Chapter 11 – Mission 4: Dance With The Devils

"I'm sorry," Deumos said from her perch, tilting her head with mock concern, "Is something wrong? Take hold of them!"

Dante only had to glance at Trish to answer that question. As for her order, about a dozen men dressed in all black materialized out of the crowd. It didn't take much for them to realize they were demons. Even their skin was an odd shade of purplish-black that gleamed strangely in the dim light.

"Meet my personal soldiers, the Legion," Deumos called proudly down to them, "I believe you might have heard of them."

"A little," Dante replied, turning his face to meet her gaze, "I'm more interested in what happened to my friend here."

"She's been a follower of mine for decades now. Although she never quite realized it. She was created by me."

"Then you knew Mundus."

"Correct, demon hunter. You could say I was a…an ally who held like interests. But what has it been now, Dante? Thirty years since we last met?"

"Something like that."

Nero pulled the Blue Rose from his coat and put right up to Trish's head. The hammer clicked back. Everyone else remained completely still, frozen in place, either in confusion or waiting to see what Dante would do first. Except for Vergil. Wait. Where is Vergil?

His brother had disappeared. And no one but him seemed to have even noticed.

"Go ahead, little Sparda," Deumos purred, giggling kind of like how you would imagine a little school girl gone evil would, "Shoot her. I can promise you that Dante will be shot before she dies."

"Let them both go!" Nero snarled, instead turning his gun on Deumos and firing.

Perhaps the most disconcerting thing happened. The woman caught the bullets with her bare hands, her limb but a blur for only a second before she revealed the two rounds in her palm. She hummed in delight.

"Nice try, young one!" she exclaimed, dropping the two bullets down amid the crowd, lost, "But it takes more than the shot from a cretin like you!"

As an answer, Nero replaced the Blue Rose and reached for the Red Queen. The second his hand reached the hilt, Trish's other gun came up to his face. A flash of blue appeared behind her, slashing the Legion soldier behind her to literal pieces. Dante's eyes widened. No!

The bullet entered his forehead as he attempted to rush past Trish, shoving her other gun hand away from Nero. Thankfully, it was a rushed job, and she hadn't been able to put any of her powers behind it. If that had happened, Dante figured even he would have a hard time recovering from it. There are some things that even he couldn't take much of. The shot went off without harming anyone. Wincing as he took another unsteady step and drew Rebellion from his back, he just barely deflected Vergil's lightning quick sword before it touched Trish's back.

Chaos ensued. The clash of steel served as enough of a distraction for Lady to throw down her coat and draw both of her semi-automatic pistols, taking out five of the Legions from around them as Nero swung the Red Queen to slice through the others behind them. Trish managed to slip away without anyone realizing, firing another two shots that Dante struggled to block as he broke away from Vergil. Just as soon as they flew into the torso of another Legion, his brother came flying at him, his sword sinking into Dante's stomach. He groaned aloud, pain shooting through his body for the time being.

"Why did you save her?" his brother hissed, not with anger but with honest dismay.

Dante looked up at his brother. Their eyes met, and it was for a single second that they seemed to share minds. Perhaps it is true that eyes are the window to the soul. Dante could see Vergil's utter bewilderment, mixed with frustration, and perhaps even disappointment. For once, his twin could not see into his mind. Something was blocking his sight. Something. And Dante knew exactly what it was.

He had not been there. That night. Vergil was not the one who had had to pull the trigger.

And whatever his brother saw, it troubled him. Dante gripped the edge of Vergil's sword and pulled it from him.

"She's innocent," he said, grunting as he waited for his wound to heal over, "There's no need to kill her."

"She betrayed you," Vergil stated, as cold as the winter ice.

"No…"

His brother only shook his head. And then, he swung his sword around Dante's head, at the same time as Dante thrust Rebellion behind Vergil's back. Both of them found their targets. Two Legions fell into dust on the floor. The battle had returned to them. There was no more time to talk. Above them, Deumos laughed all the while, as the black figures of her Legion soldiers came rushing at them, armed with nothing but their brutal strength.

"Perhaps we will meet again, sons of Sparda," she called, waving a single hand and disappearing shortly after.

Even to the bloodline of Sparda, these demons could prove to be problematic. Perhaps that was because of their origin. Legions were not entirely demons upon creation. They were the corrupted souls who became possessed by the very evil power that they sought to make their own. The only problem with seeking that kind of power was that not everyone's souls could stand up to it. Some remained whole, while others became fragmented, breaking apart until their identity was lost to the darkness of their heart.

As cheesy as it sounded, that was exactly what the Legions were. They were lost souls. And it explained why Deumos loved to attract young followers to her. Young people made perfect hosts for demonic powers if you could destroy their minds enough to break down their mental and physical resistance. For example, get them to shoot enough drugs, and their minds and bodies would eventually lose much of their natural immunities. Maybe then she would grant them their wishes, once they were high in the sky and flying. Then, with their concentration and heart scattered, the shadows could take them wholly. And young bodies also lasted longer as vessels for the Legions. In essence, it was everything a leader could want from a soldier. And with the exception of getting freaky with a human, it was the one way a demon could produce partial half-bloods. In other words, they were effective. Especially since many demons did not find enjoyment in having relations with humans. It was deemed beneath them.

As the human patrons of the club fled the scene, the Legions swarmed in to take their place, screams, gunfire, and steel creating the song of battle. With foes appearing left and right, there was no choice but to stay close. It soon became a fight for their survival, making a stand back to back. Dante and Vergil were the most mobile of the group, jumping to wherever they were needed. Nero was slower, and Lady, while she was normally light of her feet, had almost no maneuverability whatsoever.

"It's getting cramped in here!" Lady shouted over the report of her dual rapid fire assault pistols, having abandoned the semis minutes ago when they ran out of ammo.

"So take off all your clothes!" Dante put it in a sing-song, sardonic tone, laughing at his own pun as he plowed his way through the Legion soldiers who came too close to clawing his face off.

Vergil was a silent figure at his left, elegantly standing in a single stance, almost at ease. His sword did not even blur in the air. His sword arm seemed to have vanished at the elbow. All that could be seen of his attacks were the demons minced into pieces. Nero, however, even dared to look over his shoulder at Dante, giving him an incredulous look.

"Now is not the time for jokes, Dante," Vergil said above the din around them.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he sighed, throwing Rebellion through a score of their enemies and drawing Ebony and Ivory, "Maybe I'll just leave the commentary to you, then!"

A wall of bullets assailed the Legions were they stood, hundreds of holes tearing their way through various body parts. On the other side of them, Nero all but made greasy stains of a handful of foes, his Devil Bringer smashing them against the wall, concrete dust and blood flying everywhere.

"I think it's time we blow this place," Lady cried, dropping the empty clips from her guns, replacing them and pulling Kalina Ann from the strap on her back.

Oh shit. All three of them cleared the way without even thinking, the rocket firing into the midst of the demons at their back, while they pressed the Legions away from their rear. The doorway they had come through now lay before them, though it was now slightly larger and riddled with pocket marks, scorch marks, and body parts.

"Go!" Dante roared, shoving Nero back first and firing off another barrage of bullets from his guns.

He quickly followed the kid, creating cover fire from the narrow hall to allow his friends to slip through the closing flood of rabid demon baddies. Suddenly, a groan from somewhere above his head sounded. Not good!

Both he and Nero leapt back instinctively. It doesn't take much to realize that something horribly bad is going to happen. Likewise, it doesn't take much to see when something horribly heavy is about to crush the life out of you either. They rolled across the floor, coming to a stop just in time to see a pair of the railings that had been above them, like the one Deumos had stood on, come crashing down. Not to mention a half a dozen support beams from the wall and a healthy helping of concrete, drywall, and insulation. Dante hopped to his feet.

"Vergil! Lady!" he cried from behind the metal and concrete mess that blocked off the others but for a small gap in the mesh, "Get outta there!"