The Return of Vergil

Chapter 1

In the Depths of the Underworld a huge blue fireball hurtled towards the ground at terrifying speeds. A few scattered groups of demons turned their heads to watch the awesome sight as it crashed to the ground with a gigantic explosion. Quickly they sped toward the crater the fireball left to investigate and to find any potential new victims, their dulled minds not realising that no creature on earth could have survived the almighty blast that the fireball created as it struck the earth. As the smoke and dust cleared only smoky, shadowy shapes could be seen; whatever it was that fell must have had an enormous amount of power behind it to cause such a devastating explosion. The crater itself was 50ft wide and the stone had been melted into glass, such was the heat created by the fireball.

Slowly, larger numbers of lesser demons approached and descended into this crater not knowing the fate they would meet thanks to their curiosity. Most of these demons appeared to be a cross between humans and vultures, standing at roughly 2 metres tall, with dull coloured bodies, a ring of feathers on their necks and bald, ugly faces. Out of the epicentre of the crater a huge figure emerged, far too tall to be a human and yet, with a humans head and visage. He was encased in a strange black armour, with blue lines running up and down his body, a long, flowing cape on his back and a huge sword that looked like a chunk of marble but with the same zig zagging lines on it. His face was in a scowl, with slicked back white hair and icy blue, piercing eyes. He looked around through the smoke and suddenly flew at the nearest demon, swinging his huge blade as though it were made of paper. The demon burst into a shower of sand as it was obliterated by the devastating attack and the knight followed this attack with another in an attempt to destroy every demon in the crater.

He drew his blade up above his head and leaped at another demon, cleaving it in two; from head to toe. Quickly the knight span around and threw his fist out, a huge blue fireball shot from his hand and a small group of demons were annihilated on impact. He then was engulfed in blue flame and shot toward the other side of the crater, destroying the demons that stood in his way. He continued his massacre, his sword never stopping, his body never tiring; he could not be any ordinary knight as no mortal man had such strength.

Soon the massacre was concluded and he placed the sword on the left hand side of his hips, some demonic sorcery held it there without a sheath. The knight's name was Nelo Angelo. He stood still for a moment and closed his eyes, trying to recall how he came to be in that desolate wasteland. Fragmented memories and distorted images flashed through his mind; he saw himself fighting a man who looked like his twin in what seemed to be a cathedral, he was then fighting a huge demon that looked like an angel but with a huge hole in his chest, he was wielding a long Katana and wearing a blue coat fighting that same man who looked like him on top of a huge tower, he then saw a burning house, lot's of blood and a blonde haired woman screaming out to run. Names flashed through his head Sparda, Yamato, Eva, Mundus, Trish, Vergil but one stood out before the rest: Dante. The dark knight then drew his sword and stabbed it into the ground; he put both hands on the hilt and half crouched as if readying himself for something.

Nelo Angelo stayed in this position for only a few seconds before the ground began to shake… blue flames and lightning sprang from him as he screamed in pain and concentrated on these memories. Suddenly the knight's armour began to fade, revealing a pair of brown boots, the tops of which stopped at his knees, dark navy blue trousers, a strange top that looked like leather body armour and a large blue trench coat. He suddenly roared with an inhumane voice at a further effort to transform himself as slowly the blade he gripped faded into a large katana.

He Straightened up and looked himself up and down. He checked his sword and uttered it's name under his breath

"Yamato..."

He sheathed the blade and looked around, he recognised this desolate wasteland as he Ante-Inferno, the place that was neither heaven nor hell. The land that the neutral souls inhabited had seemingly been overrun by demons as hell grew in power. Vergil knew that to escape hell he would have to dive deeper into it, as to try and escape through the near portal would likely weaken him dramatically. He also could never resist the chance to prove that he was the most powerful being in existence. Vergil turned, Yamato in hand, and began to run towards the horizon...

Chapter 2

After what seemed like hours of constant running Vergil finally caught sight of his destination: the great river Acheron. He came to a screeching halt. Something was horribly wrong; Charon wasn't on his boat ferrying souls of the dead to hell. After a short while he saw what was wrong, he was being held prisoner by a great and monstrous beast. A shiver ran down Vergil's spine as he didn't have any clue what the creature was, it was roughly 4 metres tall with huge bat like wings for arms. The creature's body was plated in what seemed to be thick armour with large spikes on it's back, its head was crowned with 5 horns and it had a jagged beak instead of a mouth. It's eyes burned green and on the end of it's beak it had a large horn, it's legs were similar to an eagles but covered in the same armour as on it's back and with gnarled talons and spikes running down them.

The Demon had Charon pinned underneath its right foot as it was conversing with a small group of lesser demons that seemed to be Blades. Vergil knew that the demon would not be interested in taking prisoners and that it would likely kill Charon as soon as it got the chance. Although it was inconsequential to Vergil if Charon lived or died he could fool the demon into thinking that Charon was an important hostage should the need of such tactics arise and then be able to launch a surprise attack upon the great beast.

After some careful planning, Vergil knew exactly what he was going to do. He would rush down and kill the Blades before they knew he was there and then question the huge demon about what is happening in hell, before murdering it. Should the demon try and use Charon, as a hostage Vergil would be able to launch a surprise attack, as the demon would not be expecting this if it meant risking Charon's life.

Vergil then rushed down and murdered the Blades. As he got to the first one he simply flicked Yamato out of it's sheath and cut the scaly demons head off, the next one was on his right and he span 360 degrees with Yamato dancing around his body to cut the demon to shreds. The next creature had registered that there was something wrong and begun to turn it's head as Yamato flew through it's abdomen. Vergil then made a series of surgical cuts to the next three Blades and ran Yamato through the final demons chest before pausing to allow the huge demon to know of his presence. He drew Yamato out of the Blade's chest slowly and then sheathed it. The Blades looked around in shock as they fell apart and died, too slow to put up any sort of a fight.

The huge demon was stunned for but a moment before he realised whom Vergil was.

"So this is the half breed son of the traitor!" it cried out in a booming, monstrous voice, "Not only are you the son of a traitor but it seems you have also betrayed the Darkness Mundus as well, even though he had given you a second chance at life!"

Vergil's cold icy gaze met with the demons green, festering eyes and seemed to bore holes into them as the demon flinched.

Vergil then replied, "I've come to ask you a few questions vermin. What are demons doing running loose in the Ante-Inferno, why have you attacked and captured Charon and what in God's name possessed Mundus to create something as ugly as you?"

With this the huge demon roared in anger, opened its maw wide and blasted a jet of ice at Vergil who promptly somersaulted to his right and dodged the blast.

"Temper, temper" Vergil said, falling comfortably into his old, arrogant drawl "I merely asked a question, but as you seem intent on not answering me I'll get the answers from something else after I've killed you"

At this the demon laughed. The creature's laugh was not a pleasant one, but a strange sound that resembled screaming more than laughing.

It then said, "You truly believe you can best me? Very well, I'll indulge you. The great lord Mundus saw the Ante-Inferno as a good place to store his armies in readiness to invade the human world through Mallet Island and Charon is the only one who can force them to return to the depths of hell! You think you can stand against me, think again. Now you attempt to stand against all the legions of hell! You don't stand a chance mortal!"

Having finished his speech the creature lunged at Vergil with his left wing. Vergil simply pulled Yamato from it's sheath, did a vertical cut upwards to stop the wing and then brought the blade back down to create a deep cut through the creature's muscle, sinew and bone. Vergil's face pulled into a scowl at the demon's pathetic attempt upon his life; he took it as an insult that the demon believed such a weak attack could harm him. Just as he began to crouch down and fire off a few darkness orbs a huge tremor shook the ground. Vergil paused and quickly scanned the horizon, something was wrong; the demon's beak seemed to have curled into a demented grin as it looked straight into Vergil's eyes. Without warning, huge bolts of lightning struck the ground and flames leapt up from cracks that suddenly appeared.

The demon simply said "Mundus' armies come!"