Necromancers, Dante hated Necromancers, to think a human could sink as low as a demon in that way, just rubbed him the wrong way. The tip he'd gotten to lead him to this safe house hadn't mentioned a necromancer specifically, just a lot of strange and magical activity. Once he'd busted down the door and checked the first couple of rooms it was clear. Bodies were laying on every surface in various states, some being dissected, others lying in magical circles. He followed a stairway down into a cement lined basement. Six bodies were spread out in the room with masks over their faces. Five of them had rotten beyond recognition. Dante walked over to the sixth one and removed the mask-

The body rose with a gasp- but no air was actually pulled into his lungs. Dante instantly had Ivory pressed against his temple. He turned slowly towards Dante with fear in his expression. "Please don't hurt me?"

Dante frowned, but lowered his gun, "You look like just another walking corpse to me.

"That's just what I am- now. It's not my fault." He turned and lowered his legs over the side of the granite slab he had been lying on. "He took all of us, she- she tried to fight him, but even she was overwhelmed…"

He seemed really shaken by just the idea that this 'she' of his could be beaten; obviously this was a new level of power for this guy. Dante didn't know if that really meant anything or not though…

"Oh god he still has her- he put one of his masks on her to control her and took her-"

"Whoa- let's curb the hysterics. Tell you what- I don't like Necromancers- I was gonna nail this guy anyway, let's say I let you tag along so you can find your lady-friend, can you fight worth a damn?"

That question seemed to straighten him up a bit. He looked around him for a moment; behind the slab of granite he was on he pulled out a wicked looking chain, with spikes at every other link, and two larger circlets at about a third's from the edge, and one larger than either of those at the center. "I don't know what good I'll be in the final battle, but I'm certainly no novice if you're asking."

He wrapped the chain into a circle and clasped it at his side, "I'm Ro, apparently one of the last of my Magic Guild."

"Magic? Mages?"

Ro turned to look at Dante appraisingly at last- which seemed to catch Dante off guard- now that this guy had accepted that he was dead and not doomed, his whole body language became a lot more serious, "We study all sorts of magic styles, and many different applications- as a matter of fact- we have only one field of magic that is forbidden- death… the study of it and practice of magic involving it is too tempting to abuse." He stopped, "He was a prominent member- until he was convicted of researching the dead for magical purposes…"

"You're necromancer guy?"

"Zorn- he- he took out the whole guild- those that he didn't kill on the spot, he dragged back so he could do stuff like this to," he motioned around the room. He looked over at Dante again, "Why, are you opposed to magic?"

Dante scoffed at that one, "As if I had a choice, my powers are given to me by birth," he held out his hand in handshake, with a smirk on his face he spoke, "I'm Dante, son of the legendary Sparda."

Dante kept his smirk as the phrase had the desired effect, his name was obviously known to him and his guild. It took him an extra minute to notice Dante's hand extended and shake it, but worth the wait.

"So you're- half demon?"

Dante nodded. Dante turned back to the exit, "unless you think we're gonna find more here, lets head back to my place and get you some firearms, melee weapons are nice and make a big crunch on most monsters, but sometimes you just need to unload from more than a few meters back to soften them up."

Ro nodded slightly, and stepped up right behind Dante- "That sword- is it?"

Dante noticed Ro's glance at Sparda, "Yep, my father's weapon, a little tampered with by now, but no less powerful."

Dante lead Ro out of the building. The shock seemed to come and go in waves, one moment he was serious, like when he was sizing Dante up, most of the time though he was in a state of melancholy, muttering something about either the guild or his girl- Nora.

"I had just proposed to her, she took the ring, but we hadn't even begun making plans…"

"Right," Dante said offhandedly as he threw one leg over his bike and slid on, "Hop on back kid."

Ro got on back, "How did you know to come here anyway?"

"Source of mine told me some spell-caster was playing in some deep shit, his sources led him here. Thought if I didn't find him I might at least learn a bit about him; which I did- found me a source who can tell me a whole lot about him, didn't I."

Ro's expression changed slowly as he picked up the not-too subtle undertone there. "Look, I only know what everyone in the guild knew about him. He was a member about 70 years ago. He's gotta be over 200 now, he kept looking for ways to keep himself alive- I guess it was little wonder he started researching death- he was obsessed. Most of what I know Nora told me, she's been in the guild longer than me, and she's where Zorn was when he left- minus the death kick. I don't even know why he had to wait 70 years to get back at the guild."

"More likely he just needed magic-capable subjects to experiment on, if he's looking for a way to cheat death like you say."

"Possible, but what he did to us wouldn't work on himself."

"Oh?"

"No, you can't put your own soul back in your body when you're dead- which is what he did to me and the rest of us. He'd need some other method. But he was probably examining how a soul well a soul stays in a dead body. Possibly studying the old texts on the nature of a Litch."

"Litch- why does that sound familiar to me?"

"It's just the term used for undead magic-users. There hasn't been one on thousands of years. The records of how-to and why are all but lost- I can only assume he found some."

"So, it's more than likely Sparda fought a few in his day, 's probably why it sounds familiar. Must of heard a few stories about my old man growin' up." Dante took a moment; it had been a long time since he had given any thought at all to stories about his father. "If it helps, it'll come to me," Dante conceded at last. "We're here."

Ro looked up to see the pink neon sign, "Devil May Cry."

"Ally of mine came up with it, says my glare is so cold and intense that when facing it, even The Devil may cry."

"That doesn't sound like it would take much, but I get your- ally's meaning."

"What do you mean by that- the first part?"

"You're not a very religious person are you?"

"Not so much no, I make my own luck," with that he reached into his jacket and pulled out a coin, he tossed it over to Ro so he could look at it.

Ro noticed the same heads emblem on both sides, then tossed it back with a smirk, "Cute. Heads you win, Tails they lose."

Dante caught his coin and pocketed it, taking that moment he chuckled, "Yeah, pretty much, either way, I always win."

Dante brought Ro over to the armory in the cellar. On one side was a number of swords, gauntlets, and other obviously enchanted weapons- the other, more guns than could arm a platoon.

"Don't bother with any of the swords and the like, I doubt any of them would work for you anyway, they've all bonded to me, as well as some of the guns, but I'm sure you can find something you can use."

Ro took a moment examining the wall. He finnaly spotted it, something that would make his old friend Shin cry with joy. It was really too big for him, but that was fixable. He took it off the wall with both arms.

"Whoa- I like you're style, but think you can carry that?"

Ro chanted something unintelligible for a moment, the whole gun glowed and runes appeared along one side of it. After that Ro held it out one handed as though it were a paperweight. He slapped a clip in it and pointed it around the room to gauge his speed with it.

"Rail gun it is," Dante mused.