Birth of the Black Angel

"He's late." Dante pulled his watch off and threw it across the mantle. "Something must have happened."

"Are you going back to the Mithras Tower?" Lilith asked.

"If I were suicidal."

"You're not going to leave him out there, are you? He's not a casualty of war. You can't do that."

Dante knew it was coming. "I know where this will lead, but I'll bite anyway. Why shouldn't I leave him out there?"

"He's your brother."

"That can't stand in the way of our safety and possible victory. There are monsters out there hunting for us in the night. Hiding is the only thing protecting us. We are powerful, but there are only three of us against a whole army. If it were me out there, I would expect him to do the same."

"Why? Because if we all die, the cause is lost?"

"Especially if it's you."

Lilith returned to her spot on the divan. She didn't hide her contempt for her father's decision to not go looking for Vergil. If he didn't find his way to the manor soon, he wouldn't get in. She dared to step into forbidden territory. "Is that what you told my mother when you ripped that stake from her heart?"

Dante unconsciously cracked his knuckles. "Vergil told you."

"Somebody had to. If what he said is true, then I'm not angry about it."

"What did he tell you?"

"That she told you to kill her fast, so she wouldn't live long enough to be captured."

"That's true."

Lilith nodded. "Then I believe you. I just wish you wouldn't have hidden it as if it were taboo. Did you think I wouldn't understand?"

"You were a child then. Afterwards, it didn't seem to matter."

Lilith diverted her attention to the window. "He'll be all right. Won't he?"

"I hope so."

"Do you think that woman had anything to do with it?"

"I know for a fact she did. I was just hoping Vergil wouldn't have been careless, or unfortunate, enough to cross her path again before we left the tower. Neither one of us trusted her from the beginning, but we couldn't let her know that. We didn't intend to keep her in the Mithras Tower to protect her. We were keeping her there to imprison her."

"Why?"

"Don't go anywhere, and I'll show you."

Lilith kept looking out of the window. She zoned out to the distant sound of rummaging. Then she felt something tap against her shoulder. She turned and found a picture frame being shoved against her. She took the picture and took a good look at it. She gasped and nearly dropped it. Dante took it and set it next to the nearest lamp.

"What is that? The woman in that picture. . ."

". . .was Trish, right?"

"Yes."

"No, it wasn't. That picture was of my mother. She's been dead since before you were born."

Lilith understood what he was implying. "You don't believe the fact that Trish is a dead ringer is a coincidence. You think she was made to look that way on purpose."

"Bingo. She said that she's the only one to survive being hunted by an extermination squad. We've barely managed to survive their attacks. There's no way she could have. They let her get away."

"Or were never chasing her in the first place."

"The latter is exactly what we were thinking."

"How do you know that for sure?"

"Isn't it better to be suspicious and wrong than trusting and wrong?"

"Yes."

"All right then. You've answered your own question."

Lilith returned her attention to the window. She saw a meteor wink out above. "I wonder what's happening to Vergil right now."

(X)

Vergil fell to his knees. A black ooze wrapped itself around his neck and quickly worked its way into his nose and mouth. He felt it fill every body cavity with an ice cold sensation. He fought its desire to leech into his mind.

He saw Trish's feet as she walked around to stand in front of him. Filled with rage and the urge to kill, he reached out for her foot. She stepped back to let him fall completely to the floor.
"You bitch!"

"I'm sorry," Trish said. She sounded genuinely concerned, which served to anger Vergil even more. "I am merely a servant."

"Mundus won't win. We won't let him."

"You are in no position to make such a judgment."

"I don't have to be." Vergil gagged as the ooze pulled itself into his stomach. He rolled onto his back and went into convulsions.

"Stop fighting it," Trish said. "You will only make it more painful."

Vergil continued to struggle, but he felt himself slip away with each spasm. Each breath he took made him weaker. The invading essence took full advantage of each increase in its strength. With the final struggle, Vergil closed his eyes. "Dante. Lilith. I'm sorry."

(X)

Dante stopped halfway up the staircase. A severe cramp seized his gut. He bit down on his lower lip. He did not move again until the pain subsided. Before it was completely gone, he ran the rest of the way upstairs and into the bathroom to vomit. Half of what came up was blood.

"Oh shit," he said. "Something's happened to Vergil."

He straightened and grabbed a towel. When he wiped his face, he saw Lilith standing in the doorway. Her face betrayed her panic. "What's happening?" She figured it out just from looking at him. "It's Vergil. Is he dead?" Her voice cracked at the end.

"I don't know." Dante leaned forward in an attempt to fight back another urge to vomit. He heard his brother's voice scream in his head, then gradually fade until it died. He slowly lowered the towel completely from his face. "They have him."

Lilith backed away. She found herself fighting to keep her own stomach calm. "Now what?"

"They already told us what they want. They want us to go to Mallet Island, so we shall."

(X)

"Well," Kerlak asked. "What do you think now?" She inhaled the thick belladonna smoke as she threw what used to be Vergil down the stairs. She walked after him and casually stepped over him into the chamber.

"You got him. So what? What are you going to do with him?" Mundus blew the last of the smoke from his lungs.

"He's one of us now. Naturally we put him to work."

"Bring him over here."

Kerlak grabbed Vergil's collar and effortlessly dragged him to where Mundus was sitting. She rolled him onto his back. Mundus leaned over him and blew smoke across his face. He did not respond. He was perfectly still as if he'd been paralyzed. He wouldn't even blink.

"I don't know if he'll be of any use to us," Mundus said. "Are you sure he's not dead?"

"Trish said everything went as planned. The parasite shouldn't be strong enough to kill him."

Mundus poked at Vergil with the glass pipe until he heard Vergil inhale through the back of his throat. He took a final drag from the pipe before tossing it aside. He placed his hand over Vergil's face. The parasite reached out from Vergil's nostrils and mouth. The tendrils wrapped themselves around Mundus's hand. Mundus pulled them around as if to play with them. A few minutes afterwards, the tendrils released his hand and pulled back into Vergil's body.

"What did you just do?" Kerlak asked.

"I baptized him."

"Strange choice of words."

"But appropriate. When he regains his strength and stands on his own two feet, he will no longer be Vergil."

Kerlak tilted her head. "Then he will need a new name. How about using him to replace Koromos?"

"Koromos is a pain, but he has his uses. Moving on."

"He will need something spiteful. Something that will insult his heritage."

"You think too much," Mundus teased. "Settle for something simple, like Nelo Angelo."

"What does that mean?"

"Nelo Angelo, the Black Angel. It's simple and to the point."

Kerlak shrugged indifferently. "I guess it's all right."

Neither one of them noticed Vergil's hand twitching. His mind was in another world. He saw his future and hoped for death. His mind saw more as what Mundus had planned for him ran through his mind like a movie. Toward the end he found what he was looking for. Though he could barely move, he had just enough control to smile. Mundus and Kerlak never saw it.

(X)

"Here we go again," Dante said as they stepped onto the stairs leading to the castle.

"What if he's not here?" Lilith asked behind him.

"Oh, he's here," Dante said. "I can feel it." Dante didn't make a move towards the castle. Lilith dared to walk around him and continue towards the castle. Neither realized anything was amiss until she reached the entrance. When she stepped inside, she heard the sound of scraping stone. She turned in time to watch the entrance disappear before her eyes.

"Oh, damn," she muttered as she faced the blank wall. "I'll have to take the long way around. I wonder how much has changed."

"Not much, Princess."

"Trish." Lilith turned back to the main hall. Trish was sitting on the edge of the statue of the horse and warrior in the center of the room. She was dressed in black leather from head to toe. "How did you get out of the Mithras Tower?" Lilith asked.

Trish opened a pair of shades and put them on. "Vergil let me out. He was quite cooperative."
"I don't believe you. You did something to him. Why didn't he come home?"

"He decided on a career change."

Lilith innately reached for Rebellion. Trish took that as her signal to start running. "Where are you leading me?" Lilith asked as she chased after her. Trish led her into a narrow hallway. Halfway through, Lilith skidded to a stop. Familiar phantasmal whining filled the corridor. She pulled her guns free as Sin Scissors slipped from the walls.

She saw Trish disappear around the corner. "I don't have time for this." She waited for most of the Sin Scissors to slide partially into the wall. She vaulted herself forward to run the gauntlet. Sin Scissors pulled back through for an opportunity to snag a part of her. She quickly but carefully dodged each thrust and snap of the ghostly scissors.

A Sin Scissors leapt from the wall in front of her. She flipped over it and let loose a barrage of sparkling bullets. The mask shattered as she hit the floor. She continued down the hallway after Trish. She turned the corner and, without thinking, went through the door.

She realized quickly that she had never been in this room before. The whole floor was covered with a red carpet. Trish was on the other side of the room leaning against a pillar. "It took you long enough?" Trish teased.

"You led me through a hall of Sin Scissors. What do you want here?"

"There is nothing I want."

"So you were just following orders?"

"What else should I do?"

"What did you do to my uncle Vergil!"

"Oh, right to the point. Don't worry; he is here on the island."

"Where?"

Trish walked towards the center of the room. She walked up a shallow staircase where a pedestal was sitting. "It is not my place to say. I don't have a tracking device on him. He wanders freely."

"So you're going to make us look for him?"

"No. He's looking for you. So he can kill you."

Her words made Lilith uneasy. "He would never."

Trish turned to face her at the top of the shallow stairs. Her expression was excessively smug. "We'll see."

Lilith was ready to wring Trish's neck. She took a few steps towards Trish. Lilith was suddenly stopped by the sound of something large crashing into the room. Lilith jumped back as the something in question landed between her and Trish. She got a good look at it. It was a giant spider with a scorpion tail. Its skin was covered with some sort of stone armor. In its joints and other places where there were breaches in its skin, its insides seemed to be made of lava.

"Take care of her," Trish yelled, "and I'll deal with the other one!"

Lilith saw Trish leap through a window. "Always follow the instincts."

"This shouldn't take too long, little girl," the spider scorpion said. It talked as if its mouth was full of gravel. "I, the Phantom, will ferry you into Hell to serve my master Mundus."

"I doubt that. You obviously don't know whom you're messing with."

"Then let me find out."

Lilith prepared to step back. A pillar of lava burst from beneath her and knocked her into the air. She landed on her feet and rolled. Another lava burst appeared where she had landed. She ran through the room with the lava bursts right behind her. She made her way around to Phantom.
He saw her preparing to jump over him. He charged at her. Lilith jumped straight up with Rebellion in hand. From above she saw a large open spot on his back. She landed and hit her mark. Phantom shrieked and swung at her with his tail. The tip of it punctured her chest. Phantom lifted her off his back.

"You won't be so lucky again." He swung and threw her against one of the pillars. Before her feet hit the floor, she activated her devil trigger. Phantom was visibly shaken by what she'd done. He swung his tail at her again. She disappeared in a blur. Phantom was assaulted on all sides by lightning and ice. Then she dropped from the air and plunged the sword through his back again.
Phantom thrust his tail at her again. She vaulted from his back and hovered over him. She shook drops of lava from the sword. "You're a demon!" Phantom yelled. "How dare you!"

"Give up now," Lilith demanded, "and you will walk away alive."

"Who are you to give me orders!"

"Fine. I am the First Goddess Lilith Sparda, daughter of Dante, the Second God and emperor of this region. You wanted to know, and now you do."

"You are gods?" Phantom's tail swayed from side to side. "How ridiculous. What gives you the right?"

"My father and uncle are the sons of the First God Sparda, the one who led them back here."

"And this war began," Phantom added.

"But it ends here today."

"It does." Another lava pillar erupted from the ground. This time, Lilith remained where she was. The flames passed harmlessly over her. When the fire died, Lilith disappeared again. Phantom shrieked when it felt something slice through its tail. Lilith pulled it free from his body. Lava spilled in all directions from the wound.

Phantom roared and pulled himself along the floor. Lilith drove the tail through Phantom's back. The tip went all the way through and pinned Phantom to the floor. Lilith became human again and dropped onto Phantom's head. She instantly found the soft spot closest to his head. She plunged Rebellion through and began hacking away as fast as she could. Phantom flopped and bucked to get her off his back.

The final flop threw her to the floor. The sword sliced through his head as she fell over. She rolled away and stood to prepare for another attack. Phantom's head hit the floor in two separate pieces. Lilith breathed in relief as the lava flowed over the floor.

"Now to find Dad and that treacherous bitch Trish." Lilith leapt over Phantom's body onto the pedestal. A second leap sent her through the window that Trish had jumped through earlier. She landed safely on solid ground. She looked around to gauge her location. In the distance, she saw someone standing on a wall. At first she thought it was her father. Then she was overcome with a sense of dread. "Oh my god. That's Vergil."

(X)

Dante pushed the door open and stared out over the empty space. He walked out onto the grass for a better look. Behind him was the castle, and ahead was just rock. There were doors on either side, but he guessed they were locked. He turned at the sound of growling and hissing. A reptilian creature on all fours, something like a large lizard, was creeping towards him. Dante tightened his grip on the Merciless.

The creature never made more than three steps. Another figure fell from the sky. A sword plunged through the creature's back. The person pulled the sword free and hacked into the creature's head. When it finally stopped moving, the person stood and looked at Dante.

Dante knew something was wrong. "Vergil, what did they do to you?"

Vergil didn't speak at first. He seemed dazed and confused. "Dante?"

"Come with me."

"No!" Vergil clamped his eyes shut as he struggled with something inside. "I can't. Vergil is dead."

"I won't let them win." Dante stepped towards him.

Vergil quickly stopped him by raising his sword. Dante instantly recognized it as the Force Edge. "You have to leave," Vergil said.

"You know I can't."

"Then you have to die."

"You can't kill me, Vergil. Otherwise, you would have let that creature have its chance at me."

"Vergil is dead. I am Nelo Angelo, your executioner."