Author's note (IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ): S 1)Firstly, this story isn't meant to be religious or preachy in the slightest. My only concern here is to tell a fun, entertaining story, and that's all. There is some mythology I drew from here, for the purpose of world-building, and to connect DMC and RWBY-verse in this fanfic. This should be taken as such, and nothing more. 3)Thirdly, I'm probably going to get called out for dialling Dante up to 11 in this chapter. I'm completely fine with this. I don't give a rat's ass about the people who make versus threads. This is a fanfic, and IMO, if Dante isn't overpowered, he just isn't being written right. There are a lot of inconsistencies in his power level based on descriptions and feats if we consider the five main games he has appeared in. I tried my best to provide some explanation for that scaling, and the way it works in this fic. I prefer when protagonists are made stronger, and I dislike it when they are nerfed to fit into a story. Many of my readers have said that they like that I don't nerf or de-age Dante, and I feel the same way. Not only will he be the strongest he's ever been in canon, but he'll be stronger. Related to this also is that some readers have wondered why he doesn't just go up into the sky and use the Luce on Salem or something. Well, I tried to provide some explanation for that as well. 4) The romance does get some progression here. Again, I feel like I'm going to get criticized for how I did it. Sigh. 5) If you pay close attention, there's quite a bit of foreshadowing going on. And that's about it. Read and enjoy, then leave a review about how much you liked it, or how much you didn't.
Chapter 12: Meeting the Ancestor
1 second.Dante casually took a step to the left. Gunfire missed him. As he did so, he nodded his head slightly, as though something had gone exactly as expected. He tapped his foot slightly, the rhythm to an old tune he liked starting to play in his head.
2 seconds.He held out both hands, playing an imaginary guitar, though both his fretting and strumming hand were in proper position. As he hit the power chord in his mind, he rocked his head, as though up on stage, in front of an audience. The movement was timed so that the two sniper rounds aimed at his skull both whiffed.
Hmm. Not bad at all. I think… 3 seconds? No, 5.
He continued to rock out, playing the air guitar solo, his fingers perfectly hitting the spots where the actual strings and frets would have been as he went through the notes at blistering speed, his mind perfectly rendering the heavy metal symphony. As he did so, he slid gracefully, as though walking on air, or dancing. Such were his movements timed, that the series of melee attacks that followed all hit nothing but air.
Beacon's top grade combat bots paused, their processors trying to crunch the data of what had just happened.
Dante blinked.
"Seriously? 10 seconds? This is ridiculous."
He walked forward, not even bothering to keep a guard up or summon any of his Devil Arms.
All five of the droids attacked at once, metallic limbs slicing through the air faster at subsonic speeds.
Dante casually continued to walk, never slowing down, avoiding every single attack with the smallest possible movement: slipping his head, leaning to the sides or backwards, or even pirouetting and sidestepping to dodge low strikes. The absolutely crazy part was that it didn't even look like he was dodging. Instead, he appeared to be going through a dance routine, with the attacks simply missing him because every step just happened to be timed and placed right.
What was happening in truth, was both.
It was a dance routine, choreographed specifically to dodge the incoming sequence of moves.
Dante had seen 10 seconds ahead in time.
The devilish warrior was himself surprised. His natural demonic instincts and powers, combined with a lifetime of training, meant he either reacted to his opponent's attempts to hurt him, or saw them coming and acted in advance. Most often, it was the latter. He could read most enemies like books.
But today, it was pushed to an even greater height.
A few milliseconds or even half a second ahead was enough. But ten whole seconds? Dante had no explanation for it. It was like a movie playing out in front of him. So clear was the vision.
Not only that, but his own body was moving more smoothly and effortlessly than ever, its smallest motions precise down to the millimetre.
To say he felt on top of his game would be an understatement.
"Uh, guys."
The voice of his student, Jaune Arc, came from a few metres away.
"I might be hallucinating, but did Dante just clown on possibly multi-million lien combat droids? While busting a move?"
Even Balrog, who was incredibly exacting in his standards, was mentally telling the devil hunter that the style meter couldn't go any higher than this.
It was the first years' Combat Class, and on this day, Dante was demonstrating taking on multiple opponents. Because he wanted the students to have enough Aura and energy left to go at it after he was done, he was taking on the droids instead of the teams themselves. With that context provided, it wasn't exactly unusual for Beacon's aspiring hunters to be awed by Dante's demonstrations. It happened quite often.
But this was on an entirely different level. It went beyond being impressive, and into the realms of inconceivable.
Even Yang Xiao Long, a fervent proponent of the art of styling on her opponents, felt bad for these robots, even though they weren't sentient.
"Teach, you realize this is supposed to be a demonstration, right?", she called out.
Dante heard her, but he had no explanation. He himself had no idea why his performance was so much better than usual.
And if I attack…?
Somehow, the idea of summoning Devil Sword Dante felt like overkill.
Deciding to test himself first, he threw out a light jab… which instantly demolished a combat bot, one that wasn't designed to be demolished, only to go through pre-programmed routines while recording the hits it took. A dummy meant for Aura-enhanced fighters had to be sturdy after all.
Dante blinked and looked at his own outstretched fist.
Isn't the whole pounding to a pulp thing supposed to be Nero's department?
Casually avoiding a retaliatory swing, he ducked low and instinctively delivered a body shot, which would have hit the solar plexus on a humanoid opponent.
The bot exploded, shards and bolts of metal flying everywhere.
Still too much?Two more of the bots attacked. Their programming algorithm wasn't designed for a scenario like this, so it was simply trying to adjust by choosing what seemed to it the most appropriate response from its list of possible actions.
The metal arms came flying at him from his left and right.
Dante decided to let the punches land, just to see what would happen.
Unfortunately, what happened was that both the droids shattered, which is what tends to be the case when you crash into an immovable object.
By this time, only one bot remained.
Dante raised his fist, but thought better of it.
Maybe a bit more gently?Instead of a punch, he reached out… and finger flicked it.
Which, of course, caused it to fly into the wall close to where it met the ceiling, around fifty feet away.
"Oh, come on!" said Dante. "I was holding back!"
The levity of his response concealed how worried he actually was.
The idea of performing at maximum levels all the time was a nice fantasy. But this… this was scary. It was far too much power. Alarmed, Dante sensed his demonic energies growing. He hadn't felt it before, but he could now.
It was as if something was continuing to pour more and more power into him.
What the hell?
"Class dismissed," he muttered.
His students, who had so far been looking on with amazement and dismay, now became concerned.
"Dante?" asked Jaune. "Is everything OK?"
"Class dismissed," the devil hunter repeated, louder. "We'll continue this next time."
His tone left no room for argument. His regular light-hearted persona made it nearly impossible to picture, but he was extremely intimidating when serious.
The first-years left the combat training area as fast as they could without running.
As the metal doors slid shut behind them, Dante stared at his own hands, which were starting to glow red.
"What's going on?"
The voices of the Devils that were his Arms were all shouting in his head.
So much… power…
King Cerberus' fiery head, the most aggressive of the three, actually sounded in awe. Dante kept an extremely tight rein on all the Devil Arms, making sure their natural demonic thirst for domination and violence never made it out.
But with the sheer amount of energy coursing through Dante's body, King Cerberus' natural instincts were being unleashed.
He was one of the proud kings of hell, and his place had always been next to the Demon Kings, the rulers of the Underworld.
And right now, the power he felt was worthy of that title.
No… even more than Mundus or Argosax, or even Urizen… this was power.
To think, the half-blooded trickster who had somehow defeated him was this strong.
The reactions of Cavaliere, Balrog, Orion and Raijin were much the same.
In the Underworld, above all else, strength reigned supreme.
The one they had sworn their allegiance to was finally coming into his own, realizing his true nature.
As one, their mental presences all bowed to him.
Master.
"You guys are really not helping!" Dante growled.
You are not in need of assistance. Indeed, we are your servants. Command us as you will, Master.
"What did I tell you all about kissing ass?" the devil hunter shouted aloud. In his anger, he clenched his fist.
The unconscious flexing of his demonic aura as a result dented the reinforced floor of the combat room.
"Damn it!" said Dante.
It was far too much power.
And growing louder in his head, louder than the Devil Arms, was the voice of the Devil inside him.
His own Sin form, growling for release.
"Not… good!"
His mind flashed back to every time he had fought a demon overlord type. The amount of power they casually put out with their mere existence could affect the entire planet.
If he were to transform into his true state while he had that kind of strength coursing through him…
He thought quickly.
Back in the day, his father's solution to problems like this had been to seal them off.
Sealing away the demon world. Sealing away his own power in three different swords.
I need a seal. But I already have my Devil Sword! No… a restraint.
Coming to a conclusion quickly, he summoned Raijin.
The lightning Devil Arm, normally resentful towards him, was displaying none of his normal rebelliousness. He was too scared to.
What Dante was about to do was use him to do exactly the opposite of what gauntlet and greave type Devil Arms did.
Focusing his power into Raijin, he reached for their property to resist, which he had felt before. Tapping into it, he increased that resistance to its absolute maximum.
The amount of power leaking out of him reduced, until it finally returned to a level similar to what it normally was.
Dante stood, wearing Raijin, sweating, breathing hard.
That had been close. Too close.
"What the hell's going on?"
He needed answers. But his Devil Arms weren't telling him anything, and no one else on Remnant knew anything about demons.
In times like this, having Vergil around would be good. He knew even more about demonic lore than Dante, and might have had some answers.
But he wasn't here, so Dante had to deal with it on his own.
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"Is there a particular reason you're walking around wearing a weapon of mass destruction?"
Dante mentally swore.
Of all the people to run into right now, it had to be someone who demanded explanations for stuff like this.
The devil hunter looked at Glynda Goodwitch. The blonde telekinetic warrior waited patiently for an answer, arms crossed. It wasn't good. The existence of demons was new to Remnant, and Dante had already revealed a lot in a short time. In addition, he was pushing the limits of what Ozpin might be comfortable with. Not only was Dante in charge of all hunting related to the demonic, his guest at Beacon happened to be an Infernal herself. If he were to now reveal he was filled to the brim and literally overflowing with demonic power himself… suffice it to say, it would be very hard to continue at Beacon.
"Oh, it's just training," Dante said. "Walking around wearing weights leads to big gains."
"... I can't believe I'm saying this, but I highly doubt you need to get any stronger than you are."
If only you knew how true that was.
He attempted to laugh it off.
"Well, one can never be too prepared, as they say," said Dante.
Glynda looked at him silently, her expression revealing nothing.
"So you aren't hiding anything from me?" she asked.
"What? Of course not! Why would I do that?"
A moment of silence followed, in which Glynda's silent stare remained focused on Dante, and he began to wonder if she was on to him.
She knows, doesn't she?
He was trying to think of what to say when she demanded answers, when she surprised him completely.
Her normally cold, impassive, stern expression changed into one of worry.
"Yes, you have no reason to do that," she said. "Dante… you don't need to carry all the weight in the world alone, you know? If something's wrong, you can tell me. You know that, I hope?"
The devil hunter's jaw all but dropped.
If strict Glynda could be cute, this softer version of her was absurdly so. It was just so unexpected, coming from her.
As for the blonde witch herself, she was surprised too.
Surprised to find how concerned she was for the man.
She had barely known Dante for a few months. In the course of that time, he had been many things. Carefree, with a taste for courting danger. A risk taker and thrillseeker, a man with no respect for authority. He did nothing by the book, but he got away with it because of sheer skill and power. He was the complete opposite of the kind of warrior Glynda was. She had been taught that revealing one's emotions was weakness. Information had to be protected. Kept secret. And one could never be too cautious. Always, always be prepared for the worst.
In stark contrast to all of that, all of Ozpin's plans and Ironwood's contingency measures and Qrow's distrust, Dante was a relentless and resolute optimist. He believed in the best of himself and everyone else, and he wore his heart on his sleeve.
It was a brazen challenge to the world.
He would continue being himself, no matter what came.
And… she was surprised to find how much that had grown on her.
Even his constant and shameless flirting with her had somehow, along the way, become less annoying.
Dante would always be cheerful and easygoing, always optimistic.
That was how she wanted to see him.
And she was surprised how much it worried her when she saw him walking down the hallways, armed with one of the transformed Devils he had defeated. His demeanour was far from what it normally was. He was concerned. No… something was bothering him.
And she wanted to help.
So, in that moment, she ended up speaking more openly than she normally did, and thus succeeded in doing what no other woman had in many years.
Dante momentarily forgot his troubles.
And all the walls he had built up over years, came down, just for a moment.
"You're cute when you're not glaring," he said softly. "And even when you are, actually."
Glynda's eyes widened.
She felt her heart beating in her chest.
It occurred to her, Dante was quite handsome.
What does that have to do with anything? She admonished herself mentally, even as she admired the hard cut of his jaw and cheekbones, his sharp blue eyes.
She blinked. Without being aware of it, the two were only inches apart. Quickly, she almost stumbled back.
"A-anyway. You'll tell me if something is the matter. Hunters must count on each other."
Dante, out of his own trance, nodded.
"Yeah."
Somehow, even knowing his situation, his heart felt a little lighter.
Glynda cleared her throat.
"At any rate, there is an outing today. The first years will be heading to the Forever Fall. As an instructor, you're supposed to come along."
She walked away briskly before Dante could reply, mostly to hide that her face was red.
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The journey to the Forest of Forever Fall passed by quickly. Dante couldn't pay nearly as much attention to his surroundings as he would have liked, focused as he was on using Raijin as shackles to restrict his own power.
It was a shame, because had he not been thus occupied, he would see the satisfying sight of Jaune Arc revealing the fruits of two months of training under Dante, by delivering to one Cardin Winchester a suplex that would make even Nero proud. Several students cheered, and Pyrrha made certain decisions regarding the passing on of her genes.
As the Forest grew nearer, Dante found it becoming progressively harder to control Raijin. The Devil Arm's Resistance ability was already pushed to the absolute breaking point.
Master, the lightning demon said in his mind. Mercy! I am at my limits. I implore you, please… release the hold. I cannot contain this much energy.Dante mentally swore.
While he had sold Devil Arms away in the past, he had never mistreated any of them when they had been in his possession, and he wasn't planning on starting now.
I'm sorry, he thought. This isn't how I imagined it would go, big guy.
All the while, his mind whirled as he tried to find answers.
Why was it getting harder and harder to contain his power? Was it still growing? But if so, why?
Master, said King Cerberus. It is because you are responding to his challenge.
His?There is another, nearby. Another who would be Demon King. A pretender to the throne.
Dante's eyes widened.
There was another demon nearby?!
But I can't sense him! Why?Because you are entirely focused on suppressing your demonic aura, my lord.Damn it! I can't fight him like this.
It was true. If he was worried about his smallest movement splitting the earth open, there was no way he could fight.
Was this how it was going to end then?
He looked around. As he had noted already, most of Remnant's natives could not sense demonic presence at all. The exception to this was Faunuses, and Blake looked on the verge of passing out
Of course. I'm giving off more heat than a fireplace in winter, and then there's that other demon too.
An overlord level demon was a foe beyond anything Goodwitch and the others could handle.
If he chose to attack, then it was over.
Dante could only come up with one solution. It was a risky play, but it was worth it.
Getting up, he walked over to the Bullhead's hatch.
"Open up!" he shouted to the pilot.
"Sir?!" shouted back the confused man.
"Open the damn door!" said the devil hunter.
"Dante!" cried Goodwitch. "What are you doing?"
He looked a far cry from his regular self. His face was contorted in strain, and he was sweating, his frame bent over as though weighed down by something.
He turned and looked at her.
"There's something closeby! Get this Bullhead out of here! I'm going down to buy us some time!"
The meaning of his words was clear.
It was no Grimm he was talking about.
Without waiting for an answer, he jumped off as soon as the pilot opened the hatch.
Within seconds, Dante was hurtling through the air.
His plan?
Well, it better work.
As he fell, he felt a strange sensation, as something enveloped his whole body.
Good, he thought. It worked.
The red clad warrior was swallowed whole by the tear in space-time.
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Dante opened his eyes and looked around.
"Been a while since this happened to me," he noted.
Surrounding him in every direction as far as he could see, was the dark void of outer space. As Dante floated, weightless, countless stars lit up the vastness in the far distance. Illuminated by their light, smaller planets and satellites were visible. The nearest of them appeared only the size of a coat button in Dante's vision.
Demon physiology was an interesting thing. Dante felt hunger and thirst, which is why he ate and drank. He also breathed when he was in his human form. But then again, there had been times when he had gone entire days without food, water or sleep. And perhaps most curious of all, the last time he had been in space, which was when a certain Prince of Darkness had transported him into an alternate dimension, he hadn't been affected in any way. No organs popping or blood vessels rupturing… none of the horror stories he had read in magazines about what would happen if one were to be adrift out there without the protection of a space suit. Also… there had been no need to breathe.
He looked at his hands, and found that he was coated in a thin layer of red energy, which felt similar to what he generated deliberately when using Royal Guard. Maybe this was some form of unconscious protection against the vacuum of space? Hard to say.
Visualizing the act of reaching out, he shouted with his mind, knowing that any telepaths would be able to hear him.
"You can show yourself now. Gone to all the trouble of setting up this stage, so go ahead. Make your grand entrance."
In answer, existence warped in front of him.
Blank space crinkled and twisted as though it were paper being twisted by a hand, and rippled like the surface of water, as something emerged from within, pulling itself out.
Larger and larger the ripples spread, and along with them, vibrations. Dante felt a force pulling him towards the centre of the distortion, and it took him a moment to realize that it wasn't telekinesis.
It was gravity.
Whatever was emerging, it was large enough that its gravitational field could be felt.
The blackness of space broke, as a massive object extended outwards from unknown depths, becoming visible. It was pure gold, glowing brighter than the purest metal in the reflected light of the stars. Dante squinted, and realised that what he was looking at was a finger. The gravity pulling him became heavier, and the devil hunter exerted some effort to keep himself in place with his power.
The fabric of the dimension itself crumpled and gave way, as the other fingers of the hand pushed their way through, followed by the palm, and then the wrist.
It was hard to estimate distances in space, so Dante had no idea how far away the being was. At the very least, the arms that were now pulling themselves into existence were dwarfing even stars.
And Dante had a feeling it wasn't simply an illusion caused by distance and perspective.
As much as he hated to admit it, this was a grand entrance. Even old Mundus had nothing on this.
The being, whatever it was, was now visible up to its shoulders. Its arms were humanoid in shape, resembling those of a muscular male, though on a scale far beyond them.
Dante looked on, as like a swimmer surfacing from the water, the entity slowly revealed itself in full.
Was it male? It certainly looked masculine. Its entire body, nude as it was, looked like that of a human man. Made entirely of gleaming gold, it looked like the glorious image of gods that mankind had deified and worshipped through the ages, building statues and shrines in their honour. In stark contrast to most demons, who looked hideous, its face was beautiful, with high cheekbones and smooth features.
Beyond any of the beings Dante had fought before, who had all claimed to be lords of the underworld, this entity had power. It had no need to project aggression or rage. Its face was serene, peaceful.
Dante could tell just by looking at its expression.
It didn't see what it was doing as an attack, an act of domination.
It was merely administering its domain.
While all others had claimed to rule, this one already saw existence as his.
Standing at his full height, he towered over celestial bodies, which looked like ants next to him.
At this point, the gravity he was exerting by his mere presence was pulling Dante many trillions of times harder than the Earth ever had.
The devil hunter felt like he did when he flew using his Devil Trigger, except, he was exerting force to stay in place, not to move.
The two faced off, staring each other down.
And then, the titanic being spoke, not using telepathy.
He was breaking the rules of reality, speaking with actual sound, in the vacuum of space.
In complete contrast to his scale, his voice only sounded as loud as a normal conversational tone in a warm living room somewhere.
"Well met, Dante. I have heard much about you. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance at last."At this point, the silver-haired warrior took stock of a few things.
No matter how civil and polite this guy seemed, he hadn't gone to all the effort of transporting Dante here just to talk.
He became aware of a few things.
Firstly, he was still wearing Raijin, but he wasn't having any trouble containing his power any more.
So, he decided to try something.
Reaching into his own mind, he found the souls of the Devil Arms.
Hey, you guys. Tall, dark and gleaming over there. You know him?King Cerberus was the first to answer. The icy head, the most reasonable of the three, was the one who spoke.
Aye, we know him. To be more accurate, we know of him. Until this day, we assumed he was a mere myth. A story, told to frighten us into obedience.Dante raised an eyebrow. A bedtime story to scare demons? Now this should be one hell of a tale.
So? Who is he then?The Devil Arms hesitated.
Finally, Orion answered.
That… is the original Devil. The first, and strongest of us all. The one whose image all Demon Kings have sought to obtain, and failed. That… is Satan.
Balrog explained further.
He goes by many names. Perhaps one for each form he possesses. There have been Devil Arms named after him, and Demon Kings who attempted to steal his names for power. But none succeeded. There is no mistaking it. The one standing before us now is the true Fallen One.With perfect timing, the colossal entity smiled. His eyes, which were darker than the pitch black void of space, promised untold malice.
Boss Battle: Bringer of Light, Lucifer
Dante nodded.
So that's who he was, then.
The big bad to end all big bads.
Is this why my power's been growing?
King Cerberus answered.
Demonic power responds to demonic power. You must have sensed Lucifer's presence without realizing it, and instinctively released your own limiters-
Wait, limiters? What are you talking about?
A collective groan went up from all the Devil Arms.
Here they were, on the brink of the biggest battle in demonic history, perhaps the biggest battle in the history of all Creation, and the one about to fight didn't know what was going on, because he had spent his time reading magazines and eating pizza.
Ironically enough, that was why he was the only one who could do this.
Because he was a demon who had embraced humanity.
It was both the factor that enabled this, and the factor that was holding him back.
Demonic power responds to the will of the possessor. You have always wished to live with humans, being a part of their world, said Cerberus.
And that is why, said Balrog, the vast majority of your power is suppressed. Have you never wondered why you have been stronger whenever you fought in the Underworld? Or against those who had claimed to be Demon Kings?
Dante looked back, and found it was true.
He had very rarely touched the heights his power had reached against Mundus, or Argosax. Even against Urizen, though he'd had no time to think about it, he had been weaker.
And against Vergil, weaker still, though he and his brother had both been consciously holding back during their duel atop the Qliphoth. Rather than a fight of power, it had been a contest of skill.
As if reading his thoughts, Cavaliere clarified. All the Devil Arms residing in him had access to his memories, so even those he had acquired later were aware of his family and his past.
The same goes for your brother, and even your nephew, who has only a fourth of demon blood in him. Your true worth only shows when you face adversaries you seek to kill, adversaries who threaten your world.
Dante nodded, getting it.
It was a simplified explanation, but it was more than enough.
So you're telling me… I beat Mr. Lightbringer over there, and I go back to normal?Master! That should be the least of your concerns! If you defeat Lucifer, then you will be the one, the true… Dante waved his hand.
Yeah, whatever. Not interested. Let's just get this over with.
He dispelled Raijin.
This was an alternate dimension, and he was all the way out here in space. There was no fear of hurting anyone.
And thus, no need to hold back.
Dante looked at Lucifer and grinned.
He'd never actually let loose with everything he had.
First time for everything, right?Demon power, that could warp reality. Demon power, that responded to will. Dante's conscious and subconscious limiters lifted, fading away.
And he spoke, in the vacuum of space.
"Heh. Nice. A parlour trick for the ages."
Lucifer's wicked smile grew.
"A descendant of mine. My, my. It's been a while since one of you showed some worth. But I suppose it has a pattern to it. The last time it happened, it was your father.""Yeah, yeah. Why is it that everyone I meet is more hung up on my Dad than me?"
A moment of silence followed.
Then, Lucifer laughed.
Being the one demon who wasn't compensating for insecurities, he could trade jokes with Dante.
"And you have a sense of humour too. It does feel nice, knowing that my better qualities are being inherited. Well, then, I suppose we can dispense with the pleasantries.""Straight to the point, huh? Nice. So, what do you want?"Lucifer made a show of thinking it over, bringing a hand to his chin.
"What do I want? The only thing worth having, of course."
He clenched one enormous fist, and in the distance, several thousand stars detonated, all at once, supernovae engulfing space in brilliant bursts of beautiful, deadly light which wouldn't even reach the combatants for millions of years.
"Everything."
Dante's own grin grew.
His demonic side, free at last, was speaking out.
To be sure, his humanity hadn't been consumed. But demons aggressively defend what is precious to them, and Dante was doing the same.
What did he want?
For everyone to have a happy ending. He couldn't live everyone's life for them.
But he could give them the chance to do it themselves, if all it took was beating gods who wanted to rule them.
"That's funny," he said. "Because I want it too."
He held up his own hand, and his body began to glow.
Glyphs of Infernal Runes appeared all around him, burning red.
He tightened his fist, and countless light years away, stars exploded.
"Everything."
There was no more room for words. Now, it was time to fight.
Lucifer smirked.
Spontaneously creating an entire universe was something his descendant, Mundus, had tried to do, but his effort had not been a complete success. It was only a facsimile, a partial copy, just large enough to be a battlefield for a fight with his nemesis' son.
Lucifer, on the other hand, could do it.
This was a proper and complete replica of a universe, exact down to the minute detail. The only thing missing was life.
That was no fun to "create".
So many demons and "deities", pretending to be the One, True God.
While those like Mundus could bring forth life, this was a form of procreation, not true creation.
That was a feat reserved only for Him.
Lucifer knew this.
Which is why he never attempted it.
What fun was it to create a being who did your bidding? Demons couldn't create free will or souls anyway.
It was so much more exciting to interact with living beings. Seeing their joys. Their sorrows. Their light. Their darkness.
And so, an entire universe, devoid of life, just to battle a truly worthy opponent.
This, he thought, is how you do it, kids.
He snapped his fingers, and instantly, planets were pulled out of orbit.
They hurtled towards Dante, traversing interstellar distances in mere seconds.
The red-clad Devil saw them approaching.
His Devil Arms wouldn't be of any use here. Using them would only lead to their destruction. And of course, Ebony and Ivory, or his other guns, wouldn't do it either.
But, he didn't need any of them.
His entire field of vision was occupied by the ground rushing up to meet him. He felt heat, as the planet's atmosphere attempted to burn him up. Looking at the terrain itself, it was completely barren, made only of rocks and minerals.
Lucifer hadn't even created vegetation in this lifeless universe.
With his conscience free, Dante swung his arm outwards.
The backfist shattered the celestial body, turning it into nothing but fragments that would float in the void until armageddon.
"Come on. You can do better than that!"
Dante taunted Lucifer, gesturing at him to bring it on.
The Fallen One laughed.
Under Dante's feet, a swirling mass appeared, concentrated at a single point, and he felt himself being pulled downwards.
Sight disappeared, as all light was swallowed up.
Lucifer was attempting to crush Dante with a black hole.
The Legendary Devil Hunter grinned.
Hey, Vergil.This is power.He flexed, his muscles breaking free from the gravity that didn't even let light escape.
And as he did so, he forced his demonic aura outwards, utterly obliterating the black hole.
"That all you got?"
Lucifer's smile couldn't even be contained on his face.
Finally. Someone he could properly fight.
Abandoning his use of gravity manipulation, he raised one hand, and a spear of light formed in it.
As it became clearer and clearer, Dante could feel the world shaking.
This was Lucifer's Divine Weapon, a power to surpass any Devil Arm, a power that all Demon Kings who came after him couldn't hope to match, combined.
Dante could feel its might. It made the Qliphoth seem a houseplant in comparison.
If that was how it was going to be… then he would give it all he had too.
He raised his own hand, and True Devil Sword Dante formed in it.
Turning it, he held the hilt with both hands, so that the blade was pointing towards himself.
Lucifer's void eyes glowed with the light of things that humanity had never seen, and never would.
"That's it, Dante! Show me… show me your Sin."
"So be it. No more playing around."As he drove the blade into his own chest, he felt the power within him released in full.
Lucifer's golden arm strained, muscles and veins bulging as he held the Spear of the Lightbringer back.
It was ready, fully charged.
Time to unleash it, and end this worthy descendant's life!
And then, his entire vision, which could see past, present and future at the same time, were blocked out, by a field of pure red.
Only for an instant was Dante's True Sin Devil Trigger released.
A moment in time so small, it would be impossible to measure for humans.
An infinitesimal moment.
But Lucifer saw it, with all three of his eyes.
Demonic power, which could manipulate reality, because it had all been inherited from Lucifer. Lucifer, who had, in turn, received it from Him.
Demonic power, which was magnificent, but ultimately, incomplete. Sundered forever from the Divinity it had rejected. Humans, who were the beloved children of that Divinity. And so it was, that in Dante, Lucifer's incomplete power was whole.
The act of humanity touching the Divine has been called a Sin. But in truth, perhaps that was what it had always been destined to do. Lucifer didn't know. He didn't know. But just for a moment, he saw a light he hadn't seen in a long, long time.
Sin Devil Dante swung the demonic blade that carried his name.
Each slash destroyed a segment of the Lightbringer's Spear.
Six slashes were delivered in total.
For the seventh, Dante stood firm, and under him, a Glyph was formed, one that continued to expand outwards, indefinitely.
Dante let flare all his energy in a single, magnificent attack.
Crimson light consumed everything, shattering the Lightbringer's Spear, and destroying the replica universe completely.
Sheer destructive power on a level that crossed over from physical to conceptual, rendering an entire dimension's space and time into unreality, wiping it out of existence.
As the universe faded away, both Lucifer and Dante were swallowed in the limbo separating worlds.
Dante, with all his energy expended, had returned to his human form.
Lucifer had taken no damage himself, but he was done with the fight. And so, he had taken a form that was human in scale.
The two demons floated in the void, next to each other, lying down as though on a grassy field.
Lucifer exhaled, closing his eyes, satisfied.
"As I thought. You truly are something else.""Is that all you have to say after all that?"
Dante hadn't been able to destroy him.
If all of that power hadn't been enough, then there was no point worrying anymore. He had done everything he could.
"Oh well, it was a fun ride."
Lucifer laughed.
"Indeed. And I have a feeling you will have many more from here on out."
Dante looked at him in surprise.
"Now that's a first. No evil speech? No destroying me and then conquering the world?"
"Hah! You've watched far too many cartoons. What fun is it to destroy this wonderful Creation?"Lucifer's goal had never been dominion by force.
His Father had given human beings the most interesting thing of all: free will.
And then, He had left.
He was still out there somewhere. But the Angels didn't know where to find him. And so, to compensate, they had come up with their own ideas of what Divinity was. Ideas that Lucifer had never been able to accept.
And so, he had left.
Rejected Divinity.
Was it out of anger? Did he feel like his Father had abandoned him?
Or was it simply a wish to see what living beings did with free will?
He didn't know.
One could know the multiverse, without knowing oneself.
Looking at Dante now, he had seen it, just for a moment.
Was that what Divinity truly was?
The same things he had come to like in humans?
He didn't know.
For that instant, when he had witnessed the Sin Devil Trigger, he had felt a fleeting sense of regret. But it had also been accompanied by joy.
He laughed. Wasn't that what mortal life was? A mixed bag of regrets and happiness?
"The world is fine as it is. Ruling it is impossible, and moreover, undesirable. It takes a fool to not see that."
Dante blinked.
"Say, are we really all descended from you? Because I've met a fair few demons, and they didn't have this much common sense."
"Hah."The two lay there for a while in silence.
"So what are you going to do now?" Dante asked.
"What I've always done. Travel the worlds. See interesting things."
Dante looked at Lucifer seriously.
"Hey. The Underworld's a rowdy place. Could use a guy with some common sense in charge."
"Hard pass," replied Lucifer, using the jargon popular with humans. "There's a reason I vacated that throne. Besides… didn't those friends residing in your soul tell you? There's one other person who's qualified for the job."
Dante's eyes widened.
"Wait, you're not serious…"
"You did beat me."
The half-demon scoffed.
"Yeah, right. Couldn't even put a scratch on you."
"You destroyed my Lightbringer's Spear, even if it was only temporarily. That hasn't happened before. Not even when I fought my brother."
"Uh… I haven't really read the books too much, so-"
"Neither have I," said Lucifer. "Religion and I don't mix."
In spite of himself, Dante felt a smile come on to his face.
"Amen to that."
"Jokes apart, Dante. The throne is vacant. And as you yourself admitted, there needs to be someone on it. While controlling people is pointless… guiding them may be fulfilling."
The red-clad warrior looked away, uneasy.
"It's just… I have a life already, you know? And a world to look after."
It was true. Things were happening in Remnant. Things that he still knew very little about. He couldn't just-
"Ah, that world abandoned by those two useless twins? Come on, it ought to take you only a second to-"
He stopped, abruptly, and coughed.
Couldn't give away the game now, could he? Watching the happenings on Remnant was extremely entertaining, and part of what made it fun was seeing Dante, for the most part, go through it all as a hunter, and not the demon lord he could be. He could easily tell him what was happening behind the scenes.
About the twins.
The wizard who was their servant.
The gift of the silver eyes.
And the witch who was carrying quite a grudge.
But where was the fun in that?
"Only a second to do what?" asked Dante, curiosity piqued.
"Never mind."
"Hey, come on."
"Nope. Sorry. I have, as you people say, a strict no-spoiler policy. It's why I can't stand prophets and seers."Dante tried asking every way he knew, but Lucifer remained adamant.
He did, however, choose to let him know something else.
"You were wondering, probably, why your powers felt out of control. I have a feeling your Devil Arms gave some form of explanation, but I fear it isn't the whole story. So I'll tell you this: human spirit possesses a powerful force of its own. One that can balance even demonic power. Problems occur when you try to forcibly suppress either side."
Dante looked back.
In his youth, he'd had a hard time controlling his powers, because he had rejected his demonic heritage.
Vergil, on the other hand, had suffered because he had rejected his humanity.
Things had become better for both twins when they had learnt to accept both sides of themselves.
And more recently, in Remnant, his powers had started to spiral out of control.
What had been on his mind right before that?
Well, there was the situation in Remnant. But that was nothing new: he had spent his entire life so far dealing with world-threatening situations.
No, what was new was being forced to once more confront that there were people he was close to now.
People he couldn't just shut away by drinking all day in his office.
"To be human… is to accept the emotions that come with it. Your father saw that. Maybe it's time you see it too."
Dante looked at his hands.
"What if I lose control? I could go all out over there because it was outer space. I can't do the same thing when people are around."
Lucifer sighed.
"Don't you understand yet? Your powers were simply growing because of my presence. Didn't you notice they were under control as soon as you were in another dimension?"
Dante started slightly.
It was true.
"The only time demonic powers go out of control is when the soul using them doesn't believe in itself. As I've said, human emotion and devil energy balance each other out. If you were losing control, it was because you were trying to suppress one or the other."The pieces were falling into place at last.
Demonic power responded to the will of the possessor. Where they had a purpose, and a strong will, it remained under control. That was why Dante, Nero and Vergil were able to do what they did, whereas the likes of Sanctus and Arkham failed. It was also why Dante was able to live with humans and fit in, and why his strength increased when facing would-be gods.
It was why he had grown stronger against Lucifer, and why he had regained control as soon as he had arrived in another world. Since he was no longer worried about hurting anyone, his doubts had disappeared, replaced by self-belief.
It depended on will, on subconscious desire. And it was balanced out by humanity, something Dante had always felt, but now knew to be true.
Suppressing either one's humanity or one's demonic side caused an imbalance. And the root cause of that suppression was doubt, fear.
Both factors together had been why he had been unable to perfectly control his strength, in contrast to the times against Mundus or Argosax or even Urizen.
Accepting the emotions that come with humanity…
It really always had been that simple.
He just needed to believe in himself.
His insecurities and worries were a result of finally having people around that he didn't want to shut away.
Whether it was his students, or the people of Remnant.
Nevan.
And even Glynda Goodwitch.
He'd been suppressing his desires to be closer to them. And in doing so, suppressing his humanity, and fearing his own demon side.
He realized he was tired of keeping a distance from everyone, living just to kill demons.
He wanted to live.
Not to carry on anyone's legacy, or for revenge.
He wanted to live, for himself.
Lucifer smirked. It appeared he was finally getting it.
"Well, this has been an interesting meeting. I wanted to see what the descendant I'd heard so much about was capable of. But it's time I send you back. By the way: there are plenty of demons on the world you call Remnant. I don't like repeating myself, but think about it: a Demon King to rule them is not a bad idea."
Having said what he needed to, the Fallen One opened a portal, and Dante felt himself being pulled into it, and out of limbo… back into Remnant.
Lucifer stood up.
Meeting the descendant he'd heard so much about, the one he'd been watching for the past few months, had been fun. He'd continue to watch, as he grew even further.
"He takes after you, you know," he said aloud.
From elsewhere in limbo, a shadowy figure emerged, his tall form a humanoid and insectoid at the same time, with even some reptilian traces in it.
"He's your descendant," the Legendary Dark Knight said.
"Several generations apart," replied Lucifer. "He's your son."
Sparda smiled proudly, even as the two of them walked into a new portal, leaving limbo behind, and moving on.
"Damn right he is."
SSS SSS SSS SSS SSS SSS SSS SSS SSS SSS SSS SSS SSS SSS SSS SSS SSS SSS
Dante landed lightly on his feet.
Around him were the familiar red-leaved trees of Remnant.
"Well, that happened, huh?"
He clenched and unclenched a fist.
Just gotta believe in myself, huh?"Dante!"
The voice was from really close by.
A moment later, someone collided with him, and then both fell to the ground, tangled up.
He blinked.
Lying on top of him, face inches away from his own, was Glynda Goodwitch.
She was close, so close.
"You're all right!" she said. "When that portal swallowed you, I thought…"
To Dante's immense surprise, her eyes glimmered slightly.
"I thought you were gone for good!"
The very last vestiges of Dante's fears disappeared for good.
Before he could overthink it, he leaned upwards, and kissed her.