I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.
Final Battle
Marcus's gut dropped as he stared at Dante and Nero. He was too late. Both were motionless and blood-soaked, crucified on formations of bone spikes and Bianco Angelo lances, not crosses, but enough for the position to match. However, there was more to it. Dante was healing slowly, though barely at a crawl compared to normal, while Nero didn't seem to be healing at all, and his Devil Bringer was gone. Marcus looked around and spotted the Savior hovering beside a massive being formed from slimy, orange flesh that had to be the true form of Mundus. was massive, as big as the Savior, with two enormous, overly long arms, a pair of thick legs tipped with hands instead of feet, a pair of huge, slimy wings that were draconic in shape only, and a head formed of what looked like countless hands all interlocked and forming a pile. Three enormous eyes decorated the face, all glowing red, and several hands stuck up from what passed as Mundus's head in a circle, their fingers straightened and spread, forming something reminiscent of a crown while more hands left a gap below Mundus's eyes, forming a mouth with their fingers extending from the edges of the gap like pointed teeth.
"Man, you're a lot uglier than I thought," Marcus growled, flying toward the pair.
"You're too late, child," Mundus announced, a gooey hand growing from his shoulder holding Nero's Devil Bringer. "Your grandfather underestimated you, but you've failed to save this world." He crushed the Devil Bringer, blood spraying into the air and splashing down in the water before Mundus dropped the Devil Bringer into the water, a massive, blood red spell seal instantly spreading from it as the arm and blood vanished in flashes of blood red light. "With the blood of a descendant of Sparda and the Yamato, I have destroyed the seal the traitor placed between the Demon World and the mortal realm. This world will burn!"
"Not yet!" Marcus growled. "Not while we still live!"
"A problem easily corrected," Mundus intoned with a cruel amusement.
Then, in an explosion of blood, the world below them warped and distorted. A great hole opened in the sea, revealing a barren landscape below with what looked like a giant, twisted tree dominating it. But Marcus only caught a split-second glance of the tree before demons began to explode up from the hole. Devils of all shapes, sizes, power, ranking, class, and order flooded into the human world. A swarm of Beelzebubs flew at him, but as he began to fire his pistols into them rapidly, killing one with each shot, they scattered, allowing him to see the scope of the issue. Bianco and Alto Angelos, Hell Vanguards, Mephistos and Fausts, Blades, many kinds of Aquatic Demons, massive ice toads, fire devils, lightning devils. The area around the rift began to transform into barren rock, and roots, and sand. Hells began to appear of all forms. Msira, and Finis, and Empusa, and Blades, and Assaults, and Plasmas began to appear. There was even a swarm of devils that looked like blue robots with silver frames which crackled with electricity as they stalked away from the portal.
Marcus narrowed his eyes, then launched himself at the Savior. He couldn't stop all of the demons, but if he could kill the Savior and Mundus, maybe Dante would know a way to seal the breach. Of course, nothing was that easy. As he flew, dozens of flying demons, primarily Bianco and Alto Angelos moved to intercept him. He snarled in annoyance, beginning to flip and spin, forming spectral arms with replica swords to help him slaughter his way through the demons. For nearly a solid minute he struggled to hold back the devils. Then, finally, a trio of Fallen, grotesque demons bearing white-feathered wings and exploding swords made of light, hurled their blades into his chest, and the resulting explosion sent him exploding into first Nero, then Dante, freeing both from their impalements.
"You two gonna get up and help me, or are you just gonna lay there like dead weight!?" Marcus growled.
"You make it...sound easy," Dante groaned as he stirred, reaching into his pocket and retrieving a pair of green, crystal stars. "Never thought I'd need these."
He crushed one, his body shining green and healing before he stood. He placed the other star in Nero's hand, then crushed it for him, allowing it to heal Nero. Nero groaned, standing, then looked around, sighing.
"I doubt I'm going to be able to help against Mundus like this," Nero said, looking down at his amputated arm as Marcus used his spectral arms to pull their swords over, passing them off. "I'll try to slow the demons down."
"I'll stall Mundus," Dante said, setting Rebellion against his back and lifting Sparda. "Can you handle the Savior?"
"If you help me clear a path to him first, sure," Marcus nodded.
Dante nodded, shifting into his Sparda devil form. "By the way, I like your new look. Much better than that last one."
"It's still not strong enough," Marcus snarled. "But I'll make them pay!"
And then, he took off. Dante blinked in surprise, then exploded after him. After about three seconds, he caught up with Marcus just as they began to tear into the swarm of devils now surrounding the Savior.
"What do you mean it's not strong enough?" Dante shouted over the chaos of their battle, wielding Sparda and hurling fireballs both.
"Vergil killed Kat!" Marcus snarled, Dante freezing for a moment before spinning around Dante, his spectral arms stopping the oncoming demons for a moment, allowing Dante to recover from his shock. "Trish said she knows a way to save her, so I'm going to make these two pay while she does that. And if she lied to me..."
Dante's face darkened. "Don't turn into Vergil."
"Fuck Vergil!" Marcus snapped, swiping his arms and sending out a massive pulse of blue demonic energy that slaughtered dozens of demons. "The only person I'm going to kill is Trish. Then you're welcome to kill me after."
Dante narrowed his eyes, but focused on fighting the demons. Then, finally, with a spinning rush with his spectral swords forming a drill, Marcus burst out of the swarm of demons. The Savior's fist swung up to greet him instantly, but he flipped around the fist, then kicked off of the Savior's forearm, rocketing upward at his face. Nero had explained the Savior. He'd told him that the blue crystals were power sources for the Savior, and that breaking them would weaken it. But Marcus didn't care about that. As he placed the Blue Queen against his back, his other sword transformed into a pair of gauntlets, swelling enormously and raging with flames as his spectral arms formed around his fists. Then, he slammed a right-handed uppercut into the underside of the Savior's chin. The Savior's lower jaw exploded apart as the Savior rocked backward, and Marcus roared, beating his wings and rocketing forward, drilling the bottoms of his fists down onto the Savior's forehead, blasting his upper face apart as well, along with the crystal on his forehead, leaving only a strip across his nose and his upper jaw. Despite the damage, the Savior roared in agony, swinging hard at Marcus. Marcus blocked the punch, but was sent exploding backward. He flipped, stopping himself, and as demons rushed to swarm him, he roared, his spectral arms swiping around in a flurry of movement, independent of his physical body, slaughtering them. Then, he rocketed forward bursting free of the swarm of devils just in time to fly head-long into the Savior's fist. He roared in pain and rage as he rocketed backward. This time, he drew his guns, flipping and spinning as both pistols fired like machine guns, shredding the devils rushing him. Finally, he holstered them again and rocketed forward once more. The Savior again moved to punch him, but this time, Marcus anticipated the strike and flipped over it, then swung a punch down onto the Savior's elbow as it passed, blasting the arm apart at the elbow. The Savior roared in agony again, then a second time as Marcus's left fist exploded into the Savior's abdomen. As the Savior began to double over, however, a hand suddenly sprouted from the Savior's chest above him, grabbing Marcus's head and dragging him into the Savior in a wave of golden light.
A moment later, he was landing hard inside of a chamber formed from flesh as much as stone, yellow eyes decorating the walls here and there, and with a massive stone object like a ball set into the wall opposite him. There were holes in the object where a yellow crystal-like substance was visible. Marcus narrowed his eyes, glaring at the person inside of it. An elderly man mutated into a demonic form with golden horns formed into four thin points, the horns forming an incomplete halo, then a pair of large, curved horns sticking up from the backs of his shoulders. Black markings peeked out of the collar and sleeves of his white robe, over which he wore a red stole with gold markings and highlights. His fingernails had grown into claws, his eyes were entirely black with red pupils, and a matching, third eye decorated his forehead. His face was identical to the Savior's, which Marcus had destroyed, with a short, pointed beard and long, thin, white hair. In front of him was a sword, an obvious Devil Arm that radiated power. Its pommel was a humanoid skull with a pair of horns extending from the sides at a slight angle toward the blade, the horns straight for about half an inch, then curved toward the hilt, only to come to immediate points. The guard of the sword was a large, triangular, vaguely-insectoid face oriented to be right-side-up if the blade was held up, meaning it was currently upside down. A pair of pincer-like points stuck down off of the sides of the face, and a pair of curved horns stuck upward to either side of the blade for six inches in a "V". The first nine inches of the blade were blunted and bore "V" shaped grooves, then the blade belled outward from both sides before the sharpened section of the blade extended outward, rivalling Rebellion for length. The tip of the blade, however, was a triangle, not unlike the tip of a squid's head.
The elderly demon's face curled in rage before he reached out, taking hold of the sword's hilt. Then, he exploded from the crystal. However, as he slashed at Marcus, Marcus deflected the blade with his smaller blade before driving the Blue Queen into his heart, the edge upward. Then, he twisted sharply on the hilt before ripping the sword up and out of the man's body, splitting him in half vertically from the chest upward. The man staggered backward, his body beginning to stitch itself closed, only for Marcus's arms to slash over and over in a blur, his spectral arms and their replica blades joining his physical swords in shredding the devil's body. Finally, the devil's sword stabbed into the ground as Marcus huffed, placing the Blue Queen on his back, followed by the devil's own sword.
"You should have stuck to fighting as the giant statue," Marcus said to the bloody ribbons he'd reduced the devil to. "It's hard to fight something so big. You, though..."
He spat on the devil's remains, then looked around. The large ball thing seemed like it could be a heart, so he reached out his spectral arm and crushed it, then turned and flew at the wall. His sword transformed into a single gauntlet over his right fist, and a moment later, the fist exploded into the wall, and the Savior's chest exploded outward, blasting a hole out through it and allowing Marcus to fly out as the Savior plummeted into the portal. Except, as it fell, Marcus narrowed his eyes, staring at Nero, who was struggling against the demons.
Nero grunted as a Blade's claws grazed his side, then spun, slashing it. He turned, deflecting a Fallen's sword to the side, then leapt away from it, trading the Red Queen for the Blue Rose and fired a shot through several demons' heads rapidly. Then, as he landed, he ripped the Red Queen from his back once again, slashing through a trio of Hell Vanguards, only for one of the blue robot devils to suddenly burst from the swarm of Beelzebubs, its right arm extended as though reaching for Nero's face. And then, four flaps on its arms suddenly opened, standing up around the wrist a split-second before a massive explosion of electrical energy burst from the robot's hand, forming a massive hand of electricity which exploded into Nero and sent him exploding backward, only for a Blitz to explode down on his back. He shouted in pain, rolling and slashing at it, only for it to vanish. He turned toward the robot as it lunged for him again, but this time, he pivoted around it just before it could unleash the same blast as before, slashing off the arm, then slashing the demon across the torso. He stabbed the Red Queen into the ground, drawing his pistol and firing rapidly into the Beelzebubs as they passed around him, slaughtering many of them. Then, a red streak slammed into him, carving deep gashes into his side, hurling him. He rolled to his feet, snarling in rage and glancing around, only to stop as he saw the robot's newly reconnected body hold up its arm to its stump. Several wires burst out, driving themselves into the stump before pulling tight, reattaching the limb. Nero narrowed his eyes, and just as he lunged, the red streak slammed into him again, once again slashing him.
Nero was glad his wounds were healing, but without being able to utilize his devil heritage, he was definitely not slowing down the demons. Barely a handful were making time for him, most barely paying him any mind, unless he passed close to them. Nero pushed himself up again, then sprinted for his sword just as the red streak began to close in again. Then, just as a massive, red, lizard-like demon appeared at his side, slowing only for the duration of its strike, Marcus exploded down on it, crushing it beneath his feet before taking off, easily slaughtering demons as they swarmed the much more severe threat. However, he spun his sword into a scythe, beginning to shred them, and Nero smirked as he passed unnoticed through the demons. Then, he grabbed his sword just as the robotic demon reached him again. He knocked its arm out to the side, the electrical blast obliterating a pair of Empusa, then stabbed the Red Queen through its chest, staking it to the ground before firing the Blue Queen into its head and torso until it fell motionless. He holstered his gun again and knelt, ripping off the arm, then held it up near his stump. He hesitated, then moved his amputated arm closer, grimacing. Almost immediately, wires lashed out from the severed arm, burrowing into his own arm up to the bicep, and Nero screamed in agony, then again as the severed section of arm glowed red-hot before slamming into his arm. After a moment, the arm had finished fusing to his own, and he began to pant and gasp for breath. He stared at the arm for a moment, then focused, and as he tried to curl the fingers, they responded perfectly.
"Kyrie's going to kill me," Nero sighed. "But at least I'll have two hands." He looked up as a Frost, a demon similar to a Blitz except wielding ice in place of lightning, charged him. "Oh shit!"
He reacted on instinct, raising his right hand and trying to send out his spectral arm to knock the Frost aside. But in that instant that he forgot he no longer had his Devil Bringer, the arm reacted. The flaps opened, and the electric hand silhouette, which was taller than he was this time, as opposed to torso-sized as the robot had produced, exploded into the Frost, blasting its flesh apart in the front, killing it instantly.
"No way!" Nero gaped, staring at the hand, then grinned. "Alright, I can work with this!"
He ripped his sword from the ground, grinning, then lunged into combat. This time, the demons seemed to instinctively realize that he was a threat. They swarmed him this time, and he flipped and spun, his sword carving through them, massive electrical hands exploding out of Nero's new prosthetic intermittently, blasting them apart rapidly.
Marcus spun around a Blitz, his scythe removing its head, and he spun his sword back into a sword in time to lunge past Nero, both turning sideways to pass in front of one another as they stabbed, killing a pair of demons. Then, as Marcus sent out his left hand's spectral arm to drill a punch into a group of Hell Sloths, killing them all, Nero used his new hand's electricity to blast a group of Empusa, slaughtering them all as well.
"Fancy hand," Marcus commented.
"I miss my old one," Nero responded. "Your power evolved again."
"Yeah," Marcus nodded. "Vergil has that effect on me."
Nero nodded, then frowned, pointing behind Marcus, toward the breach. "What's that?"
Marcus turned, sending out his spectral arms to shred the demons blocking their view before stopping, staring at the scene before him. A group of Hell Vanguards were just dropping something into the rift. Marcus's gut clenched instantly, rage boiling through him.
"Vergil!" Marcus snarled. "That's what's left of Vergil."
"You quartered him?" Nero asked. "Damn!"
"He killed Kat," Marcus growled.
"Oh," Nero breathed. "I'm so..." He shook his head. "Sorry doesn't cut it."
"No, it doesn't," Marcus agreed.
Then, both of them went stiff, their devil heritage reacting to something powerful approaching rapidly. Marcus tightened his grip on his sword, drawing the Blue Queen in his free hand just as something, some kind of grotesque devil, leapt out of the rift, landing before them. It was easily four times Marcus's height, and Marcus's instincts screamed at him to crush it. But it was impossible. It had only been a few seconds.
"What do you say, Marcus?" the Devil asked. "One more round?"
Vergil, aside from now being enormous, no longer looked even remotely human, or anything like his devil form from before. His body was now covered in what appeared to be slimy, black roots, or vines, and there were several scattered places on his torso that were curled into spirals where the roots turned purple. Vergil's fingertips were long claws, his toes bore similar claws, his face was wrapped in a cage of bony-twigs, leaving only his right eye and half of his sharp-toothed mouth visible. The most drastic change, however, were the dozens of thick, tentacle-like vines hanging from his shoulders and back like a cape, all of them ending in sharp spear-head points. A shining, shifting, orange crystal hovered beside his right shoulder, the center of the crystal glowing white-blue. The crystal was about four feet long, aligned vertically, and was spinning in place as dozens of long, thin sections like spines extended from the glowing core, all of the lines stretching and shaking.
"Yeah, one more round!" Marcus snarled.
Then, as he launched himself at Vergil, thrusting his sword out to greet him, the crystal flashed around, Marcus's blade slamming into the crystal hard and with no clear effect. Marcus snarled in annoyance, twisting his hand and flinging the crystal aside as he slashed with the Blue Queen at the same time as Nero slashed with the Red Queen, but in a flash of orange, their blades both slammed into the crystal and bounced away. And a moment later, the spines along the crystal's length suddenly erupted outward as spikes, scoring a handful of scratches and a few puncture wounds, but sending a clear statement. Hit-and-run tactics were the best option. So, Nero opened fire with the Blue Rose, only for the crystal to flash around and around, blocking the shots with ease. But as it was, Marcus launched himself forward, slashing with his primary sword and the Blue Queen from either side, his spectral arms both slashing from above and to either side. But as the four strikes swept inward, Vergil merely smirked. And then, there was a force, an invisible barrier, like a wall, that all four blades slammed into and were repulsed. Marcus swore, and as the crystal sped toward him, he kicked out. When the barrier repulsed his foot, he rocketed backward. Pain seared through him from his leg, but any damage was healed before he flipped and landed on his feet.
"Pathetic!" Vergil smirked.
Then, he raised a hand, then swiped downward. Suddenly, shining, purple lasers were raining down from above. Nero and Marcus both swore, beginning to struggle to evade the projectiles, but as they were, and before either could realize there was a problem, Vergil extended his arm toward them, and this time, a white spell seal appeared in front of it. Then, a shining, white beam of demonic energy erupted from the seal, and with a wave of Vergil's hand, the beam swept across the world before him, erasing the ground where it made contact and burning Marcus and Nero's bodies horribly as it swept across them. Both crashed to the ground, groaning in pain, then rising as they began to heal.
"What the fuck is going on!?" Marcus snarled. "How is he so strong!?"
As if on cue, Vergil waved a hand upward, and an explosion of blue flames and black smoke erupting from beneath both, only for them to instinctively dive out of the way as Veril's hand moved. As they landed on their feet, Vergil swiped an arm again, and a pair of massive, spinning, glowing, pink balls of molten rock and flames erupted from a pair of rifts in the air in front of him, exploding into motion. Marcus dropped, sliding under the one aimed at him, but Nero wasn't as fast, and the sphere exploded into him, burning him, breaking his bones, and sending him flying.
"Nero!" Marcus shouted. "You bastard!"
Marcus roared in rage, chagrin, but once again, the crystal or the barrier repulsed his every strike. Nero rose, returning to the battle to aid Marcus, but the impact had done damage. Nero was slowing down, and the more attacks that Vergil aimed at him, the more landed. And Marcus didn't escape damage either. He held his own better than Nero, but he wasn't strong enough either. And Nero was getting battered. He was slowing down, and he was being brutalized for it.
Dante shouted in pain as several laser blasts exploded into him, sending him hurtling backward. He flipped, spreading his wings and stopping himself, then reformed the Sparda in his right hand as he drew Rebellion in his left. He rocketed forward, and Mundus roared, a flood of gooey hands racing out to meet him. Dante flipped and spun, slashing the hands off as he bobbed and weaved around them, but just as he neared Mundus, Mundus's eyes flashed and unleashed a trio of beams. Dante cut right instantly, but one of the blasts slammed into his chest at the same time as one slammed into the Rebellion, shattering the blade. Dante exploded down beside the rift, slipping out of his devil form once again, and groaned, struggling to push himself up, holding up the broken sword in front of himself as he used the Sparda to support himself.
"Dammit!" Dante panted. "I wasn't...expecting him to be...so strong. Last time he...wasn't half as...powerful!"
"The last time you faced me, I had not recovered from my wounds while facing your father," Mundus informed Dante. "This time, not only have I returned to my full power, but I've also found a way to achieve a power greater than you could ever hope to possess!"
Just then, the flesh making up his chest parted in dozens of hands, probably hundreds, and revealed a sphere, black around the outside and glowing a dark, fiery orange in the center. Dante could sense power radiating from it in a flood, and Mundus's body closed around it once more.
"The Heart of Darkness," Mundus identified the object. "A Devil Arm formed from the lingering will and power of Argosax. With this power, even you are helpless, Son of Sparda."
"Dammit!" Dante growled. "Wish I'd have...thought of that."
"Dante!" a voice shouted from below them, inside of the rift.
"That voice..." Dante breathed.
"Stab yourself with Rebellion!" Sparda shouted.
"Not really feeling like going out in the way of the Samurai," Dante commented.
"Stab yourself in the heart with Rebellion!" Sparda shouted again. "It'll unlock its true power!"
"It's busted!" Dante shouted back.
"It's not the source of your power, it's the key!" Sparda called. "Trust me!"
Dante grimaced, then pressed the Sparda sword to his back before impaling himself with the broken remains of Rebellion's blade. Almost instantly, agony exploded through his body, and his body began to glow red in a wave spreading outward from Rebellion's blade, which began to dissolve and sink into his body, as did the Sparda.
Nero shouted in agony as several of Vergil's roots grazed his side, the barbed, bladed, spear ends tearing through his side before another of the massive magma balls exploded into him, hurling him away. As he crashed down this time, however, he chuckled. They'd finally broken the barrier. The crystal had gone inactive just before trying to stab Nero. And in response, Vergil had lost all composure. He'd began to attack them furiously, using his root tendrils, energy beams, lasers, even direct punches and pulses of raw had managed to scratch Vergil's palm, but it had healed in seconds. Marcus hadn't landed anything yet, being the primary focus of Vergil's fury.
"You're running out of time, Vergil," Nero grinned, struggling to push himself up.
Before he could, almost as if in response to Nero's statement, Vergil swiped a hand toward him, dozens of magenta lasers raining down on him from above. Nero tried to avoid it, but after a moment, one of the lasers punched through his leg, and then they rained down on him for nearly five seconds before stopping, filling him with holes and leaving him barely alive. Marcus roared in rage, launching himself forward. He leapt over a ball of molten rock, then beat his wings hard. A wave of lasers began to rain down on him, but he ignored them, beating his wings a second time. Then, even as he screamed in agony as lasers shredded his body, he slashed hard. Vergil roared as Marcus's sword tors down across his body, then swung a punch at him. Marcus ducked around the fist, allowing the punch to shatter the ground, then jumped, his body healing rapidly as he slashed Vergil across the chest. As soon as he had finished, he beat his wings hard, racing around Vergil. However, within a second, Vergil's root tendrils stabbed at him from the front and back. Marcus spun, exploding into Vergil's chest, blades first and crossed, Blue Queen against Vergil, then the other behind it. Then, Marcus roared in effort, slashing down and outward with both blades, and tore a massive "X" across Vergil's chest, hurling him backward.
Vergil roared in pain, then lunged forward. Marcus turned to escape, only for Vergil to fire the usual white beam, this time in only the span of time it took Marcus to realize he was about to. Marcus shrieked in agony as the beam tore up his back, but almost as soon as Marcus's back hit the ground, Vergil's fist exploded down onto his torso. Then another, then another. Then his face. Then his abdomen, then his face again. The punches rained down on Marcus like a heavy rain. He could feel his bones breaking. Could feel his organs rupturing. He tried to strike back, but Vergil's fist broke his arm before continuing.
"Marcus!" Nero groaned, struggling to move as he watched Vergil brutalize Marcus. He struggled to his feet as desperation and terror flooded him. "No! I won't! Never again! I won't lose my son again!"
Suddenly, there was a blinding flare of blue light, and Nero exploded forward. He'd changed. He'd finally achieved a devil form. His hair was suddenly long, hanging straight down his back, his skin was a pale, greenish-grey, his eyes were glowing yellow, his left hand was a Devil Bringer, now, and the scales on it also covered his sides and his legs, with small spikes on the outsides of his legs just below the knees, cracks ran through his body, all glowing blue, a pair of flat, curved horns wrapped around the top corners of his head, and there were four almost blade-like spines running front-to-back on each shoulder. There was a small drop between the front half and the back half, and there were four spectral versions in between them, with spectral wings attached and fanned out behind him. However, as Nero reached Marcus and Vergil, he roared in rage, his new prosthetic right arm unleashing a blast of electricity at the exact same moment that another strike landed. The spectral spines along the top of his right shoulder released his shoulder, the hand they belonged to curling into a fist at the top edge of the wing halfway along the wing. The fist exploded into Vergil at the same exact instant as the massive, electric hand, and the twin strikes sent Vergil hurtling away from Marcus.
"D...Dad?" Marcus croaked. "You look...good."
Nero sighed, looking over to Dante as he was struggling to stand again. However, just as he looked, Dante stabbed himself with Rebellion. And a moment later, he'd transformed. He had a draconic face, similar to what Vergil had had before Marcus killed him, a pair of long, slim horns, bowed near the bottom but straightening out, four large, draconic wings, reptilian feet, clawed hands, thick, bone plating over his body, and cracks and places glowing a fiery orange, including the top of his head where his hair should be. He lacked a tail, unlike Vergil, but in his hand was neither Rebellion nor Sparda. A sword formed primarily from the same tan bone as his body's natural plating now occupied his right hand. Its pommel was a large, crimson, oval stone, the guard split in two in the front and back, and each of the four sections bore a curved, fang-like spike that was angled toward his hands, yellow-white at their base and black at their ends. The sides of the blade were rough, jagged, but nearly flat sections of the bone, but the metal of the blade extended out from under it for the edges. And then, Dante was off, rocketing through the air to Nero and Marcus and landing lightly before transforming back to his normal form.
"Damn, Marcus," Dante sighed. "Can't say I'm surprised. I always was the only one who could challenge my brother." He reached into his pocket, pulling out another green crystal star and tossing it to Marcus's Devil Bringer. "Unfortunately, I need to handle Mundus. He's too much for you two. Can you deal with this?"
Nero looked to Vergil as Marcus crushed the star, healing instantly, then stood.
"We've got this," Marcus growled, lifting his swords, then stabbed the Blue Queen into the ground, pulling his new third one off his back and inspecting it. "So, this is what a fresh Devil Arm made by Mundus feels like."
"That thing's strong," Dante commented.
"No, it's not," Marcus said. "It's all power with no durability."
To prove his point, he hurled it like a javelin into Vergil's chest as Vergil rose. Then, he drew his pistol from its holster, firing a single shot into the sword. In a blast like an explosion, Vergil sailed backward, pieces of the sword scattering into the air.
"Mundus made that sword," Marucs said, holstering his pistol. "It's like a pale imitation of Rebellion."
That was...disappointing," Dante said, glancing at Mundus. "But that gives me an idea. He's got a Devil Arm inside of him like a battery."
"Crack it," Nero said instantly.
Dante nodded and transformed again, then smirked. "Alright. Let's get to it!"
As he took off toward Mundus, Marcus ripped the Blue Queen from the ground, he and Nero rocketing forward as Vergil finally dragged himself to his feet. His torso was blasted open but sealing. By the time he'd gotten to his feet, he was healed, and he raised his arms to begin lashing out at the two over and over. And suddenly, the battle had resumed. Vergil's crystal and barrier had finally restored themselves, so Marcus and Nero once again couldn't get through. Meanwhile, Vergil was pissed. He was roaring in effort, conjuring his lasers, demonic energy beams, explosions of blue flames, molten spheres all rapidly. He snapped his fingers and a dome of distorted time appeared around them, slowing them both to a crawl before Vergil blasted them both. But still they pressed on. Still they pressed. Marcus's physical blades, his spectral replicas. Nero's sword, his prosthetic's electrical blast, his wings. They assaulted the barrier and the crystal sustaining it with everything they had. And finally, just as Marcus was beginning to think that maybe they wouldn't win the fight, the crystal shattered entirely. Yamato spun through the air, and Vergil lunged for it, but as he did, Marcus's spectral arms both exploded into Vergil's face in a punch at the same time as Nero's right wing did. Vergil exploded backward, and Nero's left hand caught the Yamato, which flashed and vanished into his hand instantly.
"That's more like it," Nero grinned. "Shall we?"
"Let's," Marcus grinned.
Both exploded forward, and together, they began to tear into Vergil. Vergil roared in agony, then in rage, beginning to strike back at them all the more ferociously for it. Without Vergil's barrier, the battle was even now. Its progress rocked back and forth repeatedly. First Marcus and Nero would tear into Vergil, then Vergil would tear into them. Marcus slashed Vergil's side, so Vergil impaled him on a root tendril. Nero slashed Vergil down the front, so Vergil greeted his landing with a geyser of blue flames. Marcus slashed Vergil with his spectral arms while Nero blasted Vergil with his prosthetic's power, so Vergil blasted Marcus with his white laser and Nero with a molten sphere. Back and forth they traded blows. It rapidly became a battle of attrition. Marcus landed a strike, then Vergil, then Nero, then Vergil, then Nero, then Marcus, then Nero, then Vergil, then Vergil, then Vergil, then Marcus and Nero together. Finally, all three staggered away from one another, panting and gasping for breath, coated in blood, and Marcus and Nero stabbing their swords into the ground to support their own weight.
"You just can't...take a hint," Nero complained.
"I'm not dying here," Marcus growled, beginning to radiate demonic energy. "I'll make him pay for killing Kat!"
At his side, Nero nodded, also beginning to radiate demonic energy. And then, they resumed their bloody brawl. More and more the two opposing sides tore at one another. Harder and harder they all pushed. Then, finally, Vergil caught Marcus and Nero with a sweeping blast of his beam, sending them crashing to the ground.
"This is finished!" Vergil swiped a hand, dozens of spell seals appearing around Marcus and Nero on all sides, entrapping them. "Just DI-"
A massive, black missile taller than Vergil's body slammed down on top of Vergil, making it halfway to the ground before exploding. Marcus and Nero bounced and rolled across the ground as the concussion passed them, but as they pushed themselves up, the explosion had widened the breach between the Mortal World and the Demon World, but it had also completely incinerated Vergil, leaving the only enemy as Mundus, who was directly across from them being shredded by Dante with apparent ease.
"What the Hell was that?" Nero asked.
"Pandora!" Marcus breathed, turning around slowly, hesitantly.
"Marcus!"
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