AN: this fic hasn't died, I'm just having some difficulties. I'll explain more afterwards
Anyways, we went past a hundred followings on DMC: Legacy Untold, this is honestly one of my greatest accomplishments in life thank you all.
He remembered it clearly...
It was a dark room, only the flashing lightning and the glowing embers of Ifrit acting as his source of light. His only entry and exit was now gone thanks to the peculiar demonic seals making it inaccessible for him, lest he gets struck by a seemingly omnipotent hand if he dared to make an escape.
Near the end of the majestic room opposite to him, he notices a rather large figure staring at the window. As its cape fluttered when it turned to face him, Dante was greeted by the familiar obsidian-black armor of the Dark Angel.
"A man with guts and honor, I like that" he told the knight as he approached him, "but its a shame you serve Mundus"
The dark angel said no words, but had suddenly began to channel demonic energy around him, generating a powerful repulsion field causing even Dante to stagger and shield his eyes from its effects. As the repulsion field finally calmed down, the devil hunter was greeted with a helmetless dark angel, his red beady eyes were as if they were capable of penetrating even the toughest of armors with their stare.
With his greatsword in hand, the black knight suddenly lunged at the devil hunter with newfound speed, his weapon poised to strike overhead and crush his target's skull.
Unfortunately for the dark angel, his desired outcome didn't meet: with the help of the Ifrit gauntlets, Dante successfully managed to block the overhead swing, sustaining only minimal damage as Ifrit's infernal flames did their best to repel the greatsword. Pushing the large blade aside with a backhand, Dante channeled his energy on one hand and struck the dark angel's chestplate with a punch.
As the dark angel staggered back from the unexpected blow to the chest, Dante noticed that his opponent's armor was beginning to wear down, as a small crack was beginning to form on his chestplate: now with an idea in mind, he set his plan into motion.
"Is that all you got? Come on! This fight's feeling like a walk in the park!" He taunted, his hands mockingly gestured to the dark angel to come closer. As the black knight finally took the bait, Dante deflected the next swing with the help of Ifrit, the impact causing the knight's greatsword to fly out of his hands and embedding itself onto the wall. Now with his enemy staggered and unarmed, the devil hunter seized the opportunity and unleash a flurry of punches and kicks imbued with the fires of the underworld, all aimed directly at the cracked chestplate.
But even unarmed, the black knight was no slouch in hand to hand: he slowly but surely caught up with the devil hunter's speed, eventually matching the barrage of strikes with his own.
"Gotcha" Dante smirked, before suddenly exerting more power into his punches as it clashed against the dark angel's fists. It took a minute for the knight to realize what was going on and attempted to make a retreat, only for a swift blow to come into contact with unprotected head causing the demon to flinch.
The chestplate wasn't the only target, if the cracks on his gauntlets was of any indication. Channeling all of his power onto his right hand, the devil hunter gave a victorious grin.
"Jackpot" he smirked, sending his fist flying into the cracked chestplate, allowing its shards to jam themselves onto the black knight's now exposed chest. Dante could've swore he saw something glinting on the damaged chest of the black knight, only for an explosive burst of energy suddenly erupting within the armor.
The devil hunter braced himself as he heard his adversary scream in agonizing pain, until he suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke, dropping something in the process. As Dante went to pick up the mysterious item, he soon wished he didn't know what it was: an amulet, much like his own, but was wrought in the colors of the triumphant gold. As his hand trembled at the sight, he wonder why...
Why was that his fate?
"Dante..." a voice called out to him, seemingly from nowhere. He then suddenly felt a searing pain on his cheek as the vioice suddenly grew louder. "Dante!"
"Dante, DANTE!" a voice called out to him, "damn it! Are you sure this was how to wake up?"
"No no" another voice said, "Nero specifically said to twist his cheek like this in order to wake him up"
Feeling his face slowly twisting into a pretzel, the legendary devil hunter jolted awake, sucking the air through his teeth as his hand unconsciously moved to rub the searing pain on his cheek. Once it finally subsided, he turned his attention onto to two familiar figures beside him.
"Lady? Trish? Weird of you two to just waltz into a man's bedroom unannounced..." he said, "not that I don't mind, but still. Why are you guys here?"
"Dante, you're not in your room" Trish corrected, "you're in Nico's van"
"Nico said you suddenly just appeared here, collapsed" Lady added, "do you remember what happened prior?"
"What...happened..." Dante murmured, messaging his temples in hopes to recall the previous events that had transpired. As his mind managed to shift back to the battle that he and his family had suffered from, his expression slowly turned sour.
Noticing the shifting of his expression, Trish decided to speak up: "Dante, what-" she was about to say, before the devil hunter suddenly cut her off.
"Me and my dumbass brother and nephew were just having a heartwarming family bonding time" Dante explained, walking towards a table. He then grabbed a nearby pen and began writing on a piece of paper. "Till an old friend of dad's showed up stronger than ever and kicked all of our collective asses"
He then made his way to the driver's seat, passing the written piece of paper to Nico. "Drive us to this address" he told her, "with haste, please"
"Alright" She agreed, before a nefarious grin slowly crept into her face. "It's been awhile since this baby's ran full force"
Taking a seat next to the driver, Dante buckled up as the armored behemoth of a van suddenly going faster than a starving cheetah chasing after a gazelle.
"So Dante" Lady spoke up, "where are we going?"
"Well, if we decide to take on Mundus as we are now, chances are, we won't last" the half demon explained, "so we're going to take a detour to a place owned by an old friend of ours..."
"So you made me drive all the way here... for this?" Nico asked, looking quizzically at the building in front of her. Given the urgency in the devil hunter's tone, she could've swore the place they were going to would've been some sort of secret base filled with powerful demonic artifacts.
But much to the innovative craftswoman's dismay, Dante led her and the other ladies straight to... some random pawnshop. As they entered the shop, they were introduced to all kinds of used junk and knickknacks: racks of used clothing littered about here and there, some old jewelry put on display for many to see, even furniture can be seen.
"Enzo!" Dante hollered, "why don't you get out of that counter of yours and come greet an old friend?!"
Nico watches as the aforementioned man - Enzo - move out of his way to meet up with the devil hunter and the two women, chatting with them as if they were drinking buddies: he was a fairly short and chubby man, but what caught Nico's attention was the fact that he only had one arm. Was he a hunter like Dante back then?
"So Dante, who's the young lady?" Enzo asked, his question causing Nico to snap out of her thoughts. "You know, I'm beginning to notice a strange pattern between you and women. Just make sure she's legal because I'm not going to be one to bail you out of jail."
"Okay, that's enough of your weird imagination..." Dante remarked, "also get your head out of the gutter, that's Nell's grandkid for goodness sakes!"
"Nell's grankid?" Enzo squinted his eyes as he took a closer look at Nico's face, "she sure doesn't look like her..."
"That's what I said!" Dante chuckled, before he shifted the topic into something else. "That aside, I need a favor"
"As long as it doesn't involve money or demons, it's fine" Enzo waved him off, "so, what do you need?"
"I need you to relinquish my debt" the devil hunter said, rather a little too bluntly. Enzo face kept a blank expression as soon as those words escaped the cambion's mouth, and the soon turned and began walking away. "H-hey! Where are you going?!" The devil hunter cried out, following after him.
"I said as long as it doesn't involve money or demons, and you just asked for both!" Enzo exclaimed, "I'm sorry Dante, but I can't even grant you that request. You know how business is, right?"
"That's why I'm here to negotiate, as a fellow businessman of sorts" the devil hunter said, putting his arm over his friend's shoulder.
"Dante, do you have any idea how many debts you're in-"
"A bup bup! Let's not mind that for now" Dante said, shaking his free hand to emphasize how much he disdains the topic of his financial position being in the toilet. "Now let's cut to the chase: you and I both know how much you like money correct?"
"Yes, that is true..." the short man admitted.
"And it seems to me, your shop is running fairly well, am I wrong?"
"You're not wrong..."
"Now what if I were to tell you that the demon king has returned and is wreaking havoc on our world as we know it? What do you think happens?"
Enzo didn't respond. Sighing, Dante answered his own question:
"Two outcomes: you die and lose all of your profits, or your shop gets destroyed and you lose all of your profits. Either way, you'd lose profits, and we both know how much you hate that."
"That's why I'm doing you a favor buddy" the cambion continued, "if you could just relinquish that debt - even just temporarily - I can easily save your business, and you can continue earning money as your place is still intact. Do we have a deal?"
Enzo was lost in thought for a moment, before relenting to the idea: "alright, alright" he conceded, before leading Dante and others to the door behind the counter. "Do what you gotta do, and make sure the fight doesn't go near my store okay? Any other pawnshop getting destroyed is fine by me, heck, I'd even let you keep one of your devil arms if you thinned the competition!"
"Enzo is... a good fellow, he just needs the right motivation" Dante said, turning to a confused Nico. As the devil hunter opened the door, the craftswoman thought she was in heaven as she took the sight all in...
Elsewhere
Nero jolted awake from his slumber, and then immediately regretted it as he sat up way too fast. Putting the headrush at ease and taking a look at his surroundings, Nero noticed something was off:
He was in a room unlike his own, and the weapons he kept beside him were nowhere to be seen. Once he decided to get out of the bed he was in, he heard creaking sounds as his only exit suddenly flew open.
What was behind an originally closed door was a girl not older than he was: she had dark brown hair, all while a headband with a large red bow and gold-framed goggles rested upon her head. She wore a jumper-like outfit composed of brown leather shorts and a red hoodie-like top, all embellished with gold lining and symbols
The two stared at each in surprise. Wanting that to end, Nero eventually spoke up.
"Excuse me" he began, "but can you tell me where I am and who you are? I'm afraid I'm lost"
"Oh! Right, sorry!" She suddenly perked up, snapping out of her thoughts. "My name is Amber, and as to where you are, you're In Mondstadt"
AN: I decided to make a game mechanic an actual reason why Dante can't leave certain rooms, omnipotent hands are really annoying don't you agree?
Anyways, I did promise that I would explain further why I said I was having difficulties so let me explain: it's getting harder trying to write chapters nowadays, considering this chapter genuinely took weeks to finish. By the time y'all are reading this, I'm most likely letting my one overcooked braincell rest for a day or two, then I'll come back working on a chapter.
My problems aside I wonder how many of you will notice a reference I made, although there's a possibility that I might've unknowingly made another one.