Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry.
Tortured cries rang down the darkened corridor. Blood trickled along the floor, seeping from different cells, different wounds, and different victims. Two demons dragged a semi-conscious prisoner from his cell and started to march up the corridor. Pleas for mercy screamed from the shadows but to no avail, the demons ignored them all. The prisoner between the demons stirred as a particularly violent shriek threatened to deafen him. Realising what was going on the prisoner tried to relinquish himself from the demons grip.
The demons were a new species though, genetically modified for the sole purpose of defeating and enslaving everything and everyone. But the prisoner wasn't to know that, all he knew was that the demons that he had fought so well against before were suddenly much stronger and definitely a lot smarter than they had been previously. He felt his arms being locked into magically reinforced chains and a feeling of dread raced through his mind. This had happened before. He wasn't sure he could last a second time.
Searing pain racked through the prisoner's body, taking away his breathe and making every muscle burn intensely. He let out a cry of pain involuntarily. Darkness closed in, trying to pull him into unconsciousness but suddenly the pain stopped. Legs threatening to buckle, the former demon hunter raised his head to meet the contemptuous gaze of his captors. One of them commanded him to fall on his knees but the voice was hazy as if coming from a different world.
The prisoner shook his head and with the last of his strength pulled himself upright. He didn't notice the demon behind him raise its scythe; the edges of his vision were darkening. Again the distant voice told him to kneel before them. Again the prisoner refused. The blunt end of the scythe was bought down against his skull with a harsh crack. Memories swum before his eyes as Dante collapsed.
"You're having a party without me?" The red leather clad demon hunter burst through the door firing several rounds of ammunition into every demon in the room, expecting them to die. When none of the demons dropped dead onto the floor, the demon hunter paused. The abyss demons smirked and started to approach. Dante holstered the handguns and drew Rebellion.
"Oh well…Just remember to invite me next time and I won't have to gatecrash again!" Dante said and swung his sword experimentally in a circle at the surrounding demons.
"That's if you survive…" The leading demon snarled. The demon hunter looked puzzled.
"You're an abyss demon and you can talk more than the usual moan? Has Mundus decided to pull his finger out for once and create better demons? About time if you ask me!" The abyss demons snorted.
"Where have you been demon hunter? Mundus has been dead for months. We have a new ruler. He's much more powerful than Mundus ever was and we are his elite. We'll defeat you and bring your broken, bleeding form to kneel before him." The other demons sneered in agreement.
"Yeah well, forgive me for not being overly enthusiastic about the whole kneeling before him thing. The truth is…" Dante paused to swipe at a demon but it dodged easily. "You're not going to defeat me and I don't care how powerful your new master is, I'm going to go kick his ass next."
"Believe what you will demon hunter, your overconfidence will be your downfall." At some unseen signal all the demons suddenly charged at Dante, their attacks carefully co-ordinated so that whenever Dante was open for attack a demons scythe would already be half-way into his skin.
After five minutes of dodging Rebellion and slicing through skin the demons retreated back into a circle pacing around the demon hunter. Dante was covered in bone deep cuts bleeding freely onto the wooden floor. He glanced round at the demons as he healed. They laughed pointedly at his wounds whilst still circling him and Dante noticed that not one of them had been scathed. Either they healed fast like him, or they had dodged all of his attacks. He frowned. This was not good.
Pulling one gun out of its holster and levelling it at the leader's head Dante swung Rebellion again warning them to keep back. The abyss demons didn't seem fazed at all, if anything they looked amused. Then without warning the demons charged again. Simultaneously firing Ebony and swinging his sword, Dante spun round lashing out at all of them. However, the demons seemed to have anticipated this attack and one demon dropped to the floor using his scythe to knock Dante off of his feet. Trying to use his own momentum to escape the killing circle Dante flipped over the demons heads. But as soon as he landed the demons were surrounding him again.
They didn't hesitate and charged forwards, gradually wearing down Dante's defences. After what seemed an age they pulled back and observed the demon hunter lying face down in a pool of blood with obvious contempt. Dante pulled himself slowly to his feet and wiped his face with the back of his sleeve. His skin started to knit back together again but slower than before.
"Is that all you've got demon hunter?" The leader mocked.
"No, I like lying in my own blood!" Dante replied sarcastically. The leader examined his scythe for a moment before returning his arrogant gaze back to the demon hunter in front of him.
"If you beg us for mercy now, we might make it less painful for you. Might…"
"Phantom…" A cold voice echoed around the throne room. The demonic spider shuddered and raised his head gingerly to meet the icy fury that was his master's gaze.
"Yes master?" Phantom almost whispered, unnerved by the emotionless expression on his master's face. He was especially unpredictable in the state that he was in. Moments passed in silence.
"Why did you fail?" The voice was quiet, dangerous. Phantom swallowed unable to answer. "Are you naturally that weak? Or do think that because I'm your ruler now you feel no need to accomplish anything I order you to do?" The spider tensed and hastily tried to clear his name.
"No master, I…"
"You don't work for Mundus anymore Phantom." The voice interrupted still deadly quiet. "I defeated him. Do you know what he did before I killed him?" Phantom shook his head nervously as the imposing figure ran two fingers along the blade of his sword.
"He fell to his knees and begged me to spare him. He knelt before me pleading that I take him as a servant or to torture him as I liked if only I would let him continue his pitiful existence." The figure smiled at the memory and Phantom dared not move. "Mundus, the Lord of the demonic realm. He was as pathetic as the humans that he so scorned." The figure turned his attention back to the demon cowering before him the smile gone. "If the great Mundus couldn't defeat me…why do you feel that you can disobey me and get away with it?"
"I…I didn't do it in-intentionally master. The gate-gatekeepers were harder than I…"
"You insult me with your feeble excuses." The figure stated calmly. "Obviously I overestimated you Phantom. I have no need for your services now if that's the best you can do..."
"I-I'm sorry master, I will try harder next time…" Phantom stammered. His master hissed.
"So you weren't trying your best before?"
"I…no that's not what …I simply meant that…" Phantom trailed off as the figure got up from his throne and started to walk towards him. "Master I…please…I meant that…" Suddenly a loud knock on the double doors at the side of the hall silenced the spider. They swung open and the eight elite abyss demons walked in. They bowed to their master, ignoring Phantom completely.
"Master," The leading demon said straightening up, "I have news on the demon hunter." The figure sat back on the throne and waved a hand at Phantom, indicating that he should leave. Gratefully the spider scuttled out of the room but before he could close the doors behind him a voice echoed around the hall.
"Do not fail me again." Phantom shuddered and hurried to escape their imposing ruler.
As soon as the doors were shut the other demons stood up and the leader started to speak.
"The demon hunter is still defiant despite increased amounts of torture. He still refuses to acknowledge authority and threats don't have any effect. In short, he isn't breaking easily." The figure on the throne remained expressionless.
"So what do you suggest to do?"
"We feel that if he were to be brought before you anyway that might encourage him to be…ah…more co-operative." The master nodded thoughtfully.
"Perhaps. Bring him to me." The demons bowed once again and walked out, leaving the hall eerily silent.
"Where am I?" Dante murmured to nothingness. Or so he thought.
"So you're awake at last demon hunter. I was beginning to think that we had killed you. Our master told us you were tough but obviously he overestimated you." Dante stiffened at the sound of the abyss leader's voice. It was hard to hear as if he was still semi-conscious.
"I'll show you just how tough I am!" Dante threatened as he pulled himself to his feet. Looking around him he realised that he was in a cell; three concrete walls and bars on one side.
"Really? How do you expect to get out of there?" The demon was on the other side of the bars looking incredibly smug. Dante reached for his handguns but groaned inwardly when he found them gone. Rebellion too, was also missing from his back. The demon noticed his expression and grinned.
"Unfortunately we had to take your little toys away. We couldn't have you hurting yourself, could we now?" Dante suddenly realised why he couldn't hear properly. Screams of pain rang over one another from all directions. The level of noise was almost deafening.
"Where the hell am I?" He demanded, glaring at the demon who frowned.
"You're in a torture chamber." The demon stated obviously.
"I guessed that, but where?" Dante growled. The demon bared his teeth but replaced it with his smug grin.
"If I were you I'd be nicer to me, especially since I'm the demon in charge of torture here. If you were to…say…be what I would think of as being disrespectful, then you might find yourself in a lot more pain than I've been ordered to put you through." The abyss leader laughed as Dante ground his teeth together.
When he left Dante reached out for the bars and gave them a swift tug. But they didn't move. He hadn't really expected them to. Dante sighed and sank down to the ground. He jumped up again immediately when he realised it was stained with blood. 'This is great, bloody great.' He thought.
"Get up." A harsh voice snapped. Dante looked up from where he was slumped against the cell wall at the abyss leader. It twirled its scythe impatiently. "Are you deaf? I told you to get up!"
"You think I'm going to hurry to get tortured? Then you're dumber than you look." Dante retorted and looked down even though his entire body ached from previous attempts to defy the demons. The abyss leader snarled but this time he stayed his scythe. Instead he wrung an imaginary (human) neck.
"You're not being tortured today unfortunately, but that could change if you persist in insulting me." Dante looked up again puzzled. "You heard me demon hunter. You're going to be bought before the master instead. Not that that's any consolation. You might prefer being tortured." Dante snorted.
"And miss the chance to tell this 'master' exactly what I think of him? Right... When you told me about him before, didn't you say broken and bleeding form? I'm bleeding yeah, but I'm NOT broken."
"That could be arranged if you don't get up right now." The demon snarled unlocking the cell door.
"Fine, fine…" Dante muttered and dragged himself to his feet. Two other abyss demons pushed him out of the cell roughly and forced him to start marching up the corridor. Looking around, Dante saw humans and demons alike in the same sort of cells that he had been in.
Many of them fell to their knees as the demons passed and pleaded for freedom or, those who were in intense pain, begged for a swift death. Screams yelled in torment from either side, Dante tried to block out the voices and silently vowed that he would put a stop to this. But the little voice in his head, usually one that Dante ignored, told him that with demons like the so called 'elite' even getting out would be difficult, let alone defeating them and their master.
Shortly Dante and his escort exited the cell corridor. The silence hit him like Leviathan plummeting to the ground. It was so different from the shrieks of anguish that had deafened him for days. Other demons stepped respectfully out of their way as the group made their way through what seemed to be a huge castle. The demons sneered at him triumphantly as they passed. Dante knew what they were thinking and scowled. It didn't help that many of them were telepathic. 'How the mighty have fallen…' 'This is the demon hunter who once threatened us?' 'Pathetic…'.
Soon they reached a set of double doors. Dante noticed that other demons in the castle stayed away from this floor as much as possible. The leader knocked sharply on the metal panelling and opened the door without waiting for an answer. The demons shoved him in and before Dante could catch a glimpse of who/what was seated on the throne he was forced to his knees on the cold stone floor. He tried to rise but a warning scythe was placed at the back of Dante's neck keeping him in a kneeling position.
"Master, we bring you the demon hunter to kneel before…" The leader was interrupted as Dante dodged under the scythe and stood upright facing the throne. Dante looked up and was nearly knocked backwards in shock. Wearing the long blue coat he always wore and with Yamato at his side was his brother. He was the leader of these demons?
"Vergil?" He asked staring disbelievingly at his twin who didn't move. If Vergil really was the leader then things could get very complicated, very fast. The lead abyss demon cuffed him round the head, sending him sprawling to the side of the large hall and into the wall.
"That's master or Lord Vergil to you, scum" The demon snarled. Dante didn't move he just blinked, unwilling to accept that his brother was the ruler of the demon world.
"I thought you were dead…" Dante said climbing slowly to his feet. Vergil upper lip twisted in a sneer of contempt but he made no comment.
"What happened? You fell off the waterfall but then…" Realisation struck Dante. 'Mundus has been dead for months. We have a new ruler. He's much more powerful than Mundus ever was…' "You killed Mundus?" Dante asked and walked back into the middle of the hall.
"Yes." The cold figure finally spoke.
"How? You lost against me; you couldn't have defeated Mundus in that weakened state…"
"That's none of your concern."
"It's none of my concern? Vergil, you couldn't even defeat me so how the hell did you manage to kill Mundus?" Dante shouted, getting angry with his brothers short, to the point answers. The leading abyss demon leapt forward and cut open Dante's skin from the top of his shoulder to the base of his spine. Dante grimaced as he fell forwards. The demon hissed in his ear.
"You'll show more respect or I'll make you."
"Oh yeah? How will you make me?" He challenged as he started to get up. The demon placed a foot on the back of Dante's head and leant forwards, forcing him to prostrate on the ground. Dante tried to move but the abyss leader kept him pinned in place. "Point taken." He muttered.
"You call him either Master or Lord Vergil. Do you understand?" The demon transferred more weight onto his foot until Dante was sure the stones were imprinted on his forehead.
"Yeah, whatever, just get off me!" Vergil smirked watching his brother squirm under his servant's foot. The demons were right, Dante wasn't broken easily, but he would be.
"Ask the master to let you up," The demon commanded, "or you'll be on ther floor for a long time." Dante struggled to throw the demons foot off his head but failed miserably. He stopped resisting when the scythe blade was pressed painfully to the base of his spine.
"Let me up." Dante muttered. "Let me up, Vergil." He said louder when the leader didn't move.
"You have to address him properly and ask, not tell him to let you up." The other demons laughed.
"No way am I doing that!" Dante cried indignantly and resumed his effort to remove the foot.
"Looks like you're staying there then." The demon twirled his scythe and whistled, much to the amusement of the rest of the elite. Dante muttered obscenities under his breath and gave up trying to move the foot at his head. As much as he hated lying like this before his brother, there was no way he was going to grovel to him. He cursed again as the foot at his head pushed harder.
"Bloody hell." He spat.
"What was that?" The demon asked innocently, smirking and stopped twirling his scythe. "I thought you liked bowing before the master since you aren't even bothering to struggle." Dante growled. "Oh, did you count that pathetic display as a struggle? Looks like our standards are too high for you."
"We took him down without taking a hit." The demons joined in.
"Demon hunters aren't what they used to be." Another added, glaring at Dante in disgust.
"Get off me, bastard!" Dante shouted, interrupting the insults and tried to get up yet again.
"Tsk, tsk. You should show more respect to your superiors." The leader mocked still smirking. He prodded the slow-healing cut on Dante's back with his scythe making Dante wince in pain. "You aren't healing as well as you should do. Want to know why?" The demon asked. When Dante didn't answer he carried on. "Well, while you were unconscious we injected a poison into your blood that stops your demon powers from reawakening. You might have wondered why you couldn't use devil trigger." Dante scowled.
"It also gradually stops your healing process. In a few days you won't be able to heal at all. You get hurt, you stay hurt. So really it's only logical that you obey us before you get potentially fatal injuries." Dante frowned. The demon talked too much. He was surprised that Vergil put up with something that talked as much as he, himself did. One part of the lecture did sink in though. If he couldn't heal, how was he supposed to get out of here? The demon prodded the cut again and Dante took a deep breath. This was going to hurt.
"Get stuffed Vergil. I'm not going to say it and you can tell your dumb servant to…." Dante almost cried out in pain as seven scythes ripped through his skin like knives through paper, leaving gaping holes in his sides. Blood spilled out onto the floor as the wounds started to close but very slowly.
"Big mistake…" The elite leader hissed all traces of amusement gone from his voice. It transferred the scythe to Dante's neck. "Say it."
"Hell no, I …." Dante was cut off when the blade dug deep into the back of his neck.
"Say it. I won't tell you a third time."
"No." 'God this demon sounds like Vergil' Dante thought.
"Then," the demon snarled. "You will suffer." The foot at Dante's head suddenly withdrew and the eight elite demons stepped back. Struggling Dante pulled himself to his feet, flinching at the pain the still open wounds caused. Vergil smiled as he watched his twin raise his head defiantly.
"Dante, why do you resist? Your fate is inevitable. I have already taken over the demon world and the human one is next. But you..." Vergil paused and ran a hand along the hilt of his sword. "You can choose. You can either serve me as I rule the two worlds or you can die."
"It's not going to happen, Vergil." Dante snarled ignoring the pain.
"There is no third option. You can't defeat me and you won't escape."
"You think so?" Dante wavered slightly, unsteady on his feet.
"Well, since you can barely stand upright and you soon won't be able to heal, I'm confident that there is no chance of you escaping and even less of you defeating me. But would serving me really be that bad?" Vergil smiled. "Who knows? If you were a good servant then maybe you'd be rewarded…"
"Get real Vergil. I'm going to put a stop to your delusions just like all the other times." Dante folded his arms.
"Ah, but I've got much stronger since then."
"So have I." Dante retorted. Vergil sneered as the abyss demons sniggered.
"I sincerely doubt that. You're going to try and defeat me?"
"Try? I will defeat you." Dante stopped himself from grimacing as a wound throbbed painfully. Vergil got up from his throne and started to walk down the steps towards Dante. He stopped mere inches away.
"Come on then." Vergil sneered as Dante tried to raise himself to his full height.
"Now?" Dante looked at the katana. "It's hardly fair though is it? I mean, you've only got one weapon and I'm still conscious." Vergil rolled his eyes. "But seriously Vergil. Where's the fun in fighting me when I'm already exhausted, wounded and weapon-less? I thought you at least would give me time to recover to make the match worthwhile." Vergil looked at Dante's wounds and slumped shoulders.
"I suppose." He said slowly. "You have one day, then we'll fight even if you're not ready."
"Fine, and if I win you have to let me go and give up your stupid attempt to be overlord." Dante grinned as Vergil raised an eyebrow.
"I have to, do I? Very well; when I win you have to be my servant."
"It's a deal." Dante paused. Vergil seemed more powerful than before and he said that he'd defeated Mundus. Maybe agreeing to this wasn't such a good idea. After all he still had the poison in his blood, meaning that he couldn't heal or devil trigger.
"Take him away. No-one harms him until after the battle tomorrow, unless he's trying to run away like the coward he is." The abyss demons nodded reluctantly and they pushed Dante out of the doors.