Devil Bring It On!
Chapter 5
Ragnarok Revised
"Okay, just push some demonic power into me and visualize yourself stepping into the sky," Talaria said. "It should be that simple. Flying came to me naturally, merely sky walking should be much easier for even a novice such as you."
"Oh, I just have to pour demonic power into you? Oh, wait I have to pour demonic power into you. I, um… how do I put this?" I said. "Don't exactly know how to do that. The only thing I can really pump power into is my arms."
"You've gotta be kidding me!," Talaria said exasperated. "If you know how to push it through your arms you should know how to push it through the rest of your body."
"Don't know what to tell you Talaria," I said. I'm pretty new at all this. It's only been a few hours or had it been days? I don't know how time works here yet either. "
"That's, that's beside the point. You know what, ugh fine. You can just pump power into me with your arms every once in a while before we try to teach you how to use your power properly," she replied.
It felt pretty awkward crouching down and grabbing the boots with my Devil Bringers but as Talaria started to grow a brilliant green and I started to hover a foot off the ground I felt it working.
So began a cycle of me running for a few minutes at blistering speeds across the lake in my path, and crouching down while hovering in the air to pour some power into Talaria from my arms when she'd tell me I was about to run out.
Talaria ran out of power again just as we finished crossing the lake. I really needed to figure out how to pump power into her more directly soon or else this would get old really fast. Still, I crouched down on the beach to take in my surroundings.
We seemed to have reached a new region of the demon world. A dark forest of trees with grey bark and black leaves, each of which glowed with flowing veins of azure demonic power. Despite their unusual appearance the forest itself smelled very.. Earth-like, as if I was in a forest in the human realm.
At the edge of the horizon, I could see a gigantic tree towering over the rest of the forest brushing against the cloudtops, and while that would usually be a bad omen considering what I knew of demon trees like the blood-harvesting Qliphoth this one seemed to be of a different make. It looked like a massively overgrown version of the trees surrounding it.
"Eh, got any idea what's with those trees?" I asked Talaria. "It ain't a Qliphoth is it?"
"No, it's not a Qliphoth, you'd see a lot more demons fighting over control of the territory if it were that," Talaria replied. "This is Mimameidr forest, the hunting ground of Bolverk."
"Wait Bolverk? The same guy that fought Sparda in the past? Giant black skeleton wielding a spear with two pet wolves? That guy?," I asked.
"While I've heard he's fought Sparda before I do not know his appearance as he's stuck to his forest for a long time. My, my for someone so new at this you seem to know a lot of stuff you shouldn't."
"It's the visions, don't worry about it," I responded.
"Very well. He normally doesn't get out of his base in the trees from what I was taught by Father," she said. "We should be able to make safe passage past the forest from above. That should be enough energy to take us past it."
I climbed up into the air using the boots and was about to sprint past the forest when I saw a pale blue light coming from the top of the largest tree, it got bigger second by second, until I realized it was coming at me.
I dove to the side, and found myself falling for a few seconds before correcting myself to have Talaria under me.
"What the hell was that?," I said. "Shit, here comes another one."
Again the blue light came at me like a laser and again I dodged to the side.
"That was Bolverk," Talaria answered. "It seems he hasn't taken too kindly to us coming onto his territory"
I needed to get to cover instead of being out in the open in the sky like this.
It was a choice between going above the clouds or diving into the forest itself. Given how I needed to periodically recharge Talaria I took my chances in the forest.
There were guaranteed to be demons there but it was better than falling out of the sky while being sniped from that giant tree.
I shot down into the forest with a diving kick to accelerate my fall.
Once I got past the canopy I hit the ground running and sprinted past the trees I could.
Jump, jump, slide, slide. I zipped to and fro to get past the gnarled roots and the occasional fallen tree.
I didn't even bother floating anymore focusing purely on speed. I kept going full blast burning through the demonic power by the second.
Eventually, Talaria ran out of juice and my pace dropped considerably.
It was only then that the static cleared and I was aware that Talaria was trying to say something.
"Stop running you idiot!" She chastised me. "He stopped firing once we got past the treetops."
I stopped and leaned on a nearby tree and panted catching my breath.
I looked around and all I could see was black and grey with only azure light from the trees and the red and blue from my arms illuminating the area.
"Why'd you tell me to stop," I said. "I want us to get out of this place fast."
"This is Bolverk's hunting ground, can't you tell what he's done to it? He's folded the space around itself so we can't leave," Talaria explained. "Besides, running around like a scared and confused animal is exactly what he wants."
"Folding Space on itself?" I said confused. "How the hell did he manage to do that, I don't remember him having that trick in the game. Thought that was Echidna's thing."
"Game? Never mind," Talaria said. "He is a demon who, despite his preference for direct confrontation, has a great talent for sorcery. It took me some time to recognize it but this forest, it's all one giant sorcerous working by him. The trees gather ambient demonic power from the earth and air and feed it all to the great tree in the center, and in turn Bolverk himself. It's all one giant artificial leyline."
"How'd you figure all that out while I was running?," I asked. "
"Only thing I can do like this is to observe the surroundings and talk to you," Talaria said. "Besides, we demons can naturally detect the flow of demonic power and distortions in space. Bolverk didn't even seem to hide what he'd done from us."
'Must really want a good fight,' I thought. 'Then again considering my situation maybe he really wanted to fight a descendant of Sparda'
"Okay, well if he's folded space around itself, then I'll just cut it," I said bringing out the Yamato shard from my right arm.
I infused power into it and got into the stance to make a tear.
I dragged the blade against the resisting fabric of space, but it was different this time.
It seemed harder to do here for some reason, perhaps due to the folded space?
Then I saw it coming at me again.
The blue light from before this time from the canopy came lancing down at me.
In the split second I dodged it I finally got a good look at what it was.
Was that a glowing spear?
Seemed like being in that tree was amping up Bolverk more than I thought if he could toss and retrieve his spear this far now.
I absorbed the Yamato shard and started running through the foliage again trying to get away from his target range again.
'Seems like making a portal is just a path to giving away our location,' I thought.
"Damn it all," I said. "What do we do now?"
"Only thing we can do is confront him head on," Talaria added in.
"While he's amped up by that tree?" I asked incredulously. "You're crazy."
"It's either that or wait it out and get weaker over time," Talaria said. "We're in the palm of his hand, might as well stab it."
I stopped running for a moment, caught in indecision. Wracking my brain for options.
Skywalking would just get us pierced by the spear, we can't walk out due to the folded space, portaling out with the Yamato shard would just get me stabbed while I focused on making it, and waiting around would get us nowhere.
I sighed.
"Seems you're right," I said. "We saw the trajectory of his spear, so we know where he is, we might as well get it over with."
I started walking towards the tree slowly looking around for anything to get my mind off the coming fight.
When my eyes fell on the locket again.
'This stupid thing nearly killed me last time I tried using it,' I thought. 'But I need any edge I can get in the upcoming fight.'
I opened the locket and was surprised to see a light shining from inside it.
The inner face of the locket was like the lens of a projector, and out came a hologram.
There were several things that were apparent looking at what was projected.
One a translucent sphere with an arrow on the inside that seemed to be a three dimensional compass?
The second was a series of numbers that were constantly shifting. It took me a second to realize it was a countdown timer.
37:18:56:25
These were the numbers I saw. The question was what was it counting down to? Was it an indicator of how much time I had left here?
'Of course, they could never just be straightforward couldn't they?' I thought.
What really caught my eye though was the glint of red among all the golden letters.
The symbol of a red orb was there and beside it was a number.
A little under 6000. That's all I managed to scrounge up in my time here.
Still it answered the question of why I didn't see any drop from the demons I'd slain. The locket absorbed them all from a distance.
What kind of video gamey bullshit was this?
I knew the answer already, but I was perplexed at the way it was presented.
It was a way to trade red orbs with the Deity of Time and Space for access to abilities.
Seems pumping in all that demonic power before Talaria snatched me up had awakened the locket's true functions.
I focused in on the red orb indicator and spoke my wish to my benefactor.
"Yo, Watcher of Time, can you answer me this time?" I said.
I waited for a few moments to no avail.
'Wait, let's try the formal route now, Will,' I thought, trying to suppress my annoyance. 'Maybe that'll work instead of the more crude route.'
"Oh Deity of Time and Space, what can I be granted in exchange for this meager offering?," I spoke to the god hoping they would answer my prayers for once.
I heard two voices in my head resonate together. A soft female voice and a harsh bestial male voice.
"Knowledge and Power," said the voices in unison.
As soon as I heard those words, images of different actions or items flashed before my eyes all at once.
Different orbs of demonic material, the weapons and fragments I had on my person, and what looked like myself doing a few different attacks with my weapons and more.
It took a minute for me to reorient myself after receiving those visions, but I now knew what I had to work with.
While I couldn't do much with my budget, I could at least increase my odds against Bolverk ever so slightly.
I chose to purchase the ability to double jump also known as Air Hike. It would allow me to generate a magical glyph under my feet which would serve as a platform to jump off of. While it seemed useless now that I had Talaria it was more for the fact that it would grant me the knowledge of how to infuse demonic power through my legs so I could better use Talaria. I chose to invest the rest of the orbs into the shards in my arms. Incomplete as they were it seemed the two had a chance to grow according to the Deity.
Resolute in my fate I continued my march onwards.
"You've been quiet for a while now Talaria," I said to my companion.
"I was just taken aback by what I just saw you do with that necklace," she said. "The mentions of visions, the golden light, and finally your prayer being answered. Had I known you'd been favored by the Watcher of Time, I'd never have fought you in the first place."
"Huh, why so? Scared of lions?" I teased.
"Nothing as simple as mere fear of those feline fiends," she said. "The Watcher of Time has been known as a patron god to many warriors and demon hunters alike throughout history and in a time long past was herself known as a great warrior that could rival the power of the greatest demon kings. No one knows why she disappeared but in the time since those that received her blessing have been known to change the very course of the world itself. And now it appears you have been granted said blessing."
'And to think I thought she was only a gameplay thing,' I thought. 'Wonder why she chose me of all people.'
"Sounds like a lot of pressure," I said. "Could have at least asked before making me commit."
"You've been granted the opportunity to grow to rival the strongest of demons and you wish that they took it back?" Talaria asked. "I think I'll never understand humans if this is how they act when granted such a blessing."
"When you put it like that now I just feel like an ungrateful jerk," I said. "Just wish I got a bit more of a hea-"
Suddenly as I walked through the forest the azure lights through all the trees that had guided our way went out like someone cut the power.
Just what was going on?
I looked through the dark forest for a few moments only guided by the lights of my arms.
A few minutes went by, and we heard the rustling of leaves and the rattling of chains.
As far as I knew this forest only had trees and Bolverk himself inside.
And chains, I remembered Bolverk's wolves, Freki and Geri had chains on them. If I was right we were about to have some very unfriendly company.
I infused power into Talaria, ready to run at a moment's notice.
That's when it came.
A large black wolf the size of a school bus was rushing forward like a freight train, knocking trees aside and paying no heed for what was in front of it.
I ran to the side and focused power into my arms, ready for it to come at me.
Only for it to run past and completely ignore me.
"Okay then?" I said. "What was that even about?"
"Oh never mind that creature, probably a beast that Bolverk hunts for sport. You need to stay sharp, we're about to reach the central tree," Talaria said.
I snapped to alertness at that. She was right. I could handle the wolf later, right now I had to focus on Bolverk.
We were approaching a clearing in the forest. The canopy gave way to clear skies and I looked up and up and saw the giant tree.
Just like the rest of the forest, the blue glow it had earlier had faded entirely leaving dull grey bark.
However there was something I saw I didn't expect. Damage at the base of the tree like something tore itself free from a cage of branches and roots.
It clicked for me when I saw the glint of metal on the ground.
Broken chains.
'This must be where he kept that giant wolf,' I thought. 'Was it related to why the forest stopped glowing?'
"You can admire that stuff later," Talaria said. "We've got a demon to fight."
And as if on cue a familiar blue light came rushing towards me.
The spear descended and I dodged as I could toward the large tree.
When I saw the spear land I expected it to fade, or fly back towards the top of the tree. Instead there was a flash of light and now holding the spear was a large black demonic horned skeleton that glowed yellow from the inside. He wore rocky armor that matched his bones, his left eye socket had large cracks above it and instead of feet his legs ended on to pointed spikes that hovered above the ground. He was accompanied by two large white wolves, whom I knew as Freki and Geri, with chains on their bodies. All three were wreathed in a blue aura of demonic power.
'Damn, he really wants me dead if he decided to Devil Trigger immediately,' I thought. 'Or maybe that's how he's using the forest's power? Doesn't matter either way, gotta take him down.'
He wasted no time to go on the offensive.
He lunged at me with his spear. I jumped straight up to dodge and stood in the air above him.
I summoned my two spectral arms and tried to hammer him with them.
The white wolves intercepted the blow, and were knocked aside by my arms.
I tried to dive kick their master but he already shifted position.
He stabbed at me with his spear but I blocked by crossing my Devil Bringers. That wasn't enough though, the force was too great and I was sent flying.
My body hit a tree at the edge of the clearing and careened through a bunch of branches. It took a moment for me to reorient myself.
Freki and Geri jumped at me to capitalize on that moment.
They both caught onto a Devil Bringer each with their jaws.
While the arms remained undamaged I could feel the pressure on my limbs. If they kept it up they might pierce the flesh.
They both tried to pull me in opposite directions.
How the hell were they so strong? I should be able to throw them across the entire forest with the strength in my arms. Did the boost from the tree really make them that powerful?
Bolverk himself meanwhile focused power into his spear. A large blue blade of energy sprouted from it increasing its length by a factor of ten.
He then slashed down at me with the blade.
I did the only thing I could do.
Kick as hard as I could with Talaria.
A massive gust met the blue light head-on.
And it sadly lost the struggle.
It wasn't until the energy blade met my armored leg was the blade deterred.
While he had a massive leverage advantage it was just enough to deflect the blow.
The blade receded and Bolverk readied himself for another slash.
'Nope, not letting you get another chance,' I thought
I started to climb up the air dragging the two wolves off the ground.
Now that they lost their footing they were much easier to toss around.
Bolverk on his part didn't miss a beat. He readied to throw his spear at me.
It was only the fact that I bent my arms and used the wolves as a shield that caused him to hesitate.
They must have realized what their master was doing and let go of my arms falling to the ground.
Bolverk as if on cue tossed the spear at me full force.
It was right on target, I was too close to dodge. On reflex, I summoned and crossed my spectral arms to block the attack.
And the spear soared right on through them like they were paper mache.
I felt a backlash from getting both spectral limbs shattered, a phantom pain in my arms that left me in a daze.
A split second later the spear impacted my actual arms.
Blood flew.
A gash was made in my right Devil Bringer, which had the spear embedded in it an inch deep.
The force of the impact sent me sliding backward in the air.
A moment later Bolverk was next to the spear, he pulled the spear out, spun vertically in the air and performed an axe kick that had enough force to shatter the platform of air I stood on and send me crashing towards the ground.
This wasn't good. Not only was this guy ridiculously strong, while he was slower than Talaria was when she Devil Triggered, he was relentless, his fighting style gave me no time to think. No wonder this guy survived fighting Sparda.
Bolverk soon descended to the ground as well, focused power into his spear and-
Got charged by a giant black wolf.
The very same that passed us earlier in the forest.
It seemed to have shed its chains and it appeared they were waiting for an opportunity while Bolverk was distracted to make their move.
Or perhaps they did it to save my life.
Either way Bolverk was stuck in the beast's jaws, struggling against them while his bones were slowly being encased in ice.
Oh, the black wolf had some cryokinesis among its abilities.
Freki and Geri ignored me trying to aid their master.
Finally, I got some room to breathe. I got up and looked at my right arm.
There was a small scar but blue energy was in there soon mending it.
I focused power into Talaria and ran towards Freki and Geri.
Those two wouldn't stop my savior, damn it!
As soon as I caught up with them, I summoned my spectral arms again and grabbed them both with them.
I smashed them onto the ground rapidly before my arms could fade away.
I followed up with a series of spinning kicks with Talaria that a gust strong enough around me I looked like a mini tornado.
I just kept hammering at them, alternating between attacks with the Devil Bringers and Talaria until they stopped moving.
The two were either unconscious or dead by that point. The difference didn't mean much as I needed to check on Bolverk and the Black Wolf.
The two were fighting against each other at the side of the giant tree. Bolverk seemed to have gotten free somehow while I was distracted and there were shards of ice everywhere.
But things weren't looking good.
The wolf was heavily wounded, and while Bolverk showed new cracks on his armor and body he seemed to have the advantage.
The Black Wolf slashed at him with his claws only to be parried by Bolverk's spear.
Bolverk jumped backward further up into the tree and impaled his spear into it.
There was a spread of blue lines of energy from the point of contact into the tree and soon the branches and roots themselves came to life.
They tried to ensnare the Black Wolf as it summoned more ice to try to repel them.
It was a valiant effort but even when encased in ice the branches continued to encroach upon the wolf.
If things continued like this the wolf would die soon.
I had to do something.
I ran at full blast towards where Bolverk was, the roots tried to reach me as well but I was too fast at that point.
I charged power into my left arm and delivered as strong a blow as I could toward Bolverk.
He was knocked up to the great tree's canopy with the strength of the hit.
I looked back to see the Black Wolf again, only to find that it was completely encased in branches.
We locked eyes for a moment that conveyed the situation. We both knew they didn't have much time left.
"My name is Fenris," the wolf spoke in a pained voice. "That demon trapped me in this forest for a long time. Take my soul and avenge me."
That was all that was said, but it was enough to get the message across.
The light faded from the wolf's eyes and its body remained trapped in the branches as the orb of light that was its soul left it and entered my hands.
In an instant, I was holding two blades that were held together by a long chain and felt a surge of power in my body, and a fury enveloping my soul.
Fenris had truly given me everything he had left.
I looked up to the top of the tree to see Bolverk once again had his spear in hand.
He'd extended it with energy immensely and slashed at my side.
I focused power into the blades in my hands and they responded naturally.
Ice sprouted from them to make the blades grow by a factor of five.
I parried the spear with my blades, driving its point into the ground.
I ran up the energy blade itself and slashed at Bolverk.
My blades hit true and managed to slash his arms, breaking them and disarming him of his spear.
He was a skeleton held together purely by demonic will, so such a wound didn't mean much but the follow-up of freezing his entire body did.
I summoned my spectral arms and smashed them downward, cracking the ice and more of his body.
Each hit ate away at his power, tearing away at his reserves like a piece of meat.
I was seeing red, filled with anger that was not my own. I repeatedly froze and smashed him lost to the bloodlust of the blades.
By the time I regained my senses the only things that remained were ash and his spear.
I looked around to see the damage I'd done.
"Are you finished?" Talaria asked.
I looked down at the blades in my arms and felt nothing.
It seems they'd spent all their power and fury up.
"Yeah, I'm done," I said. "Let's get out of here."
"Space is still folded," Talaria said. "It seems killing him wasn't enough to undo that."
"I think I have the solution to that," I said.
I absorbed the blades into my left arm and walked up to Bolverk's spear.
"If I saw it right, he could control the tree branches with this spear," I said. "Maybe it holds authority over his other spells? If that doesn't work we can just cut our way out."
"Why was he so intent on killing you anyways?" Talaria asked.
"That's a bit out of the left field," I said. "But no point in hiding it from you I guess. This body carries the blood of Sparda."
"What!?" Talaria practically screeched. "Everyone in the demon world will want you dead for that fact and now you decide to tell me?"
"Hey, I don't think it's everyone," I said.
'Even if all the ones I met so far have tried,' I thought.
"We need to get out of this realm this instant," Talaria said in a panicked voice. " If Mundus finds us we'll both suffer fates worse than anything you can imagine.
"Wait Mundus?," I asked.
"The current Demon King," Talaria said "He broke his seal fifteen years ago and has been on a campaign to reconquer the demon realm ever since. Why do you think I was so desperate to escape this realm, he slayed my father when he resisted the conquering of his land and wished to finish the job by claiming my head."
"Okay, okay explain it to me while we run to the exit," I said. "We need to get to that convergence point between realms fast."
I grabbed Bolverk's spear and started running to the edge of the forest.
As I reached the edge I saw the warping in space like curved glass. I slashed at it with the spear and the distortion shattered.
If what she said was true I had all the reason in the world to waste no time on getting out.
Author's note:
I still have no idea how to write fight scenes.
The dual blades from Fenris look somewhat like this except they are black and connected by a chain at their base.
I was inspired to write this part while playing DMC2 after seeing the cool design that was Bolverk wasted in it. This is what he and his wolves looked like. Fenris was identical to Freki and Geri but much larger and black. The idea being that Bolverk stole a portion of Fenris' power to transform two of his loyal warriors into wolves modeled after him, but I wasn't sure how to add that piece of exposition to the chapter.
The chapter had some very loose surface level references to Norse Myth since Bolverk was based on Odin. The forest and large tree based on Yggdrasil and Fenris after Fenrir the wolf prophesized to eat Odin during Ragnarok.
I hope this chapter length is sufficient for those that wanted longer chapters, if it isn't feel free to tell me in the comments. Trying to strike a balance between increased length and post frequency since the results were relatively close.
