†††††††††††
Vergil ducked under Lady's punch and caught her foot on the back kick, before twisting. Lady spun in the air and landed on her hands and knees, before glaring at Vergil over her shoulder. She rose up swiftly and punched him across the jaw. Vergil then took another blow, before deflecting her third punch and blocking her sidekick
"Lady, you've got to stop this. It's me, Vergil, your husband"
"You will die, Vergil. You must die"
"This isn't you talking. It's Lucia. Fight it. Don't let her control you"
Lady sank her fist into his stomach, then grabbed him by the coat and threw him along the floor. Nero soon joined him, while Celeste was on the defensive against David. He struck her across the jaw and she responded with a blow that knocked him to his knees. Nero shook his head and got up, as Kyrie launched several balls of energy that blasted him across the room and into the wall. He groaned as he slid to the floor. Vergil flipped onto his feet and ducked under Lady's roundhouse kick, as she whirled and drew a handgun, jamming it against his forehead
"You know that won't kill me," he said
"No, but it'll hurt. That part's fun"
He smacked her arm aside, just as the shot went off. Lady quickly kicked Vergil in the stomach, then pistol whipped him, as Maverick appeared in the room. He saw the fighting going on and smiled, before encasing Lady, Kyrie and David in a block of ice each, as Vergil faced him, confusion on his face
"What the hell are you doing?" he demanded
"Talk to them. Speak some sense into their head. That should work," Maverick said
"We've tried that. It doesn't work," Celeste said
"That's because they were trying to kill you. If they're immobile, it should work"
"And you're helping us out because?" Nero asked suspiciously
Maverick didn't answer, as Vergil inhaled deeply and inwardly growl. He could smell Lili's scent on Maverick, but decided not to press the matter
"Oh well, I guess I'll see you guys around," Maverick said
He disappeared in a flash of ice, as Vergil, Celeste and Nero turned to their spouses
"Oh well, here goes," Nero said
†††††††††††
James cut down Freki, smiling when the wolf spirit faded away. Then Bolverk's sword slammed into his chest and he was sent flying through the air. He got up, as the Furiataurus whirled its hammer around its head, creating a whirlwind that sucked anything towards it. James tried to outrun the whirlwind, but its power was too great and he was sucked towards Furiataurus, as it smacked him into the air. Twisting his body, James landed, bringing Envy down through Bolverk's body. He smiled when Bolverk's body split in half, before disappearing in a flash of light, then he turned towards the Furiataurus, as it roared and charged
Suddenly, Maverick appeared, creating a wall of ice that the Furiataurus bounced off
"What the hell are you doing here?" James asked, raising Envy threatening
"Hmm? Oh, I'm getting out of here," Maverick replied, "I know how it's going down. Dante will defeat Lucia and he'll save the day. He always does. So I'm leaving before he comes after me"
The Furiataurus roared and charged again, as Maverick and James both unleashed their powers onto the massive demon. It became encased in ice, as James smashed it into a thousand pieces with his fire
"How about I spare Dante the trouble and kill you myself?"
"Best of luck, blondie. You'll have to catch me first"
Maverick smirked and teleported out of sight. Looking around and unable to see him anywhere, James sheathed Envy and headed back to the tower
†††††††††††
Dante slashed with Linkin, before deflecting Lucia's cutlaseers with Sparda and whirling around with a kick to her chest. She blocked his kick and threw a dagger at him, but he smacked it aside, before parrying her dual slash and stepping away. She whirled around, as Dante summoned Lucifer and began pelting phantom swords. Lucia moved towards Dante, smacking the swords aside and reached him, bringing her cutlaseers around, but Dante was quicker, rapidly stabbing phantom swords into Lucia's torso, so when she stepped back, she had been impaled by no less then twenty swords. Dante smirked and casually tossed the rose from his mouth
Lucia hit the ground, her clothing torn and new injuries covering her body, but they healed as she got to her feet, the swords having been exploded by the rose. Dante simply smirked as he shot out about sixteen swords, before lunging at Lucia and throwing more swords. They hung ominously in the air, as Lucia slashed at Dante, but he jumped back out of range and clapped his hands. All swords shot towards Lucia, as she turned her attentions on them, shattering them with her blades. A few stabbed into her, but most was them was destroyed, as Dante clapped his hands again
Lucia ignored the new injuries as she lunged at Dante. He changed Lucifer for Cerberus, wrapping the chains around her cutlaseers and freezing the blades. Lucia turned her body, using her cutlaseers and Cerberus to throw Dante over her shoulder. As he went to get up, she kicked him along the ground, then turned back to the tower of energy and continued her chant. However, she didn't get to continue it for long, as a large bladed disc sliced her across the back. Angered, she whirled around, as the disc returned to Dante's hand and transformed into a briefcase
"You always had the most strangest weapons," Lucia said
"Well, we compliment each other so well," Dante shrugged
He transformed Pandora into the gatling gun and unleashed a barrage of bullets. Lucia leapt away from the vortex, throwing daggers at Dante as he flipped out of the way. Bullets and daggers zoomed around the top of the tower, as Dante did a flip and transformed the gatling gun into a rocket launcher and fired. Lucia jumped up onto the rocket and started using it as a surfboard in the air. Dante grinned as he recalled a similar incident involving himself from years back, during his first meeting with Lady
Transforming Pandora once again, Dante took aim and fired. The laser beam slammed into Lucia, exploding the rocket and blasting her through the air. Dante then changed the pitch and fired again, striking Lucia as she hung briefly in mid-air. She twisted her body and landed on her feet, holding about six daggers and throwing them. However, the daggers suddenly multiplied into at least thirty daggers as they flew at Dante
Summoning Sparda and Linkin, Dante deflected the daggers, smacking them about, as Lucia came flying with a kick to his chest that knocked him off his feet. Dante flipped over and landed, summoning Pandora again, before creating the battery air tank. Lucia cocked her head and frowned, as Dante smirked and pressed the trigger. Fourteen rockets were launched, racing away towards Lucia. She leapt and flipped around, trying to avoid the rockets, but they homed in on her, exploding all at once when they made contact with her. Lucia walked out of the flames, relatively unharmed, but the battle was surprisingly starting to become weary for her
"Getting tired, Lucia?" Dante asked with a knowing smile, "Wanna take a break!"
"Hardly, Dante. Just catching my second wind," Lucia replied
She threw a wave of daggers at him, but he leapt over them, shooting away with his handguns. Lucia deflected the bullets with throwing daggers, before throwing three long knives. They impaled Dante, but he ignored them, as he fired away with Artemis. The purple energy rounds shot towards Lucia, as she leapt out of the way. Charging Artemis up, Dante aimed into the air and fired, as the energy came raining down upon Lucia. She cartwheeled away, as Dante came in with a dual Stinger. Smacking both blades aside, Lucia did a backflip kick, before dropping a cranky bomb at his feet
Dante noticed and kicked the bomb aside, as it exploded in the air, before kicking Lucia with Ifrit. He followed up with a left hook, then turned and delivered the Kick 13 move to Lucia's torso. She flipped up onto her feet, burns covering her body, as Dante punched a fireball in her direction. She smacked it aside with her telekinesis, then blasted Dante along the ground with telekinesis
"Wow, a couple of new moves there," he smirked, getting up, "Give me more"
"If you wish," Lucia said
Orange energy flew over from the beam and fused with Lucia's body, as she underwent a transformation. She grew slightly taller, but still taller than Dante and her body mass filled out a bit. Her clothing changed from cotton to animal skin leather, as white feathers appeared on the cuffs of her pants and her sleeves, as well as around her collar, while a cow skull mask obscured her face, the eye sockets glowing blood red, as the mouth widened into a deadly grin. Vast bat-like wings unfurled from her back, stretching out wide, as a pair of double-headed axes appeared in her hands
"Hm, fascinating," Dante said in a bored voice
Just then, rain started to pour down on the two warriors
"Wanna see my power-up?" Dante asked
Sparda and Linkin started glowing, as he brought the two swords together. A bright glow washed over and a new, single sword was left in Dante's hands
"Goddess, meet Excalibur"
†††††††††††