That fear in your eye [Chapter XVII]

[dmc89]

A bright flash and a building falling on top of him, that was all he could remember for a moment before reliving the entire battle against the Arashi Aper. Him, leading in with the Sparda blade only to be knocked into the wall of the old castle and it coming down on him, an intense flash awakening him as he shot up.

He really needed to stop drinking imported beer... A groagy moan and a humph later and her was to his feet patting off his signature red coat before a gloved hand gently combed through his silver locks. His eyes gazing around the servey the scene... He was.... truth be told he didn't know where the hell he was.

He took little time to make a check list of all of his possessions, Ebony and Ivory? He patted behind him where he kept his favorite pistols holstered, check. Force Edge? Once again he moved, reaching behind his head as his fingers brushed against the aged leather hilt of the old sword his father once wielded to cut down so many demons before him. Double check.

there was just one thing left... "Where the hell am I?"

[Ayen]

"Where the hell am I?"

“Northeast.”

Behind Dante was the Crimson Devil herself, the new queen of the Netherrealm with the demon blade Kasul still tucked away in its sheath, a faint red aura glowing around it as red eyes narrowed over Dante, belonging to a mask-like facial expression that hid all emotion.

“You're dead.”

[dmc89]

He turned to face the sound the voice came from only to find that one lady... what was her name... oh it didn't matter all he knew was that had hooked up with her sister. "And you're still as peppy and lighthearted as ever." He stated before beginning his walk past her. He could see far off in the distance that there was a staircase which traveled high up into the sky and through a portal, that was more than likely his ticket back home.

"Welp, if you don't mind me..." His tone as cocky and aloof. His hands tossing back the tails of his coat as he pointed towards the door and cocked his head, his steps already taking him a few feet past Ranko. "I'll be heading that way."

[Ayen]

"And you're still as peppy and lighthearted as ever."

“Have we met?”

"Welp, if you don't mind me... I'll be heading that way."

Ranko was already in front of him, blocking his path to the exit.

“I do mind, actually.”

He would hear the ruffling of soldier' feet as the Fallen Angels of Yahweh began approaching them. Surrounding the two in a sea of steel and tainted heavenly light.

“And so do they.”

[dmc89]

Well is this just nice, his first time awake in a while and now he's just staring down a sea of demons... hell it's like he never left home. His sigh said almost everything that needed to be said. "Well you know, if this is about the whole thing I did with your sister..." He took a small step back and walked around the large circle made by these fallen angels. Before he stopped and coyly jerked his head towards her. "Would it ease your mind if I said I was drunk?"

He looked around, sizing up the army, they all looked the same and there was probably no doubt that they were. Before one could react a flash of dark metal ripped itself from behind Dante's coat and it was pressed up against the under jaw of one of the demons.

what was pushed under the fallen Angel's skull was one of his familiar firearms, a weapon that by itself have sent hundreds if not more demons to their maker, when coupled with another gun, it sent countless.... He smiled for a moment, "Bang." Ebony unleashed it's awoken wrath.

There was a sudden red glow before a hail storm of bullets tore apart the armored one's head. Dante himself leaped up, Force Edge glowing a staggering crimson red as blue lightning lashed across the blade, while up in the air, the sword was ripped from scabbard and with a few short swings, red waves of destructive energy raced outward and cut through the large numbers.

And well, Dante being Dante took this oppurtune moment of confusion he had caused to leap higher as a scarlet array summoned itself under his feet for him to leap off of before another appeared to Dante's backside and he used that to launch forward, putting away the Force Edge and pulling his other pistol, Ivory, to join in on the party as each of his shots met their marks within the eyes of the soldiers.

A solid patch of ground and Dante was already there, his boots touching ground and he spun around to get a good tactical position.

[Ayen]

"Well you know, if this is about the whole thing I did with your sister... Would it ease your mind if I said I was drunk?"

“Please, if I took offense at every man to flip my sister over I'd never get any work done.”

Ranko took a step back as Dante began his assault on the fallen angels. An array of bullets showering down on their position as the Crimson Devil lazily dodged to remain out of the line of fire as the angels put themselves in the way to take it for their Queen. Ranko had already vanished into the sea of soldiers by the time Dante's attack finished and he would see the numbers that were destroyed quickly come back as they had nowhere to go in the Netherrealm except back to the Netherrealm, and to make matters worse for Dante they would have adapted to the energy fired from the famous twin pistols as they came at him stronger 2x stronger than they were before.

[dmc89]

His face said nothing, he was still calm and cool as every as he knocked away incoming blades with his gun and blasted the soldiers in their opened spots. He was calm... on the outside, on the inside however, he was repeatedly saying one phrase; fuck my life. Finally the last straw came as Dante put away his weapons and ducked under an oncoming swing for his head, in mid duck... Dante's hands latched onto the soldier's ankle and with a rough upward yank as he returned to his original position the soldier was in the air, only to be slammed to the ground as the tip of Force Edge rammed through it's neck.

"Hey! Little red, got a bit of a proposition for ya'," his voice rather calm but still being able to carry over the grinding plated of the soldier's armor. "Me," He pointed at himself, before extending his arms and turning in circles. "Versus you. Let's have a little private party. I win, I go, I lose?" His voice trailed off as he flashed his signature coy smirk, his voice picked up, that cocky tone coming in full. "Well... that's not gonna happen."

He finally looked to where he figured she was, after all during that entire thing, Dante wasn't just taunting. He was taking a moment to regain himself, thinking back on the sword she held and how similar it was to the one the Ranko in his world owned and the aura it put out. He just needed to get a trace on it, and behind all those soldiers she was more than likely right there. A hailstorm of crimson blades crashed down on the line of soldier's skewing them several times to where they all looked like pin cushions, A clap of his hands and they all exploded, along with the soldiers.

"What d'ya say?"

[Ayen]

“Just like your father...”

At Ranko's call the fallen angels separated and stood in the background to ensure an honorable battle would be played out without interference as Ranko's fingers brushed across the hilt of Kasul. Without even having to move within range of the Demon Slayer the Crimson Devil sheathed the demon sword, the most feared blade in all of Genesis and the Netherrealm, and in the same instance one hundred slashes sliced through the half devil's body.

“Too big for your fucking boots.”

[dmc89]

Ebony was already pointed against the back of Ranko's neck. "I think... You're getting a little ahead of yourself." The Son of Sparda at the last minutes of clearing the way of a bunch of demons with the Lucifer Devil arm had made a doppelganger and disappeared into the crowd to allow him time to make her slip up.

That speed, all be it impressive, Dante had definitely seen it before in his fights against his twin brother Virgil. This was most certainly going to be a treat, he hadn't fought against a speed demon in a while... then again after slaying the second coming of Mundus and then fighting that Veran Shard head on and surviving... not much gave him a challenge anymore...

"It's been fun, little red, but in this story... the big bad wolf wins." A charge of demonic aura went through his arm and into his gun before he finally pulled the trigger.

[Ayen]

"It's been fun, little red, but in this story... the big bad wolf wins."

Ranko could sense the demonic aura running through Dante's arm before it reached his weapon, her power over the Netherrealm allowing her to be in tuned a lot more than she was prior to her defeat of the sorcerer Quan Chi. By the time it reached the gun her body was already lowering, the charge shot firing through her hair and shooting off the ponytail causing the crimson red to fall over and down her shoulders as she spun around, kicking him with enough force to break his jaw.

[dmc89]

Damn, she was a slippery bitch... and Dante's would've definitely been ripped off his head by that kick had it not hit a barrier that flashed a bright red as the impact was absorbed into Dante's arm, Royal blocks came in handy when one didn't have time to retaliate with their weapons. Dante took a single step back and swung around Ranko pulling Ivory from it's holster and aiming both firearms at her as he got in front of her.

A wall of red crystalline like blades coming down from the sky sunk deeply into the soil behind Ranko. "Do I really have to say it?" He could easily end this bout, the explosion from one of those blades was enough to set off the others and cause a huge wave of shrapnel to hit little red, and if that didn't do it... his already super charged bullets would once they left the chambers of their respective guns.

If she managed to dodge the bullets however... they'd crash right into the blades and still set off a chain reaction just with a shit ton more boom.

[Ayen]

Ranko didn't bother to dodge. The aura around Kasul grew brighter and an energy field formed around Ranko protecting her from the Charge Shot and would respond automatically when the spectral blades explode as she came back at Dante with a Slash Dimension F.

[dmc89]

Fuck... plan B.

The low crying moans that resonated the area were a very familiar sound to him. It was the sound of the dimension receiving tears and rips and the energy given off from it a path and direction being shaped into slashes... something Dante knew about all too well by fighting his brother Vergil on several occasions. No time for plan B.

He could feel the pull, the vacuum that came before the barrage. Thankfully for the red clad devil hunter... it wasn't too intense... yet. But just as soon as he felt it, the vacuum's strength grew and Dante could see quickly the bright flashes that were the strikes. Too fast, I hate having to pull this out so quickly. the thought flashed through his mind as his instincts took over and his body assumed it's stance and one could feel his demonic aura tugged around him in a protective coat and centralized into one spot.

The slashes hit a wall of hardened demonic aura, becoming absorbed into it a paper flowing over a calm lake. The vacuum seized and Dante found his opening... A sly, confident smirk crossing his lips as his arm grew red, the aura which had absorbed the impact and that destructive energy that was stricken at him, was now under his command thanks to his new tricks under the royal Guard style.

He bolted forward, taking full advantage of the speed given to him by the Trickster style of combat which utilized fully on speed and dexterity as he approached on Ranko and shot his arm forward towards her barrier releasing all of that destructive force into one small point in her barrier in the form of a spear hand his aura and the destructive force shooting off of his arm in such a powerful and display it looked like fire.

[Ayen]

As the energy built around his hand and were seconds away from being released onto her barrier it erupted, blowing off his arm as Ranko manipulated the energy that had gathered and sending him running right through the tip of the demon blade that now pierced his heart and began absorbing his strength and his soul simultaneously, using her bare hand to push back on his back to hold him in place as she twisted the blade in his heart.

[dmc89]

There was no little quip or game, he had her where he needed her and he had to act fast, he knew full well what the blade could do considering the Ranko from his universe... oh yeah, he still had memories from that shard of Veran that had made itself his evil twin... He smiled as his hands clamped down on both sides of the blade holding it firm.

"Enough fun and games cutey, I really do have to get going." A closer look and Ranko would easily be able to tell that something was off, the orange glow in his eyes would certainly give it away if the feeling her sword would give her didn't already tip her off.

Instead of flesh... it had hit a thick murky layer of... aura pure aura and rage and then suddenly in a flash what was standing before Ranko was an aura-armor clad dreadnaught. Her sword nestled deeply, as if fused into the armor.

His weight and height alone would be enough to tip the scale as his feet touched the ground and he leaned back, lifting her off of the ground. A small chuckle emitted from the Dreadnaught Dante as orange and red electricity sparked around his hands and raced up the sword into Ranko, carrying with it the pure destructive power of a demon's Rage.