章節 8: Round One

The Devil Sword Vergil was jagged in shape and in purpose, incomprehensibly sharp and capable of tearing through the seams of reality, a perfect trifecta in Vergil's eyes.

Reforged from the shattered fragments of the Yamato and Beowulf upon Vergil being torn asunder from an alternate world, it aligned with the wielder in their shared desire to inflict pain upon those it is wielded against. That, and murder indiscriminately.

Dante was becoming intimate with that jagged purpose, as he was currently pushing with all his might against Vergil with his own Devil Sword, the blades locked in a desperate struggle to prove themselves better than the other, Vergil himself having to micro manage Dante's Swords Formation with his own Mirage Blades.

Tricking between different locations trying to get the drop on Vergil, only to parry a swift strike from Vergil's Devil Sword after he followed his Trick, Dante changed the battle plan.

Summoning his Lucifer, he set several explosive traps around him then changed out for the Cavaliere, pouncing on Vergil after being caught in one of the Lucifer traps, grinding the blades into him, the wounds regenerating almost immediately after being inflicted.

After hastily dodging a Judgement Cut from Vergil, then perfectly blocking several Mirage Blades with Royal Guard, Dante dashed over to Vergil, upercutting him into the air and slammed his Devil Sword down on his brother, Tricking behind him and kicking him in the back of the head with Balrog after Vergil parried the downward strike.

Dante's combo would soon come to an end, as Vergil utilised one of the newer abilities of his Devil Sword, slashing a small vortex in reality above Dante's head, dropping down onto him and unleashing an Aerial Rave followed up by a Judgement Cut, stunning Dante momentarily, only barely managing to dodge the Aerial Cleave that came afterwards.

Holding out his left hand to Dante in an expectant motion, as if asking a child to put their toys away, Vergil faced his brother. Dante, thoroughly confused by Vergil's actions thinking that the man was taunting him stills for a second, watching.

"Give that Devil Sword to me, Dante."

"No way. You got your own."

"Well I want yours too."

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Ignoring the growing feeling of Deja Vu, Dante jumps straight back into action, Vergil following suit as both clash blades once more, this time Dante getting the upper hand after kicking Vergil in the ankle with a partially formed Balrog greave, allowing him to unleash a swing downwards, spinning with the momentum of the attack and following up with a Stinger.

With Vergil currently midair after being sent flying by the Stinger, Dante followed up by Tricking over and summoning his King Cerberus, twirling in the air and slamming the nunchakus into Vergil tens of times in a split second, following up by shifting into Bo Staff form and swinging repeatedly, wisps of flame following his every movement as Vergil's form flew backwards once more.

"You've lost your old mojo, Vergil. What happened?"

Dante's only response was a growl, and suddenly feeling something cold in his chest, looking down to find Vergil having once more used 'that bullshit portal move' with his fancy new Devil Sword to stab him through the chest, dragging the blade deliberately slowly on the way back out.

Coughing up blood through his rapidly regenerating lungs, Dante was forced to kneel after having the tendon in his left knee sliced into, finding himself the victim of a series of rapid slashes from Vergil's Devil Sword, only barely managing to Royal Guard the final strike of Vergil's combo and Trick away.

"Damn, brother, wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning? Actually where have you been waking up? Have you been following me this whole time?"

"That is irrelevant Dante."

Bingo. Momentary distraction, -10 concentration, allowing Dante to unleash a Twosome Time that grants him enough leeway to dash away from Vergil and slam his foot down on the Kalina Ann, twisting the barrel and aiming it in the half-demon's direction, releasing a laser beam that continually burns away at Vergil.

Before Dante can feel proud of himself for lapsing Vergil's concentration, he has to continually dodge after several consecutive Judgement Cuts are sent in his direction, only to dash directly into Vergil's strike zone, being punished heavily with several rapid slashes to the chest, finished off with an upward strike that brings them both in the air, and a cleave down that leaves Dante reeling.

A brief moment later and Dante is fully regenerated, though it seems he had lost himself in the battle as upon looking out the windows, the castle was being lit up by sunshine. Shooting away several Mirage Blades with his Ebony and Ivory, Dante questions why exactly Vergil wants his Sword.

Stumbling away from the pool of blood on the floor, Dante finds himself standing next to the corpse at the foot of the throne, one he swore he could recognise as that reclusive Shichibukai Two Toes told him about, and was feeling that same resonance he had felt so many times before up to that point.

Reaching out for the corpse, Dante could see a small light glowing brighter, feel a link being made in his soul, only for it to be interrupted by a Judgement Cut that forces him back, though Vergil absolutely took note of what he had seen. In exasperation that Vergil demanded so much of his attention, Dante tried to strike up conversation.

"Say, is there a reason why you want my Devil Sword? I figured you would be over the whole power thing by now."

"Never will I have enough power. Never is it enough. With our Devil Swords combined I will eclipse Sparda entirely, surpassing both him and Mundus." Vergil twists his posture and points the sword at Dante before activating his Devil Trigger.

"And you."

Dante returns the gesture, activating his Devil Trigger as well in response, the brothers flying into eachother at blistering speed, the trails left behind by their blades tearing into the world around them, searing scorch marks into the castle walls.

The Devil Swords slam against eachother, and the ensuing shockwave is so vast that the very island they find themselves on is split in half, alongside the water beneath, with the castle and clouds above being victim to their brawl as well.

The collosal exchange of power in such a focused, compact area creates a secondary shockwave that blasts the both of them back, several hundred meters away in opposite directions, Dante simply resigning himself to where he was taken by the force. He obviously didn't want to go back in Vergil's direction.

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After finally reaching land, colliding with the ground and seeing that it was now dark out once more, Dante sighed. He had admittedly expected to be evenly matched with Vergil, and while he was certainly on the same floor, he felt Vergil wasn't able to show off everything he had in his pocket.

Especially when it came to his new Devil Sword, and boy what a fucking surprise that was. Vortexes? Create a vortex along the blade and teleport the sword to anywhere he wants, how fucking annoying. At least he wasn't dead, that was a plus.

'Well, fuck. Where in the hell am I now? Time to explore and find out, I guess.' Dante thought to himself, eager to get back on the world tour he found himself on, yearning to make the SS Deadweight a reality.

Pulling the Holy Map out from his pocket, he frowned. His clothes seemed to repair themselves just fine, something he never bothered questioning, but the map was not as safe. It was absolutely shredded, however from what directional knowledge he had all he needed to do was go straight West and be back on track for Water 7.

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He has to know. He simply has to. Dante had done something with that body, it reacted to him. Had it reacted for him as well? Was he blinded by his hatred for Dante in that moment? His concentration was slipping.

He enjoyed it too much. The battle, the feeling of gambling his life, and of giving Dante a challenge. After his humiliating defeat at the Temen-ni-gru, that was the bare minimum of his goals. Damn, he had been sidetracked.

The resonance. Was this the formation of a Devil Arm? An artificial one, no less? This would require further testing. Can any body create an Arm? Do they need to reach a certain power prerequisite?

Vergil was admittedly excited by the idea of enacting research into this field. The possibilities were endless.