Lord of the Forsaken
-Prologue: A Lifetime of Regrets-
When Light and Darkness were torn apart in the times of Creation, friction between these forces gave birth to conflict. Sometimes they sought to be together, but these were rare occasions usually accompanied by chaos.
When Angels were created, many of their kin believed that their Father had done so as the culmination of his efforts, expecting their purpose to revolve around managing the world He had created.
When Humanity came to be, conflict arose as their purpose was put into question. The end result was the origin of Devils and Fallen, with the Morning Star becoming the first among them.
Light and Darkness built their forces, and Humans became the key pieces in a confrontation which sought to decide their future as well as that of Creation itself.
Ironically, the gift of choice that the Almighty had given to Humanity and that made the superior in his eyes became the very reason why many could be tempted into falling in darkness and depravity, bringing the great conflict beyond the boundaries of the Supernatural and into the very world of men.
And so, Humans were chosen or chose themselves to join the forces of Light and Darkness to fight the bitter conflict for supremacy, for good and evil, or even just for surviving for another tomorrow.
In the end, nobody won.
Most of the Original Satans perished in the last battles, with the Morning Star sealed away into exile.
The Fallen experienced the worst loses in numbers, even if their leadership remained alive.
And Father… the all loving father that went personally to the Underworld to fight alongside his sons and daughters for the sake of Humanity, was dead.
Even if none of their believers were aware of this.
After that, a truce had been declared between the Forces of Light and Darkness in order to avoid more senseless deaths, and no direct confrontation was to take place among their armies.
Of course, for the Devils and Fallen there were other ways to keep the balance in their favor, as they had the means to interfere with humanity and no qualms to play with its freedom of choice.
As for the Angels in heaven, they had to keep the illusion for the sake of Humanity and perhaps for their own sake as well.
With a heavy but resolute heart, Michael, the only Archangel and the most devoted of the Seraph, took the Throne of Heavens. The Angel whose name was supposed to not put into question the supremacy of their Father had now been forced to take His mantle in order to keep the System working, and the faith of humans alive.
Under his rule, Heaven decided to not directly interfere so as to avoid an escalation in retribution and therefore risk the re-ignition of the Great War.
Raphael and Uriel kept their former roles, but their work was never-ending as many had taken the loss of God very hard. After the terrible bloodshed, the last thing they needed was to strengthen the ranks of the Fallen.
As for Gabriel, the last of the Four Great Seraphs and Messenger of God, she was to keep watch of the World of Men, acting as a mediator between Humanity and Heaven when necessary. However, since these occasions were very rare she spent most of her time outside talking to her brothers and sisters acting as a high-ranking diplomat for Angels and the Church in their interactions with other pantheons outside of the ones known as the Biblical Factions.
One of her big accomplishments had been setting up a meeting at request of her brother Michael with one of the lesser gods of the Greek Pantheon, Pan.
Whatever they had talked about must have been a big concern for the god, since he had agreed to "play his part" when the time came.
For some years, Gabriel had been unaware of what the two had agreed on, but nevertheless her faith in her older brother remained steadfast. It was the least she could do after he took such a heavy burden upon himself.
But it came the time when darkness arose anew.
During the last stages of the Great War, Humanity's involvement in the fight against Devils and Fallen had grown considerably, the biggest example being the foundation of the Brotherhood of Light. Humans who harnessed the power of light and shadow trough iron will and arcane artifacts, and who became the core of the human contribution in tipping the balance to their favor.
Their role was important to the point that their founders achieved something that had only been accomplished by another human thousands of years ago, the current seraph Metatron. In hopes of being able to help in the last stages of the war, and to keep a very dangerous fourth party sealed away, they had found a way to ascend to the state of Seraphs by getting rid of the darkness in their hearts and ascending to the Heavens.
Many had been skeptical at first, some even questioning the fact that humans had somehow become Angels without the intervention of their late Father. But their new family proved their worth in battle, their efforts key in forcing their enemies into finally accepting the truce.
After the Great War, the new Seraphs had earned the respect of their fellow Angels and the Brotherhood of Light had become the main organization responsible for defending humanity from Devils, Fallen and monsters. Allied with the Church but acting as an autonomous group, it became an inspiration to other military organizations sponsored by the church itself, even if there were rivalries.
The actions of the Founders were not without consequences, however.
The darkness they had discarded to become heavenly beings did not disappear in oblivion. Instead, it took forms of its own, creating mockeries of the once exalted holy warriors that had stood in the Light.
The Lords of Shadow had been born.
The first clue that Gabriel got was an increase of the sightings of monsters and creatures belonging to other pantheons, and with those the increase in causalities in humans lives.
The gravity of the situation was only made clear when the mystical city of Agartha was besieged.
The people of Agharta were not followers of the Church, but they had given their own contribution in the fight against Evil.
Gabriel had personally given her brothers the news that the Aghartians requested help from the Holy Orders, only to be denied due to their use of unknown magic and their religious convictions. But Michael and the other Seraphs had insisted in the need to keep their forces, including the Church, focused on the conflicts taking place in Jerusalem, the holy city were the son of God had been born and which had become hotspot that had garnered the attention of both Devils and Fallen. Antagonizing the Church by creating a contradiction to the Christian beliefs also risked weakening the needed human support in light of their current state.
Alas, Gabriel and other Angels were forbidden to put forces (or themselves) into other conflicts until their enemies took the initiative.
Alas, the later called Necromantic Wars razed the city of Agartha and killed most of its people. Whatever survivors had been left, nobody ever saw them again.
And Gabriel had been filled with regret then.
But it was only the beginning of a long series of regrets that would shake her to the core.
After the Fall of Agartha, Angels and the Brotherhood had worked together to find out who was behind the rise in the forces of Darkness. What they found was chilling.
Three powerful self-proclaimed Lords of Shadow had built armies of creatures to their image and proceeded to expand their domains across the lands of Europe.
Dark Lords bearing the names of their newest brothers and sister.
And so they all realized that the price for attempting to ascend to Heavens by removing the freedom of choice was greater than they had expected, regardless of noble intentions and contributions to the Great War.
This new threat had taken them unprepared, with their forces even more weakened after the last skirmishes with Devils and Fallen, and the extremely volatile relations with said factions. Michael's fears about a possible return to war had never been so real, and Gabriel could feel her frustration and that of many of her brothers and sisters at their inability to properly intervene to stop the new dangers.
They had no other choice but to rely on the only holy order with enough manpower at disposal to contain the rising armies of darkness, The Brotherhood of Light.
The valiant efforts of the Brotherhood had made possible to contain the advances of the Lords of Shadow and protect the main centers of power for Heaven in the Human World, but going further than purging some villages was impossible.
Almost a hundred years had passed, and things only got more complicated, Gabriel looking at how Humanity struggled alone and besieged while their own forces could only go so far without risking a declaration of war from their counterparts.
Gabriel had sought a way to facilitate a more direct intervention to defeat the Lords of Shadow, but so far her efforts had been futile, with no outside pantheon willing to involve themselves as their influence in the human affairs had dwindled and they chose to retreat to their own realms.
Some simply didn't care.
Just as Gabriel was beginning to lose hope, her brother Raziel had come with a revelation.
A prophecy that held the key to not only stop the Lords of Shadow's grasp on the Human world, but also to tip the balance of the forces of Light against the Darkness.
A human baby who had been recently found at the doorstep of one of the Brotherhood's compounds.
A baby who carried her own name.
Gabriel Belmont.
The Messenger of God had spared a good amount of her time to watch as the human baby grew into a teen, and then into a man, trained in the compound of the Brotherhood as holy warrior devoted to their Father and to the defense of Humanity against the forces of Darkness.
What she saw had concerned her.
On one hand, Gabriel (it was funny referring to him by her own name) was a prodigy in learning how to fight, with a fire and a conviction found only in the bravest and most devoted of warriors. His domain of the magical arts was so good that even the risky Shadow Magic (a topic of continuous debate among the angels) had been a challenge he had overcome with great success.
At the same time, Gabriel was a moody character, efficient yet brutal when it came to fighting against monsters and Lesser Demons. His reputation was a mix of respect and awe, since his animosity was focused on non-human targets.
But somebody like that was bound to become trapped in violence, eventually forgetting how to enjoy the little things in life, and becoming unable to seek peace for himself and others.
Fortunately, help came in the way of Love.
Now, Gabriel was aware that she was naïve in some of her understanding of politics, of how to deal with emotions of humans that were not open like a book, and many other things that her older brothers had become more attuned with. But she prided herself in being a defender of love.
The gift that humans had been allowed to enjoy to its fullest by the grace of her Father. One of the sincerest and purest emotions, and the companion of values like forgiveness, kindness and understanding.
The key to salvation of those who sought help, the drive behind her Father's decision to stand in defense of Humanity and fight himself against the Morning Star, the Heavenly Dragons and other unknown dangers during the Great War.
Love was a powerful emotion, capable of giving strength to even the weakest of humans, and breaking through the most stubborn of them.
And it seemed that love had arrived at the doorstep of Gabriel Belmont's heart, refusing to go away.
Little Mary had been a lucky meeting for the warrior in training as children, and the only person known to be able to bring him out of his dark moods. As a grown woman, her perseverance and honest care for the Belmont had been rewarded in the way of vows for marriage.
A lucky encounter turned into a happy friendship, which had eventually blossomed into love and now culminated in this marriage that would hopefully give Gabriel a reason to fight for aside from his faith, and a reason to choose life instead of throwing it away carelessly in the temptations of violence and rage.
They were even rewarded with a child, a fruit of their union and the proof of their pure love for one another.
But Gabriel didn't know about this, as he had been sent to deal with an infestation of dark creatures of unknown origin, alongside some of his older companions in the Order and some new recruits. The mission had ended with him as the sole survivor of the expedition, after banishing an unknown creature from the Shadow Planes (not the same place as the Underworld, where Devils and Fallen made their new home).
The Seraph left Gabriel recovering and later focused her attention to his wife.
The very day she had given her recently born son to the elders from the Brotherhood, Cardinal Volpe among them.
While a weeping Mary Belmont was left alone, with a wounded husband recovering from his last adventure, Gabriel the Seraph couldn't help but grimace at the last words uttered by the Cardinal as he convinced the mother to give up her child.
That Gabriel Belmont, the man who was to become God's Chosen had a terrible destiny awaiting him and that only blood could counter such fate.
Even as one of the Fourth Great Seraphs, Gabriel had no authority to overrule her brother's decision to keep most of the prophecy for himself and the highest-ranking elder from the Brotherhood of Light. Again, she had trusted in Michael's decision and acted along the lines he had established, looking for God's Chosen as a Guardian in name only and telling him of anything before acting own her own accord.
That didn't ease the foreboding feeling gripping her heart as she left the Belmont and returned to her other duties.
Fear was not an alien emotion to Angels, even if they were encouraged to not fall completely into it.
Fear and uncertainty were currently spreading among the Heavens.
Someone had cut off their connection with the Human World.
Someone had cut off the connection of Heavens with Humanity to the point that the soul of the deceased no longer ascended to fin eternal rest but instead lingered in the world of the living, many unfortunate ones trapped in the boundaries between life and death with neither rest nor penitence for them. Only Darkness.
They could still commute with the souls of the dead, and they could still observe what was happening in the Human World as far as their magic allowed them.
But they could not descend in there, neither use their magic to transport their forces.
Gabriel had been successful in establishing contact with Pan, their only ally in the Human World, but, after having him speak with her eldest brother, the Greek God had bided his goodbyes and wished them all the best of luck, announcing that his role had finally come into play.
Aside from him, they had no one to turn to in hopes of getting answers.
Raphael suspected that Devils were behind this powerful magic and perhaps allied themselves with the Lords of Shadow, who had benefited considerably from the situation. The Lords of Shadow appeared to be the culprits according to the former Founders of the Brotherhood, but the knowledge to perform it seemed to escape them. Which lead to the suggestion that that a third party had helped them.
That was perhaps one of the worst case scenarios, and it drove the Heavens into State of War, their forces readying themselves to be deployed at the first call, the only possible location as of now being the Underworld.
From what they had gathered, the magic separating the realms was so powerful that it would take weeks before they could finally break through and send reinforcements to the Brotherhood.
Humanity was alone until then.
However, Michael had called for all to calm down and then explained that humanity had a way to stand on their own for the time being.
Revealing Raziel's Propechy, The Archangel explained that God's Chosen would be capable of using their late Father's blessing in order to vanquish the Lords of Shadow and break the spell separating the worlds, allowing them to repel any Devil or Fallen, or whoever had decided to stablish on the Human World taking advantage of the situation.
They would then proceed with the hardest part, diplomacy. And that was when Gabriel would be needed.
When everyone had gone their own way to prepare for the unexpected, Gabriel the Seraph had chosen to go and observe once more Gabriel Belmont, to see how her father's champion had taken the new developments.
What she saw made her own heart wish to go out to him.
He had lost his wife to the denizens of the Lords of Shadow.
With barely time to give her a proper burial, and yet no time to mourn his lost love, he had been sent on a mission to look for Pan in hopes of getting answers to the state of the World.
Gabriel the Seraph witnessed it all.
How he saved a village from a Warg and a group of Lycans.
His meeting with the God Pan and how his nights of sleep were plagued with horrible nightmares.
His fight with the Ice Titan and meeting both his fellow warrior Zobek, named in honor to the ascended Seraph and Founder of the Brotherhood… and his wife.
His meeting and short-lived alliance with the last survivor of the Aghartians, a woman by the name of Claudia, who helped him advance through the lands of the Lycan. His assassination of Claudia under the spell of the Devil Mask, thanks to the machinations of Zobek, actually one of the Lords of Shadow in disguise.
How he made a simple tombstone for the girl and once more moved forward, no time to grieve on a sin not of his own.
His fight with the Lord of Lycans and counterpart of the Seraph Cornell, which ended in the defeat of the first Lord of Shadow and the death of his heavenly counterpart, as well as the revelation of the origins of the Lords of Shadow.
The fight against the Crow Witch Malphas, a tragic sorcerer whose love was destroyed by another witch and who had fallen into madness, becoming a monster that preyed on anyone wishing to cross in and out of the Lands of the Vampires.
Working again with the Lord of Shadow in disguise in order to reach Wygol Village, the closest settlement to Bernhard Castle, home of the Lord of Vampires, Carmilla.
How he had to survive the cruel games of Carmilla's daughter, Laura, and how his love with Marie was able to bring out mercy from the vampire's cold heart.
His confrontation and eventual victory over Carmilla, followed by another meeting with Pan that would lead him into the Lands of the Necromancers, ruled by Zobek himself.
Gabriel the Seraph witnessed all of these events that transpired during Gabriel Belmont's journey to defeat the Lords of Shadow and use the power of God in order to free the lost souls.
With each new battle, Father's champion grew in strength and skill, getting closer to his final task.
With each new battle, Father's champion grew wearier, more and more disillusioned with his Order and with the mistakes that had culminated in the death of his beloved Marie.
The righteousness and conviction were losing weight as his journey progressed, the only hope that still burned in his heart being the fake illusion that Zobek had told him regarding the resurrection of his late wife.
Gabriel feared that the mission would leave him completely broken in the end, and she begged her brother that if God's chosen succeeded in his mission, she would be allowed to go to the Human World to offer comfort, the hope that Heavens felt for humanity's champion and that his sacrifices and loses were not ignored.
Michael denied her request, explaining that even with the Lords of Shadow defeated there was one more task to fulfill by God's Chosen and that his role would be finally completed after.
And that's when she learned of the price to pay for the death of all the Lords of Shadow as well as her new brothers and sister.
Gabriel Belmont would need to stand against a demon so powerful that he actually surpassed the Morning Star at his prime.
And in case he failed…only then would their forces mobilize to fight against the terrible monster.
For the Messenger of God, this all seemed too much for a sole human.
In the first place, why send him alone on this quest against the forces of Darkness?
Why was her brother so cryptic regarding the contents of Raziel's Prophecy?
Why not allow Father's champion a well-deserved rest while they dealt with the terrible danger that would arise after bringing down the reign of the Lords of Shadow and restoring the connection between Heaven and Earth?
Gabriel wanted to trust in her brother's judgement, in his wisdom to know and to do what was right and what was needed to help protecting Father's children.
She could not help the doubt gnawing at her heart, and the guilt that grew more and more as she saw the weary holy warrior fight and kill the God Pan as part of a test to prove his domain over his powers and to open the path to the Land of the Necromancers.
And so he went to fulfill his mission.
And so she kept doing nothing but observing him.
It was as they suspected, and it opened a new can of worms when they confirmed it with their own eyes.
The Morning Star himself had been the one behind the separation of the worlds, having used the Lord of Necromancers as his puppet in order to challenge Heaven's themselves and become the ruler of all creation.
If he was allowed to walk the Earth again and to gather his forces, the Great War would begin anew and with a death toll so high that all the three factions and humanity would no doubt cease to be, the later reduced to nothing but slaves for all Eternity.
And it fell on the shoulders of Father's champion to stand against her brother's madness.
For all that witnessed the final fight between man and the First Devil, it was a sight very hard to believe.
A mortal, a human warrior that had been slayed and then resurrected with the intervention of the souls trapped between life and death, had stood his ground and actually delivered a beating to the Morning Star, even if the later was not in possession of his full power.
When Gabriel Belmont had performed a ritual similar to the Founders of the Brotherhood, all feared the worst. But no new angel had been born, and their fallen brother was sent back into exile into the unknown.
The Lost Souls were freed, allowed to ascend to Heaven.
The Lords of Shadow were no more, and even if the loss of their brothers and sister was hard they all knew that it had not been in vain.
And God's Chosen was left a sobbing mess, having said goodbye to his wife and to Claudia and knowing that the power he sought in hopes of getting his beloved back would never do so.
Most of her brothers and sisters had left afterwards, but the Four Great Seraphs kept watching.
And once more Gabriel the Seraph watched.
How Gabriel Belmont was contacted by Laura and not allowed grief or rest before departing to the last stage of his long journey.
How he had refused a first the task of stopping the Forgotten One, the powerful demon who ruled over the Shadow Plane and whose power rivaled the Morning Star in his prime. Laura had appealed to his sense of duty and goodwill to convince him and offered her help along the way.
How he the both of them had traveled to the underground of Bernhard's Castle and activated the gateway to the Dimensional Prison were the Forgotten One was currently looking for a way out.
How the vampire child had confirmed her brother's explanation about the impossibility of any mortal or holy being to enter into the Dimensional Prison and then into the Shadow Planes, leaving this to dark beings like the Devils and the Demons inhabiting said realm.
How Gabriel had to sacrifice his humanity and take the life of Laura in order to become a Devil himself and go into a one-way trip with no way back.
That was the last she had seen of the man who born the same name as her, of the one chosen as Father's champion on Earth and whose only reward for all his loss had been death and the gratitude of Heavens.
She felt that was simply not enough.
Her tears fell freely for all that he had to endure, only to be sent to a challenge he had very little chance to accomplish or survive.
And yet, her brother Michael gave no command for their armies to be ready in case that the Forgotten One entered the Human World.
Was his faith in Gabriel so strong that he believed he could emerge victorious?
Gabriel the Seraph wanted to trust her older brother and his judgement… but it all seemed forced, almost as if pushed into fulfilling a particular result that she did not like at all.
Years passed, and when there was no sign of a rampaging Demon God building his forces or going himself to conquer and burn the lands, many believed that God's chosen had been victorious at the cost of his life.
And yet, the Brotherhood of Light seemed to work in a frenzy, almost as if driven by fear.
Her older brothers never relaxed, and the grimace in Michael's face gave her the impression that things were far from over.
And a couple of years later it seemed that the tale of the Lords of Shadow repeated, with a growth in the activity of monsters in a focal point.
It seemed someone had taken residence in Bernhard's Castle and built a domain in the surroundings.
A new danger that called himself "Dracul".
Gabriel didn't know what to believe in anymore.
Too many revelations, too many contradictions.
Too much tragedy.
Had her Father given his life at the end of the Great War just for all to fall into Darkness and hopelessness?
Fifty years since the disappearance of God's Chosen, and Europe had become a constant battlefield.
Dracul had become the one and only Lord of Shadow, even proclaiming himself as the new Prince of Darkness following the defeat of Lucifer.
The Brotherhood of Light had been hit hard, especially after their failed mission to vanquish the mighty vampire by sending Trevor Belmont, Gabriel's son. Their hero gone, probably killed in battle, and their compounds and villages close to them razed with a fury not seen since the times of the Necromantic Wars.
A little more than a decade since the death of Trevor Belmont, it seemed that his own son had emerged victorious over Dracul, the demonic castle collapsing and its denizens gone or scattered.
Many in Heavens had believed that Justice had been served, especially since they knew of the true identity of Dracul.
Gabriel Belmont, once a holy warrior who had given all in his quest to reunite Heaven and Earth and defeat the Lords of Shadow and the Morning Star, only to disappear into lands unknown to face a Demon God alone. Now, betrayer of Light and sworn enemy of mankind, killed as a tyrant by his own blood who he had struck against before.
The Brotherhood considered one of its greatest paragons an honorless betrayer of God and of his former kin, a proof of the fragility of humans and how the lack of faith would lead to such kind of depravity when possessing enough power.
Heavens condemned him as well, comparing him to the Morning Star and expecting any day that he would join forces with Devils or Fallen and declare war against the Angels as he had done with mankind.
Even Michael and the other Great Seraphs saw his fall as a regretful but expected outcome.
And yet… Dracul returned.
Years after his defeat at the hand of the Belmont Clan, his castle stood proud once more, his armies regrouped at his beck and call.
And all awaited the moment when his wrathful path would restart.
Gabriel the Seraph could wait no more.
All that happened seemed to go in circles, as if every effort since the end of the Great War was meaningless in anything but leading to this particular outcome.
Her eldest brother refused to send their forces to deal with Dracul, with the other Great Seraph in agreement, leaving humans and the Brotherhood on their own.
At most, they were to fight against their old enemies to avoid giving them any kind of advantage, but the feared alliance between the Prince of Darkness and the other biblical factions never took place.
If anything, Dracul seemed very hostile to them as well, especially after his supposed encounter with the Warmonger and his forces, forcing them into a humiliating retreat.
The Prince of Darkness had isolated himself from anything but the monsters at his command, and yet her brothers remained in their refusal to explain themselves and put all of their efforts in dealing with the fallen champion of God.
She needed answers.
To know why had Gabriel gone into Darkness, why did he kill his son and declared war on humanity itself.
As she stood in front of the gates of Bernhard's Castle, now belonging to Dracul, she reaffirmed her decision to go on her own, for the first time in her life going against Michael's orders, unable to deal with more uncertainty and all the accumulated regrets in almost a century since the end of the Great War.
Even if she had to fight her way to find the truth.
The gates opened for her on their own, as if welcoming her.
She went in.
A/N: Hello there fellow readers and writers, and welcome to another project of mine. This time, a crossover between Castlevania Lords of Shadow and Highschool DxD. I'll be posting the next chapter very soon but feel free to comment about this prologue and offer your own expectations.