Bleeding Hearts
Without thinking, Lilith swung both arms up. Bolts of lightning flashed between them. The force knocked him to the other side of the room. Lilith stood as Dante regained his footing. They charged at each other and began another duel of the Yamato versus Lilith's spikes. In the middle of one of Dante's swings, Lilith managed to punch him across the face. He responded by kicking her in the chest. Lilith flew backwards and landed on her hands and feet as if she were a crocodile. She jumped back to her feet, then shrieked as her legs gave out from under her.
Dante watched Lilith's blue silhouette drop to the floor. She twisted her back as if she were in pain. The faint sparkle he had seen earlier reappeared at her waistline. Dante wiped his face as blood gushed down his face. It poured more profusely than it ever had. He took a deep breath as he sprinted towards her. Lilith sat up in time to see him hit his devil trigger. A tress of white shot towards her. She pivoted on her hand in time to avoid being punctured in the lung. She threw another punch, which he countered by grabbing her arm. He spun and slammed her face first into the nearest pillar. She had just enough time to turn around before another tress flew her way.
Lilith dodged to the side to let the tip of it get stuck in the pillar. She twisted the hair around her hand and pulled it free. At the same time, she jerked Dante's head forward and down against her knee. Dante lurched backwards before she could release him. She flew forward, and he uppercut her with the sword hilt. He twisted his arm around to impale her to the floor as she fell. Before she hit the floor, arms of slime lashed out across the floor and pulled her to a safe distance.
She pushed herself to her feet and wiped her mouth. Before she could make a sarcastic comment, she saw the Yamato spin towards her. She leaned to the side and snatched it from the air. A bolt of lightning burst up her arm. She shrieked and launched the sword into the wall.
"You're not much of a challenge," Dante taunted. "You should have waited until you were strong enough to exist in your own form, in your own right."
Lilith flexed her hand as sensation returned. "Why don't you transform?" Dante asked. Lilith remained silent. "You can't," Dante said. "You control Lilith's mind, but you don't know how to control her body. You're just making her do everything for you."
Though she couldn't see it in the dark, Lilith imagined Dante's face completely covered in blood from his eyes downward. Slimy arms raised up behind her as if ready to strike. Dante rubbed his bloody face with the inside of his right wrist. He clenched his teeth against the pain as a sharp knife-sized bone burst from the inside of his wrist. He broke it free and held it against his arm in a ready position.
Lilith shrieked with rage and charged at him. Dante sidestepped in time to wrap his arm around her neck as she passed him. He spun around her completely until he was in front of her again. Lilith raised her hands to strike him with lightning. Before she could shoot the first bolt, Dante plunged the bone knife into the base of her brain stem. Lilith shrieked again and blasted lightning through her entire body. The force of it knocked Dante away from her. He slid across the floor and slammed into the wall.
Lilith pulled the bone knife free. "Now I have control."
She leaned forward as her slime arms lashed at Dante. He flipped over her and landed on her other side. He extended his wing to its full length across her back. She released an inhuman scream as the slime arms were severed from her spine. Dante spun to jab her in one of her wounds. Instead, she threw the bone knife at his head. A platinum white tress caught the knife in midair while another tress whipped out. It wrapped around Lilith's neck and pulled her forward.
Lilith could offer no resistance as the hair whip pulled her towards Dante. He lifted her and slammed her against the floor. He kneeled over her legs as he continued to squeeze her neck. The first tress held itself upright to offer him the knife. Dante took the knife before wrapping the tress around Lilith's wrists.
"You're helpless," Dante said. "Solid bodies limit you, Xasho."
"So what do you want?"
"You know what I want!" Dante accused as his hair tightened its grip. "Let my daughter go, and fight me face to face."
Lilith arched her back and took one long lingering breath. Dante leaned back as Lilith abruptly hit her devil trigger. With a quick twist of her wrists and arms, her bone spikes severed both tresses. She pulled a leg free and kicked Dante away. She quickly backed against the nearest pillar and began to untangle the hair from around her neck.
Dante kept his distance as he began to notice something he had not seen before. In his enhanced vision, Lilith's blue silhouette began to grow darker against the white background. He forced himself to focus on her chest and showed no surprise to discover she had a second heart. A throbbing black sphere appeared within her chest beside her real heart. Dante knew the second heart belonged to Xasho.
Lilith finished untangling the hair and tossed it aside. She looked behind Dante towards the gargoyle statue attached to the wall. The glowing mass in its mouth became brighter. This time, it was able to release faint rays of light into the room, but it was not enough for normal vision. Lilith spread her wings as if offering a challenge. Dante either wasn't paying attention or declined the offer. Lilith waited for a moment as if contemplating her next move, then threw herself into the air. Dante simply turned around as she flew past him. She landed in front of the gargoyle statue and spread her arms.
Dante turned around to see what she was doing. The glowing mass suddenly grew brighter before he realized what was happening. The gargoyle was preparing to feed the mass of souls to Lilith. With no regard to the consequences, Dante dashed forward. A stream of milky light shot down from the gargoyle's mouth. Dante reached her in time to knock her out of the way, but she knew he was coming. Instead of engaging her head on, Dante threw an armful of bone darts at her. The force of impact knocked Lilith against the wall as the milky light flashed past her. It missed her completely and grounded itself into the stone floor. There was a faint glimmer as the energy dissipated; then the room was again engulfed in total darkness.
"You bastard," Lilith mumbled.
Dante heard anyway. "What will you do about it?" He flexed his right hand as the crystal in his knuckles began to tingle. "After all these years, I finally know what it's for." He tossed the bone knife aside and cracked his knuckles.
Lilith showed no indication that she heard him. Xasho's heart began to beat faster while Lilith's began to slow down. In another sudden fit of rage, Lilith charged towards him. He waited until she was in reach before reacting. He sidestepped to the right and seized her neck with his left hand. Then he flew forward until they hit the wall. Lilith felt stone crumble around her. Dante lifted her off her feet. He quickly wiped a smear of Sparda's Sorrow against his knuckle, over the embedded crystal, and held his hand back. Lilith drew in a shallow breath of panic as Dante slammed his fist into the side of her head. The crystal shard broke loose and was propeled into Lilith's head. It flew straight through until it reached the corpus callosum of her brain.
Dante dropped Lilith as soon as she returned to her human form. She fell to the floor and cried out in agony as the crystal attempted to purge Xasho's presence from her body. Dante stepped back as thick rivers of silver-black slime pulled itself from Lilith's mouth and nose. A seemingly endless flow of it spilled across the floor. Lilith almost lost consciousness until the last of Xasho found its way to the floor. The pile of sludge trembled as if to make a last ditch attack, then splattered itself against the floor.
Dante sighed and returned to his human form. He stepped over to where Lilith lay on the other side. The crystal in his head revealed that Xasho's heart was still in her chest. Dante kneeled astride her legs. Her eyes widened as she saw, with her own newly enhanced vision, Dante raise his hand again.
Trusting he was safe enough, Dante closed his eyes. "Whatever god or gods exist beyond me," he prayed, "please let her be strong enough."
Without opening his eyes, Dante plunged his hand, fingers first, into Lilith's chest. Her screams echoed through the empty stone room. He felt her writhe as he pushed forward towards the alien heart. She forced herself to remain as still as her weakened body could tolerate, but she fought back tremors with each breath she had to take for each new scream. Dante was glad he decided to close his eyes against it. He felt the heart pump against his fingers. Lilith's blood squirted across his skin as he gave one final push. Her final scream did not end until he successfully tore the still beating heart free from her body.
Dante opened his eyes. He saw an image of Sparda's Sorrow pouring from Lilith's eyes. He knew that, in her weakened condition, that was the only thing that saved her. He absentmindedly tossed the still beating heart aside and stood as if he were in a trance. Lilith turned her head aside in time to see the silver-black remains of Xasho sit up. She opened her mouth to warn her father, but her voice was too weak.
A tendril snapped out and wrapped itself around Dante's neck. It flung him across the room. Before he reached the wall, the tendril shot towards him and nailed him through the abdomen. Another pierced his chest while a third went through his throat. Dante grabbed the one in his throat and managed to pull it out just enough to speak.
"Lilith! Get her heart!" The tendril gave an extra push. It slipped through Dante's hand and knocked his head against the wall. The taste of copper filled his mouth as blood ran down his chin. Lilith rolled over and crawled as quickly as she could, which was actually very slowly, towards Xasho's beating heart. Another tendril lashed out to knock the heart out of her reach. The heart rolled to the other side of the room.
Lilith tried to stand to attempt a sprint. The tendril tripped her with a quick sweep, then swung around and whipped itself across her back. Dante raised both hands towards Xasho and released a barrage of lightning. Xasho's body split where it was hit but reconstructed itself quickly. Reacting on a hunch, he forced a sheet of ice to cover his body. Xasho trembled in response but wouldn't let him go. He shot a series of ice shards, which caused Xasho to release what sounded like a scream. It was enough to distract her from Lilith.
Lilith tried to stand again, but her legs refused to carry her. She took a painful breath and mustered as much physical strength as she could. A flash of lightning danced across her hand. She sat up enough to throw a bolt at Xasho's heart. She collapsed before she could see the heart explode and splatter itself everywhere.
Xasho quickly withdrew herself from Dante and let him slide to the floor. A long bloody streak was left against the wall. Dante stepped as far away as he could. The pieces of Xasho's heart bounced around like Mexican jumping beans. They rolled towards each other to rejoin. Dante darted towards the largest piece. He snatched it up as it tried to slide past him. Not allowing himself time to think about it, he stuffed the piece of heart tissue into his mouth. He covered his mouth with both hands to prevent throwing up or spitting it out. He forced himself to chew. He could feel the piece wriggling around in a vain attempt to rejoin with the rest of Xasho's heart. He gagged three times before swallowing. It continued to struggle until it finally reached his stomach. Dante fought the urge to vomit until the squirming sensation completely stopped. The rest of Xasho's heart ceased moving and rebuilding itself. Instead, it hardened and crumbled into a pile of ash.
Xasho's body released another shriek. More tendrils lashed out across the room in random directions. They tore holes in the walls, floor, and ceiling. Pillars were sliced cleanly in half. By either a miracle or force of will, Lilith was perfectly safe from anything crushing her. Several tendrils flew past her in the chaos as Xasho fought her final death throes. Xasho thrashed about as she sank towards the floor. Her struggles sent vibrations throughout the Mishra Tower. All that was left of her melting body splashed against the wall and floor. Lilith rolled onto her back again as Xasho's remains flowed over the floor like water. It was amazingly cool and relaxing. Dante dragged himself to Lilith's side. He grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him. Then he dropped himself beside her in the dark water.
Lilith sensed something was wrong. "Are you all right?"
He could tell from her voice that she was bleeding through her mouth. "I should be asking you that."
His voice worried her also. "Don't change the subject, and don't stall. You overdid it this time."
"At least your baby will be all right." There was silence before Dante said, "I should teach you about using that thing I drove into your head."
"I doubt that will be necessary." Lilith placed her head onto Dante's abdomen. Then she lifted her hand and snapped her fingers. A flame came to life between them. "Is Xasho dead?"
"No. She can't die. Not that I know of. All I did was deny her the opportunity to pull herself together, in a manner of speaking."
The flame died. Lilith felt Dante struggle to breathe under her head. "She got you, didn't she?"
"Yes, she did."
