Round Three: Vergil vs the World Part Three.

Raptor News Network Tower, POV - Arkham?

Arkham was waiting for Vergil, his book nowhere to be seen. Eventually a form appeared and he turned to face it, only to have a scowl form on his face.

It seemed to be some kind of humanoid demon dressed as a clown, one eye red, one eye blue and it spoke, saying "You are a crafty one I'll give you that, luring the devil boy here under false pretenses."

Arkham replied "I assume you are taking that form in the event Vergil arrives sooner than expected. Though I am curious as to how you managed to cross the boundary between these two realities in one piece without Yamato or the Timeweaver's blessing."

The demon spoke in a serious tone this time, saying "Just what are your intentions?".

Arkham grinned and said "I need the powers of a paradoxical resonance in order to awaken my master from his prison. If you do not interfere, I can guarantee you a high position in Kylanos' rule, enough to brandish yourself as a false god to whomever you'd prefer to deceive. As for your goals with the Temin-ni-gru, my plan will take much more time than the incident you will cause. So a word of warning, do not challenge me, even with my limitations I am still superior to your Jester persona and your true identity."

Jester scowled and replied "Vergil will learn the truth soon enough on his own. I do not need to interfere to accomplish my goals. A word of warning to you however. If you do get in my way, I will happily disprove your assumption that you are stronger than I am.

Jester formed an energy based demonic sign and disappeared, Vergil arrived a few minutes later and spoke, saying "Is there any trouble?"

Arkham, or rather the entity using his guise, turned with his book in hand, having been formed after Jester left, and spoke, saying "Nothing worth mentioning, the lesser demons of this realm are easily dealt with. Are you ready for the next task at hand?"

Vergil looked onward at the Raptor News Network tower and said "Yes. I can sense this section of Limbo seems to be inverted like a mirror realm as opposed to the other sections, but this should easily be dealt with. Do you have any information on Bob Barbas that I can use?"

Arkham turned a page on his book and said "Unfortunately no, I have little information on this demon, he prefers to keep to himself whenever his master is not directly tasking him with some purpose. And if you are curious, no, Sparda is not kept prisoner here. This reality's form of Sparda is kept prisoner in a section of the demon realm difficult to breach."

Vergil scoffed and said "I have no interest in this reality's version of my father. Dante may have care for such frivolities but not I. The only thing that concerns me is acquiring more power.". With those words spoken, Vergil inverted his sword's position and cut using the blunt edge, forming a rift to Limbo that compensated for the upside-down nature of things, positioning Vergil in proper orientation with that section of Limbo.

Limbo, Raptor Prison Tower

Vergil appeared in this form of Limbo, looking up to see what appeared to be the water under the bridge in normal space. Vergil proceeded onward, encountering various demons worth little mentioning. A curious sight later into the prison was a seemingly blind humanoid demon missing a piece of his head swinging a cane at a flying demon which Limbo's 3D Text announced as Harpies, followed by "Kill Him!"

Vergil sighed and as the Harpies proceeded to fly towards Vergil, he formed a summoned sword and air tricked above the first of four harpies, performing a spiral motion attack which slammed the Harpy into the ground, followed by impaling it's chest cavity with Yamato, which killed the lesser demon. The other harpies attempted to slash at Vergil from above only for him to roll out of the way and form several summoned swords aimed at one harpy and send them flying at a blistering pace, not only killing the target Harpy, but dismembering it's arms and legs as well. Another Harpy approached Vergil only for him to air trick behind it and used Yamato for a two part Mid-Air Slash Combination Attack, knocking back the Harpy in addition to staggering it onto the ground. Vergil then Trick Dashed in front of the Harpy and hit it twice with the scabbard of Yamato before executing a draw and slash, killing it. The Last Harpy tried to flee, only for summoned swords to appear around it, following it. It tried to dash back at Vergil but was too late, the swords moved back a little then impaled it from all directions, ending it's miserable existence.

Vergil approached the disfigured demon, sensing no real threat but an air of wisdom, as well as not having an urge to slay him as the other demons seem to provoke. He approached the demon and spoke, saying "I need directions, I am here to destroy the demon Bob Barbas and eventually slay Mundus, but I have little knowledge of this prison. If you help me, I will be willing to aid you so long as it does not interfere with my mission."

The demon replied "I see, Limbo is a difficult place to navigate, for those without true sight. Those wretched Harpies torment me whenever they get the chance due to Mundus' orders. If you seek to slay Mundus however, you will need a Nephilim, sadly, only one remains and I know not his whereabouts. If you bring me my eye, which is in the Harpies lair, I will be able to help you. I can distract the harpies so you ma-"

Vergil interrupted, saying "I do not need a distraction, I can easily destroy all of these lesser demons without much effort. Merely point me the way and I will retrieve your eye." The demon nodded and said "Very well, their nest lies in the tunnel nearby, it should be easy to locate, but beware the dangers that lurk within." Vergil replied "I will return."

Vergil proceeded down the tunnels, Limbo's environment began to twist and deform, forcing Vergil to rapidly make haste down the tunnels lest he be crushed. Easily moving through the tunnels he reached a place where Limbo ceased to actively pursue him. Harpies and other demons appeared to challenge him, as if they could even come close to doing so.

Using Yamato, Vergil used several judgement cuts to kill many of the demons, discharging summoned swords at the furthest ones afterwards and then closing the distance with an Air Trick and severely executing the remaining ones with Yamato in Stylish fashion. Walking further into the tunnels which resembled a Subway Train Tunnel, a loud sound came from one end of the tunnels, the lights above the tunnel entrance flashed red. Vergil rolled onto the other set of tracks to avoid the flaming train with a somewhat demonic face. He thought it was more cartoonish than demonic and scoffed before continuing down the set of tracks, occasionally killing lesser demons and evading more trains.

He made his way to a large glass dome and noticed a clockwork object which looked like it would fit on the old demon's missing right head and picked it up and secured it in his trenchcoat. a large force of 20 harpies appeared to fight him. He smirked and drew Yamato, air tricking above one of the Harpies and sliced it clean in half from top to bottom before sending a barrage of summoned swords at the others. They attempted to surround him but he easily overwhelmed them and outmaneuvered them, not one could land a hit as he used Yamato and a Summoned Sword in combination attack, as if wielding both his sword and his father's legendary sword, Force Edge. After all this was what he was after for the Temin-Ni-Gru, unlocking the seals was a means to an end and any demons that would be unsealed he could easily destroy, in fact they would probably make perfect practice targets for his newfound power that he would gain from Force Edge. He would also be sure to invite his brother to the fray, after-all he longed to convince Dante to his line of thought and a reunion would be nice as well. A sense of familiarity would be welcome once he was done with this wretched abomination of a reality.

Vergil's thoughts kept him company as he slew the demons before him and then sheathed Yamato and impaled his summoned sword in one of the harpy's corpses before walking back towards the old demon, detonating his summoned sword to only trace remains of the corpse it was impaled in.

Exiting the tunnel, Vergil handed the eye to the old demon who nodded and placed it where his missing right head was. It adjusted and he spoke, saying "I can see again!" before looking at Vergil and misidentifying him, saying "Thank you, Dante." Vergil shook his head and replied "I am not Dante, I am the brother of this world's Dante but from another reality. I am not a Nephilim, nor is my brother. My name is Vergil."

The old demon nodded and said "I see, Well Vergil, I am Phineas, Scholar, Inventor, Seer and Political Prisoner of Mundus. Though I have questions on how you plan to defeat Mundus without a Nephilim, I can sense a power in you that surpasses what I have seen and known. Perhaps you could pull it off, though if you do succeed, then the question becomes of who would take his place?"

Vergil replied "I care not, where the stones fall after I am finished is of no concern to me. I have helped you, now I expect you to fulfill your end of the bargain."

Phineas looked towards a twisted and dismembered bridge and spoke, saying "In Limbo, Perspective is everything, the path will open to you if you can see the truth of things.". Using his eye, Phineas willed the bridge to reform, leading to the Prison Tower and said "Beware, there is a demon rank under Mundus' command known as witches. To date, only Angels and Nephilim have been able to slay them, however there were unconfirmed rumors of them being able to be staggered by a counterattack. I have never witnessed it myself and nor do I wish to, I am no longer suited to violence."

Vergil nodded and began to walk forward before Phineas spoke and said "A word of advice if you wish to take on Mundus, boy." Vergil stopped but did not turn to face Phineas as he spoke again, saying "His mistress, Lilith, carries his child. Kill the child an-" Vergil drew Yamato and held it to Phineas' throat in anger, saying "Do not even dare speak such words to me! I have a code honor and are a true warrior, I will slay Mundus and I will do so without resorting to such dishonorable measures."

Phineas did not move or speak until Vergil withdrew his blade, as Vergil resumed the path, Phineas spoke, saying "I wish you good hunting then Vergil, but be wary, Mundus will not be an easy opponent." Vergil did not reply as he continued onwards.

Crossing the Bridge, Vergil came across a large statue in feminine form. He sensed an odd power on it though disregarded it, saying to himself "The only one who would probably have use for it is now dead."

As he walked forward demons appeared, among them was a blue skinned woman who immediately formed a blue shield around her. Vergil easily made short work of the other demons but as he sent summoned swords at the Witch, they not only shattered upon reaching the shield but also did nothing to stagger her. She began a variety of attacks, including summoning swords of her own. Vergil deflected one such sword with Yamato which sent it back into the Witch's shield, shattering it. Vergil wasted no time and air tricked to face her in the air, rapidly decapitating her with Yamato. More witches appeared and Vergil grinned, one of them dashed close and pulsed her shield until it was red, it detonated, though Vergil rolled out of the way to evade and sent summoned swords into the Witch before she rose her shield again, her physical form a little more durable than most lesser demons. Vergil began to bide his time, counterattacking with Yamato and defeating the witches in that manner, time consuming and tedious, but not impossible. Vergil continued onwards until it was just the bridge and the tower. The tower's rotating light centered on Vergil who stopped and noticed the light turn into a beam of demonic energy, shattering the bridge in front of him and then charging to fire at him a second time. Vergil leaped across the dismembered segments of metal and eventually made his way into the tower directly, appearing in what appeared to be a digital section of Limbo.

Then what seemed to be a digitized head of Bob Barbas' human form appeared and spoke, saying "Well, it seems you have rejected the hand that outreached. A pity, you could have had so much potential."

Vergil replied "No offer was made to me, nor would I accept any such offer. Do not waste my time, I am here to kill you, there is nothing you can do to stop me."

Bob laughed and said "Well we'll just see about that won't we. The whole world thinks you're a terrorist, we'll kill you and guess what? We'll do it live!"

Vergil scoffed and sent summoned swords at Bob's head though they went through it as areas around Bob began to light up. Vergil took quick notice of his surroundings and avoided a burst of energy from Bob, whom also created lightshows which made it difficult for Vergil to navigate through.

After some tedious jumping around, Vergil noticed red lighted targets on the floor as he avoided Bob's lighted attacks and executed a Devil Trigger and slammed Yamato hard into the button like target, shattering it and weakening Bob, whose attacks ceased. Vergil in his Devil Trigger state began to unleash a flurry of combination attacks with Yamato onto Bob, after a while he recovered and Vergil quickly rolled back to avoid a counterattack in the form of a small explosion. Repeating this cycle, Vergil again weakened Bob and this time, saw an opening and used Yamato to open a rift into Bob's true form, though to him it appeared he was on the pier again, with lesser demons challenging him. Bob began to taunt him by portraying him as a Terrorist as if he were giving a news reel though not often, given that he had little information of Vergil.

Vergil easily defeated the demons as his Devil Trigger form rescinded and he was expelled from Bob and into the normal digital area he was at before.

After again repeating his tactics, Vergil managed to injure Bob again, using Yamato and a Summoned Sword in tandem, Bob began speaking of a News Reel in which the Resistance was being raided, Vergil scoffed and said "Is that supposed to affect me? True I had plans for them but it matters little of your Raid, though there is something I need from them, I suppose I will take it by force in the Human World."

Bob roared and sent a massive pulse of energy from his mouth which Vergil evaded and hit the last button with a devil trigger charged attack from Yamato, weakening Bob for the last time as Vergil destroyed his digitized head form and thus showed only a TV screen of Bob Barbas' human form. Vergil smirked, turned around and said "Cut" and rapidly drew Yamato, slashed the air and slowly began to sheath the blade. As the blade clicked with the scabbard, signifying it was sheathed, the TV Screen of Bob was sliced clean in half, seemingly decapitating Bob's form as Limbo dispersed on it's own, Bob's human form fell lifeless and dead on his side of the news desk. The rest of the place was seemingly clear of any staff.

Vergil formed a rift with Yamato and exited the Tower in this manner, quickly appearing Before Arkham near the Resistance Headquarters.

Arkham Spoke, Saying "We need to act now and acquire your doppleganger's version of Yamato before he goes into hiding, it will be difficult finding him if he does so."

Vergil nodded and said "The best way to get to him is through the humans here, a route through Limbo would take too long." and he dropped down amidst a group of SWAT who were immediately surprised and then the next moment were dead, rapidly struck down by Yamato.

Vergil proceeded to rapidly move through the cleverly hidden facility, cutting down the SWAT under Mundus' command, whether they were just assaulting terrorists or truly knew what was really happening mattered not to Vergil, they were merely obstacles to be cut down, this world held no value to him beyond what he needed to unseal the Temin-Ni-Gru.

POV Shift - Kat

So much had changed with Dante's death, it set them back considerably and affected Vergil deeply, though oddly the same man who murdered him was also accomplishing what they had planned to do, much sooner than their most optimistic timetables. SWAT was raiding the place and killing unarmed people, her friends. Then she saw Vergil, for a moment she thought it was salvation, but in reality he was not the Vergil she knew, he was dressed differently and he was cutting down the SWAT officers as they were nothing. A SWAT Officer behind her was about to open fire but a summoned sword whizzed past her and into the Officer's head. Vergil walked past her, saying nothing, once more, she was petrified with fear, but this time she overcame it and ran to a ventilation duct, intent on getting to her Vergil before this murderer did, who knows what his plans were or who he served.

POV Shift - True Vergil

Reaching a well armored door, Vergil easily cut it into shreds with Yamato, some of the metal pieces fell and crushed the corpses of the SWAT who were trying to breach it earlier. Seeing nothing of note except some computers inside, Vergil slashed the air with Yamato and entered Limbo and then quickly send a summoned sword barrage from above a large demon attempting to breach a type of barrier his Doppleganger had established.

The barrage killed the Demon and Vergil stood amidst several more demons which he took down within the span of two minutes. He turned to face his doppleganger and executed a judgement cut, destroying the barrier he had established.

The two locked eyes with no words spoken, obvious hate for the other in each of them. The other Vergil spoke, saying "You killed my brother, but you also are working to destroy Mundus, accomplishing what we would have done. What are your intentions and just who are you?" Vergil replied, saying "I need your sword and a portion of the hellgate to undo a seal in my world. As for who I am, I am you, or rather another version of you from my reality. Unfortunately for you, our realities are incompatible, mostly, I have a supernatural urge to kill you. So I will. Draw your sword, show me your power, I hope for your sake that it surpasses your weakling of a brother, whom my brother could easily have slain."

As both readied their versions of Yamato, a rift opened, bringing Drekavac into the fray, he merely drew his swords and readied.

Each combatant slowly glanced at eachother, this three-way engagement was about to begin. Vergil smiled and said "Now this, will be a fight to remember."

The three combatants all charged towards a center clashing point, Vergil clashed Yamato against his other self's Yamato, both of their Yamato blades were clashed against each of Drekavac's swords.

Sparks flew and time stopped.

POV Shift - Unknown

The resonating paradox caused from the two Yamato's clashing was enough.

He was free.

Emerging from a green energy sphere, seemingly the only being which time flowed for, was a large demon, six times the size of Vergil, in humanoid/reptilian form. It had a dark green armor and a necklace which appeared to have a stopwatch. Jade like gems were in place of it's eyes, an orange light in each Gem's center, it's actual skin a scaled black form, similar to a dragon, it also had a dragon's tail extending half the length of one of it's legs.

It roared the words "I am free!"

Arkham, or rather a form looking like a shadowed doppelganger of him appeared and spoke, saying "My Master the Timeweaver, what are your orders?" The demon known as the Timeweaver turned his head to the doppelganger and spoke, saying "Go to the Temin-Ni-Gru and await there, do what you can to obstruct the Sons of Sparda from reaching force edge. If you cannot stop them, then attach yourself to one of them as a double agent, appearing to aid whichever one defeats you." Doppelganger nodded and became like a black mist, flowing in a spiral motion until it disappeared. The Timeweaver looked at the clashing Vergils and spoke, saying "I must recover my strength, this prison shell of a reality has sapped it considerably. Enjoy your power whilst it lasts Vergil, soon you will be one of my knights, unaware of the world that existed before."

With those words, the demon formed a green rift, exiting this reality.

POV Shift - Vergil

To Vergil, his doppelganger and Drekavac, what had just transpired was unknown, occurring in a true instant.

The respective clashing of blades bounced back each of their swords, Vergil dashed to the right and drew a summoned sword and began to attack in combination at his opposite number, Drekavac took advantage of this and began to attack at him as well though the fake seemingly was able to hold his own against them both, as far as swordplay went. Both Vergils dashed to opposing sides and in an odd brief moment of joint action, took Drekavac by surprise and unleashed a torrent of attacks overwhelming the otherwise skilled demon, both Vergils wishing to finish their fight in a true duel.

Drekavac was overwhelmed and as his blades were removed from his hands, he quickly escaped through a rift before the final blow could be struck.

The two Vergils again looked at eachother. Both held their forms of Yamato in a formal stance.

Limbo faded, transitioning to normal space, showing Kat in the distance, caught off-guard that the true Vergil had reached his target before she could.

The other Vergil spoke, saying "Kat, take care of the data on the servers, I'll deal with my doppelganger."

Vergil smirked and said "I have no interest in the inner workings on your resistance. I have enough information to take on the inferior version of Mundus on my own." The other Vergil scoffed and said "And how do you propose to accomplish this? Only a Nephilim can bring down the Demon King."

Vergil summoned the mock Rebellion he took from the false Dante, levitated it in the air and said "And I have the weapon of a Nephilim, soon I will have two and I will be able to finalize my goals."

The two spoke no longer, they charged at eachother, Vergil absorbed mock rebellion, the two then attacked with their versions of Yamato, moving at paces the human eye could not keep track of, by the time Kat got to the servers, perhaps hundreds of strikes had been made.

Vergil air tricked above and behind his double only for him to rapidly turn around and deflect his attack, Vergil dashed back and summoned a barrage of summoned swords to attack directly at his double only for his double to execute a counter attack of the same method, however Vergil noticed his target was expending energy from a limited pool to do so, as opposed to his abilities which could accomplish it without limit. Vergil eventually wore down his target's more heavy methods of summoned swords and dashed forward, sending several another sword storm barrage at his target, this time the double sought to evade rather than counter and Vergil trick dashed to his double's side, attacking with Yamato and a summoned sword in tandem, wearing down his opponent who was now restricted only to Yamato, however his opponent began channeling both demonic and angelic energy into his blade and send forward a powerful charged slash which Vergil air tricked to evade and then using his summoned sword, performed a helm breaker attack, landing against his victim hard and fast.

The fake was knocked back and was now bleeding heavily, a large cut across his torso, his healing factor began to kick in but Vergil did not let up, immediately charging forward and striking with Yamato in such a lightning fast pace that he was executing thousands of slashes within a few seconds, this barrage finally overwhelmed his opponent and knocked his version of Yamato out of his hand, Vergil quickly grabbed it and, wielding two Yamato swords, executed his target in a scissors cutting motion, resulting in a decapitation.

He formally sheathed both his own sword and then his opponent's and rested the second Yamato on his waistline and then set his own just above it in the same place, similar to a Samurai's arrangement.

Vergil waited at the arranged meeting place but Arkham did not show, instead however, a clown dressed demon which felt from his own realm appeared. Vergil went to draw his blade but the demon Jester spoke, saying "Ah, ah, ah! I'm not here to fight you boy, I'm here to warn you. You've been deceived why yes you have! That man you worked with in this reality is not your usual sidekick."

Vergil opted not to kill Jester on the spot and replied "I had my suspicions, he knew things Arkham did not and acted uncharacteristic, but I needed his information on this world."

Jester quickly appeared behind Vergil who was getting irritated at the clown's antics and quickly drew his sword and held it to the demon's nose, bending it slightly as he said "Insane buffoon! Speak your point and then leave me if you have any sense of self preservation."

Jester replied "Okay, okay, okay! You see, the man who disguised himself as the book lovin' Arkham was actually a servant of some higher demon, though I know not their identity. This Mediator they spoke of was in reality the demon disguising himself. Though his power is greater in our realm and he was not from both realms. I however did find something interesting about this world's mundie pants. That sword you just took can destroy the Hellgate he draws power from. Though your entire presence here is unnecessary, no third party seal exists around the Temin-ni-gru. You can leave and return and get your daddy's sword anytime."

Vergil withdrew his sword and sheathed it, saying "Unexpected, but I still desire to destroy this world's Mundus before then destroying this world entirely. But something is not adding up. Earlier in my fight with my doppelganger I sensed some kind of disturbance, but had no idea what it was."

Jester spoke, saying "From what I gathered, the mediator managed to free his true master, though what was spoken between them or where they went I know not. The rest is up to you devil boy, do as you please with this world, but do keep in mind, we will meet again!"

As Vergil turned, ready to strike, Jester disappeared in a burst of what seemed to be confetti, his laugh echoing for a few seconds.

Vergil sighed, regained his composure and looked onward at the obvious residence of Mundus.

It was time to finish this once and for all.

The abomination would be ended and then he would return to gain his father's power.

To be continued...

Afterword:

As you have noticed, I've given mention and introduction to a bad guy that is set to appear in another story, tying the events here with the Rise of Kylanos storyline.

I will be getting around to making the sequel to Rise of Kylanos, I just need to put in a full season in for some other stories first.

Hope you enjoyed the death of the dishonorable fake, Bob Dumbass and Jester's antics, up next, Mundie Pants