Mission 20
Red and Blue - Enemies for a Lifetime
After a brief glance at Dante who is looking at him out of breath and with Rebellion in his hand, Vergil moves his head - from his position - slightly to the right; to the area Mundus had filled with his presence. He lets his gaze rest there a little longer, and gradually his wicked grin returns.
"Congratulations", Vergil says, drawing his attention to Dante as if he had wanted to first wait and see if Mundus would return from the battlefield of the in-between world. "So, how does it feel to have accomplished what our father did only temporarily?"
"Quite nice. But I'm really lookin' forward to bring this to an end ..."
"It's surprising that you're optimistic about death ..." Vergil says and jumps down from the mighty gallery.
Yamato's blade shoots down on Dante from above and hits the ground when Dante rolls to the side. He must immediately use his broadsword because Vergil whirls his katana wildly around; eager of catching Dante. The blades clash against each other countless times, always at a rapid pace. Moments pass in which the two fight a heated sword duel.
Vergil's fighting style has always been calm and deliberate. However, if you got attacked by him, you had to suffer brute and powerful sword blows, whereas Dante, as an excellent counterpart to him, has always been able to take advantage of nimble and dynamic battles. It was this very antagonism that added a great deal of suspense to the fights between the two brothers, making the other a tricky and venerable opponent. Using their devilish powers, their resistance was all the more impressive, and yet it did not shorten their confrontations.
Also in this duel, Vergil's special talents, which must have expanded, become apparent. He has gained speed. After all, Dante cannot remember that Vergil had had such a high speed back then. It seems as if he had become a live wire or as if a power source was supplying him with additional energy that enables him to perform such a feat.
In the past, Vergil was capable of sword strokes of this kind at most in the devil mode, which he, apparently, has not activated at the moment; if he still has that version or if he still needs it at all, now that Vergil is a complete demon and thus has mature powers. Above all, however, he is the demon king who offers Dante a powerful start in their conflict.
While Dante swings his sword to stand up to Vergil, he still has a few milliseconds left here and there, despite the energetic struggle, in which he can marvel at the three metal rings that, as a kind of brass knuckles, embrace the last three fingers of each hand. These rings feel unusual and disturb him a bit. Especially on his right hand with which he wields his sword. Where do these rings suddenly come from?
The violent skirmish pauses and a trial of strength begins. They both look into each other's ice-blue eyes. Finally, Vergil pushes Dante away with his blade, giving himself time and space to fill his left hand with Sparda's sword which he lets emerge from nowhere.
Armed with two blades, Vergil continues the sword fight. This increases the intensity of the confrontation once again, and Dante now has to assert himself more strongly. The demon hunter is sure, however, that this phase is also only for warming up.
Every time Dante feels that his arms begin to weaken, he holds on a little longer, and that is when he succeeds in doing the best and strongest blows. It is as if an external force provided him with even more endurance in the appropriate moments and supported him in his style of the Sword Master. Here and there he also uses fisticuffs which indeed have an effect. These kind of attacks happen surprisingly; not only for Vergil, but also for Dante himself. He would never think of attacking with his fists - unless he had a corresponding devil's weapon for it.
Vergil lets Yamato and his father's sword come from both sides and is about to chop the two blades into Dante's flesh when the devil hunter suddenly strikes Rebellion into the ground, bends his arms, and builds up a protective wall on both sides according to his Royal Guard-style. Thus Vergil does not hit Dante, but his blades do not bounce off Dante's protection either, which would most likely be the case with any other opponent.
He continues fighting against Dante's slightly reddish barrier while his brother gives everything to keep it stable. A blue energy surrounds Vergil's swords and Dante feels the increased strength of his opponent. In the end, Dante can no longer offer any resistance and his protection dissolves. The blades race towards Dante and at the last moment, he jumps far into the air, or better said, something makes him taking the leap. He has taken his broadsword with him.
It would have been an ideal counter-attack if Dante had hit Vergil with the blow he executed while jumping up, but unfortunately Vergil was aware of that assault in time so that he, too, could block.
Dante is increasingly strengthened in his assumption that a magical force supports him. Every time he starts to get weak, this supernatural magic continues to work in his body as if from nowhere, making him perform actions that are needed at that very moment. Could this have something to do with these brass knuckles? Could it be Mundus' power that optimizes his fighting strength?
From a height, Dante fires about a dozen shots from his twin guns which Vergil can beat away with his swords easily. When Dante rushes down with his melee weapon ahead and straight for Vergil, he bounces off a blue and purple barrier that pushes him away. The force hurls him against one of the mighty room's walls.
If the brass knuckles should indeed hold Mundus' power, he must not rely 100% on this equipment, as the situation has just shown.
The protective barrier around Vergil becomes more and more dense, so that he is eventually no longer visible at all. Suddenly this accumulated form of energy shoots towards Dante and he can just recognize Vergil's blue body from his devil mode as he throws himself to the side and then pushes off in the air to keep a greater distance to the energy.
That power hits the wall and destroys large parts in that place, but there is not enough energy to make a hole. Dante lands near Nero, who is still motionless, and gives him a quick glance before turning to Vergil.
Vergil's Devil Trigger is not only - as usual - characterized by the color blue, which stands for his person, but this mode also shows rough similarities to the one from the past. An immediately recognizable difference to the former version is the crown of the head which can really be described as such.
The upper part of the "Y-head" which used to be silver and represented Vergil's hairstyle is now golden and has prongs at the top; just like a crown, as if his devil mode had adapted to his new role as the demon king. His skin is scaly like a reptile and shows several shades of blue and grey. The bright white eyes are even more striking. He has grown in size a bit compared to the past and could approximately be ten feet tall. He also has gained muscles. The right upper body is exposed while the left half is surrounded by a kind of protective shield.
The shield, or protective armor, is pointed, angular, and consists of long, crooked thorns. His left arm also finds protection underneath. However, this does not necessarily mean that his arm is restricted in its movement due to the robust shield because Vergil plays around with the Sparda-Sword quite demonstratively, as if he could hardly wait for the fight to continue and as if he wanted to keep his wrist warm for that.
Already the frontal view of his presence reveals that the protective armor extends at the rear since this very armor protrudes to the right and left of his legs, reproducing the shape of beetle wings that give the impression that Vergil could rise into the air at any moment. His strong legs are surrounded by smoother scales, and in some places they leave room for blue light which traces those ornaments that were depicted on Vergil's coat.
Abruptly, he raises both his arms to thrust the swords into the ground. The ground underneath Vergil freezes and, as a result, kind of an ice wave shoots towards Dante and Nero. The demon hunter grabs Nero's upper body, throws the young man over his right shoulder, and flees up with him. He lands on the gallery which lower wall has got also partly taken over by ice. Up there, he puts Nero down and approaches the railing of the gallery.
"Is His Serene Highness already that desperate because he can't get me that he must let off steam on the Sleepin' Beauty?!" Dante calls down to Vergil.
A calm laugh, accompanied by the sound of a metallic voice, emanates from Vergil in response to Dante's remark.
"I'm not desperate, I just wanna see you dance!"
Dante feels the coldness under his feet and immediately rolls to the side. A huge ice crystal shoots out of the gallery's ground and rushes up to the high ceiling of the hall to grow on it. Dante has to dodge further and further as the next ice giants break out of the ground. When there are no more ice crystals arising, Dante stops his movements to address a few more words to Vergil:
"You better heat up the dance floor instead of freezin' it! One can't dance so well in the cold! Seems like you lack abilities of a party king! But hey, don't worry about that! I gladly take over for you!"
Saying these words, Dante also switches to his devil mode and chooses his fiery nunchaku as a weapon for the further battle. He jumps down, with the burning sickle ahead, and Vergil approaches him.
Dante's sickle strikes against Vergil's body's own protective shield. However, this armor is much too robust to be damaged by a mere stroke, so Vergil makes a simple counterattack and pushes Dante away. The man in red flips over in the air while Vergil makes further nimble strokes with both swords which Dante, still being upside down, can block with his weapon. He has not only to fend off Yamato and his father's sword, which is also turned against him this time, but also the many bright blue blades that are automatically conjured up by every stroke Vergil makes. Therefore, Dante's nunchaku is always in action. For better protection, he uses his protective barrier from the fighting style of Royal Guard now and then.
The physically existing swords continue to clash against Dante's weapon. The magical blades get thrown straight back to Vergil by Dante, but the demon king does not seem to be concerned about that.
While Vergil keeps Dante busy, ice is shooting out of the ground. Dante reacts in time with his nimble style of Trickster. This jet of ice is even more powerful than the previous attacks as the entire ceiling of the hall gets iced. In this attack on the part of Vergil, Dante has now also noticed that his brother actually triggers this kind of attack with his bright white eyes.
Still in the air, Dante collects his strength for another assault. He chooses Rebellion as his second weapon to emulate Vergil and uses them to do a crossed sword thrust. This not only sets off a wave of fire against Vergil but it also causes fire wings to grow on Dante's back.
With a conjured up ice layer as Vergil's protection, the fire wave thunders against it, and the flames evaporate.
"Too bad! It could've been really good ..." Dante says to himself, his voice also sounding demonic.
Now it is Vergil again who takes the lead in the fight. For a short time he uses blue energy, appearing as a vortex of water, to chase Dante. His brother, however, evades skillfully. Immediately, the ice comes into play again as sharp ice crystals come loose from the ceiling and crash down on Dante - further obstacles he has to dodge or hit away.
Of course, Dante wants to stay in control of the situation and so he assaults Vergil with more fire waves and balls in parallel to keep Vergil occupied. He also imitates a Vergil-like attack by creating magical blades, except that they get conjured up after Dante's abilities, so they burn red. He also sends them as a love greeting to Vergil.
And so the brothers deliver a battle consisting mainly of fire and ice.
In the meantime, Vergil has risen into the air to his brother. Thus it became clear to Dante that the armor which protects Vergil's entire back does not only have this protective function but also does justice to the image of the beetle's wings - only in a more robust form - in that the armor gives him the ability to fly.
Through the use of ice by Vergil, the hall is more and more transformed into an icy landscape. Dante can fire as much as he wants; the ice does not melt and he certainly does not succeed in enchanting this room into a second Fire Hell.
When the hall is completely frozen, except for the floor of the gallery and the wall behind it - probably purely out of mercy towards Hera and Nero -, Vergil increasingly applies his water vortex energy.
"Is this gonna be an underwater world now?!" Dante comments.
Vergil grins mischievously, although his grin is not clearly to indentify due to his changed face from the Devil Trigger.
"I hope you brought your water wings!"
"Oh, I don't need them! I'm a good swimmer!"
As Dante moves ever closer to Vergil to prevent further long-range attacks by his brother and to hopefully switch back to swordplay, Dante unleashes a powerful lightning strike after whirling Rebellion around which indeed hits Vergil and shakes him.
"Not bad", Dante thinks and has to let go of his Devil Trigger mode when he lands from high above on the icy ground.
Vergil also moves down to the ground. But of course he remains in his higher form which is probably endlessly maintained for him.
"I thought you wanted to turn up the party?! The few sparks of you don't really help, as you can see! Maybe you just give me a second chance to prove myself as a host?! Because I have a great idea for a party game ...!"
Standing sideways to the gallery, Vergil stretches out his right arm and points with the tip of Yamato in that direction. Dante follows with his eyes and notices that Nero and Hera are beginning to move.
Nero slowly rises from the ground and staggers forward. The railing of the gallery prevents him from stumbling even further. Judging by the expression of his face, he must still be completely muddled. It seems as if he cannot fully capture the present moment and the image that emerges for him with Vergil and Dante down there. Despite the fact that he has almost come to his senses, the Devil Bringer remains dark.
Behind him on the wall, Hera is also coming to consciousness. She has lifted her head and her eyes are looking down; she herself being in daze, too. Her hands and feet still seem to be weak as they hang limply.
"... A dual battle", Vergil continues speaking, focusing on Dante. "You get Hera. I stay with my favorite human, Nero. We gonna have so much fun together ..."
All of a sudden, Hera's fetters are opening.
Milliseconds after the fetters burst open, Dante, using his devilish form which just got available for this sprint, dashes towards Hera. He reaches her right in time to catch her just above the ground and puts her down gently.
"H ... Hera?" Nero stammers. He has turned around to her.
"Nero ..." She says and uses Dante's shoulder to stand up.
In the background, Dante notices Vergil's eyes becoming brighter and immediately Nero gets torn through the railing and pulled down by an invisible force.
"NERO!" Hera yells and pushes Dante aside as the marble railing hits the floor, shattering into many pieces.
The demon hunter, however, can grab her by the wrist in time and stop her from jumping down.
"Calm down, my dear ...!" Vergil replies, slowly moving towards Nero who is lying on the ground. "There's no need to be scared ...!"
Once briefly tapped on the ground with Yamato's sharp blade, they reappear: Nero's red shining eyes. The Devil Bringer also gains in luminosity. As if by remote control, the young man stands up and pulls out his sword. With a stiff expression, he looks towards Hera and Dante.
"Well then ...! Off to the next round ...!" Vergil grins.
"This game is startin' to get really nasty, Vergil! Is that your new style?!" Dante calls down, but the mischievous grin of his twin brother remains.