About 2000 years ago, according to legend, while snow was falling on a clear, freezing night on earth. A fierce devil prince was born deep in the darkest pit of the netherworld.
Within a short time he gained his full powers and took over the devil throne. His first act as ruler of all devils was to declare himself emperor of the devil kingdom. His next feat was an invasion of the human world. His plan was to conquer it and rule as potentate over both the lower and the upper realms.
But a powerful devil-knight known as Sparda took pity on humans for their brief, transient lives. And with his legendary sword he sealed away the demon world and trapped their emperor in a vault. However to seal the door to the demonic world Sparda sacrificed a mortal priestess and his own devil blood.
Thus began the tale of the legendary dark knight Sparda.
Having achieved his victory, Sparda abandoned the devil kingdom to live in the human world. He married a human woman called Eva and soon fathered a half devil, half human son named Dante.
However Dante was not the only man sired by the demon Sparda. There was another: Vergil.
When Dante was still only young his mother was killed by the devil king who had somehow escaped his imprisonment. He also believed his brother to be dead as well.
Several thousand years had past since Sparda sealed the door to the demon world. Dante was trying to set up shop, in a small corner of town. When a gigantic tower rose up out of the earth. Atop the tower, at the very peak of darkness stood a man named Arkham who had sacrificed his own loving wife to further his study of the black arts and to become a devil himself. And the second person atop the tower was Dante's older twin brother Vergil.
So Dante made his way to confront his brother. However Dante was not the only one who has a score to settle. A mysterious demon hunter also made her way to the tower.
The female demon hunter was confronted by Arkham, he own father. Arkham threw her from the tower. However she was caught by Dante further down the tower.
Dante was aided in his quest to the top of tower by a mysterious demon called Jester. Later Jester revealed to Dante that the tower was actually a tunnel linking the human world to the demonic world.
When Dante finally reached the top of the tower he was greeted by Vergil. The two brothers fought like arch enemies. Until Vergil impaled Dante with his Katana and took Dante's Amulet. As Dante lay helpless on the floor, Vergil stabbed him again this time with Dante's own sword Rebellion. However the sword changed and the demon deep inside Dante was awoken.
Vergil and Arkham leapt from the top of the tower known as the Temen-ni-gru. Dante followed them, however he was swallowed whole by a gigantic flying whale demon called the Leviathan, a biological weapon of sorts created thousands of years ago by the devil emperor. However Dante killed it and it crashed to the ground causing the tower itself to shudder.
Dante burst out of the creature's eye and was met by Arkham's daughter. The two demon hunters were ambushed by demons. Dante not knowing her name called her 'Lady'. As they fought off the demons Dante left and made his way back into the Temen-ni-gru.
As Arkham opened the door to the lair of judgement. Vergil questioned him on why he didn't kill his daughter when he had the chance. But before Arkham could answer Vergil spun around and drove his Katana into Arkham and left him to die.
Dante reached Arkham's dead body, however Lady also reached him as Dante stood over her father's body. She fought Dante, however knowing that she could not defeat him she gave up. Dante continued on, but Lady stayed with her father.
After Dante had gone Arkham began to speak. He called Lady by her real name Mary. He told her that he was manipulated to kill his wife by Vergil. Then as she held his hand Arkham took his dieing breathe. Lady got to her feet and made her way to Vergil.
Using the two amulets that the brother's mother had gave both of them and his own demon blood, Vergil would have opened the door to the demon world, however something was missing. Dante entered the lair of judgement and battled his brother once more. They were interrupted by Lady. Suddenly Jester appeared and defeated Lady and the two wounded brothers. Jester changed into his true form, who was none other than Arkham. He drove the blade on Lady's bazooka into her leg. As her blood poured from the wound Arkham revealed that the door would only open with her blood.
"Let's welcome Chaos!"
Arkham kicked the others off of the raising platform. The whole tower began to change Dante and Lady remained on the same level as the lair of judgement, but Vergil fell into the depths below. When the platform reached the top of the tower Arkham entered the demon world. Once inside the demon world Arkham found the sword of Sparda Force Edge and with the power of the dark knight was transformed into the image of Sparda himself.
Dante and Lady fought for the final time, but lady was weak from the wound and lost the fight. She gave Dante her bazooka which had her mother's name etched into it, Kalina Ann. In return for this, Lady asked to know the demon hunters name.
Dante entered the demonic realm and fought Arkham who had turned into a large gruesome creature. However Dante was unable to defeat him, when suddenly Vergil appeared and together they showed Arkham the true power of the sons of Sparda!
As Dante and Vergil leapt for their amulets and Force Edge. Arkham in his true human form fell from the demon world and landed on top of the Temen-ni-gru Apex. There he was finally killed by his daughter.
Then in a climatic battle at the Unsacred Hellgate, Dante fought his older brother who had retrieved Force Edge. Vergil was defeated and intentionally fell into the blackness of the demon world preventing Dante from saving him. Dante left with Force Edge and a heavy heart.
Outside of the Temen-ni-gru Lady was waiting for Dante. When Dante came out of the tower Lady noticed that Dante was crying.
"Maybe somewhere out there even a Devil May Cry, when he loses a loved one."
Twenty years since his mother was killed, a mysterious woman named Trish, who bore a strange resemblance to Dante's mother entered his shop informing him that Mundus, the Devil king whom Sparda had sealed away in a vault thousands of years ago had somehow escaped from his imprisonment twenty years ago, was the one who had killed his mother and was rebuilding his army on Mallet Island, the main gateway to the demon world.
So Dante accompanied by Trish made his way to Mallet Island. Once there Dante faced two of Mundus's most powerful lieutenants Phantom, the guardian of the demon world and the winged beast known as Griffon. And the heart of the Leviathan now called Nightmare.
He also fought the powerful demon called Nelo Angelo and in their final battle as Nelo Angelo died in a tornado of fire, an amulet dropped to the floor the amulet apart from being gold instead of silver was identical to Dante's. And in that moment Dante realised that Nelo Angelo was in fact his brother Vergil.
As Dante linked the two amulets together they began to glow and began to merge with Force Edge. As the red glow cleared Force Edge had been turned into its more powerful form the sword known as Sparda which had sealed away the demons.
As Dante faced Nightmare a second time Trish revealed that she was working for Mundus who had created her in the image of Dante's mother.
Dante entered a large white marble room. At the end of this room was a gigantic statue of a god like figure with three eyes. As Dante walked closer a dark voice echoed around the room. The statue cracked and fell to pieces and in its place stood an angel winged Mundus in a stone statue form as his had not yet gained enough of his power to transcend into his true form.
Now Dante faced his destiny and with the very sword that bore his father's own name, Dante once again sealed the devil emperor.
Several years later Dante received an urgent message summoning him to a small unknown island called Vie De Marli. When he arrived he was confronted by the person who had summoned him, a woman, The Protector named Lucia.
His job was simple, stop an evil sorcerer named Arius from opening the gate to hell and merging with Argosax the Chaos, the devil king before the rise of Mundus.
Dante thinking he had killed Arius journeyed into the demonic world to kill Argosax. After Dante had gone through the portal, Arius arose as a demon, Arius Argosax. After a brutal fight Lucia killing Arius the very man who created her, using his dark powers.
Once inside the demon world Dante finally killed Argosax. However the fight was far from over, from the ashes of Argosax rose his offspring Despair Embodied, possessing an androgynous perfect body and awesome dignity with horns and angel wings. Even though Despair Embodied was quicker and stronger than Dante, The demon hunter was able to put a charged bullet in the demon's skull killing Despair Embodied instantly. In doing so he sealed the portal to the demon realm.
And with this victory Dante made his way into the heart of hell.