Adventures of a Lone Wanderer

[Saren Crimson]

(This story isn't meant to be good in any way. It's just something I want to write because I haven't roleplayed in a while and this was swimming around in my head so...I decided to just write it here instead of keeping it in. Trying some roleplaying styles while doing this. If you want to drop by and leave a comment, by all means do so. So, this is one of the many characters I have, Reiji Maigo.)

"A body without a heart or soul is just an empty shell longing to die. I am cursed to walk the Earth forever never knowing what it is to feel again. I am now called The Lone Wanderer." - Reiji Maigo

Reiji was sitting on the back of a wagon being pulled by a horse, the driver was a simple farmer taking his crops to the market to be sold. The town that they were heading to was bustling with people from all over the place looking to buy goods. It was loud as it was quiet. Reiji knew that he used to hate noise but now none of that matters to him. He just quietly watched the people scatter around to find what they were looking for. He wondered how these people can be so carefree when there was danger all around them. The town wasn't exactly the safest place in terms buying and selling, he thought. As theft was a number one concern here and not to mention that this place sometimes were hit with bandit raids. Seems that the world was always a planet where things just always had something exciting happening. The farmer had stopped his cart where he was going to set up and he looked in the back at Reiji. He didn't say anything but he nodded his head and Reiji had nodded as well, jumping off the back. The both of them set up the booth that the farmer had with him, Reiji putting the produce on the table as the farmer started to yell out to the crowd as all the others were.

Reiji was about 5'5, slightly long black hair, green eyes and despite his baggy clothes, he was plenty musclar underneath. He was wearing a brown open robe and tattered pants and shirt both black in color but no shoes. What would anyone expect? He was homeless, a traveler, a wanderer. He sat there in a chair with his arms crossed and blankly stared around at everything that was around him. He listened and watched as women would claw through each other trying to get what they wanted off the table. Everything usually ended up as a fight here in the market. If you wanted anything, be prepared to fight for it with blood, sweat, and tears. Even then if you were lucky to get what you want, you were hoping your guard wasn't down when someone tried to steal it. While Reiji would find that hilarious, he couldn't laugh...well, he could but it'd just be empty. No emotion into it at all and he knew that which is why he refrain from doing anything of the sort. The farmer had looked down at Reiji who noticed that he looked at him. They both were just staring at each other. "Here. Go get us a cold drink. It is hot out here." he said with a smile on his face as he flung a coin in Reiji's direction. Having caught the money, he walked off a short distance in order to do so inside a general store. This store in particular, you could get any goods that wasn't sold on the outdoor market. Although, when he got there, he was met with a slightly long line who had the same idea as the farmer who sent him.

So Reiji stood there just tapping his foot and waiting, it wasn't like he could hear his own taps seeing how loud it was outside. He just liked doing it so that he wasn't just standing there not doing anything. When he finally got to the front of the line. He was met with a hardy fellow with a thick mustache and beard. As much as Reiji could describe it. It just about covered the lower half of his face completely with hair. "What'll you have, boy?" he said in a husky voice. Reiji looked at the small menu that was taped to the counter in front of him. The boy put his finger down on it and the man proceeded into the back to get his drinks. Now as Reiji was waiting, he noticed that the market was starting to go quieter and quieter. He looked back to see people were on either sides of the street. He wondered what was going on outside as the people behind him were heading out of the door as well. There were knights wearing shining silver armor marching down the road and directly behind them was a really decked out carrage which Reiji would say it was guady to say the least but then again, he didn't like jewels or anything of the sort. The knight in the front of the line had made the whole line stop as a result. He took out a trumpet and started to play a little song basically telling you that royalty just arrived.

The shopkeeper of the general store came out of the backroom to see what the fuss was about as he was coming out with Reiji's drinks. He came out in time to see a young princess stepping out with the king. Oh boy, did they look a sight. It seemed like all the light was on them the moment that they stepped out. Their clothes fit for people like them, over decorated with more jewels than what most people would want to wear even the aristocrats which was saying something. Most people had to squint their eyes because the shine from the jewels were too bright. Didn't bother Reiji in the slightest even though he found jewel to clothes ratio was way off. He was wondering how they weren't blinded or at least slowed down with the seemingly heavy jewelry that they were wearing. The King held up a scepter certainly fit for a king and everyone bowed instantly...well, everyone except Reiji until someone yanked him down. As long as he kept it up, no one got back up. There was a small giggle from the young princess as she put her soft hands on her father's. "I think that's enough. You're going to tire out these poor people." she said in a soft voice. "I suppose you're right...let's get what we came for and get back to the castle. You know how your mother is when you're away from your studies for too long." the princess could only giggle again as the King put down his scepter and everyone stood up. The knights surrounded the princess and king as they step up to the general store though Reiji stood in the way seeing as he had got yanked down earlier.

Reiji had looked up at the knight looking down at him. "Please step aside." he asked. The young boy had stood up from his squat and walked aside so that they could get into the store. The shopkeeper himself who was standing outside behind Reiji had watched one of them go in while the others were standing outside on either sides of the door. He looked down at Reiji who looked back at him with a dead blank face. "Here. Sorry I didn't give it to you earlier." he handed him the drinks while Reiji handed him the money. Since he got what he came for, he walked down the steps right past the King and his daughter who they looked at him curiously. Reiji's clothes were very much different than the people around him and what had gotten their attention was the huge broadsword on his back and the designs it had on it. To them, it looked otherworldly and mysterious. As Reiji gotten halfway back to the farmer, the King had looked at him. He looked like a very young boy no more than the age of 17 but he never would've guessed that he was over 50,000 years old. "You. Stop for a minute." he declared. Reiji stopped as he asked then turned around to him. "Yes, your Highness? How may I help you?" he said in the quietest voice he could muster. The King narrowed his eyes as his daughter stood beside him with a curious look. "You...Who might you be? I've never seen you before around this kingdom of mine." while he wasn't trying to sound like he didn't trust the boy, he was curious like his daughter that Reiji would be lugging around a broadsword bigger than his body. Reiji looked at him with an empty stare and it made the King nervous which the knights took note of as they came beside the king and his daughter.

Reiji never made a move, his body as still as a statue and they could swear that he wasn't breathing either. The whole market was silent and quietly watching the group in the middle of the road. At first, Reiji didn't want to talk but he figured he should in order for them to leave him alone. "I am...Reiji Maigo. I'm a wanderer. I'm searching for something that I lost, something that belongs to me." he simply said to them which only brought more questions than answers. The princess stepped forward and speaking herself. "What is it that you're looking for? So much that you carry such a large weapon on your back?" she asked him as she put her hand on her chest, her heart beating quickly and whether she was afraid or simply excited, he didn't know. "I'm looking for my heart and my soul. I'm looking for the essence that makes me...me." this made everyone around him gasp and step away from him. The King pulled his daughter behind him protectively while the knights stood in front of them with their weapons drawn. "Then what are you? A demon? Some kind of monster?!" the King asked him in a brash manner. Reiji only watched them but didn't move at all. "I am neither. I guess you can say I'm just an empty shell wanting to be whole again or looking for my place to finally die and be rid of this curse of being like the living undead." he said in a calm voice then turned his back to them and walked away. All the other people around him were whispering, pointing at him, and moving away as he walked past. They were afraid of him and he knew it. He didn't care because he couldn't care but if he did, he certainly would've been hurt by their judgemental stares.

Reiji stood in front of the farmer again who looked at him with wide eyes and backed away a little. The young boy could only watch him and he looked down at the drinks in his hands. "Here. This is what you had me pay for..." he said in a quiet voice trying to hand one to him. The farmer yelled instantly and screamed at him. "Don't get close to me with your diseased hands! I don't want to be cursed like you!" as he said that, it struck a nerve in Reiji's mind but he had no emotion to show for it. "I see...I understand. Thank you for helping me get to were I am now, sir." and Reiji gave a polite bow but this only made the farmer more angrier. "If I had known what you were, I would've never helped you. Now get away from me!" The farmer had picked up a potato and threw it in Reiji's direction, hitting him on the head with it with force. Reiji looked down at it but he stood up and he went back in the direction he was going to head, forward. He was walking toward the King, princess, and the knights which the knights had stepped forward. "Stop or we will be forced to take you down!" they yelled to him. Reiji didn't stop walking toward them nor did he alter his direction. That cold stare of his effectively freezing them in place. They were too afraid to move let alone attack him. They were shaking and Reiji could see that. Once he got close enough, however, one had rushed at him with his eyes closed while screaming. "Stop! I didn't tell you to attack him!" the King yelled out at the last minute. It was too late, his weapon pierced Reiji straight through the chest where his heart would be. The knight stopped screaming and opened his eyes, seeing he had stabbed the boy in a fatal place. Reiji fell back onto the ground, dropping the two drinks that he had in his hand with him.

A loud gasp when off through the crowd as they just seen the knight seemingly kill this boy in front of their eyes. Said knight looked back at the King. "I-I didn't mean to do it! I...I just panicked and..." however the King wasn't looking at him nor was the princess. Their eyes were as wide as they could be with their mouths open, shocked as much as they possibly could. Reiji slowly stood back up again, stumbling a bit. He was breathing heavily and grunting in pain. This made the knight jump backwards onto his back and crawling backwards from Reiji as fast as he could. Reiji looked down at the weapon, a sturdy sword, he thought. Everyone had questions racing through their minds. How was he not dead? Why wasn't he bleeding out? How could he still stand after taking such a fatal blow? They all whispered that as they were stunned. Reiji looked at the knight who impaled him who was looking back at him with eyes so fright-filled. Reiji then stunned the crowd again as he began pulling out the sword from his chest but the blade itself was melted completely in the middle. The tip of the sword had fell on the ground behind him and the hilt in Reiji's hands. He threw the sword and it embedded itself into the ground in front of the knight who proceeded to get up and run away back up the road, never looking back. Nobody paid any attention to him, they were too busy looking at Reiji's body pouring out liquid magma instead of blood.

Reiji looked down at himself. "Oh...this?" he said as the people was watching astounded. He put his hands over his injury and the magma hardened into rock with the fissures glowing red, stopping the flow while the magma. "That was my favorite shirt..." he sighed to himself, not that he could feel disappointed at all. He looked down at the magma that flowed out and was already was burning into the ground. He kneeled down, putting his hands in it. It started to absorb into his skin until it was no more. He stood up and looked at everyone who was too shocked to move, speak or even make a sound. It was as silent as a graveyard. "Maybe that was a little much...I should go." Reiji said to himself. As he started to walk around them, the King pointed to the knights. "C-Capture him now!" he said loudly, none of them moved at all the first time. He said it again and despite what they were feeling, they rushed the young boy with all of their might. Reiji only shook his head as his eyes shined like the brightest crimson color then a flash of light that blinded everyone momentarily for a few seconds. The knights kept running though but they soon smashed into the wall of a building. When everyone's sight returned, they found that Reiji wasn't standing there anymore. Everyone looked around everyone until someone yelled out. "In the sky!" the King and the princess as well as everyone else looked up toward him and they was even more stunned at what they saw. Wings. Crimson flame burning brightly and violently around the wings themselves. His hair was burning with that same crimson flame and all the while, crimson cinders would fall from his body. They were watching him and looking up at him as if he was some kind of a god which he was or used to be. The princess ran forward and stopped below him. "...Who are you, really?!" she asked in a loud voice. Reiji faked a smile as he looked down at her with a serene look on his face but he said nothing at all. He flew higher into the air leaving a trail of flame behind him until all they could see of him was a shining ball of light and it darted across the sky like a lightning bolt. The market become loud again as they started to question either other, they didn't know what to feel and it only gotten more confusing for them once they realized that.

(I'll write more later or tomorrow whichever I feel like doing.)

 

[Saren Crimson]

It was in the middle of the night when Reiji finally landed on the ground. He looked around to check his surroundings and seen that he had landed near a split path that lead to two villages. It reminded him of another place, something familar. Near the poles of the world lied a village that was constantly under the astral lights. That village was mystical as it was mysterious as it existed on the edge of the Astral Plane and was the only place on Earth that was connected to the world of pure, rich and infinite life energy that all souls were bathed in before being born. Day didn't exist there, it stayed in the eternal night just like they wanted it. It usually housed beings and creatures that weren't human. A little place to call their own. It was hidden from most beings even the gods, demons, other mystical beings and creatures. The only way to find it was to be invited and the way to get there would be by the help of Alice as she was the one who built it with Reiji during the start of the civilized world. This place would being available only to who Alice found acceptable. Not only was the place connected to the Astral Plane but other heavenly bodies could be seen clearly from the village as well as the endless stars in space and to top it off the village was always covered in a blanket of snow and surrounded by tall but study pine trees. It was the perfect place to just have peace and quiet when you needed to get away from anything. The village didn't have a name just yet but dubbed it as Luna Village for now. Reiji was standing there remembering all of this with his eyes closed, his true form no longer shown. He was deep in thought until someone bumped into him with a horse. Reiji was knocked to the ground, the rider didn't stop and kept going. Reiji couldn't see their face as they were wearing a brown cloak but examining the rider closer, it looked to be feminine.

"They could've at least said sorry. Either way, I need to eat since that whole unneeded situation back there. Let's see if I can at least find a tavern or an inn somewhere." he said brushing himself off.

Reiji proceeded to follow the rider closely, not because he was curious but he figured that she knew where she was going and could lead him to said place. Using his high speed, he followed her and kept out of her sight by staying in the trees and being completely silent. She headed into the right village of the two and he followed her by staying on the rooftops. All the while, he wondered, just what she was speeding away from? She stopped in front of an inn and proceeded to go inside after hitching up her horse. Reiji landed in front of the door, effectively scaring a few people who were walking through the street. He looked up at the place with an half interested face it seemed like and went inside. The inn itself was pretty clean and neat also with it being like any other house in the village from the outside except for it being bigger, never would've noticed that. The front area had a bar where you could get a drink and upstairs were all the rooms. The place was packed with loud people and no doubt that the rooms were too. It seemed like there were a lot of people just passing through like Reiji was. The rider that Reiji had followed was at the front desk trying to get a room. She had her hood down now, she was sporting a couple of elf-like ears, long brown hair but braided in a pony tail, slender figure and very well endowed curves. At least from the back, he could see that. Oh, Reiji figured now as he gotten a better look, it was indeed a woman. She was wearing armor pieces under her cloak, gauntlets, chestplate, greaves, and boots with a bronze finish. She also had a longbow and an quiver of arrows on her back and a belt that had many daggers with a couple of bottles on the back which Reiji figured it was poison. A knight from an far away place? He didn't know but he stood behind her in line. She didn't notice because he was too busy talking to the man who was behind the desk trying to see if they had any available rooms. As they were busy talking to each other, Reiji looked at the people who were in the bar area. Most of them look like people from faraway places all right. The thing that was strange however was that most of them looked the type of knights. It made him raise an eyebrow because he wondered if something was going on. Now that he looked back, it seemed like a lot of them were in town walking around or standing but he figured that they were just there to protect the villages so paid it no mind.

"Aha! We do have a room available...unfortunately since it's the last room we have open and a lot of people already bidded money on the room tonight. You're going to have to pay a price higher to get this now." the bookkeeper said as he closed the log in front of him.

"How much?" She simply asked, her voice was a bit royal like and proud.

"A thousand gold pieces, no less. As the person before you put down nine hundred gold pieces." he said to her as he put a bag of coins in front of her of the previous person.

"I see..." She didn't have that much money, just five hundred pieces. She sighed to herself at her luck.

"I can pay for the room if you don't mind sharing it with me." Reiji said as he suddenly stood beside her.

"And you are?" She said without looking at him but Reiji could tell that there was gratitude in her voice.

"Reiji Maigo, and yourself?" he said taking out a bag of his own.

"Meia, Meia Coullard." She said to him, crossing her arms under her bust.

"Nice to meet you, Meia. So...what's your answer?" he said looking at her and she nodded.

"This should cover it, right?" He dropped a thousand gold on the table and the bookkeeper instantly snatched it up giving the key to the room.

"Enjoy your stay!" he said with prideful enthusasm.

Reiji and Meia nodded their heads at the same time. Although they both were giving off the same vibe and with that same straight face. To tell you the truth, it was quite unnerving to the bookkeeper to keep his cheery dispostion but nevertheless, Reiji and Meia went upstairs together. Reiji was in front of her and Meia was focused on the huge mystical looking broadsword on his back, it seemed to heavy for a boy of his size even though he looked no older than a 17 year old. Although, she could've swore it just glowed a faint aura as she was closely examining it. They both gotten to the door and he opened it with the key. The inside of the room was decked out with beautiful decor and both were taken aback at what they were seeing because it seemed too rich for a room in a village like this. Though the both of them were ignorant of how well known the village really was despite Reiji knowing a lot about the world and Meia traveling place to place. You'd think that at least one of them would know something about it but no, didn't seem like they did. Reiji had walked to the one huge bed that was in the far back of the room.

"So...what side do you want?"

"Doesn't matter as long as you stay on your side and no funny business. Just because you're young don't mean that I won't castrate you."

She said that bluntly to him, to intimidate him, he guessed. Of course, Reiji had no reaction and he just looked back at her with that trademark straight face and just nodded before proceeding to take the sword of his back. She went to her side of the room, she took off her weapons as well. She was waiting on him to make sure that he wouldn't try to attack her. She didn't think it would happen but it never hurt to be cautious in that day and age. The room was fairly dark and Reiji proceeded to grab a lantern that was on the table on the left of the room. As he did so, Meia who was on the other side of the room taking off her armor pieces. Exposing some of her bare skin. Reiji touched the oil inside of the lantern with his finger which was red hot and ignited it, giving them some light. He turned around only to be face to face with Meia who was standing closely behind him. She looked like she was only wearing a short green dress only with the brown cloak on as well. He stepped back in surprise with slightly widened eyes even though he couldn't feel the emotion of surprise rather the idea of it.

"What?" he asked her as she stood there in front of him now.

"I was wondering about you. You're carrying just a big sword yet you're so small. Do you fight?" She said as she sat in a chair, crossing her legs.

"If needed to be, I will. Usually I don't." he said leaning back against the wall.

"Are you good? If I fought you hand to hand now, would you win?" she asked curiously.

"Yes, I would. I may not look like it but I have a lot of experience." he simply said, he was confident in his abilities.

"Hmm...You don't seem the type who'd just be tossing around things like that and not back it up." she was asking because she needed a companion to journey with her to get to her destination.

Reiji quietly watched her as she seemed to be lost in thought. Her foot was tapping against the ground and she had her eyes closed as if she was deducing something. Reiji didn't say anything but went to the window, opening the curtains. He watched as some of the village folk walked past the inn. A little further down the road he could see a rowdy group coming down the dirt road. He narrowed his eyes in order to magnify his sight so he could see them more clearly. They seemed to be mercenaries coming through town although he seen that one of them was holding a piece of parchment in one of the men's hand. The one who seemed to be the leader of the group walked up to a couple of men who were standing in a group talking to each other near a street corner. The mercenary opened the parchment asking if they seen the person that was imprinted on the paper but all of them shook their heads. During the time it was open, Reiji took a look at it. Due to his surprise, it was a picture of Meia and the description under it definitely said assassin. He looked over at her who was still not aware of anything and he looked back at the group who started to walk more toward their location.

"Looks like you have people looking for you, Meia." he turned his head to her slightly.

"It's been happening since I killed their leader, Krill." she stood up walking to the window beside Reiji watching them.

"Why? Also, no, I'm not asking why did you kill him. I can pretty much guess. I want to know who hired you to do so and their motive." he asked her.

"Figured it out, hm? Something tells me you're something more than you let on. Fine, I'll tell you seeing it isn't going to make a difference. Krill, is the leader of an army of mercenaries called the Crimson Sun. They sell their talents and skill to the highest bidder. Fighting in wars that they do not only never believed in but because they like spilling blood, creating chaos, and the like. Just like your everyday mercenaries, right? Though what makes them special is that they have never lost a single man since the group was created and also, they can fight any battle and come out on top. No matter who hired them, just having them, granted you victory on the battlefield. It's like they have the power of insight or something. They know every move a enemy is going to make before they make it." she explained.

"Yet you killed their leader? How is that so if they know every move you're going to make before you do?" he asked.

"That's an excellent question, Reiji. You see they have bested the most skilled assassins. All the people who hired them are afraid of them. Worried that they may one day take their kingdom, province, or village for the taking. So they send people like me to take care of them. Unfortunately, they all lost their lives in the hands of these mercenaries. Then I was hired by someone to kill their leader, I won't say who. Anyway, I had one advantage that they didn't have." she said to him.

"And what's that?" having his curious gaze fixed on her.

"I learned magic." she said as she walked away from the window and over to her quiver of arrows.

"Magic? Oh, that's right, people can use that in this day and age..." he said, thinking to himself.

"Yes, magic. Not everyone can do it. It's probably less than five percent in the people in the entire world can do so. Far and inbetween we are. Well, as you can see, I am an elf. Strong magical prowess and high intellect." she took one of the arrows in her hand. Mumbling something under her breath as she swept her hand down the arrow. A faint red aura glowed from the arrow itself. Reiji's eyes widened slightly.

"Is that...fire? How did you come to learn something as advanced as that? Let alone combat magic..." he was literally stunned. This woman was using magic that borrowed the power from the gods, namely his.

"...Well, it's hard to explain but I was born with this, I guess. Getting back to the explaination. I was following this group of mercenaries for a while. Stay in the shadows, only moving at night and with the group. The last time they settled for camp. I thought it was time to make my move. I took one of these arrows and aimed it straight at the leader's head or so I thought that's who it was. When I fired, it connected. Burning the man to a charred corpse...unfortunately, it wasn't him. It was a man who I believed was his double or a lowly soldier of his. Either way, he knew I was there a long time ago and he planned accordingly. I was soon swarmed with his men. It couldn't have been no more than one hundred at the time. They had shot arrows at the tree that been in and I fell out, unhurt but soon they were upon me and I got captured. That's when the leader came out of the shadows...I'll never forget that smug grin of his." She said gripping her left arm tightly. "They stripped me of my weapons and clothes. They thought they had me, Krill thought he had me until I used one of my most devestating spells that I could muster, Fire Genocide. The only thing I can remember is me drawing all the magical power within me to unleash it in one huge explosive blast of searing flame... remember seeing a silhouette a man with long, flowing crimson flaming hair and what I believe to be on my back was wings of crimson flame. That silhouette held up his hands and it glowed. I remember screaming out in pain before...boom. When I came to, the whole camp except for Krill's tent was buried under magma. Anyone around me was long dead and I was the only one standing there on the only piece of rock that hadn't melted yet. I got out of there, gotten back my weapons, clothes, and armor that was in Krill's tent before it too got swallowed in magma and I haven't looked back since." she was putting on her stuff back on during the story because she knew that she had to move.

Reiji on the other hand was completely silent. This woman had a link to his powers, how? Well, Alice had told him something of this but never really seen it in action. Made him think if there was someone worshipping him and his power to borrow it in combat. Either way, he couldn't sit around thinking about it. No doubt that they probably have something of him too which he was right. The King who over saw this kingdom he was still in was looking for him and hired anyone who could bring him back alive. The mercenary downstairs were questioning the bookkeeper who was scared out of his wits and not wanting to be hurt, he told them exactly what they wanted to know. Soon, their footsteps were heard down the hallway. Reiji picked up his sword then put it on his back.

"Their coming. You might want to get behind me and close your eyes." He said getting in the middle of the room.

"Why? We could get out of here right no-"

"Yeah, as soon as we leave, they'll see us. I need to blind them for however long I think it will take us to escape." he said cutting her off.

Before she could protest, however, there was knocking on the door. Meia got behind Reiji and closed her eyes as did Reiji. The moment they kicked the door down and went in, he muttered the words, Crimson Flash. As he did so, his body flashed a light so bright that it instantly disabled their vision of sight for a minute and nothing more.

"Let's go." he simply said before grabbing her hand and opening the window before jumping out on the roof with her. They proceeded to get down the street level and hop on her horse. As they did, they rode out of there before the mercenaries could regain their sight again to follow them. When they did, Reiji and Meia were long gone and the mercenaries cursed themselves for losing them. They left the inn in order to rethink their strategy for finding them again and blaming each other for failing such an obvious attack.

(Will write more later in another post.)

 

[Saren Crimson]

It's been a few days since that day that Reiji and Meia first met each other. All had been quiet between them since escaping from those few mercenaries or maybe they just didn't prefer speaking to each other. They were still traveling on Meia's horse and yet Reiji really wanted to take to the skies to get away from this deafening silence between them even though he had no heart, he can still remember how awkward this would be and that in turn was making him nervous to speak or at least the idea of feeling nervous. One of them wanted to break the silence while they were traveling but it seemed as if one of them was going to the words would get caught in their throat. Reiji was slightly afraid that Meia was simply afraid of him while Meia had a hard time trying to thank him for the help back at the inn as thanking someone wasn't really in her nature but she wasn't ungrateful not to. She didn't want to come off as annoyed or cold toward him, in her mind, he was still young. Yet she knew being silent like this would be taken as her being cold to him. Reiji looked over his shoulder as he was sitting backwards on the horse while Meia had been sitting the other way. He had mulled over the thought of appearing normal to her so she wouldn't get suspicious toward him. Probably could already tell that she was starting to question if he was really all that normal. I mean, he could use his own powers which wasn't magic persay but it was in her eyes and he had a sword that was twice the size of his body. Although, he only appeared young, he could just instantly switch to a body that was more older but preferred his smaller body for reasons unknown. Having coming to a decision, he decided it was probably for the best that he just acted like a normal boy until Alice could finish making the artificial soul that she promised him.

"So...Where are we going? You're not lost, are you?"

"No...I'm not. We're just heading into the next town. I have a friend that I need to see."

"Friend, huh? Is this friend of yours as quiet as you?"

"Ha...Funny, squirt. No, if anything, he's a little...eccentric."

"A little? The tone in your voice makes it seem like he's...Wait, eccentric? Can't be talking about that guy..."

"Wait, what did you say? That guy? You know who I mean?" she looked back at him with a curious look.

"No...No, no...At least...I don't think we're talking about the same guy."

"Well, let's see. You and I will say the first thing that comes to mind about him. If it's the same then we're talking about the same guy." she said stopping the horse in front of a clearing next to a few rocks to sit at. Just wanting the horse to get a bit of rest.

"Fair enough." he said jumping off the horse. He sat on a rock and crossed his legs. "Alright, ready when you are."

"Okay...Give me a minute." she tied the horse to a tree and sat with Reiji with the rock across from him.

They both looked into each other's eyes. They weren't saying anything but both of them were feeling some sort of pressure. After all, a bead of sweat started to go down the side of their faces. The air felt heavy for the both of them but for Reiji this was very familiar. It seemed like this was a waste of energy, it wasn't like this was crucial to their survival nor discovering who this person is was going to somehow change the fate of the world. To them, it would be one more thing that they had common with one another if it was true, however, if not, at least they broke that silence.

"Alright, ready?" Meia asked.

"Ready." he said, leaning forward.

"Okay...What does he do for a living?"

"He's a wizard." they both said at the same time. That was strike one.

"What is his one goal in life?" She asked as she darted another question at Reiji.

"He creates spells and writes them down for future generations." they both said in unison. That was the second strike.

Meia's eyes narrowed as Reiji's did. "Final question, what is his real name?" knowing that he only told his real name to people he honestly trusted. People that had met him over the years had never known his name, just called him wizard.

"His true name is Alastor Whitemane." they both said again. They both looked at each other astounded. Not because they knew that they were talking about the same person but because this guy was actually standing in between them and saying his own name along with them. Where he came from, no one knew. Meia jumped back in a shriek and Reiji just looked at him with the most angry death stare he ever gave anyone. Alastor was just sitting there with a grin on his face and tapping his fingers against his cane.

"Why hello there! Fancy meeting you guys here! It's so nice to be recognized by your fellow peers!" he laughed loud and in an arrogant way.

Meia instantly was in his face with an arrow pointed at the bridge of his nose. To say the least, she was NOT amused by any means. "IF YOU EVER DO THAT AGAIN, I'LL KILL YOU!" she said breathing heavily. She had such fire in her eyes that it would even make Reiji blush. Alastor put his hands up in a silly way just to mock her then rolled his eyes. If that wasn't enough, he also wrapped a magical aura around her hand then she started to pull the bow back. When she realized this, she tried with all her might to stop him and herself but she couldn't. A small smirk appeared on his face as the bow was pulled all the way back. He lifted his finger up to her face as well then made a guesture like he was firing at her, in turn, her hand had let go of the bow and the arrow went firing toward him to Meia's horror. Forunately for her, his body was transparent but that didn't stop it from flying toward Reiji. In which, he just lifted two fingers and caught it inbetween them. Reiji didn't looked amused either and more than usual. Alastor was sitting beside him and looking at him with a bored expression.

"You couldn't just let it hit you? It's not like it'd kill you anyway." Alastor said with a very uninterested tone.

"What do I look like to you? A pincushion?" He said looking over at him in which Alastor shrugged.

Meia just looked at them both, her face red with both anger and rage. A couple locks of hair had fell to the front of her face but she just sighed and gave up before plopping down in her spot again. She knew how he was and there was no getting through to him no matter how you came after him. He'd just turn the tables on you over and over again. Of course the only person who was able to beat him at his own game was Alice and nobody messed with her unless they wanted their genders swapped. Reiji stood up and gave Meia her arrow back then Reiji turned back to look at Alastor. He wasn't sitting there anymore, he was right inbetween them when they first noticed him. Hard to believe that the wizard was no longer intested in pulling anymore jokes. Maybe it was because if one more had surfaced, they'd really stick it to them and nobody wanted to do that, not in such of a serene place just as this. When they were all calm again, Reiji had sat back down and he looked at Alastor who was quietly reading a book.

"If you were going to appear like that, you could've just sent a mental message." he said tapping his noggin.

"And what? Miss scaring the absolute shit out of Meia. No chance. That woman is so tighly wound, she hardly ever have fun anymore." he said looking at her.

"Excuse me for being the unfun one." she said with the roll of her eyes.

"Yes, you're excused. Which reminds me..." a grin stretched across his face and he leaned over toward Reiji. "Would you like to know Meia's chest measurem-" was as far as he got before Meia threw a dagger in his direction which he dodged. When he looked at her, her face was red again. "What was that for!?"

"Don't give out personal information like that! That's not for anyone to know! I don't even know how you know!" she gritted her teeth tightly determined now to kill him if he said anything she didn't like.

He grinned again as he closed his book. "What's wrong? I thought you didn't care about people knowing those things about you? Is it because of the boy here?" he said pointing to Reiji.

"What are you getting at, Alastor? The last time you did this was with Alice and I seem to remember her not only turning you into a girl but put a love spell on everyone in town and took away your magic." Reiji unconciously started snickering much to Alastor's dismay.

"Oh, shut up. I plan to get my revenge for that...Alice hasn't seen the last of this master wizard!" he said as he growled.

Meia raised her eyebrow, curiously. "What do you mean, Reiji? What happened to Alastor?"

"Well..." he started. "The last time Alice and I went to see him. He tricked the male population of Woodforest into thinking that the first person that can bed her could have her as a slave and that he "bought" her. Needless to say, she was chased by every man in town including quite a few women as well. They came out of everywhere trying to get her. Just imagine a sea of people clawing their way toward you. Unforunately for Alastor, she caught wind of what was going on. She found him in the highest point in town watching the chaos befall this innocent town and he was laughing about it. It fumed her to no end and my sister Alice turned him into a woman with beautiful features, nice curves and a voice of an angel before teleporting him before that hungry crowd of people. The moment he looked around, he noticed he was laying on the ground in town and he wondered how in the world he got there if he was standing in a belltower. Well, those men and women surrounded him. When he went to ask what they were looking, he noticed his voice was changed and immediately looked down at himself. He was the very thing that he didn't want to be in front of sex-driven people. Alice had put a love spell on this people so the moment they seen him, Alastor was their target as it was the first "beautiful" woman that they had seen. The real icing on the cake was when he figured out he couldn't use magic to get himself out of his own little mess. Oh man, the look on his face when he came to that realization..." Reiji could no longer hold it in, he bursted out laughing and fell back as did Meia. They both was laughing at him and Alastor was growling even louder as they did so.

"Stop that! It wasn't even that funny!" he smashed his down into the rock.

Meia had wiped a tear from her eye. "I-I beg to differ! That's what you get! Finally gotten what you deserved!" she went back to laughing and Alastor just dramatically turned his head with his nose up in the air.

Reiji had sat up again, wiping the tears from his eyes and tried to calm down then looked at Alastor. "Sorry, everytime I think about it, I just start laughing because of the face of desperation you made when one of the men actually caught you. Did it feel good?" he snickered again.

Alastor went into a crazy red blush that would've made an apple jealous. "Just drop it already! I just want to forget about that whole thing!" he said shouting at him which only made Reiji laugh a bit harder.

(Will write more some other time once I can clear this food poisoning I have...)

 

[Saren Crimson]

Reiji and Meia was still snickering at Alastor while they were sitting upon this lone rock on the side of the road. After a few moments, all of them got up and jumped off the rock then look down the road. It seemed to be heading through a forest, not too thick. The only thing that was probably off about it were the number of dead trees which was weird because it was still in the late side of spring, maybe a few more weeks before summer. Meia went to get her horse while Reiji and Alastor stood there beside one another. They weren't talking or at least they weren't going to discuss anything important while Meia was still in hearing range. Of course they could've taken off a bit down the road but it might've been suspicious to her especially when she wanted to know a bit more about Reiji. She still found it odd that someone as small as him was carrying around a sword that looked heavy, not to mention that faint aura that sorta shined if you were paying attention to it. As soon as Meia was far enough away that she wouldn't hear and Alastor knew Meia, her hearing wasn't as sharp as others of her race.

"So...How's the kids? How are you holding up at least?" Alastor said in a low, serious tone.

"The kids are fine as much as Alice told me. Me, on the other hand, is the same. Cold, unfeeling, and dead. What else can I say?" he said in a low, morbid tone.

"I see...Even with all my power, I cannot help you...yet. In due time, my old friend. At least you still have an idea of all of the emotions you have. It's enough. The reason I came here is that during my research, I came up on something...unusual. Something you might want to check out. Since your sister, Alice, is still working on your artificial soul. I need to still find the parts of the device strong enough to hold in and condense such a large, powerful soul. How are you still standing right now anyway?" Alastor asked with a tilt of his head.

"The energy from the Astral Plane keeps my body running...well, my brain. It takes the place of my heart since I don't need it for my immortal body. Since my soul isn't in my body, I can't use or control most of my power hence the reason I'm playing it safe until Alice can finish the artifical soul that she promised me. I told her she didn't need to go that far but she insisted because I can't use my real power. I mean...I can't even regenerate all the way. To be honest, my body is closer to human than I am being a god which not only does it feel weird but I feel weak, really weak." Reiji sighed a moment.

"So...what are the gods in the Celestial Realm doing?" Alastor turned to him, crossing his arms.

"Their looking for Alice. They'll never find her. The gods can't enter the Astral Plane unless Alice wants them to. They don't even know that she was born purely from that realm. She has a very unique job that no one but her can do much like Death. Thus, she can't be classfied as an goddess or demoness but she can become anyone and anything that she wants to be. Her imagination is her greatest weapon and probably weakness if anyone chose to really exploit it. Alice, though, as tricky as she can be...to outwit her would be an incredible feat. I can't even do it and I knew her all my life." he had a look of fustration and slight fear. A look that Alastor knew all too well.

"Well, look on the bright side! I've got another place I want you to help me check out!" Alastor said with a smile plasted on his face.

"There's no way I'm helping you go on another...place. The last time we did so, we ended up getting chased by bloodthirsty vampires through that damn portal of yours. You know, I still have bite marks because you used me as a shield!" Reiji's eyes flashed with a intense crimson light.

Alastor put his hands up when he said that, acting innocent. Meia had came back over toward the duo then jumped on the horse, looking down at the two.

"Let get going. The sooner we get off the road, the sooner we don't have to deal with more of those mercenaries." she said to them as she rode past. "You two can walk."

Alastor looked over at Reiji then nodded his head. "Can still fly, right? Why don't you give me a ri-" he was cut off by Meia, she definitely heard that.

Meia looked at Reiji who cursed under his breath when Alastor said that. "You can fly? What does Alastor mean that you can fly?" she said, stopping her horse.

Reiji sighed a moment then crossed his arms. "He's just joking, I can't fly. He must've been talking about that dragon I was with..." he wasn't looking at her when he said that and Alastor was looking in another direction, whistling. He wasn't even trying to be subtle about it and just wanted to look suspicious.

Meia narrowed her eyes then looked at them both. "You're a terrible liar. Both of you. How can you fly?" she asked again.

They both sighed a moment and Alastor stepped to the side. Reiji looked at her, he went back to his normal, unfeeling face. He breathed out slowly as his eyes fully turned their natural crimson color then his flaming crimson wings appeared slowly on his back and once they fully materialized, he flapped them with a strong gust of wind that nearly had Meia flying off her horse then he crossed his arms. He didn't raise off the ground mostly because he didn't feel he needed to. Just the sight alone would've been enough to show her that he had wings to fly with which he rarely did since he was trying to keep a low profile unlike Alastor he blatantly blurted it out in the open. Of course, he could have just dropped the whole thing but then again, there's no way he was going to sit there and have her question him the whole way there. When Meia had regained her composure, she looked at him surprised. Reiji on the other hand wasn't amused and Alastor was just looking away balancing a staff on his finger, whistling all the while as well.

"Just what are you, anyway? There's no way that's normal...Just tell me what you are and I promise not to say anything else about this again and whatever else you can do." she said, giving Reiji a nearly unbreakable stare.

"I'm a god that had fallen from grace. Okay? Can we get off the subject now?" Reiji said in a very annoyed tone, it was a touchy subject for him.

"Fine, I won't mention anything else about it." she turned around and the horse began walking again.

"Now that we got that out in the open...Reiji, about that place I wanted to check out..." Alastor said in a quiet tone, low enough so Meia wouldn't hear.

"No...If it has anything to do with vampires, forget it. You used me as a shield. That being said, if it wasn't for the fact that I could regenerate, I would've killed you years ago." Reiji darted a glare toward him that sent shivers down Alastor's spine.

"H-Hey, don't be like that! It's got nothing to do with vampires, I promise! Come on, please!" Alastor was on the ground crawling to him...and groveling. Reiji was disgusted but at the same time disturbed to see a grown man groveling like he was.

"What's going on back there?" Meia turned her head and seen Alastor on the ground clinging to Reiji's leg then Reiji trying to shake him off by kicking his leg upwards. She could only blink at the two and say nothing.

"Fine, just get the hell off me!" Reiji said about ready to fry him to a crisp.

"Splendid!" before anyone knew it, Alastor was standing in front of Meia's horse, walking ahead of them all.

Just as Reiji and Meia was about to turn their heads toward the front, Reiji felt a large book plop into his hand. Reiji looked down and seen it was a blank book. He looked up then seen literally hundreds of books decending upon him like rain. He jumped forward, tucked in a roll to dodge them all. Sliding across the ground, he looked around the air to find Alastor but didn't see him anywhere.

"What'cha lookin' at?" Alastor put his hand up to his eyes, looking up just to mock Reiji's inability to locate him in short amounts of time.

"...You're really starting to bug me and I don't even have a heart..." Reiji said standing up with the book in his hand. "What's with all the books?" he inquired.

"There's a need for them. We better get to my place, quickly. Come on, get near me." he said in a semi-serious voice.

"...Right then, are you coming, Meia?" Reiji asked as he looked at her. She just nodded then hopped off the horse and she slapped its behind then it went off in the distance until it was out of sight. She walked over toward Reiji and Alastor who were near the pile of books. Alastor snapped his fingers and soon the world around them turned completely black like someone just blew out the fire on a candle then as Reiji turned his head, they were standing in Alastor's very larger than life home. Although normal on the outside, the inside was so big that not even the numerous spellbooks of Alastor's could reach the ceiling.

 

[Saren Crimson]

"This place is just as dirty as I remember it. There's notes, books, and bits of food everywhere. Why don't you ever clean in here? You know if you keep this up, you're going to have rats." Meia said as she lifted up her foot when she nearly stepped on a cheese wedge. She walked over a few books before sitting by the fireplace that was against the wall at the center of the left side of the living room area. As she closed her eyes, she decided to try to get some rest since she knew that nothing could happen here. Alastor had nodded his head toward Reiji and followed him to the next room in which Alastor had closed the door behind him and put a sound proof barrier around the door so no sound traveled out the room they were in.

"As I was saying before Reiji, the device I was building will, in fact, be capable of housing such an extremely powerful soul but those parts are hard to obtain since that artifact's pieces in this world were damage and some destroyed outright. Now I have restored the pieces that were damaged but the destroyed parts aren't replacable, I'm afraid. Which means you're going to have to go elsewhere to get those parts." Alastor sat down at a table which on the middle of the table was a gold chalice and on top of it was a magical transparent sphere housing parts that seems to be the gears of a clock. They were turning ever so slowly in a pattern and those parts seemed to be locked in place of where they would be if the artifact was completed.

"Isn't this..." Reiji asked as he looked at Alastor which he nodded his head.

"That's right, Reiji. That's the Gears of Chronos' Time Clock. It's one of the parts that's needed. I need six other different powerful artifacts to complete the finished product entirely. The Soul of Steel, The Key of Chronos, The Fatal Crest, Laegjarn's Amulet, Concordia's Jewel, and the Dimensional Module. All six of those. Their the only thing powerful enough to remake Reiji Maigo." Alastor said with a dead serious look on his face.

"Wait, my name? You mean to tell me that the artifact you're trying to make is named after me or the other way around?" Reiji asked confused.

"The other way around. Alice named you after the artifact, appearently it was Alice's most powerful item she owned. The reason why you can recieve the energy from the ethereal plane is because she used half of it's power to make half of your original soul. Eventually, that half of the soul completely took over the other half of your godly soul and made you into what she is, an absolute being. Much like Death. What your special talent is...we're trying to figure out. Death is well...Death. Alice is the Alterator of Souls. She can change a soul to be completely different than before...like take a normal human for example. She can change the soul to be a wizard like myself, a god like those in the Celestial Realm or an Absolute being like you, Death, and Alice herself. Also because she can change a soul that drastically, she can also change the features such as turning a girl into a boy and vice versa. She can also turn that same human into an animal, alien, demon, angel...well, you get the idea. She can alter your soul and body into anything she chooses. Now you...we have no idea, we're still trying to figure out. When you got into the realm of the gods, you became the god of fire but you shown that you can use any element you choose with extreme power and control. So, Alice and I might have an idea but this whole thing will show us exactly what you are." when he was finished talking, he was writing everything down. Reiji however was just blinking and it wasn't because he didn't understand even though he didn't. It was because he was all of this and yet he didn't even know it and no one decided to tell him until now. It all went over his head and none of the information stuck to him other than him being an absolute being.

"I still don't get any of this. It's too much to take in at one time." Reiji simply said.

"Really? I thought it was simple. You're not a god but something more, something in a whole other league." Alastor said to him.

"Hmm, I see. Instead of standing around here, why don't we get this done? If I'm going to use my artificial soul, I have to have that device, right? Let's not waste any time, I'm tired of being the way that I am now." Reiji said as he got up from the table.

"Then let's not waste any time. Follow me to the basement, I'm going to show you a bit of magic that I developed a year ago. It's how I know about these artifacts that's going to help build another device like Reiji Maigo." Alastor picked up the paper he was writing on and stuck it in his pocket. After he got up, Alastor walked to the spot on the wall that was bare. He put his hand on it and mumbled the word. Open. The wall disappeared revealing a doorway and steps leading down into darkness. Alastor looked back at Reiji. "Mind giving me some light?" he said to him. Reiji nodded and snapped his fingers, a medium sized ball of crimson light came into view in front of Alastor. They decended down the stairs to what seemed like an eternity to Reiji until finally reaching the bottom.

What Reiji saw down in the basement wasn't something he would've expected Alastor to have at all. Sure, there were notes, books, and research equipment all over the place. The thing that he didn't expect to see was this huge metal gate at the other end of the room. It didn't look like anything from this world. It was ethereal energy running through it, flowing through a series of locks. The light was fluctuating in different colors each time it went through a different lock. Reiji recognized it but why it was here in this house? It should've been back in the Celestial Realm, it was the Gatekeeper's Universal Gate which was able to go anywhere and everywhere also it wasn't bound to one universe, it could go into mutliple ones. Reiji just stood there looking as Alastor walked over to it and knocked on it.

"Alright, this is it. No doubt you recognized this. Also no, I didn't steal it. It was a gift, a split copy of the original but still nevertheless, it has the same ability as the original gate. Here, I will input the coordinates of the first place you want to go. Just tell me when you're ready, alright?" Alastor said, he took a few steps back then held his hand up to the middle lock. A short beam of energy shot from the lock and that same beam shot from Alastor's hand then they both collided with each other. Both beams intermingled with each other a moment before fading then the series of locks began to open then the door itself spreaded open, shaking the place as the doors split apart. A bright light flashed the room blinding both of them before fading. Since the door doesn't have an actual destination, it's just a door filled with light.

"Unbelievable...You just surprise me everytime. I don't even know how you manage to do it, I feel somewhat that you're just a male version of Alice..." Reiji said as he looked at him.

"If I were, I wouldn't have trouble getting my revenge on your sister. Now, what artifact do you want to go for first?" Alastor asked, he sat down but floated in the air since he didn't have a chair to sit on.

"I don't know...Why don't you just pick at random? No matter which one I go for, I still have to get them all anyway." Reiji said as he walked up to the door.

"Good point. I'll just set you a destination and won't tell you." Alastor did just that. He looked at the gate a moment before thinking on where to send him first. "Ah! I got it!" Alastor said in a bolt of enthusiasm. He snapped his fingers and the light subsided to show a destroyed down, a huge and tall tower then the millions of demons that could be seen on the ground as the gate was high in the air looking down at the ground. "Happy hunting, Reiji! Soul of Steel is the first you're going for. Oh, when you do find it, I'll automatically bring it here when the use is done with in the universe you got it from! First stop, Meeting of the Twin Devils. Good luck!"

Reiji looked at him then he looked at the tower. Deciding not to waste anymore time, his crimson wings flared from his back then dashed into the gate and started falling from the sky toward the ground. He narrowed his eyes trying to see where he was landing. Unfortunately for Reiji, going into a different universe meant taking on the rules of said universe. He felt a very sudden shift in power and appearance. Although he appeared to be human, he was now a half demon and half human. His wings no longer kept him in the air so making an quick emergency landing was his best shot. The landing was still rough, hit the ground like a ton of anvils. He smashed into a building that was nearly getting ready to crumble anyway and he completely flattened it in a huge fireball. The wreakage from the building completely fell on him but still, he felt no kind of pain.

"First place and...already I hate it. Ugh, let me sleep for a couple minutes..." Reiji said before closing his eyes and falling asleep among the rubble. A familiar white hair devil hunter saw the whole thing go down then whistled with a smirk on his face.

"Don't see that everyday. I wonder if that's someone strong, these lesser demons are kinda boring. Can't really let loose on them. Time to check it out." The man said before walking to the building in the distance.

(Will write more later in next chapter.)

 

[Saren Crimson]

Chapter 2: A Meeting Of The Twin Devils

When Reiji woke up from his sleep, he noticed that his body was no longer among the rubble of the building he flattened with his body. It was laying on a couch inside of a nightclub it seemed like. Certainly looked like such, there was a pole in the middle of a stage that had lights flashing up from the floor. All the colors of the spectrum were flashing periodically through the many lights. It was enough to wake up him. He fixed himself upright on the couch and he looked around. He wondered how he got here seeing that he was unconscious upon entering this new hellish looking world. There he seen a man with white hair, a long red overcoat, and a devil sword on his back. He was shaking what seems to be a plethora of liquors into this one container. When he seen Reiji get up, he had a smirk on his face and he chuckled.

"Decided to wake up? About time. Losing time here. Drink?" The man said as he poured what he had made into two glasses. He walked over to Reiji and gave him one.

"Thanks..." Reiji said in a low tone. Alcohol didn't have any sort of an effect on him but the taste was still something he had to get used to still. "Where am I, by the way?" he asked, taking a swig of the mixture in front of him and cringing at the taste.

"Heh, too strong for ya? Well stranger, you're in New York of all places. At least what it used to be. What's your name? You made a hell of an entrance." The man downed the alcohol in one go. "Wow, that's strong! A real man's drink right there!" he said as the spice hit him all at once.

Not wanting to be shown up, Reiji down it and nearly threw up but managed to keep it down. "My name's Reiji Maigo. Yours?" he said as he looked up at the man.

"Name's Dante, Dante Sparda. You're the first who didn't know who I was. I guess my reputation doesn't stretch from where you're from, eh?" Dante said as he laughed again.

"Well, let's just say it's my first time visiting a place such as this. So, what are we doing in this place?" Reiji got up from the couch and straightened his clothes.

"I pulled you from that burning wreakage you caused. Man, you were a huge fireball in the air. With the speed you were going, I'm surprised you didn't level the whole city block you were on." Dante was looking at him intensely trying to figure what he is, he didn't show any signs on being a demon even though now Reiji was in order to fit in the universe that he currently resides in.

"I have control of my powers and I seen that the building I smashed into didn't have a living soul in it. It was either that or I smash into the ground and possibly caving in that whole city block." Reiji simply said, he looked around seeing that his sword wasn't on him at all. He narrowed his eyes then looked at Dante. "Where's my sword?" he asked.

"Oh, this one?" Dante said before pulling it out and he smirked. "This is definitely a Devil Arm. How did you come into getting one?" he wasn't going to give it back to Reiji without finding out who he is.

"That is mine, I got it from no one. That was made from the manifestation of my own power." Reiji said, he held his hand out then the sword itself disappeared from Dante's hands in a flare of cold flame before appearing on Reiji's back in a sheath again and Reiji crossed his arms. "Sorry, no one can use it without my permission let alone touch it." he said to Dante who had the most confused look on his face.

"Wow, neat little trick you got there, kid. You seem strong. Heading to a party, want to come? I know you didn't come here for nothing, here's where all the fun is at." he pointed toward a window. From there, Reiji could see a huge tower that stretched all the way to the sky.

"A tower? It has demonic energy running all over it. It's old, very old. Hmm, all right. I'll come but only because I have something to find there, that's all." Reiji said as he walked past Dante.

"Good enough reason for me." Dante said, he walked behind Reiji and they both exited out of the nightclub through the back entrance.

Upon getting outside again, all they could see was the untold amounts of destruction in every direction. There were demons flying everywhere and some running across the ground, looking for new people to kill until a group of demons spotted both Dante and Reiji walking toward the entrance of the demonic tower. There stood at least twenty of these lesser demons in their path. Dante just put his hands behind his back and nodded his head to Reiji which he raised an eyebrow but just nodded. Really, Reiji had no time to waste on these things so he was just going to kill them as quickly as possible. All of the demons ran at him in a huge group thinking numbers were quickly going to overpower the former god turn half-demon. No, it was foolish to think so. Reiji was always good at masking his power because he never had to get serious until he fought all of the gods alone in order to help his sister, Alice, to escape the Celestial Realm. His hands coated themselves in crimson flame to signal that his was ready to let loose. When the first demon got to him and tried to hit Reiji with his scythe, Reiji caught it with his hand and the blade instantly melted into flaming goo. It caught that demon off guard but Reiji wasted no time in letting it take even a step back. Reiji rammed his fist through the demon's midsection then burned it alive with hellfire. Nineteen left to go, Reiji thought. The rest of the demons circled him but did not get close unless than wanted to end up just like the first. Reiji's body was immune to damage from normal weapons but supernatural ones definitely hurt him.

"Let's go ahead and end this. I have places to be and you're blocking my way." The demons that surrounded him from the back went dashing toward him as the ones in front of him threw their scythes at Reiji as did the ones from the side of him. Within the few seconds Reiji had to react, he held his right hand in front of him. "Dextra Emittam...Incendium Gehennae!" Reiji said before quickly slamming his fist into the ground just then a huge explosion of hellfire jutted up from the ground as a flaming pillar with a radius only to Reiji and the other demons. Those demons, their weapons and the spot that they there standing on became nothing but scorch marks which no matter what would never disappear. Reiji was standing there, his upper body were covered in a series of flowing tattoo-like designs appeared whenever he channeled his omnipotent magical power. The color was crimson because he channeled his magical power into hellfire and the tattoos were glowing. He turned around to Dante who was just surprised and amazed, as he never seen an attack such as that. "Come on, let's get going." Reiji said to him before walking toward the tower again. Dante followed closely. Reiji noticed that the resulting explosion burned off his jacket, shirt, and pants but a quick modification from Alastor from his end gave him clothes that were resistant to extreme temperatures also wear and tear. When Dante looked at him again, he seen that he was wearing the clothes. Dante shook his head but decided not to question it and they both entered the tower together.

Upon getting inside, they seen that the first room was completely covered with ice. Also, the moment they got inside, the ice spreaded to freeze the door so they couldn't go out the same way they came in. Reiji had rolled his eyes a bit, wanting to say something but decided to keep it to himself. Dante, on the other hand, was already walking toward the beast at the end of the room. Taking note of the huge chains that held it in place and not to mention it was the source of the ice in the room. Dante stopped when it reacted to him being there and suddenly the huge demon cracked the ice it was incased in then it shattered into many pieces, a huge chunk went into the direction of Dante which he had slashed it in half with Rebellion in a very short second of it reaching him. Reiji looked in front of him at the large demon. Three heads, it was a dog, and it's dragon tail. Yep, Reiji could only see this as this world's Cerberus and to him, it looked way more tame than what he was used to seeing it as. Also, it's affinity was ice...it was unusual to him to say the least. While Dante was talking and taunting Cerberus, Reiji was writing every detail of the demon in a book that he had located on a pack on the new clothes he got from Alastor. Making all sorts of pictures, diagrams, and comparsions to the Cerberus that they were used to then closed the book and putting it in the small pack again. Dante looked back at him.

"Joining in this fight?" Dante asked, turning his back to Cerberus to taunt him more.

"No, it'd be way too easy for me. It's all you, Dante." Reiji dismissed the notion with the wave of his hand.

"Easy? You dare insult me?! I'll freeze your body and crush it under my foot!" Cerberus roared at them both making Dante's coat blow over his head while it made Reiji's feet frozen in place.

"Heh, I'd like to see you try that. Come on, Fido. Your fight's with me!" Dante said as he pulled out Ebony and Ivory then aimed it at him while Cerberus froze his three heads with ice in order to have a little bit of resistance to attacks. Reiji heated up his body a little to melt the ice that was covering his feet. Cerberus wasn't going to let Reiji just stand there not fighting him. No, that'd be a very big insult. He was going to get thrown into the fight, like it or not. Reiji took the sword from his back and walked right beside Dante. Reiji told Dante that whatever Cerberus dished out with his ice, he'd counter it with his flame and that would allow Dante to get close to chop off the heads if needed to be. Dante grinned before dashing toward Cerberus firing his guns as fast as he could at the three heads trying to get rid of the ice that was covering them. It only made Cerberus angry as he fired a huge ball of ice toward Dante which said person responded by somersalting over it and landing on the ground in a different spot then in that same second launch Rebellion straight at the middle head and the flat side of the blade smacked him in the face which shattered the ice almost instantly and caused some pain to Cerberus as it did knock his body up a bit. Rebellion went back into the air after bouncing off Cerberus' head and Dante ran up to catch it. When he did, Cerberus swiped his right paw straight at Dante and he blocked it with Rebellion but only for a split second so he could let Cerberus launch him backwards toward Reiji who was watching the while thing go down. When Dante had flew over his head in a half flip, he was looking down at Reiji who was looking up at him and nodded. Reiji looked at Cerberus and pointed his palm at him, crimson fire was dancing around his arm all the way to his hand where a small ball was concentrating in front of. The ball itself was heavily concentrated and dense, he had been charging it since he first saw Cerberus. Cerberus was gathering ice into his mouth when he had saw the small ball of crimson fire. Both of them locked their eyes on each other and the moment Dante landed on the ground, both of them unleashed their elemental blast at each other. While they seemed as if they were going to hit each other, Reiji's blast broke into smaller, focused heat blast and almost looked like lazers which went completely around Cerberus' ice wave while the start of the blast widened to form a shield in front of him only so the aura of the blast didn't freeze Reiji outright. The concentrated heat lazer-like blast, seven in total, hit Cerberus against his whole body then exploded against Cerberus in a thunderous boom and doused him in crimson flame. Cerberus was really in pain, the fire didn't die out when it hit him. It burned continuously while Cerberus couldn't focus on the direction of his ice wave and turned it upwards toward the ceiling, freezing the far back part of the ceiling completely in thick ice on the point of it looking completely like crystal. Cerberus roared in pain and Reiji stood there looking at him but then a smirk stretched its way across his face. Cerberus gotten so enraged at him that his body turned red and the icy armor went over his form once again. Dante was standing beside Reiji as he laughed.

"That was a good one! Ol' Fido seems a little miffed now. How about we turn this overgrown puppy into chops?" Dante said as he pointed Rebellion toward Cerberus and Reiji nodded also pointing his sword toward him. Cerberus roared with all his might before starting to dash at the duo which they leapt high into the air, dodging him. Dante and Reiji put their weapons together in an X formation and their demonic energy surged through both of their blades then got stronger when Reiji's crimson flame aura had wrapped around them both as well. The series of flowing tattoo-like designs that had appeared whenever Reiji channeled his omnipotent magical power had came back but faintly, they appeared on Dante's upper body as well. Dante could feel the awesome, raw power channeling through his form, it felt like he could break the very threshold of reality with this kind of power though it was only there when Reiji connected with Dante's already powerful demonic energy. Cerberus looked up at them both and was blinded by the light but still made an effort to get them out of the air by trying to catch them in his mouths. Cerberus had dropped all pretense of defense in to focus everything into one attack.

"Open the nine locks, and come forth from the hoard of Laegjarn...Demonic Sword of Blazing Conflagration!" Reiji and Dante yelled it as he and Dante were falling toward Cerberus. Both of their sword molded together within that one magic spell in order to make a giant flaming pillar-shaped sword. Reiji and Dante were both holding onto the hilt of the huge sword and they both slashed downwards toward Cerberus' body which not only connected but cut through his body like butter. The raw power of the cut blew apart his main body then the sword exploded violently making crimson fire spread everywhere in the room. It blew Reiji and Dante back to the other side of the room while Cerberus' middle head got blown back toward the door that they needed to get through. The whole tower gotten a taste of that explosion, every demon wondering just what was it that was making that kind of noise. Especially one particular half demon standing at the top of Temen-ni-gru. It was his brother, Vergil, his eyes were closed but he was feeling that powerful, raw power as if he was standing in the room with them. He opened his eyes when he felt the slight vibration from the bottom of the tower.

"Unbelievable...To think that power this strong could exist in this world. Now I'm really looking forward to meeting you again, brother. Also, this friend of yours." Vergil said silently to himself. Arkham was standing behind him, looking down. He knew that this power was as strong, if not, stronger than Sparda himself. Arkham wanted to check out this power to see if he could control it but he was keeping that to himself and started to think on how he could interact with the duo.

Soon enough, the rumbling had stopped and also the surge in demonic energy. Dante and Reiji both stood up slowly from the floor, looking at the room. Over half of the floor was covered in lava that generated from the sword itself and the room was covered in crimson fire that wouldn't die down. "...I'll take care of this. You go ahead to Cerberus." Reiji said as he walked forward to the middle of the room, Dante walked past him in order to talk with the last head of Cerberus. Reiji raised his hand and all of the fire died down then the lava cooled down then hardened into rock. Soon the temperature of the room when back down to where it was before they entered and ice slowly began filling the room again. That's when Cerberus opened its eyes then looked up at Dante which picked up Cerberus' head.

"Well, going to let us through or do I have to punish the last of you too?" he was tossing it up and down like a ball much to Cerberus' dismay.

"Stop that, fool! You can go through, you have my blessing.' Cerberus' last head just exploded leaving a trio of powerful icy nunchucks that were made from Cerberus' soul. Dante tried them out a moment as Reiji walked up to him and Dante smirked at Reiji when he put away Cerberus. He and Reiji had walked toward the door until they heard the sound of a motorcycle behind them. They both turned around to see who it was exactly. A young woman was the rider, while Dante went to talk to this young lady; Reiji just stood there just taking a good look at her face. She rode up to the two before jumping off the ground right over their heads, barely hitting Dante then up to a higher platform in which she disappeared. Dante looked back at Reiji who had opened the door and he nodded his head for Dante to come on. They went through the door together and closed it behind them.

(Will write more later.)

 

[Saren Crimson]

Meanwhile in the real world...

Meia had woken up from her slumber, stretching as far as she could before standing up from her chair. She took a look at her surroundings in order to remember where she was, it only took a second to see that she was still in Alastor's home. There was a knock on the door, she looked around to see if Alastor would answer it. The only thing that answered her was books moving on their own going on various bookshelves around the living room, not to mention, other things moving on their own as if the owner himself where actually moving around doing these things. Seeing as she didn't want to be just standing there, she went to answer the door when the knocking gotten louder and brash-like. She opened the door to see that there were two knights, one carrying a flag on a stick and the other a spear. She was guessing one of them was the captain and the other a lowly knight. One of the knights took out a rolled up scroll and he turned it around to her. It was a picture of Reiji on it but the thing that got her the most was the scroll was a wanted poster. It didn't particularly list a crime but that they were searching for him she had guessed.

"Excuse me for taking your time, Miss. Have you seen a young boy? The King is looking for him, there was an incident that scared him off earlier and this is a summons to meet with him. If you have any information regarding him at all, you'll be greatly rewarded." he said in a somewhat muffled tone.

Meia had shaken her head, putting one of her hands on her hips. "I'm sorry, I don't know the boy you're looking for. If I ever see him around, I'll be sure to let one of you know." she said with a straight face. She was lying, of course. But with her being an assassin, she knew how to keep up appearances so they'd never guess.

The two knights nodded before talking with one another and looked back at her again. "Thank you for your time. Sorry for disturbing you, madam." The knight said before both of them walked off into the crowd to get more answers. Meia closed the door then she raised an eyebrow, the boy had royalty coming after him. She wonder just what did he do just to have him coming after him, she couldn't imagine Reiji showing his powers in front of regular humans. Alastor came up into the room a few minutes later holding a couple of spellbooks in his arms and humming happily. He stopped to see that Meia was lost in thought but before he could ask her a question, she just sat back down in the chair she fell asleep on and did exactly that. Alastor looked at the door then walked over to it after putting the spellbooks on the table next to the door. He peered out of one of the windows to see what it was that caught her attention. He didn't expect to see so many knights walking around this town. Such a thing was usually rare. The last time it happened was when this town was holding so many criminals in the waterways under the city. Alastor didn't know exactly what they were here for but he rather not going out to ask just what it was. Until the heat died down, he guessed that he was locked up in the house. Alastor put his hand on the door and chanted a few words until the door itself became much stronger and re-enforced like it was a heavy iron gate with a thousand tiny interwoven locks and only he had the key. To ensure nothing would get in easy even if you were as strong as Reiji.

Alastor had turned around to Meia who sat back down then looked at him. "What?" she asked when she saw the wizard looking as if wanted to ask something big of her. "Well, when Reiji gets back from recovering the item that I need. He's going to be immediately heading to another place but the kicker is that he's going to need his sister's help with that one. While that's going on, you and I will be heading to Starborn Valley to babysit her kids for her for a little while." his voice trailed off at the end as he did so because he was expecting Meia to start yelling at him but surprisingly her attitude toward that was tame. "Sure, I don't see a problem with that. I owe the boy so this little job won't be a problem." she said as she leaned her head into her hand, watching the wizard with half lidded eyes and about ready to go back to sleep. "Was that the only thing you needed?" she inquired. Alastor just nodded his head a little before walking off back to the basement while Meia nodded off back to sleep. When Alastor gotten back to the workbench he had Chrono's Clock Gears, he looked toward the door seeing the image that Reiji was indeed fighting again and what looked to be a giant worm. The wizard could only chuckle at the sight of the fast moving images of Reiji and his new friend, Dante. Alastor had wondered actually if Reiji would mind the next place that he was going to be sent to and remembered that he honestly couldn't care as he had no feelings to feel.

(Will write more later.)