Tons of thanks to both Nefarious Seraph 13 for listening to my mild rant in a pm about choices and general zargon for reminding me about A&R again, how awesome they were and the constant reviews. You guys seriously have no idea how much it brightens my day to see a new review for this. I'm not kidding when I say I squeal with excitement and dance. And a late answer for the reviewer who was I. Yes, I did watch LOTR, and that scene was playing in my head as I wrote that. It seemed very natural for them to argue like that! And I got done with this quite early and it's been sitting here, waiting to be uploaded...so I gave in and I'm putting it up a tad bit early. ENJOY!

*sighs* Nope. Nothing yet, still don't own it.


The doors flew open and as they broke off and bounced down the stairs and hitting the statue. There was nothing but the snow on the ground and the silence of the graveyard to greet them.

"Huh?" Dante said as he blinked a few times, his breath fogging in the cold air. "Where are they?"

"Where are who? Were you expecting an audience or what?" Nero said as he stepped through the hole that was the doorway, his breath puffing out in small clouds. He bypassed Dante who was staring disappointed at the area and headed down the steps. "Come on, through that door should be the courtyard. If we head through there we can cut back around to the hallways." Nero stopped and looked back at Dante when he realized the elder hadn't moved an inch. "Are you sensing something?"

"I'm not sure. Whatever it is doesn't mean us any harm, I hope." Dante said as he started forward. "I thought that there were demons out here, but I don't see any, though I guess I may be wrong." He said as he pulled Ebony and Ivory out and pointed them above the door leading to the courtyard. "Isn't that right?" Nero whipped around, pulling out Blue Rose and stared where Dante was pointing his guns. Slowly coming out from its hiding place was a figure clad in the white armor of the Order. As it looked down on them, it made no attempt to charge at them or harm them in anyway. With a last look it turned and leaped over the wall, descending into the courtyard.

Nero took a step towards it before stopping himself and turning to Dante. "So are we going to go after it? Whatever it was, it didn't move like the other armors I've encountered."

Dante stayed silent for a moment before speaking. "Yeah. Let's see where this baby wants us to go." They took off, passing by the statue before the air became electrically charged. With that small warning, the two of them rolled away from where they were about to step and not a second too soon. A bolt of lighting hit the ground as Dante rolled over the small cliff by the tree and Nero ducked behind a grave marker and the two watched as a second bolt struck the ground near the first. Two Blitzes suddenly appeared and let out a loud roar, challenging the hidden opponents to a fight. Neither of them dared to move, knowing that although blind, the demons had excellent hearing. They sat there in sight of each other and watched the two foes paced back and forth in an attempt to find their quiet opponents. Nero watched Dante slowly raise his guns and hold out three fingers. With a nod, Nero slowly moved to grab his handgun. He understood that on the count of three, they would start their assault on the demons, hoping to catch them off guard and gain the upper hand.

He shifted slightly and the snow underneath his crunched lightly. With a jerk, both demons looked his way and turned towards him. Cursing himself slightly, he looked at Dante who nodded back at him, only one finger up now. He dropped it and they both stood up, unloading bullets at the electrical fields surrounding them. The two Blitzes jerked back and forth as the bullets hit them but otherwise shrugged them off. One of them tensed and leaped towards Nero, causing him to pause mid-shot to dodge underneath the demon. As it passed over him he shot into its torso, accidentally releasing a powered up shot. The demon landed hard and staggered to get back up, its shields greatly lowered.

"Dante! I think I found a way to lower the shields faster!" Nero cried as he focused on pouring energy into his gun. Dante dodged the Blitz that had focused on him and looked in time to watch Nero unleash another powered-up shot. It connected and the demon stumbled again, the glow that covered its body completely gone. With a laugh of triumph Nero reached out with his devil arm and pulled himself towards the demon. Dante watched as he threw kicks and punches at the demon before he had to turn back to his own fight. With a smirk he copied what Nero had done, charging up both Ebony and Ivory with his demonic energy before unloading several clips worth into his foe as it jumped towards him. The bullets collided with it in mid-air, making it jerk from the impacts as it hung suspended. Once Dante saw that the shield was down, he ceased firing and finally jumped back up onto the higher ground. The demon had made it so he was stuck down below with no way to help Nero if he needed it by blocking his path with bolts of lighting and its body. He looked over to see Nero working on lowering the shields of his again before turning back to the felled demon. It was struggling to get back up and charge at Dante when he raced towards it, pulling Rebellion off his back. He dashed right up into its face and pushed it back, making it stumble more before unleashing a barrage of slashes, too fast for the eyes to see. With the last hit, he launched it up into the air and planted his front foot, bringing his back one up and holding Rebellion like a baseball bat.

"Homerun!" He yelled swinging hard, his blade cutting through the demon's torso as it let out a yell of agony. It leaped back, glowing red before running out of energy and writhing around in pain. With a final ear-piercing screech it exploded, the body disintegrating before it could stain the snow. As he looked around to find Nero, he saw that the other one had disappeared and Nero was staring intently at the steps.

"Is it behind there?" He asked and Nero nodded.

"Yeah, I just about had it then it backed off under there. Want to help me get finish it so we can head out?"

"Sure. I'll head right and you go left. Whoever it doesn't go for needs to back up the other. We don't want to get caught by it." Dante said as walked slowly towards the underpass, both guns up and glowing slightly with a charge in his hands; Nero sidestepping with Blue Rose held in his left, his right arm glowing in preparation for a shot. As they neared the underpass and lost sight of each other, they could hear the demon growling in a low echoing tone. They both were tense; not knowing whom it would choose to go after. Suddenly Nero heard Dante swear loudly and a short scuffle in the snow followed.

"Nero! Stay there! It's going to go!"

"What happened to backing the other up?" Nero cried as he dashed around the corner. What he saw made him stop dead in his tracks. Dante was constantly dodging the angry, red demon, avoiding being caught in its claws. The demon turned as Nero shouted and took one final dive towards him. He took a step back to move out of the way and ran into the wall.

In his surprise he turned and looked, taking his eyes off of the threat in front of him for a split second. The next thing he knew, he was pushed out of the way and Dante was caught in its grip. In a flash of red light both the demon and Dante disappeared and Nero turned his face towards the ground to shield his eyes from the bright lights. When he looked back up, he was alone in the graveyard. "Dante?" He said, getting up and brushing the snow off. He walked towards the front of the steps and called out again into the graveyard. "Are you okay?"

A rough, low voice answered him from underneath the steps. "Yeah, I'm fine kid. Just...stay where you are for a second."

"Dante what..?" Nero asked as he turned back around and started to walk towards the voice. "Your voice sounds...off. Are you sure you're not hurt or anything?"

"I'm fine now just STAY THERE." Nero stopped and backed up a few steps, hurt flashing across his face. If Dante was hurt and needed help right away, then Nero was the only one who was there. Why was Dante telling him to back off? He heard a grunt of pain before Dante walked out from underneath the stairs. "See? I'm all fine and dandy. Now let's get going. And I'll tell you after we take care of that armor okay?" He said as Nero opened his mouth to speak.

"Another one of those long stories for another time?" He asked as they walked towards the door. Dante nodded and Nero sighed. "You know, one of these days you'll have to tell me everything. Well, almost everything." He added after a look from Dante.

"I will, don't worry." Was all Dante said in return. He took off towards the door and Nero trailed behind him, wondering what it was Dante didn't want him to see.

With a shrug he shook it off as they walked through the door and into the middle of the courtyard. There was no longer a blizzard raging in the small space, the demons causing it last time being long dead. He looked around at the still frozen ground, passing over a hole in the ground before noticing the ruined sudo-Hell gate that resided here. As he surveyed it, a slight sense of familiarity gripped his chest before he shook it off. He deemed it was from the fight he had here and it was just his memories in his head. Turning his head and looking at Dante over his shoulder, he spoke. "Hey Dante. If all the Gates were run by Devil Arms, then what was the one powering this one?"

"Hm?" Dante said as he turned to look at Nero. He had been busy looking for that armor that had disappeared into here earlier. "Oh, a briefcase." He said before turning back around with a dismissive wave and resuming his search.

Nero looked at him like he was pulling his leg. "A briefcase. Right. So what was it really?" He said as he started to look around also. There was no telling where that armor would attack from and he had determined that Dante was also keeping an eye out for it. He thought he spotted a flash of white on the upper level and was scanning the air above them.

"I told you, kid. It was a briefcase." He said. "Possibly the most bad ass briefcase out there. It could..." He started to explain before cutting off. "Tell you what, I'll show you later when we're done here." He said as he spotted the armor watching them from the walkway above them. "We've got company now."

"Yeah, I see." Nero responded as the armor jumped down to their level. "So," He said, speaking to the armor and spreading his arms out. "Are you just going to stand there staring at us? Cause we got a job to do if you're not going to do anything."

Dante slowly walked around the armor to look at it better, wary as the helmet turned to watch him. "You know, the Order is no longer here. They've been disbanded, split up, dispersed; choose your favorite and that's them. So why don't you just disappear?"

"Yo..." The two hunters stopped as the armor spoke.

"That's a first." Nero said as the armor continued its attempt to speak and continuing to watch Dante closely. "Didn't know they could speak."

"Da,.." The armor tried again, giving up on the first word. "Dan...te...Dante."

Said man took a step back and whistled. "Man, do I have fans all over? Sorry pal, I'm a ladies man only." He said, putting his hands up in mock apology. "I've got no time for...whatever it is you are."

This only seemed to enrage it even more and as they watched, the armor reached behind its back and pulled two ivory colored swords out from where they had sat crossed underneath its wings. With a yell it swung both swords horizontally at Dante who dodged it by flipping backwards onto his hands before springing up again and landing on Nero's right. Pulling Rebellion off his back and seeing Nero do the same with Red Queen, Dante set the tip of his sword onto the ground.

"Two against one hardly seems fair, doesn't it?" Nero said as he revved the handle of his sword. The high-pitched whirling echoed in the courtyard and Dante laughed over the noise.

"Just makes it that much more interesting then. 'Sides, weapons-wise we're even."

The armor raised its weapons and held them ready out in front of it, holding one out in front of the other. The hunters saw that the two swords were about 3 feet each in length and grew wider towards the point before tapering off. A small spike of metal jutted out from half way down the point. A short chain hung from the cross-guard of both swords and the end of the hilt was decorated like a demon's head.

"We'll just have to see if it knows how to use what its got." Dante said tauntingly, and with a yell the three rushed towards each other.


So the swords here are based off from a kampilan, ( en. wikipedia. org/wiki /Kampilan ). I had been browsing around and finally stumbled upon these. It seemed to fit where I had wanted to go with this, so here they are. I decided to go with twin swords (something I had wanted from the beginning) and I really wanted to incorporate a bow into here. Thought about it and realized that it would not work how I wanted it to. Right now I'm struggling to not upload this now (it's only been two days, currently the 22), so I'm going to go work on the next chapter before I do. Enjoy and thanks again for all the help. BTW, just going to say it now 'cause it's been in my head all day...BOSS BATTLE! *cue epic music!* ...eep... Btw, just saw a new trailer for DmC. Eeeyep..I've changed my mind on it. I'm definitely going to buy it. I just really hope they take out the 'last kill in slow motion' mechanic. It irritated me to see it in Enslaved and I know it's going to irritate me here too.