A/N: Ok, I kind of got cut short on ideas for this part so my bad, I forgot what I planned out for this chapter so I'll just try my best to pull one right of the back in hopes of making the update deadline.

Chapter 14

Masterminds

Dante stood there in the abandoned streets, panting and exhausted over all the fighting he's been doing for quite some time, his clothes already worn out, tattered and ruined. And standing in front of him was still a large group of lesser demons, still persistent on their attempts to kill him.

He has now defeated the one carrying the over-grown coffin, long has it been a thorn on the half-demon's side. With that particular enemy out of the picture, the enemies will tend to drop in numbers.

One reaper charged at Dante, in response, he unleashed a powerful uppercut which sent it flying helplessly in the air. It landed on the cold, hard, side walk and dispersed into nothing more than sand. Soon, all the others were coming at him non-stop. Dante managed to block, parry, and counter attack most of them, but the odds were against him by a large degree. With each reaper he takes care of in one side, another is going to get a free shot at him in the other. But Dante wasn't about to give up…

I'm not going to die here…

Not here…

Not now…

With his determination and will to survive guiding his way, the white-haired half demon made on last rush of adrenaline to defeat his remaining adversaries. Punch after punch, kick after kick, it wasn't long until the battle was finally over.

Dante then fell to his knees; the exhaustion of fighting has finally caught up to him. Desperately trying to catch his breath, he's never felt this tired in his life…and he plays sports like a pro. The streets were finally quiet and peaceful. Dante crawled and leaned his back against the wall of an alleyway he was close to. He was trying to rest the best he could, it was hopeless to try and catch the school dance now. No matter how close to reaching the school he was, the fight already took most of his time, plus he could barely move a muscle due to the extent of the damage.

He just sat there, with his head down on the floor, screaming to himself in his thoughts…

Damn it…

Damn it all…

DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!!!

Suddenly, the high school student heard someone clapping from somewhere not too distant. He looked around, left and right, to see where it was coming from. Then, a mysterious figure began to emerge from the darkened streets of the night breeze. It was Mary's father.

"Quite a show you've put up, my boy." He said, clapping his hands in a sarcastic applaud.

"What are you doing here?" Dante questioned through the tiredness that still resided in him. Arkham simply gave him a menacing stare, the same stare that gave the white-haired boy chills down his spine when he first met the old man.

"You don't know, do you?" Arkham asked.

"Know what?" Dante said with an angered tone, he didn't feel like he should be paying respect to anybody right now.

"Everything about you…" The bald enigmatic father answered.

"Stop talking in riddles." The half-demon demanded in frustration.

"You know, what you really are." Dante was suddenly shocked of what he just heard from the man.

"Yes, I know, about you, your brother, what your father really is, what happened to your dear sweet mother, and of course, that precious amulet of yours." Arkham slowly elaborated, one by one, sending mental blows to Dante with each mention.

"Shut up…" Dante mumbled under his breath repeatedly. "Shut up!"

He was about to reach his boiling point, a line no one has pushed him to cross ever before…until now. If only he wasn't paralyzed to just sitting and leaning against that wall, he would've taken the man apart with his bare hands.

"And you, you have no idea, don't you?" Arkham proclaimed forming a sinister grin in his face, the white-haired half-demon was afraid to admit it, but it was true, and he couldn't do anything about it.

Then Arkham started to walk away from the scene, seeing that his message has already been delivered. "You may have survived my minions for now, devil boy, but it won't be long until I'll final savor the moment of killing you, I'll leave you be… for now." He declared. "Oh yes, and you just missed your date with my daughter." He reminded insultingly.

Dante was now all alone again, still in the same position. The revelation of who was behind it all now is deeply haunting his desolated thoughts. With one final curse under his breath, he faded out. His body has reached its current limit, and he passed out; everything going pitch black, right before his eyes.

"Dante…"

"Dante…"

"Dante, you awake?"

The white-haired half demon slowly opened his eyes, he looked around to see that he's now back to his apartment room, safe and sound and lying in his bed. In the same room, Conner and Bridget stood in deep concern for their best friend.

"You ok, Dante? Me and Conner found you last night by an alleyway and we took you home." Bridget explained.

"Yeah dude, you were wasted pretty badly, what happened?" Conner asked.

"Uh-Oh…I-I got into this uhm…bike accident, yeah, this one girl on her bike crashed into me and yeah, that." Dante tried his best to lie through his teeth.

Conner knew what he was trying to pull, and he knew there's more to the story than what his best friend is telling them, but seeing that Bridget is in the room as well, it was best to just leave the subject alone for now.

"Well, that's too bad, dude." Conner agreed in order to end the matter.

"Listen, Dante, about Mary…" Bridget then started.

"Mary? What happened?" Dante asked alarmingly, sitting up right on the bed.

"She kind of got depressed that you didn't show up for the dance, she left early and was pretty sad about it." She continued.

Dante felt like hitting himself senselessly at the time, a chance with the girl he has deep feelings for and he screwed it all up. He crunched his fist hard over the unfortunate turn of events. "Damn it." Dante cursed, looking down unto himself.

"Sorry." Bridget apologized, seeing that the truth greatly affected the white-haired high school student.

"No it's ok…"

But the worse part of it all…is that her own father is the mastermind all this time.

To Be Continued…

A/N: Well, hope you like the chap, considering that I pulled it off at the last possible moment, anyways, please review.