"What is going on now!?" Gwen shouted over the chaos, her voice nearly getting swallowed by the noise of roaring demons, gunshots, and the endless storm of violence raining down from above.
She thrust her spear forward just in time to drive back a demon that had lunged toward her, and before it could recover, Rath was already on it, pouncing with a feral snarl and slamming the creature into the stone floor hard enough to crack it head. The tiger-like alien tore into it with savage strength, ripping it apart in a burst of black blood that splattered across the altar and mingled with the rain, turning the whole battlefield into a mess of smoke, fire, and broken bodies.
By then, the summit had become complete madness.
Demons continued pouring endlessly from the crimson gateway above, as though the sky itself had split open and bled demons into the world. The red light from the portal dyed everything beneath it in a sickly glow, making the storm overhead look less like weather and more like some kind of hellish wound stretched across the heavens.
Swarms of bat-like creatures circled the tower in widening spirals, diving down whenever they found an opening, while heavier demons dropped straight toward the altar with enough force to shake the structure every time they landed.
"The gateway to the Demon World had been opened," Evan said as he swung the Yamato through another cluster of demons, the blade flashing in a clean arc that split one creature in half and forced another to recoil before it could strike. "To break the seal, it required the blood of Sparda, the blood of a human priestess, and the two halves of the Perfect Amulet!"
"LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING, EDGELORD EVER GOLD!" Rath roared, grabbing one demon by the leg and swinging it into another so hard that both of them crashed into a pile of rubble. "WHY DID YOU TRY TO RELEASE THEM IN THE FIRST PLACE!?"
"For power, of course!" Evan answered without the slightest hesitation, as though the answer should have been obvious from the beginning.
Then he resheathed the Yamato.
The motion was quick, almost casual, but the moment the blade disappeared into its scabbard, Evan's expression sharpened and the air around him seemed to tighten. A heartbeat later, multiple Judgement Cuts exploded outward, tearing through the air in every direction and slicing apart dozens of demons before their bodies could even reach the group. The attack left clean wounds in space itself, the slashes flashing through the darkness like bursts of blue-white lightning.
Rath stared at him for a moment.
"…You know what? Fair enough."
"THAT IS NOT A GOOD ANSWER!" Gwen shouted, still trying to keep herself from being overwhelmed by the demons swarming down on them.
Lady ignored the argument entirely.
Her eyes were fixed on the crimson gateway overhead, and the longer she watched it, the more obvious it became that the problem was only getting worse. With every passing moment, more demons continued pouring through the opening, and at this rate, they were going to be buried under the horde whether they survived the current wave or not.
"We have to close that portal!" Lady shouted, before immediately turning toward the twins. "You two go shut it down!"
Without waiting for a reply, she fired another rocket into the swarm. The explosion ripped through a cluster of incoming demons, blowing them apart in a burst of smoke and fire while the remaining creatures scattered to either side.
"We'll hold them off here!"
The twins did not argue. The moment they looked at the gateway, both of them knew exactly what had to be done, and because of that, there was no point wasting time with words.
Azure blue flames erupted around Evan while crimson energy burst out around Orfevre, their Devil Trigger forms emerging almost simultaneously as their bodies transformed with violent force.
Their wings unfolded behind them, the power rolling off both of them was enough to make the air itself feel heavier. Then, without another word, both launched themselves into the sky.
The two streaked upward through the storm of demons and vanished directly into the crimson gateway.
The moment they crossed through, the world changed.
The noise of battle disappeared behind them, replaced by a strange and oppressive silence that felt even more unnatural than the storm they had left below. They emerged into an unfamiliar landscape unlike anything either of them had seen before, a twisted space where dark purple water flowed endlessly through enormous channels carved into black stone while massive roots and warped structures stretched through the darkness and vanished into an abyss below.
Everything around them looked wrong in a way that was difficult to describe, as though the space itself had been bent, stretched, and distorted into something that should not have existed.
"What the?"
Even Evan sounded caught off guard for a moment as his eyes landed on the massive humanoid devil standing ahead of them.
Its skin was dark. The frame was insect-like and grotesquely humanoid at the same time.
Two enormous horns curved upward from its head, and six wings stretched behind it in a shape that made the creature look even more imposing against the twisted backdrop of the Demon World. In one hand it held the Force Edge, and the image it was trying to project was unmistakable. Or at least, it was trying very hard to be.
"I thought father left to get milk? So this is where he's been the entire time!" Orfevre said beside her brother, staring up at the figure with a mix of disbelief and disgust as she recognized it for what it was supposed to be: the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda himself.
"No," Evan replied, his tone cooling immediately as he stood beside her and narrowed his eyes at the thing in front of them. "Can't you see? That is nothing more than a pathetic worm that managed to grab Father's power before us."
The fake Sparda slowly turned toward them.
Its expression twisted, then settled into a smug smile.
"Welcome," it said, the voice echoing strangely through the warped space. "What do you think of looking at your father's image?"
Orfevre stared at it for a second, then let out a small breath through her nose, her annoyance only growing stronger now that she had time to look directly at the thing pretending to be her father.
"Honestly?" she said, her voice dripping with disdain. "You look like dog shit."
The fake Sparda's eyes twitched.
Evan glanced toward her, then back at the impostor, and his own disdain seemed to sharpen even further.
"It's like looking at a fool pretending to wear a king's crown," he said calmly. "You cannot even wield the power of Sparda."
The veins beneath the fake's skin began bulging visibly.
Its massive wings trembled.
For a brief moment it looked as though it might lash out immediately, but instead it began chuckling under its breath, the sound turning deeper and uglier with each passing second until it finally erupted into full demonic laughter.
"You two can still talk big after seeing THIS!?"
Dark demonic energy exploded outward from its body. The ground beneath it seemed to tremble.
Then its body began expanding, growing larger and larger as power continued forcing its way through it.
"I CAN FEEL IT!" the fake Sparda roared, spreading its arms wide as though it believed the sheer act of opening itself to the energy would be enough to contain it. "THE DEVIL'S POWER IS OVERFLOWING THROUGH MY BODY!"
Instead of settling into a stronger form, the faker continued growing larger and larger until its color shifted into a black, murky, mud-like texture, and its body slowly began twisting and collapsing under the weight of power it clearly had no idea how to control. The shape of its limbs distorted. The six wings warped. The horns bent at odd angles. Its whole frame began melting into itself until the once-humanoid body became a gigantic mass of black flesh and demonic energy.
"THE POWER OF SPARDA!"
Both Evan and Orfevre looked up at the twisting abomination.
Multiple black tendrils lashed around wildly from the thing's body, whipping through the air in frantic, uncontrolled motions as the creature struggled and failed to contain the force flooding through it. It looked less like a conqueror and more like a power-hungry disaster that had gotten far more than it could handle.
Orfevre frowned in disgust.
"Wow," she said. "Talk about ugly."
"This fool cannot even contain the power of Sparda," Evan added from the side, disdain sharp in his voice as he watched the thing flail around. "Let alone wield it properly."
The corners of Orfevre's mouth slowly rose.
"Think we should put it out of its misery?" Orfevre asked while resting Rebellion onto her shoulder.
Evan slowly drew the Yamato. "I was just thinking the same thing."
The twins charged forward together, blades in hand, and brought them down toward the massive blob of black flesh and demonic energy before them.
There was no hesitation in either of them now, no wasted movement, no unnecessary words, only the instinctive rhythm of two people who had already fought each other enough times to understand each other's timing almost perfectly.
Their weapons flashed through the air in rapid succession, cutting, slashing, and carving into the demon from different angles as they moved in near-perfect sync, each strike flowing into the next like the exchange had been rehearsed a hundred times before.
Orfevre lunged in, thrusting the Rebellion toward her brother's back, only for Evan to vanish just before the blade could connect. Her sword instead drove straight into the writhing mass in front of them, tearing through the demon's flesh-like body and forcing it to jerk violently in place.
At the same time, Evan appeared off to the side, and Orfevre tilted her head just in time to avoid a slash from the Yamato as he cut down one of the demon's black fleshy hands before it could seize her.
The two of them were not just fighting the same enemy at that point; they were also still trying to kill each other, and somehow the battlefield had become a place where both of those things were happening at once.
Overwhelmed by the pressure of their combined assault, the fake Sparda recoiled and dove down into the dark purple water below.
For a brief moment the massive blob disappeared beneath the water, but the surface of the dark liquid did not stay still for long. Tendrils began to emerge from beneath it, one after another, twisting upward as they stretched and warped into pseudo-demonic beasts made entirely of pure demonic energy.
The forms were grotesque and unstable, like half-finished nightmares given shape through sheer hatred, and before long the creatures swarmed the twins from all sides, forcing them back to back as the pressure closed in around them.
Then, in almost the same instant, both of them entered their Devil Trigger forms.
Azure-blue flames erupted around Evan while crimson energy burst around Orfevre, their Devil Trigger forms appearing almost simultaneously as the demonic power inside them flared outward in a violent shockwave. The force of that transformation blasted the pseudo-demonic beasts backward, scattering them long enough for the twins to reset their stance and press forward again.
Now strengthened in speed, power, and raw aggression, they tore through the swarm with far greater ease, carving down the beasts one after another before they could recover their shape.
Evan unleashed a Judgment Cut End, directing the violent slash toward the water's surface itself. The attack ripped across the dark purple water and burst through it in a thunderous explosion, sending the massive blob of black flesh and demonic energy back into view as the surface shattered under the force of the strike.
As soon as it emerged, the twins wasted no time, returning to human and driving their blades directly into the creature's body, both Yamato and Rebellion sinking into the massive black flesh from opposite sides.
The demon erupted into a wild, twisting frenzy.
Its tendrils flailed in every direction, whipping through the air in panic as it spun around with both blades still lodged in its body. The force of the movement threatened to drag the twins along with it, so both of them leapt back at almost the same time, leaving their weapons stuck inside the monster from opposite sides. Watching the demon thrash helplessly while their blades remained buried in it, Orfevre immediately reacted.
She spun and kicked the pommel of her sword with sharp precision.
At the same time, Evan thrust his palm against the hilt of his own blade.
The combined force drove both weapons deeper into the demon's body. The two swords flew through the inside of its body, their blade clashing midway before passing each other, and the twin swords burst out from the opposite side of the demon's body with a violent spray of demonic force.
Orfevre caught the Yamato as it came free, spinning the blade once in her hand before turning it around into a reverse grip. Across from her, Evan caught the Rebellion with equal ease and gave the weapon a few simple testing swings, already feeling out its weight before settling into his stance with both hands around the hilt.
Now each twin was holding the other's weapon.
Without needing to say anything, they moved again.
Both leapt forward and crossed paths in the air, bringing the blades together in a synchronized cross slash that ripped through the demon's body before they landed side by side. They turned back in unison to face the still-living demon, and as they did, they casually tossed each other's swords back in a smooth exchange that looked almost effortless despite the chaos around them.
Evan sheathed the Yamato in one smooth motion. Orfevre slung the Rebellion back over her shoulder and drew Ebony and Ivory from behind her instead.
The demon, now clearly on its last legs, thrashed its tendrils wildly in a desperate attempt to survive, dragging its ruined body through the dark water while trying to lash out at anything within reach. One of those tendrils smashed Ebony out of Orfevre's hand, but before the gun could fall, Evan caught it cleanly with his left hand and raised it toward the massive demon without even looking away from the fight.
"I don't mind doing it your way," he said.
A smirk slowly formed on Orfevre's face.
"Remember what we used to say?" she replied, keeping her gaze fixed on the demon in front of them.
The two shifted closer together, leaning against each other until their shoulders and arms pressed side by side, the twin guns held ready in a matching angle as the last remnants of the demon's body writhed in front of them.
"JACKPOT!"
They pulled the trigger at the same time.
Two loud gunshots cracked through the air, and the bullets flew out from the barrels in perfect unison, streaking straight into the massive demon and finishing it off in a single explosive ending that left the Force Edge and their amulets behind, along with shattered demonic energy and silence behind.
...
"So now what?" Gwen asked as she walked alongside Lady, Ben, Evan, and Orfevre through the streets of Red Grave City.
The ruined city stretched endlessly around them. Cracked roads, shattered buildings, and abandoned vehicles littered every street they passed. After spending hours searching through the game world, everyone's patience was beginning to wear thin.
"Without Upgrade, we can't get out of here," Ben replied, glancing down at the Omnitrix on his wrist.
Over the course of their search, he had managed to recover most of the missing alien icons. Nearly every transformation had returned to the watch, yet Upgrade, the one alien they actually needed remained missing.
The single transformation capable of merging with the game's systems and opening a way out.
"Ugh! Now what are we gonna do?" Gwen groaned in frustration. "We've searched almost everywhere already."
"We haven't searched everywhere," Orfevre corrected. "Just a lot of places."
"That doesn't make me feel any better."
"We can rest first, then continue searching," Lady suggested. "We've already found most of the missing icons. I'm sure we'll find the last one eventually."
Ben sighed before nodding. "I guess we don't really have any other choice."
With that, the group turned toward Orfevre's shop. A short while later, they arrived at the small, nameless building and stepped inside.
The interior looked just as terrible as when she had left it. Broken shelves lay scattered across the floor, furniture had been overturned and destroyed, and various items remained strewn across the room from the earlier chaos.
Evan looked around before shaking his head. "This place really looks like a dump."
"Yeah," Orfevre replied flatly. "And whose fault was that?"
Evan immediately looked away. "Fair enough."
The group spread out through the shop. Some began moving aside boxes while others picked up fallen furniture, mostly to clear enough space for everyone to sit down.
Spotting a table lying on its side near the corner of the room, Evan and Orfevre walked over to lift it back into place.
Both suddenly stopped. Noticing their reaction, Ben, Gwen, and Lady walked over.
"What happened?" Ben asked.
Neither twin answered. Instead, they simply stared at the corner of the room.
Following their gaze, the others quickly understood why. Floating quietly above the floor was a green Omnitrix icon. At its center was the unmistakable silhouette of Upgrade.
After everything they had gone through, after searching countless streets, buildings, and districts throughout Red Grave City, the DNA sample they needed most had apparently been sitting inside the shop all along.
Evan stepped forward and reached for the icon. The moment his hand touched it, the symbol dissolved into green particles and flowed into the Another Omnitrix.
[New DNA Sample Acquired!]
Without wasting another second, Evan activated the Another Omnitrix.
Golden light burst from the device and spread across his body, transforming him into Upgrade.
The black-and-gold Galvanic Mechamorph stretched his arms outward before they liquefied into streams of living metal.
The metallic tendrils wrapped around Gwen, Ben, and Orfevre, pulling them together beside him. Upgrade's body flowed around the group, encasing them within a sphere of black metal lined with glowing gold circuitry.
The sphere rapidly compressed, shrinking smaller and smaller, and vanished completely.
AN: Alright, I think that is enough for now. I'm gonna take a short break from this story to focus on my other ones to avoid getting burned out and losing interest. Maybe a week or two, I'm not sure yet.