Decimation

The Vicar let a shrill roar as Dante called the game into play with his taunting words, and made his first move, which was to eliminate a player.

The creature seemed to be able to move swiftly, and it turned to the side suddenly, without warning, would have caught either one of the three off guard with the movement, whipping its tail in their direction. The person who managed to take the blow out of the three however was Regan, and the snap of his tail caused her to go reeling backwards from the force. Knocking her away from the game, Regan couldn't help but let a startled yell just before she wound up hitting the upraised edging of the roof behind them with her back, flipping over it with her momentum, which sent her tumbling over it completely.

Demoncaller went flying out of her hand and spiraling down to the street below while she just managed to grasp hold of some piping on the side of the building that Dante lived in to stop her own descent. It was barely a second later that she heard her weapon clinking on the roadway below, and she looked down to see it laying there in the alleyway between the buildings uselessly. She could've worked her way back onto the roof top, but she needed to get that sword first.

Dante didn't have time to turn and try to grab her because the Vicar had swiped a sharp set of talons at him that he had to evade before returning a blow with his sword back to the demon. But in any event, he didn't have to look to know that Regan was alright when he heard her yelling from where she was now hanging, "You motherfucker!"

"Nailed it right on the head, didn't she," Dante commented as he rolled onto his back when the demon whipped his tail over him.

Arias leaned backwards to avoid that same tail before he replied, "It's not hard to make fun of him, honestly."

The two men had moved in toward opposing sides of the Vicar after their words were spoken because they'd rolled beneath the attacked tail in opposite directions, but the Vicar was able to move swiftly, leaping out of the way just as Dante and Arias reached him to swing their blades, which caused Venom and Rebellion to meet each other with a loud cling of metal. Dante and Arias blinked at each other following the missed blow to the Vicar, then looked to the side to see the disgusting creature landing close to the edge of the roof, facing them both now as his jaws opened up and a bright light began to shine in his mouth.

Simultaneously, both of them muttered out, "Shit."

Dante and Arias both pushed away from each other right after that when a blast of red energy shot in their direction. It dissipated off in the distance as Dante rolled to the side, put his sword on his back, and drew both of his guns. Taking aim, he mercilessly began pulling the triggers.

The Vicar turned more toward him with a shrill yell, and as he became distracted with the bullets that started piercing his flesh, Arias disappeared in a waft of smoke and reappeared at the beast's side, swinging his weapon at an upward arc to cut the blade into the Vicar's rib cage while it was being hit with bullets. The rotting demonic creature let out a raging roar and jerked in response.

Down below, Regan had just made it to the ground, going on faith and using her demonic abilities to leap from the wall and backwards through the air like Dante had told her she could do, turning a flip over head to land on the rooftop of a building adjacent to Devil May Cry. As she'd landed in a crouch, she took in a deep breath and muttered, "It fucking worked, I'll be damned."

She couldn't concentrate on that now though. Instead, she looked down below, spotting her sword again, and pushed herself up to go running toward the edge of the building, thinking to try it out once more. Leaping off of it and through the air, she landed below near her weapon safely. Briefly, Regan considered she'd really have to start putting more faith into some of the things, but just some, that Dante told her.

As she reached for the handle of her weapon, she heard a shrill and looked up, knowing the fight was going full force above her. Grasping Demoncaller quickly and standing to go, she suddenly heard Marvin behind her, asking her name.

"Regan! What in the hell is that going on up there!"

Regan looked back at him, then she took a deep breath and explained, "The Vicar, he's here. You might wanna get out of here."

"Shit. He came for Evelyn?"

"Yeah, but he won't find her," Regan explained, "I'll tell you later, just...," she stopped when she heard something exploding, and glanced up to see a bit of cement coming crashing down toward them - coupled by hearing one of Dante's yells of enjoyment following close behind the debris. Apparently he was having a blast. It wasn't a huge piece of cement falling toward them now however, but it was big enough to kill someone, so she shoved Marvin back by pushing herself into him, barely missed when the rock landed behind her, cracking the pavement beneath itself.

"Fucking hell," Marvin drew out, looking back up. With a nod of his head, he told her, "I'll go give Lady a call."

"Yeah, go ahead," Regan replied, too preoccupied with getting back to the roof now to care too much what he did exactly, as long as he got out of there safely. "Be careful!," she called back to him seriously as she'd gone running toward the front doors again.

Marvin watched her, beginning to head back down the sidewalk, only wondering what could've been going on up there exactly, but he guessed he'd just have to settle for a story. After all, he knew he'd be absolutely no use to either of them against some kind of demon like that.

Above on the roof, the Vicar had been poisoned by Arias's blade when he'd been hit, which had severally pissed him off. For a weaker demon, the blade would've put them under completely, but this one was just a bit too strong for the poison in the sword, so instead of simply turning up its toes and dying, it charged away and toward Dante right after it'd been hit.

Dante flipped his guns back again and grabbed his blade, grinning before running toward the demon rushing him down now instead of trying to duck out of the way like any normal person would. He wanted to meet the asshole head on. As they drew closer and the Vicar reached his front legs out, Dante jumped and pushed his shoe into the top of one of the creature's front talons before it could hit the ground, then pushed himself off of that to send his body into the air. He flattened himself out as he went careening overhead of the Vicar, going into a horizontal roll and narrowly avoiding a snap of fangs as he swung his blade with his spinning body.

The tip of Rebellion caught the demon across the nose first, then the back of the head as Dante's body spun. When he began to lose momentum, he turned and put his legs down, landing on the Vicar's back with a foot planted on each shoulder just before he turned Rebellion and stabbed the blade down into the Vicar's spine.

The reaction was for the Vicar to shrill and thrash while Dante held on tightly as if he were a bucking bronco, one of the creature's claws knocking away a section of the upraised edging surrounding the roof, a chunk of cement flying over the building and down onto the streets below - the same chunk that Regan and Marvin had to dodge below.

As the Vicar thrashed, Dante yelled, "Woo!," and then called out, "Arias, get another piece of him, I think he likes it!"

Arias had already began to head in when he saw his opportunity, turning to slash his blade along his enemy's side, then back again, upward, and around to impale the side of the creature's body completely, his movements swift and just as skilled as any demon worth his salts. Blood went flying and splattered onto the rooftop as Arias cleaved into him as if he were butter.

Dante had grabbed Ivory while Arias did this and turned it to shoot against the back of the demon's skull while yelling, "Be fucking still, jackass!" As this happened, Arias was caught from behind by a whipping tail, and knocked over halfway across the roof, his grip on his blade tearing it out of the demon's body in the process, but their enemy didn't seem to mind too terribly much. After this happened and Arias had come to land, Dante tugged Rebellion up and out of demon's back and moved forward, pushing himself off of the top of the Vicar's head and spinning a one eighty in midair so he could draw his weapon around and slice the end of the tail off of the creature before it could reach him.

As he did this, he noticed the Vicar turning and snapping upwards at him just as its tail had gone flying, and he managed to catch the devil hunter in his fangs before Dante could land. The Vicar got his claws back on the roof with Dante still in his mouth, teeth impaling the devil hunter, and as he'd landed, he'd turned and leapt toward Arias who'd just managed to get up from the blow he'd taken, and quickly thrashed a large, taloned claw down at the illusionist. This knocked Arias onto his back again, the three sharp talons on the Vicar's front paw impaling him so completely that they'd gone into the roof beneath Arias, effectively pinning him where he was.

He then went to chomp his fangs into Dante a second time, and just when he'd moved to do so, a bladed boomerang flew through the air toward him from behind, spinning with a lethal intent. It was the Pegasus weapon Dante had acquired from the flying demons at Blackwing Creek.

The boomerang cut through the demon's rib cage and its heart just like butter, slicing completely through to the other side before turning to go back to the person who'd thrown it. The movement got the Vicar to stiffen up a good bit while Regan reached up to grasp Pegasus from the air just before she yelled, "Forget about me, asshole!"

Dante, who was still hanging with one half of his body in the Vicar's mouth and a line of fangs piercing through the center of his torso, felt the grip of the jaws that had been clasping him so tightly now loosening as the creature let a roar of pain. He'd seen Regan standing there behind the Vicar just a moment before Pegasus had done its damage, so he knew something like that was coming, which would give him a chance to retaliate from his position now.

Still, he cringed over the shrilly sound if the Vicar's wails of pain in his ears before he said, "Dude, you need Listerine, seriously. Tic-tacs ain't gonna help that shit."

But he'd already gripped his hand around Ebony inside of the Vicar's mouth, knowing that the creature was trying to keep Dante right where he was by not roaring in pain too much, teeth still holding him in place. But the loosened grip helped, and with his arm inside of the demon's mouth, Dante turned it and aimed at the back of the demon's throat, then began to pull the trigger.

The back of the Vicar's head was ripped open by bullets, blood and gore spurting everywhere as the grip he had on Dante slackened enough that the demon hunter could slip free of his fangs, and he did so, rolling onto the rooftop with a foul feeling anyone would've had after being in such a disgusting place. The shots had made the Vicar release Arias as well, who rolled over after being impaled for so long, knowing it would take a minute for him to get his strength back, just like Dante.

While the creature had stumbled to the side, Regan ran toward Dante and took his hand to pull him back a bit so the Vicar couldn't launch any surprise attacks despite the fact that he was reeling from the blows he'd just taken. Even though he was heavy, Regan managed to pull Dante several feet back so he could recover, and as she did, she said, "God, you stink now, Dante. I'm hosing you down when this is over."

"I'd be grateful, babe," Dante grumbled out, rolling to his side to push himself up, finally feeling his body regenerating itself as he noticed Arias standing from being attacked as well.

The two men caught their breath, and Arias muttered out, "He's close."

"Then let's all finish this," Dante replied.

"Love to," Regan agreed, even though she hadn't been able to get in as many licks as she would've liked to. Because of that, she said, "Ladies first," and then ran toward the demon to finish it off without question.

Dante grinned over her assertiveness, moving in right behind her. The three of them took their turns flaying the weakened bastard with their swords, slash after slash, moving to avoid any attacks launched at them. The Vicar reared up, thrashing this way and that, managing to swing a few times in retaliation as his body was mangled, until his mouth began to glow a bright red again.

"Oh no you don't," Dante sneered, moving toward the head and bringing Rebellion upwards, stabbing it right into the creature's throat, causing its head to turn sideways, the blast of demonic energy flying out of its mouth before it could completely charge, blood going dripping down from the wound onto Dante's weapon, and Dante himself, spattering everywhere.

In turn, Arias stabbed the demon in the chest just as that had happened, and Regan came around with a slash across the top of his head, cutting the back of the elongated cranium in half. These had all been the final blows.

The body began to spasm, trembling and shaking violently until it suddenly exploded without much warning at all, sending out blood and gore, but worst of all, it sent out a spray of bugs down onto the three who'd just slaughtered the demon. What was left of their enemy slithered into a pile on the rooftop, and Dante lowered his arms, then looked down at himself afterwards and cringed unpleasantly.

He began swiping his hands across himself in various places to get the bugs off while he exclaimed, "Goddamn it. Gonna have pigeons and crows on my roof for a month now."

While he did this, he glanced over at Regan who looked completely horrified being covered in not only the gore, but several creepy crawlies as well, and she suddenly started slinging her arms to the sides, mostly to get the bugs off of her, dropping her weapon before she grabbed her coat and began to tear the thing off while exclaiming, "Fuck! Fucking shit! Oh my god, fucking bugs!"

Dante had to stop himself from laughing at her, but he didn't have to try hard because she'd gone for her shirt, which had a few spiders on it she'd caught sight of, and began to tear that off as well. The movement got him to stare.

Arias was also staring at the spectacle as Regan's shirt was pulled off, leaving her in a bra alone, and he lifted a brow, looked at Dante, and said as if no one could tell, "She's undressing."

"I noticed," Dante returned just as plainly, and they both watched her again, trying to kill what was left crawling on her legs using the shirt she'd been wearing. Once she didn't see anymore, she looked back over at them, breathing heavily, and noticed they'd both been staring at her.

Without any remorse whatsoever, she yelled at them, "I don't like bugs, okay!"

Dante did grin then, but he cringed when he felt something on his cheek, reaching up to slap it away before he noticed Arias disappearing from sight, the crud that had landed on him left in place, falling to the rooftop, before he reappeared completely clean once again. The move only made Dante roll his eyes at the illusionist.

"As much fun as this has been," Arias started saying, "I think that for now, my job here is finished. The Vicar may have been dispatched, but he could return, and if he does, he won't look here for Evelyn again. I'll have to make sure she'd kept out of sight completely until the Black Moon rises."

With a nod, Dante waved his hand and said, "Go for it. If all works out well, we'll see each other in two weeks and finish this asshole off for good."

"Yes, two weeks I'll be agonizing to see the outcome of," Arias returned with a slight roll of his eyes before flipping his blade onto his back where it sank into his robes like smoke was engulfing it, then he looked back at Dante again. "I'm not one for gratitude, but in this case...," he shrugged a shoulder, opened his mouth, waved a hand, and finally said, "you know."

"Yeah, shut up," Dante replied, then added, "you can be thankful all you want to. I'm gonna go find that hose Regan was talking about. See ya." Neither one of them really gave a damn after all.

As Dante turned to go inside, Regan looked over at Arias before he could leave and said, "Just make sure Evelyn's kept safe, okay?"

Arias lifted a brow, then he leaned in a bit, saying, "After five hundred years of waiting for this, I think you can count on me to do just that. By the way," he waved his fingers upward toward the top of her head with a slightly hesitant expression on his pale face, "they're in your hair. You know...maggots and...whatnot."

Regan blinked, then went wide eyed and cringed, exclaiming, "Fuck!," before she turned to run toward the ladder, shoving her way past Dante while whining out, "God, not my hair!"

Dante shook his head and walked on, looking back as he reached the ladder after Regan had hurried down it when he noticed that Arias was already gone. Not only that, but there was something floating over the area where the Vicar had been destroyed, left in place of the goopy mess they'd created. It caught his attention, and he couldn't help but wonder what it was, smacking a spider off of his cheek with a grumble before he looked back at the light again. It looked like it was getting closer either way.

Before he had a chance to figure it out, it suddenly flew toward him and slammed into his body, making Dante cringe a bit and fall to his knee. But he could feel the energy from the light coursing through his body, knew he'd just acquired some kind of power that the Vicar had been using, and he looked at his fist and lifted a brow. Balling it tightly as a centipede crawled across the backs of his fingers, a slight red glow began to show, and the centipede exploded in it.

Dante smirked and then stood up straight, walking over to the pile of goo where most of the bugs were still located. He had to try this shit out. He couldn't help but think it was something like the gauntlets called Beowulf that he'd found in Temen-Ni-Gru, except it was just like an extra force to his punches. So lifting his booted foot up, he slammed it down into the roof, and a wave of energy shot out from where he'd just stomped, killing all of the bugs in sight, including the ones on him. He was still covered in blood and a little gore, and it definitely didn't smell pleasant, but at least that was one thing taken care of.

"Alright, I'll take it, and I'll call it," he thought for a second, "Decimation." Dante grinned, then dusted his hands off before he turned to leave the area finally. Regan should've stayed up there for just a few moments longer, he considered, but she'd probably already gotten to the hose. Hell, she was probably already naked in the bathtub for that matter. He didn't waste anytime going to tell her what he'd just found.