"It doesn't seem you two have figured it out yet."

They weren't interested in giving him any time to come up with a plan. Dante backed up a bit so that he could both provide covering fire and keep an eye on Anthony, while Vergil charged forward. Bullets sped through the air, forcing Terrence to keep moving as his other opponent waited for any opening. Given that he was no longer using his throwing knives, it was unlikely the young man had any of them left. Still, Vergil knew that he couldn't afford to make any mistakes. They just needed one decisive blow, and from there Terrence's stamina would be reduced enough for them to keep whittling him down. Sooner or later his strength- and healing capabilities –would reach their limit. Vergil could only hope that would occur before Dante succumbed to the demonic virus.

A slash from Yamato cut a long piece of Terrence's coat off, but failed to score an actual hit. Vergil continued to follow the boy's movements while making sure not to let him work his way over to Dante or Anthony. When his next attack again failed to catch Terrence, he added the summoned swords into the mix. They would appear behind his back and fire forward, would appear around and encircle Terrence before simultaneously attacking from all sides, and would fire individually; the shear variety of directions and attack rhythms of dodging Vergil's slashes, summoned swords, and Dante's gunfire should have caused the young man to slip up at some point, yet he remained unscathed.

"What are we missing?" Vergil wondered as the seconds turned into a minute and the minute became two. This was taking too long considering Anthony would soon be able to free himself from the ground. The only thing that was delaying him was the fact that every time he tried to grasp the blade it would burn his hands because he wasn't a demon. Sooner or later, though, he would be free, and then they wouldn't be able to gain much ground.

Suddenly Terrence's tattered coat flew up into the air like a curtain yanked up by its drawstring, revealing him with what were apparently the last of his throwing knives. The blades from one hand darted towards Dante, while the others were directed at Vergil. However, they were somehow even faster than before. Vergil just barely managed to block and avoid them while the others knocked Ebony & Ivory from Dante's hands.

"The only power I've been putting into any of this was in keeping the blades from breaking. Everything else has just been me at my usual level."

Vergil's body was tingling; it was eager to spring into action. However, he found himself considering the young man's words, and realized that the "technique" Terrence had used to cause those sonic booms earlier wasn't an actual technique at all; it had simply been the force of his attack sending that much pressure through the air.

"This was just a way of evaluating your abilities, since I haven't seen them all as extensively before. But now, given your weapons and enhanced abilities via those demonic forms, I believe I've seen everything."

Terrence freed the remaining sheathes of his broken weapons and threw one at a building Vergil had previously used as cover. As a result of his strength, the crumpled piece of leather's force somehow leveled the entire structure. Soon after it finished falling apart, a faint double of Terrence's body could be seen stretching out from him, as if Vergil's eyes had a stigmatism.

"So if you're done, I've got things to do."

Vergil prepared himself for the next attack, but Terrence vanished. Both of them looked around and over their heads, yet neither Dante nor Vergil could see him. It was impossible for him to have gone underground; no entrance was close enough. They couldn't think of where he might have gone, and so Vergil made his way over to Dante as he picked up his guns. Just as they reached each other, Dante noticed something behind him. Vergil rolled away as his brother aimed Ebony & Ivory at Terrence, but they were sent flying not soon after. Vergil came up beside Dante, but both of them were struck before they could react and flew through the air for what felt like a mile before colliding with the ground. Their devil triggers deactivated against their wills as the twins got up from the ground.

"Damnit… that punk's ridiculous!" Dante shouted as he got his legs up under him.

"This isn't good. I'm not exhausted; my devil trigger couldn't have deactivated due to low energy. Can he somehow cancel out our transformations?"

They could barely see Terrence from where they were, but both knew he must be freeing Anthony from the ground. And that meant he had-

"Watch out!"

Vergil brought Yamato up just in time to block an attack from Rebellion as Terrence seemed to flash into existence. The force of the blow nearly sent the blade from his hand, and he had to grip it with both just to stave off the next few attacks. The two clashed blades, but it wasn't like the time Terrence had gotten between him and Ritorno; it wasn't even close to being evenly matched. The boy's expression was the same monotone mask, but with radiating purple eyes.

"I heard that Ritorno nearly killed you once. That it had something to do with how weak you had grown since you began living with these people. After you killed him- on your own –you went back to them. Why would you do that?"

Vergil scowled as he tried to slow the progress of Terrence's advance. It felt like every muscle in his body was on fire; he couldn't fight Terrence like this, not without devil trigger. His spine seemed to be contorting as if Terrence had the gravity of an entire planet, and his joints felt like rusty hinges. If it weren't for someone tackling him from behind, forcing Yamato and Rebellion away, his body would have given out within seconds. A pair of hands pulled him up from his huddled position and slapped him on the back.

"Because only emo kids think they can take on the world with nothing but a flashy outfit and shiny contact lenses." Dante called back.

Terrence looked surprised, but not concerned. After all, he hadn't exactly lost his advantage just because he didn't crush one of them in a single attempt. If they didn't get their devil triggers back it didn't matter how many fierce tauntings Dante could muster up; they were going to lose.

"Yet here we are." Terrence responded, aiming Rebellion at them.

"Call me what you'd like; you're both going to be dead within the next minute, anyway."

He didn't even throw Rebellion; it was just a push, yet it jutted towards them like it had been fired by a ballista. They sidestepped, only to see Terrence reappear behind the sword and grab it out of mid-air, swinging it at Dante. With nothing to block it, the red-clad demon hunter elected to duck at the last instant so Terrence couldn't pull anymore tricks. Vergil came up from the side, though it was only to clash swords rather than land a blow due to Terrence's speed. However, with Dante as close as he was now, there wouldn't be another back-breaking contest of strength. When his brother moved in, he took the blow from Rebellion by moving in as close to the hilt as possible so as to minimize damage. Because of Terrence's power, it still did a sizeable amount of damage, but it was far from a lethal blow. He took the opportunity to grab Rebellion handguard with both hands.

"Vergil!"

His only chance of hitting Terrence was with a thrust; the boy was too fast for anything else to work. So Vergil dove forward and thrust Yamato's tip horizontally towards their opponent's ribs. Their only chance of scoring a hit on him failed, however, when Terrence used his ridiculous strength to yank Dante in front of Vergil's attack. He stopped just in time- to see Dante and Rebellion get shoved away before Terrence dropped down to a knee and kicked up into his sternum, sending him flying through the air and into the second story of a building. Rock and wood crashed down on top of him, but he dragged his way up through them as his organs repaired themselves.

"Damnit! He played us!"

Throwing the debris off of him, Vergil managed to free everything but one of his arms from the rubble as he checked to make sure Dante was alright. His glance happened just in time to see his brother get slashed across the chest. He was still in one piece, but the best he could do was to plant a leg behind him to avoid falling. Not a second later, Terrence replicated Dante's signature million stab, thrusting Rebellion's blade into Dante in what seemed like a single attack as blood and shreds of his coat erupted from his back. Once more Dante's body began to fall, this time his front leg stopped its descent. His body hunched forward for a minute before he slowly dragged it back up, and Vergil struggled to lift the rubble from his arm. Not even Dante's body could handle this.

"Judgment cut; it won't do much but it might at least get him to stop."

As he freed his arm, Vergil blinked and felt a strange sensation as it momentarily felt he was looking out through Dante's eyes. He could feel the weight of his body and coldness of the air after losing so much blood so quickly. His own sword raised up through the air, and his eyes followed it.

"Actually, you didn't even last half a minute."

Dante chuckled before clearing his throat.

"Go to hell."

Terrence blinked, and Rebellion straightened.

"You first."

Then the sword came down, and Vergil's vision returned as he watched Dante fall backwards to the ground. His brother's face gazed up at him, and for a moment he actually thought the man was still grinning; giving a defiant look even now. But it took less than a moment to realize that there was nothing in his eyes at all. Vergil's body went as cold as Dante's had been, and his hearing was overwhelmed by some kind of white noise before he fell to his knees.

"DANTE!"

His body trembled faster than his heart was beating, and his teeth cracked more than the bones in his hand as he pushed his way up from the ground- and saw something beneath the debris. He grabbed it with his free hand while continuing to rise, and he felt his body adopt a different form than was normal for even his devil trigger. He heard some kind of roar echoing through the air, and was distantly aware of it being his own. Then his gaze fixed on Terrence and his hands tightened on Yamato and Force Edge.

"Time to die, boy."