Daddy's Gotta Go to Work
Lineia rolled the black glowing sphere from one palm to the next. She had never been so bored in her entire life. She placed the sphere into a groove on her armrest and picked up her cup. The blood had already gone cold. She slammed the cup down. "Where is the waiter?" No one heard her over the noise that passed for music. Demons danced around the bonfire in celebration of her impending ascension. Some of the careless ones kicked dirt across everything in their paths, including her. She leaned her head back to gaze at the stars. It all made her sick to her stomach.
"I want to get out of here," she moaned. "It's not so fun now that I've won." She sat up when a servant tapped her on the knee. "It's about time you got here." She held out her cup for a refill of fresh blood. It instantly warmed the glass. The servant lingered to watch her take a gulp. Then she raised the cup in a salute of gratitude. "That really hit the spot."
The servant bowed and turned to leave. Lineia grabbed his arm. "Wait a minute. You wouldn't have, by any chance, seen Arkyle, would you?" The servant merely shook its head. "Figures. Go on." The servant bowed again and disappeared among the chaos of celebration. Lineia leaned back in her chair again. "Where could that booby be?"
*
Arkyle had met the woman only five minutes earlier. He didn't even know her name, but at that moment, he was experiencing the greatest ecstasy he'd ever had in a back street. He didn't care that he had to pay for it; it was Lineia's money. It was his own personal way of giving the boss the middle finger. All thoughts of Lineia quickly disappeared with the bobbing of the unknown woman's curly red hair.
I should have brought her some knee pads, he thought. He wasn't concerned nor ashamed that he didn't know what she looked like. Her face went straight for his crotch. He was beginning to feel a tingling when the girl suddenly stopped. "What the hell?"
"Ahem!" Arkyle glanced straight ahead. Dante stood in front of him with a shotgun placed at the back of the girl's head. "Do you mind?" Dante asked her. "I need to have a few words with your friend here."
"Whatever you have to say to me," Arkyle declared, "you can say in front of her."
"I'm not really giving her a choice." That was all she needed to hear. She released Arkyle and sprinted down the alley. Dante fought back a snicker when he glimpsed at what she'd been working on. "You were paying her for THAT? She must really be on hard times."
Arkyle pushed Dante with both hands. Dante's feet remained planted. "No one insults me like that!" Arkyle bellowed. "Who do you think you are!"
Dante shoved Arkyle with one hand. Arkyle flew back into the stone wall. The impact created a small hole that Arkyle's backside got stuck in. He struggled with both hands and feet to pull himself free. His efforts ceased when the shotgun barrels were pressed against his nose.
"I'll ask you only once. Where is Lineia?"
"What's it to you?"
"She has something that belongs to my daughter. I want it back."
"Oh, that little brat."
"Lilith is dying. If I don't get back to her in time, you'll wish to die by the devil's own hands."
"I won't help you."
"Fine. I'm sure Lineia won't miss you when your head's pasted all over the wall."
"Wait!" Arkyle exclaimed. He still could not pull himself from the wall. "Why kill me? I haven't done anything to you or your daughter personally."
"Maybe, but you won't help me save Lilith. On top of that, you're seriously pissing me off, and my trigger finger is feeling a bit irritable. I think you've already made your decision."
"No! Wait!"
Dante slumped over slightly in annoyance. "Why? You were just going to let my kid die."
"I'm sorry. All right?"
"No, no. I want what I asked for. Tell me now or your body will be buried in twelve different places, and you WILL be conscious during the operation."
"She's in the plaza! There's some sort of celebration going on there." Sweat beaded on Arkyle's head as the shotgun got closer to his face.
"What is she celebrating?"
"I don't know."
Dante pushed the shotgun further until it touched Arkyle's nose. "Why did she take Lilith's powers? What does she want with them?"
"She wants to take them for her own."
"Why? Doesn't she have her own powers."
Arkyle shook his head. "Lineia isn't like other demons."
"How so?"
"She was born a human thousands of years ago."
The shotgun dropped a few inches. "What?"
"She was born a human and taken into darkness, just like your mother and brother. She was a powerful sorceress in life. As a servant of the Underworld, she used those skills to steal the life essences of other demons, thus becoming a full fledged demon herself. What you see isn't her real appearance anymore. She looks as twisted as any other lowly demon. She merely wishes to add Lilith's powers to her collection."
"Why didn't she try to take mine?"
"You're too powerful and experienced to fall for it."
Dante absorbed it all for a moment. "I see. The plaza, you said?"
"Yes, that's it."
"Thank you." Dante lifted the shotgun to Arkyle's nose again and pulled the trigger. Before he released it, he was already on the rooftops. What was left of Arkyle's body slumped over. It never fell free of the wall. It just hung limp from the stone, where it was found seconds later while Dante leapt over the buildings towards the plaza.
Several buildings later, Dante saw the plaza over the side of the roof. A great pillar of smoke rose from the bonfire. He dropped to his stomach and slid across to the edge. Below he saw the disordered dancing of demons. Lineia was easy to spot. She was leaning back in a gold plated throne. The chair's back was facing him. He could not see the black glowing sphere, but he could feel something as if Lilith were standing next to him.
Lineia sat up when her neck began to cramp. "When can we finally get this show on the road?" she asked a demon crouching beside her.
"They have a lot of pent-up energy. It's been nearly twenty years since the seed for the orb you hold was planted, and only now did it come to fruition."
"Do I look like I care about their pent-up energy?"
The demon sighed. "If you're so impatient, why don't you just stop them and commence with whatever you wanted to do."
"You know, that's a good idea. I'm glad I thought of it." She slapped the demon on the side of its head and pushed it to the ground. She picked up the sphere, stood, and shrieked. The music and dancing halted instantaneously. Demons frozen in mid-step turned only their heads to look her way. "You have no idea how absurd you all look," Lineia said casually. "Now is the time to finish this! Then I can dance across the world with you as your true empress. There's other cool stuff, but I don't feel like talking about it right now."
Nobody moved. Lineia raised the sphere to her face. To her amazement, the glowing energy within the glass caught her reflection flawlessly. "Oh, I am so perfect," she said while admiring herself. She stopped when the sphere caught something else. She raised it slightly to get a better look. When she realized what she was seeing, she lowered the sphere.
"What is it?" the demon beside her asked as he got off the ground.
"He's here."
"Who's here?"
"Sparda's son!" She pivoted and inhaled. When she released the scream, Dante stood to react. The building he stood on toppled to the ground. Lineia's eyes darted upwards to the red clad figure above the flying smoke and debris. Dante landed on his feet between Lineia and the bonfire. No one dared move without her approval. She didn't give it yet. "I bet I know what you want," she taunted.
"I assume there's no point in simply asking for it."
"It would be a terrible waste if you did. Remember this?" Lineia rotated the sphere so Dante could see the small crack. "The orb is holding now, but a few more of these, and your daughter is as good as dead. If you want to take this from me, then you have to kill me. If you want to kill me, you'll first have to kill all of them." Lineia's finger swept across the entire assembly.
"It sounds easy enough."
"I'd really enjoy watching you try." Lineia tossed the sphere into the air. Dante leapt to grab it. The demon beside Lineia vaulted and tackled him. They flew through the bonfire flames before colliding with the ground. The same time they hit the ground, Lineia caught the sphere. "Heads up!" she yelled to another demon before tossing him the sphere.
The first demon seized Dante by the neck. Then he was engulfed in flame as an Ifrit gauntlet slammed into his gut. The demon jumped free, only to land in the bonfire. That was everyone else's cue for attack. Dante rolled to his feet and landed on one demon's head. He bound from one head to the next in a ludicrous version of hopscotch.
When he dodged the eighth, he saw the next demon up ahead carrying the sphere. After only one second of eye contact, the demon took flight. Dante jumped after it and summoned the powers he'd honed for years. Engulfed in the black light, he transformed into a dark winged demon. He was after the thief with one powerful push of his wings. Dante spread his hands. Fire sliced through the demon's body. It screamed once and dropped the orb before exploding. Dante smelled carbon as he swooped down to snatch the orb. Another demon smashed into his back. His claws reached down for the orb, but it merely rolled across the claws and continued its descent.
Dante reverted to his human form just as both he and his new adversary crashed into the nearest intact building. They emerged from the other side and crashed into the adjacent building. They emerged from that one also and crashed into the third one. This time, their momentum slowed enough for them to hit the floor. All three buildings were reduced to stone debris and smoke.
"He's still alive!" Lineia screamed. "Take him out! And get the orb!"
One demon found the orb rolling across the ground. He picked it up and scrutinized it. Three more small cracks and one large one were scattered across the surface. He stared at the glowing black light until he heard the others screeching among the debris. He dropped the orb and stood. All he saw was a flaming fist before it ripped his head off.
Dante plowed through them two or three at a time with Ifrit. There seemed to be an endless supply of them. He chased the orb from one demon to the next. They quickly learned that the next demon to catch it was the next demon to die. The only smart one in the group dodged it when it was thrown his way. The orb flew straight into the bonfire. Dante drop kicked him anyway and rebound after the orb. Dante and the orb both entered the bonfire. Dante emerged from the other side with the orb in hand.
"May I please have that back?" Lineia asked politely.
Dante slowly raised his eyes to her. They were glowing red. "Over my dead body, bitch."
Lineia shrugged. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to that, but, if that's what you want, who am I to disappoint you?" Lineia's eyes took on their own eerie black glow. "As you so gleefully requested..."
Dante saw it coming. He took to the air again and transformed in midair. The impending ambush fumbled below him. "For one with such great ambitions, you're not very creative."
Thoroughly choleric, Lineia screamed again. This time, with her demonic upgrade, the energy shockwave resonated from her body in all directions. The demons who were unfortunate enough to be on the ground when she did it were obliterated without a sound. When she finally managed to calm down, she glanced around in amazement.
"Look what you made me do!" she screamed up at Dante.
"You sound like a spoiled child," Dante called back. Don't you ever get tired of screaming?
"You know," Lineia said, "someone else said something like that to me earlier today. Now I remember. It was that tramp you used to keep."
Dante landed and spat at the ground. "Deanna was no tramp."
"So I heard. Just be a good boy and give me what I want."
"I already gave you my answer on that."
"Very well then."
Dante braced himself for her backlash, but it never came. He didn't have time to care. He was knocked to the ground from above by a demon who survived Lineia's tantrum. The sphere was knocked from his hand. Dante lost sight of it as he was nailed to the earth. He pushed himself to his feet and strafed to avoid further attack. He stood and found a halberd blade sticking through his chest. He apathetically pulled it the rest of the way and swung it. The demon behind him was slashed in half.
Dante took off Ifrit and pulled Sparda from its place on his back. "Don't worry about them," Lineia said to him. "Worry about Lilith." Lineia shook her head as she held the orb to her face. "I am so displeased with you, Dante."
Dante swung Sparda around and pointed the tip at Lineia's face. "Give me the orb."
"You know it isn't that simple. What will I get in return? Gratitude?" Lineia showed him the cracks again. "You can admit defeat and let me keep this, or you can fight me for it and die or break the orb. Either way, Lilith will die. The choice is yours."
Dante thought about it for a moment, then stepped back as if to concede defeat. Lineia let her guard slip just enough for Dante to plunge Sparda through her chest. She bolted for the sky. She pulled Sparda free and hurled it to the ground. It landed upright at Dante's feet.
"That's it!" Lineia shouted. "I'm through pussyfooting with you!"
Dante watched as six inky tentacles burst from her back. Her own blood spewed as her superficially beautiful skin melted from her body to be replaced by the bloody muscles underneath that bulged to abnormal sizes. Her arms and legs grew to grotesque proportions until they were longer than her body. She dropped to the ground while keeping the orb high above her head. She stood at least 100 feet above him, though most of her weight dragged across the ground. She was hunched forward and crouched on all fours. The tentacles whipped the air above her. Oozing eyes broke out all over her body. Disgusted, Dante grabbed Sparda and took one great leap backwards.
Lineia's laugh was ghastly, but she obviously enjoyed it a lot more than her artificial human laugh. "Do you still want this?" she said in multiple voices. She swung the orb back and forth to taunt him. He refused to reach for it.
"Lilith," he said to the air, "forgive me. I would rather you die than become one with that abomination." Dante forced himself to place Sparda across his back as he contemplated what he was preparing to do. His eyes, which never lost their eerie red glow, began glowing brighter. He raised one hand to his side. A ball of fire erupted in his palm. "Lineia! Catch!"
Lineia was too cumbersome to avoid the fireball he hurled at her. It pierced an eye on her side. Black pus seeped from the broken membranes. As she strove to compensate for the unexpected pain, Dante launched another fireball her way. Eye after eye popped until she was completely blind.
Lineia opened her mouth as if to speak. Instead, an almost inaudible roar arose from her throat. The tentacles struck at Dante as if they had eyes of their own. Dante sidestepped in a blur of speed. Lineia sensed him drop down onto the tentacle. Sparda severed it cleanly from her back. Dante jumped onto another tentacle and rode it back to the ground.
You'll die for this! he felt her rant inside his head. He responded with a flurry of more fireballs. She felt from the heat and burns that he was aiming for what used to her right hand. That was the hand that held the orb. Are you mad! Lilith will die! He answered her with more fire.
Frustrated, Lineia reared onto her hind legs. Her front legs crashed back to earth. The resultant earthquake leveled every building left in the city, thus killing most of the civilians. Lineia couldn't care less. She faltered when she felt the ground crumble into a growing pit beneath Dante, yet Dante did not fall. She took several giant steps backwards to remain outside the pit. Eyes and hands still glowing, Dante lingered on open air.
Lineia whipped her five leftover tentacles into a single point and aimed it straight for Dante. He waited until the last possible moment to dodge again. This time he used them as a bridge to propel himself upwards. Lineia's tentacles stabbed into the ground and got stuck. He reached for Sparda as he reached her head and jumped. Lineia was so enraged when she realized she could not pull herself free, that she didn't notice, at first, when Dante severed her hand on his return trip to earth.
Dante grabbed the orb in mid flight. When his feet hit the ground, Lineia stomped again. Dante fell to one knee and clutched the orb to his chest. He cringed in horror when he heard and felt the orb shatter in his hand. "Lilith, please forgive me," he repeated.
As if in answer to his plea, Dante felt something bore into his chest. He looked down at his hand and chest. They were both encased in what appeared to be shiny black glass. Sparda still in hand, Dante stood. The obsidian covering swallowed him whole the next instant. Dante could not see, but he could feel a swirling mass of energy surround him. He felt something else possess him. He could somehow see in his mind, as if from a third person point of view, that both he and Lineia had disappeared within the swirling black energy.
Somehow, Dante felt himself standing over what was left of Lineia, but he knew it was not him standing there. He felt himself lean over her and seize her neck with one massive hand, but it was not his hand. He heard himself say, "For the children of my blood!" He did hear himself say that, but it was not his voice. It was his father's.
He saw Lineia react to the voice. Before she could grace the world with another scream, he felt himself squeeze her neck, but he knew now it was his father's hand. The hand squeezed harder until Lineia's head exploded. Her brains sprayed through the air in all directions. The hand released what was left of her to let her fall.
Dante didn't have time to brace himself before the energy completely withdrew from his body. The pain of what happened did something few things could do; it made him drop and writhe in agony. After nearly choking on his own body fluids, he made himself inhale slowly. He stayed on the ground just a little longer to get used to the idea of Lilith being dead.
The entire city was uncannily silent. It also had Lineia's body all over it. Dante rolled to his side and pushed himself to his knees. From the corner of his eye, he saw Sparda (the sword, not the knight) on the ground beside him. He used it to stand. When he shook the final knot from his muscles, he heard something jingle and clang. He lifted Sparda and saw two things tied to the hilt. One of them was the red gem that got him into the whole mess in the first place. The second was the orb perfectly intact.
Dante placed the hilt against his forehead. "Thank you, Father." He pulled the gem and orb loose and began the unnaturally quiet trek back to the frozen pond.
Lineia rolled the black glowing sphere from one palm to the next. She had never been so bored in her entire life. She placed the sphere into a groove on her armrest and picked up her cup. The blood had already gone cold. She slammed the cup down. "Where is the waiter?" No one heard her over the noise that passed for music. Demons danced around the bonfire in celebration of her impending ascension. Some of the careless ones kicked dirt across everything in their paths, including her. She leaned her head back to gaze at the stars. It all made her sick to her stomach.
"I want to get out of here," she moaned. "It's not so fun now that I've won." She sat up when a servant tapped her on the knee. "It's about time you got here." She held out her cup for a refill of fresh blood. It instantly warmed the glass. The servant lingered to watch her take a gulp. Then she raised the cup in a salute of gratitude. "That really hit the spot."
The servant bowed and turned to leave. Lineia grabbed his arm. "Wait a minute. You wouldn't have, by any chance, seen Arkyle, would you?" The servant merely shook its head. "Figures. Go on." The servant bowed again and disappeared among the chaos of celebration. Lineia leaned back in her chair again. "Where could that booby be?"
*
Arkyle had met the woman only five minutes earlier. He didn't even know her name, but at that moment, he was experiencing the greatest ecstasy he'd ever had in a back street. He didn't care that he had to pay for it; it was Lineia's money. It was his own personal way of giving the boss the middle finger. All thoughts of Lineia quickly disappeared with the bobbing of the unknown woman's curly red hair.
I should have brought her some knee pads, he thought. He wasn't concerned nor ashamed that he didn't know what she looked like. Her face went straight for his crotch. He was beginning to feel a tingling when the girl suddenly stopped. "What the hell?"
"Ahem!" Arkyle glanced straight ahead. Dante stood in front of him with a shotgun placed at the back of the girl's head. "Do you mind?" Dante asked her. "I need to have a few words with your friend here."
"Whatever you have to say to me," Arkyle declared, "you can say in front of her."
"I'm not really giving her a choice." That was all she needed to hear. She released Arkyle and sprinted down the alley. Dante fought back a snicker when he glimpsed at what she'd been working on. "You were paying her for THAT? She must really be on hard times."
Arkyle pushed Dante with both hands. Dante's feet remained planted. "No one insults me like that!" Arkyle bellowed. "Who do you think you are!"
Dante shoved Arkyle with one hand. Arkyle flew back into the stone wall. The impact created a small hole that Arkyle's backside got stuck in. He struggled with both hands and feet to pull himself free. His efforts ceased when the shotgun barrels were pressed against his nose.
"I'll ask you only once. Where is Lineia?"
"What's it to you?"
"She has something that belongs to my daughter. I want it back."
"Oh, that little brat."
"Lilith is dying. If I don't get back to her in time, you'll wish to die by the devil's own hands."
"I won't help you."
"Fine. I'm sure Lineia won't miss you when your head's pasted all over the wall."
"Wait!" Arkyle exclaimed. He still could not pull himself from the wall. "Why kill me? I haven't done anything to you or your daughter personally."
"Maybe, but you won't help me save Lilith. On top of that, you're seriously pissing me off, and my trigger finger is feeling a bit irritable. I think you've already made your decision."
"No! Wait!"
Dante slumped over slightly in annoyance. "Why? You were just going to let my kid die."
"I'm sorry. All right?"
"No, no. I want what I asked for. Tell me now or your body will be buried in twelve different places, and you WILL be conscious during the operation."
"She's in the plaza! There's some sort of celebration going on there." Sweat beaded on Arkyle's head as the shotgun got closer to his face.
"What is she celebrating?"
"I don't know."
Dante pushed the shotgun further until it touched Arkyle's nose. "Why did she take Lilith's powers? What does she want with them?"
"She wants to take them for her own."
"Why? Doesn't she have her own powers."
Arkyle shook his head. "Lineia isn't like other demons."
"How so?"
"She was born a human thousands of years ago."
The shotgun dropped a few inches. "What?"
"She was born a human and taken into darkness, just like your mother and brother. She was a powerful sorceress in life. As a servant of the Underworld, she used those skills to steal the life essences of other demons, thus becoming a full fledged demon herself. What you see isn't her real appearance anymore. She looks as twisted as any other lowly demon. She merely wishes to add Lilith's powers to her collection."
"Why didn't she try to take mine?"
"You're too powerful and experienced to fall for it."
Dante absorbed it all for a moment. "I see. The plaza, you said?"
"Yes, that's it."
"Thank you." Dante lifted the shotgun to Arkyle's nose again and pulled the trigger. Before he released it, he was already on the rooftops. What was left of Arkyle's body slumped over. It never fell free of the wall. It just hung limp from the stone, where it was found seconds later while Dante leapt over the buildings towards the plaza.
Several buildings later, Dante saw the plaza over the side of the roof. A great pillar of smoke rose from the bonfire. He dropped to his stomach and slid across to the edge. Below he saw the disordered dancing of demons. Lineia was easy to spot. She was leaning back in a gold plated throne. The chair's back was facing him. He could not see the black glowing sphere, but he could feel something as if Lilith were standing next to him.
Lineia sat up when her neck began to cramp. "When can we finally get this show on the road?" she asked a demon crouching beside her.
"They have a lot of pent-up energy. It's been nearly twenty years since the seed for the orb you hold was planted, and only now did it come to fruition."
"Do I look like I care about their pent-up energy?"
The demon sighed. "If you're so impatient, why don't you just stop them and commence with whatever you wanted to do."
"You know, that's a good idea. I'm glad I thought of it." She slapped the demon on the side of its head and pushed it to the ground. She picked up the sphere, stood, and shrieked. The music and dancing halted instantaneously. Demons frozen in mid-step turned only their heads to look her way. "You have no idea how absurd you all look," Lineia said casually. "Now is the time to finish this! Then I can dance across the world with you as your true empress. There's other cool stuff, but I don't feel like talking about it right now."
Nobody moved. Lineia raised the sphere to her face. To her amazement, the glowing energy within the glass caught her reflection flawlessly. "Oh, I am so perfect," she said while admiring herself. She stopped when the sphere caught something else. She raised it slightly to get a better look. When she realized what she was seeing, she lowered the sphere.
"What is it?" the demon beside her asked as he got off the ground.
"He's here."
"Who's here?"
"Sparda's son!" She pivoted and inhaled. When she released the scream, Dante stood to react. The building he stood on toppled to the ground. Lineia's eyes darted upwards to the red clad figure above the flying smoke and debris. Dante landed on his feet between Lineia and the bonfire. No one dared move without her approval. She didn't give it yet. "I bet I know what you want," she taunted.
"I assume there's no point in simply asking for it."
"It would be a terrible waste if you did. Remember this?" Lineia rotated the sphere so Dante could see the small crack. "The orb is holding now, but a few more of these, and your daughter is as good as dead. If you want to take this from me, then you have to kill me. If you want to kill me, you'll first have to kill all of them." Lineia's finger swept across the entire assembly.
"It sounds easy enough."
"I'd really enjoy watching you try." Lineia tossed the sphere into the air. Dante leapt to grab it. The demon beside Lineia vaulted and tackled him. They flew through the bonfire flames before colliding with the ground. The same time they hit the ground, Lineia caught the sphere. "Heads up!" she yelled to another demon before tossing him the sphere.
The first demon seized Dante by the neck. Then he was engulfed in flame as an Ifrit gauntlet slammed into his gut. The demon jumped free, only to land in the bonfire. That was everyone else's cue for attack. Dante rolled to his feet and landed on one demon's head. He bound from one head to the next in a ludicrous version of hopscotch.
When he dodged the eighth, he saw the next demon up ahead carrying the sphere. After only one second of eye contact, the demon took flight. Dante jumped after it and summoned the powers he'd honed for years. Engulfed in the black light, he transformed into a dark winged demon. He was after the thief with one powerful push of his wings. Dante spread his hands. Fire sliced through the demon's body. It screamed once and dropped the orb before exploding. Dante smelled carbon as he swooped down to snatch the orb. Another demon smashed into his back. His claws reached down for the orb, but it merely rolled across the claws and continued its descent.
Dante reverted to his human form just as both he and his new adversary crashed into the nearest intact building. They emerged from the other side and crashed into the adjacent building. They emerged from that one also and crashed into the third one. This time, their momentum slowed enough for them to hit the floor. All three buildings were reduced to stone debris and smoke.
"He's still alive!" Lineia screamed. "Take him out! And get the orb!"
One demon found the orb rolling across the ground. He picked it up and scrutinized it. Three more small cracks and one large one were scattered across the surface. He stared at the glowing black light until he heard the others screeching among the debris. He dropped the orb and stood. All he saw was a flaming fist before it ripped his head off.
Dante plowed through them two or three at a time with Ifrit. There seemed to be an endless supply of them. He chased the orb from one demon to the next. They quickly learned that the next demon to catch it was the next demon to die. The only smart one in the group dodged it when it was thrown his way. The orb flew straight into the bonfire. Dante drop kicked him anyway and rebound after the orb. Dante and the orb both entered the bonfire. Dante emerged from the other side with the orb in hand.
"May I please have that back?" Lineia asked politely.
Dante slowly raised his eyes to her. They were glowing red. "Over my dead body, bitch."
Lineia shrugged. "I was hoping it wouldn't come to that, but, if that's what you want, who am I to disappoint you?" Lineia's eyes took on their own eerie black glow. "As you so gleefully requested..."
Dante saw it coming. He took to the air again and transformed in midair. The impending ambush fumbled below him. "For one with such great ambitions, you're not very creative."
Thoroughly choleric, Lineia screamed again. This time, with her demonic upgrade, the energy shockwave resonated from her body in all directions. The demons who were unfortunate enough to be on the ground when she did it were obliterated without a sound. When she finally managed to calm down, she glanced around in amazement.
"Look what you made me do!" she screamed up at Dante.
"You sound like a spoiled child," Dante called back. Don't you ever get tired of screaming?
"You know," Lineia said, "someone else said something like that to me earlier today. Now I remember. It was that tramp you used to keep."
Dante landed and spat at the ground. "Deanna was no tramp."
"So I heard. Just be a good boy and give me what I want."
"I already gave you my answer on that."
"Very well then."
Dante braced himself for her backlash, but it never came. He didn't have time to care. He was knocked to the ground from above by a demon who survived Lineia's tantrum. The sphere was knocked from his hand. Dante lost sight of it as he was nailed to the earth. He pushed himself to his feet and strafed to avoid further attack. He stood and found a halberd blade sticking through his chest. He apathetically pulled it the rest of the way and swung it. The demon behind him was slashed in half.
Dante took off Ifrit and pulled Sparda from its place on his back. "Don't worry about them," Lineia said to him. "Worry about Lilith." Lineia shook her head as she held the orb to her face. "I am so displeased with you, Dante."
Dante swung Sparda around and pointed the tip at Lineia's face. "Give me the orb."
"You know it isn't that simple. What will I get in return? Gratitude?" Lineia showed him the cracks again. "You can admit defeat and let me keep this, or you can fight me for it and die or break the orb. Either way, Lilith will die. The choice is yours."
Dante thought about it for a moment, then stepped back as if to concede defeat. Lineia let her guard slip just enough for Dante to plunge Sparda through her chest. She bolted for the sky. She pulled Sparda free and hurled it to the ground. It landed upright at Dante's feet.
"That's it!" Lineia shouted. "I'm through pussyfooting with you!"
Dante watched as six inky tentacles burst from her back. Her own blood spewed as her superficially beautiful skin melted from her body to be replaced by the bloody muscles underneath that bulged to abnormal sizes. Her arms and legs grew to grotesque proportions until they were longer than her body. She dropped to the ground while keeping the orb high above her head. She stood at least 100 feet above him, though most of her weight dragged across the ground. She was hunched forward and crouched on all fours. The tentacles whipped the air above her. Oozing eyes broke out all over her body. Disgusted, Dante grabbed Sparda and took one great leap backwards.
Lineia's laugh was ghastly, but she obviously enjoyed it a lot more than her artificial human laugh. "Do you still want this?" she said in multiple voices. She swung the orb back and forth to taunt him. He refused to reach for it.
"Lilith," he said to the air, "forgive me. I would rather you die than become one with that abomination." Dante forced himself to place Sparda across his back as he contemplated what he was preparing to do. His eyes, which never lost their eerie red glow, began glowing brighter. He raised one hand to his side. A ball of fire erupted in his palm. "Lineia! Catch!"
Lineia was too cumbersome to avoid the fireball he hurled at her. It pierced an eye on her side. Black pus seeped from the broken membranes. As she strove to compensate for the unexpected pain, Dante launched another fireball her way. Eye after eye popped until she was completely blind.
Lineia opened her mouth as if to speak. Instead, an almost inaudible roar arose from her throat. The tentacles struck at Dante as if they had eyes of their own. Dante sidestepped in a blur of speed. Lineia sensed him drop down onto the tentacle. Sparda severed it cleanly from her back. Dante jumped onto another tentacle and rode it back to the ground.
You'll die for this! he felt her rant inside his head. He responded with a flurry of more fireballs. She felt from the heat and burns that he was aiming for what used to her right hand. That was the hand that held the orb. Are you mad! Lilith will die! He answered her with more fire.
Frustrated, Lineia reared onto her hind legs. Her front legs crashed back to earth. The resultant earthquake leveled every building left in the city, thus killing most of the civilians. Lineia couldn't care less. She faltered when she felt the ground crumble into a growing pit beneath Dante, yet Dante did not fall. She took several giant steps backwards to remain outside the pit. Eyes and hands still glowing, Dante lingered on open air.
Lineia whipped her five leftover tentacles into a single point and aimed it straight for Dante. He waited until the last possible moment to dodge again. This time he used them as a bridge to propel himself upwards. Lineia's tentacles stabbed into the ground and got stuck. He reached for Sparda as he reached her head and jumped. Lineia was so enraged when she realized she could not pull herself free, that she didn't notice, at first, when Dante severed her hand on his return trip to earth.
Dante grabbed the orb in mid flight. When his feet hit the ground, Lineia stomped again. Dante fell to one knee and clutched the orb to his chest. He cringed in horror when he heard and felt the orb shatter in his hand. "Lilith, please forgive me," he repeated.
As if in answer to his plea, Dante felt something bore into his chest. He looked down at his hand and chest. They were both encased in what appeared to be shiny black glass. Sparda still in hand, Dante stood. The obsidian covering swallowed him whole the next instant. Dante could not see, but he could feel a swirling mass of energy surround him. He felt something else possess him. He could somehow see in his mind, as if from a third person point of view, that both he and Lineia had disappeared within the swirling black energy.
Somehow, Dante felt himself standing over what was left of Lineia, but he knew it was not him standing there. He felt himself lean over her and seize her neck with one massive hand, but it was not his hand. He heard himself say, "For the children of my blood!" He did hear himself say that, but it was not his voice. It was his father's.
He saw Lineia react to the voice. Before she could grace the world with another scream, he felt himself squeeze her neck, but he knew now it was his father's hand. The hand squeezed harder until Lineia's head exploded. Her brains sprayed through the air in all directions. The hand released what was left of her to let her fall.
Dante didn't have time to brace himself before the energy completely withdrew from his body. The pain of what happened did something few things could do; it made him drop and writhe in agony. After nearly choking on his own body fluids, he made himself inhale slowly. He stayed on the ground just a little longer to get used to the idea of Lilith being dead.
The entire city was uncannily silent. It also had Lineia's body all over it. Dante rolled to his side and pushed himself to his knees. From the corner of his eye, he saw Sparda (the sword, not the knight) on the ground beside him. He used it to stand. When he shook the final knot from his muscles, he heard something jingle and clang. He lifted Sparda and saw two things tied to the hilt. One of them was the red gem that got him into the whole mess in the first place. The second was the orb perfectly intact.
Dante placed the hilt against his forehead. "Thank you, Father." He pulled the gem and orb loose and began the unnaturally quiet trek back to the frozen pond.