A/N: Again, sorry for the long awaited chapter update. I had to rewrite this entire chapter because the last one accidently got deleted from my flashdrive. And you know how hard it is to replace a lost file on flashdrives. It's a pain in the ass! Anyway, this chapter might just be as well amusing for everyone. In this chapter, Dante shows off the Devil Arms just a little bit.
Time to Hunt Again
Chapter 11.
When they got back to the airship, everyone else was so excited to see Barret back and alive. Tifa had actually thrown herself at her old friend and cried hard into his shoulder. No one could blame her. Barret had practically been her father when she lost her own. So they all could only watch as the two old friends hugged one another. It was a huge relief on everyone that Barret was back. But the happy reunion couldn't last too long. As soon as everyone settled down, Cloud explained why Vergil was back with them, and what they were up against now. The news stunned everyone.
"Cloud, you can't be serious." Yuffie said with alarm as she stared wide-eyed at the blonde. "Sephiroth is Tseng?! And who the hell is Moondos?!"
Vergil made an impatient sound within his throat before giving her an annoyed look. "That is Mundus. And we've already explained it once. Are your ears so clogged up that you did not hear us? Mundus is the King of Demons. He rules the Demon world, commanding legions upon legions of demons into invading the world of man to cause chaos and mayhem and destruction for all human kind." He said dryly.
There was a long pause as everyone just stared at the icy tempered Half Demon with alarm or unease. Dante, however, rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "Vergil, quit being so melodramatic and live a little, will ya?" He turned his cool blue eyes onto Yuffie. "Mundus is worst than Sephiroth. End of story. He was mine and Vergil's father's enemy when he was still around. Sparda, our old man, had been one of Mundus' Devil Knights at a time. He could kill hundreds of humans and demons with one swipe of his sword and even more just by himself. But….." He sighed. "As the story goes, he had been in the human world doing some scouting for Mundus when he met my mother, Eva. Vergil's too, of course. Eva was a very beautiful and enchanting lady and that's what drew Sparda to her like a moth with a lightbulb. He totally fell in love with her and that was what caused Sparda to decide to stand with the humans instead of his own kind." He shook his head. "He, himself, fought with Mundus, drawing him back into Hell when he tried to come to the land of men to rule over mankind. With his sword, he put a sealing spell over the Hell Gates, to keep Mundus and any other big demon in Hell. Only very small ones can ever come out." He told them.
"So…..how did he get out again?" Tifa asked frowning as she rest her hands on the bulge she called a impregnated stomach. "If Mundus was sealed up in Hell, how did he get out?"
Dante now gave his twin brother a very dry, but pointing look. "That genius over there." He returned the glare when Vergil shot it at him. "Verg and I had a little falling out when we were in our teen years. It was just right after our mother told us the truth about our old man, since we don't really remember him. Sparda went and got himself killed when we were younger so we don't remember him too well. Eva, however, decided that we needed to know about who Sparda was and she told us. After that, Vergil and I kind of decided to take different paths. I wanted nothing to do with my demonic heritage while Vergil on the other hand said we should embrace it proudly. Demons were extremely evil, are extremely evil when it comes to human kind. There only a handful that have a heart." The Demon Hunter shook his head. "After my mother was killed, I swore that I would hunt down the demon who did it, even if I had to kill every single one that came out of the Hell Gates. Vergil wanted to undo the seal that Sparda did on Hell, just to get his power that he locked up behind the gate. Which in the end, caused quite the mess I had to clean up."
"So basically it's his fault that your world, and ours are turning into hell." Denzel said accusingly, giving Vergil a dark look. He then winced when Marlene jabbed him hard in the side and whispered for him to cool it.
Vergil, however, lift his head. "Yes. In a manner of speaking. But I have been doing what I can to make sure none of the demons get out of Hell." He said dryly.
Dante nodded as he glanced at his twin. He had to agree with him there. "He's got a point. After he unlocked the Hell Gates and we got into this huge fight about it, Vergil stayed in Hell to fight out the battles there while I was doing it in the Human world. So in a way, he's just doing the same thing I am. 'Course," He smirked somewhat with amusement, yet with a little resentment with it. "It didn't really help when you tried to take on Mundus and went and got yourself enslaved by the old demon bastard."
The older Half Demon twin gave the younger an icy look. He had not wanted to go to that part. Not with these people. "You handled yourself fine when Mundus was controlling my mind and body, Dante. So do drop it." He said coldly.
"All right! That's enough!" Nero said roughly, now moving in between the twins. He gave them both a very acid like look, almost too acidy. "While we are arguing and trying to explain stuff, Kyrie could be hurt or even dead! I would rather get her back alive and safe! So can we stop the chitchat and go save her already?!" He demanded.
Vergil looked ready to hit the young Half Demon but Dante let out a long sigh and nodded as he moved over to stand next to him. "You're right, kid. Sorry. I swear we will find Kyrie and we will help her before Sephiroth or Mundus hurts her. If we don't," He looked directly at Vergil, rather seriously. "Mundus can use her to open the Hell Gates and keep them open. There won't be any way to closing them again, Verg. We have to find the kid's girlfriend and save her before she gets killed. If she dies on that Hell Gate, you know what will happen. You almost did it yourself to Lady. Well, you and that bald bastard, Arkham. We have to make sure that she doesn't die." He warned him.
There was a long pause before Vergil let out a low sigh and he nodded, turning his icy stare onto the youngest Half Demon. "We will stop Mundus from harming your precious human girl. Make a serious note of that." He said coolly.
Nero narrowed his eyes at him but he nodded. He even pointing his demonic finger at him, giving him a serious look. "You better. Because if she dies, you will die too. I will kill you myself." He said roughly before he turned away and stormed out of the room. Everyone watched him go but no one could blame him for being so acid tempered. The woman he loved was in danger and he was having a rough time coping with it. Any one who was in love could only imagine the emotional breakdown he was going through right that moment.
Dante sighed, shaking his head as he turned his back onto the door and looked at Vergil. "Vergil, cut the kid a break. Just this once. He's been through shit since he was a kid. Unlike us, he hardly ever got to know his own mother and he doesn't even have a clue who his father is. He's been alone, all right? So leave him alone." He remarked.
"So, are you going to explain to me who he is now or what you know about him?" Vergil asked coolly, getting everyone to frown at the sound of that.
The Demon Hunter seemed to hold his breath for a moment as he thought about that answer before shaking his head. "Not yet. There's still something you got to see before I say anything about the kid. Besides, I want him to be here when I do tell you about what I found out. But right now, he's emotionally unstable as it is. It's better to let him calm down first before I say anything. Because what I have to say is only going to make him blow up again." He warned his twin.
"Hey. Just saw Nero a second ago. He looks pissed. What did you do this time, Dante?" Came a familiar voice.
The Demon Hunter just merely glanced over his shoulder at who just spoke to him, more than less was even approaching him with the large steel like box in her hand. He didn't even seem to register who it was at first as he shrugged and turned his attention back onto his twin, who was frowning at the new company. "Aww, you know. The usual. The kid's girlfriend, Kyrie went and got herself kidnapped and now is being held as a sacrifice to the demons. The usual." He told his blonde haired partner.
Then it clicked.
The Demon Hunter just turned sharply and looked at Trish as she stood there, smirking at him with Lady and Lucia right next to her and the former Shinra employees stood there, also looking somewhat amused. "Holy, fricken Hell! Trish! Lady! What are you doing here?!" He asked with surprise.
Both of the She-Devil Hunters just smirked and shook their heads as they stared at him. They were both somewhat amused but irritated that it took him so long to figure out that they had been there. "I swear, Dante. You can be such a dense idiot sometimes. We've actually just arrived, with the help of our new friend, of course." Trish said, now smiling fondly over at Shelke, who looked rather proud of herself. It was the fact that she managed to seal a huge Hell Gate with one of her inventions.
Dante just grinned when he noticed the Pandora's Box in Trish's hand. He was sure glad to see it. "Hey! You brought Pandora!" He said before moving closer to take it. "Where's the rest of them?"
"They're inside Pandora. We brought a few though." Trish remarked.
The Demon Hunter only nodded looking satisfied with what he was seeing as it was. He didn't even bother to ask what ones that his three lady friends decided to bring. All he did was reach for the box to take it from Trish. That is, until Lady moved in between them and slammed her gun's nozzle against his stomach. "First things first," She said dryly before pulling the trigger.
The loud gunfire made everyone jump and look frantically at Dante. Marlene had even screamed and started to hurry forward to see if her friend was okay. But both Denzel and Barret caught a hold of her, keeping her back. They knew that if she tried to get into a fight with this black haired psychotic woman, she might just get hurt. The loud gunshot had made Nero come running back into the room, only to freeze at the sight of the She-Hunters. Dante, however, stopped from grabbing Pandora from Trish before rolling his eyes and stepping back to rub his stomach where he got shot. "All right. What was that one for? I already paid you some money from the last job. So what now?"
"That, Dante," Lady said icily glaring at him. "That is for getting Lucia hurt! Didn't Trish and I tell you to make sure that she didn't get hurt?!"
Dante, once again, rolled his eyes but he shook his head with a sigh. "Yeah. And she's all right now, isn't she? You know I would do anything to make sure that she stayed safe, if I could help it! But at the time, I went all Superman, or Superdemon to make sure this ship thing didn't crash and kill everyone aboard!" He argued his case.
Lady gave him an icy glare before she stopped pointing her gun at him. "All right. I guess I'll give you that much credit. But still," Her eyes trailed right past him and landed on Vergil, who looked bored. Her eyes flashed again and she shoved right past him, now aiming her gun at the Half Demon. "What is he doing here?!" She demanded, though Vergil didn't look too worried that a gun was getting pointed at him.
Marlene, however, didn't like it. Her eyes flashed dangerously and she yanked out her own guns, pointing them at Lady, who didn't even spare her a glance. "Knock it off!" She demanded.
"Marlene, it's fine." Vergil said calmly without glancing over at her. "Even if Mary did shoot me, it wouldn't kill me."
Lady let out a frustrated scream of rage before starting to pull the trigger. She was extremely teed off that he called her by her real name. She hated being called that by anyone else but one person. But that person was dead now. So she was Lady. However, before the hammer could click, Dante placed his hand in between it and the gun, stopping the gun from going off, which only added onto Lady's rage. "Dante! Let go of my gun! I want to kill him!"
"Lady, knock it off! We have bigger problems than your grudge against Vergil." Dante said seriously. "The reason Kyrie is in danger in the first place is because of Mundus. He's in this world and he's trudging around in a psychopath's body, trying to open the Hell Gates in this world!"
That shut her up real fast. Lady, Lucia, Trish and the rest of the others looked at him with alarm at the news.
Then, after Dante calmed Lady down, he explained on exactly what was going on around there, even more than less telling them all about what happened in the Mt. Corel's coal mines. It stunned mostly Rufus and the Turks to hear that Hojo was back and sharing the body of another, and even more when they heard that Sephiroth was possessing the body of Tseng, as well as being possessed by a Devil King. They did not take that news very well. Reno was the most stunned and PO'd. He had lowered his head so low that no one could see the look on his face, but they could tell how upset he was. His hands were balled up so tight that his knuckles turned white and blood was now starting to trail through his fingers from his nails digging into his palms.
"Reno," Rufus said calmly reaching over to try and calm him down. "We will get him back."
But the red haired Turk turned sharply away and stomped right out of the room, with a look of venom on his face. So he was not taking this very well at all. Everyone could see that. Still, his reaction surprised a few, but the Ex-President of Shinra and the Turks. They all sighed and shook their heads.
"Looks like Reno's pretty close to this Tseng guy, huh?" Lady said frowning, her arms folded over her curvy chest.
Rufus sighed as he ran his fingers through his fine, blonde hair. "You have no idea. Tseng is the one who found Reno when he was a kid and brought him into the Turk program. It pretty much saved Reno's life when Tseng did that." He shook his head, looking around at everyone. "As most of us have, Reno's had a real rough life. Hardly anyone really knows too much about Reno's past but….when Reno was just a young boy, he was born into a very unfortunate family in Midgar City. His mother was…..assaulted and brutally killed by Don Corneo's men," His blue eyes flickering over to Cloud, whose face hardened at the very name. "And his father was a raving drunk in Sector 8. He used to beat on Reno just for sport. That, and a few other things." He said, rather uneasily.
Just by the sound of that, it had most gritting their teeth with rage in their eyes now. They were all starting to get the idea of what Rufus was talking about. "That's horrible. So Reno's really seen the cruelty of Midgar City." Tifa said, her hand over her mouth.
Rufus just nodded as he looked down at the ground. "Reno has been through so much crap in his life, and he has seen the cruel side of the slums. Which is why he had no problem setting that bomb on Sector Seven." He held up a hand when Barret, Tifa and Cloud gave him a dark look for even mentioning that. "However, the point is, Reno ran away from that home and ended up looting for food and shelter. He had to kill rats just to eat and survive. The world is a very hard place when you're an eight year old runaway, living on the streets. Well, how Reno and Tseng met, it was actually kind of funny. Reno tried to stealing some food from a street vendor and some soldiers tried to arrest him." He chuckled at the memory, though truthfully it had been what Reno told him, himself. "Reno was twelve at the time and he had learned how to fight by watching a few dojos or watching street fights, so he kind of beat the living hell out of the soldiers, using his street smarts. Tseng happened to be standing by and thought it was the funniest thing he had ever seen. So he approached Reno, took him off the street, gave him food and new clothes. And then eventually, he signed him on into the Turk Program. Tseng literately saved his life."
Most of everyone had to smile at the tale. It was pretty touching, actually. Though, Vergil didn't like he cared either way. He just wanted to get to work and get a hold of Sephiroth's sword to kill Mundus.
Dante then shrugged as he looked around at everyone. "Well, let's not disappoint Reno then. We'll find a way of separating Tseng from Sephiroth." He then looked over at Cid. "Hey, bad mouthing pilot, when can we get this bird back up in the sky?"
Cid gave Dante a look for the name he gave him but then shook his head as he reached up and plucked the toothpick from his mouth. "Sephiroth put a damn hole in the side of my baby, Dante! What do you think?!" he paused for a second before shaking his head. "NO! The Shera won't be ready any time soon to fly until we can patch up all of the damages! And because of the crash the other day, some of our equipment took some heavy beatings. Unless you know where I can find something that can melt metal quickly and patch the holes, we ain't fricken going anywhere."
There was a pause before Dante smirked and slowly turned his head to look as his beautiful blonde haired partner, raising his eyebrow at her. "What do you think, babe? You up to some repair duty?" He asked, making Cid and most of the others frown.
But Trish rolled her eyes still smirking before shrugging. She only moved closer and shoved the Pandora's Box into the Demon Hunter's hand before looking over at Cid. "All right. Fine. I'll be your little torch burner. Hey! Show me where the holes are and I'll patch them up." She told the pilot.
Cid frowned but then shrugged. "All 'ight. Don't see I didn't fricken warn ya. They're pretty decent sized holes that Sephiroth's cut into my baby." He then pointed at one of his workers. "Hey! You! Take the lady to inspect the damages and help her out in whatever she needs. I don't know what she can do to fix the Shera but then again, I've underestimated Marlene once. I ain't gonna do that again." He announced. The worker only nodded before motioning to Trish to follow him. She just shrugged again and followed after him. Lady decided that she would go to because she was right after them. She didn't want to hang around in the same room as Vergil anyway. She figured she would go find Reno and see if he was okay or not.
Dante looked over at Shelke, as if he decided on something else too. "Hey, Kid." He ignored the sharp look she shot him for the nickname again. "Do you think you can speed things up and help us find out where Sephiroth and Mundus has the Hell Gates?"
Shelke frowned for a moment before she nodded. She was starting to decide to not even bother scolding the Demon Hunter for calling her a kid. It was starting to get irritating but she would have to just ignore him. Instead, she lift her arm up and began typing away at her small computer, pushing several buttons before the small screen flashed green. Before anyone knew it, a huge hologram shout out from the computer, surrounding everyone. They were surrounded by a hologram of a world map. It amazed mostly Lucia and Vergil, seeing they really hadn't seen this yet. On the world map, most of the land masses were in green with a few several white masses here and there. But at certain points there were red lights all over. But the large red lights were practically in the middle of the ocean and at the top of the map.
"So, what's these?" Dante asked, pointing at the lights.
Shelke shook her head as she typed out a few things on her computer but then pointed at some of the lights. "This is the world map, as you know. The white areas are mostly human cities. Most human inhabitances are there. The red dots you see are a few demons."
"So, the red masses are high demonic activity." Guessed Vergil.
The young girl looked over at him but nodded as she turned back to type on her computer. The hologram changed a little, moving a little closer to the huge masses. "Correct. The most demonic activity is happening where the most red is. It seems to me that the small island of Mideel and the Northern Crater is taking massive demonic hits." She turned her stoic eyes over to Vincent, who was watching her carefully. "If my calculations are correct, which they mostly are, that is where we will find the other two Hell Gates." She told them all while turning off her computer.
Cloud nodded, looking at her with satisfaction. Then he looked over at Dante, who was impressed with what Shelke just revealed. "Then once the Shera is fixed, that's where we will be heading. Mideel is closer so we'll head there first." He then nodded to the steel box in Dante's hand. "So what's with the metal brief case, Dante?"
The Demon Hunter looked down at Pandora before grinning and looking back at Cloud. He didn't answer for a moment as he lift it up, showing everyone. "Brief case? Please, Cloud. This is not brief case. This is one of the best Devil Arms I have on my hands." He paused when everyone but Lucia, Vergil, Zack and Nero frowned, a little confused.
"Devil Arms? You mean weapons? That thing, is a weapon?" Yuffie asked skeptically.
Dante grinned and nodded as he lowered Pandora's Box again to his side. "Yep. And one of the best I have." He chuckled when everyone looked a little skeptical. So with a sigh and a shrug, he turned away from them. "All right. I think a demonstration is in order. Let's take this outside. I'm sure that you do not want to do this in here because these things can destroy this ship if we do it inside." He told them before leaving. Everyone glanced at one another before shrugging and following him out.
Dante lead everyone a decent several yards away from the airship before he turned to face the others, holding the Pandora's Box at his side. He looked as if he was enjoying himself with the suspense about the metallic box. But with a shrug, he set it down in front of him. "All right. Lucia and Zack already knows about my box of tricks. Nero has some clue but he hasn't really seen what it does, and my dear twin brother doesn't have a clue. So let's start with the basic magic tricks." He nodded to the box under his feet. "In this box, I have some of the best weapons to offer. They are all devil spirits turned into weapons for my use. But seeing that we're dealing with Mundus, I think it's best to loan some of you my Devil Arms." He then bent down and unclasped the box's lock. "Ladies and Gentlemen, hold onto your hats. You're in for a light show."
Then he kicked it open.
A brilliant, blinding light erupted from the box, making everyone have to raise an arm to shield their eyes but once it dimmed a little, they were allowed to see what the box was doing. In honesty, they only saw a metallic box emitting a blinding white light. But as they tried to get a closer look to see what was inside, they were all surprised to see nothing but white oblivion.
"What…..?" Cloud asked confused before looking at Dante, who was smirking to himself. "What is it, Dante? What's in there?"
Dante merely shrugged as he looked down into the white void inside the box. "You never really know what secrets Pandora's hiding inside of it. This thing sometimes even confuses me. But I'm pretty sure that my other Devil Arms are inside there." He then bent lower to the white void, looking closer. "All right! Who wants to come out and meet our new friends first?" He called into the box. It actually made everyone frown, thinking that the Demon Hunter might have lost his marbles.
But when violent, purple sparks began to emit from inside and the crackling sound of lightning drifted right out of the Pandora's Box, they were all starting to get the idea that they were underestimating Dante and his Devil Arms. Especially when a great ball of purple electricity shot right out of the Pandora's Box and landed right into Dante's arms, who was grinning as he looked down at the demonic spirit in his arms.
"Well. Looks like it's Nevan first." He remarked as the electricity danced around him.
Surprising to everyone else, in Dante's arms now sat a large violent-purple, electric guitar. Sparks were dancing along the neck of the guitar and trailing along the Demon Hunter's arms. It seemed to have sharp edges along the sides though. And it surely didn't look like a weapon. But then Dante grinned mischievously at the others watching him before he struck a cord on the guitar, now starting to play a hard rock like melody. And as he played, bolts of violate electricity danced around him while black bats seemed to just emerge from them, now swirling around him like a storm. If that wasn't surprising enough, Dante ended the little deadly musical number by spinning rapidly around and lashing out with the guitar as if he was going to smash it against the ground. But instead, it went through a very quick transformation, becoming a nasty looking scythe.
"Whoa." Both Denzel and Marlene remarked as they stared with awe, along with everyone else.
Dante just smirked as he just looked the scythe over, straightening. He actually looked at this weapon fondly. "That's my beauty for ya. She likes to show off a little." He then held up the scythe. "Nevan, babe, as much as I'd like to play with you, we do have a little crisis on our hands. So I'm lending you to one of my friends." His eyes then lift up and he looked directly at Denzel. "And since our young friend seems to have a sparking personality, he can go ahead and use you." He said releasing the scythe.
As if the weapon had a mind of its own, which in a way it did, the scythe sparked violently before shooting directly to the young warrior, who stepped back in shock but then looked even more surprised to find the scythe now in his hands. More or less, sparks were running along his arms and down, but not hurting. "Wow." He couldn't help but murmur in surprise.
Dante just chuckled at the look on Denzel's face, more or less, Marlene's. They were both admiring the Devil Arms that he had just loaned the young swordsman. The Demon Hunter just shook his head as he smirked at them. "Be careful, Denzel. Nevan happens to be a bigger flirt than your girlfriend, there." He said, giving Marlene a wink who was trying to decide if she was going to blush or glare at him. She eventually settled for both. But the Demon Hunter wasn't paying too much attention to them anymore. Instead, he turned his attention back to Pandora's Box. "All right. Who's next?"
A dog like growl was his answer before a very cold chill began to swirl around everyone. Then a rolling mist began to rise out of the metallic box, rising even above Dante, who was just shaking his head with a smirk on his face. The cold mist seemed to have taken on the form of a three headed dog.
"Well, I didn't see this one coming. Looks like they're a little anxious." Dante stated before nodding to Vincent. "Hey, Vince. You think you have a real Cerberus on your hands, wait till you see mine."
The mist suddenly flashed and began to bend into something else. Hovering over Dante's head, now was a three clubbed like nunchuku linked to a metal ring. The metallic rods with sharp edges at the top were icy blue, looking as if they were made out of ice, their selves. They were slowly revolving before they launched towards an unsuspecting Yuffie Kisaragi. She yelped, lashing out her hands to shield herself from getting hit, only to have the nunchuku start spinning in her palm, leaving an icy mist swirling around her. She looked astonished that the Devil Arms had even chosen her but with a sly smile curling on her face, she spun around, now testing it out. She spun the nunchuku rapidly around her, leaving only icy trails before she held the weapon up. "Neeto!" She said grinning.
Dante just grinned, shaking his head before he looked back into Pandora's Box to see who was next. Before he even had to say anything, there came a blast of wind and fire from within the box, surrounding him like a tsunami before two blades stabbed into the ground in front of him in X's. These two, however, the Demon Hunter frowned at and stared dryly at. "Oh, hell no!" He groaned before giving Lucia a dry stare. "Trish just had to grab these two, didn't she?"
Lucia just laughed softly as she folded an arm over her stomach and cover her mouth with the other hand. She just shook her head as shrugged at the same time. "Hey, Dante. You didn't say which ones not to bring." She remarked.
The Demon Hunter just rolled his eyes before he looked down at the two blades before him. The two blades were somewhat alike, the both of them. They were both like scimitars and looked very sharp on both sides of the blade. They both even had strange bulbous like heads sitting on top of the hilts. There was even a pair of matching faces on the heads. The only difference between the two was that one was fiery red and the other was sky blue. "Well I guess it can't be helped since they're here." Dante said before he placed his fists onto his waist. "These two are Agni and Rudra. They're not bad weapons at all. No, they're actually one of my best swords I have, other than Rebellion and Alastor. Problem is……"
"Oh, wow, dear brother! Did you hear that?!" came a very grotesque voice, which startled most of the Avalanche members and the former Shinra employees.
"Yes! Yes! I did, brother! He actually complimented on us!" came another voice, which was a little deeper than the other. And surprisingly to everyone but Dante, it had been the swords who spoke. The heads actually began to blink and move their mouths.
While the people of the Planet looked stunned at the blades, Dante looked highly annoyed as he quickly lashed out and grabbed the swords by the handles, yanking them out of the ground. He turned them slightly to look down at the heads, making them facing him. "What did I tell you two about talking?!" He demanded.
The two heads made a pout on both of their faces as they looked right up at him. "Oh, come on. We haven't spoken for ages now. You never take us out on missions anymore." The flame like sword's head remarked.
The other blade's head bobbed a little. "Yes, yes. We're getting rusty here. And besides, didn't you say that we were excellent swords? We only want to help."
"Ugh." The Demon Hunter groaned before he shook his head and tossed the swords into the air, which both became a spinning vortex of flames and wind. "Fine, fine. As long as you just shut up around me, I don't care who you annoy." He remarked. The spinning blades began to laugh as they spun rapidly around the red wearing Half Demon before spinning just as rapidly around everyone, causing their hair to whip around their faces before coming to a suddenly halt right front of two different people's hands, who didn't have a choice but to catch them before getting sliced open.
Cloud and Zack.
The two swordsmen had lashed out just as the blades spun rapidly around them and caught them by the hilts. But the impact against their hands sent both of them spinning a little. Cloud ended up going down to one knee while Zack remained standing. They were both amazed by the Devil Arm's choices but they could feel the power coursing through both of them. Zack had received Agni, the fire blade while Cloud now held Rudra, the wind blade.
Dante merely shrugged as he folded his arms. He didn't look to surprised that Agni and Rudra chose to be possessed by these two. In truth, he had expected it the minute he saw them. The two former Soldiers of Shinra were excellent swordsmen and nearly had the same techniques as the other. "Well, I'm not surprised." He remarked before pointing at them. "The problem with those two, as I was saying earlier, is that they don't shut up. They talk way too much. The only way to shutting them up is to clink their heads together. So if they start annoying you by talking, just smack them together."
"Awww. You're so mean!" Agni remarked, with a pout.
"Yes, yes. He's always hitting our heads together when we try to start up a conversation." Rudra added.
Smirking, Cloud and Zack glanced at one another as they stood side by side each other. In truth, they found these two completely amusing. But just to keep Dante from marching over and bashing the heads against the ground, seeing that he was getting very close to doing it, they both rose the swords and clinked the heads together. It shut the twin scimitars up very quickly.
Still somewhat un-amused, Dante turned his attention onto Pandora's Box, looking down within in the box. However, he paused when Barret started chuckling after the deal with the twin swords. He just stepped closer, nodding to Dante. "Hey, Dante! You got something in that box for an Old Gunner like me?" He remarked.
The Demon Hunter smirked as he glanced side wards at Barret before looking into Pandora. He seemed to have thought of the perfect weapon then. "All right. Let's see who else we have in here. Anyone want to join up with Barret?" He remarked into the box.
Suddenly the there was a flash of green and silver before there came an acid green flash shooting out of the box. It zigzagged all over the place before shooting off at Barret, who could not help but step back in alarm. The acid green aura hit his gunarm, causing it to automatically start shifting. To Barret and everyone's surprise, it was now a demonic looking gun with runic markings all over it and red orbs.
"Ahhh. Looks like Artemis has decided to be your little weapon of choice, Barret." Dante said grinning.
Barret looked at the Devil Arms merged with his own arm with awe but confusion. He wasn't entirely sure what to do with it but as if it read his mind, the demonic gun began to glow before firing off at a tree multiple times, nearly incinerating it. "Whoa-ho, ho!" Barret now chuckled as he looked at the damage it just caused. "Not too shabby."
Dante just nodded with a snort of amusement before he looked back into the Pandora's box to see what else was in there. He seemed to have seen something because he grinned. "Well, well. Look who's deciding to show up." He lift his eyes and looked right at Vincent. "I think it's your turn, Vincent. Now I know you're a gunner but I think this one might just suit you. Don't you think," He paused looking back into the box just as a dark aura rose right out of Pandora and then began to swirl in the air. It then shot towards Vincent, as if it had known who Dante had been talking about. The Ex-Turk grew tense for a second before he felt a little pressure on his back. He tilted his head around he saw metallic claws right over his shoulder. "Lucifer." Dante finished.
Now sitting on Vincent's back, there was a metallic apparatus with two long claw like arms hanging down behind him, emitting red blades. On the center of it was a hellish skull with a blood red rose in its sharp teeth.
"Now I know you're not much of a swordsman, Vincent," Dante began to explain grinning at his tall, dark friend. "But Lucifer is more just a sword summoning weapon. The blades that come out can be thrown. Give it a try. You'll see what I mean."
Vincent felt himself smirk as he looked at the Devil Arms hanging on his back but then he looked down at one of the red blades hanging near his hand. He figured why now. So with a flash of his hand, he grabbed a blade and pulled it out before flinging away from him. The red blade whistled loudly in the air before hitting the trunk of a tree nearly ten yards away.
Grinning, Dante folded his arms and dipped his head down. "Boom." He remarked.
Suddenly, the red blade began to glow violently red before exploding, sending tree bits flying every where in the air. And it wasn't really just a small explosion either. It was actually rather big. It literately destroyed the tree, surprising all. Vincent tilted his head to the side, looking very impressed. He had to admit it, but this weapon might just prove useful to him when fighting Hojo. He turned his blood red gaze onto Dante, giving him a nod of satisfaction.
"Yeah. I knew you'd like that one." Dante said grinning at him before he reached into Pandora's box and pulled something out. To everyone's surprise and alarm, it was a very big demonic sword with a flesh like appearance. It was a grotesque looking sword but no doubt very powerful. It was nearly as tall as Dante, himself. And it was a sword that had immediately perked up Vergil's attention. He hadn't been the slightest interested in what Dante's toys were and who they were given to. But seeing this one, his eyes grew sharp and he eyed it as if he wanted it for himself.
"Ah. This one." Dante remarked as he held up the huge sword before stabbing it into the ground beside him. "That one will be the last to give out. I know very well who it's going to." And he then he pointed at Vergil who was giving him a sharp look. "And no, Verg. It's not you. The sword will choose its own master."
Vergil glared at him but was ignored.
Dante, however, kicked Pandora's Box softly, closing it and then picked it up. He looked right at the skull on the side of it, giving it a smile as if it was a real thing. But then again, after seeing the Devil Arms move on their own, the Avalanche and the former Shinra employees figured that they were. "Pandora, looks like you're up." He told it before releasing it.
The metallic box became a flash of white before whirling around much like the other Devil Arms had done. It swirled around the entire ground before coming at a stop right in a very unsuspected person's hand. Marlene's hand. Marlene blinked in surprise as she held the metallic brief case in her hand before making a face. She didn't look too amused that she was getting this one. "A briefcase, Dante? You're giving me a glowing white briefcase as a weapon? What in the hell am I suppose to do with a briefcase?! Open it up and hope it sucks up demons into it?!" She demanded, crinkling her nose.
Dante just laughed shaking his head. He had suspected that whoever got Pandora would be skeptical. He, like everyone, had been a little surprised that it would be Marlene who got it but amused. "That, Marlene, my lovely little lady, is not just an ordinary briefcase. Like I said before, that is one of the best weapons a gunner can ever have." He said grinning before reaching up and grabbing the pendant around his neck. To everyone's surprise, the Silver Materia began to glow brightly.
"Dante, what the hell are you doing?" Vergil asked dryly.
The Demon Hunter merely glanced at his twin before shaking his head. He just smirked right at him before turning his icy eyes back onto Marlene, just as red swirls began appear right out of the air. Small Hell gates began to open up, revealing a few demons now jumping out of them. Everyone grew tense and eventually started grabbing at their weapons but Dante held up his hand towards them. "It's just a little demonstration. That's all. Marlene, using Pandora, why don't you just kill all of these things?"
"With a briefcase, Dante? Are you friggen kidding me?" Marlene asked dryly, placing her hand onto her waist.
Dante just grinned at her then waved a hand towards her as the demons began moving towards her. He seemed highly amused by her reaction, even though she didn't share his enthusiasm. "Just open it up and it'll do all of the work. You'll get the idea." He told her.
Rolling her eyes like a teenager who didn't get her way, Marlene shook her head as she turned and looked around at the demons now moving in on her. She just gave the Pandora's Box a dry stare before flipping it open. Brilliant light began to surround her and to her surprise, it began to shift in her hand. The light began to dim after a few moments and revealed a very large, nasty looking shuriken. She couldn't believe her eyes. The demonic shuriken seemed to react all on its own though, as if it knew that she was too stunned to do anything. It began to spin rapidly in the air before shooting off away from her, now spinning around her and hitting the demons, knocking them all backwards with slashes in their bodies. Spinning right back to Marlene, it dropped down in front of her, glowing brilliant and shifting once again. Only this time, it was a large ground machine gun.
Smirking, Marlene jumped onto it and began firing at the demons, hitting them with several rounds of bullets.
If that wasn't enough, the Devil Arms shifted again, only this time right around Marlene, now lifting her up a little as it seemed to begin to growing around her into a very large weapon. It became a large missile launching weapon, where she would sit in the center. In her hand there was a remote with a large red button. Smirking, Marlene decided to push it. Missiles exploded right out of the beams surrounding her and began to fly in many directions, swirling around the started observers before hitting demons and sending them flying away from everyone. At a certain distance away from everyone, they all exploded.
No demon was standing anymore.
When all of the demons were gone, the weapon shifted right back into the metallic briefcase, sitting casually in Marlene's hand as if nothing ever happened. No longer did the teenage girl looked disappointed but a sly grin on her face as she looked down at the weapon. "Cool." Was all she could figure out to saying.
Dante on the other hand was laughing at the look on Denzel's face. The young swordsman looked at his childhood friend as if he had just barely fell in love with her that very moment. "Hey, Marlene. I think Denzel enjoyed that show." He remarked slyly.
Both Marlene and Denzel shot him a look but they were blushing furiously.
Vergil, however, reached over and snatched up Sparda, yanking it right out of the ground. It caught Dante's attention. The two twins now gave each other a cold stare as they faced one another. Dante shook his head as he looked at Vergil with a serious look. "That sword is not for you, Vergil. You have Yamato, all right?"
"And you have Rebellion." Vergil remarked coolly. "If this sword is not meant for me, it's not meant for you. Yet you possess it as if it is."
Dante merely shrugged as he folded his arms before he reached out towards his twin brother. There was a very uneasy pause between to the two but it only surprised everyone when Vergil decided to hand his younger twin the large blade. "You're right, Vergil. It isn't meant for me either. You have Yamato. I have Rebellion. They're both swords given to us from Sparda." He then held out Sparda off to the side, as if he was giving it to someone. "Therefore, it's meant for someone else." He said before turning his face towards the sword. But his eyes looked past the red and silver blade and trained right onto Nero.
For a moment, Nero didn't realize that Dante was talking about him. That is until Vergil and everyone else was staring at him. He suddenly realized that Dante was giving him the Great sword of Sparda. "What?! Me?!" He asked in alarm.
Dante nodded only once before tossing the sword towards him, which the younger Half Demon caught by the handle with his human hand. He was very aware that his older twin brother was glaring fiercely at his back, but he chose to ignore him. Instead, he folded his arms and smirked at Nero, who held the huge sword his hand as if it were alive. "Yup. You get Sparda, kid. Vergil's got Yamato. And I have Rebellion. It's only best if you possess the Sparda. It'll serve you better than it serves me. All I've been doing with it is leaving it up on a shrine for our dear old dad and collecting dust." He told him. "And since Vergil decided to take Yamato back, I'm giving you Sparda. Call it a gift from the old man, himself."
Everyone frowned as they listened to what he was saying, or the way he was saying. Especially Vergil, who frowned and tilted his head as if to catch something that might have been on the wind. Nero just slowly shook his head as he held up the huge sword, looking at it before turning his eyes back onto Dante. "I still don't see why you're loaning it to me."
"Loaning it to you?" Dante asked, chuckling. "I said I'm giving it to you, Kid. Sparda is now yours."
Nero still looked very bewildered by the Demon Hunter's words. He didn't understand at all of why he was doing this. He could already tell that Vergil was getting even more agitated than he already was. "But why me, Dante? I don't have anything to do with Sparda."
There was a very long pause as Dante looked thoughtfully at him. He looked as if he was choosing his words carefully. He didn't seem ready to tell Nero why he was giving the great demon sword to him, yet. But with a smirk, the Demon Hunter shrugged as he turned back towards the airship. "You might be right, kid." He paused before glancing over his shoulder, looking directly into Nero's eyes. "But are you 100 percent sure of that? Because I'm sure not." He said before turning slightly back. "They say that many eras ago, when Sparda took up his sword into his right hand, it looked like it was alive. It pulsed with a heartbeat and it even seemed to breath. And it moved with every thought in Sparda's head. As if it was apart of him." He then turned away again. "Try holding that sword in your right hand, Nero. And you'll see why I'm giving Sparda to you." And with that said, he walked towards the airship with Lucia right behind him.
Everyone just stood there in silence, a little dazed and confused of what Dante had just said. Vergil, however, frowned suspiciously before tilting his head towards Nero, who was staring at the sword in his left hand. He was actually a little curious to see what would happen, both of the Half Demons. Slowly, Nero shifted the Sword of Sparda into his demonic hand.
And when he did, it only startled Nero, and everyone else, to see the huge veins on the sword begin pulsing. The Sword of Sparda, named after its master, was actually starting to pulse with life. Just like Dante had said.
Vergil just narrowed his eyes suspiciously at the younger Half Demon, watching as the sword actually did what Dante said that it would. He really didn't like this at all. But it seemed that Dante had been speaking the truth about Sparda. The sword was meant for Nero. But why? He couldn't only wonder. Gritting his teeth a little, the oldest Half Demon turned sharply and headed straight towards the airship. He was going to demand answers from Dante. It was time to find out what in the hell his younger twin was up to and what he knew.