Devil Trigger.
Relentless.
The sheer intensity.
A violent exchange.
He stabbed forward, and she in turn swung upward.
The Yamato was parried by the black katana.
But he utilized the parry pushback to spin around and slash at the neck of his enemy. His sword met hers again, clashing with bright sparks. His attack was neutralized.
The woman pushed his blade away and dashed at him, intent on piercing his stomach. He responded with a spinning roundhouse kick, and when she ducked under it, he followed with a reverse sweeping kick.
She hopped over it and slashed downward, spinning sideways.
He sidestepped at the last possible moment, a thin thread of snow-white hair falling beside him, cut. The slash sent a narrow air wave past him, drawing a long, hideous line across the vast courtyard's soil until it reached the academy's walls, where it left a slit mark. It all happened in a micro-second.
By then, Vergil had already thrust his Yamato forward, meeting the woman's second falling slash, stopping her rapid mid-air spin in the process. The blade collision snapped Vergil's wrist in, dislocated the woman's shoulder, and pushed both away from each other as the resulting shockwave produced a mini crater in the area.
This power…!
Vergil staggered back. The woman landed on a crouch, skidding a few meters away from the crater. They looked each other in the eye, shock written all over their faces for an instant.
Their shock morphed into stoic determination. Neither let go of their swords, despite the damage done to their limbs. It was nothing.
Vergil's wrist snapped back in place on its own. The woman grabbed her dislocated limb from the wrist, pulled the arm forward in front of herself with immense force, and popped the shoulder joint back in.
They were silent as they assumed their stances. The woman aimed her sword at him, and he sheathed his, grip tight on the handle.
The woman, then, slammed her sword to the—
Vergil's attention snapped to the faint, azure lights that became brighter and brighter, rapidly heading in a straight line to—
He leaped, leaped to the right as fast as he could before the surface he stood on exploded… Before the blue blazes coming from under could engulf him. He only had a second to wonder how in the world did she do that before the woman appeared in front of him, performing an underhand rising slash.
Vergil responded with a downward cut.
Their swords never met, however, because the woman disappeared mid-attack.
What?!
As soon as the Yamato touched the soil, Vergil felt something tap him on the cheek.
"Over here."
Then, pain erupted.
As it turned out, the woman had reappeared beside him and had tapped his cheek with the hilt of her katana.
And what would have looked like a harmless tap to the unknowing eyes sent Vergil away, as if fired from a cannon.
For a moment, Vergil could do nothing but let the force behind the attack carry him through the courtyard, as a line of crimson slid past his lips.
The strike-induced daze did not last long, and when it wore off, Vergil's face twisted in an expression of molten-hot, infinite wrath. He whirled in the air, feet touching the concrete walls of the academy, cracking them as he landed, and then cracking them even further when he leaped back to the woman.
The woman leaped at him, performing a horizontal slash.
But Vergil, ready for it, did an upward slash that parried her attack, and pushed her high, higher than the humongous academy's walls, even.
And mid-air, Vergil aimed his body at where she was.
He proceeded to kick the air, propelling himself to where she was in a way that laughed at the concepts enveloped by gravity. When his enemy's gaze snapped down to him, the woman released an arc-shaped, falling wave shining blue from her blade.
Vergil kicked the air again, switching direction to the left, avoiding the wave skillfully. He kicked the air one last time, moved above the woman at shocking speed, and performed a backflip kick to her head so fast that she could not raise her sword to defend herself in time, only her right arm.
The satisfying rupture sound coming from her right forearm soothed his ears and his anger.
…right before the woman was sent back to the courtyard by the kick, falling at breakneck speed. Even though she managed to land on her feet in a crouch, the speed at which she fell, coupled with the height of such a descent should have broken her lower body.
That she could still hop away from Vergil's deadly dropping, earth-shaking slash indicated such a thing had not happened.
"There is no escape!" he exclaimed, sheathing, and unsheathing the Yamato countless times. The woman rapidly moved away from the barrage of circular distortions torn by a million slashes that tried to catch her, his Judgement Cut used non-stop…
...until she grew weary of running and lunged at him with a diagonal two-handed slash.
Vergil swung his sheathed Yamato to the side, parrying her slash. He heard her grunt, and no wonder; the firm deflection must have shaken the forearm he kicked just a few moments ago.
He twirled the Yamato once, still sheathed, and thrust forth. The woman brought her sword up, blocking the attack with the flat side of her dark blade, and was pushed away by the impact. Vergil unsheathed his sword once again and teleported in front of her, sheath holstered, and slashing downward with two hands.
His attack was intercepted. The woman swung her sword up and spun forward with a cut to cleave him in two from the midsection. He ducked under it, rushing behind her to stab, but a shockwave produced by her slamming her katana against the ground stopped him, pushing him back slightly.
She whirled with a reverse kick. He caught it in his hand and, right as he tried to sever the limb with the Yamato, the woman used her other foot to kick his ribs.
CRACK!
The high heel connected with his side, and perhaps because he hadn't felt such an intense amount of pain in quite a long time, stunned him for a split-second, a split-second where his eyes burst open, where his hand let go of her leg.
"You…!"
The woman landed on her hand and pushed herself up and off the ground, spinning back on her feet and performing a wide, horizontal, blue-colored wave that rushed to Vergil. He, more aggressive than ever, smacked it into oblivion with his arm and dashed to the woman.
He stabbed forward. The woman barely managed to move her head to the side and avoid his blade, which grazed her cheek. Vergil's stab flowed into a frenetic series of thrusts, a million stabs that put the woman's reflexes and footwork to the maximum test, never faltering, never letting her lift her sword to defend herself.
Yes.
Because… This…
…this human had somehow managed to hurt him, not once, not twice.
Thrice!
No more!
Vergil finished his ruthless onslaught with a last stab to the woman's chest, far, far stronger than those that came before, but somewhat slower.
This allowed her to place her sword in front of her, shielding her chest but losing her footing upon impact. The strike sent her rolling, bouncing off the ground throughout the courtyard until she managed to whirl upward and dig her fingers into the soil, stopping her acceleration.
But Vergil was not done pressuring her.
He teleported behind her, then above her and beside her when she spun on her heel with a slash. He performed a spinning beheading cut, and when she narrowly managed to crouch under it, he followed up with a monstrously powerful kick that hit her right in the face and sent her high and away.
(Such an attack should have ripped her head off.)
The woman collided with a massive building in the middle of the courtyard, body spread wide, and yet the walls did not shatter in the slightest, nor the windows. He had expected her to crash into it, but instead, she fell off it, headfirst.
As he watched her falling, not giving any signs that she was conscious except for her hand holding on to her black katana, he did a Judgment Cut.
The distortion manifested, and it was then that she somersaulted, used the wall as a platform, and leaped to him, avoiding the attack that left slash marks all over the building's walls.
"Magnificent!" she exclaimed, blood leaking from her broken nose. When Vergil rushed to her and their swords met in the air, an all-consuming blue fire burst from her blade, and he had to move back. That again…
The woman continued speaking as they landed away from each other, under a broad, dense smoke cloud. "Keep it up!"
She disappeared.
With the Yamato, he blocked the sideways slash that she did from beside him. The impact, however, shook him, and the force ate through the ground behind him until it reached the academy walls and left a huge, circular dent.
He pushed her sword off and performed another million stabs…
...but this time, she was ready.
This time, she parried his sword before he could do more than three stabs, so violently that she knocked it off his hands, and sent it high to the sky, spinning like a fan.
What the—
No time to think.
Vergil's hand reached for the sheath, he had to—
…he had to block the ebony-colored katana that went through his chest, pierced his heart, and came out his back.
He coughed red.
"Show me…" the woman said. "Show me you are worthy, Vergil!"
Worthy…?
Worthy of what? Victory? Answers?
He didn't know what she was talking about.
He didn't know many things about this place, or how it was that she seemed to know him.
But as she retired her sword from his chest and he stepped back, clutching it and stung by the searing pain, Vergil remembered that the fastest way to get what he wanted, answers, was defeating her.
His Yamato fell not too far from him, inserted into the soil.
"You have ten seconds to heal your wound and gather your sword," the woman affirmed, fixing her nose with a sharp pull to the side and wiping the blood off her face. "After that…"
"…we continue," Vergil finished for her, keeping the pain out of his voice as he wiped the blood from his lips.
The flames that began to ooze from her blade lit her stern face a sinister azure. "Yes."
Vergil's chest wound closed, along with the hole in his heart, though it took a bit longer to heal than the last direct cut he received from her sword, sapping a bit more of his demonic power, he realized. They still healed, but these thoughts remained.
And a human was responsible for it, he reminded himself, fueling his anger and his motivation to win as he teleported to the Yamato and picked it up, aiming it at the enemy.
The woman allowed herself a little smile.
"So eager to step back into the fray…" she observed.
She took a stance, ready for the combat to resume.
"But such is the will a true warrior should boast."
"Your praise is unneeded, woman," Vergil responded, fury seeping into his voice as he spread his legs, bent at the hips in a slight crouch, hands on the Yamato as he sheathed it. "You know full well that is not what I desire, much less coming from…"
"…a human?" This time, it was she who completed the sentence for him. "I merely acknowledged your fighting spirit, Vergil. Who or what I am should be irrelevant concerning my honest praise."
Her smile widened, somewhat.
"I believe your father would be proud."
CLASH!
Their blades collided again. Vergil was the one who attacked first.
"You know who my father is?" he questioned, a dangerous, nigh-animalistic growl infecting his speech, distortion lurking but not quite present in the pitch, not yet. "If so, you should know better than to oppose me. You should be kneeling before me and telling me the answers to all my questions, rather than this."
"You wish for answers, Vergil?" Her blade began to push his away, slowly. "You wish to know who I am, what I know about you, and how? And when you hear it, what will you do, then?"
He didn't respond, at first. He didn't think that far ahead, truth be told, but did it matter? As long as he had what he wanted…
He pushed her blade back, unwavering. "That concerns me and no one else! If you knew your place, you wouldn't be denying me what I seek!"
"And where is my place located, exactly?" she questioned, gaze darkening. "Am I supposed to live beneath you, perhaps? What makes your existence greater than mine? Your heritage? How laughable!"
The woman kicked him away, and slashed sideways, once. As her sword cut through the air, a series of blue flames erupted from under Vergil, who teleported out of their way and lunged at her, enraged.
"You call me LAUGHABLE?!"
"Yes! Your sense of superiority is LAUGHABLE!" she roared, lunging at him with the same intent, that of tearing the enemy to shreds. They moved so fast that their foreheads were the first things to collide, but neither of them budged an inch in the face of the brutal impact. "I do not care who your father is! I do not care what you are, or if you think humans are inferior to you!"
Vergil slashed at her.
"You wish for answers?! EARN THEM!"
The woman slashed at him.
The flames surrounding her blade faded, for an instant.
An inferno of blue exploded from their vicious clash, and flames engulfed every inch of the courtyard, turning the soil pitch-black, devouring the colossal construction in the middle of it, and running up the walls until they escaped from the academy itself…
…and fleed to the heavens.
When the colossal blazes subsided, the aftermath of the inferno became visible.
The courtyard's soil was turned pitch-black, littered with blue embers. The building in the middle of the courtyard was full of burn marks, though the fire did not break into it. The walls were standing tall, and yet, incomplete in the upper areas.
And Vergil stood halfway from the woman.
The fingerless glove of his hand, along with the right sleeve of his long, blue coat had both been blasted into oblivion by the point-blank blast, revealing a well-toned, and blister-filled, blackened arm; the fire had thoroughly scorched the limb he used to wield the Yamato.
His white hair once swept back and full of snowy, sharp ends, was now brushed down, with bangs partially covering his eyes. To add insult to injury, there were black lines on it, as black as the spots all over his charred pants.
His left arm was not as scorched as his right arm, but it was not unscathed either. He had brought it to his chest, right in time to shield the amulet hanging from his neck.
The woman, for her part, showed no burns. The embers danced around her, floating to her sword.
I was reckless, he thought, as his arm healed, blisters vanishing, skin turning pale again. The power he expended was even more than last time. His eyelids became slightly heavier from one moment to the other. That sword is strange…
(He sensed no demonic power from it, but it could withstand continued clashes with the Yamato, and summon blue flames.)
But Vergil could not reflect on it for long.
The woman, in an instant, moved in front of him, performing a burning underhand slash. Vergil, rather than using his sword to defend himself from the attack, teleported away from her. He wasn't willing to risk another inescapable point-blank blast.
As much as it shamed him to admit it, he needed to exert caution with this opponent. Her last move had hurt him, she was fearsome, and his accelerated healing factor was not working as it should. If she struck him again, he might even…
He might even…
No!
Absolutely NOT!
I must black it out.
He gritted his teeth.
The woman dashed to him, rushing in for a flame-coated thrust.
I'll black it out, all this pointless uncertainty.
His eyes glowed a faint green. His pupils became narrow, vertical slits.
The woman was close. His perception heightened to the point where she appeared to be moving in slow motion.
...black it out, until my heartbeat is all that remains.
Vergil stepped forward and slashed downward.
The Yamato was buried deep into the woman's shoulder.
The crimson spilled over her shoulder, a bit of it falling onto the soil.
The flames of her sword faded as it came to a stop near his chest. The katana trembled in her suddenly shaky hold, as crimson slowly seeped from her shoulder.
"A-Agh…"
She repressed a scream.
Her eyes, on the verge of scrunching up due to the pain, were steeled by a fierce scowl as she set them on his gaze, facing his unnatural, frightening demon eyes with undying determination.
He retired his sword from her shoulder and teleported away as soon as he felt the heat close to him, coming from her katana. The flames returned.
A potent stream of fire burst from her katana. It approached him, becoming drastically wider in width and height in a matter of seconds.
He teleported past it.
And saw the woman right in front of him, a step taken forward, sword in a horizontal swipe meant to bisect him from the midsection.
He did the unthinkable.
Vergil sheathed the Yamato and vaulted over the black katana.
The woman gasped, right as he performed a reverse spinning kick mid-air. It struck her on the head, sending her staggering sideways. She whirled with a series of slashes.
When his feet touched the ground again, he weaved away from the three consecutive waves of fire directed at him. He responded to the attack by unsheathing and sheathing his Yamato.
The first Judgment Cut was avoided by the woman, who dashed out of the distortion in time.
The second Judgment Cut reached her right leg, and her blood burst from the wounds made by it.
The third Judgment Cut swallowed her completely.
The woman had no option but to smash her katana against the soil. The move generated a momentary field of azure flames around her, and it burned the distortion away.
But Vergil did not stand still.
When the field vanished, the woman did not see him in the same place.
He was above her.
He tossed the Yamato's scabbard at her.
The woman swung her katana up to deflect the sheath, but the thing was thrown with so much force that it pushed the black sword off her hand and away. The flames faded, and the katana landed away, embedding itself into the ground at around the same time the Yamato's scabbard fell.
The woman barely managed to hop back and avoid Vergil's descending slash, which shook the courtyard. When her heels touched the pitch-black soil again, she realized something wet and warm was sliding down the bridge of her nose, and she brought her hand to it.
Her eyes widened upon seeing the crimson stain on her palm.
Her attention was soon set on Vergil, who teleported to her and did a downward diagonal, two-handed slash. The woman sidestepped. The powerful slash released a massive, widespread shockwave that pushed her further away from her katana and spoke volumes of what would have happened to her if she allowed such an attack to reach her.
The battle was rapidly favoring Vergil.
And, if she did not pick up her sword, it would end in her defeat. To face him in close quarters without a blade to match his was suicide, and she was aware of this.
He teleported to her and thrust forward. The woman pushed her reflexes to the highest of their capacity and weaved away and past the stab because she knew what Vergil's intention was; being on the receiving end of another million-stab onslaught was not part of her plans, and considering how Vergil's precision and speed had increased, it was best not to see if she had the skill to avoid it as she had done before…
Knowing it was best to escape it before it started did little to soothe the intense, stinging ache in her right leg, made worse when she pushed herself off the ground in a superhuman leap meant to put an ample distance between Vergil and her while allowing her to recover her weapon.
The woman realized it would not be so easy when Vergil appeared in front of her, forcing her to use her scabbard as a defense from his rising slash. As soon as she put it in front of herself, the scabbard was shattered, and the force behind his strike pushed her back to the soil, from which she brutally bounced.
A mid-air whirl and she was back on her feet. The hand she used to put her scabbard in front of herself trembled. Her eyes searched for Vergil, who slashed once, at the air.
A blue distortion swallowed her. The woman jumped out of it as it was shattered by a series of slashes. If a Judgment Cut reached her, in the condition she was in—
Her thoughts all collapsed when she felt a severe sting in her chest.
Her leap had been interrupted.
Her gaze snapped to the center of her body. Her eyes landed on the Yamato's steel first, and on Vergil's hand holding the handle next.
The realization flooded her mind.
Their silhouettes remained together under the moon's bright stare, her body pierced by his weapon, as she had pierced him before.
Then, Vergil swung his sword sideways, shaking her off his weapon.
The woman plummeted to the ground, whirled, and landed on her feet.
…only to fall to her knees, hands on the soil.
Vergil touched down not too far away. His gaze darted to her.
"Have you had enough?" he questioned. "Or do you wish to continue?"
The woman tried to stand up.
One of her hands crept to her chest, shaky, and clutched it.
A cough escaped her. A mouthful of blood did, too.
"I missed your lungs and your heart, but blood will be leaking into your airways for a while. It would be unwise to continue this battle," he provided coolly. "My blade won't kill you, but exsanguination might if you choose to prolong this."
The woman coughed up more blood.
It was then that she ceased her attempts to stand up.
"You have done nothing but exceed my expectations…" she breathed, looking up. "…ever since you arrived, Vergil…"
The aforementioned's stoic face transformed into a confused frown when he saw the smile on her face.
"I know now…" A violent cough interrupted her. "Your sword is formidable, and you are worthy of Sparda's lineage…"
The name crashed into his mind with the force of a billion trucks.
(So that was what she referred to...)
"You have won…" she said, voice tame with resignation, but no shame to be heard. It brought his attention back to her.
Vergil didn't know how tense he was, both from the mention of that name and the anticipation of another round until he felt his muscles all relax. His eyes returned to their original, human shape, no longer glowing.
"I admit that your will to fight was quite the sight to behold. I thought you would stand up once more, despite your wounds," he said and then went on to crush the compliment, "But this outcome was expected. No human can hope to overcome me. To challenge me was a doomed endeavor."
"Perhaps…" the woman conceded. Her gaze lingered on the numerous cuts throughout her body, some worse than the others. The worst was, without a doubt, the slash on her shoulder; the Yamato had cut so deep that, if anyone looked closely, they would see bone peeking out. "But I wished to witness your strength with my own eyes."
"Hmph, at the cost of your well-being?"
"I am not afraid to sacrifice my well-being to achieve what I want," the woman responded, resolute. The intensity of her stare became comparable to the one she showed him when she called him laughable.
And though he would never admit it, it sent shivers down his spine.
"I may have limitations…" The woman coughed. The sound was harsh. "But I achieved the purpose of this battle."
Her words from before echoed in the caves of his mind. Show me you are worthy!
"You doubted my strength," he said, anger creeping in. He pointed his sword at her. "That was a grave mistake on your part and the reason why you bleed right now. The achievement of your foolish goal is not something to be proud of."
The woman's scowl intensified.
"But enough about you."
His voice became confrontational. "I am the winner. You owe me something…"
"…Yes. You are correct…" she said, face softening as she looked down. "I promised you answers, to all your questions, did I not?"
Vergil lowered his sword. If he had his scabbard with him, he would have sheathed it.
"Feel free to ask."
"…Let's start with your name. I wish to know it," he stated, trying to sound as impersonal as possible, and yet allowing some genuine curiosity to leak from his words.
"My name before everything else?" she asked, mild surprise showing on her bloodied, scraped features. Then, a regal smile. "If that's your wish…"
Vergil listened, as he wouldn't have with any other human. To him, they could all stay nameless creatures, because they were not on his level. This woman, on the other hand, had not only challenged him, but had also given him what had been an entertaining fight — though he would never admit it — despite her natural limitations, and without the use of demonic power.
Her name deserved to be known.
"Satsuki Kiryuin."
The name resounded in his head.
Her surname brought a strange sensation to him, as if…
...as if he had heard it before.
He ignored this lingering feeling in favor of continuing the interrogation.
"How much do you know about me, Kiryuin?" he questioned. "And how?"
"I have someone skilled at tracking people down serving me. As for how much I know…" A cough escaped her. "...I know about your life in Red Grave. Your father, your mother…"
His chest hurt. For a fleeting moment, the oxygen in the atmosphere was not enough for his lungs, and he was forced to breathe in more air than usual. If Satsuki noticed this, she did not indicate it.
"…your brother…"
He repressed the urge to widen his eyes, as dreamlike images played in his mind, for a faraway instant that seemed an eternity.
"You promised you'd play with me!"
"No way!"
Vergil blinked the visions in his mind's eye away.
"…and how it all ended, the night of May 13th, nine years ago."
His hand moved to the amulet on his chest and clasped around it in an absent-minded motion. A wave of nightmarish memories he thought suppressed threatened to haunt him, but he shook his head and focused on Satsuki.
"So you know my early life." His voice was even colder than usual. "What else?"
"I know you abandoned Red Grave and traveled the world." There was a slight, near unperceivable twitch in his right hand as he heard this part. "You cultivated your skills as a swordsman, and as a devil slayer, achieving great results."
"Is that all…?"
Satsuki nodded. The very movement seemed to hurt her.
"And you sought out all this information. Why?"
The question made her look up again.
Vergil's face turned stern.
"I have the suspicion you did not call me here only to see if I was worthy of having the blood of Sparda coursing through my veins. Your students…" he began. "They said you sent them to capture me, take me to you in chains. If they somehow managed to do it, what would you have done with me?"
"…You are perceptive."
Satsuki brought herself to one knee.
"If they somehow managed to capture you, it would mean that you were inferior to me. This would have been rather disappointing, but I still would have plenty of uses for you," she explained, looking to his side as she added, "…and your sword."
Vergil's eyes narrowed behind curtains of snow-white bangs.
Satsuki aimed a finger at his side. "The Yamato, is it not? A beautiful name, for a beautiful sword. My Bakuzan cannot hope to hold a candle to it…"
He moved the Yamato out of her view.
"It belongs to me."
"…I am aware," she said, amused by his possessive attitude. "You wield it masterfully."
"Hmph. I thought my technique was merely acceptable," he responded. He hadn't forgotten what was written in that letter, the catalyst for his visit.
"A gross underestimation, I see that now…"
Satsuki mustered the power required to stand up again; though trembling somewhat and bleeding, her right leg did not give out.
Then, she opened her hand, turning it so that the palm faced the night heaven. "Your power is, without a doubt, something my Honnoji Academy needs."
His brows furrowed.
"What are you talking about?"
As he asked this, he recalled one of the reasons why he was here.
Yes, he had wished to find whoever challenged him and show them how stupid an action that was, but he also…
He also had come here to find out more things about this place, when the scarcity of information on it turned mysterious. A question that had remained minute during his ascent swelled up until he voiced it.
"Your Honnoji Academy, your Honno City…" he began. "What are they?"
"…If you must know, they are the stairs…" Her coughing returned, worse. Vergil found himself reevaluating if he should have pierced her chest as he did. No matter her remarkable resilience, a human was still a human, and they…
…they were fragile.
"…the stairs to my ambition."
Vergil's frown became more pronounced. "Do tell what this ambition is."
"The ambition to eliminate the threat of demons forever."
The steely resolve was written over her face, engraved into her fierce declaration. "I will wipe them off the face of this planet, carve fear into them so deep that they never even dare to think of crossing this world to feed on my species. For them to know that they should be afraid of us…"
Satsuki closed her hand in a fist.
"...that is my ambition, and I will reach it."
The sheer conviction in her almighty voice was so immense; the woman spoke as if stating an undeniable fact, not a feeble hope. The confidence in her reached Vergil so well that, for an instant, he was awed by them, he believed them!
"I want your power, Vergil."
His eyes widened.
"I want you to aid me in slaughtering demons."
Her eyes were set on his.
And he almost accepted, despite knowing nothing of what it would mean, beyond killing the inhabitants of the underworld.
Vergil wished his astonishment away. He viewed her words with a cold mindset.
"So this was your aim, from the start…"
Satsuki did not deny his statement.
"…the magic, the students, those demonic armors…" Vergil continued. "You have built an army, an army you want me to be part of."
He pointed his sword at her.
"But tell me, Kiryuin, what made you believe I would agree to it?"
The resolve on her face was replaced by confusion. "You do not?"
"That's right, I do not," he stated, flatly. "Without my permission — no, my knowledge, you have scrutinized my past, something sacred that should belong only in my memories. Who gave you the right?"
In less than a second, he closed the distance between them and brought the tip of his blade inches from her neck, grazing it. He pushed it closer, enough to draw some blood. Satsuki did not indicate that it hurt her.
"What's more…" The demonic glow came back to his eyes, along with the narrow slits for pupils that resembled those of a lizard. "You and I, we are enemies."
"I do not see you as an enemy, Vergil, regardless of your nature."
"Oh, but you do see me as an abomination, don't you?" he countered. He still remembered what she called him when he arrived at the academy.
"That, I admit," Satsuki replied, unwilling to go back on what she said and knowing that doing so would do her no favors. "The same way you see humans as beneath you, I see you as an abomination of nature, something that should not exist."
…
...Vergil would have killed her, right then and there.
But Satsuki wasn't done talking, "I can see past that, however! I can appreciate your mastery as a swordsman, as a warrior, and wish for you to become part of my army!"
Her hand rose again, and Vergil's eyes burst open with shock when it enclosed around the blade of the Yamato, fearless.
"I can cast aside my disdain, my hate!" she exclaimed, moving his sword away from her neck, slowly, despite the blood seeping from her palm, her fingers. Her resolve never wavered. "And I know you can do the same! There is no need for us to be against each other when we can work with each other!"
Vergil retired his sword. It escaped the woman's grip, and blood spilled over the soil.
"You hate them, do you not? And you know your father, too, despised them! Why else would he betray them?" Satsuki questioned. "We can eliminate them together! We can eliminate those who killed your—"
"SILENCE!"
And she shut up, genuinely startled by the total loss of what little cool remained in him.
"Don't you dare finish that, Kiryuin…" he snarled, aggravated beyond what words could describe, beyond what the angriest of expressions could hope to convey. "I will not tolerate your attempts to manipulate me using that."
He grabbed her by the neck, suddenly and violently, cutting the oxygen's trip to her lungs.
He lifted her off her feet. The only hint that she was affected by all this was a displeased grimace that settled on her face.
"I'll say it again: we are enemies!" His hold tightened. A gasp escaped her. "Nothing you do or say will change that! You wish to kill all demons. I am part of them!"
He brought her face close to his, and hissed:
"I killed two of your men."
He hadn't been the executor, but he had been the indirect author of these deaths. If he hadn't weakened the Proto, he could have evaded the careless attack of the Cavaliere. If he hadn't released Cerberus, the Cavaliere's innards wouldn't have become dinner for the hellhound.
"You know, don't you? You can't forget that. You can't simply overlook that."
He tossed her aside, like trash.
Satsuki's back hit the pitch-black soil with a thud.
"You sent them to me, and for what?" he questioned. "To test me? They certainly did, but at what cost?"
Satsuki struggled to stand up again, breathing precious air in.
"I killed them, and here you are, offering me a place in your army! What kind of leader does that? You are a disgrace!" he declared.
"You blasted inept! Their deaths are part of the reason why I offer you a place in Honnoji Academy!" she retorted, crouched. "They were valuable assets, and they were lost. You were responsible for their demise, and I am bestowing the chance to make up for it upon you!"
But Vergil was adamant.
"I don't care."
He swung his blade beside him.
"I neither work with nor for anyone, much less a human with such ludicrous, unattainable dreams," he affirmed. "Your students died for their weakness. I have no obligation, or motivation to make up for their deaths, especially when it was you who sent them after me."
The intensity of his words, of his expression…
"I will never be part of your ambition, Kiryuin."
...they finally made her realize how pointless it had been, to attempt to convince him.
And so, Satsuki ceased trying to.
A sigh escaped her.
"How disappointing, Vergil."
He was about to say something to that…
…when Satsuki talked again, but not with him:
"You all may step in."
He frowned.
And then his eyes became wide as saucers when he sensed a gargantuan amount of demonic power, a ceaseless ocean of it that washed over him, flooding the courtyard until he felt as though he couldn't breathe!
From above!
The scream of his instincts made him look up, at the colossal building at the center of the courtyard, at the tower on top of it, that rose to pierce the heavens.
But there was no one there.
"What…" He was baffled. "What was—"
The sound of the landing was piercing.
The wind was altered by it, violent. As his gaze darted to what caused it, the currents of air pushed the white bangs off his face, as if the wind itself wanted him to see what caused such turmoil in the atmosphere.
And for a split-second, he saw four figures, right before a cloud of ground dust wrapped around them, concealing them all from view.
All the cloud allowed him to see were four pairs of lights inside of it; azure… Rose… Golden… Green. They were looking at him.
"Is he to be slain?"
The voice was booming, imposing. It was coming from one of the figures inside the dust cloud.
"No," Satsuki responded. "You shall take the Yamato from him, and take him out of my academy, alive. He might prove useful to me in the future."
Vergil's gaze snapped to her, processing what she just said.
"…As you wish, Lady Satsuki."
He glared at the source of the voice.
Then, a shockwave cleared up the dust cloud, revealing…
...nothing, no one.
Vergil didn't understand what was happening.
Until a brutal uppercut coming from out of nowhere struck his chin, and his brain shook inside his skull.
The world faded into darkness, for an instant.
…
…When Vergil returned to his senses, he found himself soaring through the skies, higher than the tower. The force behind the attack kept carrying him, the cold wind kept running past his face. The realization of what just happened compelled Vergil to whirl in the air, until he faced the academy that grew smaller and smaller in his vision.
He kicked the air, propelling himself headfirst back to the academy.
He arrived at the courtyard, landing on his feet. His gaze darted around, Yamato held tight, ready to slice whatever had hurt — no, whatever had knocked him out.
"You lookin' for someone?"
He was so on edge, that he didn't think when he heard that smug, mocking male voice. His body moved as if of its own accord, leaping to the side, where it came from. His eyes vaguely registered an individual in front of him, right before he teleported behind this individual, and slashed downward with all his might.
"Whoa!"
His sword was caught.
His sword was caught between the fingers of a hand encased in a white gauntlet.
Vergil's eyes burst open. How?!
"Your speed's hellish…" the man said, as he looked at him over the shoulder. "No wonder Lady Satsuki lost against you."
Vergil couldn't respond.
Vergil couldn't retire his sword from the man's grasp. Upon realizing this, he went for a heel kick.
…a heel kick that never connected, because something massive tackled him from the side, faster than he could move, faster than he could react.
The sheer pain forced Vergil's mouth open wide, and the vicious impact stole the air from his lungs. The man holding his sword let go of it, and before he knew it, Vergil had crashed against the walls that surrounded the courtyard.
"Sanageyama!" he heard, faint, distant. His consciousness threatened to slip from his fingers again as gravity pulled him from the hideously cracked spot his body collided with. He fell face first and struggled to even rise to his knees. "You had his sword! Why in the world did you LET GO of it?!"
"Tch, relax, Gamagori. Can't we have some fun with him?"
A bloodthirsty heat swelled inside his chest, infecting his mind, numbing the pain, numbing everything that was holding him back from rising again. Fun? With him?!
"You can have your fun when the Yamato is taken from his hands!"
Vergil rose, body bent forward. His left arm was utterly crushed, the bones inside it pulverized. He forced them to heal, as his gaze traveled to the two, armored men standing in the middle of the vast courtyard.
"Nah, no fun in that!" the smaller of the two, and yet slightly taller than Vergil, said. His name... Sanageyama? Yes.
The first things that came to his mind when he saw him were Proto and Cavaliere. His armor resembled those used by the students he encountered before, but it was different.
"If he's gonna fight us, he's gotta do it with his sword!"
Among the most noticeable differences were the white gauntlets, the boots, and the cape hanging from viridian and spiked shoulder pads. The color of the cape contrasted with the color of the armor, as dark as a moonless night, making them stand out.
The armor, instead of having long stripes of a certain color running across them, possessed small, emerald-colored dots all over it, resembling the stars of the night sky, reminding him of it more and more.
"Isn't that right, buddy?" Sanageyama asked, looking at Vergil with viridian lights for eyes on his helmet, his helmet with horns protruding from the sides, and pointed forward. These horns were white, with green glowing lines running through them, charged with demonic power far beyond the likes of the Proto and Cavaliere armors. "Or d'ya need some time to rest after fightin' Lady Satsuki, eh?"
His voice was unwavering, "None at all."
"Heh! All the better!"
And yet, the more he kept fighting, the more healing took from his power reserves, and the more it exhausted him. It had been happening ever since Satsuki first cut him with her katana, and the condition was worsening. If he kept taking hits, it would come to a point where he would run out of power and wouldn't be able to heal anymore.
(He wondered if it had something to do with that sword, Bakuzan. This had never happened to him until this day.)
"I would heavily advise you to refrain from engaging us in combat," the other man said, sternly.
This man, Gamagori, was vast, to put it simply, the biggest person he had ever seen in his life. He was at least two heads taller than Vergil, perhaps even three, and his monstrous musculature did justice to his tremendous height.
He was wearing an armor akin to that of Sanageyama, both in shape and power, but with the proportions to match his humongous body, and with the dots all over it glowing golden rather than viridian, much as the lines running through the horns and the eyes that stared him down with an aura of severity.
Vergil remembered the uppercut, remembered the tackle; it had been him that attacked him so brutally. He had to watch out for his strikes.
"You do NOT have what is required to overcome us!" Gamagori exclaimed. He was fond of raising his voice, it seemed. "You should spare yourself the pain, spare us the bother, and hand out your sword, willingly!"
He remembered the beginning of Satsuki's letter…
The sword you carry is most stunning.
… and clenched the Yamato tight, veins bulging in his hand.
(He didn't join her, so she wanted to take his sword now?)
From the distance, Satsuki kept watch on the beginning of a new combat. Despite her wounds, she managed to retain consciousness and would make sure to do so until it ended. There was no doubt in her mind about who the winner would be, or so she wanted to think.
Her Elite Four was formidable.
Vergil refused to listen to her, but at least the Yamato would be hers.
But still, there was a lingering feeling of uncertainty within.
"My Lady…"
Her attention changed course when she heard the tranquil, reverent voice, though not overly so. Satsuki gazed at the armored man standing beside her.
"This belongs to you."
Then, she gazed at the sword he held in his gauntlet.
Bakuzan.
Satsuki struggled to stand back up. The armored man held his free hand out, and she took it.
Her legs trembled, but she still took her sword and sheathed it. Then, she looked intently into the blue lights the armored man had for eyes, and asked, "Do you not intend to make Vergil submit?"
"Is my collaboration required?" he asked back.
Satsuki's eyes moved to the warriors, to Sanageyama, Gamagori, and Vergil. Her eyes momentarily drifted to the top of the academy's walls, and…
"Perhaps not."
The lanky young man in the armor was pleased by the answer. "I have always been better at watching and analyzing, anyway."
A nod of agreement was all Satsuki offered him.
"But even so, I don't believe he has any other interesting tricks up his sleeve."
"Do not be so sure of that, Inumuta." Her gaze returned to him. "He is a demon. He has to have one more ability hidden within that human shell."
"...Lady Satsuki… Are you suggesting what I think you are suggesting?" Inumuta replied. "The recordings have shown nothing resembling that. He goes through power surges from time to time, but…"
Satsuki waited for him to continue.
"…what if his human blood makes him unable to access it?"
Her answer was resolved, "We shall see. In the meantime, I want you to record this battle."
Inumuta obeyed, proceeding to dial up some buttons from the built-in device over his forearm. The lights he had for eyes flickered. "I will."
Vergil aimed the Yamato at the two men.
"If you want it, then you'll have to take it!" he snapped, irate. The Yamato wasn't theirs! They wouldn't have it. They couldn't have it! Who were they to demand it?!
Vergil's instincts screamed at him to leap forward. He obeyed.
A wide, loud sound wave ran through the spot he had stood on, leaving a broad hole in it. His ears rumbled.
It was then that Vergil remembered there were two more people he should watch out for on the battlefield.
"Please, toad!" A female voice came from behind him, laughing. Vergil touched down, spun around, and gazed up, at the top of the academy's surrounding walls. A rather small figure was there, sitting on the border of the wall, a hand resting on it while the other was stretched out, palm facing the area he had stood on.
A woman, he realized. Her armor was not very different from that of Gamagori, massive size difference notwithstanding. It presented the same changes in the dots, the lines running through the horns, and the eye lights; they were all rose-colored.
And her eyes were set on Vergil. "This guy refused to listen to Lady Satsuki…"
The woman stood up and hopped to the courtyard. Her landing crouch was graceful, and as she arose from it, she questioned, "What made you think that he would listen to you?"
Vergil looked at her, and then at Gamagori and Sanageyama, not too far behind him. He was in a bad spot; these three were out to get him and steal what was rightfully his. The frightening amounts of demonic power oozing from their armor made him aware that it could happen if he was careless.
The smallest of the three by far closed her hands into fists. Her voice became louder, almighty. "For once I agree with the monkey! We should have some fun with this freak, even if it's just for a little bit!"
"Never thought I'd see the day, Jakuzure!" Sanageyama said, and then, looking at the heavens, added, "Or, huh, the night…"
Jakuzure, as Vergil now identified her, floated.
Vergil took a stance. He focused as much as he could. There was no place for carelessness now.
His eyes glowed green. His pupils narrowed to thin slits. He was prepared for any—
His auditory system exploded inside his ears.
His bones were rattled, by a sound he couldn't hear, but that he could feel.
Jakuzure had shattered the barrier of sound as soon as she dashed to him. He had received a gut punch faster than the speed of sound, and it was so booming, so loud, that his eardrums just couldn't withstand it.
And so, they burst.
What's happening?
Vergil vaguely wondered this as he coursed through the air against his will. He could hear nothing, his stomach, and ears hurt so much, he was breathless, and overall, he felt very, very dizzy…
A spiked, scarlet whip wrapped around his torso. The barbs sunk into his skin and snapped him out of his daze, right in time to see the academy's wall approaching—
He was slammed against the wall.
Then, he was dragged down the wall violently, until his face collided with the courtyard soil. His nose shattered, and his neck popped.
He was then lifted by the whip, only to be slammed countless times against the walls of Honnoji Academy. His bones had begun to turn into powder, and the pain…
No.
He forced his ears to heal.
He forced his entire being to heal.
His wounds failed to heal, but his bones did. That was what he needed.
NO!
Before the whip could smash him into the wall again, Vergil, with renewed vigor, released a thundering roar. He spread his arms wide, forcing the whip's hold to open, to let him go. He fell back into the courtyard, breath ragged, eyes wide and wrathful, set on Gamagori, the owner of the scarlet whip.
Vergil saw the long weapon be retracted into a hole on the frontal side of Gamagori's gauntlet. He teleported in front of the hulking man.
"You won't get away with that!" Vergil shouted at him and thrust his sword, aimed at Gamagori's abdomen.
"Believe me, I WILL!"
With speed he shouldn't have possessed due to his size, Gamagori parried the Yamato with his gauntlet and rushed close to Vergil. The latter barely managed to react and move away before he grabbed his head in his broad hands, but it didn't amount to much.
Vergil was struck on the left thigh from the side.
He dropped to his knee, unable to stand up. Despite this, Vergil swung his sword sideways, letting it clash with the shinai that had shattered his thigh.
"You've gotta be kidding me! You actually reacted to it!" Sanangeyama observed, excited as he tried to push his sword down with the shinai coming from out of his gauntlet. "This might not be so one-sided after all!"
"I'll show you one-sided!" Vergil said and moved the shinai out of the way. With his working leg, he pushed himself off the ground. "You will know this devil's—"
Vergil was cut off by a violent kick delivered to his back.
His spine was split in two, by the sneaking Jakuzure's kick.
Sanageyama moved forward and slammed the shinai to his face in a baseball swing. The strike sent Vergil to the side, to Gamagori, who grabbed him by the head, whirled around, and tossed him high to the sky.
"In light of your refusal to give in, I, Ira Gamagori, will ensure your punishment for killing two members of our illustrious academy is THOROUGH!" Gamagori roared, releasing his whip and sending it after Vergil. It wrapped around him, and with a downward movement of his arm, Gamagori guided the weapon back to the soil.
Vergil's back, already ruined, was further destroyed by the smash. A gasp escaped him. He saw something in the sky, falling to him—
Gamagori fell, knee first, on his chest.
CRACK!
Vergil's gasp was accompanied by blood this time.
He didn't scream.
But Gamagori sure did, as he retrieved his whip and picked him off the crater, by the foot. "If only you listened to Lady Satsuki's magnanimous offer, we would NOT have to do this!"
"I-I'll n-never…"
"SHUT UP!" Gamagori twirled him around in his hand. "You do not have permission to TALK!"
Gamagori launched him forward.
The back of Vergil's head was greeted by Sanageyama's shinai, which sent him upward in a rising swing. "You know, I take back what I said!"
Jakuzure appeared above Vergil, burying her boot into his stomach in a booming, spinning descending kick, an attack that, once again, imploded his eardrums.
As the half-demon was sent back to the ground with blood coming out of his ears, she gazed at Sanageyama from above, arms folded. "What was it?"
"That this wouldn't be too one-sided!" Sanageyama answered, leaping to Vergil and striking him on the forehead with his shinai. He then struck his wrists, then his thighs, and then went back to his head, re-starting the motion. They remained in the air for a while. "But now I see I was wrong! We're leaving him black and blue!"
"You must think you're so clever."
"For what?" Sanageyama said, confused enough to cease his onslaught and look at the small woman. Gamagori rushed in, performing a rising punch on Vergil's back, then a descending fist on Vergil's stomach, and when he hit the ground, Gamagori followed up with a series of non-stop punches that shattered Vergil, and the ground under him, completely.
By the time he was done, a massive cloud of dust was lifted.
Gamagori spread his arms sharply, clearing it up in a second.
At his feet lay Vergil, limbs twisted beyond what was recognizable, bones broken so badly they protruded from his skin, like white spikes bathed in red. He was in an ample pool of his blood, lying on the widest crater that could be found in the courtyard.
He'd been demolished. He gave no signs that he was still alive.
(And it was strange, to think it happened so fast…)
Sanageyama, who moved away from Gamagori's brutal attack, winced a little upon seeing Vergil there.
"Geez, talk about overkill."
Jakuzure landed close to the behemoth of a man. "He's not dead, is it? Because Satsuki won't be happy if he is."
Their collective attention abandoned Vergil when they heard the voice of their leader:
"A demon does not die so easily."
They all looked over to where the voice came from. They saw Satsuki, making her way to them with the aid of Inumuta, who had put her arm over his shoulders, letting her use him as a crutch.
"Have you defeated him?" she questioned, looking at Gamagori in particular.
"Yes. I have, Lady Satsuki!" he affirmed, utterly reverential. "Vergil never stood a chance."
Satsuki stopped, halfway from the three members of her Elite Four.
"What about the Yamato?"
"It is here!" Gamagori said, and they all looked down at Vergil's ruined body.
Even though he was so damaged, his hand never let go of the sword. It was still enclosed around the katana's handle.
"Huh, strange. You'd think he'd let go of it after all he went through," Sanageyama noted, glancing at Gamagori. "He didn't let go of it when you knocked him out either, did he?"
"…No," the hulking man realized. "He did not…"
The realization was somewhat unsettling, truth be told.
And yet, it didn't deter Satsuki. "The sword must be taken from him."
"…Can I have the honor of doing that?"
The one to say that was Sanageyama.
"And why would you have it, monkey?" Jakuzure questioned.
"Because I was the one who caught his sword, snake," Sanageyama countered, catching her off-guard.
"I could have done that if I wanted to!"
Sanageyama bent forward so that they were at the same level. "But you didn't. The same goes for Gamagori!"
Jakuzure, finding no real answer to that, averted her gaze from him, arms folded. "Hmph. Whatever."
Satsuki nodded. "Then it's decided. Sanageyama…"
"On it!"
The warrior stepped closer to Vergil's shattered body, eager. "Let's see if he doesn't let go now!"
Sanageyama grabbed the silvery blade of the Yamato and pulled.
"Huh?"
The Yamato remained in place.
All he did was pull Vergil closer, making his body crack.
"What's the deal with him? He's not even conscious anymore!"
"Be careful, Sanageyama," Gamagori warned, uncertain.
"Hurry up!" Jakuzure said. "It's late."
"Can it, snake!" he responded, looking at her, and then back at Vergil. "You ain't lettin' go, eh?"
Sanageyama proceeded to stomp on Vergil's right arm.
The stomp was so brutal, so powerful, that the arm was severed.
And, at last, the hand released the Yamato.
"Done!" Sanageyama let out, holding up the glorious sword, triumphant.
The sword was then snatched from him, by Gamagori. "Hey!"
The latter headed to Satsuki, and kneeled before her, offering the Yamato.
"To you, Lady Satsuki."
Satsuki let go of Inumuta and held out her hand.
The Yamato's handle was warm in her palm. Her hand closed.
Satsuki swung the sword to the side.
A massive slash appeared on the academy walls.
The woman brought the blade close to her face, smiling.
"An excellent weapon."
It would serve to get her further in her ambitions. Perhaps, she could even…
"Whoa! He didn't do anything like that with us!" Sanageyama said, shocked.
"You did not allow him to," Satsuki responded. "Which was the plan."
"I guess so..." Sanageyama said, sounding rather disappointed as he looked back at Vergil. "Maybe we should have fought him one-on-one? He would have stood more of a chance if we had done it like that. Would have been more exciting too."
"The orders were to beat him as fast as possible, should Lady Satsuki lose, and should he refuse to join us," Gamagori said, stern. "This battle was never meant to be exciting. You should have taken his sword from the moment you caught it, Sanageyama!"
"Really, Gamagori? Again?" Sanageyama groaned. "Yeah, yeah, sure. Whatever you say."
Satsuki stared at Vergil.
Inumuta did, too.
"His demonic power is decreasing with each second. He is alive, but…" Inumuta hesitated. "Bakuzan disrupted his healing factor, and his wounds do not look well. He won't make it if he can't heal before dawn."
Gamagori lowered his head. "I apologize, Lady Satsuki. I was too eager to punish him. The blame will fall on Sanageyama, Jakuzure, and me, should he perish."
"What?!" Sanageyama and Jakuzure exclaimed simultaneously.
"Nonsense," Satsuki said, shaking her head. "I considered this outcome. If he dies, then it means this is as far as he could get. It's as simple as that, and there's no need to punish any of you for following my orders. I knew the consequences disrupting his healing factor could bring."
Sanageyama sighed.
Jakuzure gave Gamagori the stink eye.
"He is to be taken out of this academy," Satsuki said. "If he lives, he will come back."
Gamagori was the one to walk back to Vergil and grab his shattered body, lifting him by the leg.
The behemoth of a man asked, "How far?"
Satsuki responded. "To the starting point."
Gamagori was about to spin Vergil around.
But then…
"Kiryuin..."
A sliver of consciousness.
Gamagori stopped, and everyone looked at the half-demon.
"The Yamato…"
Vergil stretched the only arm he still had to Satsuki, shakily.
"You can't… Y-You can't take it from me…"
His weak voice almost sounded like a plea.
"I already have," Satsuki responded, showing it to him.
He kept holding his ruined arm out, even though he couldn't reach her, even though it hurt so much. "It's not yours… It's mine, mine…"
There he was, broken and hopeless.
The Yamato was the only thing keeping him conscious at this point.
"If you survive the night, you will be able to come back for it," Satsuki stated. "I will be waiting. Gamagori…"
"Yes!" Gamagori said and proceeded to spin Vergil around.
He tossed the half-demon, high into the sky.
"No..."
Vergil could see the academy becoming smaller.
The Yamato was further away from him with each second, as the wind brushed past him.
"NO!"
"Here's the scabbard, Lady Satsuki," Gamagori offered.
Satsuki nodded, taking the sheath. Vergil had parried many of her attacks with it, and the tool was what ended up sealing his victory against her.
The woman held it in front of herself, twirled the Yamato, and sheathed it, slowly.
"We shall go. This night has been…" The woman coughed, just when she thought it wouldn't happen again. "…exhausting."
"Yep, you need to rest," Sanageyama said, looking at her wounded body. It was shocking how she hadn't passed out. "Vergil sure did a number on you."
"Oh, please, she will be fine," Jakuzure said, confident as she floated near her leader. "Vergil is in a far worse condition."
"True," Sanageyama said, looking at the night sky. "You think he'll come back?"
"If he survives, he will have no option but to do so," Gamagori responded, certain. "What matters is that we have the Yamato."
"I agree..." Satsuki said.
Her steps toward the building at the center of the courtyard were tired. Her feet had never felt so heavy. "Let us go."
"Yes, Lady Satsuki!" they all said and followed her.
All but Inumuta.
Jakuzure was the first to notice he wasn't walking with them and looked back. "Hey, dog! What are you doing?"
Inumuta was staring at the heavens, intently.
The others all glanced at him.
"Is something the matter, Inumuta?" Satsuki questioned.
"...Yes."
That's all he said, right before a blur of blue landed on the academy at immense speed.
CRASH!
The earth-shaking, dust-lifting impact stole their collective attention.
The eyes of everyone snapped to what caused the tremor. They saw a silhouette behind the curtain of dust.
"Vergil," Inumuta said.
A shockwave cleared up the dust.
"Is that…" Sanageyama stepped back. "…Vergil?"
The creature Inumuta had called Vergil spread a pair of wings that resembled those of a bat.
The creature Inumuta had called Vergil glared at them with green, glowing eyes, fangs bared in what had to be the purest expression of anger, and more importantly, malice. The blue scales all over the body glowed brighter.
The creature Inumuta had called Vergil released an unholy roar that echoed, perhaps throughout the entire city, and that would forever echo in their memories:
"IT BELONGS TO ME!"
Finally, Vergil dashed forward, to retrieve what was his.
He went past Inumuta, past Gamagori, past Sanageyama, and past Jakuzure. None of them could see him as he approached Satsuki at unprecedented speeds.
The only one who could see him was Satsuki herself, when Vergil stopped in front of her, about to rip her to pieces with the claws of his regrown arm.
"DIE!"
The woman wouldn't be able to move in time.
Is this it?
But then, Vergil stopped.
His transformation ended suddenly, and he collapsed.
His face hit her shoulder, bouncing off it, and then he hit the ground.
Vergil's eyes burst open, upon hearing the lightning in the sky.
The rain was hitting his face.
He snapped up, looking around himself, frantic. "What? Where…?"
Then, a putrid, familiar scent crept into his nose.
He recognized the rundown shacks around him all too well.
The slums.
(What was he doing back here?)
There, in the middle of a street, a wave of memories washed over him.
The fight with Satsuki…
The talk he had with her…
His fight with those three armored students…
His...
His…
Vergil moved his hand to the holster of his pants.
His Yamato should have been there.
It wasn't.
He didn't even have the scabbard.
Impossible.
Vergil stood up.
He looked up.
He could see the academy, far above.
The last thing he remembered was Gamagori tossing him away, and then…
…nothing.
The realization struck him harder than any punch he could receive.
"I…"
He gritted his teeth.
A demonic chirp came from the side. Vergil's eyes snapped to the source of it.
The corpulent, humanoid lizard was crawling closer to him, coming from out of an alleyway. This Riot was the first one he had seen in the slums.
And it wasn't alone.
He could hear many more chirps, from all directions. He looked around and soon found himself surrounded by at least nine of them and a Fury.
The Riot he saw first was also the first to leap to him and slash.
Vergil did nothing to defend himself.
The claws cut through the black vest under his ruined coat, through his stomach. His intestines sprouted out, along with a lot of blood, and then the Riot spun around, slamming his side with the tail.
Vergil hit the barrier of a nearby house and fell facefirst on the road.
A Riot sprinted to him, and just when it was about to sink its teeth into his head, Vergil performed a breakdance spin on the ground and rose with a kick to the demon's face. The attack sent it rolling in the air until it hit the electrical wires running above the street. The wires, something that should never be touched under the rain, sparked.
An electrical current ran through the Riot, making it convulse as the electricity released bright sparks outward. The other Riots and the Fury watched the show as if they were mesmerized by the lights.
While it happened, Vergil looked at his stomach, frowning.
"I can't heal," he thought out loud.
He was on the brink of unconsciousness when he heard it, but he still remembered what that unknown individual, the only armored student that did not fight him, said:
"Bakuzan disrupted his healing factor."
So, he had been right, after all.
He never hated being right, until today.
His heartbeat accelerated.
The wound on his stomach hurt, but he was used to the pain.
Besides, the fire that boiled inside him was much, much stronger.
I lost…
I couldn't even get a Judgment Cut in…
It was pathetic!
The electrical current ceased running through the Riot, and the creature fell back to the street. It shook its head twice, not hurt by the electricity, and snarled at Vergil.
I LOST!
The three armored warriors flashed in his mind.
And so did Satsuki, smirking at him.
"Y-You can't take it from me…"
"I already have."
"THEY STOLE WHAT WAS MINE!" Vergil thundered, as the Riot leaped at him.
He grabbed the lizard by the head, held it close to his, and crushed it in his hand. The flesh and the blood spilled over his face.
The other Riots were startled by his roar. They flinched.
He tossed his victim aside, and, enraged, dashed to the closest Riot.
He bisected the beast in two with an axe kick.
The aura he exuded became so dangerous, so hostile, that the Riots and the Fury looked at him, then at each other.
The Fury vanished from sight, fleeing the area as self-preservation instincts kicked in. The other demons, however, lacked the sheer speed the Fury had, and thus…
...their fate was inescapable.
Vergil tore them apart.
He forced the mouth of a Riot open until the beast's face snapped. He chopped the arm from another Riot and beat it to death with it. He constricted the neck of another with his guts until the neck was crushed. He shoved his thumbs into the eyes of the next, and opened the skull, revealing a green-colored squishy mass that was the Riot's brain…
And the list went on and on.
A slaughter later, there were nine fewer Riots in Honno City, and Vergil was standing in the middle of the carnage, clothes stained red, hands clenched, eyes blazing. He was still thirsty for bloodshed.
Luckily for him, the agony-filled howls of the Riots he killed startled the demons in the area, luring them there. The Chaos demons, the Empusas, some Furies, and a pack of Hellbats arrived where he was.
"Excellent!"
This fire was burning him inside.
He needed to take it out!
"NONE OF YOU SHALL LIVE TO SEE THE DAWN OF A NEW DAY!"
And so, Vergil launched himself at the closest demon.
The demon blood would flow like a river through the slums that night.
The darkness of night falls around my soul.
And the hunter within loses control.
Gotta let it out, gotta let it out.
Gotta let it out, gotta let it out.
Author's Note:
Oh, Vergil, where are your Summoned Swords? They could've helped…
My sincerest apologies, readers and lurkers! I couldn't post this for New Year!
I hope you enjoyed this chapter, still! My favorite moments of Devil May Cry games are always when the Devil Trigger transformation first appears!
Anyway, onto the reviews of the last chapter!
-spookyfool: I'm glad you enjoyed the fight scenes of Chapter Four! I haven't written such extensive, combat-focused paragraphs since I was fourteen. I know there might be lots of room for improvement.
I plan to delve into Vergil's experiences during the period between his departure from Red Grave and his arrival at Honnoji Academy, and why humans are so worthless to him. Perhaps he was a bit humbled by his crushing defeat at the hands of the Elite Four, though!
I've read Visions of V, yes! It's provided me with interesting insights into Vergil's mind through the eyes of his human side. As you say, Vergil was so traumatized by what he went through the night of Eva's demise that it led him to seek absolute power, perhaps because he blames himself for it, perhaps to compensate, perhaps because he thinks it will shield him from further pain.
Nope! No Life-Fibers! As for Senketsu… He's one of my favorite characters, so the lack of Life-Fibers won't make me discard his presence in this story. But what will he be? We'll find out soon!
-Null: Thanks for the praise and the colossal review!
Yes! The concept of the Devil Armors is different from what The Order of the Sword did with the Ascension Ceremony, but it was inspired by it. The DT-resembling state will be further explored in the next chapters, along with more details about the armor, the manipulation of a devil's power, the ranks, and what they mean for those who wear them. Essentially, however, they are the equivalent of the Goku Uniforms from the canon Kill la Kill.
The Elite Four… None of them released their full power in this chapter, and yet they overwhelmed Vergil to the point of using his DT. What demons could they possibly be using to power up their armor? We'll see!
You know, I thought about writing this as a conventional crossover at first, with Dante and Vergil being dropped off in the setting of Kill la Kill. I have thirty massive drafts of it that will never see the light of day, haha! I had a lot of fun with those.
I've always wanted to play DOOM but never had the chance. The uses of demonic power in Honno City will be explored soon, though I have given you all glimpses into this part of the story with the Devil Fields that protect the houses at night, and the sensors. They will all be elaborated on!
I'm pleased to know that's what you felt when reading Chapter Four because that's the exact vibe I was going for! Devil May Cry 3 was the first hack 'n' slash game I played in my life, and thus holds a special place in my memories. I just could not write the rise of Vergil without giving a nod to the third game of DMC, and what better nod than to make him face a Cerberus demon, the first boss of that game?
As for Dante, Ryuko, and the rest… They will appear, soon! I have great plans for the wacky woohoo pizza man and the foul-mouthed delinquent woman in particular, but for now, I wish to focus on Vergil, and how he handles his defeat, along with the loss of his precious Yamato.
Welp, that's all for today! This chapter ended up a bit shorter than the last one. I wonder if y'all are fine with the lengths of chapters four and five, or if you want me to cut content and post chapters of around the same length as chapters two and three.
Having said that, thanks for reading! Oh, and I know this is a bit late, but Happy New Year!