Devil May Cry: Witch of Fortuna

13. Kidnapped

"Ouch... My head is killing me!"

Nico woke up with a headache. Her last memories were being knocked up by a demon. Despite being kidnapped, she relieved that she was alive. The mechanic stood up only to find herself locked in confinement. Her prison was a cage with a steel bar on a cart. There were two masked people guarded her against escaping. Nico was sure none of these guards was human. She could see a wide opera stage from the wide glasses window in the room.

The voice of a lovely woman filled the place. The singer stood at the center of the stage. She has an hourglass figure, a skin with vanilla tone and short caramel brown hair. The long dress made her body more endowed. Nico heard a loud sound of clapping after the song was over. She squinted her eyes, everyone in that room wore masks. This must be some sort of hidden meeting.

The singer finally spoke. Her voice was jazzy. "Welcome to Sabbath! Your wish will come true here. We would like to thank everyone for attending this event. As usual, we would choose one person to have their wish fulfilled."

After hearing this, the crowd was loud. All of them wanted to be the pick. Fortuna received many tourists recently, but Nico did not expect this.... Sort of, she knew a place with weird religion would have another cult.

A person brought a box filled with numbers. The beautiful masked lady pulled a paper from it. She looked at the number and smiled. "Today the lucky number is... one hundred three!"

A woman who Nico assumed was number one hundred three got up to the stage. She was your typical elder woman, white hair, wrinkles all around her face, saggy skin and hunched back. That person walked slowly to the stage with a cane. Nico watched the whole thing without a blink.

The masked woman asked her to wish, "Tell me, what is your desire?"

"I want to return to my youth again, to be young and beautiful again."

She smiled. "Your wish will come true."

The masked lady touched the old woman. Like magic, the woman age regressed. Her grey-white hair turned blonde, her wrinkle had gone, her skin became smooth and she stood up straight without a cane. The spectators were clapping in amazement. The curtain fell down after the performance ended.

The guards finally lurched, making her jumped in surprise. They pushed the cart and moved the cage out of the room. "Wait, where are we going?"

They did not answer her question. Nico and the guards arrived behind the stage. She met the masked woman and lady number one hundred three. For some reason, that lucky guest had an empty look on her face.

The masked person greeted her. "How is your sleeping? We're sorry for the lack of accommodation."

"Don't worry. I'll be grateful if you let my ass out of here."

"Oh, where is my manner. Take her out from there."

The guards opened the cage and freed her. Nico raised her eyebrow when they let her out. They knew she could not escape easily from the place. Before Nico could speak, the guest screamed in pain. Multiple spikes burst from her body. Nico had to shut herself from screaming. After several minutes of agony, the woman had died from over bleeding.

"Tch. It's another failure. Well, at least I won't worry about dinner."

She opened her mask. Her red eyes pupil hinted her demon side. Nico stepped back in shock, recognizing that person. She was the new upcoming solo singer, Rau. There was a demon among human.

"I'm sorry you have to see that. If someone could not handle being possessed, they ended up dying." She bowed down gracefully. "My name is Alraune."

"You're the one behind it? But you are-"

"A human? No, darling. I'm just good at acting. I was an artificial demon in the past. I gained a sense and more power after eating several demons and humans. Then I thought to myself, why settled down for a servant? I don't need to return to hell, my life was nothing to them. I could surpass Mundus or even Sparda in here. Alas, Son of Sparda defeated me."

"Is that why you poison, Vergil?"

The demon looked surprised but then laughed wickedly. "Ah, it was such a nice moment. My real target was the younger son of Sparda. He was an obstacle to my plan. I thought the older brother was still under Mundus' influence, so I was surprised to see him covered his brother. It was a nuisance because now I had to face powerful enemies. I could handle the quarter child, but the direct bloodline of Sparda was too much for me."

Alraune pulled the best melancholic expression she could. "I spent years as a human because I'm powerless. One day, some of my magic returned. However, I am nowhere as powerful as my prime day. After a few investigations, I found the orb was missing. Half of it possessed the other demons. I used this opportunity to enslave a few humans on my own. Sure I got weaker in process, but it was part of the plan. A demon hunter would be forced to stop them and collect all parts of the broken orb. If I can get the whole orb, my power will return."

Nico just noticed the transformation resembled Ascension Ceremony in her father's files. They obtained the power through research of Hell Gate and fragments of Dark Angel. However, Alraune way was more direct. She used part of her crystalize power and forced demon possession. A weak person would die, but a stronger person transformed into a strong false demon. Because all of them under her order, they all lose their sanity.

"Then why did you kidnap me? I'm sure it's not for a bait."

"Well, aren't you a smart one." Alraune walked to a machine covered in clothes. She opened it and revealed something familiar. Nico saw the same similar mechanism on her father's document. It was a machine to make an artificial demon.

"You see, I was the one who created the underground lab under Fortuna castle. I used it to make a new demon or made myself stronger. My research halted when I was defeated. However, humans discovered it and continued with even better progress. Then I found out about your father and his skill. He died, but her daughter possessed the same ability. This one is broken, but I figure up you can fix it."

"Well, I don't work free."

Alraune did not appreciate her attitude. One of the false demons came to her after she flicked her finger. The next thing Nico saw was the demon's arm being ripped with pure force like nothing. Alraune threw then stepped on it like nothing. Nico now terrified.

"Work if you don't want to lose your arm."