Back then, facing Maria, he still needed Alessa to manifest a weapon for him.
But now…
Soren lowered his head and clenched his fists. He didn't need any weapon at all.
He had absolute confidence that he could tear that monster apart with his bare hands using nothing but raw power.
"This feeling… isn't bad at all."
The corner of Soren's mouth curved upward slightly. A trace of wild arrogance flashed in his eyes.
The next second, the suffocating aura radiating from his body slowly retracted, and he returned to looking like a slightly lazy private investigator.
"Let's go."
Soren headed for the door. "The air in this place sucks. I need to find somewhere to get a strawberry sundae. You're paying."
At the doorway he paused, his tone calm.
"Mr. Sunderland, carry this memory with you. Live on — awake, and in pain."
"Oh, and remember to wire the payment."
James slowly raised his head.
He carefully tucked the letter into his inner pocket.
"Okay."
...
Several hours later.
A black vintage sedan was cruising along the winding mountain road.
James focused on driving from the driver's seat.
The body of Mary that he had hidden in the trunk earlier had already been personally buried by him on the shore of Toluca Lake in Silent Hill — the place they both loved most.
Soren, meanwhile, was sprawled shamelessly across the back seat.
His legs were propped up against the window, hands pillowed behind his head, consciousness already diving into his mind.
When the mission completed, all his attention had been on the bloodline awakening, so he hadn't had time to check the system notifications that had popped up.
[Solo-killed James's inner demon: Maria. Additional reward: 500 points]
Looking at the extra line on the settlement screen, Soren's mind shook. He hadn't expected a surprise bonus.
"Never thought there'd be an extra reward system on top of the fixed quest rewards."
In the past, powerful demon bosses were usually finished off by Dante or Lady. At best he was just the cheerleader, scraping by with the basic mission completion points.
He kept scrolling.
[Sparta Demon Bloodline awakening detected.]
[Basic Demon skills granted.]
[Acquired Talent Skill: Demon Hand Grab — Condense demonic power into phantom hands that can pull distant enemies toward you, or pull yourself toward a target.]
[Acquired Talent Skill: Trickster · Dash — Instantly burst demonic power for an ultra-fast dash in any direction. Can even use mid-air momentum for additional sprints.]
Seeing these skills, Soren didn't feel happy — he felt the system's deep malice.
He had seen every single one of these in the system shop before.
Skills that should have come free with bloodline awakening were being sold for points in the shop?
It was like buying a bottle of water, only to find a sticker on it that said "Free Gift."
"Scam system."
Soren cursed inwardly.
Still, complaints aside, looking at these two genuine god-tier skills, the corner of his mouth couldn't help but curl up.
Demon Hand for crowd control, Dash combined with the Double Jump he had already bought — he finally didn't have to hop around on the ground like a clumsy super soldier anymore.
Now he actually looked like a proper demon hunter.
In a good mood, he opened the system shop to see if he could spend some points.
The next second, his face went blank and he closed the shop.
[Devil Arm: Yamato] Price: 120,000 points.
[Devil Arm: Gilgamesh] Price: 100,000 points.
[Devil Arm: Rebellion] Price: 90,000 points.
...
[Devil Arm: Pandora] Price: 20,000 points.
[Devil Arm: Lucifer] Price: 8,500 points.
...
Soren looked at his point balance and let out a long sigh.
Even with the extra 500 points, he only had a little over 2,200.
Poverty really is the original sin.
But he had no choice — he still needed to find a way to buy something.
Now that his Sparta bloodline had awakened, ordinary crafted weapons could no longer withstand the demonic power inside him.
Only weapons forged from the souls and bodies of powerful demons — Devil Arms — could resonate with his magic and unleash their true strength.
That was why they were called Devil Arms.
Even the relatively cheap ones like [Agni & Rudra] cost 5,000 points.
Thinking of that twin-blade set, Soren almost laughed.
They were originally a pair of demon brothers who willingly became weapons after being defeated by Dante.
But those two were way too chatty.
During fights they would narrate their own moves in the most chuuni way possible, shouting over-the-top skill names and even criticizing Dante's combos for not being stylish enough.
Later, Dante got so annoyed that they were stealing his spotlight that he straight-up sold them to the black-market dealer Enzo to help pay the office bills.
"Enzo…"
The moment he thought of Enzo, Soren's eyes lit up.
Enzo was a classic black-market merchant — a textbook scammer and an old acquaintance of Dante's.
The Devil May Cry office was constantly in the red. Most of the Devil Arms Dante seized ended up pawned at Enzo's shop for cash, only to be redeemed when needed.
Since he couldn't afford anything in the system shop, maybe he could borrow a few weapons from Enzo first?
The pawn tickets were all under Dante's name anyway. What did that have to do with Soren? He wasn't the one who had to pay them back.
While Soren was quietly plotting how to fleece the stingy old miser Enzo, his phone suddenly rang and shattered the silence inside the car.
"Signal's back?"
Soren pulled out his phone.
As the car left Silent Hill behind, the phone finally picked up a weak signal.
The lock screen instantly exploded with missed-call notifications — every single one from: Patty.
And the call coming in right now was her trying again a few minutes after the last failed attempt.
Looking at the caller ID, an image instantly popped into Soren's mind: a delicate blonde girl with blue eyes who loved wearing Lolita dresses.
Patty Lowell.
She and Soren were childhood friends who had basically grown up together in the office.
Unlike the orphan Soren, her true identity was actually that of an ancient alchemist's descendant, possessing powerful magical bloodline.
Patty was one or two years older (or at least acted more mature), and she constantly bossed him around in the office like a little housewife.
Her favorite line to say to him was: "Soren, you were the one this young lady picked up from a trash can back then! When you grow up and make money, remember to buy me lots of pretty dresses as repayment, okay~?"
Every time he remembered that line, Soren's head would start to ache.
Where the hell did she even learn that from?
It was exactly like parents telling kids, "You were a free gift with our phone plan."
He held the phone a little farther away and answered.
"Soren! Where the hell have you been?! I've been calling and it kept saying out of service area!"
The volume from the phone was so loud that even James, who was driving, turned his head slightly.
The girl's clear voice carried anger, but even more obvious was the anxiety she couldn't hide.
"Lower your voice, Miss Patty."
Soren turned the volume down a few more notches. "You sound exactly like the nosy old lady next door. Careful, you'll get wrinkles."
"You're the old lady!"
Patty spoke at lightning speed. "I don't care! Where are you right now? Are you hurt? Is Dante with you?"
"I'm on my way back. Isn't Dante at the office?"
Soren glanced at the date and asked, "What's going on? Isn't today Wednesday? No school?"
"What holiday?! I specially took the day off to come check on you guys!"
Even through the phone, Soren could perfectly picture her puffing her cheeks and stomping her feet.
"I thought it's been a few days since I last came over, so the office must've turned into a total garbage dump again. I wanted to come back and clean up, but…"
Her voice suddenly turned a little pitiful.
"But there's no one in the office at all! And Dante's gone off somewhere to have fun again!"
"And! Has the office been robbed?!"