Chapter Text
Centuries ago, Sparda rose against Mundus and fought for the human realm. Before he began the rebellion, he was the mentor of the twin demons, Baul and Modeus. The two brothers were taken in by Sparda when they were young. Sparda looked after them and taught them the way of the sword. Baul and Modeus proved themselves to be excellent swordsmen. Modeus, at one point, began seeing Sparda as some sort of father figure more than just a mentor.
Despite being polar opposites of each other, Baul and Modeus cared for one another. Baul kept his brother safe
Rumors circulated through the Underworld about how their skill with the sword was so great that thousands of demons fell to their blade in the matter of seconds. Baul and Modeus never cared for such rumors. Though it may have boosted Baul’s ego somewhat.
Because of their power and strength, Baul and Modeus were called demon lords; a rank given to some of the most powerful demons in the Underworld; under the demon king that is.
For Modeus, life was just simple like that; despite demons trying to challenge him. Sparring with Sparda and Baul, wandering the Underworld, learning about different types of demons… That was all he knew.
Then it all changed.
The rebellion happened.
Baul and Modeus never took part in it, instead sticking to the sidelines to see what was to come for the rebellion. Then Sparda sealed the Underworld through Temen Ni Gru. After the Underworld’s access to the human realm was sealed, Sparda… disappeared. The apprentices didn’t know where he was nor his fate. But regardless, they waited for their mentor to return.
Before the rebellion, Sparda, Baul and Modeus made a promise; to live true to their aspirations. Baul’s aspiration was to duel Sparda and surpass him and Modeus, his aspiration was to keep his brother safe. As a result, Modeus casted aside his sword, giving up swordsmanship if it meant protecting his brother and began following pacifism. He was already becoming disgusted by his own sword so this was another reason he chose to become a pacifist.
When Sparda never returned after years of waiting, Baul left to fight the strongest demons in order to become stronger than Sparda.
But Modeus? Modeus spent the years searching the Underworld for any trace of his missing mentor.
As Modeus traveled through the Underworld, he searched every crevice, every crater, every valley in hopes of finding Sparda, but… nothing. Did it mean-? No. No, he had to keep searching. He would not give up hope. After all, Sparda, in his eyes, was a father to him and his brother.
He didn’t know this but it would be 2000 years later when he would finally get answers about what happened to Sparda.
Modeus sat down on a large piece of rubble that lay about the part of the Underworld he was in to rest. The black haired demon never noticed it until he looked around that there were broken pillars around and ruins of buildings all around him. He wondered if this was a stronghold of some kind, withering away after so many years after the rebellion.
He sighed heavily and laid back on the large stone. If he had to confess, he hated it here. Demons vying to become the strongest demon in the Underworld, the constant bloody battles, all of it. Many demons call him weak for choosing pacifism over fighting for power. They even compared him to being human. Sometimes he wonders if being human or showing human-like emotions is the preferable thing to being a pacifistic demon.
He sighed again. He doubted even Baul was proud of choosing this way of life. He… he missed his older brother.
“Baul… brother… wherever you are, I hope you are doing well.” Modeus mumbled to himself. He curled up on his side, looking at his hands.
Sparda left to him, his teachings, his wisdom, and… part of his power. A grayish aura began to glow in Modeus’ hands and he shaped the aura into a ball of demonic energy. He smiled softly. Despite having these abilities for 2000 years, it was only recently that he figured out how to use the spectral demonic energies that came as a side effect. When he figured out how to manifest it, he wanted to show Baul but… he realized that his brother was not with him.
He frowned at the memory as he stared into the gray light. Staring at the ball of demonic energy was comforting to him, distracting him from the dismal skies of the Underworld. He sighed once more.
As far as he can remember, he’s never been in this part of the Underworld. He sighed before going back to laying on his back, staring up at the dark, fiery skies.
Being in the Underworld wasn’t doing him any good. Modeus dispelled the spectral energy as he sat up. It was time to move from the area before a demon or a pack ambushes him.
But then the grounds began to shake.
Modeus lost balance and dropped to the ground with a yelp, holding onto the piece of rubble that he was originally sitting on. The tremors were so powerful that it almost seemed as if the Underworld itself was beginning to fall apart. The tremors continued for a few moments before it began to calm. Modeus tentatively looked up, unsure of what had just happened.
"What… caused that?" He asked himself. It was then, when he looked up, that he noticed a hole in the Underworld's sky. Modeus' eyes widened. The veil between the human and demon worlds had been broken.
“Wh-what?” Modeus said in disbelief, “that could only mean-!”
No. Temen Ni Gru… the seal was broken. How? Why?! A horrified look began to dawn on his face. Modeus jumped to his feet and began to run towards the area of the Underworld that was under the hole in the sky. He knew it was foolish but he needed to figure out what caused the seal to break.
As he neared the area, he could see large gatherings of lesser demons; Hell Cainas, Sloth demons, Pride demons, all sorts. Modeus hid behind a broken stone wall that was near the gathering. He’d rather not be seen by said lesser demons. Though if they recall that he was an apprentice of Sparda, then they should know to back away. Hopefully.
Modeus peeked around the stone wall to observe the gathering.
"What are they waiting for?" he wondered, his orange eyes gazing upon the great number of demons.
He went to try to get a closer look… only to find himself falling through a portal that appeared beneath his feet. Modeus let out a terrified yell as he fell through, not knowing where it would take him.
Modeus continued falling through the spatial in-between until he landed on his back in a room covered in webs. He groaned in pain as he moved to sit up.
He froze when he heard the sounds of demonic hissing.
"Sssssistersss, we have a guessst."
Modeus looked above him and saw the owner of the voice and the voice’s companions.
"Arachne. What a pleasant introduction…" Modeus deadpanned. He hated these types of demons, a close second to Phantoms.
Modeus’ eyes scanned the ceiling where the Arachnes were perched. There were at least 4 of them in the room with him.
This must be their nest, Modeus thought as he took in the web covered room around him.
Modeus then jumped to his feet into a fighting stance. He didn’t want them to overwhelm him while he was down.
"Oh! Ssssister! Thissss one issssss one of Sssssparda's apprenticesss~." One of the Arachnes said.
"Hmm… what to do with him… this one doesn't do sssswordfighting anymore~."
Modeus breathed in and exhaled slowly. He raised his hand and began calling forth the power Sparda bestowed upon him. Using the demonic energy that he called forth, he shaped the energy into spectral swords, similar to an ability he saw Sparda use once.
“My sword isn’t the only thing I have, spider.” he said with a smirk.
He sent the spectral swords towards the Arachnes, causing them to jump out of the way and towards the ground. When one of the Arachne jumped towards him with scythe-like appendages slashing, Modeus leapt backwards to avoid the hit.
One of the other Arachne tried sneaking up from behind him but he rolled out of the way, sending another wave of spectral swords towards her. The sudden barrage severely wounded her, causing her to move behind her other sisters.
The other three Arachnes jumped around him, occasionally trying to swipe at him with their scythe-like front limbs from all sides. Fortunately for him, he was already naturally fast, quickly dodging their attacks. But the unfortunate side, he couldn’t keep this up forever. So he did something he hadn’t done in 2000 years.
Modeus grimaced and raised his hand toward the side and called forth his sword. His crimson sword shot out of the ground into his awaiting hand. It’s been more than 2000 years since he wielded his sword. In this situation, he is willing to break away from pacifism just this once. He brought the sword in front of him, feeling the familiar grip of the hilt once again.
"I might be a little rusty, but you messed with the wrong demon lord, demon." Modeus said before jumping up, and spun in the air while swinging his sword at an Arachne that perched herself on the adjacent wall.
The Arachne shrieked in pain as his sword cut off one of their limbs. Modeus dropped to the ground and jumped back as the other spider demons leapt towards him. The spiders swung their front limbs, in hopes to pierce the black demon but Modeus deflected their attacks with his sword.
Modeus covered his blade in his spectral demonic energy and swung it, releasing an energy slash towards the spider demons. Three of the Arachne dodged the attack but the energy slash managed to slice the severely wounded Arachne in half. The Arachne that was hit disintegrated into sand. The other Arachnes looked at what happened to their fellow demon in horror and let out a loud shriek, slightly disorienting Modeus.
"YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT, APPRENTICE OF SSSSSSPARDA!"
They took advantage of the slightly disoriented Modeus and shot out webbing at him, causing him to fall to the ground and lose his grip on his sword, partially immobilizing him. They shot their webbing multiple times to make sure he couldn’t get up.
Modeus could barely move under the webbing but he could still see where the demonic spiders were. The remaining three Arachnes went to finish the job when suddenly loud automated shots rang out in the room and what sounded like sword slashes, followed by the dying shrieks of the Arachnes. Modeus didn’t know what happened but he took the opportunity to cut himself out of the webbing using the spectral swords he conjured. Once he was free, Modeus got to his feet and turned around to look at the newcomer when he suddenly froze.
Long white hair with bangs that partially covered his eyes, he wore a red coat with only a belt across his chest and wore brown pants and boots. He also carried strange weapons in his hands, something of the human world perhaps, and the sword… Modeus gasped. It was Rebellion! But… How come this man had one of his mentor’s swords? That was when he sensed Sparda’s power coming from this man. Was he Sparda? But he looked like a human. He barely recalled what Sparda looked like in his human disguise but it was very similar.
The young man before him looked at Modeus like he's waiting for something.
"Look pal, I don't know what your deal is but what are you staring at?"
Modeus couldn't believe what he's seeing.
"Sparda?"
The man before him groaned.
"Not another one…"