Anyways, I've been too long without uploading. In any case, I've been struggling with a little writers block. On the flip side, I may be starting on my first pro project. Which is great. But, here you are.

A Release

The city of Capulet was in chaos. Everywhere one looked there were angels and demons battling it out, as well as a few angels against angels and demons against demons. The Legion of Prince Reito were heavily engaged with the forces of the Underworld in the midst of downtown. Honours, Powers and Glories were the ultimate of the angelic specialised soldiers. Against them none could prevail. Well, almost none, thought Mundus as he crushed several underfoot. The Dark Emperor was, for the first time in a long time, fighting on the front lines. From his third eye sprang a beam that cut through the ground forces, turning them to white dust in the blink of an eye. An Angel Knight flew at him, but Mundus responded with three bolts that pinned him to a wall. Swinging a fist, Mundus then reduced him to paste. Then from across the cityscape he saw him. Reito was in full flight straight at him, his speed causing the air around him to ignite in a righteous blaze that consumed even his own troops in his wake. Mundus barely had time to summon a sword to defend himself when the Angel and the Devil clashed. Through the rain of fire as their weapons gritted across each other the Prince gave a smug grin.

"See what your arrogance is costing you Mundus? My troops will have cut out your centre right from under your feet. Once your centre of operations is sealed once more, we will have won. The last time you and I fought was eight or so millennia ago. Have you gotten any stronger?"

Mundus laughed as he thrust back his opponent with a powerful swing. Spaced several city blocks apart the two warlords looked at one another as he replied, "Have I gotten any stronger? I rather think I have, that and the fact that you have gotten weaker. You speak of my arrogance as if it were the only thing in this world that could hold that title, but you fail to see that your own arrogance is far, far worse."

Mundus snapped his fingers and a portal opened in the air. From it spilled troops by the dozen as Mundus committed his reserves. But even then, the Devil Emperor halted. Was this all he had in reserve? He was certain that there were more than just this pititful handful of troops left. Where were the legions under the command of Acheron and Trevas? Mundus frowned, something was up. If they had defected…

He was cut off by Reito throwing himself at him.

.

.

The battle continued, the angels finding themselves much harder pressed to defend themselves against the much greater numbers of the demons. For every five a Glory dropped, ten rose to take their place. In the centre of the city demonic and angelic snipers cut across each other, dropping them like flies as they peppered arrows and barbs across the divide. Angel Knights and Archangels hunted down worthy targets and battled them to the death. In the middle of the entire slaughter, two of the oldest and most powerful beings in the world slugged it out with sword and fist. It was at that point that they were interrupted.

.

.

The top of the Temen ni Gru shattered. Pieces of massive stone flew everywhere as the building broke apart from the inside. Four streaks of light emerged from the top. Burning with a holy fire that caused the air about them to warp with its intensity, the four Hands of the Gods rose to their full strength. All eyes followed them as they, almost lazily, flew across the city, dropping down within the area of the two battling superpowers. Despite being so much shorter than the Prince and the Emperor, they still managed to give off a level of power that was greater than theirs.

"Greetings, my lords."

Justin's voice was a mockery as he spoke to those who were his underlings at this point in time. "It's been some time has it not?"

Reito's voice was steady as he replied, "Very long. I had not thought that you would be needed in this war. We have already nearly won it."

Justin laughed. "You are fools. I am the Hand of the Gods and they have decided when to end this world."

He raised a hand and flicked it. The other three took off like rockets, their speed increasing until five sharp cracks echoed through the sky.

"You are of course, all expected to attend the arrival of the Gods." Justin's armoured covered his mouth and his laughed took on a reverberating, menacing tone as his wings blurred. Rising steadily, he shot forward with a crash of thunder. For several minutes there was dead silence as the armies were too amazed to react.

Reito reacted first. "You!" he pointed to a Knight nearby, "Keep a force of six hundred here. Secure the area and then await further instructions. The rest of you are with me!" He also took flight, vanishing into the sky after the Hand.

Not to be outdone, Mundus snapped at one of his Generals. "Keep six hundred here and draw off around the tower. Do not engage the enemy. Come on!" he turned his back on his forces and muttered, "I have a date with destiny."

.

.

On a small rise overlooking the city, two motorcyclists waited and watched.

"Is it just me, or did we just get a perfect window of opportunity?"

"It's not just you. We did. This is weird though." Lady took down her binoculars and looked at her blonde companion.

"Let's get to it then. Whatever those three are up to, we've got to find out why our besiegers suddenly vanished."

Lady shuddered slightly. Everyone was still cooped up in the castle, but they'd awoken the previous morning just to find the entire army arrayed against them completely eradicated, their carcasses turned to ashes, scattering on the winds. What had followed was a tentative recon by the Devil Hunters who'd concluded that there were no more demons left within the vicinity. The two women had decided to scout, as they were the most experienced. Now they were prowling around the fringes of the city, watching the movements of the occupants. The sudden departure of the demon army had been something of a shock.

"We need to get down there and take a look."

"Should we do it the normal way or stealthily?"

Trish shot a glance at her raven haired companion. Lady shrugged. "Stealthy it is then."

.

.

Back in the dungeon, Vergil began to laugh helplessly. Dante frowned at his twin.

"Great!" He growled in Nero's direction, "He's cracked again! Now all I'm going to hear is, 'without power one cannot protect anything, even oneself' or some power hungry mumbo jumbo along those lines."

Nero grimaced. "Thanks for that. Now all I have to worry about, while I'm waiting to die by the way, is the two of you suddenly deciding you need to fight to the death while chained up. Perfect."

Vergil stopped laughing. "You do realise that we're going to experience the ending of life as we know it while we're chained to a wall. There's nothing we can do about it."

"That's not really that funny man."

"Just ironic in my opinion."

"Your opinion sucks."

"Hardly."

There was a creak as what remained of the door opened. Several figures slipped through and checked behind them.

"What the hell?" Nero asked.

.

.

"This is dangerous Agnus!" Acheron scowled at their leader.

"Do you want to survive this war?"

The devil growled in anger. Agnus, wearing his human form once again, walked quickly and swiftly up to the three bound captives. The Sons of Sparda watched him warily.

"I've never liked you Agnus, I'm sure you're aware of this." Trevas levelled his gaze at the alchemist, "so the fact that we are in this does not mean that we won't kill you the moment we get a chance."

Agnus spun. "I-I-I don't care! This is necessary, no matter how you look at it.!" He pointed at Dante with one quavering finger. "Only two beings have ever beaten Mundus in open combat. One is dead and the other one is right in front of us."

"I know why we're doing this you idiot." Acheron ground out, "Just don't think we're going to let him walk out of here. For all we know, he might go along with the old fool."

Vergil's head snapped up. "I get it. You are rebels."

The three devils looked at him. Then at each other.

Finally Trevas spoke. "Yes, we are. Mundus has gone insane, this is too much. So we've withdrawn our support for him. But to beat him, we need you." He pointed at Dante.

Dante shook his head. "All three of us."

"No can do Devil boy." Acheron piped up. "Just you. As far as we're concerned, you're just as much of a threat as Mundus is. The last thing we need is your comrades running amok and damaging our plans."

"All three of us, or I'll let the world rot."

Agnus walked up to him. Leaning in so that they were within whispering distance, Agnus muttered, "We've already completely vanquished the army besieging your fortress. You're comrades and women are safe. We've done something for you, now we need you to find Mundus and prevent him from seizing power. If he does, we're all dead. He'll turn your precious humans into puppets and dance them on strings. And he'll be unstoppable. You won't get another chance." His tone turned persuasive. "Right now he thinks you're still locked up. Use this chance and you'll have a free shot at him."

Dante fixed him on his expressionless gaze. Within the depths of his eyes, the true power of a full Sparda's blood manifested itself. Agnus could see true death and despair in those eyes. "If you've done that, then you need not worry about Nero and Vergil. But Mundus stated that you'd demanded Kyrie as bait for joining him. Nero will kill you for that."

Agnus, turned his face away, his eyes never leaving those cold ones glaring at him. "Nero, I have no claim on Kyrie's life. She is safe. The army besieging Tartarus is decimated and scattered on the winds. She is in no danger."

"Except from Mundus." Vergil muttered aloud.

.

.

"We've got a deal."

Trevas and Acheron swiped with their weapons and the locks were broken.

"Then you all shall be the instruments of our salvation."

Ah, the plot has thickened even more. Intriguin. Can't promise that the next chapter will be up anytime soon, so just bear with me please.