I do not own Devil May Cry or any of its characters.
Sign
"Lord, send me a sign," Oliver prayed, head bowed and hands clasped before his chest. "Show me what I am meant to do."
"Even after everything, you still pray to a god the rest of the world has long-since stopped believing in?" Morrigan asked, still lying naked in bed.
"No matter how bad things get, and no matter what the world believes, I choose to have faith," Oliver answered. "If I'm wrong, so be it, but I choose to believe." He bowed his head once more. "Show me the way, oh Lord. Send an angel to guide me down the path that you have laid before me. Amen."
Oliver grit his teeth, twirling around an insect and slashing it in half, then crouched as he spun under another, snatching up one of his PPQs, instantly opening fire. The shift was immediate and like a breath of life to himself and Lucia. The insects, Beelzebubs, were appearing so rapidly that even with Lucia's help, they were being overrun. However, his FN 5.7s bullets penetrated too well to be effective against them. As he rapidly fired his PPQ, however, the Beelzebubs exploded rapidly as the endless supply of hollow point bullets decimated them. A moment later, his other pistol spun out of a particularly thick group of Beelzebubs, and he dropped his cane and caught the pistol, using it to slaughter the group. With Oliver using his pistols, Lucia launched herself back into combat, reclaiming the sword she'd stabbed into the floor to throw him his second pistol. Together, they began to finally clear out the oversized insects. However, just as they began to see the light at the end of the tunnel, the light was snatched away from them.
Mr. White jumped, his arm blurring as he struck out at Dahaka in a flurry of thrusts, only for Dahaka's sword to to likewise blur, deflecting all of the strikes before sweeping around into a devastating slash. Mr. White blocked the much larger blade with his own, and there was a resounding, musical ring as Mr. White sailed backward. He kicked his powerful legs, flipping and spinning himself, shredding a dozen Beelzebubs, then landed on his feet and exploded forward into combat once more. His rapier was able to withstand blows from Dahaka's sword without breaking, but its much lighter blade couldn't stop incoming blows directly, so instead, he intercepted oncoming slashes and stabs with strikes of his own, redirecting them away from himself, all the while lashing out at Dahaka, only for Dahaka to either evade or block the strikes.
Mr. White's eyes narrowed as he realized that he wasn't going to be able to defeat Dahaka like this, and a moment later, his shoes had exploded off of his now-engorged feet. He kicked off of the ground and spun, slamming the sole of his foot into Dahaka's sword, sending him staggering away. Then, the battle grew even more violent. For a few moments, Mr. White coupled his lightning-fast sword strikes with devastating kicks. Then, as his sword grazed Dahaka's shoulder, the first successful strike of their duel, Dahaka began to laugh.
"This is more like it!" Dahaka laughed. "This is the White Rabbit demon that I'd heard of! You were supposed to be a legend! Sparda's most powerful subordinate during his time serving under Mundus, and the one person to side with him!" He laughed. "I'm glad serving humans hasn't made you go completely soft yet! But let's see if there's a bit more of the old White Rabbit left!"
Suddenly, the fangs along the center of his sword parted, splitting the blade down the middle a few inches. Instantly, flames roared from the gap, engulfing the blade, and Dahaka roared, slashing his sword through the air. An explosion issued from the gap, blasting through the space Mr. White had occupied just moments before and decimating dozens of Beelzebubs, as well as obliterating a section of the floor. However, as the smoke cleared, Mr. White charged off to the side just as Dahaka realized that the Beelzebubs were being slaughtered by Oliver and Lucia, now that Oliver had begun to use pistols.
"Pathetic vermin," Dahaka grunted.
He snapped his fingers, then promptly leapt backward just as Mr. White slashed his sword, still a fair distance away. At the same instant that Mr. White's glowing, white-gold blade unleashed an arc of light that rent the house before him in two, more powerful demons began to appear around the room. Skeletal demons clothed in robes of darkness bearing scythes, truly massive, reptilian demons with round shields on their right arms and enormous, dagger-like claws on their left hands, and metal helmets fitted to the tops of their heads, black, simian-like demons, that radiated shadows, and larger, insectoid creatures with swollen heads, a two-part bottom jaw, and sickle-like blades for arms.
And as soon as the demons began to appear, Dahaka spun, deflecting Mr. White's blade, then ducked under his kick before striking back. And just like that, they were back to their horrifying, lethal clash, this time adding their swords' ranged strikes to the mix.
Oliver snarled in annoyance as he flipped over a Blade, a large, reptilian demon with enormous claws, and fired a half-dozen shots into its back and head, killing it. As he landed on his feet, he holstered his right hand's pistol, snatching up his cane before brandishing it. The shaft of the cane sprouted countless small, blade-like barbs and extended, contorting into a whip with which he lashed out, wrapping the whip around another Blade before yanking, throwing the Blade away from Lucia and into a trio of the scythe-wielding demons, Hell Prides. Once the Hell Prides, as well as the rest of the seven sins, had guarded the tower Temen-ni-gru, but after its destruction a fair number of years ago, according to Mr. White, they'd become more widespread.
The Hell Prides crashed to the ground, and Oliver spun, firing a bullet through each of their heads as he yanked his whip back from the Blade, shredding its thick, scaly flesh and killing it. A pair of Hell Prides leapt at Oliver, and he flicked his cane back into its sword form before dodging between the pair, slashing one's head off as he did before spinning and slashing the other down the back. One of the large, insectoid devils, Empusa, vermin of the Demon World, lunged at him from behind, but he flipped backward onto its back, driving his sword down through its torso and pinning it to the floor before firing a shot through its head to kill it, then shot another pair as they swarmed toward him from the front. A trio of the simian-like devils, Msira, swarmed toward him, but Lucia twirled through the cluster, slaughtering them before swapping both swords to her left hand in order to fling a fan of knives into a swarm of Empusa, killing them all.
A group of mixed demons swarmed toward Lucia as she was switching her hands again, but Oliver hung his cane on his left arm by the handle, drawing his other PPQ again and fired rapidly, slaughtering them. Then, he spun, holding the pistol in his mouth by the slide as he used his cane as a sword to slash a pair of Hell Prides aside. Suddenly, a stronger version of the Hell Prides dressed in a ragged, red jester costume, a Hell Lust, lunged at Oliver, slashing hard, but Oliver flipped over it, firing a pair of shots into its head, killing it before landing in time for a Blade's claws to graze his side. He shouted in pain, leaping away, but two more moved to meet him from behind. Then, a bolt of violet lightning exploded down on the two of them, killing them both before Morrigan launched herself from the dust cloud, her dress's skirt unfolded into a pair of wings, revealing her smooth, bare legs and revealing the top of the dress as a unitard. However, Oliver barely registered this fact as she slammed a punch into the other Blade, smashing it to the ground and crushing its head as violet electricity screamed over its body.
Morrigan shrieked furiously instantly, extending her arms, her fingers splayed and curled forward, and each finger unleashed a bolt of violet lightning that each struck and instantly charred a separate demon. Then, she was off. Bolts of lightning blasted demons around her as she used her horrifying strength to crush others. A pair of Blades leapt at her from the side, and she burst into a swarm of bats, which then spiraled into a vortex around each demon before each bat unleashed a bolt of violet lightning, reducing the two reptilian demons to charred husks before they reformed off to the side in time for Morrigan to slam a kick into the side of a Hell Pride's head, separating it from the Hell Pride's shoulders. And then more demons were appearing. Several Hell Sloths, which wore white rags and moved exclusively by teleporting in order to ambush their victims using their scythes, appeared around Lucia, only for her to narrowly evade the strike and slaughter them with her swords. A Hell Gluttony, a grey skeleton with faded, ragged, green robes and a double-ended, blades staff, appeared ahead of Oliver, inhaling to fire a blast of sand, one strong enough to remove flesh and shatter bones, from its mouth, only for Oliver's pistols to fire as fast as machine guns, filling the demon's head and torso with dozens of bullets within a second, killing it and stopping its attack. And then a stronger form of the Blades, called Assaults, which bore yellow frills around their heads, had joined the fight, moving faster than the Blades and striking with more force.
Oliver ducked past an Assault and slashed it with his cane before firing a burst of bullets into the head of a Blade following it. A pair of Hell Sloths appeared to either side of him, but he ducked out of the way of their overhead strikes, then drove his cane's blade through one's head as he fired several shots into the other's. And then, a demon with a white and red body and a long, red staff topped with a clawed hand holding a scythe blade made out of flames rose in front of him, lunging, scythe pulled back. And then, the floor exploded between them, and suddenly, a ten-foot, insectoid skeleton burst up from the dust cloud. As the skeleton flipped, arms on its back, arms like those of a praying mantis, though rounded and with three clawed fingers at the bend in them, produced a cluster of long, narrow blades from an opening that the clawed fingers extended from. As the skeleton ripped the blades from its back arms, all of the swords lit up with a fiery, red aura at the same time as the skeleton's entire body began to radiate a dark aura. It swung its arms downward, and the swords flashed away from it, the sword's aura forming for small trails like fletching before impaling the demon through the chest, throwing it away before the skeleton landed in a low crouch, catching itself with one hand just as the other snapped. Instantly, the aura round the blades exploded, blasting the demon apart.
"Thank you, Samhain," Oliver smiled.
Samhain turned his skull-like head toward Oliver and nodded, then took off, spinning and twirling, slashing and stabbing with countless of the swords his back arms produced for him, never using the same sword for more than one strike and leaving any he stabbed with embedded into the demon he'd struck with it. Many of the blades erupted after a handful of seconds, according to Samhain's will, others waited until he snapped his fingers. An Assault launched itself at Samhain, and he began to flip and spin around it, the Assault roaring and writhing, lashing out at him with its claws, only for Samhain to avoid the strikes, driving nearly two dozen swords into the Assault before stepping back. It leapt at him, flanked by a pair of Blades, but as Samhain snapped his fingers, the swords all exploded, killing all three demons.
"Your devil servants are terrifying," Lucia admitted.
"Like I said, Samhain is my guardian," Oliver said, firing into a cluster of Hell Prides.
Just as he did, Mr. White swept past, snatching up both Oliver and Lucia then leaping away from the spot with them under his arms just before Dahaka slashed his sword, an explosion engulfing the space for several seconds. Mr. White set them on their feet again and turned to re-engage Dahaka, only for Dahaka to look around. The battle had decimated the foyer, with enormous gashes from Mr. White's ranged strikes, bullet holes from Oliver, and craters and holes from the many, many explosions. Finally, Dahaka looked toward where Samhain and Morrigan were slaughtering demons, quickly mopping up what was left, as more hadn't appeared in the last few minutes, except for the one AbyssSamhain had saved Oliver from.
"Morrigan, right hand of the Leanan Leanan Shídhe, and Samhain, twin brother of Lucifer, the elite guards of the King of the Fire Hell," Dahaka identified the pair, then snorted. "You choose your companions well, White. They do you credit. Fine. For now, I will withdraw, but you'll come to me. If you don't, I will turn all of London into a festival of blood."
Then, he snapped his fingers before vanishing in a wave of shadows. However, his parting gift to them arrived at the same time, roaring as its first strike slammed into both Samhain and Morrigan at the same time, launching both. It was a Blitz. A modified version of a Blade that was created personally by Mundus as a shock trooper. It possessed three silvery claws evenly spaced around each hand, a silver mask over its upper face, as it was blind anyway, and silver armor over its dark brown body. However, the worst part about it was its ability to generate and manipulate electricity. Using it, it could move at the speed of lightning, essentially teleporting, and it could cloak its body in electricity in order to turn any attempts to attack it directly into a fatal mistake. The moment it appeared, it roared, slamming its hands together and directing them at Samhain, a massive bolt of golden electricity exploding from its arms and into Samhain's chest, hurling him away.
Morrigan roared instantly, launching herself at the Blitz, but it flashed around behind her in the blink of an eye before batting her aside, its claws tearing gashes into her back, although they'd heal easily enough. Oliver opened fire instantly, and after a moment of successful shots, the Blitz took off, flashing around and around the room. He managed to land a few hits, but nothing decent enough to pin it down, let alone kill it. It flashed down to attack him, but Mr. White lashed out, his rapier's ranged attack grazing its shoulder and forcing it to take off again. And then, it slammed into Mr. White from the left without warning, hurling him into the air before blasting him with the same lightning bolt blast as he'd used on Samhain a moment earlier. Except, as it stopped to attack, the others all lunged at it, only for it to spin, sweeping the lightning bolt in a circle. The lightning bolt tore across the room like an explosion, spreading a wave of destruction and slaughtering all of the remaining demons under Dahaka's command, then slammed into them all one-by-one, sending them all exploding into the walls of the room. All but Oliver. A bolt of Morrigan's own lightning intercepted the Blitz's bolt as it swept around toward Oliver, drawing the blast to Morrigan, resulting in her being blasted twice. Then, the Blitz was off once more. This time, however, as the Blitz launched itself at Oliver, there was a flash of light and Lucia had transformed. Her body was no longer dressed in a mantle, or a belly shirt, or skin-tight pants. Now, the visible half of her face and her hands were entirely black, and looked either wrinkled or to be formed from strips. Her left eye glowed entirely a pale, sky blue. Her hair and clothes were gone, replaced by white feathers covering her entire body. A pair of half-formed, wing-like pieces reached back slightly from her shoulders, and a pair of wings extended from the small of her back, spread out to the sides and back. The last major change was that her feet had been replaced by black bird feet, complete with talons.
Lucia's swords shone with an icy-blue light, and when she lashed out at the Blitz, its lightning failed to strike her in repayment, allowing her to complete her slash. Then, the Blitz was flashing around and around the room once more, but Oliver could only stare at Lucia in shock. Even as Lucia battled the Blitz by dodging and countering each time it appeared to attack her, only a single thought registered in Oliver's mind. Angel.
Lucia spun, narrowly evading the Blitz's claws and bringing her sword around into a strike. As it escaped, once again, with only a shallow scratch, Lucia growled in annoyance under her breath. It was bad enough that she now had to explain her ability to transform to Oliver, a self-proclaimed devil hunter, and his three terrifying devil servants, but even with the boost granted to her by her Devil form, she still couldn't keep up with the Blitz. At least until Oliver's cane suddenly coiled around the Blitz as a whip. Except, it wasn't Oliver holding the cane. It was Morrigan. As its electricity raced along the cane and into her, she ignored it, able to withstand the low-power electricity easily thanks to her own powers. Lucia reacted to the interruption in the Blitz's movement instantly, spinning and lunging, taking its head off with a single, flawless stroke of her blade. Then, she froze as Oliver's pistol fired a single time, aimed at her. However, she heard something fall behind her and spun, staring at the Hell Sloth that had just appeared behind her in time to be shot, the last of the demons alive. The battle was finally over.
Lucia sighed, shifting back to her human form as Oliver accepted his cane back from Morrigan. Then, as he began to sag, groaning, Morrigan caught him, and Lucia rushed to help her set him in his chair. He took several steadying breaths as the pain of using his abilities began to fade slowly. He watched Lucia carefully as they did, then finally sighed.
"Mr. White, do you know anything about Dahaka?" Oliver finally asked.
"Unfortunately, I do not," Mr. White shook his head. "Except for what I learned during our duel." He held his arms out to the sides, displaying his thoroughly ruined uniform. "He's a fire-type Devil, and a very powerful one. I also do not believe that he has any reason to lie. Based on what he brought to face all of you, I believe he is more than capable of bringing about the destruction of London. We shall need to find him."
"And how do we do that?" Morrigan asked.
"I can help," Lucia offered. "I'm good at tracking."
"We don't have any choice," Oliver nodded. "But are you okay to work alongside devils?"
Lucia was silent for several moments before nodding. "I don't trust them, but I do trust you. So for now, that's going to have to be enough."
Oliver nodded. "Mr. White, do you believe he'll wait for us in the Mortal Realm?"
"I suspect so," Mr. White nodded. "It's not easy for the average devil to pass through the barrier between our worlds. I suspect he doesn't have a way to travel back and forth freely, so he'll likely be waiting in our world somewhere."
Lucia nodded, looking around at them all. "Okay. Grab whatever you need. We might not be back for a while."
All of them nodded and scattered into the house. A handful of minutes later, they had returned, Oliver and Mr. White both bearing suitcases filled with clothes, toiletries, and a few odds and ends. Morrigan lacked the clothes, as her own were formed from shadows and could be reshaped as she wanted to, and Samhain, being a bipedal skeleton with a second set of arms on his back and an insectoid skull, returned wearing a ragged, brown cloak and carrying nothing else.
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