Vergil tore his attention from the floating screen and glanced upwards. The glittering sunlight along the edges of the building brought a sense of peace. But one invisible string tugged back of his mind.
The pull was weak, but he noticed it and his attention renewed the strength of the strings pull.
And it broke... With it, the veil of cunning tampering did too.
"Wait...nothing here makes sense, none at all!!" Vergil exclaimed in fidget horror. The shadow, its puppets...nothing made sense.
They had defeated a creature that had enslaved thousands of people. A creature beyond their imagination. But they won too easily.
" Too easy!" His voice already echoing loudly through the empty streets.
Vergil dug deeper into his mind.
He had killed those people enslaved by the shadow like cutting down branches. He killed many, lots of them. But how would he have fared against an undead? even the weakest one would be tough to kill and it was best to run than face a group of them.
The enslaved People were weak and pitifully so.
They couldn't compare to the undead.
The trail of doubt didn't end here...In the first place, why did they have to kill those people? The shadow didn't attack them except for pulling them into dreams.
But after escaping from the dream, they could have fled...But they didn't...such thought never appeared then.
And the biggest question of all - Why 'it' was there and why he didn't bother to question its presence!??
Vergil stood up with a dark realization. He suddenly turned and dashed inside the dark channel once again. He ran while his thoughts swirled.
He reached where the dark pillars were, now replaced by comical skeletal monuments of horror.
Seeing them his doubts were confirmed, he screamed at the top of his lungs
"It was you! HOLLOW JESTER!!!!!!"
Silence reigned through the space. And then all the skeletal statues turned their heads towards him and gave him what looked like a wide happy smile.
This time Vergil didn't shiver back, rather he watched them with fury seething deep down his eyes. It was the same being that was in the Slayer's memory.
What happened here was no coincidence nor luck. Only cold manipulation of the sickening being.
The Shadow was a powerful entity, so powerful that scant few existed in a place like this. He had heard a voice when he killed the shadow.
[You have slain - Profane Keeper]
The shadow was not something a mortal was supposed to kill or survive.
The being that called himself Hollowed Jester made it possible. Offering the Shadow on a silver platter.
"It was him" Vergil muttered in between his ragged breaths " He made the shadow not harm us and by putting the magic of subtle illusion he made us go through it"
That's why he had come up with such an idea of killing everyone to weaken the shadow. And the reason both Hector and Nora yielded to do so effortlessly.
"Meaningless" He uttered " The lives they took held no meaning, the people died meaninglessly, just like how their effort was meaninglessly crafted by an unseen hand" With a sour taste Vergil left, the skeletal figures watching his small back leave.
...
Hector and Nora, were awake and sitting with brooding faces.
"Hey" Vergil called.
They turned towards him, their face told him that they need answers.
Vergil halted and gave a thought before speaking in a flat tone " I killed the shadow and...I dragged you hear"
"Just like that" Nora asked.
"Just like that...you both fell asleep..." he trailed off.
An awkward silence hung between them. Hector was the first to break it.
"Listen uhh...I am worried, Vergil. Did something happen in your dreams? You were not yourself that time"
"And how were you the only one who could hurt that thing??" Nora didn't bother to honey dip her words.
Hector was genuinely worried and Nora...she hid fear behind her confident mask, he concluded.
"Hector" Vergil began " Do you remember the night before that giant tree appeared"
"One we hunted the spider?"
"yes"
Hector scowled " The man we met..."
" Yes, Hector, that man or whatever he was. He passed on to me something"
"That darkness..." Hector's scowl deepened." so I didn't hallucinate"
"And it gave you some kind of power" Nora raised her brow questioningly.
" A soul. A Killers soul, that's what he gave me" Vergil locked his eyes with hers and unknowingly let out a murderous aura that made Nora step back in sweat.
A hand broke his gaze back, Hector grabbed Vergil's shoulder " It's making you murderous Vergil, more than you already are"
"What's that supposed to mean" Vergil winced.
"Well you were murderous, but you kept a cool head. I just don't want you to lose that cool, I don't think a killer can make other more of a killer than he already is~" Hector grinned knowingly, which left Vergil gobsmacked and couldn't refuse.
He didn't want to accept that but he was close to being a killer. That's how he had survived and he wouldn't deny that.
With a sigh " We have to get back to Wayne" Vergil said, " He must be fidgeting like a rabbit by now, What will you do Nora?"
Nora seemed uncertain " My parents live in another city, I have nowhere else to go..." She sighed exasperatedly " As long as you can promise not to involve me in crazy things, well I can tag along"
"We will try not to" Vergil gave a strained smile.
The three left the quiet town, they walked all the way, hiding and occasionally encountering undead. No one talked on the way, in one way a subtle tension hung in the air. Vergil knew, just like him, Hector and Nora had earned an ability. And all three of them skillfully avoided the topic. Not because of caution, but rather their guilt of they acquired it.
Soon they reached where they had decided to meet up. "Wayne" Hector called, only his echoing voice answered him. Vergil and Hector immediately rushed to search the rooms of the building they were in. And in one these Hotel rooms, Wayne leaned in a corner, covered in blood he lay there unconscious.