Chapter 3

Meanwhile, where Dante is…

Dante stood at the gates to Yharnam, studying the strangely quiet street that laid before him. He had spent a couple of days asking around about the whereabouts of Yharnam, then a couple more days getting there. He had heard a lot of rumors about the place, like that it was home to the Great Ones-mysterious, godlike beings with incredible power and blood with healing properties that had revealed themselves to Yharnam-but none of them really concerned him, as he was, after all, the son of the demon knight Sparda, and was therefore invincible in all aspects.

Dante took a deep breath, then walked into the city, confident that what lay ahead of him would be easy as cake.

A couple of hours later…

Dante walked through the street in front of a place called Iosefka's Clinic, unnerved by the quite and the stillness of Yharnam. He had expected to see at least a few people, but had not encountered anything thus far-no monsters, no people, no animals, not even any insects. He had, however, found several corpses in various stages of decay laying about in the streets-horses, mostly, but also a couple of corpses that looked like the monster that Dante had encountered in his shop nailed up on cross-like structures that were stuck into the ground, some of them in flames. He was on guard, however, and ready to attack any threat that appeared. He had learned a long time ago that it was only an idiot that let his guard down in an unfamiliar area.

Suddenly, he heard the sound of heavy breathing, followed by footsteps and a metal object dragging the ground. The flickering light of a torch appeared behind a vacant carriage, and a black-clad man holding an ax that dragged on the ground and a torch that was held in the air, dressed in a broad-brimmed black hat, a long black coat, and average worker's clothing and with bandages covering his eyes and a scraggly, unkempt beard adorning his face appeared, apparently patrolling the street for any dangers.

"Finally, someone appears," Dante muttered, then quickened his pace, yelling, "Hey, you with the ax and the torch!"

The man suddenly whirled around, facing Dante and sniffing the air like a dog, which Dante found odd.

"A foreigner..." the man growled. "A stinking f-foreigner..."

"Yea, I'm not from around here. Could you tell me-"

"It's all your fault… the beasts… all of it's your fault!" the man screamed, rushing at Dante. "You stinking foreigner, it's all your fault! I'll kill you!"

With that, the man clumsily swung his ax at Dante, who easily dodged the attack. Then, he whipped out Rebellion and parried another blow from the crazed man, slicing his throat wide open. The man looked down at his throat, which was spurting blood like a fountain, then at Dante. With a gurgle, he fell to his knees, then on his face, his ax and torch clattering to the ground as his fingers relaxed and released them.

Dante stared at the corpse for a moment, then shook his head, wiped off Rebellion, sheathed it, and continued his walk through the street, wondering what the heck that was about.

The Hunter stopped, puzzled. He had heard the clash of metal on metal from the direction of Iosefka's Clinic, which confused him, as he was the only sane Hunter in Yharnam. The only plausible explanation that he could think of was that Eileen had found another blood-drunk Hunter and had quickly killed him, but it took longer than than the time period that the Hunter estimated for Eileen to kill someone.

Wondering what the noise was about, he hurried to Iosefka's Clinic, questions racing through his mind.

Dante walked up to the gate, pulling out Ebony and Ivory and readying them for any other threats that appeared. He banged on the Gothic iron gate and yelled, "Hey! Anyone there?"

No response.

"Damn it," he muttered, walking back the way he came. "What now?"

Suddenly, he noticed a ladder attached to a wall, a ladder that most likely led to a path that would lead Dante to behind the gate.

"That's more like it," Dante said in satisfaction, walking over to the ladder and spinning his handguns around.

Suddenly, a flash of movement in the corner of Dante's eye caught his attention. He turned and saw a pair of men rising to their feet, cleavers in their hands and bandages covering their eyes. Dante sighed, saying, "I'm guessing that you two want to kill me, right?"

"GRAAAAAUGH!" one of the men yelled as the two charged at Dante, cleavers raised and ready to strike. Dante sighed again, then aimed Ebony and Ivory at the men.

One shot. The first man stumbled, a bullet lodging itself into his brain. Another shot, and the man fell to the ground, a second bullet driving the other in further. Another few rounds, and the other man dropped, filled with lead.

"Now that, kids," Dante said, blowing off his pistols and re-holstering them, "is how you kill two men with style."

He walked over to the ladder, then tested its stability and found it stable enough to support his weight. Satisfied, he scaled the ladder, then stopped at the top, trying to decide to go left or right. After a moment's deliberation, he decided to go right…

Then tripped over the lamp that was hanging on a lamp rack in the middle of the area.

"FUCK!" Dante swore as he fell down to the ground and onto his face. He got up, dusted himself off, then glared at the lamp. He kicked it, then, muttering, "Little fucker..." continued on his way.

Dante walked over to a barricade of stacked-up coffins and boxes, ready for anything…

Until the man behind them burst through them, nearly giving Dante a heart attack.

"DIE, BEAST!" the man yelled, swinging his cleaver down in an arch at Dante, who was too shocked to react…

Then a shot rang out, and the man stumbled, his cleaver stopped dead mid-swing. Dante took advantage of this and pulled out Rebellion, slicing the crazed man in half from head to crotch. The man's two halves fell to the ground with a wet splat, revealing the man who had stopped the crazy from cutting him-a strangely dressed man, with a smoking flintlock in his left hand and a strange weapon that looked like a scythe/scimitar/ax in his right.

"Thanks, man," Dante said, wiping off Rebellion and sheathing it. "I would've been fine, since I have a quick-heal factor, but… thanks anyway."

"You're welcome," the man replied, lowering his gun. "Who are you, exactly?"

"Name's Dante," Dante said, walking over to shake hand with the man. The strangely dressed man put away his gun, then took Dante's hand and rigorously shook it.

"Are you a Hunter, too?" the man asked after they shook hands, pulling his gun back out and taking a step back. "I could use some help in cleaning up Yharnam."

"Me? Nah, I came here after some guy came into my office and asked me to come here. He turned into some kind of monster, like a scrawny werewolf or something."

Suddenly, the man's eyes grew wide behind his silver skull mask. "Did you kill him?" he quickly asked.

"Um, he attacked me, so yea, I killed him."

"How many other people were there?" was the next question.

"No one, just me. I burned the body, too."

"Okay, good," the man said, obviously relived. "I don't want the sickness spreading beyond Yharnam. It's bad enough here, but if it got outside… that would be more than a catastrophe, that would be the end of us all."

"The sickness? Is that the reason everyone I've met wants to kill me?"

"Yes, it is. It's called the Beastly Scourge, and it was brought on by the over-usage of the Great Ones' blood. You do know who the Great Ones are, right?"

"If you mean the giant, god-like beings I've heard about that have healing blood, then yea, I know what you're talking about," Dante said. "Now can we cut the chitchat and get going?"

"Oh-uh, yea, sure," the man said. "By the way, I'm Cain. I'm a Hunter, responsible for the killing of those affected with the disease."

"Cool. Let's get going, Cain."

"Sure thing."

A few minutes later…

Cain and Dante stood in the middle of the street, the corpses of the beasts they had killed strewn around them. They looked at each other, then grinned, Cain's grin hidden behind his mask but there nonetheless.

"Holy crap, Dante, what was that?" Cain asked. "You fought like a demon!"

"Considering I'm half demon, that expression was pretty accurate," Dante drily said, sheathing Rebellion. "You fought well yourself. I've never seen any other man fight quite like that."

"Thanks," Cain replied, folding his Beasthunter's Saif with a flick of his arm. "When you've had to fight as many beasts as I have, you learn to have ridiculous reflexes, speed, agility, and strength."

"Well, then, let's get going," Dante said, already setting out down the street. Cain followed, quickening his pace to catch up with Dante.

"Say, shouldn't we open that gate back there?" Dante suddenly asked, turning around to stare at the iron gate.

"Oh, right, I meant to do that," Cain said. The two reversed their course, walking instead to the gate.

As they neared the gate, Dante stopped. "Did you hear that?" he asked, drawing Rebellion yet again.

"If you mean the large, heavy footsteps and the clanking armor, then yes, I heard that," Cain replied, lowering his voice instinctively. "I've already performed the Hunt once before, but I can't remember everything."

"Wait, what?" Dante said incredulously. "I thought you were-"

"A newbie?" Cain said, a wry smile twisting his lips behind his mask. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm a veteran. When you complete the Hunt, it all starts over again. I've only gone through it once, but I know it'll happen again. Gets harder each time, I think."

Dante sighed, slapping his forehead with his hand. "Whatever," he sighed, "Let's go figure out what that was."

The two crept along.

When they neared the gate, Cain took in a sharp intake of breath. "Look there!" he hissed, pointing down a nearby alley. Dante turned his head to face the direction Cain was pointing in…

And saw a massive, lumbering, potbellied giant, encased in silver armor and a green cloak, who held a massive ax similar to a Medieval executioner's ax, patrolling the alleyway, pacing back and forth, back and forth…

"Hot damn," Dante said, propping Rebellion on his shoulder and standing up straight. "Looks like we've got a big one on our hands here."

"Oh, crap! Dante, we need to turn around now!" Cain frantically whispered, hooking Dante's arm in his own and tugging on it. "That thing is huge! If we fight it, we'll surely die, and I don't wanna have to come back for my Blood Echoes!"

"Okay, first off, get your arm out from around mine, it feels gay AF. Second, I never said anything about you having to help me fight this thing. And third, what the hell are Blood Echoes?"

Releasing Dante's arm, Cain said, "Dante, I know you said you have a quick-heal factor, but what if it fails? If you die, you'll stay dead! You're not connected to the Hunter's Dream-"

"Look, my quick-heal factor's not gonna fail me, so shut up. Plus, I've got a trick up my sleeve. Lemme show you how this is done, Cain," Dante said. Then he walked down the alleyway, ignoring Cain's desperate pleas for Dante to come back.

When Dante reached the alleyway's entry, he stopped and yelled, "Hey, fatass!"

The giant whirled around with surprising speed, focusing its attention on Dante.

"Yea, you! C'mere and get a piece of me! Or are you too scared, huh?" Dante yelled.

With an angry snort, the giant advanced on Dante, going no faster than it had been going. When it reached Dante, it swung its ax down at Dante's head. It crashed down with a mighty boom, dust flying up from the force of the impact. As the dust settled, Cain expected to see Dante's body cut in half and lying on the ground…

But instead saw that Dante had grabbed the blade of the ax, and was standing straight and tall as the giant strained to pull its ax back.

"Heh. I thought you'd at least be able to bang me up a little bit, but I was obviously wrong," Dante said with a cocky grin "Okay, it's my turn now, tubby."

With that, Dante lifted the ax, along with the giant, and threw them both into the wall of the small courtyard at the end of the alleyway. The giant smashed into the wall with a resounding crash, then fell onto the ground, struggling to its feet as dust billowed and chunks of building fell down around its feet. It roared a challenge at Dante, then leaped at him, ax swinging downward in a catastrophic swing…

Only to slow and freeze in mid-air as Dante activated his Devil Trigger.

Dante swiftly became encased in evil-looking black armor, taking on the demon appearance of his half-demon self. He pointed Rebellion at the giant, then proceeded to jump into the air…

And began flitting around everywhere as he sliced the giant apart, crimson spray filling the air as Dante hacked the giant apart with his sword. After a minute of this, Dante landed and sheathed his sword. As time proceeded to unfreeze, Dante turned back to normal, and the giant exploded in a bloody blast in midair, crimson blood, gore, and assorted guts mingling with silver armor as the giant's remains splattered the street, alleyway, and courtyard.

Cain stared at Dante for a couple of minutes, in clear awe and admiration. "What… what was that?!" he exclaimed. "Time just froze, and then you turned into some sort of demon knight thing, and then-"

"That, my friend, was my Devil Trigger." Dante smoothly said. "All demons and half-demons have the ability to go into Devil Trigger. Since my old man was the demon Sparda, my Devil Trigger is more powerful than a normal demon or half demon's."

"God Almighty… I've never seen anything like that..." Cain reverently breathed.

"I know, right?" Dante said with a grin. "Now, let's open up this gate and get back on our merry way."