Chapter 790: Lucy is strange
Vergil stood on the elevated balcony of the central palace, his arms crossed as he watched the vast expanse of his demonic territory grow day by day. The city below was still under constant construction, an unlikely fusion of infernal brutality and architectural elegance. Gothic towers rose between wide avenues of black stone, arched bridges connected tall buildings adorned with dark stained glass, and deep furnaces spewed columns of crimson steam into the eternally red sky. Demonic workers, winged creatures, and arcane engineers crisscrossed busy streets, carrying materials, runes, and entire structures. Despite the natural chaos of an expanding kingdom, there was order there. Order imposed by a will that admitted no flaws.
However, at that moment, Vergil observed neither walls, nor politics, nor urban growth. His gaze was fixed on a large garden just below the balcony, a rare area of serenity created in the heart of the fortress. There, black flowers bloomed alongside luminescent plants, trees with bluish bark swayed slowly in the warm wind, and tiny infernal creatures flew among the branches like living fireflies.
In the center of that garden, Lucy ran barefoot across the dark grass.
The little girl giggled as she chased a group of infernal butterflies, delicate insects with translucent wings marked by fiery patterns. They hovered around her in lazy spirals, landing on her fair hair and small arms before fleeing again. Lucy chased after them with complete concentration, sometimes stumbling, getting up on her own and resuming the chase as if the entire universe were just that game.
Vergil watched the scene in silence for a few moments. The child seemed absurdly normal in the face of everything she represented. It always bothered him in a way that was difficult to name.
Behind him, soft footsteps announced Alice’s arrival. She carried a metal clipboard covered in notes, bottles strapped to her belt, and the tired look of someone who had been sleeping little for several days. Her hair was carelessly tied back, and there was runic ink on two fingers of her left hand.
Vergil didn’t turn around immediately.
"How is she?"
Alice stopped beside him and followed his gaze to the garden. Lucy had managed to catch one of the butterflies in her hands and now stared at it with absolute fascination, as if she had captured a star.
"Physically?" Alice asked. "Perfect."
Vergil raised an eyebrow slightly.
She sighed and continued.
"Healthy, steady growth, excellent vital functions, cognitive development above what is expected for her apparent age, excellent motor coordination, regular sleep, excellent nutrition. By any common parameter, Lucy is a healthy child."
Vergil then turned to look at her.
"But."
Alice closed the clipboard.
"But I’m worried." Her tone was enough to harden the air around her.
Vergil slowly uncrossed his arms.
"Explain."
Alice ran a hand over her forehead before answering, organizing thoughts she had clearly been repeating to herself.
"She hasn’t awakened anything yet. No spontaneous magical trace. No mana signature. No detectable demonic energy. No reaction to runic catalysts, no response to cursed objects, no measurable spiritual sensitivity."
Vergil looked back at Lucy. The girl had now sat on the floor and was letting two butterflies land on each knee.
"Perhaps it’s too early."
Alice shook her head.
"I thought so too at first. But Lucy shouldn’t follow normal parameters. She’s not just any child who might awaken power in adolescence or under stress. Her very existence defies any known pattern."
Vergil remained silent.
Alice continued, now more serious.
"We have no real idea what Lucy is."
The warm wind moved the black curtains of the balcony.
"We only know that she arose as a physical manifestation of fragments of Lucifer’s soul. That in itself should be impossible. Spiritual fragments don’t usually generate independent consciousness, much less a stable body, biological growth, and a personality of their own."
Vergil watched his daughter below playing with something that could melt a mortal in seconds, as if it were a simple garden butterfly.
"She seems quite conscious for something impossible."
Alice let out a small, tired laugh.
"That’s exactly the problematic part."
She rested the clipboard on the balcony railing.
"Lucy feels, learns, attaches, plays, dreams, has food preferences, recognizes people, develops emotional memory. She doesn’t act like a vessel. She acts like a person."
Vergil closed his eyes for a second.
"Then treat her like a person."
"I do," Alice replied immediately. "We all deal with it. The problem isn’t moral, Vergil. It’s structural."
He stared at her again.
Alice took a deep breath.
"If she is truly composed of fragments of Lucifer’s soul, then there are enormous unanswered questions. Where is the rest? Are these fragments still active? Are they maturing? Can they reintegrate? Will she remain Lucy forever or will she one day transform into something else?"
The last words hung heavily between them.
Below, Lucy laughed because a butterfly had landed on her nose.
Vergil discreetly clenched his jaw.
"She will continue to be Lucy."
Alice noticed the tone. She didn’t insist on that point.
"I sincerely hope so."
She opened the clipboard again, flipping through a few pages.
"Seris agrees with me that the situation is complicated."
Vergil let out a short sound of displeasure.
"Of course she agrees."
"She asked Pandora for help to expand the tests."
Vergil raised an eyebrow.
"Pandora agreed?"
"With frightening enthusiasm," Alice replied. "She’s already put together three theories, seven diagrams, and wants to build a machine that ’listens to the frequency of the soul.’"
Vergil seemed slightly weary just listening.
"Reject the machine."
"I already did."
Alice then hesitated for a moment, something rare for her.
"But Seris also suggested another possibility."
Vergil didn’t like the pause.
"Speak."
Alice observed Lucy before answering.
"She thinks it would be better if Sephirothy took Lucifer to Eden for analysis."
The silence that followed was immediate.
Even the distant sounds of the city seemed fainter.
Vergil turned completely to Alice.
"She suggested taking Lucifer to Eden."
"Yes."
"For analysis."
"Yes."
He remained silent for a few seconds, which in Vergil was always more threatening than shouting.
Alice raised her hands defensively.
"I’m just passing on the suggestion, not defending it."
Vergil looked back at the garden.
"Hard to imagine Sephirothy agreeing to return to Eden after the last incident."
Alice let out a long breath.
"I thought of that too."
The "last incident" was an absurdly kind way of describing the chaos that ensued when Dante got involved in a problem that escalated too quickly, and Sephirothy took advantage of the confusion to steal divine energy directly from the structures of Eden. There was celestial persecution, diplomatic rupture, and an offensive amount of broken doors.
Alice rubbed her neck.
"The angels still hate her."
"Rightfully so," Vergil replied curtly.
"She insists it was technically just energy borrowing."
"She ripped sacred columns from the wall."
"Elegantly," Alice murmured.
Vergil gave her a humorless look.
Alice coughed and resumed her professional posture.
"The point is: Eden possesses tools we don’t have. Ancient archives, essence reading, primordial soul analysis, comparison with pre-schism entities. If anyone can understand Lucy quickly, perhaps it’s them."
Vergil watched the girl get up and run after another butterfly, now speaking incomprehensible words to herself.
"Quickly doesn’t interest me."
Alice blinked.
He continued.
"Security interests me."
She nodded slowly.
"I figured you’d say that."
"Lucy isn’t going anywhere surrounded by winged fanatics who see demons as a mathematical problem."
Alice didn’t argue. Instead, she rested her elbows on the low wall beside him.
"Then we need to find out here."
Vergil replied without hesitation.
"Let’s find out here."
The two remained observing the garden for a few moments. Lucy had now managed to convince two small, infernal canine creatures to chase butterflies with her. The result was adorable chaos: flying wings, high-pitched barks, and a child giggling in the center of it all.
Alice smiled slightly.
"She likes you."
Vergil remained motionless.
"She likes everyone."
"No." Alice denied. "With you it’s different. She always looks at the doors when she knows you’re coming back. Always down the hallway when she senses your footsteps. Always wants to show you something new."
Vergil said nothing.
Alice stared at him for a few seconds.
"You know that."
He kept his eyes on the garden.
"It doesn’t change the problem."
"Maybe it does." Alice spoke more quietly. "Maybe bonding is part of her stability."
Vergil finally looked at her.
"You’re theorizing without data."
"Yes," Alice admitted. "But you are too."
He almost smiled. Almost. Below, Lucy saw Vergil on the balcony and immediately began waving both hands, jumping in place as if she had found a treasure.
"Dad!"
The voice echoed to them.
Vergil remained serious for exactly two seconds before raising a hand in response.
Alice saw this and stifled a laugh.
"Scary."
"Shut up."
Lucy then excitedly pointed to a butterfly that had landed on her head, as if it were the greatest discovery of the century.
Vergil watched the scene in silence.
Alice closed the clipboard again.
"I’ll continue the exams. No Pandora machines. No sending anyone to Eden. No alarming Seris more than she already is."
"Good."
She took a few steps to leave, then stopped.
"Vergil." He didn’t respond verbally. "Whatever Lucy is... she clearly chose to be happy for now."
