Chapter III
Languidly, Dante shifted his gaze down the darkened street as Vergil emerged slowly from the shadows, his face the usual stony mask, Yamato held casually at his hip.
"Nice of you to show up, but it doesn't look like you brought drinks this time either," said the younger twin.
"My mistake, I thought it was your turn to play the gracious host," replied the elder.
"I hosted the last one… don't you remember?" Force Edge was out; he was peering down its glinting edge at Vergil. "You don't seem to be in a hurry tonight, so let's play one more game."
Vergil didn't move. "Of course you'll have no objections when I defeat you and take Father's sword and your amulet."
"Always the greedy one, aren't you, Verge?" Dante goaded. "But I won't complain— if you can defeat me."
Vergil drew Yamato methodically from its sheath with a metallic scrape. "I hope you've recovered your strength, Dante. I won't show you mercy this time," he said in a low voice.
Something boiled over in Dante's chest at this, spilling a little uncontrolled rage. "You bastard, you don't know what mercy is," he spat, struggling to keep his voice from rising. He forced a calm breath; his twin only stared at him, Yamato held in readiness.
"Have it your way then," Vergil said simply, and flexed forward, springing toward his brother with agility born of the devil himself, raindrops scattering around him.
o-o-o
Vergil knew immediately that Dante had regained all of his previous strength, and probably some extra, spawned from the humiliation and outrage he had suffered the night before; Yamato's blade rang as it clashed with Force Edge, and the two brothers strained and glared into eachothers eyes over the sheen of their swords.
"How far have you fallen, Vergil?" Dante ground out between gritted teeth, his eyes wide and piercing.
The older twin blinked through the rain that was plastering his hair to his forehead; his knuckles were whitening with effort on Yamato's hilt. "Farther than you know," he whispered, staring back into Dante's wide eyes.
They broke apart and stood glaring at eachother for a moment, and then it was a whirl of flashing steel and skidding boots as the blades whistled through the air; Vergil felt Yamato's tip pierce his brother's side as Force Edge sliced a gash across his right thigh.
He jumped back and Dante did the same; they were both panting slightly, their breath visible in the cold autumn rain. They circled eachother cautiously, both blades glinting as the raindrops scattered across their surfaces.
This time the younger twin charged first, and as Vergil twisted away, he brought Yamato's steel hilt down, hard, across his brother's hand. Force Edge slipped out of Dante's grasp, but as Vergil withdrew his arm to make room to plunge Yamato into his brother's chest, there was a whir of crystal and one of Cerberus' ice-cold prongs blinded him from the side, strewing stars across his vision, sending him crashing to the wet pavement.
Blood was pouring from his temple, blinding him; he somersaulted backwards as he sensed rather than saw Dante's consecutive combo slicing down from above him; the sanchaku struck the concrete and sent shards ricocheting.
Vergil allowed himself to sink to one knee and glared through the streaming blood and pouring rain at his younger twin.
Dante picked Force Edge up off the sidewalk and stowed the blade on his back; Cerberus dangled menacingly from his other hand as he plucked Ebony from her holster and leveled the barrel at Vergil's head.
"Just because Yamato's the only weapon you carry doesn't mean I play by the same rules," he asserted forcefully, and pulled the trigger once.