Chapter 2 – Hit Me With Your Best Shot
Flames ignited along the Red Queen's blade as Nero plunged the tip of his sword into the pavement and revved the hilt to charge it with more demon-killing power. He could feel a thin line of blood trickling down his face from a deep cut under his right eye where his enemy had sliced him moments earlier. The young hunter's expression was full of hate as he watched the air in front of him become distorted and a rift suddenly form, the large demon that materialized out of the portal unleashing a guttural roar upon completing its most recent teleportation.
The monster stood about twice as tall as Nero, its head resembling that of a corpse with deep, black soulless eyes that tracked the young hunter's every move as he stared back at it with absolute loathing. Its entire upper body and part of its face was wreathed in what at first glance, appeared to be a writhing mass of purplish-blue "tentacles" that also made up its arms. In actuality, these sinuous tentacles were the demon's own entrails (Nero had seen the innards of many slain demons in his time to recognize demon guts when he saw them!) Instead of hands, the monster possessed a pair of enormous blades almost as long as the rest of its body, which it carried up and over its back when it wasn't using them to attack. These blades made the demon rather top-heavy and slow moving, but it compensated for this with its ability to teleport in order to put some distance between itself and its target, usually countering with a sneak attack as it reappeared after teleportation.
"You are really starting to piss me off, you teleporting son of a bitch!" Nero grumbled under his breath resentfully. His hand tightened on the Red Queen's hilt as he raised the sword and prepared to make another lunge at the Hell Judecca that stood before him. He had had more than his fair share of encounters with this particular species of demon in recent months. Even though demon sightings in Redgrave had declined significantly since the Qliphoth had been destroyed, creatures from the Underworld did occasionally find ways of entering the human world by other means and unfortunately, some were better at escaping from hell than others…
And few were more adept (or irritating!) than the demon that Nero currently found himself facing down. The Judecca let out another deep growl and extended its right blade in a long range thrust attack that Nero just barely managed to dodge by jumping to the side as it whistled past his ear. He did not want to get hit by that massive scythe-like blade again! The cut on his face had already begun to heal thanks to the demon blood that flowed through his veins. Nonetheless, Nero was fully aware that the Judecca's bladed weapons could inflict some horrific injuries if he wasn't careful. Not only were the blades lethally sharp along both edges, but each one weighed more than Nero himself and the demon was capable of throwing them around with devastating momentum!
Nero felt his rage escalating as he recalled how the Judecca had almost impaled Lady earlier when it had appeared out of nowhere and ambushed them. He had walked off a short distance down the street when he'd heard Lady calling out to him as she ran to join him. Nero had turned around to face her when the air began to shimmer and warp between them. Then the portal appeared and three Hell Cainas practically landed on top of them, the small ghoul-like demons wasting no time in going on the attack with their serrated scythes. Despite the complete unexpectedness of the attack, Nero and Lady had responded accordingly. Between them, they soon reduced the small demons to piles of ashes with a combination of concentrated gunfire and some good old fashioned hacking and slashing with the Red Queen.
But as it turned out, the Hell Cainas had only been a diversion. While Nero and Lady had their attentions focused on the smaller demons, the Judecca had appeared behind them and launched a devastating sneak attack of its own…
Nero let out an enraged battle cry as he rushed towards the demon, the Red Queen glowing brightly in his hands as he attempted to slash at the writhing mass of guts that covered the Judecca's torso like a gruesome fashion statement. But the demon was cunning and quickly parried Nero's sword strike with a powerful swipe of one of its blades just as the Red Queen was about to make contact with her target. The force of the Judecca's blow threw the young devil hunter off-balance and he stumbled to regain his footing as the demon followed up its parry by lunging forward and slashing downwards with both blades in a deadly counterattack.
Nero's lightning fast reflexes saved him from getting impaled on the spot. But even so, the tip of one of the Judecca's blades caught him on the left shoulder as he jumped back and the young hunter cried out in pain when he felt the razor-sharp weapon slice down to the bone. Blood began to ooze from the wound as Nero took a few steps back and looked down at his torn jacket, his teeth clenched tightly as he fought to control the searing pain that erupted in his shoulder.
"You're going to pay for that, you fucking asshole!" Nero growled through his teeth, nearly dropping his sword as he struggled to lift it with his injured arm. The Hell Judecca floated backwards a few paces in order to get itself into a more strategic position before preparing to unleash another of its long-range attacks on the wounded devil hunter.
Nero grabbed Blue Rose out of its holster and fired a few shots at the demon out of sheer frustration. He had learned from previous encounters with this particular species that shooting at a Judecca for a sustained period of time was not the wisest thing to do, since bullets didn't do a great deal of damage to it and the demon tended to keep teleporting out of range anyway. But Nero didn't really care right now. He needed to buy himself some time until the pain in his shoulder subsided sufficiently enough for him to be able to wield his sword effectively again. Once again, Nero found himself wishing that he had one of Nico's Ragtime Devil Breakers right now. It would have made dealing with this irritating demon so much easier!
But ever since his right arm had miraculously regenerated two months ago, Nero felt it was no longer necessary to carry a bunch of Devil Breakers with him at all times anymore. Sure, he still occasionally resorted to using one when he was called out on demon hunting jobs around the city. But this attack had come unexpectedly and he didn't have a Devil Breaker on his person now…
Nero had no choice but to make do with what he had at the moment. Just as he'd expected, the Judecca teleported constantly to evade his gunfire. It never tried to attack him during this time, instead focusing all its attention on generating portals and reappearing somewhere else in the nearby vicinity before promptly vanishing again and repeating the process.
Nero waited for the Judecca to disappear from view as it teleported again. Then he took the opportunity to charge the Blue Rose until it glowed with even more power. As soon as the demon reappeared a short distance to his right, he unloaded with a barrage of extra-powerful shots that ripped through the Judecca's chest with a satisfying explosion. The demon gave a startled shriek and stumbled backwards a few steps, its blades hanging limply at its sides as it appeared to be momentarily stunned.
Nero seized his chance and charged at the demon before it could fully recover, slashing it across the belly several times with the Red Queen then stabbing it in the chest with a powerful forward thrust that brought it to its knees. The Judecca grunted as fell to the ground at Nero's feet and the young hunter raised his sword high to deliver a lethal strike to the back of the demon's head…
But in his haste to end the battle, Nero forgot one of the most important rules about fighting a Hell Judecca: NEVER under any circumstances, knock this demon to the ground!
Just as Nero was about to bring the Red Queen down hard on the Judecca's skull, a portal engulfed the demon's body and it quickly teleported out of harm's way. Nero's sword embedded itself uselessly into the asphalt where the Judecca had lain moments earlier, causing the young hunter to swear in frustration as he heard an all too familiar whistling sound coming from directly behind him.
Nero leapt aside instinctively, narrowly missing getting skewered straight through the middle as the Judecca sent both its blades hurtling towards him simultaneously from where it had teleported behind him. The sneak attack was preceded by the demon's signature whistling shriek, the same sound Nero had heard earlier when Lady had been caught off-guard and wounded. The thought filled him with a combination of guilt and anger. Lady was a skilled warrior and was more than capable of handling herself around most demons. But at the end of the day, she was only human and could have been seriously maimed or even killed by the Judecca. Nero blamed himself for failing to protect her in the same way he had failed to protect Kyrie in the past…
The young hunter felt his anger reach a boiling point when he heard the Judecca produce a sound that was eerily reminiscent of mocking laughter, its black eyes watching him cruelly as it raised its blades in preparation for another strike. He took an involuntary step back as the demon made a threatening swipe at him with one of its blades before quickly teleporting out of range again. Nero swore loudly as he felt something solid like a boulder hit him unexpectedly from behind. He whirled around furiously, ready to slice whatever it was that the demon had thrown at him now! Instead his eyes widened in confusion when he saw that it wasn't the Judecca, but Dante who was standing behind him with his legendary devil sword in hand, his expression softly teasing as he regarded the dumbfounded look on his nephew's face.
"Never fear, my boy! Uncle Dante is here!" The veteran devil hunter assured Nero with an overly confident smile that made the younger man frown in irritation.
"I don't need your help, Dante. I was doing just fine on my own!" Nero hissed through clenched teeth, his eyes scanning the area for any sign of the Hell Judecca. He spotted the demon standing a few yards away from them, watching them with slight hesitation. Nero didn't know what was going through its mind now that it was faced with the prospect of having to fight two devil hunters instead of one. But he decided that if the Judecca were able to speak, it would probably be aiming some hellish obscenities their way right about now…
Dante raised an eyebrow skeptically in response to his nephew's brash declaration. "You sure about that, kid?" His voice was filled with genuine concern as he gestured to the nasty wound in Nero's left shoulder.
"Yes! I'm fine. That bastard just grazed me that's all…" Nero mumbled absently. His attention was focused on the Judecca intently as it stabbed the tips of both blades into the ground and began making a wide sweeping motion with its arms. The gouges its weapons left in the pavement filled with a dark, bubbling substance that looked like blood coming straight from the ground.
"Oh no you don't, you disgusting pile of demon shit!" Nero shouted, trying to push his way past Dante angrily. He knew what the Judecca was planning to do and he had stop it quickly before it could complete its summoning ritual. He was in no mood to deal with more Hell Cainas or those crazed cleaver-wielding Antenoras in addition to this extremely infuriating enemy!
Dante clapped a hand over Nero's good shoulder firmly, halting the seething young hunter in his tracks. "Cool it, hothead. Why don't you stand back and let me show you how it's done?" Before Nero could protest, Dante charged at the Judecca with lightning speed. His sword clashed loudly against one of the demon's blades and forced it to abandon its summoning in order to parry his strike.
The Judecca let out a low growl as it tried to counter Dante's attack by swiping at him with one of its blades. But the veteran hunter had been anticipating this reaction and swiftly dodged to the side as the demon's weapon sliced through the air where he'd been standing a moment earlier. A malicious grin broke out on Dante's lips as he called out to his sword with his mind, urging it to revert back to its dormant state and it vanished from his hands in an instant. Then he reached into his coat and pulled out a different weapon; a Devil Arm that resembled a staff of some kind with purple electricity crackling along its surface.
The Judecca took one look at the sparking, crackling weapon in Dante's hand and decided it didn't want anything to do with that! In fact, if the demon was capable of speaking, it would probably be saying something along these lines: "Hell no! Fuck this shit! I'm out of here!"
But before the demon could teleport to a safer distance, Dante launched himself into a lightning fast forward spin attack, striking the hapless Judecca repeatedly with the electric staff and preventing it from escaping. Powerful surges of electrical current flowed through the demon's body, rendering its muscles unresponsive as it collapsed to the ground at Dante's feet. But unlike when Nero had stunned it earlier, this time the Judecca was unable to teleport away as Dante began pounding at it relentlessly, his hands covered in flaming red gauntlets that grew hotter and hotter with every blow he landed.
Nero watched in amazement as Dante drew his arm back in preparation to deliver a knockout punch. The experienced hunter maintained this position as the Judecca slowly began to recover and struggled to rise to its feet. As soon as it was standing halfway up, Dante unleashed the full power he'd stored up in the fiery gauntlets and punched the demon in the chest so hard, that Nero heard its ribs shattering from where he was standing. The Judecca made a rasping sound as one of its lungs collapsed from the impact, its mangled chest heaving as it literally had the wind knocked out of it.
"Come on! Is that all you got? Hit me with your best shot! Fire away!" Dante taunted as the demon backed away from him unsteadily. Nero approached the Judecca from behind, the Red Queen aglow in his hands and his expression set with determination. "Don't expect me to just sit back and let you have all the fun, Dante! I'm not about to give you the satisfaction of bagging this bitch after putting up with all its bullshit for the past hour!"
Dante looked thoughtful for a moment, his gaze shifting from the demon, to Nero and back again. Finally the veteran devil hunter sighed and nodded slowly in agreement. "Fair enough, Nero. Tell you what. How about we finish off this creep together? I still have some unfinished business at the garage and the sooner we kill this thing, the sooner I can get back to more important matters…"
Nero's eyebrow practically shot up to his hairline as he regarded his uncle questioningly. "Hey! Watch it, asshole! That's my friend you're talking about!" He pointed the Red Queen's tip in the direction of the Judecca scathingly before adding, "If you so much as look at Nico the wrong way, you'll find yourself joining this sorry excuse for demon shit in the Underworld!"
Despite the harshness in his voice, Nero couldn't help smiling inwardly at the thought of Dante and Nico spending a romantic evening together. He had heard rumors that his uncle had an appalling track record when it came to dating women. His natural attractiveness as well as the legends surrounding his heroic deeds seemed to have an irresistible effect on the opposite sex. So why was it that a date with the infamous son of Sparda supposedly always ended with tears and disappointment? In fact Nero had heard that his uncle was notoriously unlucky when it came to women and that many of those unfortunate (or foolish) enough to fall under his charms, tended to avoid Dante like a plague after surviving a "date" with him.
"I just hope Nico realizes what she's getting herself into…" Nero thought to himself coyly. He quickly pushed the thought aside and turned his attention back to the Hell Judecca still standing between him and his uncle. He noted that the demon appeared to be having trouble lifting its formidable blades into an attack position and it was breathing with difficulty due to its collapsed lung. Apparently, it didn't have the strength to teleport either, since it hadn't tried to conjure any portals after Dante had nailed it with the full power of Balrog's "real impact." But it wasn't ready to go down yet…
As though in answer to Dante's earlier taunt, the Judecca roared with defiance and raised its blades for one final attack. Dante and Nero both charged at it in unison, swords drawn and ready to deliver the killing blow. The demon waited until both hunters were almost upon it before executing a spectacular and deadly pirouette, its lethal blades arcing through the air as it tried to slash both devil hunters simultaneously during its spin. Dante timed his moment just right and managed to grab the demon by the base of one of its blades as it ended its wild spinning attack. Meanwhile, Nero summoned his Devil Bringer and latched onto the Judecca's other blade with his spectral blue arm.
"Here's a taste of your own medicine!" Nero shouted and began pulling back on the Judecca's blade as hard as he could with his Devil Bringer arm. There was a disgusting squelching noise as the young hunter gave a few strong tugs and finally succeeded in wrenching the blade out of the writhing entrails that made up the demon's upper arm. The weapon was incredibly heavy and Nero would never have been able to lift it, let alone throw it without the added power of his Devil Bringer. The Judecca shrieked in outrage as its blade was ripped out of its grasp and it began frantically struggling to free its remaining weapon from Dante's grip. Despite its size and fearsome appearance, the demon was virtually helpless without its impressive double blades...
Dante braced himself against the thrashing demon and drove the tip of its remaining weapon into the ground, pinning it down as Nero concentrated all his power into his Devil Bringer and threw the Judecca's enormous blade straight into its chest. At the same time, Dante adjusted his hold on the demon's other blade and yanked it out of the ground forcefully, stabbing the dying monster in the abdomen with the point of the weapon as it fell backwards. The Judecca's shrill death cry filled the air as its body began to dissolve into dust before their eyes. Soon there was nothing left of the demon but a few charred particles floating in the air, its spirit sent back to the Underworld where it would join the vanquished souls of its fallen brethren.
"I was kind of hoping I could keep one of those blades as a trophy. It would have looked great in my office…" Dante commented with a disappointed sigh. He saw Nero giving him a strange look and offered the young hunter a small smile of admiration. "Those were some sweet moves, kid. Remind me never to challenge you to an arm wrestling match with that Devil Bringer of yours!"
Nero smirked at his uncle approvingly. "You didn't do so bad yourself for an old guy. Just remember, I could still kick your ass in a fight anytime!"
Dante chuckled and threw his arm around Nero's shoulders affectionately. The young hunter winced and swore as his uncle's hand touched his sore left shoulder where one of the Judecca's blades had "grazed" him earlier. The injury had already begun to heal over, but it still hurt regardless. "Hey! Watch it, dumbass! That still feels a bit tender."
Dante made an appeasing gesture with his hands as Nero shrugged off his touch roughly. But the older hunter's eyes were filled with a softly teasing light as he reached over and ruffled his grouchy nephew's hair playfully. "There, there my feisty little Nero. Did I ever tell you that you're the closest thing I have to a son?"
Nero swore again and pulled a disgusted face at his uncle. "I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that…"
He had meant the comment as an insult. But in the end, Nero had to admit that he was almost relieved that his tone sounded more teasing than angry as the two devil hunters made their way back to the garage side by side.
A/N: First of all I want to thank all the wonderful people who have been reading this story so far! I also want to send out a special thanks to all the people who took the time to review the first chapter :) I really appreciate hearing your thoughts and your wonderful feedback (whether it's constructive or humorous) motivates me to keep writing :)
I hope I didn't bore you all with this chapter. I think I'm probably one of the only people out there who actually likes the Hell Judecca! True. They can be a major pain in the ass to deal with, but I just find them so interesting and call me crazy, but I thoroughly enjoy fighting them, xD. Anyway, since this story is categorized as both humor and supernatural, I guess this covers the "supernatural" part. The next few chapters will hopefully contain a bit more humor (and surprises along the way!)