A shower of broken glass and hot bullets rained down on the monster from above as Erika fell like an avenging angel. It roared it's defiance as the heavens turned against it. Falling debris tearing into the beast as it fell. It yowled angrily before bolting. Erika landed behind it and fired. The automatics whined and flashed as they dealt their own brand of judgement on the creature. Sensing that the cause of it's pain was now within striking distance the once cat like monster turned back. It looked nothing like it had done when she had seen it at the hospital. It was bigger, it had more eyes than should be allowed and it was not humanly possible for limbs as long and spindly as those to ever support that bulk, yet the four arms and two legs managed it anyway. The only thing that hadn't changed was it's tongue. That still lashed like a whip. Erika had had enough.

"Hey, ugly, what are you waiting for?" She yelled at it. It bellowed in response before charging straight at her.

"Dante, where the hell are you?" She asked softly.

For a few moments Dante and his foe circled each other, sizing each other up, judging and assessing each other, looking for weaknesses. Ebony and Ivory stared each other down, on opposing sides for the first time in their existence. Dante fired first, Ebony screamed in outrage at the man who dared to take its brother. Ivory answered in fury as the Long Haired man dropped to the ground. The bullets passing harmlessly over his head. Dante twisted through the air and effortlessly avoided each shot. The man was barely on the ground for a second, he was back on the offensive before Dante could blink. Dante charged forwards, striking Ivory with Ebony and knocking the shot to the side. It passed so close that Dante could feel it touch the side of his face, as gentle as a lover's touch. The Long Haired man pushed back, Dante spun, making him push too far. He fired, the bullet passing the Long Haired man's head close enough to cut through his hair. Humiliated, he fought back. He twisted under Dante's arm, firing twice. Dante felt the searing air as he moved away from the shots. He spun forward, catching his opponent off guard with a single shot that passed past the man's eyes. Then he struck the man over the head with the butt of his gun. As he fell to the ground he turned and fired, the shots hit Dante in the arm and shoulder. The half devil didn't even feel them.

"An impressive weapon, then again, I should expect as much. You do have quite the reputation"

"Enjoy it while you can. I'm taking it back, and that trigger finger of yours" Dante burned. Alastor crackled with barely suppressed ferocity. The sword had been all but forgotten about since Dante had reached Hong Kong. His enemy sprang to his feet. He ran forward, firing Ivory as he ran. Dante dived, drawing the sword in the process and smacking his aggressor as he passed. The Long Haired man was thrown to the ground.

"A sword? In a gunfight? This will be easier than I thought"

"You mean there is a brain in that over styled had of yours? Think what you want, you just lost the whole hand now" Lightning danced across Alastor's blade as Dante pointed it at the Long Haired man. He spat on the ground.

"I fear no devil!" He jeered. It sounded ugly, all traces of class gone from his voice.

"Careful, you're accent's slipping"

Insulted, the Long Haired man threw himself at the Son of Sparda; Dante swiped with his sword almost casually. Two huge tears appeared in the man's silk suit.

"Where's all that elegance now? Or was it all just an act?" Dante mocked

"I'm not afraid of you! I've fought devils like you for years! You are nothing to me!"

"Devil hunting 101, There IS no devil like me! And I've been doing this my whole life, so either wise up and quit wasting my time or do something worth my being bothered about. I can't believe I thought you were ever worth giving a damn about"

The man was angry now, Dante could see it as though he had a neon sign around his neck. It was making him sloppy. For a supposed devil hunter, he was now making foolish amateur mistakes that under normal circumstances would have killed him a long time ago. He was used to working with a partner, almost to the point where he would have depended on the other person to save his ass at every given moment. He was as tough as they come, that much was obvious, but without his other half he flew off the handle at the slightest thing. It was pathetic really. He acted cool, but he was nothing but a bully. And now he was faced with someone he couldn't push around. He just didn't know how to cope.

"What's wrong, am I not following your script?" Dante challenged. The man screamed as he attacked. Dante moved so fast that that he barely knew what had happened. One moment he stood, gun in hand, ready to fire. Then he was staring at the end of his arm where his hand had once been. Alastor had burned the stump, cauterised the wound. It didn't bleed at all. He fell to his knees in shock. Dante stood over him, Ebony and Ivory reunited in his hands.

"I don't kill humans, even if I did you wouldn't be worth the effort. Get outta my sight" The Son of Sparda spat these words at the man who had once claimed that he would kill him. Pride goes before a fall. Dante walked away.

Erika had spent the past few minutes dodging the monster's attacks. It seemed to have targeted her specifically. It wasn't running off or looking for other people to attack, although considering the way it had hunted down Han that wasn't surprising. Erika wasn't thinking of that right now, she was desperately trying to remember what the circle had said. All that she could remember was something about souls. Where the hell was Dante when she needed him. The beast suddenly thrust it's tongue towards her like a lance aimed squarely at her chest. Erika barely dodged it in time. It cut into her leg and knocked her down to the ground. A pair of guard dogs barked at her from behind the barbed wire fence that separated them from the fray. The devil ignored them as it pounced at its prey. Erika flipped onto her back and fired at it with both guns. It screeched and twisted in mid air and landed against the fence. The barbs cut into it's hide like teeth. As it thrashed about wildly it dug itself deeper into it's trap, the wire acting like a snare. The dogs snapped and snarled at it as it yowled in agony. Erika stood up on unsteady legs and watched. An idea forming in her head. The brute freed itself and landed on the side of the fence where the dogs were. Big mistake, these dogs were trained to tear any intruder to pieces. They attacked it, biting and tearing into it. The beast flailed and thrashed at them but they were too quick and it too big for it to be any good. While it was busy Erika leapt up, grabbing at the wire, careful not to cut her hands. As she landed she quickly wrapped the wire round the monster's neck. The dogs backed off, whining slightly. Whoever the newcomer was, they did not want to get in her way. They could feel it. It lashed out with it's tongue at Erika, slapping her across the face and cutting into her cheek. She held on and pulled the wire tighter, cutting in deeper. It choked, but prepared it's tongue for another attack. The dogs growled at it, then the larger of the two sprang forward and seized it's tongue. The second looked doubtful for a moment, then grabbed on as well. Between them they yanked at pulled at the tongue, stretching it to its limits. Erika kept increasing the tension on the wire, cutting further and further into the beast's neck. She hadn't counted the dogs into this but they were proving invaluable. The dogs yanked again as though playing tug' o 'war. This time the tongue came away with a hideous tearing sound. They ran off to a corner to fight over their trophy. Then something strange happened. White lights began pouring out of the stump where it's tongue had been. Erika didn't dare let go of the wire, even after the lights went away, even after the monster fell and didn't get up. It wasn't until Dante found her that she even dared to move.

"You went and had all the fun without me kiddo!" He said, making her jump "What happened?"

One explanation later and Dante was smiling.

"Your first devil, all on your own too!"

"No, the dogs..." Erika stopped as she realised just how ridiculous that sounded.

"I like dogs. They have pure souls, devils can't possess them like other creatures. It's coz they're so loyal. The Underworld had to make their own version, Hell Hounds, but they don't even come close! Where do you think the term 'man's best friend' came from?" Dante said as he scratched the top of one of the dogs heads.

"What about Li?"

"He ran, and good riddance too"

"Creepo?"

"We won't be hearing from him"

Back home, Dante had a surprise for Erika. He found her watching the news.

"Hey, listen to this, Hong Kong police picked up our 'friend'. He confessed to the murders of Han and Chu, and to beating up a young lab tech who died later because of it. They're still looking for the suspects who were at the hospital, that would be us" Erika reported

"Yeah, we better avoid Hong Kong for a while"

"It gets better, They found the body of that devil. The dogs had eaten parts of it, but they couldn't find..." Erika turned to face him, "You didn't"

"I did" He was carrying a sword in one hand and a sack in the other.

"That isn't..."

"It is" He put the sack down and pulled the multi eyed, tongue less head of the beast out.

"Do you want to do the honours?" He offered

"Err... no, that's ok"

Dante found a nice spot on the wall and impaled the head. Then he stood back to admire his handiwork. Erika just shook her head.