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Now let's get into it.
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A meteor?
No.
It was a hand, a Devil Bringer condensed purely from demonic power.
The purple Devil Bringer was dyed crimson by a searing rage. It manifested abruptly from the void, clutching toward it with a predatory, suffocating pressure.
"Since this is dinner, why don't you try the dessert I brought you first?"
Sephirot's voice sounded unnervingly calm, but beneath that calm lay a bone-chilling frost.
"This extra-large serving of juicy meat Patty..."
"Is on the house!"
The massive Devil Bringer clamped down hard on the Ogre's torso, slamming it violently into the ground.
In the next heartbeat, a violet-red afterimage crashed down like a bolt of lightning.
"BOOM!!!"
The colossal impact instantly drove the Ogre's body deep into the earth.
The ground buckled, and stone fragments flew.
The hard highway shattered like glass, cracks spreading frantically as a terrifying shockwave radiated from the point of impact, kicking up clouds of dust.
A moment later, the dust began to settle.
Illuminated by the flickering lights of the pickup truck, a slender figure slowly straightened up in the center of the ruins.
The surrounding air was tinged pale purple by demonic power, swirling around him like mist, making him look like a demon god descending upon the mortal realm.
Patty stared blankly at the familiar silhouette.
"Yo, looks like I got here just in time. The party hasn't ended yet."
Sephirot brushed non-existent dust off his clothes and ground his heel firmly into the immobile monster.
He turned his head toward Patty, who had been pushed back by the shockwave, and a smile played on his lips:
"Beautiful Miss Patty, may I enjoy this dinner all to myself?"
Looking at this guy who had dropped from the sky at the critical moment and hearing his flippant words, Patty's tensed body and mind finally relaxed.
She sniffled her reddened nose, holding back tears as she lifted her chin and let out a huff:
"Hmph, I guess you got here..."
Halfway through her sentence, her brain suddenly caught up.
Wait.
When the Ogre talked about dinner just now...
It was referring to her!
And now this guy was saying he wanted to 'enjoy dinner all to myself'?!
That bastard!
Patty's dust-streaked cheeks instantly flushed bright red. This guy had been just as indecent as Dante ever since they were kids.
"In your dreams, you jerk!"
Frantic and embarrassed, she threw her handgun at Sephirot. "If you want to eat me, you'd better sharpen your teeth on this first! Idiot Sephirot!"
Snap.
Sephirot reached up and caught the pocket pistol.
The small frame still held Patty's warmth, and the grip was engraved with a string of cursive letters...
Patty Lowell.
He tucked it into his jacket lining and whistled at the blushing girl.
"Preparing a keepsake of our love already?"
"I suppose I can graciously accept it then."
"You! Keep dreaming! Give that gun back to me right now!"
Patty stomped her feet in frustration, just about to rush forward and snatch it back.
Sephirot was about to tease her when a sudden movement came from beneath his feet.
His eyes went cold, and he stomped down hard. "In such a hurry to die?"
A flash of purple light blurred Sephirot's silhouette, and a second later, he appeared at Patty's side.
Before Patty could react, he swept one arm around the girl's slender waist and the other under her knees, lifting her up.
Patty let out a startled cry as her body left the ground, instinctively hooking her arms around Sephirot's neck.
His form blurred again, and the two came to a halt beside the overturned pickup truck.
Sephirot set Patty down and spoke to Alessa in his mind: "Help me protect her. Don't let anyone get close."
In the darkness, Alessa's figure slowly emerged, and she gave a silent nod.
The immediate surroundings began to decay on a small scale, and the faint sound of a massive blade dragging and scraping against the ground echoed through the air.
Patty stared somewhat blankly at Sephirot's back, her cheeks flushing as she recalled his actions just now.
Sephirot watched the Ogre crawling out of the pit and tightened his right hand into a hollow grip.
"Come out for some fresh air, new partner."
The air rippled, and a short-barreled shotgun appeared out of thin air in his hand.
This was a technique regarding Silent Hill that he had only recently figured out.
Previously, when Alessa resided within Sephirot's body, he could only control the manifestation of Silent Hill over a small area, and even summoning or dismissing it was difficult to do smoothly.
But at some point, the Otherworld seemed to have granted him a higher level of authorization.
He could now store small, inanimate objects within Silent Hill and retrieve them at any time.
It felt as though he had purchased a plot of land within Silent Hill.
Perhaps it was because Alessa had absorbed too much of his demonic aura, or perhaps...
Alessa had truly accepted him?
Sephirot reined in his thoughts and looked at the monster before him.
Clack.
He flicked the gun to chamber a round with one hand, as violet-red magic enveloped the Holy Flame of Exorcism.
The Ogre stared at this prey that had dropped from the sky.
It couldn't understand why it felt the same crushing pressure from this seemingly ordinary human that it experienced when facing high-ranking demons in Hell.
The sensation left it both excited and terrified.
"Roar!"
It let out a guttural howl, impatient to begin its feast.
However.
Sephirot's figure vanished into a blur, the red light lingering in his pupils trailing a streak through the dark night.
Boom!
A heavy punch slammed into the Ogre's abdomen, doubling it over like a piece of cooked shrimp.
The Ogre's massive frame was sent flying backward.
The next second, Sephirot's silhouette appeared behind it once more.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Several crimson streaks of light flashed rapidly through the night, the sound of impacts merging into a single continuous drone.
The Ogre was like a punching bag, utterly powerless against Sephirot's storm-like chain of attacks.
"It's over."
He appeared above the Ogre, one foot crushing the monster's spine as he looked down with a cold, indifferent expression.
In that instant, the red light in his eyes flared into a blood-soaked crimson, and the Holy Flame of Exorcism in his hand was pressed against the back of the Ogre's skull.
"Bang!"
A bullet infused with demonic power detonated, reducing the Ogre's head to dust in an instant.
Sephirot hoisted the corpse up, twisted his body, and delivered a side kick that sent it flying toward the RV parked by the roadside.
"Boom!"
The several-hundred-pound Ogre flew like a cannonball, smashing directly into the side of the RV and sending the vehicle tumbling off the highway.
"A strike!"
Sephirot nodded with satisfaction as he looked at the RV, which had spilled its contents like a boss dropping loot.
In the original lore, this Ogre's combat strength was quite weak; even ordinary humans could harm it or even imprison it.
Even without his bloodline awakening, Sephirot wouldn't have wasted much time dealing with it.
The real trouble was that it was impossible to kill; every time it died, it would resurrect once more.
"Sephirot, watch out! It won't die even if its head is gone!"
Patty's voice called out from the side.
Sephirot nodded.
A commotion came from within the overturned RV.
Crash!
The shattered glass of the front windshield was kicked open.
Scott and Minxie crawled out, looking battered and pathetic.
Scott's face was riddled with glass shards: "Fk!"
Minxie's stockings were shredded, and her exquisite makeup was smeared across her face, making her look like a clown.
But when they saw Sephirot standing on the highway, the resentment they felt from him smashing their RV with a monster's corpse vanished instantly.
Scott, in particular, looked as if he had seen his own father, scrambling and crawling toward him.
"Help! Save me! You killed that monster! Thank God!"
Scott shouted as he crawled, terrified that Sephirot would leave him behind. "Do you know the Armitage family? The family that specifically serves the elite white upper class..."
"Our family works for them. They have many special medical resources that money can't buy. If you save me, I can introduce you!"
Minxie also wailed, "Please! Take us with you! Get us out of here!"
Sephirot looked at the two of them coldly, his eyes devoid of emotion.
Since he held partial administrative rights over Silent Hill, he could also see the darkness within their hearts.
Greed, selfishness, betrayal...
Earlier, while in mid-air, he had seen Patty standing alone in the middle of the highway facing the monster while they hid in the RV; he had already guessed what had happened.
It was nothing more than pushing and shoving until they threw the kind person out to be the sacrificial lamb.
"Save you?"
Sephirot was in no hurry to act. Instead, he pointed behind them and spoke in a gentle tone, "If you can survive this hurdle, I'll save you."
"What?"
Scott and Minxie froze, instinctively turning their heads.
(Translated by yourtl.app)
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TL NOTES — CROSSOVER GUIDE
Some references in this chapter come from source universes that may be unfamiliar to some readers. The notes below are here to help readers unfamiliar with these universes follow along more easily.
POWERS / ABILITIES
Devil Bringer — In Devil May Cry 4, Nero possesses a supernatural right arm called the Devil Bringer, a demonic limb capable of projecting a giant ghostly hand to grab enemies from a distance, slam them into the ground, or pull Nero toward them at high speed. In this story, Sephirot manifests his own version of this ability, condensed entirely from demonic power.