Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry.
This concludes part II of the Angel Saga. Part III, Angel Wings, which will be the final part, will start sometime soon.
I'd like to thank the people who reviewed: without all the people who told me they really enjoyed Angel Blade and wanted me to write a sequel I wouldn't have. Reviewing matters.
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Athena
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For the next five minutes Dante was too busy to think. There was a part of him that was deeply, incredibly hurt by the fact Vergil was attacking him. He'd thought that was over forever. There was another part that was going what the hell? What caused this?
But that was ignored in the flurry of strikes and parries, leaping, flipping, rolling, dodging, feinting, shooting…
The tricky part, that he never lost sight of, was that he had to damage Vergil enough he went back into the devil arm and not enough that Dante had to cast the ritual again. Unless he had some real good luck (bad luck for the world), it was going to take a couple years to gather enough red orbs to pay to revive Sparda. He didn't want to have to use them on Vergil all over again.
So no overkill. This was like fighting to capture, not kill, which was always something that irritated the hell out of Dante. It was a challenge, yeah, and sometimes it could be a fun one, like when he was sparring, but up against someone who was really trying to kill him (and Vergil was) it put him at a hell of a disadvantage and he hated that.
"Vergil!" Dante shouted. "Come on, snap out of it!" Because this was all wrong. Vergil was coming at him like the Terminator or something, not even bothering to deflect bullets or guard himself. None of his finesse, no tricky techniques… it was fighting Nelo Angelo at his most… no, this was even less like his brother than Nelo Angelo. Nelo Angelo hadn't been stupid. He'd had guts and honor, there had been a mind there. The mind of a perfect, loyal Dark Knight.
This was a killing machine. And it was kicking Dante's paranoia into high gear. But there wasn't any time for that now. He had to disable Vergil and then find out what the hell was going on.
Dante didn't quite dare to devil trigger, might have a power flare and do too much damage. Vergil wasn't devil triggering either. Nelo Angelo hadn't.
The lack of strategy and taunting reassured Dante on some level. Thinking back on it later, this was what showed him that Vergil was just being paranoid, that Mundus' conditioning had been broken when Dante broke Nelo Angelo. This wasn't Mundus's servant.
This was Vergil in a way Dante had never fought him. But he bet Vergil's tormenters had. All-out desperation. No taunting, no showing he was superior as he had Dante. Just kill it, now, before it gets you. As fast as possible.
Blinding speed, hits packed with desperate force, ignoring potential wounds. The fighting style of someone who knew they were going to be worn down eventually, but was sure as hell going to do as much damage as they could beforehand.
Vergil wasn't seeing him. Vergil was seeing Mundus' servants.
And if this allowed him to build up even a little of his confidence, get a little of his own bag. Dante didn't mind being Vergil's punching bag.
And he was. Dante realized he was losing.
He was in the position he put demons in most of the time. Here he was, up against someone with just as much raw power as Dante had, someone fighting like they welcomed death. Dante had to be cautious, Dante had training and experience. The best fighter in the world didn't fear the second best, he feared the worst because he didn't know what the bastard would do, and now Vergil was even crazier and more unpredictable, more hurt than Dante had dreamed of being.
Nelo Angelo beating him the first time had been luck, mainly. Once Dante had analyzed his style the other fights, even after he powered up for the last battle, were tough but manageable.
Sure, if he wanted to he could have killed Vergil. He was taking reckless chances, exploiting anything that looked even vaguely like an opening. If Dante had fought full force, he could have kept suckering him with feints, gotten him right where he wanted him, and hit him with killer blows.
He might, he realized as he was backed into a corner, have to do that.
He hated landing even the weak hits he was using. He didn't want to fight Vergil anymore. But Vergil wasn't seeing him. Nelo Angelo hadn't recognized him.
He'd recognized the… amulet, but Trish had the amulet now. What if… if he split his concentration to cast an illusion, he was going to get his ass handed to him on a platter. Good thing he was carrying gold orbs.
Good thing he'd carried the amulet long enough he knew it like the back of his hand.
And Vergil froze. Dropped his sword. Clutched his head in pain, as Nelo Angelo had. But he fell to the ground instead of zapping away.
"Vergil?" Dante headed over to him.
Vergil held up a hand to ward him off. "Don't come near me."
"Why?"
"I'll attack you."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm not sure." Vergil whimpered. "I thought… I thought I was free. But I attacked you. I hurt you. You let me hurt you."
Dante shrugged. "It wasn't all let. Even if I had been fighting for real you were kicking ass."
"I… You're weak, Dante. I'm weak. You won't kill me, even though I should be killed, and that means I can be used against you. I.. I just was used against you."
"No, that was a flashback, Vergil. Or something like it. Humans who have been through a lot have them. You weren't fighting me, you were fighting…"
"I was fighting like Mundus taught me to. What else did he… Dante, you have to get rid of me."
"Hell no."
"I attacked you once, I can attack you again! The longer you take care of me the stronger I'll become! I'll learn your new fighting styles!"
"Mundus couldn't kill me, you think you can?"
"I almost did. I've beaten you before, Dante. I… what if this was his plan? What if I'm a Trojan horse?" Vergil shuddered. "I have to go!"
"You're a bad one, then. You snapped out of it. All I had to do was cast an illusion. I can do it again." Dante shrugged.
But Vergil vanished. Dante stared at where he had been. "Shit." He ran outside, jumped from rooftop to rooftop, bending all his senses to the task. He couldn't find him.
To protect Dante, Vergil had left the only safety he had.