Dante was half asleep when screams started to overtake the city outside. His hands fumbled around on the desk for a moment and grabbed one of the napkins that wasn't all bunched up and wiped the pizza grease off of his fingers before stepping towards the sunlight, making sure Rebellion was properly latched to his back before he caught a look at himself in the mirror near the still knocked down door.
"Oh damn it, again? I… I don't have time for this… Do I?" He stood, examing his face for a moment as he continued to hear screams outside before running back into his bathroom, wetting his razor for a split second and ran out to door, scraping at the peach fuzz on his face.
Within a three block diameter citizens of Venna had evacuated on car, by feet, in any way they possibly could. In the very center there stood a tall, slender demon, his form seemingly composed of rotting flesh that clung tightly to bone, tending to a similarly built horse black as night. Surrounding them were a number of skeletons. As his influence seemed to reach out and infect the streets, any soul unfortunate enough to be caught by his power felt themselves disappear, any fat on their body rapidly retreating into their midsections as their skin clutched tighter and tighter until they collapsed into yet another pile of bones.
"Yes," the creature said in a horrible, high pitched voice, "Retreat! Run for your pathetic lives! See thou hurt not oil and wine! What lowly-"
He was given no chance to continue as an old, bright red convertible smashed directly into his body. To Dante's surprise he did not simply crumble to dust and was instead thrown back against the nearest building, smashing through the glass door of a flower shop. Dante climbed over out of the car through the top, the demon's horse seemingly roaring at him, though he gave it no mind.
"Well well well…" The demon shrieked. "So the Son of Sparda lives… Ha! Far be it from me to question The Plutuson, but he is only a child. Of course you found a way to escape him."
Dante looked down as he felt a distinct sensation throughout his body. He hadn't seen what the demon had done to the others, but he could feel the life being sucked from him. He determined he's have to end the fight quickly.
"You can get outta here and stop bothering with this Hellgate or I can march right up and kick your ass. Nero, if you're watching, rest assured I'm going to do the same thing to you!"
"You really have no idea what I am, now do you?" The demon mocked. "We, the four horsemen, born of the hate within the world's heart, our coming doomed to prophesy the end of days… You have done well with my companions, but Conquest is but a battle for the world's riches. War is the rage that comes between men's hearts… But I am Famine! I slaughter seed and cattle and countless with them! Before man's search for treasures, before their rage, I left this world's creatures starving to their deaths! You can never hope to overcome one such as me!"
"Are you just dragging this out so I can starve to death standing here?" Dante asked. "Let's get this over with!"
Famine put out his hands in their centers he spawned a pair of giant shuriken, each with what appeared to be small beam balances integrated into the demonic steel. "I'll rip the skin from your bones!"
"Me first."
The two ran at one another and met in the middle of the block. Though Famine's weapons were unorthodox and his body seemingly frail, he managed to use them quite effectively to parry. His speed was very impressive as well, managing to dance around several of Dante's initial attacks and shred at him with the shuriken. Dante could feel the cuts in his already tighter skin. He kept attempting to take slashes at him, but was parried all too easily. A bitter thought presided over him that he surely would be doing better if the thing wasn't somehow burning him up. He dodged backwards as the demon took another swipe at him.
"C'mon! I just got wasted at the fountain of youth, and now someone decided to remind me how old I am? Give me a break." Famine pulled back his arms and threw his oversized shrunken at him. Dante managed to evade one and bat back the other, taking note of their impressive speed. "Quick little bastard aren't you? Let's see if you're faster than this though!" He slid Ebony and Ivory out of their holsters and began pumping the triggers as fast as he could. The shuriken teleported back to their master who proceeded to spin them until he had broken all of the shells that had been fired. Dante then produced his shotgun and made a lunge, smacking the demon upside it's head and bringing it to flinch slightly before he fired at point blank range into its face. To his surprise, the tightly bound skin had no reaction, the spray of bullets only lodging themselves in.
Famine quickly responded with several more shreds at the demon hunter, forcing Dante to retreat again as he tried to figure just what kind of weakness the demon had to possess.
"Thick skin… And not much more," he said under his breath. "He's chipping away at me though… Just being nearby," he clutched himself as he tried to keep stable.
"Must I prove to you how worthless your efforts truly are Son of Sparda?" The demon mocked as it threw the two stars at him, Dante's body particularly heavy as he deflected the blades. The demon made a lunge and took the reins of his horse, galloping towards Dante at full speed as the demon hunter staggered again, struggling to even keep himself standing as the life was drained from him.
"Isn't there anything we could do to speed up the process?" Lucia asked.
"I barely know how these things work, it was dumb luck I managed to get it working the first time." A frustrated Kyrie replied, trying to piece the pendant-like talisman back together. Little claw like bits of bold clutched a now broken glass center. She wasn't sure if glue would negate its powers or not, but had to try.
"Couldn't we just fly somehow? What if it doesn't start working again? Damn that thing just… Damn it."
"Do you know anything about Mallet Island?" Kyrie asked, irritated.
"Dante brought it up a few time before… Oh God no… Does it… Does it move constantly?"
"Disappears every night," Kyrie said. "Not every night even, whenever Mundus wills it to be moved. Gone in one moment, other side of the planet the next. This," she said, referring to the talisman, "Is our only chance."
"How is Dante supposed to find it then?" Lucia asked.
"I don't know. He just sounded so confident over the phone- damn it," she failed to piece one of the claws back together and started the process of attaching it again. "Even if he can't get there, we can go to Venna and bring him along. Wherever that island is, we'll find it."
"And whatever this Plutuson thing is planning, we'll stop him. We'll put an end to all of this!"
"We will, we will," Kyrie muttered, eyes more intent on the talisman than ever, "And maybe I'll get a chance to pay that son of a bitch back for everything he's done…"