DVYL May Cry
The Emerald Forest looked beautiful at this point in time. The sun was shining through the canopy of leaves above and a few birds were chirping away in their nest in one of the many branches of the tree. The two finches were singing to each other and just at peace. That was until an explosion shattered the calm and a primal scream of pain was heard. That's when an Ursa came flying through the air and through a neighboring tree. The racket caused the birds to fly away in a panic.
Dante walked into the clearing at a calm pace. Eryx was wrapped around his arms. "Come on, Big Guy. That all you got?" he taunted the dying Grimm with a smirk. The Grimm gave a weak but defiant growl before it went limp and faded into smoke. Dante sighed in annoyance, "Guess it was."
He looked down at his new weapons and just felt the demonic energy swirling within them. He had been in the forest for the better part of an hour and had gotten a good grasp on them now. They were definitely slower than Rebellion but not as slow as Arbiter, more powerful physically too. Only drawback was the lack of reach but they were gauntlets, so that made sense. At least now he had a true close-combat weapon.
He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard some branches snapping and turned to his left to see an Ursa Major break into the clearing before roaring at him. Dante just smirked, "Looks like you're next." The beast roared at him again before charging him, "Good to know." He replied sarcastically and charged at the Grimm.
The Ursa Major stopped and reared back on its hind legs, ready for a devastating slash with its paw. Dante planted his feet and waited to the last second to sidestep the attack and get within the guard of the beast, planting a right fist into its chest. An explosion of demonic energy erupted on impact, sending the beast skidding back but staying on its feet. A first so far.
Dante rotated his shoulders, "Good to see your sturdier than the rest. Let's see what these things can really do." He charged at the Grimm and as it saw him closing in, it roared in fury. It tried to slash at him again but he ducked under it and collided a fist into its knee, snapping it backwards. The Major screamed again and dove down to sink its teeth into the Demon Hunter. Unfortunately, its chin was met with another punch, nearly taking it off its feet.
As it was staring into the sky in a daze. Dante jumped above it and raised both his arms above his head before slamming them down on top of its head. The force behind it caused it to fall to the ground, fully sprawled out on its stomach like a Grimm bear rug. Dante landed beside the Grimm and decided to put it out of its misery. By bringing his fist down on its head one last time and turning into a cloud of smoke.
That's when clapping was heard behind him. He turned to see Yang, Ruby and Nora being the source of it. The two teams were next to a rock outcropping as they watched him destroy the Grimm. They asked if he wanted a hand but he declined so they decided to just sit back and enjoy the show. Some more than others obviously.
Nora was sitting on the top of the outcropping, clapping like crazy with Ren behind her with his arms wrapped around her stomach in a hug. Ruby was sitting cross-legged at the bottom while also clapping and Pyrrha was sat next to her with her legs out, smiling at her young leader's antics. Blake was standing while leant against the rock right beside her partner. She had her arms crossed but gave Dante small smile and nod. Weiss was close by, standing not too far from the other three women of her team. She was giving him an analytical stare. So, she was either going to point out any flaws in his fighting, which would probably be helpful, or she was trying to figure out the mechanics of his new weapon. Hard to tell, but he was more partial to the latter since she hadn't started pointing anything out to him at this point.
Meanwhile, his girlfriend was walking over to him while clapping and a smile on her lips, "Not bad, Dante. Is it just me or did I see a few of my own moves in there?"
He just shrugged with his own smirk, "Maybe. They are gauntlets so it wouldn't be outlandish to have similarities with your style." Eryx shined a bright red before they disappeared into his mark. By this point, she was within arm's reach so he pulled her into a gentle hug, "Especially since it's a fighting style I'm very intimate with and is completely badass."
She playfully smirked up at him and hugged him back, "You're just trying to butter me up, aren't you?"
"Maybe." He replied coyly and leant down to give her a gentle kiss. She hummed in satisfaction and returned it. The rest of their friends just looked on with a variety of smiles.
Unknown to them, there was a silver haired young man in the trees several hundred feet away. He was looking at them through a pair of binoculars. He pulled them away and he pulled out a scroll to call his boss. After a couple of rings, he answered, "Have you had any luck?" Roman asked him.
"I've located Dante in the Emerald Forest. He's with two first-year teams from Beacon. Should I engage them?" Mercury asked.
There was a silence before he spoke up, "No. Attacking his students will just agitate Ozpin. Even if he can't stop us, he'll make things much more difficult for us. Wait for when he is alone before engaging them."
Mercury nodded, "Got it. Also, there is another development, sir." Roman didn't respond but Mercury knew he was waiting for him to continue, "It looks like the Demon Hunter is very attached to a certain student."
There was an extended silence, "Really?" Roman answered and he could just picture the sadistic grin stretching across the Demon King's face. "Tell me more."
Dante was now standing in Ozpin's office with the Headmaster, his deputy Headmistress and Vergil. Ozpin had let her in on the secret of Dante's true nature and Vergil's existence. After he was done with working with Eryx, the two teams made it back to Beacon. That's when Dante broke off from them and made his way here. They didn't need to deal with the bureaucracy of the war. Hell, he didn't want to deal with it but had no choice in the matter. "So, did either of you get any information on those three?" Dante asked as he walked in from the elevator.
Ozpin started to tap away on his desk, "Working together, we did find some information. Not too much on any of them but its something. Emerald Sustrai was an orphan that lived on the streets, using her Semblance to survive. Mercury Black is the son of the infamous assassin, Marcus Black. He has apparently been trained in the art by his father and was the one to eventually kill him. Cinder Fall is the problem. There is absolutely nothing on her. Which is an issue. Only thing we know of for sure is that she recruited Emerald then Mercury. But we don't know if that was before working for Roman or afterwards."
Vergil spoke up with that, "We'll just have to be cautious when we eventually encounter her. The bigger issue is that Mundus can now create powerful warriors from trained humans and powerful demons. That should be impossible."
"Trust me, he can do it." He popped his neck as he spoke, "Emerald was strong. I didn't tell this to the others because I didn't want them to worry but the only reason I made it out in as good shape as I did was because of my Devil Trigger. Don't get me wrong, I would've won without it but it would've been a lot more difficult."
That brought a silence to the room, Ozpin broke it however, "We should assume that Mercury Black and Cinder Fall are in similar cases. Would make the most sense with them being his top three lieutenants."
Vergil continued, "Luckily we only have to deal with the other two since you dealt with the first one."
Dante just shrugged apathetically. "So, what's our next play?"
Ozpin looked to his deputy headmistress. She nodded and started to type away on her scroll, "We have been in contact with our colleague who is an expert on getting information. He will be returning to Vale in a few days. With his help and Vergil's assets, we hope we can uncover where they have moved all their stolen Dust."
Dante sighed, "So we have to play the waiting game now. Great, just what I love." He said sarcastically.
Vergil just chuckled and placed a hand on his shoulder, "You know as well as I, wars aren't just about the fighting on the battlefield. It's also with the people controlling the soldiers and waiting for them to slip up, so you can take advantage of the opportunity."
Dante looked at his twin with a raised eyebrow, "Are you saying you control me?"
That caused him to laugh, "No, no I am not. I don't think anyone can." He thought for a moment, "Well, maybe no one besides Yang." That earned him a mild glare from Dante, he just ignored him and looked back to Ozpin. "I'll have my people keep their eyes and ears open in the meantime. Maybe we'll get lucky."
Ozpin nodded and with that, Vergil opened a portal with Yamato and walked through it. Dante turned back to Ozpin and Goodwitch, "By the way, mind if I ask, 'Who is this colleague?'" He asked, genuinely curious.
Ozpin had a smirk on his face right before he answered. The same smirk he had right before he launched Dante off a cliff. "One of our very best, Qrow Branwen." The name sounded familiar but he was hoping he was wrong, "Also known to a few as the uncle of Miss Xiao Long and Miss Rose."
Dante just stared at the smirking Headmaster. He eventually sighed and ran a hand down his face, "Great." He drawled.
Ozpin chuckled, "I wish you luck, Dante."
Dante just waved him off as he went to the elevator, "I deal with demons on a daily basis, I can handle an overprotective uncle. Doesn't change the fact that you are making me more and more tempted to actually hit you. And now I have some hulking gauntlets to really make it hurt." He walked into the elevator before either professor could say anything and just enjoyed the peace of the ride down.
When he walked out of the tower, he was about to go meet up with his friends. But that was when he sensed demonic energy right behind him. He jumped forward and drew the Twins, spinning and leveling them directly at the target's chest. He paused for half a second when he saw it's Mercury Black in person, who just smirked at him, "Is that anyway to treat a guest?"
"An unwanted one, yes. Any last words before I fill your chest with bullets?" Dante growled.
"Careful. You don't want anything to happen to your little girlfriend, do you?" he said with that smirk.
Dante froze for a second before his eyes started to glow with fury and power, "So much as touch her and I'll make Hell look like a dream vacation for you by comparison."
"Calm down, nothing will happen to her as long as you behave." Mercury said as he started to walk closer to him. "You see, the Demon King really doesn't want to start trouble here and get Ozpin involved in his plans. So, we were going to leave it be until we found out you were staying here."
"Get to the point." Dante said angrily.
"Simple. We'll continue to leave Beacon in peace, if you come out to Forever Fall. Tonight." He told him simply.
"Why would I do that?" Dante asked.
Mercury rolled his eyes, "It's my job to deal with you now and it will be so much easier away from here. No one to interfere, you know. And if you don't agree, well we'll have no choice but to send demons into Beacon to go after you. And your precious little girlfriend may just wind up in the crossfire. Wouldn't want that, right?"
He started to walk backwards with that same smirk, "Tonight by midnight. If not, we'll be forced to take desperate measures. Oh and let's keep this between us. Wouldn't want more people involved, right?" He threatened. Dante was about to pull the trigger but just then a portal to Limbo opened up behind him and he jumped through it.
With him gone, Dante lowered his arms and his guns shook in his hands as he stared angrily at where Mercury once stood. He would destroy him for threatening Yang. He took a deep breath and forced himself to remain calm. No point in charging head first into a trap. He holstered his guns before walking towards the dorms.
When he got there, he went to the common room to see his team and RNBW there. He saw that Ruby and Nora were playing a fighting game while sitting cross-legged on the floor. Well, Ruby was, Nora was sitting in Ren's lap as he was meditating. 'How can he do that with Nora being so loud and thrashing in his lap while playing?' he thought to himself. He looked and saw that the other girls of RNBW were sitting on the couch. Blake was reading on of her books, Weiss was filing her nails and Pyrrha was actually watching Ruby and Nora playing the game on the holo-screen. She looked like she wanted to play next. His eyes finally landed on the last person in the room. Yang was sitting in the loveseat and was just watching her sister in amusement.
Dante walked over to her, he sat down next to her and pulled her into a hug. She smiled and looked over her shoulder to try and see him, "Did you miss me?" she asked teasingly.
He made sure that he held her in a way so she couldn't turn enough to see his face. And the troubled expression on it. He quickly schooled his features into his usual smirk before anyone looked at him. "Little bit."
"So how did the meeting with Ozpin go?" Blake asked from the couch across from them.
He shrugged, "About as good as I expected. All we can do is wait until we get a lead to go off on. Ozpin is even calling in a professional to give us a hand." He smiled before he dropped the bomb, "Qrow Branwen."
Yang turned her body enough to look at him while Ruby dropped her scroll and spun around on the ground to do the same, "Uncle Qrow?!" both asked.
Dante just chuckled and nodded. Ruby jumped into the air with a scream, "This is awesome! We haven't seen Uncle Qrow in so long!" She started to zoom around the room. "I can't wait for him to meet you all! He'll be amazed by how amazing out teams are! Oh, and I can't wait for him to meet Big Bro! He needs to meet his nephew! They'll get along great!"
That earned a blush from Yang, "Ruby! Dante is not his nephew. We aren't even married yet!"
Ruby stopped and just gave her a look that looked a lot like Yang's teasing look. "Yet?" she asked with faux innocence.
Yang was about to speak but she realized what she had said before and what it implied. That's when her blush got a bit deeper. She felt Dante hug her tighter and pull her closer to his chest. He then rested his chin on her right shoulder, "So, you want to marry me somewhere down the line, Spitfire?"
To the shock of everyone besides Dante and Ruby. Yang looked bashful and embarrassed, something they didn't think was possible. She was looking away from everyone, especially her boyfriend and sister. She was playing with the end of her hair as she squirmed a bit in his lap. "M-maybe." She stuttered out. "I mean, I haven't really thought about it much. But it's not something I would be against…" she trailed off in embarrassment.
Dante's smirk turned into a genuine smile and he pulled her just a bit closer to himself and turned his head so his face was resting in the nook of her neck. He gently kissed her neck, causing her to shiver, just before he spoke up in a whisper, "If you ever decided to marry a fool like me, it think that would be my definition of Heaven."
Yang stopped with her squirming and tried to look at him in disbelief but couldn't with where his face was. She eventually had small smile on her face and raised her hand to play with his hair, just content with where she was, both physically and emotionally. The other's just smiled at them and went back to their previous activities, giving them some shred of privacy to just be together. This time however, Pyrrha was playing against Nora while Ruby was trying to backseat game. Dante was just taking in everything about her; her scent, warmth and presence. That's when he swore one thing to himself: I won't let them touch her. I will protect her.
It was eleven at night and team DVYL were sleeping soundly. Each couple in their shared beds. Yang and Dante were facing each other and were holding onto theother like they usually did. That was until smoky blue eyes snapped open and looked around the room, making sure the other three were sleeping. When he was sure of it, he gave a muted sigh and started to slowly untangle himself from his girlfriend.
It took almost ten minutes to slowly do so. Every time it looked like she would wake up, he'd stop and wait to be sure she would stay asleep. Once he was freed from her arms, he slowly stood up from his bed and quietly started to gather his usual clothing. When he was completely dressed, he just took a minute to just look at her sleeping peacefully. He then tucked her in more and leant down to leave a feather light kiss to her temple. That's when he slowly walked to the door and closed it behind himself. He missed her lilac eyes opening and her sit up as he did.
Dante made his way to the airfield as he just thought about what would be awaiting him when he got there. He found a bullhead and jumped into the pilot's seat. He started the bullhead up and started going through the pre-flight sequences, a skill he picked up on his time traveling around Remnant. As he was focused on that, he missed the blonde blur sneaking into the back. When he was ready, he took off and started to fly towards Forever Fall.
Thirty minutes later and Dante was above the forest. He started to descend and landed in the same clearing they landed in for there trip here. Dante shut down the bullhead and got out of the vehicle. He popped the stiff joints in his back and did the same with his neck before he started to sense for demonic energy. He picked it up instantly about a couple hundred feet to the north. It was so quick, he didn't even pick up the energy of the stowaway. He opened his eyes and just stared at where he had to go. He took a single step and Rebellion manifested on his back before he kept walking forward.
A few minutes later, he was standing in a clearing and he just slowly looked around it for any traps. He didn't see any before Mercury slowly walked in from the opposite side of the clearing. He still had that same smirk on his face, "So, you actually showed up."
Dante just rolled his eyes, "Please, I have nothing to fear from an assassin that is nothing more than the Demon King's dog."
Mercury just shrugged, "Call me what you like, doesn't matter to me. Besides, do you have any right to judge me? A Nephilim trying to pass off as human, just to get laid? That just seems sad."
Dante ignored him as he sensed that Grimm were surrounding the clearing, attracted to their Negative emotions. "Humanity is not something you pretend to be. It is the ability to choose, learn and better oneself. The ability to actually live. Everything is born with it: Mortal, Demon, Angel. Even Nephilim. It's something the Gods bestowed on all of us, it's what makes us their greater creations. Demons just choose to ignore that fact in favor of a selfish hunger for power. And you are worse. You gave up your own Humanity to gain their power." He drew his sword, "Which means I can kill you with no remorse."
Mercury just stared at him before he raised his hand, "You'll try." He then snapped his fingers. Lesser Demons erupted from the center of the clearing and started to take over the Ursa slowly entering the clearing. They roared as their marking started to glow more and smoke erupted from their bodies at an accelerated rate. They then started to charge towards the Demon Hunter.
In an instant, Rebellion flashed red and he was wearing Eryx. With a powerful punch to the ground, he created a shockwave that stunned the Demon-enhanced Grimm. As he was standing back up, they disappeared back into his mark so he could draw Ebony and Ivory. He pointed his arms out and spun, shooting all the nearby Grimm, killing them.
With those taken care of, he stopped spinning and pointed his guns at the same target in front of him, an Ursa Major. With the barrels so close, he started to send more Demonic energy into the next shot. When it was done, he fire the blast of Demonic energy. It hit the Ursa Major, doing massive damage, before it bounced off it and hit another Ursa and ricocheting again. He fired a second then a third shot as soon as he could. The three shots were taking care of the surrounding Grimm. The first two blasts dissipated when the Grimm were dealt with but the last one was going right for Mercury.
He just crouched and fired two shots from his boots, propelling him over the blast and above Dante. He then went for a devastating axe kick. Dante quickly holstered Ivory and raised his hand, summoning Rebellion to stop the attack. While Mercury was suspended, he fired a shot from Ebony directly at his head but he just leant back and dodged it.
The assassin landed on his hands and spun his body on them, sending a strong kick to Dante's side. He started to slide back but he kept firing from his gun. Mercury just backflipped and kept spinning in the air, firing off air blasts. When he was satisfied with how many he had spinning around the clearing, he performed another axe kick, using Dust manipulation to send them as a salvo on top of Dante.
With a flash of light blue, Dante was holding Osiris and he holstered his last gun. He held his scythe over his head and spun it like a rotor blade. This sent him into the air and deflected the air blasts that hit it. The others that were flying past him were pulled into the scythe from the speed it was moving at. At the top of his leap, he stopped spinning Osiris and slashed at Mercury, turning his own blasts into a compressed air slash.
Mercury raised an eyebrow, impressed by the maneuver. He then jumped backwards and planted both his feet onto the tree behind him. He used his guns to launch towards the airborne Nephilim. He flew directly at the air slash but he tucked his body in and fired two more shots, sending him directly into the air and above the attack. He kept firing until he was a good twenty feet or so above him and launched another set of blasts backwards for a thrust kick.
Dante positioned Osiris one handed and caught his attack on the snaith of his scythe. He knew he would be sent flying from the force but he didn't care. The second the attack was blocked, he shifted his weapon back into Eryx. He swung with his left hand and caught the assassin in the chest with an explosion. The clash sent both fighters flying from the other.
Dante was flying back first towards a tree. But managed to spin and break through it with a right swing from his weapon. It slowed him enough so he could spin and use his feet and gauntlet to slow himself down as he left a small trench in his wake.
Mercury was heading head first toward another tree. But he managed to flip himself enough to release a few air blasts to slow himself down and to flip forward. He landed in a crouch on the ground and was trying to catch his breath after the massive blow he just took.
The two waited a few seconds to regain their breath before Mercury stood up with a chuckle. "Have to admit, you're as good as they say you are." His smirk turned bloodthirsty. "Which means I don't have to hold back!" He then erupted with Demonic energy.
Mercury's armor and sleeves were torn clean off as what looked like bone armor grew from his arms and into bladed gauntlets. He leant forward as several bone spikes grew from his back and bone stinger, much like a scorpion, grew from his back. His pants were shredded from just above his knees, revealing his mechanical legs. That was until more bone erupted from his legs and decimated them. He now had two bone armored legs that bent backwards at the knees and ended in claws. Finally bones grew out from his face to form and bone mask from his nose down and his eyes started to glow red.
Dante just blinked before he spoke out loud, "A Bone Devil. Not the worst but not the best either. Combine that with Mercury's skill and this is going to be tougher than Emerald." Dante stood up and started to roll his shoulders, starting to prepare for the real fight to begin.