The business between Dante and Alexander maintained for several years, Alexander himself getting more and more familiar with the world, especially in adapting his souls to the world and making them more lethal to all demons, but the fire in Dante's eye helped in picking up the trail as they investigated both Red Grave and Grue's Bar to get a picture of what demon really was behind the attacks, even attacking Vergil at the playground in the past, and the answer was the same, the name of Mundus was passed around, Dante hummed as he answered a phone call. "Devil May Cry... Sorry, we closed at nine, transferring you over to our other branch." Dante huffed in pushing a button on the old-fashioned phone that routed the call to Alexander as he spoke to himself. "Again no password, I can't seem to get any more business."
Now, he was decently well-off, thanks to Alexander doing and keeping track of his information and funds, along with some ample jobs, the demon hunting was declining in not just leads, but also locations as not many people are able or willing to call in a demonic incursion or the like. His thoughts came to a halt when he heard the roar of a motorcycle and his front door was destroyed by said motorcycle, its rider a woman with flowing blonde hair, fair skin, and donning the apparel of leather as Dante exclaimed to the entrance. "Whoa, slow down, babe!" She didn't say anything as Dante took to looking, sizing up the newcomer who came in a bit more hostile than Arkham, but still had the underlying threat of demonic power to them. "Well well, what do we have here?" He sat forward in inquiring to see if she was a bit more casual. "Nature's call? It's in the back."
She only spoke up with taking in the number of demon heads, staked up with a number of blades, just staking them as they were just decoration, for the tough guy look. "So... you must be the handyman who will take any dirty job?" She focused on him from behind her shades as she rested a hand to her hip. "Am I correct?"
"Almost." Dante answered in getting up and picking up the Force Edge, the Rebellion having been loaned over to Alexander for a small test run of it and his weapon, the Reaver, from its place in front of a poster girl. "I only take special jobs. If you know what I mean." The pair stared off before the woman spoke.
"You're the man who lost a mother and brother to evil twenty years ago." Dante narrowed his brow at the sound of it, she knew about his past, but also assumed that Vergil was lost around the same time, either working with old info, or hadn't heard anything about Vergil for nine years since the Temen-Ni-Gru and the visible return of demons to the human world. "The son of the legendary dark knight, Sparda, Mr. Dante." Dante swished the blade a bit as he answered.
"Well, the way I figure it, in this business, a lot of your kind comes around, and if I kill each one that comes, eventually I should hit the 'Jackpot' sooner or later." He finished with pointing the blade at the woman as she answered back.
"In that case, you should be used to this sort of thing." She answered in reaching up, Dante not seeing the full threat yet, but the moment he felt his hairs stand up with the change in the air, the taste of metal, that he was too cocky in underestimating as she snatched the blade with electricity cloaking the limb, shocking him before she gave a roundhouse to him and kneed his jaw, launching him into the desk, shattering it before she caught the Force Edge and hurled it like a javelin, impaling Dante as she channeled more electricity into the metal as she laughed. "Are you really the son of the legendary dark knight, Sparda? Didn't your daddy teach you how to use a sword?" She stopped to pick up the motorcycle and hurl it, but Dante was prepared as he pulled out the twin guns.
"A sword?" He laughed in spinning them and aiming. "Time to go to work, guys." Manifesting a portion of his Devil Trigger, he stilled the cycle in flames before unleashing a maelstrom of rounds into it, launching it back at her as she yelped in barely ducking under with a leap with the cycle exploding against the wall, she gaping as Dante had got up in her dodge to tower over her with the Force Edge sticking out of his chest, not as painful as Rebellion sticking out of it as he spoke. "Even as a child, I had powers. There's demonic blood in me..." She made to scoot away a bit as she was in awe.
"What strength..." He reached up with putting Ebony away to pull out the Force Edge as he spoke to the clear point before him, she knew about his journey, and that made her a viable lead.
"You were the first one to know of my vengeance." He pulled it out before planting it in the wood as he came closer with aiming Ivory. "Looks like I'm getting closer." Only the crackle of the flames continued between the two of them before the tension slipped off the woman's shoulders for a fight as she spoke in getting back up.
"It seems that way. But I'm not your enemy. My name is Trish." Dante kept his gun trained on her, even as she turned her back to him. If she was not his enemy, than was the impale and toss part of the gig or a method of seeing how tough he was. "I came here to seek your help... to put an end to the Underworld." Dante let out a 'what' in pause, no demon would want the end of the Underworld, not if their powers go as well. She took off the shades and turned, emerald greens looking back at him and he felt his heart stop, it was not normal face that looked back at him, it was the face of his own mother that Trish wore.
With that, she fed him the story of Mundus, having revived twenty years ago after two thousand years of imprisonment at the hands of Sparda, and now seeking to return back into the Human World for dominance, his portal on the Island of Mallet, a wandering isle that is never in the same place, was even trapped in time by demonic powers, and the only ones who know where it is are those who have been to the island and where it will be next, adding doubt on Trish as that meant that it was no mere coincidence, just as Mundus made Gilver, if he was sure with Alexander's own investigations into the figure, he had made Trish, a lure to pull in the last son of Sparda and either kill him or enslave him, break his will into serving.
Still, Mundus coming out without opposition didn't sit right with Dante as he headed out to the isle, by boat, with Trish and busted in, the way up the sheer rock face as Trish answered. "The castle is above this cliff. Come on, let's go." She leapt up the cliff as the door behind him closed shut before he glanced both ways before opening a pocket in his coat, a small winged creature coming out with a forked tail and four bat-like wings as Dante spoke to the flapping creature.
"Connect me to Alexander, Optic." It chirped at him and made a short static sound before Alexander's voice came through.
"Alexander, transmitting from Vision to Optic, I hear you loud and clear, now tell me why I had to clean up your shop when you took off with a blonde bombshell, exactly?" Dante hummed before he spoke as he walked the trail.
"Trish wrecked a motorcycle in my shop, she is a demon, but she donned my late mother's face." A hiss was heard from Alexander as the hunter continued. "She has lead me to Mallet Island, a place where Mundus could emerge from the Demon World if I can't stop him, you are the plan B."
"Plan B is okay in my books." Alexander replied back in redoing the wards, seeing as Trish overpowered them and that showed the caliber of her design, a design clearly meant to pull in the son of Sparda. "In any case, it would seem that I can use the connection of Peeping Eyes, er, Ahriman to contact you and you can do the same for me and, since they are tailored to our energies, it would have to take you unsummoning or you actually dying for the link to cut. Mallet Island is not showing up in my mental map of the world, so be careful, Dante, who knows what tricks, traps and foes you will encounter there."
"Don't worry, I'll make sure that Optic consumes a few corpses for you to dice up. Dante, cutting the connection." That was a surprise on both of their ends, that any dead that Optic 'consumes' with a ray of energy could get destroyed or sent to Alexander's office for him to take apart and understand exactly what had happened beforehand, what demons they were, and what advantages they would give to the pair, trio if Lady didn't keep trying to bankrupt Dante for actually living her life again and billing Dante the expanses.
Still, they let her in all the time to get to the beef of things and even willing to give all the money to her if she needed it, she hadn't come around with accepting to be a part of the agency yet, but she often dropped by for backup, aid, or just wanting to see how they are doing.
Dante headed in and glanced back as the opening outside was sealed shut with masonry matching the interior of the castle as he mused. "Can't say I didn't see that coming, but... this has weight to it." In trapping him in the castle, that meant that the threat was actually real and that either Trish lured him into it or she was a witless pawn of Mundus, he even taking in the statue of a three-eyed angel at the top of the stairs there, a blue flame in its hands. "Three eyes... Quite interesting how Mundus depicts himself as some fallen angel, I guess it is just to fool humans into believing he is good." He recalled his meeting with Vergil back then, fighting a demon that also hid itself as an angel to be renamed, one of the seven deadly sins if the Temen-Ni-Gru was any notice of that.
He headed through the castle, the Red Orbs hidden and sprawling about now being used to liberate a few passages as he found a standing puppet, holding out something and Dante taking the Rusty Key from it as he turned to leave, but he halted in evading a knife, slamming into the bookcase at his side before he turned back to the puppet, it have moved and now shifted as he glanced to another descending from the ceiling and projecting twin crescent blades in hand. "Well, I suppose this was not going to get too boring." He quickly brought the things down with more of the sprawling puppets coming to life before he took a moment to breath as he spoke. "Force Edge isn't quite cutting it like Rebellion, but I couldn't care less, it is a nice blade." He sheathed it with opening the pocket again. "Optic, let's send Alex a few presents." The crimson Ahriman chirped with its eye going total white and blasting the shattered puppets with a ray of light, they blurring before vanishing, the process repeated a few times before Optic chirped with a static sound.
"Dante, I don't want to know why there are now wooden puppets in medieval dress being sent to me, but considering your placement, I can only assume..." Alexander huffed with taking the wooden puppets apart and donning a frown as he spoke. "These... Marionettes are interesting, likely modeled after the former inhabitants of the Castle, but the wood seems to have been tampered with to house spirits of the demonic variant, likely those serving dark powers, but can't cross the gap easily. I can only assume that there may be some puppets that even donned human blood on their wares to empower themselves even more. Be careful, Dante, you may have actually hit the Jackpot in this mess."
"Hey, careful is my middle name... after lady killer, handsome, and smokin' hot." Alexander facepalmed with a chuckle as he cut the link with Dante using the Rusty Key and finding a held up biplane.
"Alexander, cutting the link." Dante nodded with finding a Damage Wheel and activating it, into a underground space where he was besieged by more of the puppet Marionettes before destroying them and heading back up with the small pillar platform where the Marionettes hanging around the place came alive as well and he destroyed them as well before pressing on down a corridor, though Dante was not sure how he should feel about the Marionettes using shotguns against him, but they were just as dangerous to their allies as pointed at him as well, still sending a few to Alexander for seeing if he could work with them and do something special with the guns.
He stopped before a impaled sculpture of a woman, the sword humming to alive as it spoke in his mind. 'I am Alastor. The weak shall give their heart and swear their eternal loyalty to me.' With that, the sculpture changed and the sword came alive with blue electricity before it launched itself, Dante its target it it slammed into his chest and pinned him into the ground, the power dying out as if he had failed before his eyes flashed awake and he groaned in pulling himself free in ripping, but mending quickly to the sword, surprise in the steel as he staggered with hand out before he lashed out and snatched the hilt, breathing as he pulled the sword free, electricity now surging through his body as he raised Alastor high, lightning shattering the stained widow above before he moved with pushing the glass away and taking a breath as he tosses it, kicked it into a spin before catching it again and placing it on his back as he mused, his power back in full with the electric power to it.
"Nice to meet ya, Alastor, I'm Dante and I feel we are going to have a great time together." The Force Edge phased away as, with Dante's abilities could give him and some training with Alexander on the concept of dimensional spaces, they can use small pockets to store their weapons and switch out to different ones, as Dante headed on to a library, picking up another Rusty Key and another Shotgun and pushing through further into the castle, having to circle around and obtain the Staff of Judgement before heading back through the library, facing off with wraiths with white masks and rusted scissors, he finishing the battle and sending the remains to Alexander for details and he did not let Dante down as he called in.
"Alexander, transmitting from Vision to Optic. Whatever you just killed and sent to me is disturbing, whatever the demon you sent me was, it is clear that its power is solely focused on the masks, it's their lifeline and their power... Very curious... I'll try to understand these things fully, but keep going."
"Will do, Dante cutting the connection." He headed back up, quick drawing Ebony and Ivory with blasting up a horde of spiders that crept under the passage where Alastor had rested as he questioned. "I wonder what that was about..." He hummed with placing the Staff of Judgement in the hands of the Judge of Death and the passage opened up to him as he continued on.
The castle showed itself as being demonically influenced in the next chamber as the pillars moved and changed shape as Dante was led out to a altar before going back in for the 'Pride of Lion' needed to press on, the bridge shattering and sending him falling to the waters below, to face off with living skulls and destroying them before he reappeared at the structure and mused with looking at the shattered bridge to the altar. "I guess Mundus really is trying to kill me, I can't say that it would be a great idea, but effort is effort." He headed back in as the tablet floated back down, that charge of clearing the door may have drained it before he approached it when his sense went off, Alastor also acknowledging the coming presence with sparking alive before Dante turned, just as something crashed through the stained glass above.
While it was modelled over a tarantula, it carried a number of other arachnid features to it as it roared and stomped toward Dante before it scoffed. "Another small one. I sensed something a little bigger. What a disappointing catch." Dante didn't mind taunting the demon, if it thought he was small, it had another thing coming.
"What a BIG surprise." He tapped on the hardened carapace that protected the molten material that oozed and hissed from the demon's body as he mocked. "I hope, for your sake, you got something inside that big body of yours." The beast growled as it struck.
"You puny pathetic thing. I'll step on you like an ant!" Dante dodged the foreleg smash and went to town in fighting the molten beast, though its scorpion tail was an issue to handle, but not for long as it wailed in defeat before phasing away, Dante sheathing his blade as he didn't like how that thing just happened to drop on by and it was nearly on the same tier as the Temen guardians, meaning it was a commander or leader for the demons here as he mused. "I should probably tell Alex that there was a giant molten bug that just tried to trample me... but I think I'll hold off until that thing tries for another beatdown." He started to head out, going down the corridor before he heard a loud crash and turned to see the bug giving chase. "Gotta say, that is one determined pest." He booked it to the end, dodging blasts of fire before he turned with knocking back some and sending the pest reeling again and slipping away as he mused. "No pain, no gain. Better luck next time." He headed back down to the plaza where he looped from and found a lion statue protected with an aura, so he used the Pride of Lion, but something was not right.
He frowned to the eyes suddenly going red and mused again. "I guess there had to be a demon here as well, but I'll be a nice guy." Pulling Alastor, he hacked at the statue and it erupted before flaking away to a shadowy creature, reforming into a large big cat before Dante pulled it into the light, it erupting in defeat, though the core it had made it seem like it might be back much later. Dante didn't pay it too much mind as he headed through the lion-sealed door up top and ascended up the staircase he found there and obtained something called the 'Death Sentence', a jagged sword that was more key than weapon and entered the room below its place, a very-furnished room and a bust with a clear hole in it while being in front of a mirror.
Dante pulled out the Death Sentence and glanced between the mirror and the bust. "...If I wake something up with stabbing this into that bust, I am calling Alex for details..." He took a breath and stabbed, the orb in the bust's mouth dropping and he picking it up, it starting to weaken before he sensed another demon, Alastor going off as well as he looked for the demon, before glancing behind...
His reflection was not his own as it peered at him while he was standing sideways before it walked out of the mirror, Dante carefully stepping back before the two stared off and the reflection moved, its form phasing away to a large knight, sword on its hip before it drew the blade, a large claymore than broadsword, but there was something familiar to the figure as Dante carefully pulled out his amulet. "This stinkin' hole was the last place I thought I'd find anyone with some guts." While the main reaction to this knight, aglow with violet energies, was to snap, opening the doors, motioning Dante to follow before heading outside, the knight did something else as it planted the sword gently into the wood and reached up to the helm, pulling it free to dirty silver on account of grime and filth, veins pulsing and flexing as the eyes that looked back were a bitter mix of blue and red.
"This place is the last place I would ever see my brother again..."