Chapter 13: The Devil Returns

Craaaap...what the hell is with my luck?

It was raining. More of a downpour, really. The clear skies clouded up almost as soon as Dante grazed the edge of the forest. That struck him as slightly suspicious; mother nature didn't just decide to let go in a matter of seconds. The weather had been perfectly fair. Plus, the pea soup thick purple fog didn't seem too natural either.

At any rate, it was going to be a pain in the ass getting to the gate. The forest reeked of demons, and Dante could hardly see where the hell he was going. But he had to look on the bright side: leather didn't absorb water, so once the rain was over, he could start drying off.

The devil hunter began to push through the soaked foliage. The whole follow-the-sun trick was neat, but he could see past it now without a problem. He shoved a big fern out of his way-

-and a clawed arm swiped at his head, which he easily dodged by tipping his it back. Rebellion came off his back and cut into the foliage. There was a shriek and a spurt of blood as a corpse fell into view. It was a blade. Well, Dante called them blades, but Trish said the Order called them assaults. Point was, it was a big ass lizard with an attitude; it didn't matter what the hell anyone called it.

Another blade jumped from the tree line. Dante spun and poked it with his blade, flinging it into a tree, then finished it with E&A. About half a dozen then appeared, all bearing down on him. He skated through the mud, slicing and stabbing through the air with Rebellion. Three blades fell. Coyote-A howled, shearing off one's fugly helmet and head. The last two were kabobed on Rebellion as he drove it through both of them, then flung them off into the trees.

I don't remember these guys having that many claws.

Indeed, something had combined with the blades. It was the little seed demons that he'd seen on his way through. Their tendrils were sunk into the reptiles like roots. There was a budded plant on their backs, from which flowed more tentacles, ended in scalpel-like blades. Dante loved surprises.

He left the deteriorating demons in the mud, then continued on his way. Although he believed he had an excellent sense of direction, Dante couldn't help getting a bit lost. He swore he saw the same set of ruins at least twice, and damn near walked off a cliff.

Finally, he found himself on what had to be the right path. The flow of energy was like a magnet to a compass for him. It was the gate, and it had to be open. Dante found himself walking up a ruined set of stairs carved into a hill, then in a small clearing.

Finally!

It was the gate alright, open with pockets of deep green light. He couldn't see the Devil Arm that was powering it, so it must have something to do with the thing that crawled out of the gate...or rather, as he noticed, slithered out.

There was a huge snake floating silently through the trees a ways off from the clearing. It looked like a cross between a dragon and a plant, strangely enough. Every so often, a scale would fall from its body and settle in the woods. It must be what was laying the demons that combined with the blades.

Dante waited for it to notice him and charge...and waited...and waited...

He furrowed his brow, irritated, then rushed forward to where a pack of scales were falling. He booted one, two, three of them back towards their mother with powerful kicks. The fourth, he leaped into the air and bicycle kicked. The seed shot like a rocket into the others, ricocheting off trees, sailing directly at the viper...

Echidna sensed that something was amiss. Her children were telling her something; they weren't settling properly. She emerged from her gullet, trying to locate the source of her offspring's discomfort.

Thwack!

Something rebounded off her skull, followed by three more hits. Her children?!

"What the-"

THWACK!

Another credible force came into contact with her delicate face, this one even harder. She roared in annoyance, then hissed through her fangs. An intruder! In her den! At first glance, it was the human that shamed her earlier, but then she looked closer. No, it was a different human; he didn't have that horrendous arm, but he still looked like a disgusting worm, clad in all red against the beautiful green of her forest. The first was a mere child. This one was a full grown adult.

"Who the hell are you?!" she screeched.

The human turned to her. "Huh, it's about time I caught your attention..." he whined. "I was beginning to feel a little ignored."

Echidna hissed again. "You may jest, but the kindest fate I have to offer is to unify...and spend eternity with a child of mine!"

With that, Echidna fell back into her body, letting her senses trade over to her serpent's body, then dove for him. Her four segmented jaws opened wide. The human was too slow! She devoured him in a single bite; only a bit of his leg hung from between her teeth.

So weak!

She would swallow him whole, without so much as a fuss. His body would go to her children, so they could-

-a great pressure from within her mouth forced her jaws open. Aghast, Echidna heard the human's voice.

"As appealing as that sounds, I think I'll pass."

He simply hopped out of her mouth. Echidna retreated to the edge of her den, coming out from her gullet once again, suddenly unsure of the human.

"Though a fight every now and then does make life a more interesting." He raised his sword. "Don't ya think?"

Echidna swelled at his confidence, then lunged forward, hissing. She spun and twisted her body, lashing out with her tail. The human jumped over it, then pulled out two weapons. Firearms, she knew them well. The other had one as well. Hornet stings fell all over her body as he began to fire his weapons. She retracted into her throat, letting the dragon take over her senses.

Her jaws opened wide as they descended on him, but the she-viper tasted nothing but earth when they closed. He was off to the side, firing at her snout. Her outer body was much more armored, though, stronger than her feminine self. She twisted, plowing along the ground and tried to catch him in her jaws, but once again, he was too quick. The game of tag continued for a bit as he danced just out of reach of her jaws. His weapons could not penetrate her armor! She darted close, but the human once again skated to the side.

Something cut into her scales as she passed; the human's large sword. She felt the stroke cut cleanly through her armor. Such strength! Far too powerful to be a mere human...who was this man?

Echidna swooped into the sky and bloomed, then burrowed into the dirt. He would feel the blades of her tail. She extended her barbs, snaking them in the dirt beneath him, then made them sprout all around him like deadly flowers. The man was enveloped in her writhing coils, dancing between their deadly blades. She couldn't help but laugh in anticipation of spilled blood.

He would not escape like the boy had. She knew not of what magic he possessed, but this man seemed to have nothing of the sort. There were no visible cues, or flares of energy. As soon as she struck, it would be all over for him.

Suddenly, pain, in her third tendril. It was hewed in half, the part connected to her body a bloody stump. Echidna shrieked in outrage and pain. How dare he mangle her body?! Her thoughts were interrupted when the human cut into another part of her, then dashed straight for her, just as the other had done. She tried to pull herself out of the ground, but it took time for her coils to retract. By then, he was on her, cutting into her body.

Echidna screamed in pain again and managed to bat him off as she took to the air. Her torso was bleeding profusely from half a dozen cuts and puncture marks. She panted in agony from her wounds, then worked to release the surge of power that she kept within herself. Once she was nourished, the wounds would heal quickly.

This human would die. Her power blossomed, bathing her skin in a yellow light. The hue of her eyes went from pale white to deep red. The air pressure around her began to lower as she drew energy from her surroundings, the sky growing dark with clouds that began to rumble.

She swooped low and curled her body, then snapped her tail again. When he avoided it, she lashed out with the filaments on her head. They cracked loudly like whips, but still, the man was able to dodge them. No matter, her entire body was a weapon.

Scales along her body began to raise, hardening like rocks. She learned her lesson to not throw her children into battle against and unknown foe. This time, she was going to fire empty eggs. Her tail coiled behind her, she released them, the dark red pods speeding like bullets.

The human disappeared in the resulting cloud of dust, and for a moment, Echidna believed that she was victorious. But then he popped out of the cloud, completely unscathed. In her disbelief and fury, she screamed and dove straight at him, claws and fangs ready to rend his flesh.

The snake woman flashed, turning a shade of piss-yellow. It was impressive, but Dante could tell that she was getting pretty reckless. She dove again, this time not bothering to sink back into her body.

Big mistake.

Dante lunged forward, shoving Rebellion into a stinger, meeting her head on. The great snake was stopped in her tracks, blade through her gut. He wrenched it out with a spray of blood, then watched her sag to the ground with her mortal wound.

"My forest..." she wailed. "My children..."

Dante pulled Ivory and fired a single shot, sinking the round right between her eyes. The serpent froze, then exploded with a cry into a brown cloud of dust and withered plant foliage.

"I think that look suits you better," chuckled Dante.

He could see the Devil Arm, in its soul form, as the gate closed back into stone. They were a tricky sort of thing, Devil Arms; weapons created from the soul and body of a greater demon. If you weren't careful, they could try to possess you, or kill you if they sat around too long. Dante had had enough of swords flying through his chest. But this Arm looked fairly docile. It simply floated above a conduit in the door, a simple ball of yellow light.

He called the ball of light that was the soul to his hand, then let it take it's physical form. "One down..."

The light washed over his body, focusing mostly on his hands and feet. When it vanished, the Devil Arm had emerged. Dante had to admit he was mildly disappointed.

Oh, another one of these.

It was a set of gauntlets and greaves, made of a glowing metal that seemed to shift like mercury. A new and fairly unattractive addition was a set of shoulder pads that held a face mask over his jaw, which he retracted quickly. Dante flexed his hands and large drill apparatus' melted out from the wrists of the gauntlets instantly, solid as steel. At his feet, in the heel of the greaves like stirrups, were a pair of buzzsaws.

He heard the spirit of the former demon whisper its name in his mind: Gilgamesh

Well, I guess Beowulf and Ifrit aren't like this.

Beggars couldn't be choosers. Dante clunked up to the gate and spread his legs into a royal guard stance. He exhaled slowly, bringing his arms up into a fighter's stance, then slowly waved them, testing the weight of his new weapon; the metal was as light as air. He put the tips of his fingers of his right hand to the stone gate, then paused, breathing deeply.

"Heeya!"

Dante closed his fist and socked the door with a kiyap. Even from three inches away, the base cracked, sending lines up the length of it that gradually widened. Great splinters of stone began to fall as the gate collapsed on itself. Dante jumped up, fire from his boots and gauntlets propelling him like a missile meeting the debris head on. He hammered through through chunks of rock with his fists as if they were paper. Halfway up, he inverted, letting the saws on his boots rip more stone apart in hot slashes. He popped out of the wreckage, then turned in the air, falling to the ground as stone and dust flew everywhere.

He landed, growling like a fighter as the slices of gate piled up behind him in a neat stack. With a quick flick of his nose, he flipped into the air, coming down with a sizzling karate chop that sliced through the stack like a knife through butter.

What was left of the gate vaporized, incinerated from the wash of heat from Gilgamesh. Dante raised his fist, admiring it. Perhaps he'd underestimated his new toy.

"...two to go," he finished, then walked out of the clearing.

Author's Note: This chapter was a lot shorter than I thought it was going to be. As well as it should be, I believe. The son of Sparda should have no problem taking these demons out. Echidna didn't even manage to scratch him. Just as Dante was, I was disappointed in Gilgamesh. This is the third variant of the gauntlet/greave weapon, and while it is fun, it was getting a little old, imo. One gate down, two to go. What will Dante find at the other gates? For those of you who don't already know, keep reading!