"Look at this. The patterns on it are ancient sacrificial runes; they allow it to manipulate these weapons through divine power."
"Have you heard about the Church fire a while back? The police said hundreds of corpses were hidden inside. I suspect that was its lair."
"It didn't hide those bodies to satisfy some perverted obsession with collecting."
Old Jack spat on the monster's body.
"That was a subconscious behavior, an attempt to rebuild that destroyed subterranean underworld. And those corpses... they were the ones it considered believers."
Sephirot frowned. "Regardless of what it used to be, how do we kill it for good?"
At those words, Jack's expression turned hesitant. "I... I'm not entirely sure."
He shook his head. "Simply destroying the physical body is useless. Perhaps we need to find a way to completely sever its connection to the stars and cut off its source of power?"
Hearing Jack's suggestion, Sephirot glanced up at the starry sky and then down at the Ogre, which had given up struggling beneath his feet.
*Sever the astral connection...*
*Why not try locking it inside Silent Hill?*
At that thought, a surge of darkness erupted from him.
The surrounding environment began to peel away in a localized area. The highway beneath their feet became hollowed out, as dirt was replaced by rusted wire mesh and raw flesh, with the raging fires of Hell burning below.
"What... what kind of hellhole is this?"
Old Jack's eyes widened. He scrambled back several steps in terror.
The most horrifying thing he had seen in his life was that Ogre, but the sight before him completely transcended his understanding.
Patty was also startled by the sudden change, but staying close to Sephirot, she quickly regained her composure.
Countless wires snaked out from beneath the Ogre, entangling its limbs and torso.
The Ogre sensed its connection to the stars being severed. The wounds that had been slowly knitting back together ceased their recovery.
It began to struggle in a panic, but with its internal energy depleted, it could only watch helplessly as it was dragged into the Otherworld.
"Hmm?"
Sephirot's gaze sharpened.
Deprived of the astral energy sustaining it, the Ogre was like an ancient artifact exposed to air, rapidly desiccating and aging.
Its physical form was utterly unable to withstand the erosion of the Otherworld; flesh and bone were swiftly decomposed.
Ultimately, nothing remained on the ground but a faintly pulsing heart.
The heart was a grotesque shade of green, adorned with several wet, slimy tentacles.
Embedded in one corner of the heart was a sophisticated piece of equipment flashing with a red light.
Sephirot's eyes narrowed slightly. Why would a creature of rural folklore be carrying this kind of technological device? And how did it still have a signal even within the Otherworld, isolated from the Real World?
He reached out and picked up the heart. Several tentacles on the organ immediately latched onto Sephirot's arm, attempting to burrow back into his flesh. "Interesting. It seems someone is watching from the wings."
Sephirot held it up to his eyes, looking directly into the micro-pinhole camera on the device, and offered a polite greeting.
"Good evening, friends on the other side of the screen."
He then applied pressure with two fingers, crushing the instrument into scrap metal.
—--
Deep in the mountains of Virginia, hundreds of feet directly beneath a seemingly ordinary Cabin in the Woods.
Inside a massive underground complex, researchers moved back and forth, speaking in hushed tones.
The chest of their lab coats bore a line of text: Security and Containment Center.
Suddenly, one of the surveillance feeds on the wall cut out, replaced by a flashing red "404."
"Sir! Signal source for codename Ogre has been lost!"
A monitor technician wearing a headset immediately reported the incident. "Status of life cannot be confirmed at this time."
"What?!"
Sitterson, the project lead, strode to the console, his brow furrowed. "What the hell happened? Put the Ogre's surveillance footage from the last few days on the main screen!"
"Retrieving now..."
The screen flickered a few times before the video began to play.
It showed the Ogre stalking a young girl in the forest, the start of the hunt, and then a blurred figure descending from the sky as the Ogre was brutally slaughtered.
The final frame froze on the face of an Asian youth, smiling as he greeted the camera.
The screen went black.
Sitterson stared at the young man's face on the screen and asked, "Who is this? Do we have data on this individual in our database?"
The researcher beside him hammered away at the keyboard.
A moment later, an encrypted file popped up.
"Found him. Sephirot... Wait! He is..."
When he saw the silver-haired middle-aged man carrying a greatsword in the files, Sitterson's pupils constricted violently.
"Dammit! Why him?"
"Lock down all surveillance access for the site. Reclassify Sephirot's file as top secret, archive it with individual encryption, and list him as an extremely dangerous target."
"But the experimental data on the Ogre..."
"Forget that man-eating idiot!"
Sitterson waved his hand irritably, looking at the blood-red countdown on the main screen.
"This year's sacrificial ritual is the priority. Has the list of sacrifices been confirmed? There can be no mistakes; our subsequent research results depend on it."
"As for this guy... leave him be for now. Do not provoke him."
—--
On the road leading to Poho County.
A pickup truck that looked like it had survived a war rumbled along the highway, looking as if it might fall apart at any moment.
"Static... This is Jack Taggart. We are on East Route 9... requesting back-up."
In the driver's seat, Jack held the walkie-talkie, his voice exhausted as he reported to the police.
In the back of the pickup, Sephirot lay on the flatbed with one hand tucked behind his head, watching the stars in the night sky. His other hand tossed the Ogre's heart up and down, not because of some bizarre fetish, but because he was reviewing the system's description.
[Ancient Demon Essence (Regeneration) ×1]
[Residual essence of an ancient being. Collect specific sacrifices. May be used for bloodline breakthrough.]
"Bloodline... breakthrough?"
Sephirot's expression turned slightly subtle. Did this mean he had to collect materials to overcome a bottleneck?
Why did this feel like playing a cultivation game? And the protagonist being raised was himself?
"Forget it, I'll deal with it later."
He tossed the strange heart into Silent Hill and ignored it.
He continued checking the information.
[Main Quest: The Ogre's Feast]
[Completed]
[Reward: 2000 points credited]
[Bloodline awakening increased to: 3%]
This time, no supernatural phenomena occurred like they had during the first awakening.
Sephirot simply felt a warm current surge through his body, restoring his magic power, which had been somewhat overextended from the journey and the battle, back to its peak, with a slight increase in his total capacity.
Conversely, a wave of joyful emotion emanated from Alessa within him.
[Acquired Talent Skill: Royal Guard. Uses magic power to strengthen the body, significantly negating damage when struck.]
Sephirot looked at this information, lost in thought.
In the original games, didn't Royal Guard also include Perfect Block?
Timing the block exactly at the moment of impact to absorb damage and then release it.
Although the system's description didn't mention it, the Real World wasn't a game; he could entirely deduce the subsequent applications of the skill himself.
For instance: Just Release, Air Block...
He already knew the developmental direction for Royal Guard; deducing the subsequent techniques was merely a matter of time.
Just like during his dash earlier, he had a sudden inspiration to forcefully combine and burst forth with Air Hike and Trick Actions, managing to figure out a high-mobility technique like Sky Star on his own.
Even if he hit a snag midway, at worst, he could just shell out some points to exchange for the skills then.
The only drawback was that it consumed quite a bit of magic power.
Feeling the magic power that had just been restored within him, Sephirot curled his lip.
Finally, Sephirot looked at his point balance: [4200].
Although this mission had granted him 2000 points, he didn't intend to exchange them for any items yet.
He planned to save up 10,000 points in one go to exchange for a handy Devil Arm.
He had already picked out his desired Devil Arm long ago...
[Devil Arm: Alastor]
[Price: 10,000 points]
[The incarnation of the Spirit of Thunder, an ancient devil sword with its own consciousness. It grants the wielder lightning speed and unparalleled flight capabilities.]
[Note: This Devil Arm possesses an arrogant personality; non-Sparda bloodline wielders will suffer a backlash.]
Sephirot looked at the description of the Devil Arm and remembered the scene of its debut.
The moment it appeared, the sword impaled Dante straight through. Back then, following behind Dante, he had been so terrified he'd almost finished writing his will.
Moreover, the aspect of this sword that made him most envious was its flight capability.
Though the flight ability could only be unlocked in Devil Trigger state, just imagine: a cool-looking ancient devil sword that not only dealt explosive damage but could also carry you through the sky, who could refuse that?
Furthermore, the blood flowing through his veins belonged to the Sparda bloodline. As a literal Demon Knight, how could he go without a sword?!
Sephirot let out a quiet sigh. "I'm still too poor..."
(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.
SOURCE UNIVERSES
The Cabin in the Woods — A 2012 meta-horror film. Its central premise: a shadowy underground organization orchestrates ritualistic monster attacks on groups of unsuspecting victims every year in order to appease ancient deities known as the Ancient Ones, who will rise and destroy humanity if the ritual is not completed on time. The organization classifies and manages dozens of monsters, each given a codename, which it deploys against selected targets under controlled conditions. The "cabin in the woods" that gives the film its name is a decoy, a surface-level set piece concealing the real operation happening hundreds of feet below.
CHARACTERS
Sitterson — A senior operations manager at the Security and Containment Center, responsible for running the annual sacrificial ritual. Bureaucratic and darkly casual about what amounts to organized mass murder, he treats the operation like a high-stakes corporate project. His immediate alarm at Sephirot's file, followed by a decision to stand down, signals that the facility recognizes threats it is not equipped to handle.
PLACES
Security and Containment Center — The secret underground facility hidden beneath the cabin. It houses and monitors the classified creatures used in the ritual, tracks them via embedded surveillance devices, and manages the logistics of each year's sacrifice through a countdown displayed on its main screens. The Ogre was one of its assets, outfitted with a pinhole camera for live observation.
CONCEPTS
The Sacrificial Ritual — The facility's core mission. Each year, a specific group of victims must be killed by monsters in a particular order to satisfy the requirements of the Ancient Ones. The victims must fulfill five archetypal roles: the Whore, the Athlete, the Scholar, the Fool, and the Virgin. Sitterson's line about confirming "the list of sacrifices" refers to locking in which individuals will fill these roles. The blood-red countdown visible on the facility's main screen marks the deadline by which the ritual must be completed. Failure means the end of the world.