Devil May Cry: Zero
Disclaimer: All original characters from Devil May Cry belong to Capcom. This is a non-profit fan fiction.
Chapter 7: The Lagoon
The battle with the mirror demon was more difficult than Dante imagined. His reflections were only vulnerable to bullets; therefore Rebellion was no use against them. Ebony and Ivory were effective but there were too many of them as a result he couldn't eliminate every single one of them in time. Dante had several close calls when his reflections almost sliced him in pieces with their fake Rebellion swords.
For a while, Dante could not tell where the demon was hiding. He was sure it was in one of the mirrors but there were dozens surrounding him. It wasn't until he noticed that one of them move in and out of mirrors whilst other ones didn't. With precise timing, Dante shot the mirror demon. The moment he did, the rest disappeared. Without the interference of the mirror demon, he was able to find the exit and Rei in time.
"You are one of the sons of Sparda?" Niji asked. She didn't seem to be concerned about the fact that Dante was there.
Dante had enough. "I have a name you know. It's Dante."
"You look a lot like your father," Niji said, smiling.
"I think I'm better looking than him," Dante grinned. While they were talking, Rei headed back to Dante's side but Niji made the surface of the lake suddenly became slippery and caused Rei to lose her footing.
"Too bad I don't have time right now," Niji said. "See you later." She clicked her fingers and the water in the lake turned into normal liquid state. Only the area where she and Rei were could still be stood on. Niji was heading to where Rei was. Immediately, Dante fired his guns at her but being ready this time, Niji raised a wall of water to block the bullets. At the same time, Rei removed the locket on her neck that suppressed her power and closed her eyes to concentrate on a summon. Even though Rei knew she might not summon before Niji reach her, she had to gamble her luck. A circle of light surrounded her the moment she began.
If Rei was given a few more seconds, her summoning would have completed. It was too late; Niji was almost there before Rei could finish. Dante was heading for her by jumping on the large boulders but he wasn't going to make it. Someone appeared and before anyone could make out who it was, it approached Niji and attacked her with a blade-like object.
Niji looked at her attacker and realised he had the same face as Dante. Dante sighed in relieve to see his brother saving the day. He was glad that Vergil's had faster speed than him. It reminded him of the times Vergil used to train by himself while he fell asleep under the tree while watching.
"You're the other one then," Niji said to Vergil.
Vergil bent down to take a looked at Rei as though Niji wasn't there at all. "Are you alright?" He asked her. After Dante had defeated the mirror demon, Vergil was able find his way through Mirror Walk without much trouble. The mirror demon used to manipulate the paths to make intruders lose directions.
"I'm fine, thanks," Rei picked herself up from the ground. Then she noticed the blood on Vergil's coat. "Vergil, your shoulder…" Instead of replying, Vergil stood in front of her.
Rei could see Niji was approaching them. Dante, who finally made it to where the others were, joined in and stood beside his brother.
"You two head forward," Vergil said to his companions without taking his eyes off Niji.
"No, we're staying with you," Rei objected. She didn't want to leave anyone behind again. "We can fight too."
"That's right. Can't let you take all the credits," Dante added.
"How much time do we have left?" Vergil asked. Rei looked at her watch and understood his point straight away. "Six hours," She answered. Time was slipping away.
"We'll do it the usual way then." Dante took out a coin. "Head or tail?" He asked Vergil.
"Head," Vergil replied.
The coin was flipped into the air and landed on the back of Dante's hand. "I don't get why you're always luckier," Dante felt a little disappointed when he saw it landed on head. Having said that, he went towards the exit direction.
Rei wasn't moving. "No, we should either go together or stay together!" It didn't matter to her whether Vergil trust her or not. The last time they parted, she felt like they left him to be killed. It wasn't that she didn't have faith in him, but the enemies weren't as merciful as them.
"I'll meet up with you and Dante later," Vergil told her. "Remember what you're here for?"
Rei bit her lip. "I do, but I can't just leave like this!" She thought she must've sounded stupid, since she probably couldn't help much anyway. But she didn't care.
"Go," Vergil said. In his blue eyes she saw determination. Those eyes were so similar to Dante's but gave her a totally different feeling. They assured her that he would keep his words.
Before Rei left the Lagoon, she kneed down on both knees and closed her eyes. A circle of light appeared around her. Lines and shapes emerged within the circle; they united together and formed a complex diagram. The whole process took merely seconds to complete. As soon as the diagram was formed, the circle of light faded quickly and went out. Five wolves appeared outside Rei's summoning circle. She requested them to aid Vergil. There was no time for a powerful enough summon that could stand a chance against Niji; but bringing in help would be much easier.
The wolves had black fur all over. Their eyes were sharp and shone with intelligence. Vergil could tell those weren't normal wolves by their eyes. Rei put her locket around her neck again and hurried to Dante, who had been waiting.
It surprised Vergil a little that Niji let Rei and Dante go when she could do more to prevent them from doing so. She was looking at him with her arms folded. In fact, Niji was quite angry that they just ignored her. Her patience was wearing thin.
"Do you think you can really protect them by hindering me? If I don't get them, others will. I'm not the only one in Domain," Niji pointed out. She could see from Vergil's expression that he was not naïve.
Vergil returned Yamato to its sheath in order to prepare the next battle. "No, I probably can't do much other than stopping you," He said calmly. "But I believe they won't give up easily."
Niji laughed, "You really are your father's son." After saying that, the entire surface of the lake turned back to normal water, even the remaining part that was still solid before. Vergil saw it coming so he set foot on a boulder as soon as he saw their conversation's end. The wolves each landed safely the boulders as well. Not only that, they surrounded Niji in the middle.
Dozens of water blades materialized around Niji. Under Niji's direction, they were shot out together so fast that eyes could hardly keep up. Vergil landed onto a free boulder to avoid the blades. One of the wolves leaped towards Niji but she disappeared within a water pillar as quickly as she raised it. The wolves seemed to know where Niji would appear. Vergil followed them and turned out to be the right move. When she appeared out of her water pillar, Vergil unleashed a two-slash combo. He would have succeeded if he closed in sooner. Niji raised a wall of water around her to protect her from attacks from all directions. Vergil backed away to wait for his next chance.
The sound their footsteps echoed back to them as Dante and Rei hurried through the tiled walkway. There weren't any demons past Lagoon. Nonetheless, they both stayed alert in case of an ambush. Realised that Rei was slowing down, Dante waited for her to catch up. He couldn't blame her, Rei had been either walking or running around for the past ten hours without any rests. It was natural for any ordinary person to be tired. "Let's take a break," Dante said.
"I can keep going," Rei insisted. In fact, she was exhausted as well as dehydrated. Although she was not weak, she was human after all. Her throat felt so dry she could hardly speak. She couldn't pause and rest or else her legs might refuse to walk again. But the thought of her companion kept her going. She couldn't waste the time that Vergil was risking his life to buy her.
Dante ignored her and sat down. "I can't," He said. Dante leaned his back against the tiled wall, brought his hands behind his head and rest on them like a pillow.
"Dante, we have to go," Rei pleaded. However, the devil hunter had already shut his eyes for a nap. No matter what she said, he wouldn't respond. Rei sighed and gave up. They took a fifteen minutes break before setting off again.
At the end of the path was a wooden door similar to those common in churches. Dante pushed the door open with Rei followed closely behind. They glanced around cautiously; both had their guns ready for an assault. The Cathedral was beautiful yet creepy at the same time. Large stain-glass windows were located on their left and right sides. Countless number of candles were lined up in an orderly manner. Delicately crafted sculptures and statues were placed thoughtfully. Shadows that seemed to be able to reach out and grab them anytime were hiding in every corner. A small pound was situated in front of the alter but there was nothing unusual about it.
Further down the back was another door. The two left the Cathedral and continued forward. The next set of path was twisted and winding as well as steep. Downward was the direction it led. As they descend further below, Rei started to feel dizzy. She thought it was weird since she should've recovered a fair bit from the break. But then it probably still wasn't enough. Regardless, Rei couldn't afford spend more time on that so she didn't say anything. The air was thin in the twisted path and the lack of air circulation made Dante feel hot and uncomfortable. On top of that, there was something abnormal about it. It wasn't long before Rei stumbled forward and almost fell. She held onto the brick wall with her right hand support herself.
Rei's stumble confirmed Dante's suspicion. From the very first moment they stepped foot on the path, it was draining the energy in their body bit by bit. The path was used to prevent any human intruders who made it past the prior obstacles from going any further. Dante was half human and half demon; therefore he wasn't as affected as Rei, who was fully human.
"The frigging path doesn't like us," Dante said.
"Yeah…" Rei answered. She put hand on her head to help herself stay focused. "I can keep going."
Dante went ahead to take a look. "We're almost there," He called out to her from below. Taking a deep breath, Rei stood and forced herself to walk. At last, they made it to the bottom. The two of them felt much better the moment they left the wicked path.
Another door was in front of them. This time, the door was made of bronze. It had a picture of the eight levels of hell on it. Dante and Rei looked at each other. They were thinking about the same thing. The door must be the one that would lead to Eighth Floor, where Mia was held.
Author's note: This chapter is posted a little late. In the past few days, I've been whacking my head in order to plan the storyline of this fic. I did have vague ideas in terms of the direction of the story but not well-organised ones. It is just a fanfic but I don't want to have things not make sense later on. Now I think I've everything sorted out. I think I can feel steam coming out of my ears…
Date Written: 19 March 2005