Custom Made Demon King

"This is…" Dante held the glass of strawberry sundae and looked at Rodin in confusion.

"I've heard of you, Dante!" Rodin's deep voice sounded. But under the cover of his sunglasses, his expression could not be seen clearly. "Descendant of the Dark Knight Sparda, Child of Taboo, expert in hunting demons. It's our first time meeting. Welcome to the Gates of Hell. This is on me!"

"Uh…" Dante was a little speechless, but then he raised the glass and said, "Thank you!"

Then Rodin looked at Vergil, Nero, and Sareth. "What about you? What would you like?"

"You know Dante, you know that he likes strawberry sundaes, but you don't know what we like?" Nero asked with interest while walking forward.

Rodin took a puff of the cigar between his fingers and exhaled. "Sorry, with all due respect, Dante is the most famous person in the Demon World. As for you guys, you haven't reached the level of being famous in the Demon World yet…"

Okay, this reason was very reasonable. Nero was speechless for a moment. He could only ask for two mugs of beer for himself and Vergil before sitting down at the bar.

"What about me? I want to drink too!" Sareth was eager to try. Of course, he knew about the alcohol of the human world, but he had never tasted any before. This time, he finally had a chance.

However, Rodin placed a glass of white liquid in front of him. "This is your milk! Brat, didn't your parents tell you? You can't drink underage!"

"Pfft!" Looking at Sareth's black face, Dante and the others laughed.

"Hey, aren't you a demon?!" Sareth said angrily. "A demon still obeys human laws?"

Rodin took a puff of his cigar and grinned. "Human laws are bullshit to me, but I just don't want you to drink alcohol. Is there a problem?"

Sareth had nothing to say. He could not fight Rodin just because he did not want him to drink alcohol, right? So he could only gloomily drink his milk. At the same time, he swore in his heart that he had to grow up quickly. Otherwise, he would always look like a child and not be able to do anything…

Only then did everyone finally get to the main topic. Dante said to Rodin, "Since you've prepared the strawberry sundae, did you already expect that Bayonetta would bring us?"

Rodin did not answer this question directly. He only grinned and said, "In fact, even if you didn't come here, I would have found a way to get Bayonetta to find you. The movements of the Demon World and Heaven are so big now that anyone who isn't blind can see them. Of course, I'm no exception."

"Rodin, are you saying that I'm blind?" Bayonetta asked in a dangerous tone.

"You live in the human world, so of course you don't know these things since it has nothing to do with you!" Rodin explained. He then asked Dante and the others, "I heard that Sparda is back?"

"Yes!" Dante nodded. "Demon Osiris saved the old man. He is now the current ruler of the Demon World."

Rodin tapped his fingers on the counter lightly. "Demon Osiris… To be honest, I've never heard this name before. He shouldn't be from the Demon World, right?"

"Indeed, he came from the Abyss…" Dante said. "It's said that it's the true home of demons."

"The demons of the Abyss… They're becoming stronger and stronger!" Rodin sighed. "I know why you're here, but have you thought about it? Now that the spatial channel has opened, the Eternal War between Heaven and the Demon World will break out at any moment. Even if I help you find Mundus's soul and let you capture him, how will this war end? You should know that the war between angels and demons won't stop because Mundus was caught."

"I know. As long as the spatial channel is still around, this war can't be stopped unless the channel is sealed again!" Dante said. "The reason why my father chose to support Osiris was in exchange for the promise of sealing the channel. Osiris promised my father that after taking back the Ouroboros Marks from Mundus, he would let my father seal the channel and end this war."

"Is that so…" Rodin rubbed his chin in thought.

At this moment, Vergil suddenly asked Rodin, "I heard that you were an angel in the past. Why did you fall and become a demon?"

"This has nothing to do with you!" Rodin glanced at Vergil.

"It has nothing to do with me. But what I'm more curious about is why you care so much about whether this war can end." Vergil sneered. "Are you looking at the problem from the perspective of an angel or a demon? Logically speaking, the war between angels and demons shouldn't have much to do with you, right?"

Vergil's words were not polite at all, causing the scene to become a little tense.

Rodin snorted coldly. "Hmph. What do you know? Do you think this war is only a matter between Heaven and the Demon World? Wrong. If they're not careful, the entire twin world system, including the human worlds on both sides, will be destroyed!"

"Is it that serious?" Bayonetta asked curiously.

It was not only her. In fact, Dante and the others had always felt that this war was a problem between angels and demons. As humans, they secretly hoped that the angels and demons would fight until both sides suffered heavy losses. This way, at least for a long time, the angels and demons would no longer have the ability to interfere with the affairs of the human world.

It was undeniable that the existence of demons had a great influence on the human world in the Devil May Cry world. In the same way, the existence of angels also had a great influence on the human world in the Bayonetta world. These two mythical races had affected the development of humans, and deviations would unavoidably arise. Especially Dante, he had been deeply moved during this time because he felt that Osiris was right. Several disasters in the human world were actually caused by the two brothers. Urizen, who had separated from Vergil, had caused countless human casualties.

Sometimes, Dante thought that if they were not half-demons or the sons of Sparda and no longer pursued powerful demon powers, and if there were no demons in this world, would these tragedies still happen…

If the angels and demons could stop all activities and lie low for a while after the Eternal War, it might be a good thing for humans… This was Dante's current thought.

But from what Rodin said, it seemed that things were not as simple as they thought.

Hearing Bayonetta's question, Rodin nodded. "Actually, I can roughly guess what Balder and Mundus want to do."

"Oh? Tell us about it!" Dante and the others sat up straight and waited for the information from Rodin.

"You said before that Mundus plundered the soul marks of all the demons in the entire Demon World, including the new demons from the Abyss. Is that so?" Rodin asked.

Dante nodded. "Yes, precisely because of this, Demon Osiris took action to deal with Mundus with my father. Otherwise, there would have actually been no enmity between him and Mundus."

"This secret technique of plundering soul marks should have been told to Mundus by Balder!" Rodin poked the counter with his finger. "As a Lumen Sage, Balder has the authority to read some of the knowledge of Heaven. And this secret technique comes from the 'Book of Radiance', which is only circulated among ancient angels. Originally, it was a special ritual developed by angels to fight against powerful demon kings. It can condense the soul marks of many angels and allow a high-level angel to obtain a temporary promotion…"

"W-wait!" Sareth hurriedly asked when he heard this, "You mean that angels also have soul marks?"

"Of course!" Rodin looked at Sareth strangely. "This is common sense. Don't tell me you think only demons receive the protection of the Ouroboros Mark?"

"Uh… what is the soul mark of angels?" Sareth asked curiously.

Rodin stretched out a finger and drew a circle in the air. "It's very simple. It's the same Ouroboros Mark!"

"Huh?! The same?!" Sareth was shocked. "How is this possible?"

"I'm not lying to you! It's indeed the same Ouroboros Mark. Moreover, if you can see this mark, you'll understand that the Ouroboros Marks of angels and demons are completely identical!" Rodin said with certainty.

"This is really… This is the first time I've heard this!" Dante said in astonishment.

Rodin sneered. "No angel or demon would talk about the Ouroboros Mark everywhere, so humans naturally don't know about this. Moreover, apart from the Ouroboros Mark being exactly the same, you probably don't know that this mark contains one of the greatest secrets!"

"What is it?" Everyone, including Bayonetta, looked at Rodin and waited for him to explain.

In fact, Rodin did not want to reveal it. But looking at everyone's expressions, he felt that if he did not say it, numerous guns would be pointed at his head at the same time… So after thinking about it, he said, "This secret is that the Ouroboros Marks of angels and demons can be fused together!"

"What?!" Everyone was stunned when they heard this.

"How is this possible?! Are you saying that angels and demons share the same root and origin?!" Nero said excitedly. "This is ridiculous!"

Rodin pressed his hands against the counter. "I didn't say that. I just said that the marks can be fused!"

While explaining, Rodin projected a group of light in the air and presented an image of the Ouroboros Mark. "Look carefully. This is what the mark looks like after fusing."

In the light, two small ring-shaped snakes were biting their own tails and slowly spinning. But when the two snakes got close to each other, they unexpectedly untied and changed from biting their own tails into biting each other's tails. Originally, this should have only formed a larger ring, but as the two snakes twisted their bodies, an extremely familiar pattern appeared.

[∞]…

This was the symbol for infinity! And its other name was…

Möbius strip!