The sky boiled with ash and fire, casting a deep crimson glow over the crumbling city. Screams echoed through the ruined streets as lesser devils swarmed the buildings like roaches scuttling from sunlight. The towering silhouette of the Temen-ni-gru loomed above it all, ancient and alive with hellish energy, its black spires pulsing.
In the middle of this chaos, Dante stood tall, Rebellion slung across his back, Ebony and Ivory blazing in his hands.
BLAM. BLAM-BLAM.
A demon lunged from a second-story window, jagged fangs bared. Dante twisted, leapt, and fired midair. The creature's head exploded in a splash of black ichor, splattering across a cracked "Welcome to Red Grave" sign behind him.
"You guys really know how to throw a homecoming party," he muttered, spinning and holstering the pistols.
To his left, Saiya moved like a phantom. Her katana gleamed in the firelight, slicing through a charging brute in one smooth arc. She shifted into a low stance, twisting just as another fiend slashed down from behind. Her blade reversed, draw, slice, and the creature dropped in two perfect halves.
A group of civilians screamed behind an overturned bus. Three devils circled them, snarling and licking their teeth.
Dante landed between them, cracking his neck.
"Showtime."
Rebellion came to life.
Demonic steel met flesh, and devils died screaming.
Dante twirled the massive sword with a flourish, launching one demon into the air before blasting it apart with twin gunfire. Another tried to flank him, but Saiya was already there, her katana slashing across its chest with a spray of dark blood.
Together, the two moved like a storm. Dante's stylish brutality, and Saiya's ferocious precision.
But then she paused.
Her hand trembled slightly.
The scent of blood filled her nose, real, human blood. She turned slowly, her eyes locking on a small child clinging to a crushed storefront. Blood poured from a cut on his leg, pooling near his torn jeans.
Her fangs extended involuntarily. Her breathing quickened.
The Hunger struck like a hammer in her chest.
Her mouth opened slightly, and she took a step forward.
"Saiya."
Dante's voice was calm, but firm.
He held out his own wrist, casually slicing it with a flick of Rebellion's edge. A thick crimson line slid down his forearm.
"Here," he said, not unkindly. "Use mine. Better you don't drain a kid."
She stared at the offered wrist for a long moment, her pupils dilating.
"I… I don't know what your blood might do to me," she said, her voice raw, guttural. "You're not just human."
Suddenly, Dante's eyes widened. A devil, massive and fast, lunged from behind the bus directly at him.
He didn't have time to spin.
But Saiya was faster.
FWOOM.
In a blur of motion, she tackled the demon mid-leap, her blade sinking into its chest. She drank, not gently, draining it dry in a matter of seconds. As its body crumbled, she stood, blood smeared across her mouth and jaw, her expression feral.
Eyes glowing red, jaw clenched.
Dante stared.
"...You good?" he asked carefully.
Saiya wiped her mouth with the back of her sleeve. "You're not dead. That means I'm good."
"Well," he said, sheathing Rebellion. "That was one hell of a close call."
She shot him a side glance. "I won't kill you yet, Dante. You're not that annoying."
He smirked. "Aww, you do like me."
She rolled her eyes, but the tension in her shoulders faded.
The path cleared around them, burning buildings, twitching bodies, and silence. Saiya helped the kid to a medic unit and then rejoined Dante without a word.
They approached the base of the tower, its gates yawning wide, glowing with arcane sigils. The air grew colder. The corruption is denser.
The wind howled.
Then a low growl rumbled across the marble floor.
A three-headed hound stepped from the shadows, each head baring sharp fangs and icy breath. Its central head snarled, and chains of frost crept across the stone underfoot.
Cerberus.
Dante tilted his head. "Aw, man. I hate dogs."
Saiya drew her katana again. "He's guarding the entrance."
Dante smirked. "So we knock?"
Cerberus roared, shaking the stone towers.
Meanwhile, within the Tower…
Darkness shifted like liquid inside the upper sanctum of the Temen-ni-gru. Arched windows bled moonlight, framing the twisted elegance of the chamber, thick books, relics of arcane power, and a massive blood-red mural of Mundus across the vaulted ceiling.
Arkham stood on the balcony, eyes glinting with ambition.
"They've arrived," he said. "Your brother… and the others."
By the far wall, near a window overlooking the city. Vergil stood with arms folded behind his back with Yamato on his hip. His expression was unreadable.
"They're earlier than expected," he said coolly.
Beside him stood a woman in red body suit, watching the rising tower below. Her form was slender, poised, and confident. Short platinum silver hair, sculpted into a sharp pixie cut, framed her pale face.
Elegant and deadly in one woman.
She didn't speak. But her presence was undeniable.
Arkham's eyes flicked toward her, then back to Vergil.
"Shall I prepare the sanctuary?"
Vergil nodded slowly.
"Yes. Let them come. I want them to witness what's about to unfold. They still have a role to play."
He didn't turn away from the window.
Neither did the woman.
Her eyes glowed faintly, somewhere between gray and silver behind her glasses.
"You know he is using you right?" The woman says.
Virgil grabbed his blade. " I'm not so arrogant to believe he didn't have his on motives for helping me with everything. He wants my father's power for himself but he will die before that happens. But what I wonder is why is a witch involved in the matters of Devils?" Virgil said looking at the woman.
The woman laughed with a coy gesture. " Im just the middle lady. I Do what my client pays me to do."
Virgil grabbed his blade. "Who's is your client and what do they want you to do?"
"Oh your cute, unlike your father. Now that was a man of class. To bad he found your mother and I was still with my ex at the time." She said in a teasing tone.
Then when brought out a brief case revealing a vial and a red apple. "Consider this your invitation." She said.
Virgil looked at the two items "What's the vial and the apple for? And Invitation to what?"
The woman smiled " To vial is a biological weapon known as the C virus. With your genetics it will give your human half great power and increase your demon half considerably. If you were a normal human chances are you would be monster." She said casually.
"And the apple?" Virgil gestured it in his hand.
The woman smile. " A snack, the fruit of knowledge my client thought poetic. They said finish this little mission of yours or don't. You have what theu want with the Yamato and the blood in your veins, and the hunger for power in your soul."
"That still doesn't answer mt question." Virgil says.
The woman smiles. "Oh vine I guess I can tell you know. You are invited to join the round table of the shadow organization of the illuminati."