Chapter 713: [Meeting at Night]

“Master?!”

As Allen and Vergil stared at each other, glaring, suddenly at this moment, a figure burst out in the room, along with the strong gust of wind.

Both men turned towards the window that was suddenly opened, and saw Asmodeus, looking panicky while surveying the entire room.

When Asmodeus caught the second figure, her expression paled.

“Good Evening~”

Vergil grinned like a neighbor-next-door coming to visit.

“Master Vergil?!”

Asmodeus exclaimed in shock and her aura suddenly burst out, her figure appeared behind Allen—

However,

“Stop,”

Allen’s voice stops her before Asmodeus could do anything.

“He’s just a specter, a projection… he’s not really here. You should be able to see through it if you calm down, Asmodeus,” he said gently.

“Overprotective as always, I’m jealous,”

Vergil grinned.

“However, having such foolishness will only make one weak…a wimp. So I ask you, Asmodeus, to behave…”

The eyes of the Great Demon Prince narrowed in annoyance. Immediately after, an invisible pressure came out from him, and Asmodeus suddenly felt her body turned stiff, petrified and she fell on the ground, breathing rapidly and her complexion pale.

Her expression was as if an entire mountain was bearing down on her.

If she was not Asmodeus, the Prince of Lust, she would have fainted a long time ago!

“Enough,”

Allen’s voice rang out at this moment. Then, the pressure immediately vanished in thin air, saving Asmodeus from a long suffering.

“I almost forgot, even without your physical body, as long as you can talk, you can still use [King’s Rule]… nasty little bastard. Though, I warn you not to use it on my companions, Vergil… especially in front of me, or you have hell to pay,”

His gaze narrowed coldly.

“Oh so serious…”

As if feeling nothing from Allen's warning, Vergil chuckled in amusement while leaning carefreely on the chair.

“That’s why you will never be truly strong, brother… a man’s life is his own. You cannot rely on other people, or it will make you weak!”

Vergil muttered with a mocking gaze.

“Emotions make a man weak…it is a burden…”

“And a burden I would never cast away…”

Allen cut him off.

“That’s what I don’t like about you, brother…”

Vergil smiled wryly. Then, he suddenly stood up, Asmodeus became vigilant but the two brothers ignored her as under her shock, Vergil kneeled on the floor with one knee, just in front of Allen. He was like a Knight kneeling in front of his King.

“You’re too sentimental. You would never hate me, knowing what I had done to you out of envy and malice, and resentment, when none of it was your fault at all and you had given nothing to me, but kindness and familial love. Such actions merits love in return, but knowing that I would still stand against you… the very enemy of Dante, my very own brother…” he muttered respectfully.

“… …”

“…still, I won’t apologize, you know, for that is our fate- oh, cruel fate,”

Vergil smiled wryly.

“I know, that’s the kind of person you are…”

Allen smiled in response. But his smile was different from before. This time, it was soft and gentle, like an elder brother looking at his mischievous little brother who had done wrong. Forgiving.

“Besides, don’t you think asking for forgiveness is already too late, Vergil…and just like you said, I had never hated you…nor detested you. You are a part of me, and if I hated you, it would mean that I had hated myself…”

"... ..."

“I’m done hating myself…as if I did it, it would be like trampling those who had loved myself, even with all this imperfectness…”

Allen heaves a sigh of helplessness. He poured wine on his glass and poured it all on his throat, feeling the searing heat.

Vergil shook his head, “And that is why…”

“No, I never wanted power, Vergil…”

Allen cut him off.

“Power for me is just a tool to obtain what I wanted. And that would never change…if I can discard this power for a comfortable life with those people who I loved, I would not hesitate to do it… but sadly, there is no such convenient exchange in this world. If I wanted to have such a beautiful ending, then, I need to work hard for it… and rely on this power to reach the finale I wanted… that’s what I had learned these past thousand years, and living countless lifetimes,.”

“… …”

“And being sentimental makes one weak? Probably, you are right. But it is fine, as it what’s makes me human. Men don’t reason with their minds, Vergil… that is something you would never truly understand. Unless you try becoming one, as well!”

“I’ll pass on that,”

Vergil smiled wryly.

Allen knows, that Vergil had never had an enormous affection for anyone, for he felt that over affection was a weakness, as well as an insult to others and condescension.

He didn’t believe in ‘warmth’ which, in his views, was only something you extended only to a beloved dog or cat, or, in more specific term; A pet. But that is why, despite having humanistic emotions, due to his dislike to the race, he cast it away…

But that is a mistake.

“… Men reason with their guts, their emotions. That is why the world is what it is. You are not an exception, even though you said you don’t feel anything… are you?”

Allen grinned tauntingly.

Vergil didn't deny but his lips arched into a cold grin; “…but that is why I took your kindness and benevolence and all that went with it, brother. But because you are the King and I am the shadow, I think I hated you, while at the same time, I liked and respected you, and was your closest ally. Complicated isn’t it?”

“Not very,” said Allen with a faint smile.

“We’re pretty ambiguous existence, more complicated than humans, and all at once, I’m beginning, halfway, to believe in the dogma of original sin. That, something cannot be helped, that no matter what we did, where it starts, it all depends on that…very sin.”

“… …”

Allen twirled the wine glass in his hand, staring at it with a gaze full of melancholia.

“And so, the words, ‘Hate the sin, not the sinner’ existed…because of that very own Dogma.”

It was absurd, but a fraction of an old prayer Allen had learned as a child came to him as if spoken aloud; “…And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us.”

A lovely sentiment but unrealistic and, in a way, snide.

If you don’t forgive an appalling crime against you, and one which might have caused your death if it had been successful, then you won’t be forgiven your tiny venial sins, either.

A crazy notion—an unfair principle of man, thought Allen with harsh amusement.

Justice in a rational world should always be a measure for measure.

And that is what, not only Vergil but also Allen believes.

‘An eye for an Eye, Tooth for a Tooth...that the debt of blood must be paid with blood.’

If Allen was to ask to forgive the sons of bitches for the worst offenses against you and not only forgive them but ask they be forgiven, too, he would surely flip, inside out. He would become crazy.

That was doubtless alright for Christians, but men are not God…

And Allen cannot be said to be a believer of a Benevolent God as he too was a part Demon, and that would never change.

Despite understanding the notion within, but for Allen, it was against reason and logic, and above all, against human nature.

Allen would never obey such a selfless ideal.

But to Vergil, Allen cannot hate him for similar reasons…

Vergil smiled wryly as he stood up and returned to his chair.

“You know, I would surely laugh at you if you are another person that had spouted those words, brother.”

He smiled at him affectionately.

“If you were a fool, I could understand. But you aren’t. Well, not much anyway…even still, I won’t try to attempt to understand your ideals, Brother… You are the light, the one stands at the ‘Ideal’ of the world, while I... I will always be the shadow that desires, ‘Truth’…so, our battle will always come…this our fate, one that had been written in scripts ever since we were born."

Vergil said with a faint smile.

"...though I’m pretty thankful you’ve worked hard to reach this stage…you’ve made me proud...and all of your predecessors. They should at least see you as a role model,”

Allen turned silent for a moment, then suddenly he sighs, “As I thought… you are Lucifer…Vergil, or at least, a fraction of his soul…aren’t you?”

Vergil was not surprised, instead, he grinned as if he had been expecting his question, “How did you notice?”

“You’re not going to deny it?”

“…nope, there’s no meaning. This is the endgame,”

Vergil replied.

“However, I am Lucifer, at the same time not. Just like you are Solomon, at the same not as well. A part of Lucifer’s soul made it possible for me to manifest in reality. If not, me becoming Vergil would be deemed impossible as I have no real soul to manifest in the first place. It's not reason or logic, it's just how the Helix of Life was formed. Without a soul, there would be no vessel to be created. And without a soul, Vergil would not be able to exist. Isn't that also the same with you, who had made use of the soul of a God to reborn.”

“… …”

“However, even if I said that it’s just a fraction of Lucifer’s soul…hence, I am not Lucifer, at the very least, I don’t want to admit it. I am still Vergil…the Great Demon Prince of Absolute Evil...!”

He smirked and spread his arms as if announcing his presence to all.

“When the time we fell in Hell, Lucifer made use of the thing known as sin to reflect and manifest me, Vergil…in fact, you as well, brother, you also have the same part of his soul, hidden deep within you.”

“So as I thought, the last key of Lucifer’s seal is me…huh,”

Allen nodded his head, his words not asking instead affirming his suspicion.

Vergil smiled, “I knew you would get it. However, that is not all actually…”

“…??”

“…you are needed, no, probably both of us are needed because… we share the same blood as him. Our flesh and blood are needed to completely revive the Demon King from his eternal slumber…”

Vergil grinned.

“And I believe you don’t know why, right…? After all, Lucifer is our uncle,”

“Was it because my soul is that of…Epimetheus?”

“So you also realized this as well?”

Vergil stared surprised, for the first time, at Allen.

“But that should not be possible; after all, your memories should not be able to return…how did you?”

“One or two blurry memories are enough to confirm suspicions. And also, it’s not like I didn’t have a rather idle time to wonder about myself…after all, unlike you, dear brother, I had believed all my life that I was a mortal, in an ordinary world without any existence of magic and sorcery.”

“… …”

“Then, it all happened. And then, I learned that I was the incarnation of Solomon, but the Solomon in my world is just an ordinary man, probably a bit wiser than normal, but only in legends and myths would he be depicted as someone supernatural… that is also the reason why I was able to realize that I am not the true Solomon…but an incarnation of myth and legends about him. This is also greatly attributed to the fact that the world I came from was the exact replica of the original world. A World created by the One True God. It should be the closest to the original timeline."

"In this case, after learning all about Gods and Divinities in the archives of different God Clans, I was able to ascertain several things…leading me to think that Epimetheus was me and that Lucifer was Prometheus, was my brother…at least, to Solomon that is…”

“Well, I don’t want to think of him as my brother though…”

Vergil shrugs.

“I share your sentiment… and Epimetheus had already long disappeared, replaced by Solomon…even some of his myths and legends had mostly been forgotten. The fool becoming the wise and vice-versa…”

Allen sighs sorrowfully.

“Gods indeed do not die… their only true death is to be forgotten for all eternity…”

“Epimetheus died…but a new one was born…”

“You’re making me melancholic~”

Vergil smiled mischievously.

“As Epimetheus was a Greek, Melancholy was highly esteemed by the Greeks.”

Allen grinned with a smug expression.

“Don’t underestimate it. Did you ever see a fool who was depressed, really depressed? No. Melancholy and all the other mental ills seem the prerogative of the intelligent. You’ve got to know the world to conclude you can’t stand it.”

“Were you such a misanthrope?”

Vergil smiled faintly.

“I thought that was my aspect…”

“You mean after we were separated…? Well, don’t use euphemisms on me. Yes, I think even after you and I separated from each other, I was always a misanthrope to some extent. Well, I guess that’s human nature as well…and even with the Original Sin, as a human being, I was still affected by it…not becoming pure and holy such as the Mother Mary. If not, I would have been the Virgin equivalent to the Mother of God. But I am… in fact, I am still a demon.” he said with a great amusement.

The Virgin Allen... that seemed interesting as well.

But sadly, [Virgin] is the farthest word to describe him, as all of his manifestations have all been amorous men. Him, included.

“Hahahaha, I guess you’re right…”

Vergil laughed.

“Besides, I just can't imagine you being as pure and holy as the Virgin Mother. That is why despite being weak and lowly, humans are always the most complicated existence, the beloved of all creations by the One True God, and the envy of all Celestials~”

Allen paused for a moment, and then suddenly, said; “… you won’t say, don’t come or you’ll die…?”

Vergil laughed as he slumped into the air—

“Fate is inevitable, brother. Even if you won’t go, you’re only delaying it…more so, with what's happening on the surface."

"... ..."

"This world has no future…You’re already checkmated. It’s go or die already, don’t you think?”

“… …”

“It’s already late to think of running away, right brother? After all, even you would never think you would be able to outrun the world forever.”

Vergil smiled faintly.

“...running away, till you will be the last one standing. Not much of a problem, huh. However, you know, the problem with being the last of anything, is by and by there'll be none left at all."

"Sometimes things come back, brother. We're living proof, you and me."

"Ahh, but that's a gamble of long odds, ain't it? There's never a guarantee of coming back, but passing on, that's dead certain."

Vergil grinned helplessly.

“..And besides, I’m waiting for you, brother… let’s finished what had started a long time ago…!”

“…but this time I won’t hold back,”

Allen declared.

“It’s payback time…!”

“…it’s the last showdown, brother…”

Vergil replied with a similar smile.

“We’ll be changing history…”

… …