novelraw Chapter 163 : A Better Durante (2)
Chapter 163 : A Better Durante (2)
A Better Durante (2)
With Andro's defeat settled, a cutscene began.
"Let's see... It really is you, sir Durante."
Andro staggered, clutching the black serpent, and ink-like black blood splattered down.
"It is now time for the final act... As my master wishes, become the new hell lord."
At those words, the chat window grew restless.
- Hell lord replacement ending?
- So now he can't go back to Saint nuna!
- What? Wasn't this the final boss?
- Nah, it's clearly leading up to that
- So why did Durante split into two, anyway!
- Ah, lol, there's still lots of hint drops left
As Andro fell to his knees, durante pointed his sword at him.
"Who said I'd listen to that?"
"... Sir Durante?"
Andro's eyes trembled.
He seemed about to try persuading him again.
"That seat— let me take I—"
But he couldn't finish his sentence. His huge, changed eyes rolled wildly.
His gaze wasn't at Durante but rather at the throne behind him.
Durante also turned his head.
- ?
- What? Why's that moving?
- Lolol, really is the final boss after all
- Looks like the seal is breaking?
A cracking sound echoed from the throne made of bones, and fissures began to appear.
"No way...!"
Andro trembled as he tried to stand, but strength failed him and he collapsed forward.
"Sir Durante, hurry! If the seal breaks...!"
Before he could finish, durante moved.
He too realized the situation was dire.
"I have no intention of becoming the hell lord."
A massive greatsword pierced deeply into another body of himself, seated on the throne.
"I've no thought of leaving a devil behind either."
As the two Durantes confronted each other at close quarters, the screen faded to black.
- ??????
- What the? Glitch?
- Is this a broadcast accident?!
- A bug right at this point?!
Questions flooded the chat, but soon after, they saw Durante standing alone in the darkness.
"What..."
Just like the viewers, durante also seemed confused.
"I made it. Barely, but not too late."
Durante jerked his head up. Someone with his same voice and appearance—Durante was there, too.
- Whoa! Is that Durante's design from the previous game?
- Been ages since I saw that costume
- Dang lol, the old design really was good too
- Feels like the remake of the console-version
- Boomer Devils trying to hold in their awe, lv999
- Ah lol, this one can't be held in
Perhaps to distinguish between the two Durantes, their outfit designs were different.
"But there's not much time left."
"What's with this trickery?"
"There's no time to explain. Feel it for yourself."
The old Durante said that and drew his pistol.
Before Durante could react, the trigger was pulled and flames erupted.
A bullet from the muzzle embedded itself in Durante's head.
The background shifted.
"Ali, you fool."
Durante muttered this, looking at the body of his dead younger brother.
From this scene, viewers recognized which cutscene this was.
- This is the ending from the console-version, isn't it?
- Oh lol, maybe they're finally telling us what happened in between
- The hint drops are finally going to be resolved!
- About time!
Durante had taken the throne of hell.
"Is this really the only way?"
To block the link between hell and the mortal world, one had to rule hell. Durante rose to the seat of hell lord to save everyone.
"Durante!"
"Open the hell gate!"
"Kill that bastard!"
But because of that, every devil targeted Durante. They wanted to retake hell's throne and return to the mortal world.
Durante didn't back down from that battle.
- That was where the ending finished before
- For real, thought we'd never get more after the sacrifice ending
- That's why I thought this'd be a reboot
- What happened afterward, huh!!
This was the last memory of "Demon Must Cry" that console-version gamers remembered.
But what viewers wanted was the story after that.
"I changed hell."
With Durante's narration, the scene changed. Against surging black devils, durante waged war.
"Not a human hell, but a devil's hell."
The corpses of devils piled up. From atop them, durante faced new challengers.
"No devil could beat me."
Devils strong enough to challenge the throne grew fewer. The war against devils gradually abated.
At last, durante became the true lord of hell.
"I thought that was the end of everything."
Durante looked down at the devils kneeling before him. There was no need to kill those who didn't rebel.
Some of them had intelligence; they could be used to manage the other devils.
"Perhaps because I had been a devil for so long, I felt my soul twisting."
It was the side effect of maintaining devil form throughout the war. Lifting it now felt all the more uncomfortable for Durante.
"I might lose myself. I needed a plan."
Andro, the devil of justice, remained at his side. He went to the mortal world on Durante's orders. There, he delivered the Celestial Cube to the Church.
- Holy crap;;; Andro did that on Durante's orders?
- Wow, so that's why he showed up in the ending cookie video
- Wasn't it supposed to be canon that Andro stole it while escaping hell?
- Eh? First time hearing that canon!
- C'mon;;; we agreed that was just headcanon
- So there was all this backstory, huh
- That is some ultimate alpha move, for real
- Shining-rante, my heart ㅠㅠ
Old-school fans marveled at these revelations never explained in the console-version.
But the story wasn't over yet.
"I tried several ways to preserve my soul, but all were just temporary solutions."
On-screen, durante was holding three Demonhearts. The scene passed as he gave them to Midas, ajax, and Arachne respectively.
- So he split off the devilized parts of his soul?
- Wow lol, so he gave them only to humans!
- Yeah, if he gave them to devils, they might rebel, I guess
Then Durante leaned back on the throne. He released his devil form, returning to human appearance.
"In the end, I had to use the final method."
Andro knelt in front of him. Though surprised by the command, he soon nodded, his expression resolute.
The throne wrapped around Durante's body. He slowly closed his eyes and the background turned dark again.
"You were made from the human part of my soul. The part that had grown devilish, I left inside and sealed myself away."
Durante frowned at the voice he heard.
"So... I lost my memories because of soul separation?"
"That's right. You know the rest."
Meaning the events continued in the game itself.
- Wow lol, that's why Durante was trying to return to hell
- Even without memories, must've had lingering subconscious pull?
- He had a sense of duty, like managing hell again
- All the hints fit together now
The old Durante's image was partially shadowed in black, as if steeped in darkness.
"As my power weakened, devils started pressing into the mortal world again. But if I recover my dominance, the problem will resolve."
Durante's eyes sharpened at that.
"That's true for now. But what about after?"
He approached the version of himself increasingly becoming shadow.
"Even if I take your place, won't the same thing happen again? Who's going to sit on that throne next?"
The shadow shook its head.
"No, you've become greater than I ever was."
"What?"
"Ever since entering hell, you never once relied on the devil's power."
Viewers instantly reacted to that line.
- Oh? What's this?
- 5252, true ending condition GETTO-DAZE!
- So not using devil powers is the condition lol
- Godple didn't use devil form, right?
- Guess the tutorial doesn't count lol
- Ah lol, he said 'in hell' though!
- C'mon;;; but how can you not use it in hell?
- It's just to encourage multiple playthroughs!
- But Godple finishes it all in one run, right?
- As expected of the smurf(1st run) multiple playthrough expert
- But what does 'best' ending mean anyway?
The condition for the true ending was practically confirmed. But the developers only described it as the "best" ending.
The story went no further. The viewers had no choice but to focus again.
"... Seems I had even less time than I thought."
Cracks formed in the shadow.
Dark red blood flowed from the cracks, soon engulfing its body. The covered areas started morphing into the console-version's devil form.
"You?"
"My time ends here."
The devil transformation's speed surged. The shadow aimed a gun at Durante.
"Durante, the only enemies humanity faces aren't just devils..."
With half its face devilized, its voice faded. Antes Durante could say anything, the trigger was pulled again.
With a deafening gunshot, the entire screen shattered.
"Sir Durante!"
The scene promptly shifted back to the deepest depths of hell.
Next to the fallen throne, andro shouted.
- Separated again?
- Became a complete devil now, damn
- Shining-rante is dead! ㅠㅠ
- Shining-rante is dead! Gone for good!
- But he lives on, in his back, in his skill, as one!
- Who do you think he is!
- He's Perante! Perfect Durante!
- Dang lol, is this Demon Breakthrough?
The former Durante had vanished. Now rising from the throne was the devil form from the console-version, a biomechanical hell lord.
All expected an immediate final battle, but another cutscene followed.
"I will... reclaim... my soul."
The hell lord spoke slowly, extending his hand.
With that, durante's body jolted.
"Grah...!"
With a short groan, blood spattered and the four Demonhearts returned to the hell lord's hand.
The sight shocked viewers.
"So now you have to fight without Demonheart abilities?"
Lee Gyeongbok voiced what everyone realized.
- Come on;;; what is this, gave then stole back!
- Dang lol, not only took the lords' hearts but even the paralyzing whip!
- True ending conditions are insanely tough, wow
- Maybe if you'd used devil form, you'd have just absorbed Demonhearts?
- Lol, guess you wouldn't have lost them that way
- But wait, does this mean the boss uses all those abilities?
- Lolol, that would be over the line
Viewers feared, but Lee Gyeongbok immediately sensed it was true.
'It wouldn't be fun otherwise.'
The threat from the hell lord, even through divine energy, was escalating steeply.
And not just through divine energy—one could see with the naked eye that the hell lord was transforming.
- ?
- Wait, are those whips on its back?
- Dang lol, they really gave it all!
- (Kemalcon)(Kemalcon)(Kemalcon)
- Seriously, how's this possible lol
- The shell didn't become a horse, but the prophecy became reality!
- Will they launch Horse-Shell-Cons now?
- Horse-Shell-Cons lmfao
On the hell lord's back, eight familiar spiked whip mechanisms sprouted.
That wasn't the end of it.
His entire left arm changed into a shield, and on his palm was a circular metal object that radiated golden light, just like the Hand of Midas.
Finally, arachne's prism sat on his forehead.
"It's starting now."
With transformation done, control returned.
The final boss battle began.
The hell lord charged at Lee Gyeongbok like a bullet. The greatsword in his hand resembled Durante's.
"Seems he uses devil form's basic abilities too."
Like the devilized form, it looked biomechanical, with red eyes rolling across the blade's surface.
- He even uses bullet time, demon Gear, and Demon Eye?
- Judging by the speed, looks like it;;
- Dang;;; did they seriously expect players to beat this?
Despite the shock, Lee Gyeongbok calmly responded.
He perfectly countered both bullet-time's instant acceleration strikes and the golden ray fired at his opening.
He even managed to counterattack.
"His guard is solid."
Blades couldn't even reach his body thanks to the shield barrier made from Ajax's shield. Instead, it seemed the shockwave forced the two apart.
Apparently unwilling to give any respite, the hell lord charged again.
'Decoy...!'
As the hell lord again closed the gap with instant movement, Lee Gyeongbok caught a flash of light.
His intuition told him the hell lord's location didn't match what he saw.
He instantly redirected his blade to the side. A metallic clang rang out from thin air.
- What the, shit
- Damn lol, so it was a decoy
- Wow lol, so he figured it out just by sound?
- What is this skill level?
- My heart is swelling
The viewers were mesmerized by the battle. With action too intense for ordinary eyes to even follow, the fight felt all the more thrilling.
Yet, they embraced the challenge as something to be "enjoyed."
- That's what you call top-tier ending, right? Even the difficulty is top-level lol
- How is he not getting hit even once?
- For real, perfect-rante level is insane
- Laughing in the middle of all this, why lol!
- Hey hey, just let him enjoy himself
- ???: It's boring if it's not hard
- This is genuine joy right here lol
Because the one playing the game—Lee Gyeongbok—was laughing with delight.
In truth, Lee Gyeongbok found this battle fascinating.
'Different style, but this one's even tougher than Aiden.'
Unlike the final boss fight against Aiden in Elden Soul, the threat he felt now was even greater.
He briefly exhaled and kicked off the hell lord's barrier to create distance.
The reason for this brief opening:
"I'll get serious now. Focusing."
It was for the viewers.
Upon that declaration, Lee Gyeongbok's divine energy surged. His senses sharpened, time slowed even more than bullet time, and information poured into his mind.
The pressure and angle of his foot on the ground, every movement from finger to palm, the moment the whips on the hell lord's back stiffened.
He sensed the changes in the hell lord's body through all five senses, and in his mind, the results were "envisioned" beforehand.
'It's coming!'
Lee Gyeongbok drew his pistol and fired repeatedly, creating a staggered barrage. Then, a beat late, the hell lord fired his golden ray.
The barrage precisely blocked the ray's trajectory. Thanks to that, Lee Gyeongbok had no need to slow down or change course.
Instead, the one forced to dodge was the hell lord.
'Next, decoy.'
A twitch flickered across the hell lord's brow. At the same time, the prism above exploded in light.
But Lee Gyeongbok had already predicted this, swinging his greatsword at the path the real body would take instead of the illusion.
The clang of metal filled his ears. The hell lord had no time to deploy a barrier against the expert's prediction attack.
Instead, he blocked with Ajax's shield itself, but Lee Gyeongbok had predicted even that.
'It's open.'
With a perfect parry, the hell lord's left arm was lifted, exposing his chest—though that wasn't what Lee Gyeongbok was aiming for.
He swung Ali's sword, which he held in his other hand. And one of the whip mechanisms flying in intercepted was caught in its trajectory.
With a slick sound, half of the whip mechanisms were severed.
The hell lord hurriedly put distance between them.
- Whoa
- Insane, just plain insane
- True Godple mode, what is this?
- Ah lol, up till now was just 'ad' mode!
- Blocking a ray with bullets, lmao
- (Kemalcon)(Kemalcon)(Kemalcon)
- This is what it means to be an immortal devil hunter!
- Legendary again, lolololol
Amazement burst from the suddenly changing battlefield.
Viewers were reassured by Lee Gyeongbok's announcement and performance.
Because everyone realized—
- Perante! Perante! Perante! Perante!
- How does he keep up the pressure even without powers?
- Ah lol, when has our Godple ever relied on powers!
- Depending on powers? That's not 'Perfect!'
- For real, tHIS is what you call stylish!
- Is this the 'Perfect-Style?' What have I been watching till now?
Streamer Purple—Lee Gyeongbok—always,
- Living up to the nickname, for real lol
- Perfection itself, for sure
- It's not that Durante is strong, godple is just that strong
He showed a playthrough that was itself perfect.