Do My Calculations

Here I am, back with the next chapter. The unexplained gap was unforeseen.
Disclaimer: I still do not own DMC, and I haven't played DMC3 in a while. Matt, Zack, Brian, John and Jimmy are not really mine.
Title was inspired by some part of my syllabus, as usual.
I have not watched Hellboy, and I don't think even my younger brother does. He just finds Kroenen bad-ass.


Entry Twenty-Eight: Challenge The Typical

Something told Dante that Matt's car had become comfortably spacious that day. Its effects seemed quite obvious in the near-carefree way they hauled their things. Matt's hands are free, but Jimmy carried a backpack, and Zack a rather large briefcase. Meeting at the foyer, the three looked at the keyboard case in Vergil's hands.

"Sparda doesn't disappoint," Jimmy commented with a whistle.
"Why don't we have a look at all our weapons at the Sanctuary?" Zack suggested.


Vergil set the case down, and when Dante informed him through telepathy that the coast is clear, he unbuckled its two latches.
"Bad-ass," Matt remarked, kneeling beside the case to pick up Rebellion. By the time he closed his fingers around the hilt, he released and withdrew his hand.
"Matt?"
Vergil tried to look; the human skin showed a minor burn.
"Father must've laid a protective charm on these swords so that no other demon can wield them."

Jimmy poked Ivory to test, but did not get the same result. "The guns aren't cursed," he stated.
Zack picked up Ebony with care, avoiding contact with either sword. "Apparently it's okay for anyone to actually hold these guns and shoot from them."
"I thought that if the guns are, people will want to track down the person who cursed the guns," Jimmy theorized.
"I thought it's because the guns aren't made in the demon world?" Matt asked.

"Look, maybe Father just didn't bother," Vergil told them sharply.
"Y'know, Brian used a sword," Jimmy mentioned absently.

Dante abandoned his lookout duty when he saw the three unpacking their weapons. "Hey, cool."
"Behold," Zack told them, hauling out a strange crossbow the size of his forearm from the briefcase.

Matt unceremoniously retrieved his knuckle-rings and sling cloth from the briefcase, also taking out Zack's craft-knife before his friend closes it.

Jimmy put down his backpack and laughed. "My weapons are the coolest," he proclaimed, and proceeded to unzip his backpack. He took out what seemed to look like a pair of elephant tusks, except that they are flat and made of steel, with a protective handle each to make the weapon wieldable.

"Do they work like the bladed tonfa that character used in 'Hellboy'?" Dante asked.
"Yeah…" Jimmy turned to his smirking friends. "But crossbows and knuckle-rings aren't imaginative weapons, are they?"
"My crossbow is vertical," Zack countered.

"Okay, here are my sub-weapons."
Jimmy pulled out a few hand-sized knives that were made specifically for throwing. He juggled two of them and caught them in mid-air.
"I'm the knifemaster."

While his twin is busy checking out their weapons, Vergil tried to formulate a plan. Assuming Nevan is in college today, they have to either look for her and lure her to the battleground, or look for her and enter her lair, which might be laden with traps.

"In the first place, does she have a lair…?" Vergil wondered.
"We're not counting outside places at the moment. The only settlement she could be at is her condo room, which is out-of-bounds for non-residents, especially a bunch of mean-looking guys like us," Matt told him.
"Huh? I didn't think I look mean. Maybe Verge is mean, but I'm not," Dante commented.
His twin sighed.

"Dante, you have Nevan's number, don't you?" Zack asked.
"Yeah, I do. Do I dial the number of the beast and summon the demon here?" he joked.
"Typical… break from that – make it look more convincing, less like a trap."


Matt and Zack had been trailing Dante cautiously and from a distance, similar to how their group members were tracked to the Sanctuary before. They brought along an exercise book with boxes to look like they were revising Math together.

Dante hid Ivory and Ebony in the large side-pockets of his cargo pants; Matt had his weapons in his pockets, and Zack only brought his knife, which blended with the other stationeries of his blue pencil-case. They sat at random tables, at one point buying pulled tea. They did their best to maintain a low profile while making sure that Dante finds Nevan and is not harmed by her yet, in case she suspected something.

Out of the corner of his eye, Matt finally saw the redhead. He quickly looked down at the formulae he might have to memorize. Some of them were plain nonsense because Jimmy came up with them as a method of calculating the speed at which a cat would fly if it had wings.

Zack turned the page and glanced at Dante and Nevan; they were sharing a brief hug. He moved the tea glass so that the sweetened milk would not settle at the bottom, then took a sip. The taste was standard. Another glance at the brighter-haired individuals told him they would not be staying for long.

"Subjects have begun walking," Zack informed Matt, packing his stationeries.
The cap-wearing student helped him finish the milky drink, and they left with minimal hurried movements.


"How's studying been for you?" Dante asked when the din of the cafeteria only barely reaches them.
"I never do enough study," she replied with a cheeky smile.
"Well, I've been doing a lot of freaking out lately, and on that note, I'm sorry for what I said last time."
"Oh. Okay."

He could take that as forgiveness, or just ignore it because she has to be banished anyway.
She turned to face him. "But I know for sure that your brother Vergil is a bookworm. Can't he help you out?"
"Oh, he wouldn't help me cheat in an exam. Not that I would do that, but it's one way I can ace."


Jimmy finished the changes to the spell inside the stone mausoleum that was never moved from the place.
"Now instead of functioning as a fridge, this bulk here leads us to an underground arena where we can carry out all acts of bloodshed," he told Vergil cheerfully.
"You can build a whole underground base with your own magic?" Vergil asked, keeping the door halfway open. There was a short flight of stairs that led to the mentioned circular arena, which was lit by wall-torches.

Jimmy smiled proudly and said: "Heck no. I just cast a spell to connect this world to a more demonic part of this world. It exists, somewhere."
Vergil closed the door of the stone structure. "Can any of the others also use magic? I don't recall anyone other than you so far with these abilities."
"Zack knows advanced theories but he doesn't practice much. And Johnny, too, no matter what he tells you." He took a close look at Vergil's ear.

"What?"
He playfully stood back up straight. "You can summon ghost-swords and we've never seen Dante use any magic."
Vergil shrugged. "We don't know yet if he will have any."
Jimmy looked serious as he surveyed the surroundings of the Sanctuary. "It makes me wonder: how is he going to survive in a demon apocalypse?"


Nevan looked only the slightest bit suspicious when Dante walked with her – or led her – to walk outside the cafeteria and near the abandoned monorail station.
"It's a pretty peaceful place, if not for the cars and trucks always passing by," Dante remarked.
"I like this place. There're trees out, and you can sit on these benches admiring the School of Arts and Design gallery."
"We kissed here."

Dante smiled, pretending to remember the moment fondly.
"Yes, we did." She tiptoed and tried to reach his lips with hers, but he backed away.
"There's another place that I like around here. It's surrounded by so many trees that, even if Nay is in college at the second-floor east balcony, she won't see past the thick foliage – and birds."

He took her hand, and she willingly followed him up the road to the clearing.
"Do she and your brother ever explore the place?"
"I had the feeling they did, but I sure haven't. Let's go check it out." He walked down one flight to the first landing and looked back when he saw that she was not following.

She still stayed at the top of the stairs. "I don't think this is a good idea, with exams coming up and all."
"We'll just check from inside the fence. I'll help you over."
Her expression softened. "How sweet." She held Dante's hand as they both watch their steps at the stairs that had no railings and dead leaves scattered all over.


Zack peered from the edge of the wall next to the road while Matt kept a lookout on the other side. "They've gone down the stairs."
"Give them five minutes, and we move," Matt told him.
"Unless there's a signal?"
"Yeap."

Vergil hid in the thick of trees, hoping he was sufficiently far so as not to be detected easily. Dante was showing Nevan the shed, the tall chairs and what looked like sculpture supplies for the Art and Design students.

"And check out this thing. I wonder what it's there for."
"Um…" Nevan really looks nervous now. "It's bigger than your average fridge."
"Oh hey, a handle, let's pull it.
She stayed back when he opened it, which revealed a dark stairway, which predictably led downward.

"I'm going back to my apartment room."
When she turned around, a winged skeleton stood in her way.

"Oh, no, you're not," it growled in a deep voice, and grabbed Dante and Nevan while it dashed forward into the stone mausoleum.

The two can hear her screaming. They hurried to where they hid their weapons. Zack loaded his crossbow. Matt held the door open for Vergil to come in with the swords and Ebony.

Jimmy is already armed, and thankfully for Dante, the blades only damage objects on the outside of his now-bony forearms.

The guardian demons morphed into their true forms and closed the door behind them.


I'm really unsure how to divide my lines and paragraphs now. As of this update, I have sixteen days to study for two tests, which are five days apart. Any update after the exams might depend on the reviews.

I don't really enjoy being an undergraduate. Things were simpler in Foundation Year.