I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.
Unexpected Help
Marcus landed on the floor as he watched the Blood-goyles swarming around and around in a dome. Inside the dome, Kat was slowly backing away from a massive fat demon with small wiry spikes on its head, thick black slime pouring out of its mouth, clawed fingers, and short stubby legs. Instinctively he knew exactly who it was. It was Kat's stepfather.
"Hey assholes!" Marcus shouted, drawing his guns and opening fire.
The Blood-goyles reacted instantly, swarming toward him. This time, however, each hot was charged with his Demonic Energy, so the Blood-Goyles began to explode into puddles of blood. When they reached him, they began to slash him as they passed, Marcus spun, bullets flying in every direction until the last Blood-goyle fell. Then, he turned to Kat's stepfather in time to catch Kat, setting her down gently, her body covered with scratches and bruises already.
"Kat?" Marcus asked, worriedly.
"You...came," Kat smiled. "I...I tried...to fight him. I did...before. But...he's...stronger now."
"It's alright," Marcus said, putting the necklace on her and wiping his blood onto it. "You rest. Leave him to me."
She nodded as her wounds slowly sealed themselves and the bruises began to fade, and Marcus stood, walking toward the demon. It roared, charging at him but his spectral arm crashed into its face, launching it backward. As it crashed to the ground, Marcus landed on top of it, holding his sword to its face.
"You're going to pay for what you did to her," Marcus snarled.
"I know you," the demon snarled, voice deep and distorted. "Son of Nero, descendant of Vergil and of Sparda. You're going to die here, and then that bitch is going to be made useful once again!"
The demon rolled, throwing Marcus off then slashed at him. Marcus jumped back, avoiding the claws before darting forward, slashing at the demon. It blocked the slash with its claws, catching the sword, then spun, hurling Marcus into a wall. Marcus slid to the ground, growling in annoyance as the demon stood. Marcus picked his sword up as the demon snarled.
"You're not taking her away from me!" the demon snarled.
"She wants nothing to do with you freak!" Marcus snarled, sprinting forward, stepping past its claws and slashing it across the stomach then spinning around it and slashing its back.
It spun, claws tearing through him and hurled him into a wall before he pushed himself up. The demon charged at him again, massive spikes extending from its body as it did.
"I'll kill you!" the demon raged.
"I fought against Vergil on almost level ground," Marcus snorted. "I'll kill you!"
He leapt over the demon, drawing his pistols and shooting it rapidly as he fell until he was on the ground, putting the pistols away and drawing his sword. The demon turned, grinning before the spikes exploded out of him. Marcus leapt backward, landing in front of Kat and slashing three spikes as they flew toward them, the third slicing a small scratch in his shoulder.
"You missed," Marcus said.
"Did I?" the demon asked.
Marcus rolled his eyes then sprinted forward only to crash to the ground on the third step, his left arm completely numb suddenly and his left leg feeling like a wet noodle. He growled in frustration, pushing himself up slowly with his sword.
"That toxin is immune to even the powers of a Nephilim Crystal," the demon smirked. "In a couple of seconds, your body will cease to function completely. Then, you'll watch as I break the girl. Then I'll kill you."
Marcus growled in rage, glancing to the right and seeing a chasm.
"No, I won't," Marcus growled, dropping his sword and swaying. "Because we're not going to be here!"
He fell forward, his spectral arm smashing the floor below himself and the demon, both falling into the chasm. The demon roared angrily as Kat screamed, running to the edge and stopping. As they fell, the rest of Marcus's body went numb. The demon roared in rage again, one hand catching Marcus's sword.
"Marcus!" Kat's voice screamed as the demon's other hand closed around Marcus's throat.
He fought to move. To fight back. To do anything. But he couldn't. Suddenly, the pair crashed into a broken pillar, the impact throwing both away from each other, and knocking the sword out of the demon's hand. Marcus crashed down hard, head rolling to the side and vision swimming as the demon crashed down somewhere to his left. As his vision focused, he managed to get his eyes to move enough to take in his surroundings. Bones, bones, more bones, puddles of blood, black rock, more bones, and a glowing seal before him with his sword stabbed into it, almost in the center but a little off. The chasm they had fallen into seemed to have left them in some sort of massive feeding ground or something. Bones covered almost everything, most splattered with blood and with standing puddles of it here and there, but there were places where the stone was visible.
"Well, I wasn't intending to come down here, but since we're here now I'll just kill you and be on my way," the demon's voice spoke as a shadow fell over Marcus.
The seal suddenly flashed before the ground inside of it fell away, bones and all. A summoning circle. Terrific. This day just kept getting better and better. After a moment of nothing happening, the circle began to close, the ground rising back up into place. As the last piece at the center rose back up, it brought with it a man with white hair like Dante, Vergil, Nero, and Marcus's though his was slicked back like Vergil only more under control. The man wore a purple shirt with red embroidery running up the middle, surrounding the two rows of buttons, an open purple coat purple pants, black shoes with blue crystal shoe buckles, white gloves, a white turtleneck collar poked out from under his purple shirt, a black scarf with the ends hanging behind his shoulders, a monocle on his left eye and a blue Nephilim Crystal on a black cord hung out from under the scarf. In his right hand was Marcus's sword, and in his left was a gun that looked like a shotgun but with one large barrel with two bores, one over the other, and a bleached-white bone grip.
"Who the hell are you?" the demon demanded.
"Why are you just laying there?" the man asked, looking at Marcus, his voice calm and friendly, despite the situation and the fact that he clearly wasn't human. "Get up."
"He's not going anywhere," the demon snarled. "My toxins have permeated his body. He can't move."
"Is that right," the man asked. "Well, lucky for him, he has a power that can strike for him."
Marcus realized that the man was right. His silhouette could, technically. He hadn't tried it intentionally, and couldn't recall for sure if he had instinctively done it, but it was worth a shot.
"What do you mean?" the demon asked.
Suddenly, Marcus's silhouette formed over Marcus, grabbing the demon in both hands.
"I told you," Marcus snarled, gritting his teeth against the strain of using the silhouette effectively without moving. "You won't touch her!"
Then, the silhouette ripped the demon in two and hurled them away from each other. Just as he did, a couple dozen Stygians rose out of the floor, snarling at the man in purple.
"Ah, right on schedule," the man said. "It's been a long time since I've danced. Let's see if I can remember."
Then, he was sprinting around the cavern, gun, which was indeed a shotgun with two bores in one barrel, blasting anything that Marcus's sword didn't kill. It was over almost as soon as it began. Within about ten seconds, the man split the last Stygian in half and stopped before Marcus, staring at him.
"Now, let's see about getting you up," the man said.
He reached into his coat, pulling out a round glass bottle with four black metal legs attached to the sides. He pulled out the cork, turning Marcus's head upward and lifting his upper body slightly, pouring a couple of drops of the glowing blue liquid into his mouth. Feeling and function returned to his mouth instantly, then to his throat slightly as the liquid trickled down his throat, followed by a little more.
"Swallow," the man said.
Marcus did so, feeling his throat respond slowly at first then more quickly until it was functioning normally, being the only thing.
"Drink," the man instructed, putting the bottle to Marcus's lips and tipping it.
Marcus drank it as quickly as he could so as not to spill any, until the liquid was gone and the man tossed the bottle over his shoulder, allowing it to shatter on the ground. Slowly, feeling returned to Marcus's body, first as a tingling pain, then that faded and he pushed himself up, swaying for a moment before steadying himself.
"Better?" the man asked.
"Much, thank you," Marcus nodded. "Now, who are you?"
"Who am I?" the man blinked. "You're kidding. You really don't know me? And here I thought maybe you were here intentionally to free me. Ah well. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Sparda."
He bowed, one arm held out to his side and the other held across his stomach.
"Sparda?" Marcus said, unimpressed. "Dante and Vergil's father?"
"That's right," Sparda nodded. "I can sense my power in you. Are you one of their children?"
"Vergil's grandson," Marcus said. "Speaking of, Vergil's trying to destroy the human world. He's working for some demon named Mundus."
"Mundus..." Sparda nodded slowly. "I see. Have you fought him?"
"Yes," Marcus nodded. "He was too strong for me to win."
"I expected as much," Sparda said. "You'll need my power. What resides in this sword isn't enough."
"What do you mean resides in the sword?" Marcus asked.
"This sword was forged from a shard of my own sword, Sparda," Sparda said.
"You named your sword after yourself?" Marcus smirked. "Just a little full of yourself aren't you?"
"I never named it," Sparda said. "My enemies did. Anyway, this sword possesses a measure of my power."
He handed it to Marcus, then held out his hand, a glowing red sphere forming in his palm.
"Here," Sparda said. "This should help."
Marcus reached out, placing his Devil Bringer over the sphere and it absorbed the sphere. It began to glow brighter instantly, before releasing a wave of blue Demon Energy that covered Marcus before fading, leaving him wearing a blue button-up shirt with gold buttons, fresh dark grey jeans, leather boots cuffed at the top, a purple coat similar to Sparda's but more plain and with the right sleeve rolled up to above his Devil Bringer, and a black scarf.
"Looks pretty good on you," Sparda mused before pulling his Nephilim Crystal off. "Here. This will also come in handy."
Marcus accepted it, putting it in his pocket before looking up.
"I'll send you back up now," Sparda said. "Good luck."
Sparda placed his gun in Marcus's hand before grabbing him and spinning, hurling him like a bullet back up out of the chasm. Marcus looked up as the ledge where he had fallen from approached rapidly. Then, just as he cleared it, he slowed to a stop, flipping over and landing on his feet in front of Kat, who was sobbing and curled into the fetal position.
"Aw come on," Marcus smiled. "It was just a little fall."
Kat's eyes snapped up at him and he smiled. She threw her arms around him instantly, kissing him, and he kissed her back, ignoring the pain radiating from several cracked ribs. Finally she pulled back, noticing his pained expression.
"You're hurt!" she gasped.
She pulled his Nephilim Crystal off and slipped it over his head, his ribs mending themselves quickly. He sighed in relief before reaching into his pocket and pulling out the one Sparda had given him, slipping it over Kat's neck.
"Where did you get this one?" Kat asked, staring at it.
"While I was down there, I accidentally freed a devil named Sparda," Marcus said.
"What!?" Kat gaped. "You fell all the way to the deepest level of the Demon World, survived, and then jumped back?"
"Actually he threw me, and it didn't seem all that far," Marcus said. "Maybe it was just a summoning circle linked to that area."
"Maybe," Kat said. "So...Sparda's really free?"
"Yeah," Marcus nodded.
"Will he help us fight?" Kat asked.
"Unfortunately no," Marcus said. "He said it's up to us. He did give me a power boost, though. You may have noticed I'm fully dressed now?"
"Actually yeah," Kat nodded. "It looks pretty good."
Marcus chuckled, shaking his head before standing, his body beginning to radiate Demonic Energy.
"Let's go home, shall we?" Marcus asked.
Then, the Demonic Energy solidified into his full demon form, this time with a pair of massive bat wings with the brown scales running along the top with a spike about halfway down where the one bone split into five long thin ones to hold the skin of the wings, which was the same blue of his Devil Bringer. In truth, they actually looked closer to dragon wings.
"Incredible," Kat breathed. "Is that from Sparda?"
"I think so," Marcus nodded, voice not distorted in the slightest and with his eyes now glowing white.
"Wait, are you in control now?" Kat blinked.
"I am," Marcus nodded. "Feels good to be able to use this form without blood lust clouding my mind."
Kat nodded before stepping forward, hugging him.
"Let's go home," she whispered, voice shaky as tears of joy and hope rolled down her cheeks.
He picked her up bridal style then flapped his wings, rocketing into the air and speeding back through the hallways and chambers of the tower, back to the room with the massive pillar in the center. Then, he turned, putting his back toward the pillar and spiraling around it as they shot upward, following the glowing white lines. Finally he slowed to a stop as they reached an intact ceiling.
"Blast through or find a door?" Marcus asked.
Kat looked around before pointing at a gilded red double door that was mostly intact and had a large gilded lion's head on each door.
"Let's try that before we bring the tower down," Kat said.
Marcus nodded, landing in front of the door and switching back to his normal form, setting Kat on her feet before walking over to the door and pushing it open. Then, he and Kat walked through it and found themselves in a long straight hallway ending in a similar doorway. Marcus looked around skeptically but the two of them began to walk forward anyway, Marcus handing Kat Pandora as they did. Then, they stopped halfway as more Blood-goyles began to grow out of the walls and floor. This time, Kat stepped forward, forming the minigun and opening fire before they could attack, massacring them.
"I hate those things," Kat said, transforming Pandora back into her bow.
Marcus chuckled, kissing the top of her head.
"So don't I," Marcus smiled, walking to the door and kicking it, sending them spinning out into the open air.
Before them was a walkway that extended out a ways then turned left, beginning to wrap its way around the tower. They both followed it, running along the pathway until they stopped at the top, the walkway stopping a few feet shy of the top of the pillar and a beam of energy about five feet across in the center of the hundred fifty meter wide pillar. Marcus leapt across the gap first, then turned, catching Kat as she jumped. Then, he turned back to the energy beam just as the Drekavac appeared before it, then one pillar of water exploded into existence on the Drekavac's right and a pillar of yellow lightning began to strike on the ground beside it on its left. Purple lightning began to continuously strike the ground beside the water pillar next, as shadows began to gather into a single point on the other side of the wind pillar.
"I guess we know where he went," Marcus grumbled. "He was getting reinforcements."
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