Devil May Cry - No Longer Human

8 - A Mother's Wish

A sound. A sort of whimper that could could hardly be heard resonated with him strongly, the voice of a women pleading. For what reason? "....up..."

"....wake...."

The sound of his heartbeat began to pulse loudly from the recognition of the voice.

"Wake up, Joshua!"

He focused his sights in the direction of the sound. "Mum..." the silhouette he saw across the distance only caused him to recognise such figure to it being his mother and the boy immediately began to run towards her.

"...You must...Survive..."

A force halted him from going further before it started to pull him away, no amount of struggling aided in his body being pushed back even further before everything once more became dark. "No, WAIT!"

XXX

"Mum!" The boy jolted up from unconsciousness. The sensation of a slime like texture was felt when he tried to get up using the closest wall as a crutch to get up. His eyes stung from the sudden brightness and began to allow his vision to adjust to the light and focus onto what was in front of him.

It smelled disgusting just being here. Why was he here in the first place? Shaking his head as he let go of the slimy wall he was using to stand up, he felt pain from the side of his neck and noticed it to be bleeding. The [Barrier] had taken too much damage and caused several fractures to be visible.

The sudden flash of memory of reaching the top of the tower before being attacked from behind by the one who stole his arm before being eaten by something large. His hand trembled, the slimy substance dripping through his hand. So close. Joshua was so close to the answer towards this whole thing. Then that monster, that demon appeared once more and ruined it.

'....MINE~.....'

"Yours?" He clenched his fist as his magic began boil across his perimeter due to his growing anger. His vein becoming more visible on the boy's face while it twitched as if ready to burst out of his skin. The feeling of his stomach asking for food seem to have increased. He was using his magic rashly yet Joshua gave no actual care to his stomach's growl. As if his sudden built anger was an indication, the appearances of demons he had now constantly encountered, with scythes being their common weapon, entered with the air cracking into existence.

The screech and howls they produced did not cause a reaction to Joshua at all as he continued to look at his trembling hand. "Yours...." The demons stalked towards the stilled child as one raised its weapon. The boy still did not move even as it struck him from the back and cleaved the shield he wore for protection to his back and split the tool in half in one swoop.

A small amount of blood seeped away from his back but the damage was less fatal than what the boy was expecting from the strength a demon would usually have. Perhaps it was the combination of his [Barrier] still around the shield itself which had allowed the metal to endure enough for the cut to his back to only be minimal at best even if his current magic ability was at the moment still weak.

Nevertheless, the demon had dealt first blood which caused the other demons to follow along and began to ready themselves, before they stopped prematurely. "Damn you!!!" The sudden force of magic was felt to the demons, forcing them to step back as the boy finally turned around to face them. His bloodshot eyes, mucus and blood covering his whole being, not showing whether it was his own or some other kind of demons.

Joshua's gaze was blurry to anyone who thoroughly checked, yet the demons could not comprehend the amount of magic power that washed out from the child even if it was typically normal.