A/N: crossover with the manga Devil&Devil. Translations can be found with a quick google search... although I will eventually make an info page on my site.
Prologue - Dante's thoughts
As children, Dante and Vergil's mother made sure that her boys had the best
education possible. She wanted to know that if they were ever banished from
school, they would never fall behind the kids who would accuse them of
being stupid in addition to being monsters. It was already difficult for them as
it was. She knew her boys suffered because of their father's demon blood but she
could do nothing about it. Instead, she was going to try her hardest to make
sure her boys became good and intelligent men... there was no need to wish they
grew up strong since their heritage made strength a given. She thought that
there was no reason why they couldn't be good people even though they were
demons, just like their father was.
But then his family was attacked and Dante was forced to continue alone. It was
then he realized that some things his mother taught him just wouldn't work in
the world that the son of Sparda was forced to reside in. Politeness, manners,
courtesy... he threw aside the so-called rules of human interaction drilled into
him by his mother and turned to only rule that counted; the strong live and the
weak die. Niceties were only fit for the ignorant and the ignorant refused
to recognize that the real world was soaked in blood and vengeance.
Dante was not ignorant.
Dante was a Sparda and a damn good Demon Hunter, the best around after his old
man bit the dust. And to be a good demon hunter, he had to muster every
advantage over his opponent he could, be it through insults, dirty tricks and
plain old knowledge. It'd just be stupid make a career of hunting monsters that
were stronger and meaner than a normal human could ever be, even more so if he
knew nothing about them. That's why he needed his own unfair advantage. Dante
couldn't always use his built-in advantage, in fact he was ignorant of its real
power until the job on Mallet Island, so he needed to manufacture a different
kind of advantage.
It's much easier to kill a demon you know about.
That's why Dante kept studying even though he had more than enough strength to
kill the odd demon that he wasn't familiar with. Knowledge saved him from a
more than a few close calls. It would be too dangerous to rely on information
from just one source but Dante doubted that the demons would be willing to give books
detailing their weaknesses to a someone that made a living by killing them. What
they didn't need was a more efficient hunter. He had no choice but to rely on
human records.
He discovered early in his studies that languages were remarkably poor when they
needed to describe something outside their country of origin, which was only to
be expected. Things that they encountered often and felt were of great
importance to them were given the most words to articulate their thoughts while
things they didn't know or care about, weren't. That's why Dante made it a point
to learn as many languages as he could. It was bad enough that he had to rely on
second hand sources that were likely quite biased in their reports without
worrying about the translation. He wanted to eliminate as many dangerous factors
as possible, which meant that he didn't want to worry about a misinterpretation
that prove to be a fatal mistake. One such mistake made it painfully clear to
the demon hunter that it was in his best interest to use the most direct
sources.
Dante was always better at studying than his brother was, that's probably why
Nelo Angelo couldn't actually kill him. He just knew his brother better
--although Dante didn't actually recognize Nelo Angelo as Vergil until it was
too late-- something inside him must have recognized his brother's fighting
style and found the inherent weakness. Dante prepared for every eventually,
that's why he didn't falter in the fight when Nelo Angelo did.
That's why he was able to kill Nelo Angelo.
That's why Vergil died.