Life 80: Jackpot
Forty Years Before The Qliphoth
I always hated it when they ran.
Dragging out a simple bounty that should take no time at all into an entire day wasted chasing scum through the market as they screamed their lungs out for anyone to save them from me.
But this was Red Grave, no one cared who you were, or who wanted you dead.
It was a fact I had learned well in my time here, and one I resolved to change, but for now, I had an asshole to catch.
He ran past Antonio's in a rush, his cries falling unheard as I surged forward with my left hand aglow a bright scarlet.
"Stupefy!" I called out in the tense crowds as my spell hit true, Vanderman falling stiff as a statue as I walked ever closer, another bounty off the list and another paycheck.
Lovely.
"You know friend, we could have done this a lot easier, I gave you a chance to surrender." I said with a snark then as I pulled the man into a sit against a Noodle stand, the owner not even looking at the two of us, nor giving any indication I was even here.
"But no, you had to run. You guys always run…" I said with a smirk as I merely snapped as ropes sprung into existence around my target's form, the unconscious man instantly restrained and confined as I pulled free my cell phone from my coat.
"Enzo, I got Vanderman." I said to my handler as I looked over the man once more, his days of political espionage firmly over as I straightened the lapels of my coat. "Yeah, he ran. I know, fourth this week, but listen-"
I froze then, phone in hand, because I felt that familiar presence on the edge of my senses, that remainder of my Death Sense alerting me to a mass exodus of souls.
Yep, shouldn't be too long now, probably a few seconds.
"Yeah, I'm gonna call you back, my other job's come back up. I'll bring Vanderman in after I'm done." I said with a grin as I tucked my phone away and pulled Umbra free from its holster.
"Three." I pulled the trigger back, the barrel glowing a bright and piercing white as energy flowed from the shotgun like liquid flames.
"Two." I heard a rumbling from the far edge of the market as the humans just seemed to scatter with no good reason, until I was alone in the market with only my bounty by my side.
"One."
"SON OF SPARDA, YOU SHALL DIE!" A giant demon screamed out in an unholy tone as a gigantic goliath of a beast came running down from the Blockbuster, it's eyes a flaming red as it charged ever closer to me.
I just smiled.
"You'd think you fucks would learn by now." I said with a chuckle, Umbra coming to point at the demon as it neared the splash zone.
It was then, when it reached it's arms out to me, it's claws coming close enough to snag at my clothes, that I laughed and uttered a single curse.
"Vivictus."
The demon froze then in shock most likely, as a black sludge began to leak from its form as it collapsed to its knees, only for its form to splinter and split apart from a million cuts across its form.
"Jackpot."
Dante.
No last name this time, no middle name, I was the demonic equivalent to Madonna, well, if you're not counting the Immortal being thing and seven thousand years under my belt as setting me too apart from the celebrity darling.
Does Madonna still make music though? Did she retire already? I should probably-
Anyway, I settled well into this life, and it's oddities. From growing up with my brother and parents in an oddly satanic manor on the edge of Red Grave City, to my literal demon of a father being locked away in some pit of Hell while my new mother sacrificed herself to save my older brother.
Oh yeah, and I've been chased by the armies of Hell for the past eleven years because apparently my dad pissed off some Lucifer wannabe and took over Hell in order to save humanity.
Also, apparently Human-Demon hybrids are forbidden or something, and dear old dad just had to break every single rule of Hell.
Course, with my new family's lineage buried and every single Demon of Hell out for my blood, I couldn't exactly stick around or have the luxury of being boring.
So I found work, however much of a hassle it had been.
I always was a good mercenary, but I found that people thought it strange that a fifteen (physically) year old with chalk white hair and only a single name and no history wanted to be a Merc.
So, I played around with some memories of a few politicians, and Harrison Redgrave was born.
Relatively easy to do really, and I even got a commission from the Vatican for every Demon I killed, how they were keeping track, I'm still not overly sure, but their money was good.
However, I was merely burning time. I knew what was to come after all, an odd comfort considering the difficulty I often faced in my lives, but for once I knew what was to happen.
Forty years from now.
So, I was staking my claim on the world and hunting down idiots and scoundrels for Enzo and killing Demons on the side, or sometimes hunting down Demons for Enzo.
The man wasn't too picky on bounties, evident by the fact I once hunted Dick Cheney for a month.
Most painful hunt I've ever been on by far, but most weren't as eventful.
Honestly, this life was more fun than I've had in awhile, and Hell just kept sending more and more goons after me as I kept burning through them.
Eventually, I made a game out of it all, and my score merely kept tallying up with each Demon I slayed.
"SON OF SPARDA!"
Great, the giant had buddies, now it's a party.
A horde of the beasts now stood before me, a particularly fearsome looking one even pulling a jagged blade on me as a threat, but it was just adorable to see them try.
"What great guys you boys are, letting your buddy go first." I teased as big, dark, and pointy stepped closer with an arm outstretched to my chest.
"YOU WILL SUFFER A MILLION DEATHS FOR YOUR SINS!"
"Personal space pal. Evanesco." I cast with as much finesse as a food order, yet the Demon still looked shocked as I literally vanished him from existence.
McGonagall never did explain the spell too well, just saying it brought things into 'Non-being', but never explaining what vanishing a living being would do.
Probably a bad spell to teach angsty children… Did I vanish Draco..? He kinda disappeared after the Battle… and no one saw him around either…
Regardless, it was a very insulting way to kill Demons, and with how stupid and oddly holier-than-thou they acted, they deserved to be taken down a peg every so often.
Smirking once more as a single fleck of the demon's blood fell to my cheek, its allies frozen in place in either fear or shock. Likely shocked since they weren't smart enough to know or listen to fear.
"Now then, who's next?"
"One more sad fuck for you Enzo." I said to my handler as I dropped off Vanderman's bound form, the man's eyes looking around in shock and panic as he found himself completely and utterly numb.
By design of course, I stopped letting bounties get away ages ago after the chase stopped being fun.
After all, a chase is different from a pursuit. One means I choose to follow, the other means they're stupid enough to think they can escape me.
Wait… that makes no sense.
I'm not exactly as straight-laced as I used to be, it was kinda obvious when I started liking pears again, but it was a gradual thing.
My age started to get to me a bit after I hit five thousand, but thankfully I'm no longer insane, but more often than not people still think I am.
Granted, I assaulted Antonio for getting my order wrong, but the lazy fuck had deserved it and I had gotten some coupons out of it.
"Nicely done Harry, but I already have a new target for you." Enzo Ferino, information broker and my assassination handler, asked in turn as he sized up the oversized politician at our feet.
He didn't really say too much about why Vanderman was getting the Redgrave treatment, as Enzo had dubbed it, but politics were always a losing battle for me.
I didn't care enough to entertain the thoughts of pitiful ponderers and their cult like followers, no matter how much money they had at their disposal.
However, while Enzo looked pleased as usual, there was a wayward flicker to his gaze.
"Enzo, I sense a But coming along. Get to the point pal." I said with a hint of aggression in my smile as he just sighed in turn.
"Listen Harry, you're good. Scarily good, but your next target's a bit outta your league, so I've got you a new partner." Enzo said with that same smarmy grin of his. That grin meant I was going to be pissed at him later.
"I told you Ferino, no one is out of my league." I said with a self assured chuckle as he just rolled his eyes at me in turn.
"Listen Har, I like you too much to send you off alone. I'm not gonna beat around the bush, there's a big fucking Demon being courted by the Russians and it crushed an entire city just by being summoned." Enzo said then as he led me forward by the arm, the door to his office swinging open as a man walked out impatiently.
It was a young guy, maybe a bit older than my current form, his features covered almost completely by pristine gauze.
Interesting though, was the ornate katana on his back, that a part of me was VERY interested in.
Oh yeah, that portion of Dante that's a demon? It's kinda like this fraction of a split personality, mostly just coming across as mood swings.
It's kinda like a really sadistic pregnancy, except all the time and calling out for the blood of my enemies rather than a bowl of peanut butter pickles.
Anyway, Invisible Man over there had a Devil Arm, least if the demonic energies wafting off it like a bad stench were any indicator.
"Harry, this is Gilver. I expect you'll work well together."
The man, Gilver (whatever kind of name that was) just laughed this cold, piercing laugh at me as I could only frown in turn.
"I'm sure we will get along wonderfully."
(A Month Later)
"Dosvedanya!"
"Just because we're in Russia doesn't give you an excuse to peddle bad action lines."
"I think it gives me all the excuse I need!"
Despite the fact Gilver and I had fought tooth and nail as soon as Enzo left us alone together, we worked well together.
Course, since I knew fucking nothing about the man, I wasn't too willing to show off my tricks, so the overt Magic stayed tucked away.
I had been given partners before, and they always betrayed me sooner or later. However, I did get a small scan of Gilver's mind, despite how difficult it actually was, and learned he wasn't going to slit my throat in my sleep anytime soon.
So we got to work, and one Russian Demon turned into fifteen and eventually we were fighting a land war to send the bastards back to Hell in a metal handbasket.
Evidently, I spent more time frozen to the bone than I did in the fiery pits of Hell.
Pits I had gotten very familiar with, since I couldn't really die in this life, which had been a rather shocking surprise.
Usually, upon death I became someone else, this time… I woke up in Hell with a sore excuse for a spine, surrounded by Demons spouting off about Sparda.
Still not sure what can actually kill me here, but I just made it my goal to avoid ending up back in Hell.
The place was a drag.
Now, Gilver and I found ourselves fighting off vaguely Magitek looking soldiers in the capital, the Russian insignia emblazoned on these Demons.
Course, Super Soldiers always had to exist, but why do so many people think that Demon Blood is the key to invincibility?
Granted, they weren't too wrong, considering I pulled another blade from my chest with all the ease of clipping my nails, but I had gotten sick of Demon soldiers.
"You got anyone waiting for you back home Gil?" I asked my partner then, the two of us flying back and forth through the air as we decimated the enemy forces.
He and I had worked together for a bit now, but we hadn't really gotten too into detail about each other, usually preferring to work rather than chat.
"I lost everyone that mattered a long time ago." Gilver said with a desolate tone as he sliced another Demons to shreds, the poor thing barely even registering the swing before it crumpled to sludge.
"Yeah, I know the feeling buddy, but you can't let it get you down." I said with a grin as I pulled a Demon to me with a flick of the wrist, the passive energies of my magic ripping the beast through the air at me.
With a single swing of Godric, I sliced the beast into two as the sludge covered my body with yet another layer of grime, my blade's burning edge illuminated with the blood of my enemies.
"You talk so passively of loss Harrison." Gilver observed as he leapt over me, his own blade coming to terms with another of the monsters, a shockwave echoing off as he sent it flying into pieces.
"Yeah, you get used to it."
"How can you eat this garbage?" Gilver asked in a puzzle manner, his bandages unraveled around his mouth as I forced him to endure another slice.
Granted, the pizza here wasn't as good as back home, Antonio's bitching aside, but it wasn't the gruel that Gilver made it out to be.
"Meh, I can't cook and I gave up on alcohol. Pizza's a good alternative." I said with a shrug as I leaned back in my seat, the ruined restaurant around us being paid no mind, nor were the demons that kept interrupting paid any attention aside from a quick swipe or a flaming shot courtesy of Umbra.
"So you blame your laziness for your poor habits. I understand you so much better Harrison." Gilver said with disdain as he dropped the slice back onto his plate, a single pepperoni going flying off as he sat back.
"I've said it before Gil, you can call me Harry." I said casually as I sent a surge of magic into Umbra, the chamber automatically reloading as I picked up another slice, Gilver just staring at me in shock as I went in for more.
"And I have told you countless times Harrison, I loath nicknames."
Of course Enzo had to get the most stick in the mud bastard to ever exist, to join me in my crusade.
"Whatever you say Gil."
"I hate that name." Gilver said with a pout then as the sole working light in the building sputtered out, but we just stayed there as we had already filled our quota for the day.
"Then maybe don't have a weird ass name like Gilver? It's awful and it physically pains me to say it." I said with a drawl as I waved my pizza slice at him, a small clump of sauce flying off to land an inch from Gilver's emerald coat.
Aside from the annoyed look he gave me, Gilver sat there in silence as I looked back at him in confusion.
"You okay there Samurai?" I asked as I set my meal aside, Gilver's blue eyes looking back at me suddenly as he loosened his grip on his blade.
"Don't call me that."
"Then what am I supposed to call you, since I'm not calling you goddamn Gilver."
More silence then as the Demon tides seemed to slow and we were left alone once more, the two of sitting in a town of desolation, the only living beings around for miles.
"You can call me V."
(Half a Year of Demon Slaying Later)
"Well look who it is, the Prodigal son of a bitch that never pays." An aged voice said warmly as I walked through the glass doors, the proprietor of .45 Caliber Works greeting my gaze.
"Nell Goldstein, you old trigger happy bitch, how the hell are you?" I said with a genuine grin as I settled on a stool by Nell's workbench, the old woman barely taking notice of my presence as she shuffled papers.
"Gonna finally pay me for Umbra?" She asked with a smirk as my gaze fell on my pride and joy. The unholy amalgamation of a Sawed-Off Shotgun and Revolver, Umbra had been a comfortable and trusted companion long before Enzo had stuck me with V.
"Now my dear, I do believe we agreed on a trade agreement. I supply the Demon guts, you build stuff for me despite the fact you'd do it anyway." I said with a grin as Nell near about pulled her own gun on me, her eyes piercing and sharp before placing it aside.
"What have I said about back talking to me Harry?" She asked me with a casual glance as she began searching below the bench, junk and busted guns being thrown aside with no regard for where they landed.
"I do believe the last time I did, you threatened to rip my balls off and use them as a muzzle for your rifle." I recalled with a grin as Nell's smile grew ever larger, the sadistic bitch.
"And don't think that just because you're a beast and I'm older than sin that I won't keep my word." She said with no small amount of gruff as she finally found what she was looking for, pulling free an ornate case from beneath the horrid mess she called a desk.
"A gift? Oh Nellie, you shouldn't have." I said with glee as I took the box from her, the lid popping out to reveal a gorgeous pistol within, the metal gleaming in the lamp light as I rubbed my palm against the grip.
"Call me Nellie again and you'll be begging me to kill you." She said with a chuckle as she pointed to the beautiful pistol, something akin to true pride in her tone.
"Considering you're still carrying Umbra, say hello to it's kick ass virgin of a brother, I call it Lux."
With a grin I pulled Umbra free of its holster, the shotgun's weight familiar and lovely as I held it free handed, my newest toy falling into ease on the opposite side.
I may have powers beyond understanding, all but including surviving the literal destruction of the universe, but this right here… Holding these beautiful works of art in my hands?
It felt real fucking good.
"You've really outdone yourself Nell." I said with a smirk as I tucked the guns away, Lux forming it's own holster under my coat as I tucked it away on my chest, it's brother sitting comfortably at my waist.
"You better make your next shipment a good one." Nell said with a growl as she lit up a cigar, and I just laughed in turn.
"Just for you Nell, I'll bag something special." I said with a smile as I waved to her, my feet already heading out the door as I let the nightlife of Redgrave wash over me.
"Special better be worth fifty thousand…"
(Within Hell Itself)
"You can't keep me here forever." A wise and sharp voice called out in the dark as a figure loomed from within a cage, a blazing red eye lingering on a wall not too far from them.
"YOU HAVE SERVED YOUR PURPOSE."
The figure just laughed then, his eyes rolling as he once more reached the edge of his cage, the bars glowing with the holy light of a thousand suns.
"You know I'll get out."
"THEN I SHALL PUNISH YOU." The booming voice of his captor said as the prisoner merely smiled in turn, a chair forming out of thin air as he took a seat.
"Afraid that's not going to happen pal, I'm a married man."
And with that, he turned away from the leering eye, and he began to wait once more, the years mere seconds for him as he gazed into the void and the void gazed back.
However, he was no mere mortal staring into oblivion.
He was the Dark Knight, and powerless or not, he would not be contained.
Looking to his left hand, he had a flash of a castle within his mind, and he smiled as he sat back, the decades flowing by him as he sat isolated from both time and morality.
"All is well."
Author's Note:
I wanted to play in the Devil's Sandbox as it were, and an idea began to emerge.
This starts within the Devil May Cry prequel novel, where he's still Tony Redgrave (Harrison in this case), and will go all the way to DMC V. (Excluding 2, because even I'm not creative enough to do something with 2.)
This will be an AU, and by the time we get to DMC V, it could be radically different from the game we know.
Hope you all enjoyed.
Also a reminder that this is a part of the Master of Nothing series, Life 80 to be exact.