Despite his heavy boots and several layers including a blanket and a white hood, the man couldn't help but shiver. A few feet behind him, dressed in red and white striped pants, a matching hat, with a blue coat over his white shirt and red bowtie, an elderly man looked at him in disdain. "You humans are so fragile," he rasped.

Through chattering teeth, the man in the white hood managed to answer, "It's good to have to deal with fragility. Teaches us to be careful," he told his companion lightly.

The more eccentrically dressed of the pair scratched at a scraggly beard as he looked over the wooden side of the warship at the Dead Sea. "Mind telling me why you wanted us to sail all the way out to this gods-forsaken place?"

From one of many pockets beneath his blanket, the hooded man pulled out a piece of chalk and exposed his right arm to the cold. Shaking slightly, he began drawing a pentagram on the wooden deck. "It was here where the world was changed. Here where Adam died. Here where balance was destroyed. Surely you've noticed. The entire world has entered a period of rampant growth along with this never ending summer. Humanity's population should have begun to grow again by now, especially with all our recent innovations, but it hasn't. Newer, stronger strains of diseases have been appearing, keeping the population stable, because the cold of death has been unable to reach the places they develop in." The eccentrically dressed man could have sworn his shipmate's eyes were glowing under his hood. "This place, the origin of that imbalance, is the perfect spot." He finished by drawing a pair of circles around the tips of the array.

"For what?"

The hooded man smiled. "To restore the balance." Palm open and forming the necessary protective barrier with the circle, he uttered one single word. One Name. One syllable that, to those possessing the correct information, could send even the bravest of men crying for their mothers in a corner.

"MAB"

Shinji took note of the dark clouds rolling in. There would be a storm soon.

How troublesome.

"Alright you three," he instructed. "Let's wrap this up quick. Alice, keep the blonde busy. Minaho, take the brunette down then back Alice up. Rei, keep back and take advantage of any opportunity you see. No mercy." He aimed Order at Dante. "He's mine."

Nothing remaining on his upper body, it became apparent that the man in question had not actually been holstering those pistols but just tucking them into the back of his jeans. He pulled out the black pistol with his left hand, nonchalantly holding it with the barrel pointing toward the sky. "Tch. You got a big pair on you kid, I'll give you that much."

Shinji didn't bother answering, instead firing a single bullet at Dante. The Son of Sparda tracked the bullet's path, firing his own shot into the projectile's path even though something about it felt wrong. His eyes widened as he realized he'd missed, and pieced together what had happened. That Sukunda earlier had done more than just slow him down, it had also dulled his reflexes.

'Not good,' he decided as the young man dashed toward him with that weird knife-gun-thing.

To his left, Trish prepared a blast of lightning but was distracted by a cry of "Megido!" She dove out of the way, but felt a stabbing pain through her left leg. She looked down to see that the missed attack had destroyed piece of road barely smaller in diameter than she was tall. Several pieces of metal had been knocked up, among them the rather large piece of metal now embedded in her leg. She grunted as she pulled it out, glaring at the offending demon.

Almighty power gathering in one hand and Darkness in the other, Alice smirked. She raised the hand imbued with darkness in a universal gesture for 'Come on'. Then she flipped the taller demon off.

Trish threw bolt after bolt. "Hold still you little bitch!" Alice skipped down an alley and out of sight, Trish in hot pursuit.

The Black Frost lumbered forward, moving much faster than seemed possible, charging on a war path to Lady. The Devil Huntress in question reached into her golf-bag and pulled out another shotgun, loaded with an incendiary round that proved ineffective against Minaho's demonic body. The barrel of the weapon slightly warped and fully aware that another shot could blow back into her face, she tossed the now-useless gun aside and pulled out a pair of semiautomatics.

Shinji ducked beneath another swing of Dante's enormous sword, using Order to fire an enormous blast of kinetic energy into the older man's chest, sending him flying down the street. Shinji's eyes widened as Dante blurred, disappearing before him. He spun around and met Rebellion with Order's blade, glaring into his opponent's grey eyes. "That is unfair on so many levels."

Dante jumped back as Shinji fired a shot that grazed his shoulder. Rebellion glowed with power as Dante swung forward, a shockwave ripping through the air and cutting into Shinji's stomach. The damage only winded the younger of the two, but it was enough for Dante to smother the small fire on his shoulder. "And the fact that you keep setting me on fire isn't?"

Shinji's lips parted in a manner that a few generous people might call a smile. "Sorry." A white cloak manifested over his shoulders. "Let me put that out for you." Dante took just a second too long blurring out of the way and, as a result, reappeared behind Shinji with his weight on his remaining leg.

As his left leg reformed inside the few intact strips of black denim that had moments before been his left pants leg, Dante shouted, "What the Hell!"

By way of reply, Shinji sent another stream of acid flying toward Dante. The elder pressed his sword against his back and pulled out a tripartite nunchaku, the sticks of ice connected by individual chains to a metal ring. Gripping the ring, he swung Cerberus over his head against the ground, freezing it and raising frosted spikes that continued along Shinji's stream. The younger man's eyes widened as the ice reached him, spreading over his cloak and holding him in place. He grunted in frustration, preparing a burst of flame to free him as Dante appeared beside him and knocked him free with a blow that smashed his skull in.

Shinji's shoulder left a dent as he bounced off the road and through a glass window. As the optical nerves reconnected to his brain, he saw Rei running up behind Dante. He tried to tell her to stop, but his jaw refused to move. The world faded to black as the girl jumped onto Dante's back, electricity running down her arms while she slapped her palms against his temples.

Rei twisted in the air, kicking off a platform and landing crouched with her back to Alice's. Panting, she told the other demon, "Shinji's down and isn't healing, but he's alive." As she saw Dante approaching with Rebellion in hand, she asked, "You want to switch?"

Alice's eyes widened as she felt the buildup of energy accompanying Trish's swing of the sword. Instead of answering Rei's question, she grabbed her by the wrist and threw her over the arc of crimson energy. She then spun as she ducked beneath the blast, waited for Dante to sidestep it, and dashed forward with a ball of white energy in her hands. "MEGIDOLA!"

Rei landed on the ledge of a corner grocery store. Taking a moment to reorient herself, she dove forward at Trish's back. The blonde in question spun around, ready to cut the child's head off. Rei kicked off a platform, going over Trish's head and running her hand against the ground behind the woman. The edge of the sword almost glowing with demonic power, Trish turned to swing again only to lose her balance on the ice Rei had created.

The younger girl crouched on top of Trish, knuckles being covered with frost before a series of punches to the face repeatedly broke her nose. As Trish spat out a mouthful of blood and reformed her nose, Rei asked, "What's wrong? Don't you want to touch me?"

Trish growled as Rei covered the sword with ice. She let go, grabbed the girl by the neck, and threw her off. She winced as the blare of sirens began, distracting her from the formation of another electrical blast. Someone must have put word out to NERV. Her eyes flashed as a golden aura appeared around her. "Playtime's over, you little bitch."

Rei felt the resonance between their Absolute Territories collapse, and withdrew the energy to reinforce a wall of ice between them with her AT-Field. Trish dashed forward, smashing Rei's makeshift shield to pieces with a blow that followed through to snap her neck and send her flying.

Dante leaned back as Rei flew in front of him, Trish not a moment behind. With an almost casual swing of his sword, he sent a Drive tearing toward Alice. "Looks like your little friend is having some trouble," he noted.

Alice drifted out of the way and hurled a Megidola in retaliation. "That kid's tougher than she looks."

Dante skeptically raised an eyebrow as a fifteen story apartment complex collapsed. "If you say so," he acquiesced while watching a golden blur shoot out of the building and throw something that was still generally humanoid in shape. He stuck his thumb out behind him. "So what's my big brother been up to? Why's he pretending to be a kid?"

"That young man has been dealing with demons since before he hit puberty, and putting up with threats to his mind and soul from your 'big brother' for just as long, because you couldn't be bothered to make sure he was completely dead!"

Dante stopped his sword mid-swing. "Oh, uh… Well, shit. I think there may have been a miscommunication."

"Then you'd better hurry up and fix it before you go past what Shinji's willing to tolerate."

Dante couldn't help but chuckle at the thought. "What he's willing to tolerate? He doesn't get to decide what he's willing to put up with unless he's the strongest bastard around. And that may be what he's used to, but right now, it's not."

It was Alice's turn to laugh now. "That kid is one of the most conniving things I've ever come across, and I've seen Nyarlathotep while sitting down the table from the Devil himself. And he still has a lot of potential for growth in raw power, to boot. You realize that he put up that fight purely on his own still growing power? Get a better look at his neck, there's a modified seal there now that will keep Vergil under control unless he makes a conscious decision to do so."

Dante blinked. "I'm gonna go call Trish off and see about talking with the kid. Go get that Black Frost and Lady if you can find them."

The sirens woke him up. Blood ran down into Shinji's eye while he struggled to his knees. 'I'm not regenerating,' he realized. With that piece of rather vital information, he began self-diagnosing. 'Lacerations along scalp and face, possible damage to ocular nerves, L3 and L4 are possibly cracked, almost everything not broken or cut is bruised or sprained. Too bad,' he told himself. 'You don't get the luxury of waiting for someone to heal you.'

Letting his emotions swell up, rage leading the group with injured pride coming as a close second, he pulled himself to his feet as something blurred past him. Well, that would be the description of what someone with human limitations to their perception would have seen, at any rate. Time seemed to slow as he recognized Rei's limp body passing in front of him.

With a roar of demonic wrath, he dashed out of what had been the lobby of some office to see Rei knock up a cloud of debris as she slammed into a ruined building.

Trish skidded to a halt when she saw him standing in her path, building a blast of electrical power in her hands as Shinji's rage went past his limit. The crystalline purple veins within his body split open, unfiltered white blood pouring through his body. His eyes shining with demonic blue light, he ran as fast as he could at Trish. The thud of his hand slamming against her throat was drowned out by the sonic boom.

Heedless of her fingernails digging into his arm and the thousands of volts flooding through them, he just gripped tighter as his left side moved back, almost as if he were about to-

Dante and Alice looked up as an enormous blue and white fist rose from nowhere, a fading streak of yellow speeding out of the city. Alice whistled. "Looks like that apology had better come quickly."

When she looked back to where Dante had been standing, there was only a small cloud of raised dirt and dust. The man in question reappeared in an alley, looking at the state Shinji had worked himself into. Blue energy whipped around him, any shadows wiped out by the light from his eyes and the glowing, transparent blue and white arm protruding from his left shoulder.

Shinji slowly stepped toward Rei, not wanting to believe what he was seeing. Not wanting to admit that that bloody, contorted, unmoving body was hers. His breaths grew short, ragged, as he turned around and met Dante's eyes. His brow narrowed as he raised his right hand, open palm facing the sky. The sound of shattering ice met Dante's ears as he saw his father's sword soared through the air, landing in Shinji's waiting hand. Even greater power coursed through him as he closed his eyes, reveling in the feeling. "Sparda…" he breathed.

Dante rolled his eyes. "Not this shit again," he muttered. Louder, he ordered Shinji, "Alright kid, just put the sword down and we can discuss this like calm… rational…" he trailed off as he saw the blue energy condensing around the blade of Sparda's sword.

Shinji smiled as he brought the sword down, launching a much larger version of the Drive that Dante had used against him earlier. The Son of Sparda raised his hands in an attempt to catch the wave of energy and turn it back against the kid. The man grunted as he was lifted off his feet and knocked back, still trying to absorb the wave even as it began to tear his hands apart.

Shinji watched the man as the wave carried him back. "Time for Round Four."

The blast carried Dante across two blocks, finally stopping by slamming him against a building with enough force to actually crack the steel support beam. He landed in a pile of black slush, only a few feet away from Lady. "Are you having a little trouble with yours?"

Expecting some kind of joke about her having the easy job of killing a snowman in the summer, she was taken aback for a moment when the first word from Dante's mouth was, "Run." Dante picked himself up from the ground, turning in a way that allowed Lady to see that his normally grey irises were a deep crimson. "Get out of here. Now."

As a glowing tendril shot forward and wrapped Dante to the exposed beam, Lady withdrew a grappling pistol and fired it into the distance, being pulled away as Shinji pulled himself to Dante. The other end of the tendril held in his glowing left arm, his right reached out to stab Dante with his own father's sword. A moment before the tip of the blade would drive through his chest, a flash of red light was emitted from his body.

The distinct clang of metal striking metal rang in the air. Confusion on his face, Shinji tilted his head and took in the details of the new creature standing before him. Dante's chest had disappeared beneath a black shell. In the center of the chest area, a fiery orange light leaked out through what looked to be a hole with cracks running out from the edges. His arms had been coated with a dark gray metal, massive spikes protruding from his shoulders and three progressively smaller spikes reaching down to his uncovered, slid black hands. His legs and feet had been similarly darkened, and the ends of the latter had shifted from five knobby appendages to three sharp claws. From his plated neck, a wide, red, leathery strip hung down past his knees in a manner no doubt inspired by his traditional red coat. His head was encased in a horned black helmet. Instead of a traditional visor, four slits in the metal layer on either side of the front were what presumably allowed the Devil to see. The same fire seen on his chest burned out through the slits.

A rich scarlet energy flowed around him just as the azure power was seemingly drawn out of the air and into a current around Shinji. The younger of the two monsters swung with the sword. Dante raised his arm, easily tearing apart the tendril that Shinji's Shamshel had tried to hold him down with, and knocked the blade containing more power than could be brought to bear by most gods aside with only the slightest apparent effort.

Shinji released Shamshel as he brought his left arm back for a haymaker. Dante caught the fist with one hand, the force of impact creating a booming shockwave that bent the pillar behind him. The younger brought Sparda's sword up with another swing, but Dante grabbed his other wrist and lifted him off the ground. It occurred to Shinji just how much larger Dante now was as his feet dangled uselessly level with the Triggered demon's knees, suspended by a single hand wrapped around both of his wrists. Free hand crackling with visible demonic power, Dante swung his fist into Shinji's chin as he released his wrists.

Shinji rocketed into the air, but regained just enough sense of mind to create a platform in his path, kicking off it straight back down at Dante. He raised his armored forearms over his head, blocking the sword brought down on him with enough force to leave him standing in a metal bowl in the alley.

Shinji kicked at Dante's chest, falling back to the rim of the depression and charging right back at his uncle, sword dragging along the ground. He moved around the armored giant in a circle, dragging his feet and swinging erratically. Dante would have smiled if his current form had a mouth. The kid was finally wearing himself out, and they could sit down and have a nice, productive chat. As the boy retreated back to the rim again, panting and soaked in his own sweat, Dante looked him in the face. Cold, animalistic fury filled his eyes. Such a pity, it seemed the boy had given in to his demonic nature in a moment of weakness.

This thought was flung from his head as he heard the voice of a young man. One filled with power, to be sure, but the boy seemed to have managed to keep enough of his sense of self to remain capable of sleep. "There are two places people never look," Shinji said. Dante tilted his head in confusion as he went on. "Directly over their heads-" at this, Dante obligingly looked up to see that the platform had not dissipated but expanded. It was now easily large enough for a large sofa to fit through, and he himself could probably fit just as easily. It was also now covered in slightly glowing runes, looking almost like a- The slits that formed in his eyes widened as Shinji finished his comment, "- and the ground on which they stand."

Shinji seemed to crumple to the ground, slamming his palms against the rim of the depression and triggering the transmutation array he'd carved out with his 'haphazard' movements. A section of the ground rapidly rose, carrying Dante into the platform Shinji had bastardized into a portal to the Dark Realm. Shinji smirked as he ran up the column, following his uncle into the Dark Realm created by their common ancestor.

Closing the rift behind him, Shinji looked through the dark mist of the world to see a patch of red in the distance. Filled with Sparda's power, he whipped Order into existence and took a second to aim his shot. "Agilaodyne." A single shining bullet roared out of Order, slamming into Dante's leg and exploding in a glorious burst of blue fire.

Dante spiraled into the ground, landing in a cracked crater. Shinji appeared in the air above him, gun facing down and rapidly approaching point blank range. "Maragilaodyne." Channeled through Order, five bullets tore through the air into Dante's chest in a burst of automatic fire, each having the same effect and pushing him further down until a slight gap in blasts allowed physics to follow through and bounce him back into the air. Shinji's mouth cracked into a small smile as he noted a small and healing crack in Dante's chest.

He drove the azure blade of Order into Dante's chest, slipping through the weakened section and finally reaching the actual flesh of the demon. Shinji planted his foot against his stomach, turning them in the air as he cut through Dante's flesh and forced the barrel in after the knife. "Megidolaon."

Golden energy of the Almighty blast sent Dante flying. Blood trailing in the air behind him, he came to the decision that a physically strong body that had nearly zero mobility was a bad choice in the current situation. The similarity between the strip of leathery hide hanging over his back grew more prominent as the plate-like shell around his skin seemed to press down against him. The helm was replaced by a spherical shell around his head, a black plate of glass forming over his face. In place of armor, red and black scales covered his body. Skidding to a stop on the ground, one reptilian claw raised Rebellion as Dante stood in a manner indicative of genuine joy at his situation. Sure, the more rational part of his mind wanted to talk the kid down, but he. Was Having. Fun.

As he realized that he could actually see the entirety of the city from his landing zone, Dante had to admit that kid was good, if at nothing else, with throwing massive degrees of power around. Said kid made his arrival known with another Agilaodyne shot. Seeing that Shinji was making good time behind the bullet, Dante decided it would be a good opportunity to test the kid's reaction time. His black gun appearing in his hand, he fired one similarly charged bullet, setting off an explosion that took out a block of the copy of Tokyo-3.

Dante looked expectantly at the smoke. After a few moments, he had to consider that possibility that he'd overdone it. "Oops."

Spotting something flying out of a crumbling building, Dante sidestepped Sparda's sword. Dug into the ground and Shamshel wrapped around its hilt, Shinji yanked the sword out of the ground and back into his hand and sent a Drive at Dante. He leapt over the attack, making a swing at Shinji with Rebellion in midair. Shinji blocked the first swing, but Dante was fast enough to cut into his right side before moving out of sword range.

His side already healed, Shinji spun on landing and let loose a torrent of acid with Matarel. Dante seemed to just fade away just before being hit; reappearing just a little closer. This process went on until Dante was close enough to stab his foe in the stomach, building his sword with the same energy of a drive and releasing it to knock Shinji back into the city.

Landing in a pile of smoke, dust, and debris, Shinji stumbled out of the cloud hacking the airborne mix out of his lungs. Looking at the ground before him and seeing a near luminescent white substance, the part of his mind that wasn't focused on killing the one who set off the attack that killed his Rei ('damaged my property,' he corrected himself) began the inevitable analysis unavoidable after combining his Truth-given knowledge base with his natural drive. 'Sub-conscious emotional buildup combined with energy pool spike from Sparda resulted in a body determined to fight in Triggered state but incapable of fully achieving the effect, forcing a pseudo Trigger state with white blood seeping throughout the body through split purple veins. While this results in a god-like degree of offensive capability, regenerative capacity will eventually be outstripped as vital organs such as lungs, stomach, and brain are completely overwhelmed by white blood and begin to shut down. Death will be unavoidable at this point, mobility and conscious thought will slowly deteriorate. Likely that veins will reseal and a complete recovery possible highly likely if rendered unconscious or otherwise calmed. Doing so will surely result in immediate execution by Dante. Has been deemed a Threat to the Plan. Destruction currently possible via increased power. Backlash of spell will result in death. Possibility previously accounted for. Overall hindrance, 3-5 month delay to Musubi. Timeline may be disturbed by unforeseen difficulties to the members of the Order who remain loyal.'

Shifting Sparda to the construct forming his left arm, Shinji began muttering a drawn-out incantation, melding the power of Sparda with his own and building a massive degree of power along the edge of the sword. Mixture of Old Norse, Latin, and Ancient Greek rising to a crescendo, Shinji remained calm as Dante dashed toward him. A bead of sweat fell from his chin as Dante grew closer with a Drive building on Rebellion.

As he brought the sword up in assault, Dante gave the 'helpful' advice, "Find shorter incantations, kid."

Jarred out of his incantation just as the Drive started to cut into his shoulder, Shinji had just enough time to acknowledge that his foe was right about that before his connection to Sparda was cut, causing an early release of about twelve kilotons of highly volatile energy.

The resulting explosion sent both combatants flying, Shinji immediately incapacitated the blast and even Dante severely disoriented and momentarily concussed.

After returning to his feet, Dante looked out at the smoking ruins of the city with only one word coming to mind.

"Damn."

Leaning on Alice for support, Rei looked up as a thin black line appeared in the air. Dante came through, holding Shinji up by the waistband of his pants in one hand and Sparda in the other.

The red and white blood-covered teen was unceremoniously dropped on the ground as Dante pressed his father's sword to his back. Lady and Trish strolled out of the shadows, fully confident that they would be able to mop up if needed.

If uninjured, Rei likely would have charged straight at Dante and damn the consequences. As it was, Alice still had to squeeze the succubus's wrist to keep her under control. The shorter of the two looked at Sparda's legacy, awaiting the judgment of the one that had proven himself superior.

Dante looked down at the nephew that had been trying to kill him. Upon closer examination of the seal Alice had mentioned, he recognized it. Vergil wouldn't be able to escape from that, ever. And it probably killed whoever 'donated' the blood. He'd proven repeatedly capable of causing massive damage to the world. But…

But he'd shown enough judgment to wait until they were away from people to cut loose, and actually given a good fight. And he'd stood and fought against the Hito-Shura and the Angels, and had obviously begun to organize some kind of group for one purpose or another.

Arguments could be made for either option, and he did what he always did in a tough decision.

Dante fished around in his one intact pocket, pulling out a coin wider than the average bottle cap. He flipped it into the air, waiting for it to come down and make the decision.

Those who feel that things look like they may be getting as depressing as Evangelion might, fear not! I have found two rather cheerful seeming series by the names of Narutaru and Puella Magi Madoka Magica. They should inspire me to keep things on the lighter side up until all Hell and Heaven and Olympus and Asgard and a lot of other places break loose. If all goes as I expect, I will soon have inspiration for thing