Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted materials contained herein. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and/or associated companies. I make no profit from this whatsoever and I have no intention of changing this at any point in the future. I write because it's fun and because there are those who enjoy reading my stories. Therefore it would be greatly appreciated if no legal action was taken against me as a result of this or any other of my stories. I can promise you that no matter what you get from me it won't cover even a fifth of your legal fees.

Mary 'Lady' Arkham's POV

She'd never seen anything like it.

Even with all the demons and devils she'd killed, both during her training as well as after she struck out on her own, she'd never seen one transform like that. Sure, they sometime got bigger or revealed weapons hidden in their body, but they never went from one form to something completely different.

Yet with Xander… she didn't know what to make of it.

When he'd first come back and gone after Demetria, he'd looked like he normally did but had an aura of energy pulsing outward just a few inches from his body. She'd been shocked at the degree of increased speed and strength he'd shown but, when he'd let out the bellow, he changed into something more. He was still humanoid in shape but there was no way Xander's new form could be considered human. For one thing a sort of organic armor covered his body completely from head to toe but it did not look like armor that could be taken off but rather armor that had grown out of the skin. Whites, blacks and grays were the primary colors and their placement closely followed his clothes in their normal form but, in terms of appearance, the best she could say was that the armor looked reptilian in nature. A short crest of white had been wrapped around the sides of his head, making her think of a crown or circlet, and the ends of his coat had a shape that resembled insect wings.

However the most inhuman thing in her mind was the face.

While it had two eyes and a mouth it resembled the faceplate of suit of armor's helmet except the mouth was fully functional. It had no nose that she'd been able to see but at the time Xander had been moving so fast that she might have missed it or been unable to see it from the angle she'd been watching from.

Combining the altered form with the sheer increase in physical prowess, she couldn't help but accept that, as far as she'd come as a demon hunter, clearly she still had a long way to go.

"Wait," Xander said, holding up his hand to get her to stop. "You hear that?"

Coming to a stop, she focused entirely on her sense of hearing to try and pick up what had caught Xander's attention. It took a moment but her ears soon picked up the sounds of heavy impacts and clashes between swords. With this knowledge her anger rose with the possibility of finally catching up with the demon Vergil and, ignoring all caution, she charged past Xander. Bringing her rocket launcher off her back she readied it to fire, determined to get a telling blow in before her prey was even aware of her presence. Using her sense of hearing to find her way, it wasn't too long before she reached the room where the battle was being fought.

Inside she saw the idiot in the red coat but, judging by the weapon he wielded, he was not the one who'd killed her father. The other one in the blue coat, though, was another matter as her eyes immediately latched onto the long katana. According to her experience it matched the size of the wound perfectly. Waiting until the two locked blades she fired, not caring that her attack would be injuring someone other than her target.

Sadly it was proven that, even with their attention focused on each other, they still had enough awareness to sense the rocket in time to somehow slice it into four pieces before the detonator could arm itself. Both turned to face her but she only cared about Vergil and if the other one got in her way, she'd kill him too regardless of whether or not he'd done anything to deserve death or not.

"Sorry but this isn't a place for a little girl," the crimson swordsman snapped before settling back into a fighting position. "So beat it!"

"Shut up!" she growled even as she fired another shot, forcing the asshole to withdraw to evade it.

Vergil pursued, obviously intending to add one more notch to his ridiculous mangled belt and far be it for her to turn down an exposed back to fire at. Starting with an upswing once she caught up, it was her intention to force Vergil's guard up so that she could then ram her launcher's bayonet into his gut before firing another missile to top the maneuver off. Unfortunately she found to her dismay that she'd drastically underestimated her target's physical strength because, with what amounted to a fly swat, he managed to stagger her and, when a second one hit, her feet actually left the ground. Dropping to the floor she knew that there'd be a follow up attack coming so she brought her launcher up to guard against it, managing to catch Vergil's katana and stop it from progressing any further.

All in all the only thing she could fight back with at the moment was words so she took her shot.

"You forced him into this life!" she accused, referring to how Vergil had put her father under his control and sent him down the path of the demonic.

"Is that what you think?" Vergil asked with a voice as cold as the grave. "Foolish girl."

She could tell that he was about to force his weapon through her launcher but, before the killer could do so, the one in the crimson coat came along, snatching up Vergil's attention. As soon as the two of them were clear she got back to her feet and back on the hunt but as she tried to take aim her mind had cleared enough for her to actually think before acting. She knew that they would be able to disable her rocket if she fired from too far away but, if she tried to get in close the force of their blows would send her back to the ground. She needed a weapon that could move faster than they could but not require her to get in close and risk getting taken out before she could deal the final blow.

Looking about, she tried to see if Xander had finally caught up with her, figuring that if the two of them ganged up on Vergil she might just get the opening she desired to do some real damage. However nowhere that she looked had the snow-clad demon hunter and a pinch of worry welled up within her that perhaps he hadn't been as recovered from his wounds as he'd appeared. That or the transformation came with a price tag that left the user experiencing a massive case of sugar low, like one got after the effects of a sugar rush came to an end. Whatever the case, her hatred of Vergil squashed that concern and ridiculed her for depending on someone else for a kill that was hers and hers alone.

Hearing the sounds of fighting come to an end, she turned to see both Vergil and the demon with the giant sword drop to one knee gasping for breath, having apparently worn each other out temporarily. Inwardly smiling at this opportunity she prepared to fire at Vergil, believing that his fatigue might just be enough to allow her to land a shot or two. However before she could pull the trigger, the sound of clapping echoed throughout the chamber, snagging her attention as she tried to figure out the source.

"Bravo! Bravo!" came a comedic voice amidst the clapping. "I never DREAMED that things would go so smoothly! Well done, everyone, well done!"

"You!" the red clad warrior growled as he used his sword to stand back up.

Turning her gaze to where the problem apparently was, she found herself looking at a demonic looking court jester complete with silly hat and even more ridiculous shoes. Determining this thing to be the more immediate threat, she brought her rocket launcher around and prepared to fire but before she could the jester was suddenly right in her face.

"Don't be a bad girl, Mary!" Jester said before, with superhuman speed, grabbing hold of her weapon and used her grip on it to throw her through the air.

Disarmed and jarred from the impact, she worked to at least get to her hands and knees.

"Or you can expect a spanking from Daddy later!" Jester warned mockingly. "Jester's gonna spank your butt, spank you on the buuuttt-"

"Insane buffoon!" came a voice that must've been Vergil's. "I don't know where you came from but you don't belong here. Now leave!"

Expecting to hear the clash of a katana against her launcher, she was surprised when the impact happened much sooner than it should have based on her mental map of the area. Turning her head to see what was going on, she was completely floored by what she saw: Xander, standing between jester and Vergil, with his twin scimitar blocking the katana without the slightest tremor of strain.

"Zowie! That was close!" Jester declared, propping himself up on the end of her launcher. "But you've taken quite a trouncing today haven't you, Vergil? And I was smart enough to ensure that I had a little help in case you tried something. He's new here but if you'd been in tip-top condition, you would've chopped him into confetti by now!"

"Damn you! Who are you?!" Vergil asked, though it was unclear whether he was referring to Jester or Xander.

"Just a little someone I recruited in case I needed a spare," Jester replied before his voice changed. "Face it, Vergil. You've lost."

With those words Xander powerfully pushed Vergil off his feet, through the air and then skidding along the floor before coming to a stop at the opposite side of the stone circle that made up the center of the chamber.

"Because you underestimated humans," the impossible voice said even as the form of Jester snapped out of existence to be replaced by her father's, like someone who spliced film together without a transition period.

Her mind rebelled at what she was seeing since it was so contradictory to what she had beheld not too long ago.

"What's going on?" she asked, her mind unable to come up with anything better to say.

She had a feeling she wouldn't like the answer she got.

Jude Arkham's POV

"Good girl. Pure and innocent," he said as he turned to look at his misguided daughter. "Just like your mother."

"You bastard!" Mary yelled even as she tried to use her submachine gun to shoot him.

He was far too quick for such a move to work and in an instant he'd changed locations and forms to grasp his misbehaving child by the back of the head.

"Time for your spanking, my dear," he said with little if any humor before he slammed her face first into the stone floor.

It was a measured blow, of course, since all he needed was for her to be unable to interrupt him. Once he was satisfied that she would not be a problem for the foreseeable future he turned his attention to Vergil.

"You want to know why the spell didn't break, hmmm, Vergil?" he asked as he stood back up in his Jester form. "You had the two amulets and Sparda's blood! You had everything you needed to unleash the evil!"

"I told you before! I don't like anyone who has a bigger mouth than mine!" Dante said even as he took aim with Ivory, his gun.

He covered his mouth with his hands, mockingly appearing afraid, before the shooting started and he expertly evaded the bullets like leading the Son of Sparda to fire where he wanted.

"You are tired and weak!" he taunted even as he reached the desired position. "Even I can do… THIS… to you!"

With those words he dropped from the ceiling, landing on Dante's head and, with his weight behind it, forcing the more reckless brother face first to the ground. He enjoyed a little chuckle before proceeding with his little monologue since it was tradition for someone in his position.

"Two amulets. A set of Sparda's blood. Now I need one more key," he said as he walked over to his daughter's weapon and picked it up off the floor. "But why should I have all the fun? Alexander. The honor, I give to you."

With those words his puppet walked dutifully over to him and took the launcher from his hands. It had been a bit of good fortune earlier that his daughter had charged ahead to 'avenge his death' because it gave him the opportunity to appear and activate the control spell within Alexander. Truly he had been a bit concerned that it wouldn't work but, when the blank look crossed his face and the order to impale himself on one of his swords went without a hitch, he was satisfied. From there it was only a matter of waiting for the right moment to reveal his substitute and then the rest went exactly according to script. He could feel his unwilling assistant fighting against the spell but, as with many forms of magic, physical power meant nothing when it came to finding a way to break it. Thus without hesitation the young man walked over to his daughter and raised the weapon in preparation to drive the bayonet into her leg.

"He sacrificed two things to suppress the tremendous force of this tower. His own devil's blood-" he said before mentally commanding Alexander to act, "- and a mortal priestess. I needed you, Mary. The one within which flows the blood of the same priestess that aided Sparda so long ago. His spell cannot be undone without it.

"It was quite a ride, you know. If any of you had died before getting here my entire plan would've gone to waste." He shifted to his Jester form even as Xander pulled the bayonet from the wounded leg. "It was one of the reasons why I remodeled Alexander here into a suitable pesuedo-Son of Sparda. Given Dante's lack of discipline I was concerned that he might get careless and die before arriving here but it appears that concern was unfounded. Timing and preparation was also needed! You had to arrive here at just the right time and you needed to be so completely worn out that you wouldn't be able to do anything to stop me. I went so far as to dress up like a complete IDIOT in order to make sure that happened!"

The laughter that bubbled out of him was more than just window dressing for his disguise, though, as he saw the growing anger on the faces of those he had manipulated and deceived. They rose, the two true sons of Sparda, intent on fighting him once more, and he likely had the regenerative powers of their devil halves to thank for that. Weakening them had been crucial but he'd been fully aware that that weakness would only last so long. If a fight was truly to break out it would be prudent to ensure that Mary didn't get mixed up in it. Even he didn't know the full extent of Sparda's power beyond being godly and he would be quite put out if she got slain beyond the point of resurrection by involving herself with his little two on two fight.

So he needed to send her off to dream land before having Alexander escort her off the stage.

"It's time for bed, Mary," he said as he looked down at her. "You can visit your dear mother in your dreams. Hahahahahahaha!"

With a mental command to Alexander he watched as his tool knelt to deliver a knockout blow, but then something happened that silenced his laughter. Tremors began to show, not just physical ones but also arcane ones, indicating that the teenager had found new strength and was putting it all towards resisting the command he'd sent. This was a bit odd since there had been no such strain with any of the others. He reissued the command but this time with more power in order to ensure that it was followed, but this only seemed to cause the tremors to become more violent until suddenly Alexander threw the rocket launcher at him. With a quick Jester side step he evaded it as it struck the wall before dropping to the ground.

"I…am NO ONE'S…BUTT MONKEY!" Alexander yelled in anger even as he turned to glare.

Then, with speed and agility he hadn't expected, Mary managed to spin herself back onto her feet despite the injury to one leg and aimed both her hand held weapons at him.

"Sorry, but I decide when that happens," she said with cold and deadly intent.

Then, like clockwork, Xander aimed his revolvers at him, Vergil placed his blade at his neck and was soon mimicked by his brother Dante.

It looked like he was in a bit of a pinch… or so they likely believed.

"It's time for the clown to bow out, Arkham," Vergil declared with his usual arrogance, completely believing his proclaimed victory was assured.

"Dude! The show's over," Dante said, sounding like he was in favor of retribution.

"And you bombed at the box office," Alexander said, showing that he has something in common with his crimson clad sort of brother.

"Impressive," he conceded even as he shifted back into his human form. "I expected nothing less from the Dark Knight's descendants but I may have underestimated Alexander and my daughter. You have my respect. Nevertheless, there's something that all of you seem to have forgotten."

He paused for dramatic effect as was called for in his script.

"The spell is broken," he explained even as the receptacle in the center of the room rose up to form a pillar, "What do you think will happen next? Let's welcome chaos!"

With that the stone statues that made up the ceiling began to recede even as crimson demonic power lit up the circular platform, upon which each of them resided. As the platform began to rise up as well it shook enough to destabilize the stances of those who thought they had him at their mercy, and so he moved to take advantage of it. To their credit their reflexes were swift, attacking with their blades and firing their shots the moment they detected what he was doing, but it was too little too late, and so with a move he learned while down in Brazil he executed a leg sweep. That placed two of the four in the air, allowing him to perform the second half of his move, catching Vergil and then Dante with his leg on the second spin before flinging them at Mary and Alexander. This had the desired result of taking all four off of the platform to the edges of the room, no doubt landing hard enough to disorient them.

By the time that they collected themselves he would be far too out of reach to retaliate against him.

"Just sit and wait," he said as he looked down at his recovering daughter. "Wait for the birth of a new god. I will take over the power of Sparda! Ahahahahahahahahahaha!"

Rising through the interior of the tower, watching as it reconfigured itself and deposited the desired statues on the platform, he could not suppress the feeling of euphoria at his plan succeeding. All those long years of preparation, all those frustrations and disappointments, were now finally paying off in a way that few humans had ever experienced. Oh, there were mythologies where mortals became gods all the time but he believed those were faulty tales at best. It was far more likely that the so-called humans were in fact demons or demon hybrids than pure humans. It was equally likely that the scribe that wrote down the tale merely viewed a level of power he'd never seen before and assumed it was godhood when in actuality it was not.

He, however, was not mistaken!

Sparda had been a Devil Knight, unparalleled in both the area of skill as well as in power. Both had been so great that they'd even proved enough to challenge and defeat the Darkness Mundus, who even today ruled his hell dimension as king. To rule a world so filled with evil and bloodlust meant that the king had to possess power and cunning far superior to anyone else that lived there. So much so that even if an army were to be gathered against him the king would still prevail.

Yet Sparda had single handedly defeated Demon King Mundus.

What else could you call such a person but a god?

As the platform reached the top he turned the page to the book he'd carried with him for the entire venture and began to perform the ritual that would open the gateway. Compared to what he'd been through so far it wasn't even a chore and would be completed far quicker than his previous solutions. Should Dante, Vergil, Alexander and Mary have survived their ejection off of the platform, they would not be able to scale the tower in time to prevent him from passing through the gateway. Indeed, by his calculations, they would be lucky to appear before him just after he succeeded in claiming Sparda's sword, along with the godly power it contained.

They would be a fitting audience for when he revealed himself to the world and began his efforts to reshape it into what it should have been all along had the ruler of heaven not neglected his responsibilities.

By the time he was done they might even thank him.

Maybe.

Xander's POV

"Are you gonna go?" Dante asked as he approached Mary, who was gazing up the raised platform.

"Yes. I'm gonna finish him off," she replied, her resolve strong and without flaw.

"Well, you might as well forget it because you're no match for him," Dante said bluntly, making it clear where he thought Mary's threat level resided.

To be perfectly honest he had to agree with his sort of but not really older brother.

While he, Dante and probably Vergil might be recovering their strength at a rapid pace, Mary was only human. Add to the fact that the bandage that she'd wrapped around the wound, the wound he'd caused, didn't do squat for the cut muscles beneath and she was hardly in top form. Even when she had been shortly after he'd been puppetted into the room alongside her father, she hadn't been good enough to land a single shot. If she fought him again, she wouldn't have his need for her blood to keep her alive.

He'd kill her.

"Regardless, I must go," she said, not sounding deterred in the least. "I had a chance to stop him before but I couldn't. I'm responsible for this mess."

"Responsible? Does it bother you that much?" Dante asked, as though it wouldn't have bothered him much at all.

"He's my father! Besides, who else can undo what he's done?" she asked back at the Son of Sparda.

With that Mary walked a few paces before aiming her reclaimed rocket launcher up, aiming it and then firing its grappling hook up at a favorable latch point.

"A demon like you wouldn't understand," she said, clearly showing that she didn't trust or like Dante at the moment.

"Maybe not but I do," he said, finally shoving off his shock at being played like a fiddle AGAIN. "You screw up, it's your job to fix things. Basic logic. But you're not going alone. I'm coming with you."

He saw the hesitance in her eyes, the memory of him being her bastard father's puppet, but that only compelled him to set things straight with her.

"I know you're worried I'll become his little bitch again but I promise that won't happen," he said, putting all his honesty and resolve into his words. "I broke free once and I'm betting without some repair work his mojo won't work as well a second time. Besides, you might want to stop him to make up for not killing him earlier but me? I got personal reasons of my own for wanting him dead."

For a moment he thought he words had had no effect but with a rough nod she accepted his company along with his position.

"You fall behind you get left behind. Understand?" she asked, making it clear she'd be keeping her guard up just the same.

Not that he could blame her.

Seeing her ascend on her grapple line he brought out Arachne before flinging one end of it up to where Mary had attached her grapple line. Using its arcane properties it retracted, pulling him up towards its grip point so that he arrived shortly after Mary, pulling himself up onto the ledge. No words were spoken since they both knew that they had to go up, so instead they just began to run as swiftly as Mary's leg wound would permit. Neither of them knew how long it'd be before Arkham opened up the gateway to the demon world but he knew that, if it was anything like a Hellmouth, not long would still be too long. For every moment it was open, who knew how many demons would come out of it and there was no guarantee that it'd be a breed that'd ever walked the earth before.

It didn't matter whether it was demons or humans, a lack of knowledge can get you killed.

"So how do you want to do this?" he asked as they came upon a door. "Fight our away through the tower to the top or find some other way?"

"Fighting our way through the inside would take too long," Mary replied, opening the door before putting the business end of her strongest weapon out first. "We should try to find a way outside and just scale the tower that way. Fewer demons and less wasted time."

"Sounds good to me," he said as he followed her out, storing away Arachne so he could hold Nue no Gin in both hands.

With a plan in mind they navigated the corridors of the tower but somewhat less smoothly than they'd been doing prior to his becoming an asshole's Pinocchio. It'd probably fade the longer he went without going all Jekyll and Hyde on her but for now he'd just have to be understanding about it while compensating for any slip ups along the way.

Entering into a large room, it kind of reminded him of a display room meant to show off a collection of antique suits of armor. Six lined each wall with a somewhat larger one in the center but, aside from them, there was nothing else of note to be seen.

"Think it's safe?" he asked, stopping at the door of the room to look at Mary.

"Nope," she replied, making sure to cover each suit of armor in turn with her rocket launcher as she proceeded deeper into the room.

"Yeah, me neither," he said, dividing his time between aiming both revolvers at one and dividing his focus between two.

Tension was the name of the game as the two of them proceeded through the room, doing their best not to turn their back on any of the metal suits. For a time he thought that they might actually manage to make it to the door on the other side but, when a rattling metal sound reached their ears, they both let out sighs of resignation.

Hard way it was.

Looking, it turned out to be just what he thought: the suits of armor were moving and gaining a crimson glow as they did so. Then one by one they broke through the glass of their display cases before floating like deadly clouds of blades through the sir. They weren't moving very fast, so for a moment he thought that they wouldn't be all that hard to take down even with there being twelve of them. Lining up a headshot, since that often proved to be enough to take down any foe regardless of whether they were human or demon, he waited for a second.

BANG! BANG!

TING!TING!

"What the fuck?" he asked as he watched his shots bounce right off the demon like they were BBs.

"Don't worry. I'll take care of him," Mary said with a sliver of humor before she aimed her rocket launcher and fired.

With a trail of smoke behind it the rocket flew through the air and when it hit its target it detonated, obscuring the armor demon it'd been aimed at while knocking its fellows away with the shockwave. Like any other guy he liked his explosions and figured that, even if the blast didn't succeed in killing the demon, at the very least it had to have put some cracks in its armor.

Cracks that he could exploit with his revolvers.

"What the HELL!?" Mary exclaimed as the smoke dispersed to reveal the armored demon looking completely unharmed. "It's not even dented!"

"No way are these things unkillable!" he said as the rest of the tin terrors got close enough to lash out with their lances.

Rolling to the side to evade the attack he decided that, until he had a better idea of how to kill these things, he'd keep on the evasive. Not an easy thing to do considering the size and configuration of the room but, by heading to the opposite side of the room than Mary, it split the number of enemies to six apiece, making evading them easier. Every time he came up from a roll he looked at the demonic armor and examined an area of it in order to see if it could be called a weak point. Their shields were broad, covering most of their bodies while leaving some room for the lance to be thrust or slashed, depending on the situation. As he'd found out, much to his bother, the faceplate protecting the front of the demon's head was too sturdy to be shot off.

If the front is too big of a bother let's try some other direction, he thought as he holstered his revolvers before summoning S'Nork's two handed maul.

As soon as it solidified he felt its weight but that only pleased him since it'd mean that, when it hit a foe, they'd definitely feel it. With the maul in hand he did his best to move to position to the side of his chosen demon armor before winding up and slamming the head down to the ground. Just as before when he'd tested it out after the battle with S'Nork a trail of spikes hot up after the ground, heading towards the demon. The first few, much to his dislike, didn't succeed in doing damage to the shield but when the last one shot up it caused the demon to cry out in pain.

Jackpot! Gotta hit them from behind!

With that in mind he charged forward like a football player, ducking under and then spinning around the knights that weren't his primary prey. When all the obstructions were gone he put on one last burst of speed to make it look like he was going for a frontal attack but at the last moment he leapt over the armor demon. As soon as he landed he spun around and found that, instead of a solid grey slab of metal, there was a large crimson jewel right where the back plate should've been. Knowing a prime target when he saw one he went for speed more than power with the maul, slamming it into the blood red stone.

As a result a crack formed in the stone but, given the lingering light coming from within, it hadn't been damaged enough to kill it.

Still it was a far sight better than no damage at all and, with a viable target clearly in mind, he brought back the maul and delivered another powerful swing, shattering the demonic stone. With its power source gone the armor seemed to lose composition entirely, fading to rust before it even hit the ground.

"There's a giant ruby on their backs!" he yelled to Mary so she'd know what to do. "Smash it and they're dust!"

"Got it!" she yelled back before managing some fancy acrobatics to get into position before peppering the stone on her target's back with fire from her CZ-75 and submachine gun.

With rising confidence that they'd survive the fight he switched to Praeteritum and Mellontikós, sacrificing power for speed since gathering the strength for the swing left him momentarily vulnerable. With the slight time manipulating powers of each scimitar he was confident he could make up in quantity what he lacked in quality when it came to blows. They didn't appear to have much in the way of intelligence or strategy but rather appeared to move towards whatever happened to be closest to them at the time. As a result of having such a predictable behavior pattern he was able to trick some into exposing their backs to him and, with five or six swipes, shattered their jewel cores.

When the last of them were destroyed he truly thought that the room was cleared but then he remembered something that had been in the room but he hadn't fought yet.

THUMP.

THUMP.

Turning around he saw that the large suit of armor, larger than all the others, had stepped off of its perch and, instead of floating about like the others, this one was firmly planted on the ground. Looking into its crimson eyes, he couldn't shake the feeling that it was a level above the others in terms of its ability to strategize and fight. Deciding to test that theory he went on the offensive utilizing a simple feint to trick it into exposing itself so that he could attack it directly. The feint seemed to work but, when he went to cut through the exposed part of the giant armor's body, pain arced along his back even as a force knocked him to the ground. The pain subsided soon, allowing him his normal range of movement, but when he turned he found that the armored giant now wielded a sword comparable in design to Dante's but enlarged to the point where it was almost too big for the demon. How it had managed to bring it back around in time to counter his attack was beyond him.

"So the Tin Man has some moves!" he said as his body healed the last of the damage.

"Let's see if he's got stamina to go with it!" Mary said as she fired her rocket launcher.

Much like with the smaller ones the rocket didn't do a whole lot of good, not even leaving scorch marks on the armor. What it did do though was caused the giant to turn its attention towards her rather than remaining on him and that was on purpose. Moving as quick as he dared without attracting unwanted attention he maneuvered himself behind it. Once there he decided that he needed something with a little more piercing power behind it so he brought out Arachne, counting on its ability to corrosively break down what it hit.

After all, if it could break down stone, armor should still be well within its abilities so long as the metal didn't have some hidden tricks in its composition.

Spinning both ends of the chain rapidly he flung out the first and then the second, wrapping them around the shoulders of the large suit of armor before the hooks locked them in place. Using his previous method he gathered the power within him and channeled it into Arachne in the hopes of intensifying the corrosive effect it produced. Almost immediately the armored giant struggled against the chains, forcing him to dig his heels in to keep from being pulled into the air. Plumes of black mist rose steadily from where chains were in physical contact with the giant and he could see signs of the metal getting worn down in the gaps that the metal lengths didn't cover.

It was then, though, that the giant did something that he had not been anticipating by charging backwards either in an effort to eliminate the tension in the chains or to run him over. He didn't know which but he knew that neither would serve him well so, with a snap of the chains, he released their grip on the giant even as he retracted them and dove away from the blind charge. Coming back to his feet he watched as the giant slammed itself into the wall but, if the grunt of pain it emitted was a hint, it may have made a mistake. By slamming its damaged back into the wall it wound up increasing its damage while doing him none at all.

Still, he wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

While it was distracted by its pain he whirled a few feet of the hooked chains as fast as he could turning them into twin buzz saws of a sort. Dashing forward he leapt at the giant armor, bringing the spinning end in his right hand forward to tear into it before replacing it with his left. At first all he got for his efforts were sparks but after a while, amidst the sparks, damage could be seen slice by slice as the hooks tore into the armor. Seeing strength appear to return to the demon's arm he backed off in anticipation of a counter attack and managed to get out of range of a swipe by the armor's weapon. Still, he was not discouraged by the his aborted assault because, after seeing a distant view of the damage, he could tell the fight would soon end in favor of the light so long as neither he or Mary got careless.

"What do you say we wrap this up?" he said turning to look at Mary briefly. "Like you said before, we're on something of a schedule."

"You lead and I'll follow," Mary replied, showing her readiness to end the fight.

Well, at least it's a step up from 'lag behind and get left behind', he thought before charging the moderately recovered giant armor.

Summoning S'nork's hammer he swung it up from his feet to knock the giant sword coming at him away before bringing out Demetria's weapon for the first time. It turned out to be a spear of some kind but there were rings at equal distances up its length all the way to its pointy head that he could not identify the purpose of. Whatever it was, he didn't let it delay him and instead began thrusting at the demon armor's chest as fast as well as often as he could without sacrificing power. When his parry with his maul wore off and his foe once more tried to make him half the person he used to be but a quick switch out to Praeteritum and Mellontikós allowed him to execute a double blade block. It wasn't entirely effective since the weight and power behind the giant sword's strike forced him to apply a moderate level of strength to keep it from parting his skin. However, by abruptly angling the block to the side, the larger blade slid off to the ground, providing him an opening as he spun around to slash into his enemy's armor.

Again and again and again he struck it, managing to create a crude 'X' across its torso before being forced to dive and roll away to evade a powerful sword swing.

"All yours, babe!" he shouted, unable to hold back the thrill of impending victory.

"Don't…call…me…BABE!" Mary yelled before firing her rocket launcher.

The projectile flew true and impacted right at the center of the crude X he'd carved, detonating. Smoke from the blast obscured his vision for a bit but when it cleared he grinned at the gaping hole that'd been made in the armor. Comically almost the suit of armor looked down at the damage it'd sustained before face planting right on the floor, breaking apart into its individual pieces afterwards. Not being a fool he kept his guard up for a full minute in order to be sure that they weren't being fooled but when not so much as a twitch came from the piece of armor, he concluded that the threat to them was over for the time being.

"Rust in pieces, you piece of junk," he said before kicking the helmet of his fallen foe into an empty display case.

"You just had to say it, didn't you?" Mary asked with a bit of exasperation.

He just grinned at her to indicate that, yes, he did have to say such a corny line.

He had to live up to his responsibilities as the comic relief of this adventure.

Mary 'Lady' Arkham's POV

"Well, that… was a work out…" Xander said as he sat down on the spot that'd been chosen for them to take a breather.

"Oh, don't exaggerate!" she said even as she replaced the bandages on her leg. "We haven't run into another rank demon since that suit of armor and the rest have been small fries."

"Who said anything about the demons tiring me out?" he said with his usual grin. "I was talking about carrying you up the side of this tower! You're heavier than you look."

"Ha ha! I'll have you know that I haven't got an inch of fat on me," she said with a bit of amusement. "My teacher was pretty damn strict when it came to staying in top shape. In all the time he taught me I might've had five bags of chips and two bottles of pop. THAT was the extent of my junk food eating."

"Man! I don't think I could handle that kind of strictness," he said, looking like junk food might as well have been one of the major food groups. "Who was he, anyway?"

"Bruce Shimada. You won't hear much about him if you ask around but he knows his trade," she replied, recalling her many lessons with her sensei.

"Never heard of him before but at least he teaches modern demon hunting," he said, showing respect and approval. "Giles is an encyclopedia demonica when it comes to info on the supernatural but the weapons he uses are strictly thirteenth century."

"You ever try convincing him to update his armory?" she asked as she finished securing the bandage to her leg.

"A few times but he keeps rattling off the same excuses: ineffective, draws too much attention and a potential risk to civilians" he replied, sounding like he was tired of hearing the same old excuses.

While she had to shake her head at that reply, she wasn't entirely surprised.

Most of the older and more established organizations focused on supernatural combat were wary of trying anything new. Some of the more ridiculous ones just said 'tradition' and let it end there, much to the contemptuous head shaking of others. Some opposed new things because to get maximum effectiveness required experimentation and not all experiments went according to plan. It was this fear of things going awry that caused them to stick with what was already proven to be effective.

With Sensei Shimada she'd been taught to use all the advancements in weaponry that mankind had managed over the centuries. He had all the right permits for the weapons and knew suppliers around the world who'd top up his ammunition when he needed it. He also had arrangements with certain agencies to take care of any issues that cropped up with those not in the know about what went bump in the night. He'd always told her not to work for any of the government agencies or even any of the organizations but rather to remain an independent operator. He'd told her a few stories about who to avoid and who was on the level but overall he just told her to use her best judgment and not to get into any trouble she couldn't get out of. After he'd completed her training he'd made a few phone calls to some of the people who were in the know and had clout to let them know that one of his students was ready to take job offers.

With people in governments, law enforcement and corporations willing to do favors for favors, they'd cover up any 'gunfights' so long as she didn't let things get too far out of hand.

As for ineffective, she found that there were precious few things that the right amount of firepower and explosives couldn't kill. For those that didn't react the right way to bullets or bombs, specialty items could be acquired from some of the fringe operators who experimented with mixing the old with the new. Inscribing symbols into bullets, blessing the metal used in a bomb's outer casing and mixing ingredients known to be toxic to various demon breeds into gas grenades were a few of the examples. Such experimenters didn't always last very long, even if they did take the necessary precautions. Sometimes it was because their own experiments literally blew up in their faces and other times it was because their works proved so effective that the demon scum decided to eliminate them.

Fortunately for the demon hunting community at large there was always someone, somewhere, willing to play with volatile substances to get interesting results.

Lastly the risk to civilians depended on the skill of the demon hunter and the circumstances of the fight. A professional, one who'd received all the necessary training, knew how to fight with or without civilians being present and, if it was the former, they made sure to use the right tool for the job. They knew how to be precise and how to wait for the right shots so only someone who attempted something outside the scope of their skills would bring harm to the innocent. Also you couldn't exactly put all the blame on the demon hunter if some civvie got hurt. When fights started it was only logical for those that couldn't to get the hell out of the way of those who could, plus in most cases your everyday citizens knew enough to evacuate when something dangerous showed up.

Those that didn't… she saved who she could but sometimes there was just no cure for stupidity except death.

"Everyone has their own way of fighting demons. Some are smart about it and some aren't," she said as she picked up her launcher and slung it over her shoulder. "You can't force them to change their ways. All you can do is show them the right way and hope they see the light."

"I guess. It's just that if we could upgrade our weapons and get everyone in on the fight, we could totally kick the demons off this planet for good," he said, showing that her understood but wasn't happy. "Them sticking to the shadows and us not upgrading our weapons are the two things standing in the way of winning this war."

"Don't be so sure. Sensei Shimada said that untold millennia ago the light and dark did openly fight each other on Earth but that the destruction caused by the fighting was ridiculous. As a result of that both sides made a pact forbidding direct intervention of pure angels or pure demons in the mortal world. They could create half-breeds or less and their agents on Earth could call upon their power through ritual but nothing more," she said as she led the way to a nearby staircase leading up.

"So basically no demon on angel action, 'cause it'd leave nothing for either side to rule in the end?" he said, summing up her explanation into simple terms he could understand.

"Got it in one," she said, going up the stairs. "Now sometimes both sides try to sneak something past the other, break the rules in ways that can't be traced back to them, but so far neither side has been able to get the upper hand."

"You sure know a lot," he said, sounding impressed with the answers she was giving him.

"Sensei Shimada was a very good and thorough teacher. He believed that being able to fight and being able to think were inseparable necessities for a demon hunter," she said, smiling at the memories.

"Guess he comes from a long line of respected demon hunters himself?" he asked, following her carefully from behind.

"On his mother's side of the family, yeah," she said, shaking her head at the one family reunion she'd been brought to. "The father's side… not so much."

"What do you mean?" he asked, sounding like his interest had been piqued.

"His father's side of the family were good demon hunters but they were a little more susceptible to the three vices than most people were. Sensei Shimada told me he figured it must've been a curse from an ancient demon," she replied, thinking of some of the people she'd met.

"The three vices?" he asked.

"Sex, booze and money. Anything connected to one of these three seems to suck them in," she replied as they reached the top of the stairs. "Some run from them, some hide from them and some embrace them. For the former two they use a combination of potions and meditation to keep the urges in check but the effectiveness of either varies from person to person. As for the last one… they never last long."

"Anyone in particular come to mind?" he asked as she came to a door and flattened herself to right of it.

"As a matter of fact, yeah. Sensei Shimada's uncle, Bin Morikawa," she replied shuddering a bit as Xander put himself up against the wall on the left side of the door. "He's in his mid-seventies and is an expert dual knife fighter."

"Must've been something in his youth," Xander said as he darted into the next room, covering all angles with his revolvers.

"Oh, he's not retired just yet," she said remembering some of the stories floating about the demon hunter haunts. "He just cuts back on his workload and listens to his doctor. Most of the time."

"How? Giles can barely get through a fight without breathing heavy and he's stuck on support duty, not frontline fighting," he said, revealing a bit more about his past.

"I don't know. Every time I asked about it I got a different answer," she replied as she followed him in, her eyes seeking out threats. "One person told me it's a side effect of a spell he broke. Another said he's capable of what he does because he won the favor of one of the old gods. Whatever the truth is, he can still kick ass when he needs to but I hear he specializes in zombies more than anything else."

"So what is it about him that bugs you so much?" he asked once there were no visible threats to be found.

"He's a perverted pig!" she growled out, remembering some of the things the old man had tried to trick her into doing under the guise of training. "I swear that if you looked up 'perverted old man' in the dictionary you'd see his face leering back at you. The only reason the family hasn't disowned him entirely is because they've been able to prove that he IS trying to reign his libido in. He can't get rid of it completely but usually reminding him of his dead wife and taking him to the Las Vegas red light district once a year keeps him from getting too far out of hand. Usually."

Last she'd heard of the man, he'd finished training the nephew of an old friend of his and was slated to train the second eldest daughter of another friend in a couple of months. She didn't have all the details but she hoped that whoever the girl's father was had serious intimidation skills and that the girl herself had experience seeing through horn dogs' tricks. If both turned out to not be the case then she hoped holy hell got dropped on the old man's head or else her sensei's family reputation was going to take a serious hit.

"He ever tries anything with you, just show him how well you can use your guns," Xander said as they proceed to the next leg of their journey. "Nothing hits you like a bucket of cold water quite like several near misses with high caliber rounds. Except maybe a few near misses with some throwing knives, 'cause at least then you stand a better chance of seeing them coming."

"Speaking from experience?" she asked with a smirk at some of the things her imagination was coming up with.

"Maybe," he replied before picking up the pace to take the lead.

Okay, so maybe she was loosening up where Xander was concerned, but who could blame her? He was funny, good looking and had been providing her with reliable support since their partnership first formed.

So long as he didn't fall victim to his demon side, she saw a long term relationship in both of their futures.

Xander's POV

"Well, looks like we've hit a little familiar ground," he said as he looked at the shelves upon shelves of books that were everywhere he looked.

"You've been to a lot of libraries?" Mary asked before checking the status of the bandage on her leg.

"Just one but Giles is big on books and sometimes when he got really busy I helped him out with the translating," he replied as he let his eyes drift across the titles of the various books. "I'm no Rosetta Stone but some stuff sunk in, whether I wanted it to or not."

It was true.

Whenever they had to pull an all-night research session it was inevitable that they'd run out of books written in English and forcing Giles to handle all the ones in other languages would've been unfair. As a result, him and Willow had stopped by during the few quiet periods in the last two years to learn some of the more common languages the research books were written in. Naturally his best bud soaked it all up like a sponge but he managed to learn a few new languages, as well at least well enough to find what they sought in the non-English books.

Still, given how old the tower was and how long it might've been buried underground, it was possible that these books would be useless to him. Either they'd be written in a language he didn't know or they'd crumble to dust the second they were exposed to the outside air. He'd seen enough shows and movies where museum types had to take ridiculous precautions if they wanted to look at something ancient.

Oh well. At least I can take a look at one or two of them so I have something to tell Giles when I get back to Sunnydale, he thought, looking about for a book whose title caught his fancy.

WHACK!

"Ow! What the hell!?" he exclaimed as he rubbed the back of his head where something had hit him.

Looking down where he figured the object must've fallen, he found that it was a book roughly the same dimensions as a city phone book but was also a hardcover wrapped in quality leather. There was an odd symbol on the cover that looked like a set of wings with a halo just above it but it was drawn using some sort of crimson resin that reflected light in a unique way. Reaching down, he picked it up, noting that while a little bit heavy it was still as much a quality piece of work as any book in Giles' collection. Checking the spine where most people put the title, he found only one word: Nephilim.

Well, that's weird. I know that seraphim are a type of angel but what's a nephilim? he thought before deciding it was something he could look into later.

Looking for a shelf with someplace to put it, he soon found one but as he went to put the book there something happened that he had not anticipated.

The winged halo symbol on the book lit up like a flare and then the book vanished, leaving him with spots temporarily in his eyes as a result of the bright light. His immediate thought was 'where did it go' and it was a question soon answered as he noticed a sensation around his neck that hadn't been there moments ago. Reaching for the source he was surprised to find an amulet shaped much like the symbol on the cover of the book hanging from a silver chain that he could tell was wrapped around his neck. Following the general Scooby rule that if something odd you find does something unexpected get rid of it, he did his best to take his new accessory off but every time it got halfway an invisible force stopped him. He put more and more of his newfound strength into it but to no avail leaving him frustrated and annoyed.

"What's wrong?" Mary asked once she'd finished changing her bandage.

"A book changed into this amulet and it won't come off," he replied, holding up the winged halo for his partner to see.

"Probably has some spell on it that causes it to be attracted to people with specific qualities and then latches onto them," Mary said, walking towards him to take a closer look at it. "No way to know if it's harmful or not but we'll have to find an experienced mage if you want to get it off. My methods are a little… dangerous."

For a moment he pictured her trying to shoot it off with one of her guns or blow it up with one of her grenades.

"Yeah. Unless it starts eating me alive or I start eating babies, best to wait until we find an expert to get it off," he said, nodding in agreement as he let the amulet drop.

He was about to lead the way when someone else walked into the room that instantly put Mary on edge but just made him be a little more attentive.

Dante.

The guy looked no worse for wear considering how he'd probably taken the long route up the tower. However while it'd be nice if the three of them could join forces for the rest of the trip to stop Arkham, he didn't think it'd be easily arranged. Whatever release Mary might've gotten due to her bastard father's ruse was now gone and her initial fury was back with a vengeance. As with all revenge, it had to be personal and not left up to someone else to do.

"What's wrong? Did I interrupt your make out time?" Dante asked mockingly as he strode past. "Then let me take it from here."

"Like hell I will!" Mary said, pointing her CZ-75 at the back of Dante's head.

In response all Dante did was redirect the barrel to a place a little less important before Mary pulled the trigger.

Not even a flinch despite the blood that came from the gunshot wound.

"I told you, you can't do it," Dante growled, trying to get through Mary's determination. "Don't you get it? This is not a human's job."

"You're the one who doesn't get it!" Mary yelled back, her voice full of passion. "It's not something you can reason with. It has nothing to do with me being a human and you being a demon. I'm driven by the inability to forgive him. My soul is screaming, demanding me to kill him. That's enough motivation to keep me going."

Dante just pushed aside her gun barrel to emphasize the pointlessness of it.

"Besides, this is a family matter," Mary said as she walked past Dante to the door that likely led further up the tower. "You should stay out of it."

"Okay, Lady, I get the picture now," Dante said as he turned to watch her go, "but I can't just sit back and watch either. I'm pretty pissed at him too, ya know."

Then out of nowhere Dante pulled out his twin heavily customized M1911 handguns and aimed them at Mary.

"Now, get out of my way or there'll be some consequences," Dante said, showing that he had the resolve to follow through on his threat.

"Fair enough," Mary said before bringing her rocket launcher to bear on the guy in the red coat. "I wasn't planning on letting any demons live anyway. Not even one!"

"Okay, okay, OKAY! That's about enough with all the posturing and tough person routines," he said as he intervened, putting himself in the most dangerous spot of in the middle of the line of fire. "I think we've all established that we've got our reasons for wanting to turn Arkham into a greasy stain on the floor. The thing is both of you are being a little greedy trying to hog all the fun for yourselves instead of sharing."

When the shooting didn't immediately begin he took this to mean they were willing to listen to him for a little while longer.

"Now if I'm right the only reason you don't want my partner going after Arkham is because you don't think she'll survive the demon world or him once he gets his power up. Right?" he asked, hoping he'd nailed it right on the head.

Dante nodded.

"The thing with that is that'd it'd only be true if she went alone," he said, trying to guide things toward an acceptable compromise. "I'm coming with her 'cause I've got a bone to pick with Arkham, too. The two of us working together ought to be just as good as you by yourself. Add that to you leading the way and showing us how to get past any problems and the risk shouldn't be too big, right? Then when we find Arkham we can all get our pounds of flesh. Sound good? Everyone okay with that deal?"

A fair deal where everyone got what they wanted. What more could you ask for?

"You really think that you got the chops to keep her safe?" Dante asked, sounding like he wasn't completely rejecting the offer.

"I managed to get through the tower in one piece and as long as we don't run into too many bosses, the rest are pretty dumb," he replied, trying to convey a measured confidence. "We keep cool and our eyes on the prize, we can keep up."

That seemed to pacify the dude with the attitude.

"And as long as you get your shots in and deliver the killing blow, you're okay with him taking the lead, right?" he asked Mary, turning to look her in the eye. "Even you have to admit your dad's a little more powerful than you thought he was."

He didn't like rubbing her nose in the memory of how she'd gotten owned down in the control room during Arkham's big super villain monologue, where he told them how he did everything, but it needed to be done. Her father had clearly shown that he could outmaneuver and overpower her, but if she didn't acknowledge that all she was going to do was get killed and he didn't want that to happen. Better she accepted the benefits of group hunting and increase her odds of survival than fight her father only to get squashed like that frog crossing the highway in that videogame.

For a moment it looked like Mary might very well manage to outstubborn Buffy when the blonde Slayer thought that she was right but with sigh she slung her launcher back onto her back.

"Fine, but try to lose us and I'll fire a rocket so far up your ass you'll be breathing fire for weeks. Got it?!" Mary growled, being sincere with every word she spoke.

"Sure thing, Lady! Whatever you say!" Dante said before mockingly using the 'ladies first' gesture.

Keeping these two from killing each other was going to be SO much FUN!

Note the sarcasm.

Mary 'Lady' Arkham's POV

"Huh. Nice view from up here," Xander said as he looked at the dark, barely lit cityscape. "I mean if all the flying blood bird demons weren't everywhere."

"They'll fly south once we shut down the portal," Dante said as he looked up at the hole in the sky. "Until then I don't think they'll be going anywhere."

Looking at the gateway, she had to admit that it wasn't a thing like she'd been expecting. It looked for the world like a window into some ornate cathedral but she didn't let the looks fool her. There wasn't a demon hunter the world over that hadn't heard some sort of description about what hell dimensions were like. Those realms operated on a different set of rules than Earth did and everything that lived there was lethal to life forms without a rapid healing ability. If she wanted to survive, she needed to do more than rely on Xander and stay on her toes: she needed to be downright paranoid!

"Let's get going," Dante said as he stepped onto the part of the floor that had an eerie red glow to it. "We've got a mess to clean up and not a lot of time to do it."

Watching as the glow from the floor surrounded Dante before the half-demon flew into the air into the gateway, she felt a little afraid of what was to come but shoved it aside. She had a job to do and her bastard father to kill. If she got cold feet just from looking at the door to a hell dimension, there was no way that she'd be able to handle the dimension itself.

Striding forward, she stepped onto the lit surface and struggled a bit to keep her cool as she soared into the sky towards a place with more demons than she could ever hope of killing on her own. Looking down she saw Xander following her up on the invisible elevator taking the group to the next stop on their quest to kill her father and resealing the gateway to the demon world. While she would've been all too willing to fight Dante for the right to venture through the portal to kill her sperm contributor, she had to admit that what he said made sense. She'd been completely overpowered by her father in the control room for Temen-ni-gru and, depending on how large a lead the bastard had on them, he might very well have already claimed Sparda's power. Face to face with that kind of power, even her soul had to admit that killing such a being would be a little outside her abilities. With Dante and Xander taking the brunt of things, though, her odds for killing her father were a lot more respectable.

As she came into contact with the event horizon between the two worlds, everything went wonky as her senses suddenly had to cope with input they had not been designed to interpret. It blew over eventually but when she could finally see straight she had to wonder if something had been wired up wrong. Looking all around it appeared as though they were standing on this massive bridge made naturally by some white stone but beyond that there was nothing but an endless void and a few scattered landmasses.

"This isn't quite what I was expecting," Xander said as he strolled a little over to the right. "I was thinking more along the lines of lava pits with scattered bits of hellfire popping out of holes in the walls."

"There's all kinds of hell dimensions and some of them might be like that, but not all of them," Dante said as he began walking to the landmass that looked to be closest. "Now let's get going. We're not here for the guided tour, you know."

"Oh. Right. Psycho wannabe god to kill," Xander said, clicking back to what was important. "Still I'm seeing a whole lot less than I was expecting and not a bit of it really scary."

"DUDE! There're some things you don't say in places like this and that's one of them!" Dante snapped, glaring at Xander for a minute before taking out his dual handguns.

"Shit!" Xander said as he pulled out his dual scimitar and looked around for anything approaching them. "I knew you didn't say stuff like that on a Hellmouth and that's just at the front door to a hell dimension. Saying it when you're actually IN a hell dimension... let's hurry the fuck up before some demons with really good hearing decide to play welcoming party!"

They broke into a light run, heading towards their destination, but just as they were getting to the edge of the land mass that they were on and she was going to use her grapple gear to get to the next one the smaller bits of land began to come together. One by one they moved into place, creating a bridge that she soon found out was rather solid, giving her the confidence to keep going all the way up to a portal that reminded her of a mirror. Dante didn't hesitate to leap through it, proving that he had supreme confidence in his ability to handle whatever came his way.

"Whatever else you can say about the guy, he's got no shortage of guts," Xander said, looking a little warily at the portal. "Brains? Not so much."

"It's the only way forward," she pointed out, not flattered by their sole option either.

"In for a penny, in for a pound then," he said, twirling his scimitar once before doing the 'after you gesture'. "Ladies first."

"Fuck that! You're the one that can come back from being impaled," she said, shaking her head in the negative. "You got first!"

"And here I was trying to be a gentleman," he said with mock hurt in his voice.

"Oh, just GO!" she said, gesturing towards the portal.

With a lopsided grin that she was getting used to he leapt through the portal, disappearing from sight.

One Mississippi, two Mississippi, three Mississippi, four Mississippi and five Mississippi, she thought, counting her wait time. Should be enough lead time.

Leaping through the portal she found a sight that was both odd and yet somewhat normal. Large game board and on the side furthest from her own there was a set of game pieces just a little larger than your average person. However they were definitely opponents because, even as she watched, both Dante and Xander were taking them on, doing their best not to get surrounded. Both of them seemed to be holding their own so she brought her launcher up to fire on a clump of foes that were far enough away so that her allies would not get caught in the blast.

With a sound that'd become all too familiar the rocket shot from her launcher and soon after impacted on the central target of her assault. With a mighty boom she expected at least half the demon chess pieces to be destroyed while the rest within range would be damaged enough to reduce their individual threat levels. However, when the smoke dispersed, she was annoyed to find out that only a third of those within the blast radius showed even the slightest bit of damage. Indeed, only one had been truly destroyed, making her wonder if she'd fired a dud.

"Watch for them to change colors!" Xander yelled before he ducked under one swing of a knight's horn. "When they're light, hit'em! When they're dark don't bother with'em!"

"Got it!" she said, shouldering her launcher before pulling her smaller caliber weapons.

As much as she loved her launcher it'd be a waste of ammo to fire it at a group of foes if only one of them were killed in the blast. Better to go for precision rather than power in this situation.

It was a hairy fight, especially when the opposing colored tiles occasionally gave way, but fortunately they didn't give way too quickly, allowing her to leap clear in time. Still, like a real game of chess you needed to remain aware of the full board rather than a single move in order to stand any chance at winning. If it wasn't swords it was lasers and horns, each of which had the ability to do harm to the unwary. In the end they were able to smash each opposing demonic chess piece, causing a new portal to open up.

"Well tha-…never mind. We're in hell and it waits for us to jinx ourselves," Xander said, managing to catch himself before he brought more trouble down on their heads. "Like some demented prankster waiting for us to fall in head first."

"See! He can learn!" Dante said cheekily before leaping through the newly manifested portal.

"Asshole! And now thanks to Arkham he's my big brother!" Xander groused before hopping through himself.

"Why do I get the feeling that if those two have any say in it, the Earth is doomed?" she asked herself while rolling her eyes.

Still, as long as they were all headed in the same direction, they might as well travel it together.

With that she leapt through the portal to whatever awaited her on the other side.

Xander's POV

I…FUCKIN'…HATE…THESE…ANGELS!" he bit out with every swing of Praeteritum and Mellontikós.

"Definitely annoying but once you get their attack patterns down they're killable enough," Dante said, finishing off his demonic angel foe.

"The worst part is how they can phase through solid matter," Mary said as she timed her shot just right as her target exited the supernatural bridge they were standing on. "I think they know it can keep them safe, too."

"Smarter than the average demons? Never a good thing," he said as he sheathed his scimitars and turned to the next portal on their journey.

"Let's see what the next stop has for us," Dante said before leaping through the portal.

Picking up Mary, since the next portal was a little higher off the ground than the others, he jumped through only to find himself beholding an elaborate set up of staircases, chiseled wall paintings and scattered jewels embedded in them. The same white void with occasional floating land masses could be seen in every direction but that was nothing new. It did however make him think that perhaps they were in fact in limbo rather than hell because that label would fit with the environment better.

As they walked along the various pathways and staircases, they came to the first of the wall paintings with this one looking to have some sort of horse theme. On and on they went, with every wall showing some sort of demon but then they came to something that explained everything so far. Towering above the whole lot of them was an obelisk of sorts with an assortment of jewels much like the ones in the wall engravings arranged in a circle with only two or three in the middle.

"I get it. If we want to get to the next level we gotta defeat some copies of the bosses I've killed," Dante said, sounding like he didn't mind getting a chance to trounce some copies.

"As fun as that sounds, Dante, we're kinda on the clock," he said as he approached the obelisk in order to get a closer look. "There's gotta be some way we can trick this thing into opening up without all the trouble kicking some loser ass again."

True, he wasn't like Giles or Willow, but then neither was Arkham, so there had to be a crack in the design he could use to his advantage.

Reaching out with this right hand he touched the closest jewel to see if there was anything he could sense about it with his new body that might point him in the right direction. It was then that some higher power decided to make things easy because, the moment he touched the jewel, two things happened. First the amulet around his neck began to glow with an inner light of AND out of nowhere a portal appeared where the arrayed jewels had once been.

Hopping back in shock, he almost waited for some sort of gigantic monster head to pop out and try to eat him, but when nothing happened he let his relief show.

"Not what I was hoping for but it's all good," Dante said, genuinely sounding a little disappointed that he couldn't have some fun.

Then without further comment he leapt through the portal to the other side.

"Huh. You'd think that he'd have heard of the saying 'ladies first', right?" he asked Mary with mock disappointment in his tone.

"I think his mom must've missed that lesson," Mary said before charging the portal. "Good thing I'm in the mood to give him a refresher course!"

With surprising height his partner managed to leap through the portal, vanishing from view.

"I'd like to think that Buffy and Willow would be proud of me right now," he said with a grin before following the two other members of the trio group.

When he landed on the other side he found out that it wasn't really dirt or anything ground at all but rather a vast lake of what appeared to be blood. Sticking out of it at random points were various stone items like pillars, statues and, ominously enough, grave stones, and this made him think that they'd gotten a little closer to hell with this latest jump.

"So we're going from gauntlet running to mind fucking, eh?" he asked rhetorically as he gazed at the horror movie set.

Then out of nowhere something leapt out of the blood beneath their feet and, when his eyes fixed on the cause, he realized that he was getting a combo of fighting and fear. Pulling Praeteritum and Mellontikós from their sheathes he took up a support position next to Mary since keeping her safe was his number one priority. Looking at the pitch fork wielding demons of red and white, he did what he could to evaluate how big a threat they were as well as the best way to slay them. For a moment he figured them for powerhouses that moved slow but hurt big if they managed to land a hit. This analysis changed in a big way when two of them leapt at him with greater speed than he'd been expecting. Swinging one sword at the threat closest, he peripherally kept track of the second one, bringing up his other scimitar to block the incoming attack.

His initial assault succeeded in parting the lead demon's flesh but, to his surprise, it flowed back together half as fast as it'd been separated.

"Great! They're quick healers!" he said even as he twisted the blocked weapon to the side before chopping off its head.

"Let's see them heal from this!" Mary said, bringing her rocket launcher to bear before firing at a cluster of demons.

This proved to only be partially effective because, while one demon did die from the hit, the others proved to be swift enough to evade the explosive projectile. Swift evasion and swift attacks all done in the blink of an eye without any real intermediate period to speak of. If he wanted to kill them all he'd need to turn the tables on them and beat them to the punch with one hit kills, otherwise the odds of this taking too long went up.

Use us, came the voices of his weapons in his head. Unleash your inner Devil and in combination with us we will end them all before they realize what's happened.

Deciding to see what the spirits of his weapons had in mind he drew his inner power, inducing the change from human to demon, before channeling some of the power into them. Almost as if they had a will of their own they were drawn together until their pommels made contact and then something happened that he had not seen coming. The pommels merged together but then a length of steel grew out rapidly between the two of them, turning twin swords into a dual bladed naginata that reminded him of a fan blade to be perfectly honest. Then, as though bidden by inner impulses, he spun the weapon around him and in an instant he suddenly found himself behind one of the demons. Not looking a good opening in the mouth he brought the top blade down hard, cleaving the demon into two halves.

Deciding that one good turn deserved another he spun the weapon again and the world changed around him, placing him once more in a favorable position to deal a fatal blow to another demon. He managed this three more times before he did not have sufficient devil energy inside him to maintain his transformed state. In an instant he snapped back to his normal human appearance and the dual bladed naginata once more became the twin scimitars Praeteritum and Mellontikós.

"Nice! A little draining but nice!" he said as he watched Dante take down a demon with a series of stabs that were made almost faster than he could see.

With one final stab the demon was sent flying through the air and then through one of the tombstones sticking out of the surface of the lake of blood. Turning to where Mary was, he saw her take down another with a combination of acrobatics and focused firepower from both her submachine gun as well as her CZ-75. Checking the immediate area for any further threats, he was glad to see that there were zero hostiles visible to his eyes and, looking down he couldn't spot signs of anything living submerged beneath them.

Still, it wasn't until a new portal flashed into existence that he concluded that they had cleared the metaphorical level and were allowed to go to the next one.

Yep! Definitely wants us there for his big debut, he thought as he figured out what the architect of his current adventure wanted. Guess I better not disappoint him then.