but something sharp, predatory, like the blade that precedes an execution.
"How about it," Vergil said in a voice so soft it was almost a whisper - but every word was a blade of obsidian, "you keep your mouth shut?"
Morgana, for the first time in a long time, felt a genuine shiver run down her spine.
Vergil took a step forward, enough for his shadow to swallow Morgana whole.
"After all," he continued, still smiling cuttingly, "can someone you love be killed instantly by a stupid oversight?"
He leaned in slightly, his voice now a venomous whisper.
"No, you can't."
His eyes burned like ancient furnaces, threatening to tear Morgana apart with just the weight of his presence.
"Then next time, spare us all your stupid joke... and shut up."
Morgana swallowed dryly, her eyes darting away briefly.
Even Gwen, used to Vergil's brutality, remained completely silent.
Vergil turned with the same dangerous calm and walked through the portal.
Gwen looked sideways at Morgana, raising an eyebrow.
"I warned you," she muttered before following after him.
Morgana huffed softly, annoyed, but kept quiet as she jumped into the portal too.
** On the other side, the sight struck them like thunder:
The Colosseum loomed before them - colossal.
Built of black stones and blood-stained ivory, it curved towards the sky like a crown of dead titans.
The stands were filled with demons of all shapes and sizes, each screaming, roaring and betting their souls on the fight unfolding in the center of the arena.
And there, in the center: Raphaeline wearing a battle kimono with golden dragons, exchanged brutal blows with Cabernet, whose crimson hair fluttered like murderous flames.
The ground was already cracked, craters opening up under their feet with each impact.
Swords made of pure energy, beams of dark magic and explosions of power cut through the air like thunderous war.
And, in the middle of the most protected crowd, sitting comfortably on makeshift thrones covered in barrier enchantments...
Vergil's wives watched as if they were at a sporting event.
Stella and Roxanne, quietly sipping tea and eating sweets.
Ada cheering like she was at a rock concert. Yes, she was cheering for her mother.... looks like their relationship has improved significantly and...
"KILL HER BITCH!" Sapphire shouted pointing at Cabernet "ONLY I CAN BE RED HERE!"
"Hey!" Katharina shouted at her mother.
"ONLY ME AND MY DAUGHTER CAN BE REDHEADS HERE!" Safira corrected herself...
"What the fuck is going on here..." Vergil said, appearing on the scene.
