Chapter 10: Goodbye

Nero slashed his sword across Ellicott's chest, causing him to fly backward and howl in pain. He flicked its tail in annoyance and attacked again, bringing both of his arms down on top of Nero.

Nero was able to block the attack with his sword, but the demon's tail swiped across his chest, knocking him backward. As he fell the demon lunged forward with its claw. For a brief moment Nero could see the every detail on the claw, but then it was gone.

Dante stood in front of him with his sword raised in front of him. The demon's claw sailed over both of their heads and landed behind them with a faint thud. Ellicott roared in pain and retreated from the two hunters in one giant leap.

"You alright kid?" Dante asked, not taking his eyes off of Ellicott.

"I'm fine." Nero answered, letting his demonic aura fade away.

"Well good, cause here he comes!"

The demon roared again and charged forward. As it came closer Dante dodged to the left, pulling out his gun and firing multiple shots into the monster's side. Nero moved to the demon's right and dragged his sword along its body, creating a deep gash in its side.

As both hunters finished their attacks, Ellicott fell into the ground with a small howl of pain. Dante and Nero sheathed their weapons, and with one last look at the doctor, turned back toward Leon.

"Man, you know what sounds so good right now?" Dante asked.

"What?" Nero responded, though he already knew the answer.

"A pizza." Nero rolled his eyes, and glanced over at Leon.

However, before he could open his mouth, there came a gurgling sound behind him. Both he and Dante spun around to face the noise. The place where Ellicott should have been was vacant. Nero looked around, but could see no trace of the doctor.

"Look out!"

Nero turned to face Leon and watched as the agent pulled his rocket launcher into a firing position. Nero noticed that Leon was aiming upward, toward the roof. Nero glanced up it time to see the demon flying in the air toward him and Dante.

However, before it could reach its target, Leon fired the rocket launcher. The force of the blast sent the demon sprawling backward, but it didn't seem to do much damage as the beast landed on its hind legs and charged again.

"Move!" Leon yelled.

Nero didn't question the agents order and back flipped away from the demon. A second later another rocket shot past him. Nero landed next to Leon and watched as the rocket exploded directly in front of the demon.

For a moment Nero believed that this time the blast had killed Ellicott. Sadly, he was mistaken. The demon erupted from the explosion, charging at them at full speed.

"What now?" Dante asked as he appeared on Leon's other side.

Leon shrugged off the rocket launcher and threw it behind them. He pulled out his machine gun and checked it. Releasing that he had no ammo left, he threw that off to the side too and pulled out his two handguns.

"Now, we do this the old fashioned way." He replied.

Dante seemed to like that answer, for he smiled at Leon before shifting his gaze to Nero.

"Ready kid?"

"Ready," Nero lifted his sword, "and would stop calling me kid."

Dante only smiled at him.

Together the three of them charged the demon, but they were forced to stop as an arc of lightning cut between their path. All three of them looked up at once as voiced called down.

"You boys need some help?"

Trish landed gracefully in front of them, her blonde hair settling along her back. Not a minute later Lady landed next to her, setting her giant gun next to her. She leaned against it and smiled at the three of them.

"Yeah, heard you guys were having a party."

"I'm Trish, by the way." The blonde turned to face Leon and smiled at him.

"Leon." Was all the man said, giving her a small nod.

"Hey Trish…" The blonde glanced at Dante, who only pointed a finger at the demon approaching them.

Trish turned to look at it and pouted.

"What, that big old thing?" She said, giving it a once over. "You seriously can't be having trouble with it."

Dante set his sword in front of him and leaned on it.

"It's got a bigger bike than its bark. Why don't you two ladies give it a shot?" He answered with a smile.

Trish rolled her eyes and looked at Lady, who shrugged at her in turn.

"I've been dealing with small fry all day. I need a real warm up."

~:0:~

Leon watched in awe as the two female hunters took down Ellicott. The one in all black, Trish, was fast; almost too fast for him to follow. She carried two guns with her, like Dante, and was just as good with them as he was.

She was able to fire multiple rounds off before dodging his attacks with simple ease. What really fascinated Leon, was her ability to control lightning. Every time Trish called down a lightning strike, the entire space would light up and Leon could feel the power coursing through the floor.

Lady was just as good. As far as Leon could tell, she didn't have any special powers, but she moved almost as fast as Dante and Nero, considering she had the huge gun on her as well.

Lady and Trish moved together with expert precision. After each round Trish fired off, Lady would swoop in and fire at the demon, causing it to lose its balance, at which point Trish would fire again.

"You know, I'm getting pretty bored just watching these two fight." Dante said, lifting his sword out of the ground.

"Why don't we finish it off before they do?"

"Dante, please tell me you are not turning this into a competition!" Nero exclaimed.

"Why?" The older hunter laughed. "Afraid you'll lose?"

The two hunters glared at each other until Leon interrupted them.

"So are we going to finish this, or you two going to have another staring contest?"

Nero and Dante smiled at him.

"Yeah! Let's rock!"

~:0:~

Once all five of them were fighting the demon, it didn't take very long to defeat. After the last sword lash, Ellicott dissolved into nothingness and the five of them were able to make their way out of the nearly destroyed building.

Not long after the building collapsed onto itself, showering them all in dust and debris. Trish and Lady each stated their goodbyes before disappearing back into the city. Nero left not long after in order to reunite with Patty and Kyrie.

That left Dante and Leon alone in the middle of an empty, completely destroyed street surrounded by nothing but debris. Leon surveyed the area around them before sighing.

"What's up?" Dante asked.

Leon gestured to every thing around them.

"I'm going to have to report all this."

For some odd reason that made Dante laugh. After a moment of hesitation, Leon joined in too, though he wasn't really sure why he was laughing.

Leon stopped laughing as the sound of helicopter could be heard. He looked to the South to see a special unit helicopter flying towards them.

"Look's like my ride is here."

The two men remained silent until the helicopter landed a few yards away from them. The pilot didn't turn the aircraft off, so Leon assumed that there would be no time for long goodbyes.

"See you around?" He asked the hunter.

Dante smiled at him and gave him a mock solute.

"You know where to find me."

With that the hunter turned away from him and started walking down the street. Leon smiled and began making his way toward the helicopter. As soon as he stepped inside, the doors closed behind him and he was given a headset.

"Leon?"

Hunnigan's voice sounded as soon as he placed the headset on.

"How was your trip?"

Leon let out a short laugh.

"You wouldn't believe what I've seen Hunnigan."

There was a short silence between them.

"Try me."

~:0:~

End