I do not own anything, Capcom and Ninja Theory does.
Chapter 6: Collapsing World
Vergil had no idea what he said to upset his brother so much but whatever it was, he'd regretted it instantly upon seeing the dark red and black energy twist and curve around Dante like an angry viper. His eyes had changed to that same dark red that he'd had when fighting Hollow Vergil and they looked to be just a little angrier than he was then, hell, Vergil was starting to feel his skin blister from the intense heat his brother radiated.
"Kat…all those other things you mentioned, fine, but…" His voice came out more as a snarl. "Don't you ever put me in that category."
"So your own life is that worthless!?" The white-haired twin shouted angrily.
It took a moment but Dante managed to calm his anger causing the aura to fade away greatly. "Vergil," He started placing one hand on the counter. "Believe me when I say I understand; humans are assholes, selfish, violent assholes but let me ask you something; are we any better?"
…
"Admit it; you were enjoying that fight just as much as I was." Dante said with a sad smile recalling their earlier near death match. In truth Dante had enjoyed clashing swords with his twin, even when they were both practically going at each other with the intent to kill. From the look in Vergil's eyes he could tell he'd felt the same way. "Deep down we both love fighting, we both have our fair share of flaws, and the same ones everyone else's got."
Vergil gave no reply but Dante could see his words were having an impact on him.
"You've got every right to feel angry at all those things you mentioned, but, you have to admit humanity's had its good moments too." A cheesy grin split his face. "For example; the creation of pizza, I know you believe that."
No matter how hard he tried to stop it Vergil felt his features soften. "What makes you think that?"
"Because if you didn't you would have gone all Michael Myers on the world and," His smile was gentler, warmer, one he only gave to Kat. "You wouldn't keep a photo of your foster parents in your back pocket."
That caught Vergil off-guard completely. His hand drifted to his back pocket unconsciously checking to make sure the photo was still there, it was. "You never had any faith in humanity before, what made you change your mind?"
Looking him dead in the eye Dante gave him his answer, "You, Kat, and everyone else in the Order did. You guys gave me a reason for giving a damn."
Crick…Crick…
"So you're saying I should just let it all go? I can't Dante, after everything that's been done, everything I've seen I can't let humanity be free of Mundus just so they can kill each other over the stupidest things." Vergil stated suddenly sounding much older than he was.
While Dante wanted to question him more about what he was talking about he chose instead to focus on the more pressing matter. "I'm not asking you to, I'm just saying lighten up a little bit because no body's perfect, not even Nephilim and sure as hell not angels. If something happens we'll be there, I'm pretty sure that's what mom and dad would have wanted." Pausing Dante picked up an empty beer bottle recalling a somewhat bittersweet memory from his childhood. "Look at it like this; there's nothing wrong with trying to fix something but sometimes you try so hard you end up breaking it more than before."
"You sound like you're speaking from personal experience." Vergil inquired.
"A little bit, once you get power, it goes to your head and in the end you forget why you even wanted it in the first place, all that matters is getting more. At the end of the road you'll figure it out; being a power mad-lunatic SERIOUSLY sucks ass. " He finished crushing the bottle in his hand, ignoring the small cuts left by the glass.
CRASH!
Rushing outside to see what had caused the massive explosion Dante and Vergil were greeted to the near surreal sight of what looked like a meteor shower.
"Those…aren't meteors are they?" Dante asked hearing waves of curses and wails from the fireballs sailing through the sky into the abyss.
"No, they're the souls of demons, slain demons." Vergil answered amazed at the sheer numbers raining down. For every hundred that appeared to vanish into the flames below near thousands more continued falling from the sky. "So the angels finally decided to get off their asses and do something."
"Angels?" Dante asked his brother.
Kicking himself for not telling his brother about the 'call' he'd gotten earlier from Kat he quickly explained how it seemed like the angels had arrived on Earth to do battle with demon kind.
"So we bust our asses for years and they choose to show up after we killed the demon king, nearly dying in the process?" Dante asked skeptically.
"Trust me, despite what legend says angels aren't as righteous and noble as they're made out to be." Vergil said recalling many, er, special meetings with angel-kind. "They-"
BOOM!
A fireball the size of an eight-wheeler truck began crashing through the platforms trailing almost literal rivers of black blood in its wake. Smoke coiled around its sides like engines while bits of flesh fell either burned into ashes or fell off into open air. Even through the pain the demon's voice could be heard in all its loud, hateful glory sending slight chills down both boys' pines.
"DAMN YOU TO HELL FOR THIS SPARDA, YOU TRATIOURS BASTARD!"
After their little encounter with the angelic warrior Kat and Martin found the demons to be on the defensive, angels going all out, and humanity caught in the middle. The air had become poisoned with the smell of blood, smoke, ozone, and the rotting of flesh, to Kat it oddly smelled like one of her Wiccan spells. She'd felt all the energy in the air fill her body as time went on giving her enough strength to mover her wounded arm out of the sling. She'll be needing it.
Every hideout they'd looked at either fell to demon-angel fighting, caved in, or was too exposed to give them any real cover. All the towering skyscrapers that once filled Limbo City were now smoking husks of what they once were, metal snapping like springs against the weight of demonic bodies, angelic war machines or human aircraft. Any form of human command or search and rescue had long since been broken in the chaos turning into a mad dash for safety wherever that was.
Some were still humans were still fighting a battle they could never hope to grasp the scale of as opposed to others who fled or fell to their knees in prayer. Kat had never been one for prayer, still wasn't but now the choice seemed more reasonable than ever.
"I can't believe I'm saying this but it seems like demons are getting their asses kicked." Martin spoke watching the numerous demons fall to the shining, more high-tech weapons the angels carried into battle. "I-I think humanity may have a shot."
"I think you might have spoken a little too soon Martin," Kat countered watching one aerial dog fight play out between a group of angels and a large demon ripping angels apart left and right. "I think we should get going, now."
The demon was around eight-feet tall with red, leathery skin covered in black armor, two spiked wings sprouted from it back, waves of brown hair covered its somewhat humanoid head, razor teeth lined its animalistic jaws that sprung open in roars. In its right hand was a gigantic axe busy cleaving the limbs off every angel in sight or demon unlucky enough to be in its way. The angels began to form a circle around the demon holding up cannon-like blasters all trained on the lone demon.
Even from hundreds of feet on the ground Kat's eyes were blinded by the flash resulting from the weapons firing and the demon putting up a barrier to protect itself. The axe went through three angels splitting them in top half and bottom half before the demon raised it in the air as if to rally the other demons into the battle again. Seeing the greater demon the rest regrouped for another attack on the angels that had been scattered and disorganized. Now it was angel corpses falling to the ground in mass thanks to the leadership of the axe wielding demon currently killing everything in sight.
Down on the streets the demons had started coming back in force determined to make every human feel the fear they once held when the demons were forced into the open. Kat who had never had much combat experience knew now was the time to put what little training she did have to the test.
"Martin grab a gun," She eyed a military Humvee in the corner still containing a few guns and ammo they could use.
Picking up a rifle he eyed her with surprise evident in his eyes. "I didn't know you knew how to handle guns." He loaded a shotgun watching the demons arriving just over the mountain of cars.
Loading the assault rifle Kat tested her arm making sure it was fully healed, it was. "No I don't but Dante taught me enough to fend for myself. Get ready."
Neither teens had been ones for violence but in that moment Kat and Martin understood the sort of rush that came from being in a life-or-death battle, shooting demon after demon while falling back deeper into the ruins. Her aim wasn't anywhere near as good as Dante's but she was able to fill enough demons full of bullets and move onto the next, all due to the adrenaline rush coursing through her mind like a river. Martin was just as good a shot, blowing Stygians apart in rapid succession. When it came to close combat Kat faltered but Martin with his demonic speed was there, he ripped the demons limb from limb though Kat could see he had to struggle to do it unlike Dante or Vergil who could do it effortlessly.
BANG! BANG! BANG! CLICK!
'Oh shit!' Kat mentally screamed realizing she was out of ammo with a Hell Knight coming at her with it blade raised. Through sheer luck she managed to roll out of the way but the demon kept coming at her. 'It's now or never!' Reaching behind her she drew the pipe she'd picked open minutes ago to defend Martin and rammed it directly into the Hell Knight's eye socket, not stopping until it went leap.
The other demons quickly turned their attention towards Kat, coming in mass wishing to avenge the death of their comrade. Knowing Kat would never survive the swarm Martin decided to do exactly as his father told him before he died; embrace his inner demon. Concentrating he felt a ripple travel through his body into his hands were two solid black balls had manifested. The orbs shifted from shape to shape until they settled one form; disks with serrated edges forming a twisted type of gear blade.
"Haliberende!" He shouted running toward the crowd swinging both blades in wide x-shaped patterns.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
It was different from the sound of a sword or blade slicing through flash, there was no blood, no gore, only an empty space where Martin's blade cut through the demons, regardless they all fell to the ground dead. Turning to the left he threw them in a manner similar to how Dante threw his Aquila, just like before there was no slicing, only a black warp and the demons were no more.
"Nice one," Kat complimented sitting up. "Just what did you do to them?"
Taking a deep breathe Martin fixed her with a slightly frenzied gaze. "I-I don't really know. My powers revolve around space so I think I…"
"Don't worry about." Kat said realizing Martin was still trying to get used to combat. "For now let's just focus on getting somewhere-"
"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE WHORE!" A demonic voice boomed just as the entire building exploded throwing Kat and Martin back out onto the streets. "YOU WILL TELL ME WHERE THE SONS OF SPARDA ARE OR I WILL RIP YOU TO PIECES!" It was the demon from before, still drenched in blood, eyes burning with a renewed fury, and his axe dripping fresh angel blood.
Grabbing the pipe she'd been using Kat forced herself to her feet, fire burning in her eyes. "You can go fuck yourself!" She shouted back. 'Dumbest thing I've ever done,'
The demon rushed toward Kat, appearing in a second in front of her with his axe raised. She closed her eyes hoping her end would come swiftly but instead of the demonic blade she felt a rush of wind nearly knock her off her feet. Once she opened her eyes she saw three angels holding the demon down, they were struggling but Kat could see they were stopping him from taking a step forward.
"NOW AJAX!" One of them cried bounding the demon in chains alongside his brethren.
A literally rain of spears rained down on the demon, breaking through its armor, its blood-colored skin, and even impaling its eye. From the skies an angel in stunning silver armor crashed into the ground with a long, glowing spear in his arms. The demon roared against the chains but to no avail did they come undone.
'Hey asshole, catch!" Kat hurled the pipe like a javelin hitting the demon directly in its left eye socket. Beckoning Martin over to a corner they watched the silver armored angel ram his spear directly in the demon's chest causing a sheering explosion of light. When they looked again all they could see was a disappearing corpse lying on the ground while the angels took flight back into the skies expect for one; the same angel that Kat and Martin had met earlier.
The angel fixed them with an interested stare while wiping the blood off is sword. "Go, find the twin Nephilim." He said shocking Kat and Martin. "This city is finished, find them and get out before the sun sets." After that he took off to join his comrades.
For what they assumed to be five minutes Kat and Martin simply watched him disappear into the hectic aerial combat. They each grabbed whatever guns and ammo they could find and continued through the quickly city, no, through the graveyard Limbo City was rapidly becoming.
'I think I know a place we can be safe," Kat spoke recognizing the part of the city they were on. "It's one of Dante's favorite places in the whole city,"
"What is it?" Martin asked.
"…Bobby's Cellar, a local mercenary hang-out." Kat spoke seeing the reminiscent of the once bustling bar in the distance. "It's where he was able to officially start devil hunting."
The demon's soul was swallowed by the red abyss yet the sons of Sparda could see waves and ripples run through the clouds like tides on an ocean. Curses streamed from where the demon had landed implying somehow it was still conscious inside the clouds, still hungry for blood.
"Uh Vergil just how much was our dad hated for 'betraying' demon kind." Dante asked hearing the demon call his father a colorful list of things in not just English but in several other languages.
"To give you an idea, he's Hitler to them." Silently Vergil prayed to his father, wherever he was would forgive him for making such a comparison. "After what we've done though they'll be cursing our family centuries after we've died."
BLEEP! BLEEP!
"Huh?"
The only way to describe what they saw were bleeps like the kind one would see on radar. There at least five of them in the sky falling just like the meteors but they could see they were moving of their own free will, towards them.
SCREECH!
Simultaneously Dante and Vergil hit the ground covering their ears against the sudden ear-splitting noise that assaulted them. Blood dripped from their noises and ears as the ground around them began cracking under the vibrations of the sonic attack. The 'bleeps' made land fall revealing demons; all wore armor as black as night with circular designs, weapons vibrating at high-speed, and jet black helmets covering their entire faces.
"H—Hertz! Shit!" Vergil tried to reach for Yamato but the pain had nulled all his nerves leaving him and his brother defenseless.
The Hertz walked right up to them as calmly as businessmen walking to a meeting carrying their weapons like suitcases. Two walked up to Dante carrying chains that they quickly wrapped tightly around his neck like they were chaining up a wild dog, ignoring the punches and kicks the older boy threw out. The chains squeezed all the air out of Dante's lungs and numbed his body with so much pain he felt like he was going to pass out. One minute after they'd started they began to drag him away still kicking and screaming to no avail.
Rage burned in Vergil's eyes at the sight, he'd watched his brother torn away from him as a child, he'd watched him get raped multiple times, and now he was being dragged away in chains like he was some kind of animal, it set his nerves ablaze with fire. He may have nearly killed him but Dante was still his brother, his family.
Grabbing at the chains around his body Vergil felt his demonic blood flare up giving him the strength to break the supernatural bonds holding him. The Hertz fell back raising their weapons in alarm at the freed Nephilim who eyed each of them with a gaze of pure loathing. Raising their weapons down they blasted a combined sonic blast at Vergil hoping to send the white-haired youth back down so they could capture him as they were ordered to.
Rather than dodging the attack Vergil calmly held out his hand, stopping the barely visible sound wave and condensed it into his palm. With the ball of sound still in his hand Vergil whipped out Yamato, now sparking with arcs of blue lightning like a lightning rod.
SWOOSH!
In one graceful swipe the demons fell to the ground dead from the attack leaving their comrades awe-struck and fearful. The rest of the Hertz forgot about Dante and charged Vergil blasting him with more sonic blasts hoping to overwhelm him. Vergil deflected the attacks with Yamato, absorbing the sound waves and transforming them into electricity that he channeled into Yamato.
SWOOSH! SWOASH!
Now there was only one left, it held up Dante with its blade directly under Dante's chin. "Drop…your…sword…now." A raspy voice came from the helmet.
"Get your filthy demon hands off my brother." Vergil quietly ordered. When the demon gave no reply he flung a summoned sword at it forcing it to abandon Dante to dodge the attack. Like a bullet Vergil sped toward him, freeing him of his chains and splitting the Hertz. "You alright?" He asked.
"Yeah, expect for the ringing but hey a little heavy rock will fix that." He answered wiping the blood from his ears and noise.
Turning away Vergil closed his eyes trying to sense a portal they could use but instead felt a pent-up wave of malice blast him right in the face. For the second time that day he grabbed Dante and teleported them aside just as a fiery hand plowed into the stone ground they were standing on. The demonic soul from before had pulled itself upward now engulfed in burning hellfire from its struggle to escape from the abyss.
"Cursed sons of that traitorous bastard and that red-haired whore," It spat glaring down on Dante and Vergil. "Look at what you've done! You've destroyed our kingdom!" It raised its hands to the sky to indicate the thousands of demon souls sailing toward the abyss.
SMACK!
Yamato's sheath and Dante's boot knocked the flaming specter off its feet. It readjusted its jaw only to see two fists heading straight for its eyes, the pain was immense. A white gloved hand grabbed the demon's arm and snapped it like a twig.
"You're kingdom? Don't you mean the thing you stole like a kid in a candy toy?" Vergil's cold voice whispered as he performed a Killer Bee kick directly into the demon's forehead. "I always hated how you demons act so self-righteous but in the end," He snapped the demon's other arm. "It's nothing but a load of bullshit!"
Is punch sent the flaming specter back down into the abyss, a wiz barely leaving its shattered jaws as it reentered the flaming clouds, unable to pull itself from whatever took the demonic souls from leaving.
Inside his mind Vergil had been going over Dante's words again and again trying to come up with some argument but coming to one conclusion; he was right.
'Act so self-righteous but in the end it's nothing but a load of bullshit?' Vergil mentally joked realizing he was a bit of a hypocrite. 'If I do get power will I just end up down there with the rest of them?' The screams had lost their once annoying effect on Vergil's ears becoming more like a silent message for a message he didn't want to read.
"Hey Vergil," Dante tapped his shoulder bringing him back to reality. "I think someone wants us."
A door had suddenly appeared on one of the building sides with the inscription: COME SONS OF SPARDA written in molten lettering.
"After you." Vergil spoke opening the door for Dante.
'Dick," Dante chuckled stepping through followed by Vergil.
Dante had hoped he would never have to see Lilith's nightclub ever again, even this crumbling copy that they now stood on. The portal had dropped them off just a little off the roof top with meteors smashing into the buildings around them.
CRICK! CRACK!
"Why do I get the feeling we're about to have an unwanted reunion?" Vergil muttered preparing to draw his katana.
"Well what do ya' know? I guess even unborn demons still go to hell." Dante remarked watching the deformed spawn of Mundus crawl through the roof in a torrent of molten flames.
"You…" It growled pinning all three of its glowing eyes on Dante. "You…killed my mommy and daddy."
"Yeah, payback's a bitch huh shit-face?" The oldest Nephilim smirked drawing Rebellion.
Author's Note: Bobby's Cellar, another place brought over from the Devil May Cry Manage. Next chapter will conclude the "Power Struggle" part of this story. Oh and thanks to Choo Plus Choo Equals Train for favoriting and giving me my first Review! :)