Chapter 1: The Angel of Hell
Vergil's POV
Years ago I was sentenced to this eternal hell. The Devil King, Mundus, sentenced me here for my failure to kill my brother. There was never a time that I didn't love him. After he defeated me, taking the Force Edge with him, I realized that power is not the most important thing. Love is. I wandered the Netherworld for years looking for my mother. It was said in the Legend of Sparda that 'The Maiden of Sparda was rejected from heaven for having an affair with a devil and sent to the netherworld.' After years of searching I found her, or so I thought, I ran to her. She looked at me with pleading eyes.
"Run." Was all she said. I stared at her for an immeasurable moment. She disappeared. In her place was him.
"Mundus," I said greeting him with a grin. I unsheathed my Yamoto and pointed at him. "If my father defeated you then so can I." I ran towards him and swung my sword at his arm. It fell from his body and he let out a growl.
"You will never defeat me!" he growled and swung his other arm at me. I jumped on top of it and let the demon inside me take over. I ran at lightning speed up to his head and with one swing of my sword I struck him down. I jumped from his limp body as it fell and I returned to my human state. His body burnt and from the ashes came a dark figure holding a sword I recognized only from the book Yori za Akumas Haigara or From the Devil's Ashes. The sword had a curved blade with a red line of demonic blood. The hilt was said to hold the soul's of the most powerful demons in history. All but one. It doesn't contain the power of my father, Sparda. But it's the only sword that can rival it. The Yaibu-Debiru, or Devil's Blade, is said to change in different hands. In his hands it took the form of evil. The hilt was made up of three long tubes snaking around each other. Two diverged from the path curving into evil snake looking creatures, but the other ended and the blade emerged from its place. The blade was as straight as the horizon and pitch black. It was double sided and held immense power. He ran at me with the sword. I got ready parry his lunge, but then I saw her. It was my mother with the sword, not Mundus. She came up to me and plunged the sword through my heart.
"Hello honey." She said in her sugary sweet voice as she turned the blade. I fell into unconsciousness.
Dante's POV
"Devil May Cry. What's the password?" I said answering the phone with a little too much enthusiasm.
"Sorry wrong number." The guy on the other line said and hung up.
I sighed and dialed the number for #1 Pizza.
"Hey Joe send over another pie." I said not waiting for an answer.
"Alright Dante. See ya soon." He hung up. I sighed again and stood up, grabbed my sword from the wall and cleared out an area to practice. I took off my tank top and really got into it. Hacking and slashing all over the place listening to, surprisingly, nothing, but the whoosh of air between slashes. So when the bell rang I dropped the sword and it hit the floor with a loud clang.
"Shit," I mumbled to myself throwing my shirt back on. "Coming!" I shouted towards the door. I walked over and opened it. I saw nothing. "Joe?" I said my voice confused. No one answered. "You freakin' kids." I mumbled and turned to walk inside. I heard a growling sound and turned to find myself gawking at some strange looking demon facing me. He looked like a wolf, a big black one with glowing red eyes and black angel wings. "Was sup dog breath?" I taunted. The thing growled but didn't move.
"Are you Dante Son of Sparda?" the thing asked me in a polite, though demonic, voice. He, still, didn't move from that spot.
"Déjà vu," I mumbled. "Yeah what of it?" I asked pulling Ivory out of my pants and waving it at Dog-breath.
"Your time has come." Was all he said. He melted into the shadows leaving me standing there. I shrugged it off, walked to my desk and read a magazine while I waited for Joe. He never came.
Kouken's POV
I wait endlessly for the time to come. I wait for destiny to end my suffering. For it to end my life. My imprisonment in this infernal sword is infuriating. My only escape is death….or humanity…..
As the spirit that resides inside of the Force Edge I am a pure demon. It is foretold that if the three sons of Sparda stand together against the demon king then all demons will revert to humanity. Including me. As a son of Sparda I must be released from the Force Edge allowing it to take on its original form. After my father learned of the prophecy he chose me to be sealed within the sword. As the guardian I only allow a shadow of the Force Edge's power to be released. When the time comes I will reveal myself to the brother I never met. Dante. The prophecy reads:
The sons of the dark knight
Will emerge from a most vicious fight
Victorious against the king of hell
They shall fight after the demon fell
The red knight and the blue knight fight to the end
And as the red knight falls the night shall descend
And if in cold blood he's killed
The dreams of hell shall be fulfilled
But if the father can save thy son
The new era of peace has finally begun
In the end the world will end. I know what the king of hell wants. I have never physically left this sword, but in spirit I have. I have the power to enter the minds of others and read the dreams of demons. It is said in the prophecy that my father will be able to save Dante…..but……..how can a dead man save his son? I can't think…..
Dante's POV
Every night I wake up in a cold sweat. The same dream, the same nightmare. I'm alone, no one for miles, standing on the tip of, what seems like, a giant knife. I'm dressed in my trench coat and have the Force Edge drawn. It begins to glow a deep red. I hear a voice.
"Dante," it says to me. "Dante, it's time! Release the demon within you! The time has come!"
I feel myself changing. Pain rushes through me; pain, adrenaline, and demonic blood. I find myself holding an unfamiliar blade. Its hilt looks as if it's a pitch black hand reaching for the light of day acting as the roots of a tree. It leads up into the handle which is solid black with a single line of glowing red. The handle then branches off into two directions, as if the branches of a tree, and at the end of each lies a black raven with eyes as red as the line on the handle. The blade rose from the center of the handle. It was a deep black color with a long red line branching into different areas. The Hand of Fate. I don't know how I knew, but that was the name of this sword.
"Dante!" shouted a familiar voice somewhere behind me. I turned and found myself staring into the face of someone I never thought I'd see again.
"Vergil." I said, for once, acting serious. "What do you want?" I asked in a stern voice meaning to make him feel unwanted, but if he understood my intentions he didn't let on.
"Dante it is time." He spoke sounding almost sad. I looked more closely at him now. His armor, from when he was turned evil by Mundus, was replaced with his original blue trench coat, which was ripped and bloodstained. His face was a sickly grey and was covered in red pulsing lines. His eyes were pure red, but I sensed they were full of pain. He had a chain around his neck and Yamoto was sheathed at his side, but in his hand was another unfamiliar sword. The sword was similar to my own, except for the fact that it was pure white and the blade was curved like that of a long scimitar. From behind him I noticed dog breath holding the chain. The Angel of Hell. Again the name came to me without me having any thing to do with it.
"What are you talking about?" I screamed feeling pain surging through me as I realized a truth that was always there. Vergil is my family. Tears erupted from my eyes and I screamed rushing toward him ready to embrace him. I grabbed him and held him tightly. "Vergil," I barely choked out. "I always loved you."
"Shhh," he soothed me as he did as we were children. "I know and I always loved you. That's why I have to do this." He said and I noticed he choked at the end. "Dante, I love you and that is why I must kill you." He pulled the sword back and moved his hands to strike me dead……..and then I'd always wake up.
4