DMC5 AU (For @whollyconsumed)

[superstylishsquid]

[It's not often that Alastor lingers outside of Movieland after paying a visit to his friends on this side of the silver screen, but this time...this time something's wrong. A deeply unnerving type of wrong that's far too familiar. The demon bugs, Empousae, only enter this world to feed a Qlipoth sprout. Checking the news confirms his fears, and gives him a location at that.

Joe, Silvia, and Jet are doing their best to protect people from the wandering demons, but Alastor knows enough to head for the source. He doesn't bring them with him, not for this. Anything else, maybe...but he knows what he's going to see when he gets there, and it's not a sight he wants to inflict on them. Not one he's sure they could handle, spared the horrors of truly gruesome deaths as they have been.

What he sees is what he'd expected. It's a scene from a nightmare. Last time, he'd held back and tried to stay out of things. That had resulted in Mundus, to say nothing of countless innocent lives lost that he might have saved. This time will be different. This time, he'll tear this infernal plant up by the roots if he has a chance, even if it risks all of Hell knowing he's escaped his prison.

The first step to that is loosening those roots. Flying above the carnage of the city, it's easy to spot their weak spots. He's surprised to also see something human shaped moving down there, but the root is the first priority. Calling a replica sword to his hand, he takes a plunging dive down, blade point first, to tear open the straining membrane of the root. It's messy, the boil-like protrusion bursting open in a shower of blood, but it's efficient...and he rather thinks the image it results in, of him kneeling with his sword buried in Qlipoth flesh and surrounded in blood splatters is a striking one. Even if he is going to have to wipe the bloodstains off his armor and clothes.]

Comments

[wholelyconsumed]

Another of Sparda blood, but I don't think he knows that. We find him, he'll protect me.

If you listen carefully, you can hear him in the distance, slaying demons in frustration.

[superstylishsquid]

I didn't know there were more of that bloodline.

[Not that he'd have known about any estranged relatives that weren't puppeted by Mundus into trying to kill Dante.

He tilts his head, and the tip of a furred ear is just visible as it flicks behind his helmet. He can hear sounds of fighting in the distance.]

A way's away, but the loudest thing for miles.

[wholelyconsumed]

Loud. That's him. He's quite the livewire.

[ V is about to say something else, but it's forgotten when he spots an altogether familiar looking demon in the distance. ]

Damn.

[superstylishsquid]

[Alastor's own expression turns grim as he spots what caught V's attention, and he reaches for the Sparda.]

...You might want to call your familiars out for this one.

[wholelyconsumed]

[ V nods grimly and calls out Shadow to start with. The cat runs for and tackles against the demon, but is thrown aside.

Still, it doesn't give up, getting right back up. ]

[superstylishsquid]

Huh, a Shadow? Didn't know those things could be bartered with.

[But it's obviously not heavy enough to break this thing's defenses...so he'll have to see if this wannabe demon knight can handle a different weight class. He lunges forward in a flying charge, the Sparda reshaping itself into a spear as he uses both hands to drive it forward. He does manage to put a web of cracks in the shield, before the demon lets its stance break in order to step aside and let Alastor's own force carry him too far to swiftly follow up.]

[wholelyconsumed]

[ No. Okay. It's time for the one he doesn't usually call.

Nightmare oozes out and towards the demon, slamming its fists down upon it. This is far more effective than Shadow was. ]

[superstylishsquid]

[Well, that's one way to break its defenses. And with it thrown off balance, it gives Alastor time to shift his momentum and swing the Sparda around. It reconfigures into a scythe the moment before it leaves his hand, whirling around like a boomerang to dig its blade deep into the demon's armored body...if there is a body under the armor.]

[wholelyconsumed]

[ Nightmare roars out approval and follows up the scythe with more swings of its heavy fists. It's trying to crush the head of the demon, and so far, seems to be succeeding. ]

[superstylishsquid]

[Well, that's promising. With a twist of one wrist, he bids the Sparda to change shape again, blade ripping through armor as it shifts back into its normal form on its way to Alastor's hand. With his other arm, he conjures a whip of lightning that he lashes at the demon's ankles. All that metal ought to make this hurt, a lot.]

[wholelyconsumed]

[ The demon starts to crystalize as Nightmare succeeds in crushing the head. This is not normal for demon fighting, but it is normal for Vvand his familiars. As the body falls to the ground, V steps forward and drives his cane through its heart. ]

[superstylishsquid]

[As the demon crumbles, Alastor snaps his wrist and dispels the lightning whip. He returns Sparda to his back, and steps forward.]

So. Care to explain why this Urizen has minions who look like they shop for armor at the same place as one of Mundus' most recent enslaved minions?

[wholelyconsumed]

...

[ Well. That was only slightly intimidating. ]

Mind being smaller for this conversation?

[superstylishsquid]

...As long as I don't sense anything else nearby.

[His transformation back is slightly less dramatic, a flash of purple light as he shrinks and takes on a more human looking form. The fact that his voice is softer and has less supernatural reverberation in this form might also help.]

But I do want answers. I hadn't thought anyone but myself and Dante would even know about that knight, unless they had a connection to Mundus.

[...Okay, and Ifrit. But Ifrit was still snoozing away in his gauntlets when he stopped by Devil May Cry.]

[wholelyconsumed]

What about a connection to Vergil?

[ ... ]

[superstylishsquid]

[He tilts his head.]

I wouldn't have expected anyone else with a connection to Vergil to know what happened to him. I got the impression even Dante didn't know until the last time they fought.

[wholelyconsumed]

....Vergil knows.

[ His voice is uncharacteristically hesitant. ]

Remember what Dante said? 'Yamato splits apart'.

He used it on himself.

[superstylishsquid]

[He's silent for a moment...]

Urizen is his darker side. The power, and the demonic instincts that say nothing is ever enough unless you can crush everyone and everything inconvenient under your hoof - or heel in his case, probably?

And you're what's left. The humanity, and all the softer bits a demon would learn to think of as weaknesses, but stripped of even enough vitality to keep your body stable. That's why your scent reminds me so much of Dante.

[wholelyconsumed]

And that's why I have to be the one to lay the final blow. Otherwise, who knows what will happen?

[superstylishsquid]

[A slow nod.]

The most likely way you can think of to get the rest of yourself back. It's not gonna be easy, but I'll think up some way to immobilize him without killing him.

I'd offer to let you borrow my power a bit more directly, but...well, boosting strength isn't one of my talents. I'm not as heavy as the Sparda, but it'd still take a pretty athletic human to handle me properly.

[wholelyconsumed]

And I'm weak. [ He chuckles weakly, then calls Nightmare back as almost an afterthought, his hair settling back into black. ]

The problem is, I'm not sure I want to be him again. I rather like how I am now.

[superstylishsquid]

But you aren't sure there's any other way to get yourself healthy again in the long term.

I guess the question you really need to ask yourself is...could you genuinely be happy, knowing you had to throw away part of yourself to fit who you want to be? I normally advise against it, though this is...a bit of a different circumstance from the times I normally think of.

Better make up your mind by the time we get down there, though. I'll be annoyed if I get you an opening, and you miss it because you aren't sure you want to go through with it.

[wholelyconsumed]

It's possible I could die if I don't do it. I'm not willing to take that chance.

...we should find Nero now. [ He's tired of talking about this already. ]

[superstylishsquid]

[He nods, and shifts back to his larger form.]

Oh, and...sorry if I made you nervous. That anger wasn't at you, it was at being reminded of what Mundus did to you.

[wholelyconsumed]

I wasn't nervous.

[ It's difficult to make V nervous at this point. The only thing he's nervous about is his own fate. At least, it's all he'd admit to. ]