Author's jabber: No ownage.

Chapter 4: Destroyer of Ardor

Dante stepped into a large cathedral hall. The first thing he noticed was the pillars. Four enormous pillars twisted, turned and pulsated like arteries. He frowned at the sight. "Not the greatest look… too retro for my tastes. This must've been what the castellan mentioned in the note about the cathedral." The next thing the hunter noticed was a small square tablet, made of some kind of silver, embedded in what appeared to be the corpse of a lion. An inscription was written:

"The lion heart will show your true courage, and will enable you to bear the pride."

The lion heart? Dante wondered what this meant. He noticed a door he hadn't taken yet, on the other end of the cathedral. He walked through the array of demonic pillars and exited to a large bridge outside.

It was a strange bridge.. it didn't seem to be supported by anything. It just… hung straight out. The hunter crossed the long bridge and at the end of it, he reached a small unsupported courtyard of sorts. Directly in front of him, he noticed a strange blue pad on the floor with a pedestal. In it pedestal it said:

"Go back the path and thou shall return from the abyss with the lion heart. In bearing, one proceeds in taking to the source andthou shalt receive the Pride of Lion"

Dante figured out what to do. He headed back across the bridge. Halfway across, however, a bolt of lightning struck him and froze him to the spot. "Shit… I can't move! What the hell is this?" Dante grumbled. A great rumbling came from the ground, and the bride collapsed beneath him, sending him falling to the depths of the ocean!

SPLASH!!

Dante fell down into what appeared to be a hallway. For some reason, there was no water. However, just off by the walls, he could see water pressing against it, as if it were some kind of a glass cage. The hunter touched it with his hand, and the gloved hand sunk through the wall, into the water. "What the hell is this?" Dante asked to himself. This castle was already proving to be weird. First moving pillars, then a floating bridge, and now forcefields? Wonderful. He pressed on further through the hallway, reaching another blue pad in the middle of a circular atrium. As soon as he stepped on it, though, six massive skulls fell down into the room, mouths wide open, ready to attack.

"Great... now Mundus is throwing skulls at me? What is this, some 70's cartoon? Gimme a break." Dante laughed. One skull tried to bite at him, but he backflipped away from it, pulling out E&I and opening fire. The bullets soon managed to smash the skull wide open.

The hunter replaced E&I with the shotgun as he blew another skull to pieces with a point blank shot. He felt a sudden presence behind him, causing him to leap straight up on a reflex, as he felt a burning hot feeling from underneath him. One of the skulls was exhaling a white steam, which seemed to burn the ground below him like acid! Dante unsheathed Alastor and sliced the skull cleanly in half. One final skull came rushing for Dante, a different skull. This one was enormous, and had only one eye, surrounded by a myriad of blue veins. Dante smirked and sheathed alastor as the skull swallowed him whole.

It gave a deep throaty chuckle as it had succeeded in devouring its prey. Then, all of a sudden, it began crackling with electricity, then exploded as the demonic form of Dante blasted out of it with the lightning power of Alastor!

In his freakish warped demonic voice, he laughed loudly, then lightning shot downwards as the hunter reverted back to his human form, completely unscathed. A an embossed blue circle in the ground, similar to the one back on the bridge, opened up in front of Dante. A small pedestal came rising out said circle, with what appeared to be a beating heart placed in the centre. Dante walked up to it and pulled out the heart.

"This must be the lion heart…." The hunter said as he pocketed the beating organ. A rumbling noise sounded as the pedestal fell down into the circle. Dante stepped onto the circle, and without hesitation, was shot straight up and out of the water!

The water splashed up as the devil hunter was blasted out, landing on his feet on the other side of the bridge, facing the cathedral door. "Huh.. some 'freaky abyss' that dump was…" Dante said.

He then turned around to look behind him. He noticed the other end of the bridge, along with various broken pieces, were still floating in the air, due to some obvious magic bestowed upon the castle. "Well… I guess Mundus wants to keep his place in tip-top shape for his big arrival… too bad he ain't going nowhere long as I'm 'round." Dante said as he walked up to the cathedral doors, pushing them open as if he were stepping into a western bar.

He could feel the lion heart beating harder than it was before, with every step he took towards its destination. He approached the corpse, pulled the heart out of his pocket, and crammed it into the hole. It fit perfectly, and the hold on the silver tablet released itself. Dante took the tablet. "I'm guessing this is the pride…. Come to think of it.. back in the courtyard, there was that weird force field with the lion statue behind it. Guess that's my goal."

Boom.

Boom.

Dante's thoughts were interrupted when Alastor began crackling with light electricity, and loud footsteps echoed throughout the cathedral. Dante quickly turned around and looked up to see the skylight smash to pieces as a gigantic tarantula-like spider with seemingly rock-like skin cam crashing down through, landing on the floor before him with a WHAM! Dante hid his genuine surprise when this demon approached, the obvious lack of aptly named 'small fry' was apparent. The spider had eight blue eyes, two enormous claws on its front feet, and its blood seemed to formed by none other than molten lava.

The heat made even Dante feel hot under his leather clothing as the great beast came towards him. It stopped, then spoke. "Baah… another small one! I sensed something a little bigger… what a disappointing catch!" Dante chuckled as he stared down the demon. "What a big surprise… I'm hoping for your sake you got something inside that big body of yours… wouldn't wanna be gutless and run away, would ya?" The demon took great offence to this. "Grrr… you puny, pathetic thing! I'll step on you like an ANT!! HAHAHA!!!" It bellowed out laughing, as Dante interjected. "You can talk, can't ya!" The demon roared and suddenly swiped at him.

Dante back flipped over it, causing it to slowly turn around. It seemed slow, when suddenly, it leapt back, and a white-hot fire began burning in its mouth. Dante stared at it with a blank expression on his face, as it launched a fireball straight at him. Alastor was off his back in a split second, and smacked the burning ball back at the demon like a baseball, exploding upon contact with its head! Dante laughed at it, saying "Strike one!!" the demon leapt up over him, intending to crush him under its weight. Dante rolled out of the way in the last second, missing the spider by only a few inches. He took out the shotgun, and began charging it with red electricity from his own demonic power.

The spider came rushing up to the hunter, trying to jab at him with its claws. Dante ducked the first one, then leapt over the second. The spider's mouth was now wide open. The hunter's keen eye aimed the shotgun at the monsters mouth in no time, and with a loud BANG, two shells packed with demonic power were unloaded into the beast's face.

In the blink of an eye, Dante holstered his shotgun, and unsheathed Alastor and began a quick slashing combo, ending with his infamous million stab combo, the lightning fast speed of the sword turning Dante's arm and Alastor's blade into a blur as it seemed thousands of blades were stabbing the monster by the second! One final stab knocked back the hulking beast, as Dante shouted "Eat THAT!!".

The lava making up the demon's blood turned to rock, and it seemingly stopped, frozen upon its four hind legs. Dante sheathed his sword and dusted himself off. "Jeez.. is this how it always goes? They look big, but can't fight worth a shit. Some great crock Mundus is peddling…" He said as he headed back towards the door leading to the corridor.

End of chapter 4! Please read and review!