Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to either Devil May Cry, the Percy Jackson series, or the Heroes of Olympus books. These belong to their respective owners.
For any other person, the wounds Dante just received would have spelled certain death for them. For him, however, they were just really painful.
One might think that being a half-devil that had experienced all that he had would have some kind of pain tolerance against being stabbed or shot. In truth, however, he felt most pain as a human would, just to a lesser degree. But this was more than he could normally handle. Every blade felt like a hot nail being jammed into his body and being repeatedly hammered on by Nobodies. And yet somehow, despite all of this, he was alive and conscious.
And if there was one thing to know about Dante, it was that his strength only grew with the pain inflicted upon him.
"You know," he said somehow, taking a moment to spit out a little bit of blood. "This is giving me some serious deja vu."
And with that said, he let the power within him begin to flow.
Almost immediately, he was overwhelmed with the power released, and he concentrated on keeping his demonic instincts under his control. As a result, the burst of power that unleashed from him was huge, but gone in an instant. His body burned with red light, so much of it that no one observing could see his features, only his form as a figure of crimson light. A shockwave erupted from him, blasting everything around him back as spectral bands of symbols and runes materialized around his body, then shattered. As the light faded and the sparks and dust began to settle, all eyes focused on the spot Dante was at before the explosion.
There was a flash of red light and a sudden chill as all of the ambient heat left the air before Dante stepped out of the dust, the brightest aura of crimson surrounding his body and red sparks of electricity zapping between different parts of his body. In his right hand, he clutched Rebellion, which was charged with an equally bright light around its blade. In his left, he held the handle of what appeared to be a stone briefcase with glowing grooves carved around the demonic shape embedded in the front. Wounds knitted themselves closed as he planted the briefcase on the ground, any shards of metal still remaining in his body simply falling out of the wounds as they sealed up.
"There we go!" Dante said, rolling his shoulders and looking down at himself. "Ah, dammit! I just bought this! Can't you have any respect for a man's clothes?" He gripped at the hem of the coat, revealing several new cuts and punctures in the red leather. "God, and now I'm going to have to pay another insane price for a new one!" After he finished that sentence, he kicked the symbol in the center of the briefcase, causing it to unfold and begin to transform.
Rebellion flashed once as he swung it forward, a shout of "Drive!" accompanying it. The red energy pulsed, and a red energy slash erupted from the blade, travelling perpendicular to the floor as it raced towards a cluster of Sins. The slash was accompanied by two thinner, darker red slashes that collided and became an X-slash moments later, and all three impacted with the cluster and slashed straight through it. Several sins fell, their masks split in two or three pieces, but some of them managed to dodge out of the way. The survivors raised their weapons, letting out a shrill screech and launching into the air.
As the Deaths and Sins began to fly around once more in a loose circle, Dante stepped backwards, snagging what used to be the briefcase off of the ground, the odd shape-changing artifact now resembling a gatling gun. Dante slung Rebellion onto his back, gripping the two handles with his hands and letting loose a spray of bullets which took down more than a few of the spectral demons, which had their focus completely on him now. After about 30 seconds of fire, Dante let go of the top handle and slammed the gatling gun's barrels against the ground. The artifact changed once again, collapsing in on itself and then expanding back out into a massive three-barreled rocket launcher which he raised onto his shoulder. The front rotated once, then fired three rockets in swirling patterns which exploded at different points in front of him.
He shifted to his left, jumping into the air as he felt movement at his back. He kicked down again, kicking off of the head of a Death Scythe which had tried to sneak up on him. The artifact (named Pandora, it had told him once) changed shape once more, into what looked like a cross between a jukebox and a gravestone which was decorated with golden spikes and black nozzles by the base and across the top. Dante hurled it back to the ground, crushing the Death Scythe beneath its weight as it expanded to its full height of about five and a half feet. Dante landed next to it, and a panel on its side opened, revealing a list of songs with some odd names. Dante scanned it, then pressed a button at random with an exclamation of "LETS ROCK!"
{Devil Trigger - Casey Edwards}
As the song started up, the panel flipped around again, revealing the demonic thing that had been embedded into the front of the box. Speakers emerged from its insides, and sparks began to spray from the black nozzles on top of the jukebox. Dante leaped a good twenty feet away from it, extending his hands and conjuring Cavalier into existence underneath him as he landed. He looked over to the frozen demigods, who all had looks of utter confusion and awe on their faces, and smirked, shouting, "Come on, you guys! Wouldn't want to miss out on all the fun, now would you?!"
He gunned the engine on Cavalier, riding over to the demigods as the music began to kick up. "I think I got room for one more back here, and the rest of you will have to stand. Who's it gonna be?" he asked over the roar of the engines and the demons flying around and overhead.
It took each of them a moment to process what he had just said. As they did, each of them looked at one of their allies, then at Dante, the look of confusion and worry never coming off of their face. Dante's fingers drummed against the handlebars a couple of times before Clarisse stepped forward, the daughter of Ares giving a shrug with a look of "sure, why not" on her face as she hopped on the bike behind him.
"Alright! Let's get this party started!" Dante said, gunning the engine once more and rocketing off towards a nearby Sin Scissors as the other demigods began to regain their composure behind him. "Hey," he called back to Clarisse, "The ride may be a little bumpy, so if you ever feel the bike leave the ground, don't let go of it. Wouldn't want to paint your armor red on the inside, too."
Clarisse's only response was to grin grimly and nod.
Dante laughed, kicking off the seat of the bike while maintaining a firm grip on the handlebars, swinging the bike in an overhead arc and slamming it's back wheel into the face of the Sin Scissors. Clarisse gripped the seat tightly, riding out the sudden shift in momentum as the demonic motorbike slammed into the spectral, masked demon and knocked it into the ground, where Dante mounted the bike once more and drove both wheels over its head. As it rattled out its death throes, Clarisse drew her magic spear and held it out like a lance to stab at any demon in front of and behind them that wasn't crushed under the wheels.
PF 616: Discordance, as the vocals changed from a man's voice to a woman's, spun on its base, blasting long streams of fire out of the nozzles along the ground. The nozzles on top of the jukebox stopped spraying sparks and instead began to fire short range rockets, which exploded in colored blasts of fire similar to fireworks. The demonic shape on the front (which resembled the skull of a snake without a jaw connected to the body of an eel coiled up within) opened its eyes, revealing blue dots of light that pulsed with the beat of the music. The volume began to ramp up without any input, making sure that everyone could hear the music pick up.
As Dante and Clarisse sped around the area, spearing and crushing demons, Hazel clapped her hands together and tapped into the Mist. "On my mark, split up and don't stop moving." She informed the rest of the demigods. "I'm manipulating the Mist around us so that none of us are clearly visible, but it only is going to work if you keep on moving." With that, she flexed her fingers and clapped again, and suddenly, each of the remaining demigods became hazy-looking and indistinct, looking as if three or four unclear figures were standing around the spot they just were at.
Each of them split off, the figures that replaced where Percy was just standing charging head on into the fray, the ones that replaced Thalia beginning to run around the edge of the loose circle formed around Pandora, and the ones replacing Piper and Hazel becoming lost in the chaos that was centered around Dante, Clarisse, and PF 616: Discordance. Percy's figures leaped high into the air, grabbing a Death by the face and plunging their weapons into its face. It screamed in rage and pain as a long crack appeared right between its eyes, then abruptly was cut off as its skull was split down the middle by a suddenly visible Celestial Bronze blade. The figures flipped off of it as it fell to the ground lifelessly, hitting the ground with a roll and charging up to the next demon.
"Our stop, kid!" Dante shouted, grabbing Clarisse by the breastplate and throwing her straight upwards. He pulled the handlebars back on the bike, sliding them all the way back to the gas tank and splitting the bike into two huge saws. Clarisse recovered quickly after landing, jumping up onto one of Cavalier's saws as Dante swung them into the head of a Death Scissors and spearing a Sin Scythe behind it with her spear. She balanced on the top of one saw as he swung it over his head, then leaped to the other and parried a thrown scythe coming for Dante's back. Dante didn't seem to mind the added weight, using the saws as he normally would (if one could call the way he fought "normal").
A volley of silver arrows began to rain from the Thalia doubles as they all began to draw and fire arrows with the speed of a gatling gun and the precision of an expert hunter. Several demons fell to the ground, clutching their masks and faces as arrows had punctured straight through the bone and smooth metal. Occasionally, they would dart into the horde to pull arrows from dead demons, risking a swipe from a scythe or having to duck around PF 616's flames in order to restock. Usually, the offending demon would be quickly dispatched by the hunting knives Thalia had been seen carrying before, but she did receive a rather large cut along one side as one of them got lucky, the injury reflecting across her body doubles.
PF 616 reached an apex of volume, practically blasting the song as rockets and fire shot out from it before suddenly, as the music died to a quiet, seven note beat that sounded like the singer was singing them, all of its assaults died away. Then, the chorus started, and the lyrics blasted out through the secrets, accompanied by blasts of fire, rockets, and bullets from concealed guns in the machine to replicate the actual instruments in the song:
[ALL THESE THOUGHTS RUNNING THROUGH MY HEAD!]
[I'M ON FIRE! VEINS BURNING RE-ED!]
[FRUST-RA-TION IS GETTING BIGGER!
[BANG! BANG! BANG!]
[PULL MY DEVIL TRIGGER!]
Spent shells sprayed out of the sides of the machine like steam out of a grease fryer as the beat and tempo of the song increased, and the explosions threatened to shake the building they were in with their intensity. Dante laughed, beginning to sing along with the song as it's hook came up some time later. He knew the song well, as it was often playing in the Devil May Cry van when he was forced to ride with Nero on jobs, and he didn't want to keep the kid from his music.
Every so often, part of the concrete walls would come away and slam into a demon before returning to their rightful place, as Hazel's magic began to work. Powerful charmspeak began to sound past the loud music, loud enough for the demons with exceptional hearing to hear but not loud enough to affect the demigods. Occasionally, the blurry shapes of Hazel or Piper would leap out of seemingly nowhere to strike at the back of a demon as it turned to strike at one of the other opponents it had.
Soon enough, everyone had begun to at least hum the tune of the song as PF 616 blasted it through sound and shot. Dante's strikes became rhythmic and began to follow the beat of the music, mixing up his strikes with Cavalier, Rebellion, and Balrog to keep the beat going. Clarisse used Dante's wild fighting style as a conduit for her own, using Cavalier as a platform when he swung it, protecting his back with shield and spear when he drew Rebellion, and staying out of his way when Balrog exploded into existence. Percy and Thalia continued what they had been doing, but Percy's strikes had begun to slow as exhaustion began to weigh down on him and Thalia had to resort to her knives more often as her quiver began to run dry. Hazel and Piper showed up more often to counteract this, and their efforts began to counteract the slack their teammates had left behind.
"Alright everybody! All together now!" Dante shouted as the chorus once again began to draw near, reaching behind him to grab something and then hissing out a curse as he must have realized he didn't have whatever it was. The rest of the demigods split off from what they were doing, ducking in to run to where he was. "Three! Two! One! Come on!"
They charged forwards, Dante holding Cavalier's saws in a reverse grip and propelling himself to the front of the charge. Demons roared and charged back, while others turned to run, but all were beaten down and slain by the overwhelming force Dante and the demigods exerted in their fight. All the while, they practically screamed out the chorus, as they'd heard it twice before:
"ALL THESE THOUGHTS RUNNING THROUGH MY HEAD!
BLINDING MY SIGHT IN A CURTAIN OF RED!
FRUS-TRA-TION IS GETTING BIGGER!
BANG! BANG! BANG!
PULL MY DEVIL TRIGGER!"
"What the actual hell is going on down there?" Nico grumbled, covering his ears to block out what of the chaotic sound of music and gunfire beneath them.
"Your 'friends' are submitting to the madness that Dante exudes in every action he takes." Doppelganger replied, shifting the boy on his shoulder. "Soon enough, they may be going out on jobs with him and eating pizza, sundaes, and everything else that would make a sensical person throw up. Now, no more questions. This chaos is already irritating enough to listen to."
Nico closed his mouth, turning his head back towards the ground and closing his eyes. Honestly, being ransom wasn't as bad as he had expected. Doppelganger was alright with conversation, but he had no intention of truly harming the boy before it was necessary. He thought himself more honorable than most demons, but overall, they didn't converse more than necessary, and that was alright with Nico.
He just wished that he didn't need to be tied up with the frost nunchaku and thrown over the demon's shoulder.
The two walked in complete silence for a little ways longer, before stopping at a seemingly random point on a level of the parking deck two levels above where Nico was captured. There, the Son of Hades was dropped rather roughly in the bed of a silver pickup truck as Doppelganger began to shatter each of the overhead lights one by one. Looking around, Nico saw that the area was rather deserted of cars and relatively dark, perfect for a fight against a shadow demon.
"What now?" Nico sighed, looking over to Doppelganger, who sighed a sigh that sounded like someone turning off a chainsaw in a massive cavern.
"What does it matter to you?" Doppelganger growled. "Knowing my plans will not change the outcome, nor will it affect your situation whatsoever. Besides, you should be used to the truth being hidden behind lies. Your gods do it as often as humans breathe."
Nico glared at the demon, but shut his mouth regardless. "Good. At least demigods know when to hold their tongue." Doppelganger sneered, then turned and began to stalk off. "Don't try to flee while I'm gone. It will only make your situation worse." With that, the shadow demon vanished into a patch of darkness, leaving Nico alone with his thoughts.
It wasn't like he could have fled if he tried. His legs were bound tightly by the chains, as were his arms down to his elbows. Doppelganger had explained that he'd left the boy's hands free because the chains had no chance of breaking, no matter the strength the boy possessed. His sword was still on his belt, but the blade was pinned to his leg and would take a bit of maneuvering to pull free. So, that left him with nothing to do but sit and think.
And there was very obvious things to think about at that moment.
Doppelganger had called Dante the "Son of Sparda." Dante was the son of a millenia-old demon who single-handedly fought back and sealed the armies of the Demon World. That alone explained so much: The scars, the glowing when Dante got injured, him being able to shrug off the van that hit him before, and Rebellion, but it also raised many questions and even more problems. What could Dante do? What did his demon powers allow him? Was that why all of his weapons were alive?
Was Dante really as friendly and charming as he made himself seem?
Nico shuddered at that thought. Dante could just be luring each of his friends into a trap where he'd kill them and use their souls to open a portal to the Demon World. All of his weapons could contain the souls of his previous victims, and he just augmented his powers with those within the weapon to make himself stronger. His friends could be in grave danger, and they wouldn't even know.
But… Nico shook his head, dispelling that thought from the forefront of his mind. That didn't seem right to him. Why would Dante kill his own kind if he was just trying to kill the demigods? Wouldn't he just let the other demons kill them instead of mowing them down like a grain thresher? And how come Doppelganger knew about demigods and the Olympians, but Dante didn't seem to have much knowledge?
A loud boom of thunder from outside interrupted Nico's train of thought. As he looked around, he felt that same surge of power that he had when Dante had first shown up, one that came from far above him. He shivered, this time not from the ice-cold chains of the nunchaku nor from the rain that was starting up outside, but because of how exposed he felt. Any demon could just appear and attack and he wouldn't be able to do a thing about it. As he realized this, he gripped the hilt of his sword and tugged, trying to get it unsheathed so he could defend himself.
A strange, cold feeling met his back as he struggled with the sword, causing him to pause and look down. The feeling was all across his back, and as he watched, it travelled through his body before a dark, shadowy gas began to spill from a circular area of his torso. It pushed through, phasing through him like a ghost as a hat of shadows, then a ghastly, demonic face with a white beard, and finally a long, shadow-cloaked body floated incorporeally through his body. It was different than every other time a ghost had gone through his body, as it was very cold and vile whereas most ghosts would not give him more than a shudder and a feeling of cold and momentary dread in his chest.
The demon floating above him was a strange one indeed. It was shrouded by a cape of black, smoky material that glowed purple by the edges, donning a matching hat on its head. A white, ghastly face, ringed by a flowing white beard, grinned down at him, looking insectoid, reptilian, and humanoid at the same time. Beady red eyes peered out from below the brim of the hat, and a wide, needle-fanged smile split its face as pale arms tipped with long, red claws emerged from the folds of the cloak. At the bottom of the cloak, the sharp tip of a bone-white tail swayed from side to side, just barely visible to Nico.
As Nico's hand tugged at his sword, one of the red claws of the demon extended about nine feet as fast as a bullet, piercing through his wrist and the truck bed and striking the ground. It hissed, then let out a shrill cackle as it reached out and grazed a claw by Nico's chin. Nico gritted his teeth to prevent himself from screaming at the white-hot pain that seared the nerves around his wrist, but somehow, he fought through the stinging feeling and reached for the blade with his other hand.
The creature began to growl, frowning and retracting it's claw from Nico's wrist. It bared its fangs as Nico tugged at his sword, floating back before getting deadly close and slamming his shoulders against the bed of the truck. Nico scowled and hissed in pain, but nevertheless managed to tug his sword free of its sheath just as the demon pulled its claws back to stab Nico with. The Stygian Iron blade scratched across the frigid steel chain as he lunged to stab the demon, and what happened next surprised the both of them.
A howl of pain and rage, not unlike that of a wolf, echoed around them as the chains of the nunchaku sprung to life. One wrapped itself tightly around Nico's chest and neck, causing him to drop his sword and clutch at the frigid chain. Another launched at the cloaked demon, penetrating through the cloak of shadows and binding up its insectoid body so that it couldn't move. The third whipped around, striking several things as if someone was swinging at everything in a wrathful frenzy and crushing the windows and doors of several cars.
Nico, realizing his opportunity, grabbed his sword with one hand and stabbed down at the face of the demon. The blade sunk deep into the creature's flesh, causing it to writhe as it began to crumble into shadows. As its body disintegrated, the blade of his sword absorbed its essence as it would most monsters, but this time, however, the result was different.
Nico's blade began to glow a deep purple as the demon's body became only ash and smoke, seeming to agitate the darkness around it as it did. He momentarily stopped struggling against the chain, looking in awe and confusion as a single red line extended from the top of the guard right in the middle of the blade. It extended for about half of the blade's length before stopping, flashing once before the blade returned to normal, save for the new crimson streak down the middle (which, upon closer inspection, appeared to be the same color as those red crystals Dante had been picking up from slain demons).
His moment of awe was interrupted as a booming trio of voices echoed inside of his head, causing him to wince and grab at his head. 'WHO DARES TO INJURE THE MIGHTY CERBERUS?' it boomed, giving Nico a headache as they roared. 'I WILL BURY YOU IN ICE SO THICK THAT IT WILL NOT MELT FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS!'
"OW!" Nico shouted as the chain tightened around his neck and chest. "I'm not trying to hurt you, I swear!"
Nico thought he heard another growl in his head, and then the voices paused. 'You are not Dante.' It said, and then the chains tightened around him to the point where Nico could feel the blood in his face stop circulating. 'How did a filthy half-blood like yourself come into possession of me? Where is the son of Sparda?' It roared as Nico tried to pull the chains off of his body.
"...Can...explain…" Nico wheezed out. "...Choking...need to…b-breathe…"
Just as the spots began to appear in his eyes and his vision began to fade, the chains slackened enough to allow him to breathe. 'You have one chance. Do not waste it.' The voices warned as Nico sucked in several shaky breaths. As soon as he was sure that he wasn't about to pass out, he began.
The voices, which Nico remembered had called themselves Cerberus, were silent for a few minutes after Nico finished. Then, all at once, the chains retracted, becoming the length they had been when he had first seen them. 'This is… concerning.' They said as Nico grabbed the ring that connected the three chains. 'Take me and go forth. Find Dante, and return me to him, wherever he may be.'
"Fine, but first, you seem to know quite a bit about Dante." Nico said, hooking the nunchaku to his belt. "Why don't you answer a few of my questions while we walk?"
'...I do not have a choice in this, do I?' Cerberus questioned with a sigh.
"Not in the slightest." Nico replied rather bluntly.
"Mmm-MMMM!" Dante hummed as he devoured his third slice of pizza, topped with pepperoni and black olives. "'S not the best I've ever had, but it's pretty damn close."
His five allies nodded in agreement, all of them leaning against the back of the destroyed pizza delivery vehicle. Dante had (somehow) caught the scent of a pepperoni pizza after packing up his demon suitcase, and after finding the vehicle wrecked from bullets and explosions, he took a look around and then pulled out a pair of slightly-mashed pizza boxes after leaving enough money to cover both pizzas. He seemed a little pissed that both of them had olives, but he shrugged it off with only a little complaining.
"So, Piper," Dante said after he swallowed the back half of his slice. "About earlier-"
"I swear I won't do it again!" Piper shouted, almost dropping her slice as she stood up. "It was just a thing that comes out! Don't shoot me, please!"
Dante chuckled, grabbing another slice of pizza as he shook his head. "I'm not going to shoot you," He said, shaking his head, "if you don't do that again. It's very irritating, a lot more than normal in the middle of a job, especially when that job involves demon slaying. Understand?" Piper nodded, looking into the eyes of the demon hunter and seeing just a little bit of steely anger underneath all of the soft, velvety humor within them.
"So, I don't believe you've introduced us to the rest of your arsenal." Percy asked, shuffling a little closer to Dante and cocking his head over towards Pandora, which sat in its briefcase form over on the door of an overturned SUV. "Mind giving us a little bit of a tour of what you have up your sleeve?"
"Percy, I'd prefer if you didn't meet them." Dante said before taking a large bite of pizza. He paused his remark as he chewed, swallowing his bite before continuing. "Some of them can be rather… feisty, shall we say, when it comes to meeting new people."
"Sure they are." Clarisse butted in, crossing her arms after polishing off the slice she had been handed. "Come on, old man. Out with them. We want to see."
Dante sighed, then set his slice of pizza down and grabbed Pandora. "You really want to see?" He asked, met with noises of approval and excitement. "Well, then, let's start with the available." He lifted the briefcase so that the demigods could see it's front, rapping his knuckles against the front of the case. "This is Pandora," was all he could say before he was interrupted.
"Like, Pandora's Box-Pandora?" Hazel asked, frowning in uncertainty.
"Please, save all questions until the end of the presentation." Dante replied, mimicking the annoyed tone of a teacher who had been interrupted. "Now, she's a demon-made- uh, well, I'm not sure exactly what she is, but she can change into a lot of different forms, all of which produce a lot of destructive potential when used correctly." To demonstrate, he planted the briefcase against the ground, activating the briefcase and transforming it into a huge mobile missile battery with a seat in the center of the two perpendicular rings. Several gun barrels emerged from stone blocks on the horizontal ring, wide enough to launch a large RPG through it. The two golden rings intersected at one stone block immediately in front of the seat which Dante occupied, baring the shape that was on the front of the briefcase in a much larger form.
"Holy shit…" Thalia said, taking a step back along with the rest of the demigods as Dante grabbed the handle on the back of the machine and flipped the briefcase back into its original form. "That…" she didn't have any words to explain what was expressed across her face.
"Yeah, it's something alright." Dante said, then flipped Pandora onto his back, snapping his fingers and summoning the demonic motorcycle to his side. "Now, this is Cavalier, my electric motorbike/twin saws that I picked up recently." He gripped the handlebars and cranked the engine, causing the bike to purr loudly and spark with electricity. "I don't think I need to show any more about it, because I'm sure you get the idea."
He dispelled the bike, the electricity sparking against his hands turning to flames as his gauntlets materialized in ash. Shoulder guards and greaves materialized in the same ash, all of them bursting into flames as Dante slammed his fists together, then cracked his knuckles and shook himself. "And here," he said, gesturing down at himself, "is Balrog. It's a set of gauntlets and greaves imbued with the power of a fire demon, whose soul is sealed inside these." He turned his hands over, showing off the bright yellow eye-gems bolted into the backs of the gauntlets. "Kinda feisty, but he likes me well enough." As if to contradict the statement, the metal gauntlets and greaves burned brighter suddenly, causing Dante to hiss as if someone had just poked a patch of sunburnt skin.
"Likes you, huh?" Piper asked smugly as the demon hunter dispelled the fire gauntlets and greaves. Dante scowled at her, shaking his head, then reached down and grabbed the shotgun strapped to his leg.
"This is Coyote-A, and…" Dante trailed off with a chuckle, twirling it on his finger. "Well, it's saved my hide more than once."
"Is it some other kind of super-powerful demon gun?" Clarisse asked, raising an eyebrow as she shifted her helmet under her arm.
"Nah, it's just a gun, but I paid someone to customize it like crazy." Dante flipped the gun upwards, revealing the sling clip on the bottom. "For instance, the sling-clip here helps for reloading, the break action works faster, both barrels fire at once, you get the idea." Coyote-A was strapped back onto his leg, and then Dante reached up and drew his twin pistols from their holsters.
"And these guys… well, I never go anywhere without 'em." Dante sighed, looking at them for a moment almost like he was remembering better memories, then spun them on his fingers and flicked the slides with his thumbs. "Ebony and Ivory, made just for me by an old friend. M1911 handguns with so many modifications that I probably couldn't shoot a regular one without a bit of difficulty. They've been with me ever since I opened up my first shop in Capulet City, and have seen me through thick and thin."
"Must mean a lot to you, huh?" Percy asked, raising his eyebrows at how open Dante was being.
"You have no idea." That was all the old demon hunter said before he slid them back into their holsters. "Now, are any of you going to finish that pizza? I'm starving!" He clapped his hands together and licked his lips to emphasize his point.
The others stepped back with their slices in their hands as Dante rushed forward, finishing off his current slice before greedily consuming another. They watched as the devil hunter ate, and even though he had already had four or five slices, he seemed as hungry as could be as he finished off the remaining slices. Once he was done, he let out a contented sigh and wiped his mouth on his sleeve, then ran the two boxes off to the trash can.
As he came back, Hazel overcame her surprised silence, blurting out a question. "How can you even eat that much?!" She said before covering her mouth quickly, slightly embarrassed by the sudden outburst.
Dante laughed, shaking his head and looking at her. "Jeez, so many questions." he replied, shaking his head. "It's just to keep me awake and full-up. There's nothing worse than fighting demons on an empty stomach." He rolled his neck once, then turned and continued to walk up towards the third level. "Now, you coming or not?"
As soon as he finished speaking, the building shook as a loud thunderclap echoed above them. Dante's smile faded as he drew Rebellion and beckoned the demigods to follow him. "Move!" He shouted over his shoulder as he began to run up the incline.
The five demigods broke into a sprint, catching up to him quickly as he made it up to the third level. "It's just thunder!" Thalia shouted at him. "No need to run like hell over it!"
Whatever Dante would have said was cut off as a large shadow blotted out the streetlights coming from the side of the building in front of them. "DEATHVOID!" A thunderous, demonic voice shouted as a huge, bone-white arm with claws as long as swords smashed straight through the wall to their right, slashing and grabbing at whatever was inside. "SHOW YOURSELF SO I MAY FLAY YOUR WORTHLESS HIDE FOR INTERFERING!"
Dante shoved Piper and Thalia out of the way as the arm came close, hacking at the fingers wildly with Rebellion as it tore concrete, asphalt, and metal alike to shreds. Whatever the arm was attached to roared, pulling its hand away from Dante and instead smashing a hole in the ceiling above them. "Scatter!" Dante shouted, cutting a large piece of debris that was falling towards them in half as the rest of the demigods scattered. The devil hunter slashed apart a few more pieces of incoming debris before leaping back himself, sheathing Rebellion on his back and turning back to the destroyed wall and ceiling.
Floating on the other side, shrouded in a cloak of shadows so thick that he couldn't see anything but its eyes and its protruding arms, was a massive, demonic figure. Bone-white hide covered each of its six frail arms, all of which ended in clawed yet humanoid hands. It seemed about thirty or forty feet from bottom to top, though the six had no idea if that really was the case, and its three, dark-green eyes stared down at them with nothing but contempt. In two of its hands, it clutched scythes as tall as telephone poles and with blades as wide as a pickup truck, but its four others were free, wrapped with intricate silver bracers and crackling with green energy.
"So, you must be the one I came here to bag." Dante called, chuckling and resting his hands on his hips. "I don't expect you're going to come quietly and willingly?"
The shadow growled, its arms retracting into the cloak as it lowered to their level. "I do not have time for this." it growled. "I will deal with you later." With that, it raced forward, flying through building, machine, and demi-human alike incorporeally as it flew out the other side. All six of them had to cover their faces and dig their feet in to keep from being blown over, but as the dust settled, several demonic roars from above them caused them to uncover their faces and look up.
Hell Cainas and Sins patrolled by the hundreds above them, though only a few had noticed their presence. Several other demons could also be seen, but they were farther back and couldn't have seen what had just happened. However, two electric streaks darted through the horde, bouncing off walls, cars, and ceilings before coming to a clear and visible stop on either side of the six.
Each was about nine feet tall on their hind legs, built like freight trains and covered in hard-plated grey scales. Three huge claws tipped their massive hands, which were covered in the same armor as their head, back, sides, and legs. If one looked closely, they could see the red, slightly softer flesh exposed on its stomach, impossible to reach as long as the excessive amount of lightning forming a barrier around their body remained. It had indentations in its facial armor where its eyes should be, but the black, beady eyes one might expect were still covered by its armor. The single, foot-long horn on its face looked equally as dangerous as its rows of sharp teeth, held within a mouth that appeared to have no lips. They stood still, as if sniffing the air, before zipping to three different points in a second and landing with a roar.
"Oh, great." Dante said sarcastically, drawing Coyote-A from its holster. "I was wondering when the Blitz's would show up."
I'm sorry, everyone. I meant to have this up by Tuesday, but due to a power outage at my house, my computer coming back from being fixed, and snow falling like crazy, I wasn't able to post this until today.
Reviews:
Mrcrazyman94: Oh huh. Well, I'm glad you enjoy it.
Treyalexander63917: I did not remember that Piper did use it on her friends, I just thought it would be a little funny if using Charmspeak on Dante ended up backfiring. And that is my plan for Nico, as of this moment.
Red Raven 007: Thanks for the criticism. I knew that Red Orbs didn't really exist, but after seeing gameplay from the Faust Hat (I'm not sure what the canon explanation is for that yet), I felt like I needed to include it further down the line. Also, I'm glad you pointed out the crazier style of fighting that Dante shows off in cutscenes, and while I've been trying to do that, Dante's style of crazy is harder to do for someone like me, who prefers practicality over stylishness.
NovaStar66: As far as I know, Doppelganger's alternate title is Deathvoid (or at least, according to his boss-rush title in 3: Deathvoid Reborn). I think it's because there's an old saying that if you see your own double, your death is imminent. I'm not entirely sure though.
Also, am I the only one that thinks that V could make for a good character for the Kanes to meet in a DMC x Kane Chronicles crossover? I'm not sure why, it just seems like he'd fit.
Anyways, If you like this, why not show me some support? I'd love to hear feedback, as well as tips on how to write any of these characters, as I'm still kinda feeling unsure about my portrayal. Reviews are always appreciated, and if you really want to, you could tell me either what your favorite demon you'd like to see return would be.
That Random Demon, signing off!