piratefiction Chapter 814: There will be war.
Chapter 814: There will be war.
The main hall of Sparda Castle remained shrouded in a heavy silence. The enormous black columns supporting the structure disappeared into the darkness above, while demonic torches scattered along the walls cast a constant light on the room. There was no conversation. No unnecessary movement. Everyone who had been summoned already realized that this meeting had not been organized to discuss common matters.Katharina sat on the main throne, occupying the place that would normally remain empty in Vergil’s absence. Her posture was firm, but her expression made it clear that the situation was far from normal. Ada remained to her right, observing the hall in absolute silence, while Roxanne remained to her left, equally serious. None of the three showed any trace of the relaxed behavior that usually existed between them.
One by one, those summoned had arrived.
Alice stood near one of the columns, her arms crossed and her expression closed. Viviane maintained a calm expression, although her eyes revealed evident concern. Paimon watched everything in silence, leaning against one of the walls. Alexa remained close to her, clearly waiting for explanations before drawing any conclusions.
Further on were Seris, Vanny, and Rize. The three had immediately grasped the gravity of the summons simply by the absence of any usual formality. Freyja remained motionless beside Morgana, while Novah and Viola occupied positions near the center of the hall.
Gwen and Kaori had arrived last and now observed the surroundings in complete silence.
When Katharina realized that everyone was present, she rested her arms on the throne’s armrests and observed each of them before beginning to speak.
"I’ll get straight to the point."
Her voice echoed through the hall without difficulty.
No one interrupted.
No one spoke.
Everyone waited.
Katharina took a deep breath before continuing.
"Sapphire and Sepphirothy have been kidnapped."
The reaction was immediate.
Several people’s eyes widened instantly.
Alice was the first to show a more visible reaction, immediately straightening her posture. Viviane completely lost the usual neutrality of her expression. Rize stood motionless for a few seconds, as if trying to process what she had just heard.
Even Paimon seemed genuinely surprised.
Because that sentence, in itself, already seemed absurd.
Sapphire wasn’t someone who simply disappeared.
Sephirothy was even less so.
The two were among the most dangerous beings in the entire Underworld.
The mere fact that someone managed to capture them already represented a huge problem.
The fact that both disappeared at the same time made the situation much worse.
"What?" Alexa asked, breaking the silence for the first time.
Katharina maintained her unchanged expression.
"That’s exactly what you heard."
Silence returned for a few seconds.
No one seemed willing to easily believe that information.
Because it simply didn’t make sense.
Freyja spoke next.
"Who did this?"
Katharina shook her head.
"We don’t know."
The answer pleased no one.
Morgana immediately narrowed her eyes.
"You don’t know?"
"No."
Ada answered this time.
Her voice remained calm, but firm.
"Neberius managed to return. She was almost dead when she appeared. All she managed to say was that Sapphire and Sepphirothy were taken and that Lilith is in a coma."
This time the impact was even greater.
The name Lilith made several present exchange glances immediately.
Novah frowned.
"Lilith is in a coma?"
"Yes."
Ada nodded.
"That was the last information we received before Vergil left."
His name immediately caught everyone’s attention.
Because that was the part that really mattered.
Viola was the one who asked the question.
"Where is he?"
Katharina rested her chin on one hand for a few seconds before answering.
"In the Abyss."
The answer made the atmosphere even quieter.
Everyone there knew the meaning of that word.
The Abyss wasn’t just a dangerous place.
It was a place that even ancient demons avoided visiting unnecessarily.
Sending someone there would already be considered a suicide mission.
Vergil going alone made it all the worse.
"He went alone?" Gwen asked.
"Yes."
The answer came immediately.
Kaori slowly exhaled.
"This isn’t good."
"No."
Katharina agreed without hesitation.
"It isn’t."
She remained silent for a few seconds before continuing.
"When Neberius confirmed their disappearance and revealed Lilith’s condition, Vergil simply opened a dimensional rift and left."
Alice narrowed her eyes.
"He was out of control?"
Katharina took a few seconds to answer.
"No."
The answer surprised some people.
She then added:
"And that’s the problem."
Silence returned to dominate the hall.
Because everyone understood exactly what she meant.
Vergil out of control was dangerous.
Vergil completely calm could be much worse.
Katharina observed the faces before her before continuing.
"He wasn’t yelling."
"He wasn’t furious." "He wasn’t arguing."
"He simply made a decision."
No one seemed to like that description.
Because everyone knew exactly how Vergil operated.
When he reached that state, there was hardly anything that could make him change his mind.
Roxanne crossed her arms.
"He gave us an order before leaving."
Everyone turned their attention to her.
"Gather everyone."
The phrase was simple.
But sufficient.
"Everyone?" asked Seris.
"Everyone."
Katharina confirmed.
"No one was left out."
The hall remained silent as the implications of this began to become evident.
Vergil didn’t usually mobilize absolutely all available resources without reason.
If he had ordered that, then he already expected something much bigger than a simple rescue operation.
Paimon was the one who verbalized the thought that was probably already going through the minds of several people.
"Do you think there will be a war?"
It wasn’t a question.
It was a statement.
Katharina looked directly at her.
"No."
The answer made some people frown.
Then she added:
"I’m sure of it."
This time no one spoke.
Because the conviction in her voice was absolute.
Katharina remained for a few seconds observing the hall before continuing.
"Whoever is responsible for this crossed several lines at once."
She rested her arms on the throne’s armrests.
"Sapphire disappeared."
"Sepphirothy disappeared."
"Lilith is in a coma."
"Vergil went to the Abyss alone."
Each sentence made the situation heavier.
Each sentence made the magnitude of the problem clearer.
"So let’s make one thing very clear in our minds."
Her voice became even firmer.
"If he returns with answers, we’ll have a direction."
She paused briefly.
"If he returns with a target..."
No one needed her to finish the sentence.
Everyone understood.
Because they already knew exactly what would happen.
The silence that filled the hall afterward was absolute.
There were no doubts.
There were no arguments.
There were no questions.
Only understanding.
A war was approaching.
Perhaps it had already begun.
And everyone gathered in that hall knew that when Vergil returned from the Abyss, someone’s fate would be decided.
The only remaining question was who had made the mistake of kidnapping Sapphire and Sepphirothy.
Because, at that moment, regardless of who was responsible, one thing was already certain.
When Vergil found the answer, there would be no negotiation. There would be no agreements. There would be no second chance.
And everyone in that room knew it.
...
Vergil advanced through the depths of the Abyss mounted on Itharine while the landscape below disappeared under successive waves of destruction. The descent had already surpassed the fiftieth floor, and nothing seemed capable of slowing its advance. The natural structures of that region, which for ages had withstood the pressure of the Abyss itself, were reduced to rubble by the mere passage of the dragon. Colossal rocks shattered, entire caverns collapsed, and ancient formations vanished under the constant impact of the energy released by Itharine.
The spectral dragon did not fly carefully nor seek safe paths. Its trajectory was a straight line towards the depths. Enormous black wings cut through space while currents of death energy coursed through its body. Whenever a barrier appeared ahead, Itharine simply opened its jaws and released massive bursts of dark energy. The beams traversed kilometers of solid matter before exploding, obliterating everything in their path.
The result was simple.
Instead of searching for passages between the Abyss’s levels, Vergil was creating his own.
Entire layers were being forcibly traversed.
Natural structures that had remained intact for thousands of years vanished in seconds.
Nothing was spared.
Nothing was analyzed.
Nothing received enough attention to justify a pause.
Vergil stood on the dragon’s back, observing the scene below. His coat billowed under the pressure of the wind created by Itharine’s absurd speed, but his expression remained completely unchanged. Since leaving the Underworld, he hadn’t shown any visible emotion. The anger was still present. The hatred too. However, both had been reduced to something cold and controlled.
It was precisely this state that made him more dangerous.
Another beam of death energy pierced the layer below them. The resulting explosion opened a gigantic crater that traversed multiple levels of the Abyss simultaneously. Fragments of stone, corrupted matter, and the remains of creatures were hurled in all directions.
Vergil watched without reacting.
His focus remained elsewhere.
As they continued descending, something began to catch his attention.
The monsters of the Abyss were fleeing.
Not just retreating.
Not just avoiding confrontation.
Fleeing.
Creatures that would normally attack any intruder without hesitation were abandoning entire territories just to get away from Itharine’s presence. Corrupted demons disappeared into the depths of secondary tunnels. Ancient beasts hid among the organic structures that formed parts of that distorted world.
Vergil watched a group of gigantic creatures running in the opposite direction seconds before one of Itharine’s attacks hit the area.
None of them even tried to fight.
None tried to stop his passage.
All were terrified.
The dragon noticed too. "They sense authority," Itharine said through the mental link she shared with him. "Death recognizes its masters. Even creatures that don’t understand concepts know when something superior approaches."
Vergil kept his eyes fixed on the depths below them.
The explanation made sense.
The Abyss was a place where strength determined practically everything. Creatures survived because they could kill. Monsters dominated territories because they were more dangerous than their rivals.
Now, something far above that natural order had entered that environment.
Something that represented more than just power.
It represented an inevitable end.
Another group of creatures appeared ahead. Some were tens of meters tall. Others looked like deformed masses of flesh and demonic energy. All disappeared immediately when they sensed Itharine’s approach.
Vergil observed this for a few seconds.
Then he spoke calmly.
"It’s not worth wasting time killing them all."
His voice remained firm and emotionless.
The creatures were not the objective.
It didn’t matter how many monsters were in the way.
It didn’t matter how many floors needed to be destroyed.
None of that brought him closer to the answers he sought.
Itharine only responded with a brief sound of understanding before increasing his speed even further.
The environment distorted again around them.
A few seconds later, another layer of the Abyss was traversed.
The fifty-first floor disappeared.
Then the fifty-second.
The fifty-third.
The fifty-fourth.
The descent continued.
Always straight ahead.
Always deeper.
Always faster.
Vergil remained motionless throughout the process. His eyes constantly watched the approaching depths. The further they descended, the heavier the pressure of the Abyss became. Even for extremely powerful entities, those levels began to represent a real risk.
He didn’t care.
His attention was focused on something completely different.
Because, despite all the destruction he left behind, despite the power he now wielded, despite the authority he had awakened, a part of his mind remained trapped in the same worry.
And this worry had nothing to do with war.
Nor with the Abyss.
Nor with those responsible for the kidnapping.
It had to do with his mother.
Vergil closed his eyes for a brief moment as Itharine passed through another layer.
A memory surfaced.
Then another.
Unfinished conversations.
Questions that were never asked.
Answers that were never given.
The relationship between him and Sepphirothy had never been simple. There was distance. There were conflicts. There were years of situations that neither of them really knew how to resolve.
Even so...
She was his mother.
And now she was missing.
Perhaps wounded.
Perhaps imprisoned.
Perhaps worse.
He didn’t know.
And this uncertainty bothered him far more than any enemy.
Vergil opened his eyes again.
His gaze grew even colder.
"I hope it’s not too late."
The words came out low.
Almost inaudible.
But Itharine heard.
The dragon didn’t answer.
Because there was nothing it could say. For a few seconds, only the sound of destruction continued to echo through the depths of the Abyss.
Then Vergil completed the thought that had remained trapped in his mind since he left Tokyo.
"I haven’t even resolved things with my mother yet."
The phrase hung in the air as Itharine violently smashed through the barrier leading to the fifty-fifth floor.
The resulting explosion illuminated the entire area below them.
Rocks crumbled.
Structures collapsed.
Creatures fled in all directions.
And, without slowing down for a second, Vergil continued descending deeper and deeper into the Abyss. His objective remained the same.
To find Sepphirothy.
To find Sapphire.
And to discover who had made the mistake of putting them in danger.
When he found the answer, the rest would be simple.