Quick note: I've changed the 'box art' of the story. That is what Harry currently looks like. I spent a bit of time working on it! What do you think?

Over 900 reviews... Just wow, guys. Last chapter, I barely had over 800! I'm really glad you're all enjoying this wild ride of mine!

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any other fandom I manage to squeeze in this story.

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Lightning Dragon's Roar
A Harry Potter Fanfiction
By Zero Rewind
© 2015
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Chapter 31: Convergence

This was it.

My hands shook as I made my way up the large, stone, outdoor spiral staircase which led to the top.

I could feel the energy in the air. It was brimming with it! This way beyond anything I had ever felt in my life. I was wrong about my assessment before. This wasn't on the same level as the energy above Azkaban Prison.

No, that would be like comparing an ant to Tyrannosaurus Rex. Even then, I wasn't sure that was an accurate assessment to the sheer magnitude of the power that had been collected by Temen Ni Gru.

It made me terrified. Not scared. Terrified.

I had been scared before. I'd battled against Voldemort, faced down great beasts.

But this was different.

At least, back then, I knew the Earth would be safe. Voldemort wanted to rule over wizard-kind, not to exterminate them. Beasts only wanted to feed themselves; they didn't care about the problems of the masses.

Lilith, on the other hand, wanted to open the gates to Hell. The Demon World— whatever you wanted to call it.

She was going to force it open, and it would unleash Demons of every kind onto this Earth. True monsters, unlike anything seen in millennia. If every single one of them was like Erebus, or worse yet, even stronger…

Thoughts of that carving of the Demon Emperor Mundus, hovering over endless legions of a Demonic Army pervaded my mind. The amount of senseless bloodshed that would happen if that gate was opened…

And as always, I was the only one here to stop it.

As I had said earlier, I was absolutely terrified.

Why did these things always happen? Did the universe not know that I wanted to kick back, crack open a pepsi, and play some games for twenty four hours straight? But then again, this experience was pretty much like the events from a video game or a fantasy novel…

So, I wasn't really missing out on anything, was I?

"What's to worry about?" Erebus said with an air of boredom. "You would be long dead before the world falls apart."

§He makes a good point, Harry.§ Balthazar agreed, his hisses echoing in my head. I still had to figure out how he was doing that.

"Yeah, thanks for the pep talk, guys. Don't quit your day job, though."

I took a deep breath to calm my nerves, as I reached a final set of stairs, leading to a platform at the top of the Temen Ni Gru. The top, a circular platform, was surrounded with vicious spikes, every few feet along the perimeter.

Five large pillars also stood around the circle, in a pattern which was very particular.

The pillars themselves were quite peculiar as well. They were formed in an upside down "L" shape, and pointing inwards, to the center of the circle.

Wait, this was a magic circle!

The pillars were the points, and they would form a five point star. All of that energy would be collected and used here.

A large, circular rip was open between two of the pillars. Beyond it, I could not see anything. It was a dark void.

For a moment, I began to panic. Had she done it already?

"Calm down, that's a portal to the Nevernever." Erebus explained calmly, as I took in the rest of my surroundings. Aside from the heaviness of the magic in the air, and the continual hum of the gate to the Nevernever, the place was quiet.

Empty.

At each side of the portal, there was a statue. The two looked almost identical in shape and size, except for their color schemes, which were red and blue, respectively.

They were statues of Demons, I noted, and both were missing their heads. They stood guard next to the circle, leaning on their strange, serrated swords. Each one had some kind of metal plating, grafted right onto their arms. Presumably for defensive purpose, but the metal looked like it was part of the body itself, which was really strange in itself.

I moved warily to the portal, looking out for any traps, but nothing happened. I relaxed minutely, before deciding to go through the portal. I took a step forward, but stopped when I saw what happened.

The red and blue statues whirred to life, each brandishing its weapon threateningly, before charging at me without words. I had a split second to react as the blue one leaped high into the air, its sword glowing with power, while the red one kept on charging.

I jumped back, calling my Lightning forth, just in time to dodge the blue Demon's downward thrust, which generated strong, cutting winds, judging by the sudden stinging sensations on my cheek and left arm.

The red one gave me no time to regain my bearings, flanking me from the left, its flaming sword swinging.

I met its swing halfway with Erebus, the dark blade stopping the red, serrated blade with a loud, clanging noise of metal against metal.

I gritted my teeth as the strike pushed me back a foot.

These things were unusually strong.

"Agni and Rudra, here?" Erebus' voice came out of the sword, sounding confused and amused. "And quiet, to boot. Never thought you two would ever shut your mouths."

"What do you mean?" I asked quickly, breaking my sword lock with the red demon, causing it to overextend right into my Edge.

The Lightning drill pierced its hide, blood spattering my face and gushing onto the ground.

But the red Demon didn't even make a sound, simply grabbing my hand and throwing me off to the edge of the circle, I broke into a roll to avoid taking any unnecessary damage.

I got back up and continued the fight, charging even more Lightning into my muscles.

"Those two never stop talking, and I stress on the word 'never'." Erebus answered, a hint of amusement seeping into the urgent tone. "Likely, they have fallen to Lilith's spell. The blue one is Rudra, while the red one is Agni. They're known in our circles as the Firestorm."

"Wind and Fire, huh." I saw the two Demons, Agni and Rudra, raise their swords high into the air.

They stabbed their swords into the ground, sending currents of orange fire and light blue wind streaming right to me.

I leaped over the attack, shooting half a dozen Lightning Blades at the blue Demon, Rudra, before focusing my efforts on Agni.

Agni was the fire based Demon. Considering Erebus' control over Darkness and the cold, it made sense to keep Rudra dazed or occupied as I took out the weak link.

Whether Agni didn't recognize the tactic, or whether he simply didn't care, I did not know. But he charged me anyway, his serrated red blade coated with deadly, orange flames.

I waited until the very last moment, before I ducked underneath the swing, feeling the incredible heat of the blade passing over my head.

From below, I channeled Lightning into Erebus, and stabbed through Agni's sword arm, the dark Falchion easily going through its flesh and bone. It earned me a loud, pain-filled howl from the Demon.

I heard the sound of Agni's sword clattering onto the ground, his arm no longer capable of grasping it. More peculiar, was the fact that Agni had stopped moving altogether.

I pulled Erebus out of Agni's arm and turned to Rudra, who roared, before extending his sword arm.

Upon further inspection, I realized that it was the sword's blue pommel itself— which was shaped like a head— that was howling.

The pommel-face's eyes glowed, and I felt a rush of air beside me as Agni's sword flew into Rudra's free hand.

I turned to see the body of Agni disappear in a burst of fire, the energy rushing into Rudra's form, as he held the swords above his body, spinning them like a windmill, which generated a tornado made out of wind and fire.

"This just got a lot worse, didn't it?" I said and shielded my face.

"Indeed."

Rudra burst forth from the tornado, blades writhed in concentrated wind and fire. The added energy from Agni had given him a sizable speed boost— probably quite a bit of strength as well, if I was stupid enough to let myself get hit by any of his strikes.

I parried the red, serrated blade with my Snake Arm, the black scales protecting my hand from the brunt of the heat, before flanking the Demon.

I kicked the back of his knee, forcing him down slightly. Then, I swung Erebus down at Rudra's back, but the Demon blocked it with the blue sword, and followed up with a swing of his flaming, red sword.

The strike would have cleaved me in half, if I didn't try to block it with my scaled arm. As it was, the blow ended up grinding against the scales on my arm, cooking my skin underneath. I cringed in pain and drew back from the monster, cradling my damaged arm for a moment.

Rudra didn't allow me any time to regain my bearings, choosing to go for the kill immediately with a downward, double sword strike.

I glared at the offending Demon, sidestepped the finishing blow, and slammed Erebus down onto the two swords, holding them— and by proxy, Rudra— in place as I took a deep breath, charging my lungs with as much Lightning as I could muster.

I lifted Erebus ever so slightly so I wouldn't be dragged along with whatever was going to happen to Rudra.

"Lightning Dragon's Roar!"

The top of the Temen Ni Gru was bathed in a bluish white light, as my Roar slammed into the blue Demon at point blank range. The swords shrieked angrily as Rudra's extra charred body was sent flying off of the platform, and ultimately off of the Demon Tower itself.

Temen Ni Gru's top was quiet again, but I stayed tense and alert for a few more moments, before finally letting down my guard with a tired sigh.

I panted with exhaustion and dropped to one knee, trying to regain my balance— and failing miserably. I had been fighting almost nonstop from the moment I had come to this Tower, with barely any breaks.

I was tired. I stayed that way for a very long moment, simply focused on my breathing.

It would have been so nice to just give up, and take a nap or something.

Then I wouldn't have to worry about any of this.

But I forced myself back to my feet, and treated the worst of my injuries with my discs of Murtlap essence and the orange burn paste. The scales around the burn on my right arm parted, allowing me to treat that particularly painful injury, as well.

It took precious minutes, minutes in which I wasn't sure whether the world was going to fall apart or not, but it had to be done. It was dumb to go against Lilith head on with any sort of weakness for her to exploit.

I moved to the portal, but stopped when heard a set of footsteps coming from behind.

"You're not going anywhere." I heard a male voice say angrily.

I reacted instinctively, pointing my right arm at the newcomer and instantly dousing the man with Balthazar's venom. The man screamed in startled pain and fell backwards, turning silent as the poison sizzled against his flesh.

He didn't move.

I didn't even give him a second glance.

"No more delays. I'm not letting Lilith open the gates to Hell." I turned back to the portal, and moved towards it again.

"What is it with you people and immediately attacking anything that intimidates you? Lady's already bad enough." The same newcomer's voice came from my right. I jumped in almost childish terror, tripping over my own two feet, and fell on my butt.

I saw the man, standing in front of me, looking as if he didn't have a care in the world. He had white, brushed down hair and light blue eyes. The man's open, two tailed red coat was flapping in the winds around us, showing off some powerful abs.

Part of his coat's right sleeve looked liked it had been torn off recently. Had he been in some kind of fight? He certainly looked like he was the type.

He was wearing dark brown combat pants, black combat boots, and had black fingerless gloves on. But the biggest thing that caught my attention was the gigantic sword resting on his back, as well as the two guns that he was casually spinning around his index fingers.

I was sure the attack had gotten him. Did he dodge it? Or, was it some kind of illusion? If it was, then the smell of burning flesh wafting in my nose was quite convincing.

I realized belatedly that he had simply taken the venom head on, and was completely fine afterward. Extreme tissue regeneration, perhaps? The same poison had turned a Hell Vanguard into a blob of goopy slime in a matter of seconds…

"That stung like a bitch, dude." The man glared at me slightly, even as he held his hand out for me. I grabbed hold, and pulled myself back to my feet.

"Right. Sorry. It's been a difficult few hours." I shook off the shock, before turning back to the portal urgently. "No time to chat, I'm afraid. Just tell me your name and let's go close the gates to the Demon World. I'm Harry."

If the guy could take Balthazar's venom head on, get right back up and not kill me while my back was turned— even going as far as to help me get back up, he was probably not out to get me.

I tightened my grip on Erebus, the cold feel of the powerful, dark Falchion in my hand giving me a soothing comfort in these trying times.

The white haired man regarded me for a moment, before nodding.

"Dante."

And with that, we entered through the portal and into the Nevernever.

I looked around, and blinked.

I was still on top of Temen Ni Gru. That was it? I thought there would be some earth shattering experience to go through, like a roller coaster ride through time and space, or something.

Nope, it was just like going from one room to the next.

Hell, I wasn't even sure I left the real world.

"Yes, boy. We are in Nevernever." Erebus confirmed with a slight rattle. "The Nevernever and the real world can only be joined at meaningful, or powerful places. Besides, did you not notice the differences?"

So I paid attention.

Indeed, this Temen Ni Gru was different than the one in the real world. For one, it seemed that it was at least double the size of the original, judging by a cursory glance to the horizon.

Moreover, the platform here possessed a greater number of statues, and there were Demonic looking church bells hanging off of the upside down "L" shaped pillars.

The bells were obviously being ringed, but, strangely enough, no sound came out.

The white haired man—Dante, I told myself— took a few steps forward, his head glued to the sky above us. His fists were clenched in anger.

I followed his line of sight, and almost gaped. A red beam had blasted into the sky, tearing a large hole in the fabric of the Nevernever.

Behind the hole, I could see bright, almost holy-like cathedral images, spinning around the beam's axis.

"So she really did open the gate to Hell." My new ally said quietly, but loud enough for me to hear. "And I thought my added measures over my own father's protections would hold."

"Your father?" I questioned, not taking my eyes off of the gate.

"Yeah." Dante said, moving to the red beam of light at the center of the magic circle. "The Devil Sparda."

"Your father is Sparda?!" I sputtered in disbelief at the admission. "How? Didn't he do the things he did thousands of years ago?"

"What can I say?" Dante shrugged with an easy smirk. "Guess Demons take some time to finally keel over."

Dante turned his head in my direction. "You comin'? Or ya scared?"

Indignant anger welled up within me, but I nodded.

"No. I've come too far to call it quits."

"That's the spirit." Dante said as we stepped into the red beam. I felt my weight disappear, as the beam carried us up to the images I had seen at the top of the skies of Nevernever.

Now this portal was the jarring experience I was expecting.

It started with a loud, screeching noise, and a feeling of cold pervading my body, as I flew through a bluish tunnel at extreme speeds, judging by the movement of the specks lights around me; lights I could only assume were the stars in the night sky.

A second more of this, and I finally hit the light at the end of the tunnel. The portal dropped me unceremoniously onto the bed of a shallow water stream, next to Dante, who looked amused at the display.

"You're pretty clumsy." Dante helped me back up.

I covered my embarrassment with an annoyed gaze, before turning to view my latest surroundings.

"This is Hell?" I asked conversationally, stomping in the stream. "Didn't expect water."

Dante didn't answer, merely moving to the edge of what seemed to be the start of a waterfall. In the background, I could see a black sky, with a very large, and very strange, dark yellow sun providing light to our surroundings.

I moved to stand next to Dante, looking down into the depths below us.

It was an immense, black void, stretching out as far as the eye could see.

Dante tore his eyes away from the depths, and wiped at his eyes for a moment, before smirking at me.

"Sorry." Dante said with false cheer. "Was a little caught up in the moment. My brother and I fought here, a few weeks ago."

Interesting.

"Where is he now?"

"He decided to stay here." Dante said bluntly.

"Who in their right mind—" I started, before jumping to the side, to avoid a sword swipe to the back of my neck. I turned to see the source, and almost gaped. It was Dante!

Or at least, that's what I would have thought, if it weren't for the blue, three tailed coat with the almost regal looking armor underneath, the white hair that was swept back, and the katana in his left hand.

"Vergil!" Dante said, but the man did not answer, simply regarding us with a blank gaze, his sword gleaming in the dark yellow light emanating from the Hell-Sun.

"Don't tell me your stay in the Demon World isn't agreeing with you, big bro?"

Vergil stayed quiet.

I frowned. This was Dante's brother? I looked into his eyes, and was reminded of something similar; something I had seen before.

Blank gaze. Unresponsive. This was Lilith's doing!

"Lilith must have him under her spell." I said in realization.

"Why, Harry!" A cheerful, sensual voice was heard as the winged Demoness touched down in front of us, her tail swishing in excited happiness. "I didn't know you were so smart! Though, I have to admit, getting him under my control was not entirely my doing..."

I almost gaped in shock.

She was completely unharmed. The wounds, and burns I had inflicted on the Demoness had simply disappeared in the time it took for me to get there. How was that even possible?

"How?" I sputtered in shock.

"How… what?" She tilted her head, eyes shining in amused malevolence. "How did I heal? And here I thought you were smart. My mistake!"

"The concept of time in the Nevernever is skewed. We could have been there for a minute, or we could have been there for hours. It is hard to tell." Erebus provided helpfully.

"Convenient." I grumbled in irritation.

"As much as I'd like to chat." Dante interrupted whatever the beautiful succubus was about to say, drawing his sword with one hand.

"I think we have some business to attend to." He held the large claymore as if it weighed nothing, pointing it as Lilith. The sword seemed to vibrate in excitement, as the guard— comprised of a metal skull, and a ribcage, linked to the massive blade— opened its mouth, its eyes shining red with bloodlust.

That feeling resonated within the black Falchion in my hand, and judging from Vergil's katana loudly clattering within its sheath, I realized that his blade was also reacting to Dante's sword.

"Hmph!" Lilith thumbed her nose at the man, before turning to Vergil, who was beginning to shake very minutely.

"Vergil." She addressed the man, before pointing to me. "Kill him."

The blue coated Devil merely regarded her for a moment, his shakes stopping completely. He drew his sword.

I stepped back and blinked; suddenly, Vergil was a few feet behind the Demoness, slowly sheathing his sword. Lilith's eyes were wide in shock, as her body was cut all over and wings were torn to shreds as soon as Vergil finished sheathing his blade with a loud ping.

And then the scream of pain came as the succubus dropped to her knees, blood flowing freely from her wounds, and the bloody stumps on her back.

The Devil's attack on Lilith had been so sudden and so fast it took me completely by surprise.

"You— how dare you—" She tried to say before vomiting blood out.

"You were too weak. Not even he could control me." Vergil said calmly as he pointed towards the dark yellow sun with his sheathed sword, before drawing out the succubus' soul with his hand, absorbing her energy with ease.

Lilith dropped lifelessly, face down into the water.

Next to her body lay the blue, tripartite nunchaku that Lilith had taken from Cerberus.

All that time I was trying to stop her, and he completely destroyed her in less than five seconds...

And, what was he even talking about? I forced myself to shake off the shock of Vergil's quick dispatching of Lilith, and looked in the direction he was pointing at, seeing three glowing orbs in a triangle pattern, arcing with energy.

Who— or what was that?

I felt out towards this new presence with my energy, only to have Erebus fight my Lightning down, trying to rein it in with a fervor that was almost frightening.

"What're you doing?" I demanded.

"Stop! Don't feel him out! That's the Demon Emperor!"

At that, I immediately reined in my Lightning, not wanting to know what the energy of the Demon Emperor Mundus felt like. Feeling out Lilith's presence was bad enough, and she was only a Lieutenant in the Demon Army.

This was the Emperor himself.

Who knew what kind of depravity I would find?

"Heh, always with the dramatic entrances and stealing my spotlight." Dante treated the entire situation as if it were a joke, waving his gigantic sword around in a chiding manner. "You just can't help yourself, can you?"

"My apologies, brother." Vergil regarded his brother with irritation. "I was so concentrated on fighting the scum who killed our mother, I didn't notice the portals leading outside of this Realm being opened."

"So it's true?" Dante's joking demeanor stopped at that, turning to look at the glowing orbs in the background, which were beginning to form into the gigantic, winged being I had seen in the carvings of the Temen Ni Gru.

Fear welled up in my heart.

"He's the one?" Dante asked, regarding his brother with sharp eyes.

"Indeed." The blue coated Devil suddenly looked down, anger and shame on his face. "I could not beat him."

"You—" Dante was at a loss for words. I figured he was not used to his brother acting that way. From the way he dressed, I inferred Vergil was the kind of person who kept things to himself; someone who was cool and collected.

"I'm not sure what you two are talking about." I interrupted the little family reunion, seeing the Demon Emperor's gigantic, winged body begin to fly towards us, the ground beginning to rumble as he did so.

"But we've got trouble. What do we do?"

There was a long silence, before Vergil said something that seemed to shake his brother to the core.

"We escape." He said, before jumping in the portal.

Dante and I shared a quick look, before jumping in after him.

As before, I heard the tell tale sound of screeching as we flew through the gateway, moving past the stars at extreme speeds, but everything suddenly stopped, leaving Vergil, Dante and I stuck right in the middle of the gateway.

I felt myself begin to fall, so I called my Lightning forth, activating my Air Raid. The electricity traveled throughout my body, converging onto my back.

A loud, ripping noise was heard as large, electric blue wings erupted from my back, tearing the shirt to shreds.

Next to me, I saw the two Devils transform into veritable monsters, keeping afloat in the air with their Demonic power.

"What's going on?" Dante asked, his voice altered by the transformation.

"It's him." Vergil replied in a similar voice, turning to look back the way we came and drawing his sword with a flourish. "He is weaker here, in between the realms."

"As true as that may be." A loud booming noise was heard as the gigantic, winged Devil Emperor came into view. "Even in my moments of weakness, I am still far more powerful than any of you."

To be honest, Mundus looked more like an Angel than a Demon, what with the feathered wings, and the regal tones he employed. But I could feel his malevolence from here, without even reaching out to him.

"We'll just see about that, won't we?" Dante challenged, also drawing his sword.

I brandished my weapon at Mundus, keeping silent.

"The two half-breed sons of Sparda, and a human child..." Mundus rumbled in a mocking tone, before crossing his arms, his three eyes glowing with power.

Almost instantly, three, bright red energy spikes were hurled at our forms. Dante and Vergil dodged theirs, while I slapped mine with the side of Erebus, sending it flying into the darkness.

"I see that all three of you possess some kind of power." Mundus praised. "Join me, and you will rule over the Human World, as veritable gods!"

All three of us shared a quick glance, before turning back to the Demon Emperor. I charged Erebus with Lightning, and pointed the blade at Mundus, my two allies doing the same.

"LIGHTNING DARK STREAM!"

"DRIVE!"

"SCUM!"

Bluish black Lightning shot out of Erebus, combining with Dante's red energy slash and headed towards Mundus, who was now sporting some sizeable wounds on his face— likely the work of Vergil.

The combined attack slammed into the Devil Emperor's face, eliciting a cry of pain from the monstrous being.

"Don't let up!" Vergil shouted out, charging the winged Devil Emperor, sword flashing blue as he sent attack after attack flying at the dazed opponent. Dante and I followed suit, also flying to the massive being.

I narrowly dodged Mundus' swipe, sending some Lightning Blades into his large hand. The spinning blades embedded themselves in the thick Devil's hide, causing him to growl in irritation.

His three eyes glowed for a moment, before the sky above us filled with streaking meteors, all headed towards us. I almost gaped at the sight, but my preservation instincts kicked in, and I practically went into overdrive, charging my nerves with more Lightning than I ever had before.

It hurt— oh god, it hurt— but I gritted my teeth through the pain, maneuvering my way through the meteor shower, the heat coming from the falling rocks burning me severely.

As the onslaught ended, I saw that Vergil and Dante also hadn't fully escaped the Devil Emperor's attack, both looking as charred as I was, though their burns were healing at an accelerated rate.

Said opponent simply laughed contemptuously as he regarded us with mocking eyes.

"Humans… Such frail creatures." Mundus continued laughing, before his eyes glowed once more; Dante and Vergil were instantly hit with lightning bolts coming from above, aggravating their injuries further. "It is always so amusing to see your futile struggles against your superiors."

Just now, he had used lightning. An idea formed in my head as the two half-Devils regained their bearings.

"You think a weak little lightning bolt like that could keep any of us down?" I challenged the Demon Emperor directly, arrogance coating every word. "Don't make me laugh. I doubt your lightning could even hurt me, let alone kill me!"

"Be silent, human!" The winged Devil roared, the sound itself pushing me back a few feet.

"Why don't you make me, weakling!?" I retorted, a mocking smile on my face. I held my arms open. "Come on. Hit me with your best shot!"

"Or is the great Devil King Mundus scared of a lowly human like me?"

Mundus' glowing eyes was all the preparation time I had, before a lightning bolt— at least a hundred times more powerful than those that slammed into Dante and Vergil— impacted my form.

I was ready for it.

I latched onto the lightning, greedily swallowing every single drop of energy that was readily available to me. I felt my burns fade, my cuts close, and my energy levels reach untold heights.

There was just so much energy! My power just kept on increasing as I fed on Mundus' lightning. The stream of energy suddenly stopped, leaving me floating between Dante and Vergil, who were looking at me in astonishment.

Likely, they hadn't expected a human like me to survive.

"You… Filthy scum! How dare you take what's mine?" Mundus bellowed furiously.

"Dante, Vergil." I addressed the two men floating beside me, my hand extended towards each of them. "Channel your power into me."

"Why?" Dante asked with his altered voice.

"There's no time! I don't know how long I can hold this Lightning in." I snarled at the two. "Channel your energy into me, and I'll unleash it all on Mundus in a single strike! You too, Erebus, Balthazar." I added at the end.

Vergil placed his hand on my left arm with no hesitation whatsoever, pumping his power into me as fast as he could. Dante nodded, and did the same.

"You think you could make light of me? The Devil Emp—"

"That's exactly what I think." I said, before taking a deep breath, channeling all the energy into my lungs. Erebus' Darkness; Balthazar's purple, poisonous energy; Dante's wild, red power; Vergil's blue, calm force; and finally, my bluish white Lightning.

I could feel it all. Balthazar's trepidation, Erebus' excitement, Dante's extreme lust for blood, and Vergil's cold anger. At that moment, they became my feelings.

The energy pooled itself in my lungs, the different colors swirling with great speed as I increased the energy to levels that were beyond agonizing.

And then I unleashed it all at the Devil Emperor.

"Lightning Dragon's Roar!"

The world was awash in a myriad of colors as the attack slammed right into Mundus' three eyes, overpowering the Demon's defenses instantly, and sending the gigantic being flying back outside of the portal.

Our trip through the portal resumed its course, and I let my Lightning wings dissipate. My two allies reverted back into their human forms, removing their hands from my arm.

I felt so tired, just then. So dizzy and weak. All I wanted to do was fall asleep.

"You might have beaten me this day..." Mundus' voice boomed as we began moving through the gateway, flying past stars at great speeds, though not as fast as we were going originally.

My body jerked to a stop, and I noticed the startled gazes of Dante and Vergil, who simply sped off into the distance, incapable of stopping themselves to save me from Mundus' clutches.

"But you shall die in this void. In between worlds." Mundus sounded satisfied with himself. "Your human body will wither away to dust. How does it feel to lose, even when you win?"

I felt hot anger claw through my haze of dizziness, granting me a temporary clarity of thought.

I grabbed hold of Erebus, and desperately slashed into the fabric of the void between portals, trying to open a rift. Nothing happened.

I tried again.

Nothing.

Mundus' mocking laughter rang in the endless void.

I growled angrily, and slashed one final time, pouring all of my power, despair and fear into the strike.

A rift opened below me, and I fell into it, already having lost consciousness. I didn't hear Mundus' roar of impotent rage as I fell into darkness, away from the void in between gates, and away from Nevernever, to an unknown destination altogether.