Wow. Well it's been awhile. So a few things to say:
--Thank you, thank you! to Busta, who happen to IM today and remind me of a forgotten fanfic. You're like my muse to get me started again!
--Apologies to any readers who I left hanging for the last....err....9 months or so. You guys are too cool for me to do such a thing to.
--Meh. I have to say it: I'm not totally happy with the fic (which I just reread). The first couple of chapters are the way I want, but after that the fic just becomes rather silly in places, which is not what I wanted. I'd go back and rewrite the whole thing except that it's so close to the end. So instead I'll give you all the closure I wanted and that everyone (including the characters, lol) deserve.
The first half of this chapter was actually written about 4 months ago....
Well with that out of the way, let the fic continue! Woot!
Note on Ifrit usage: My imagination of the gauntlets is that they have actually fangs that clamp onto his wrists into his bloodstream and they're powered by demonic blood.
Chapter 16: Blood and Iron
"Heh, it wouldn't be fair if we left all the fighting for the ones on the ground," Dante said. He shifted his balance on Catullus, holding tight to a violet scale with one hand while rolling out Ebony into his other hand. Dragonriding, he had discovered, was vaguely like being on a boat. After awhile you get used to the sudden changes and twists of flight and found a rhythm to the chaos. The Staff was getting in the way as usual, he thought as he strapped it next to Alastor, but he hung it up since he was still hesitant about using it's power too freely.
As they were mobbed by the aerial army, he effortlessly shot down a few Puia that had flown in too close while Catullus was enjoying sending the bird-like demons into panic by flaming large groups of them. The skeleton pterodactyl things, which Dante had come to like calling Deadheads, were harder to get rid of. Bullets didn't seem to be having much effect on them, so... "Don't mind if join you in the firefighting, Catullus!..." Dante called while pulling out the Ifrit gauntlets, is favorite weapon for these armored types of devils. Fire was also much more easy and fun to wield than electricity, and down at heart Dante had the usual boyish fascination for fire. Dante pulled on the living gauntlets of fire, which immediately extended their fangs into the top of his wrists. Rather than pain, however, it was like a rush of fiery ecstasy through his blood. Dante had never run into a vampire before, but according to legends their bite was suppose to be produce a feeling something like this. "Try to fly level for me for a second!" Dante called to Catullus. The dragon pulled out of swoop and leveled out as best he could while trying to still dodge the stream of enemies. Dante braced his knees against it's scaled back for support and let go with his hand. Both hands now free he drew both Ebony and Ivory and fueled the fires of Ifrit into them. Firestreamed bullets tore into the skulls of Deadheads and caused a eruption from head to tail that sent the creatures plummeting to earth like a fiery meteoroid. A that Puia swept in too close screeched in pain as Dante threw up a wave of fire that charred its feathers to cinders. The air around the dragon and the halfbreed was hot and filled with smoke and the ash of devils.
Most of the flying devil troops had by this time flown off in search of easier prey, and so Dante for the first time had a chance to look at the battle taking place below. He took a swallow. The ground seethed the forces of the devils and humans battled back and forth across the plains. Devils of every shape, size, and element whirled to meet an equally diverse group of humans. The scope of the battle made it difficult to tell who was winning, even from Dante's lofty point of view. "Catullus!" Dante called. "We need to be fighting on the ground!"
Catullus swung his long neck in a negative, nearly causing Dante to fall off. "Your job is not to fight these guys one on one! You have the Staff for a reason." Dante sighed in annoyance. Why did mystic artifacts always seem to take precedence over the good 'ol gun and sword? Dante was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, however.
"Alright, let's give this a shot." Dante took the already extended Staff from his back strap and clenched it in his fist. He focused inside himself and summoned the demonic power......only to get jolted violently from the dragon's back. He still clenched the raging Staff as he transformed into his true halfbreed form while falling through the air. He tried to catch the air current with his newly ripped wings but everything seemed to be a red sea of vertigo. Damn it, he couldn't deal with this now! Then suddenly he felt a second presence in his mind that took enough control of the Staff's fury to allow Dante to take control of himself. As the world righted itself and Dante was able to stop his descent with a snap of his wings, he swore vividly. This time, however, it was with a grin on his face.
A familiar and triumphant voice echoed through his mind. Did you forget already that I promised to help out now that I'm in my full form? Dante caught a thermal and rose to fly beside the dragon. "Don't give me heart attacks like that," Dante said. "For a second there I was worried I would miss out on the rest of the fighting." The dragon rolled his eyes and muttered something about cheeky halfbreeds
Although the Staff still pounded furiously in his fist, it was as if a buffer had come between them leaving him full power with only a residue of the overpowering demon side of the Staff. Dante gave it an experimental twirl, unused to having an actual weapon while trying to fly. As he adjusted and compensated for the weight and shape of it, he managed to slice out at a few persistent Puia with his current form's arm scythes. "Alright, am I ready to launch this thing or what?" he asked Catullus.
"You should be fine," came the windblown reply. "Be careful though. It has a wide range. Don't worry about the armies directly below us! Direct it at the camps and sections farther from the human armies."
Dante took a deep breath and swung into upright position, flapping to steady himself. He focused, remembering and feeling what he had done back in the City. The power was already tapped, now to just gather and focus it. As they had the time before, the ridges inside the head of the staff glowed a neon purple until a blinding light seemed to emanate from it. This time, however, swinging the staff and releasing an explosive streak of silent power, Dante was in control.
Occasus's tent was rocked by a concentrated shockwave of air, ground, and bodies. A general in the tent that was thrown to the floor looked up and was shocked to see his lord clutching a table for support and smiling in satisfaction. "Seems he finally got this under control," Occasus murmured to himself, looking out through a large rent in his tent at the massive amount of destruction Dante's shot had caused. Devil corpses, most burnt or ruined past recognition, were tossed upon a wide landscape of torn earth that wouldn't have been out of place in the Underworld. "Mi-milord?" the general stammered in confusion. Occasus did not seem to notice. He stepped across the rubble that half filled his tent and moved outside, watching as another bolt of purple tore threw his ranks further away from the tent. "Things still go according to plan," he mused aloud softly. "Now there is only to reel him in." The general in the tent went pale and dropped to his knees as he watched his lord flicked a golden staff into being. "It can't be," the lesser demon whispered. As if he heard, Occasus looked back and gave the demon a smile that bordered on insane. At raising the staff above his head, purple light gathering around it. This light, however, did not brighten and launch forward as Dante's had. Rather it darkened and struck out in a stream of arrow that struck downwards into the earth. A momentarily heavy silence was shattered as a huge, red demonic pentagram hissed into life out of the ground. The giant symbol took up the entire battlefield, startling battling demons and humans alike.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Dante, about to launch his forth volley of power, startled and lost his focus. The Staff's power fizzled away as the halfdemon caught himself mid flight. "What the hell is that?" he muttered as a huge pentagram suddenly appeared on the field. He did NOT like the feel of it. What he saw next he liked even less.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Catullus, his attention stretched between helping control the Staff and flaming periodic demons, was so stunned by the pentagram's appearance that he momentarily forgot how to fly. The second lasted forever, filled with a stunned disbelief and incomprehension. "Who....?....." he thought, before snapping back to reality. Swerving around, he saw that Dante was also watching the huge symbol. He has no idea what it means, thought Catullus. No idea that is says that everything we've done so far has been meaningless...
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Preda, who was fighting on the front lines, took an involuntary step backward as curving red line arose out of the earth behind her. Was this Dante's doing? So far he had aided the humans beyond measure, boosting both their morals and the chances of winning. She pitched foward and cried out suddenly as pain blossomed in her leg. Swerving around, her jaw dropped in horror as she saw a demon biting into her ankle. A demon that she had killed not a minute before. She shot it off, only to have another demon attack her. Also one already dead. As she shot it off as it, she stood only to hear cries of horror and fear arising from the humans. "My God," she whispered, as all around the battle the dead and fallen demon army rose again to fight. "It's not possible," she whispered. Hearing a noise, she spun around to find herself surrounded. All the devils that she and the others had fought through to this point now rose and blocked off any escape. "Dante," she thought as they closed in and she felt that tingling, yawning sense of death's touch, "please save the city. Save the ci–"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dante took in a sharp breath as he realized what was happening. Even from his height, he could see the movement that was happening among the patches of destruction he had caused. The demons that he should have killed...he must have killed...that he KNEW he killed.
"Dante!" Catullus called, flying towards him from afar. "That's not a normal pentagram! It's caused by the Staff of Resurrection and it–"
"Catullus!" Dante yelled as out of nowhere a huge red panther creature swept up and tackled the dragon in midair. It took Dante a moment to realize that it was the same type of demon that had attacked him a few times before, but that this one was many times their size. It gave a mental scream in the air and whipped its antennae at the dragon. Catullus dodged and managed to break out of the creature's embrace.
"Go!" the dragon bellowed. "This is his familiar! I'll handle it while you go after Occasus! Your Staff is worthless if he can just resurrect them!" The dragon roared flames and attacked the panther in fury, their battle tearing through the skies.
"Him? Him who?" The pentagram at this point suddenly, receded upon itself, swirling inwards to it's center point....and a small figure that was lowering what appeared to be a staff. "What the.... that bastard, that has to be Occasus." With a snarl, Dante flew down at the figure. This bastard was the reason he had gone on this whole damn quest, this bastard was the reason hundreds if not thousands of people were dying, this bastard was...familiar...
Dante pulled up in shock a few meters away from him.
"Hello again, Dante," mischievous sea green eyes said in a soft, amused tone.
"Lannister?!?!"
Oh the drama! Oh the climax! Whatever will happen next?
Teheh, tune in next time for the final episode: Sins of the Fathers
(which will be done an updated sometime this week! Wooo!)