Kat and Dante have been reunited, but the sight of Dante's partner, Shigure, brings forth immense amounts of jealousy. Vergil comforts her by reminding her that he cared about her a lot. The two will take their relationship slow.

Chapter 24

Hail of Fire

The four of them finally reached the top of the mountain early in the morning. Kat stopped them at a temple like courtyard overlooking the savana for miles. Kat had mellowed by now and took Vergil's advice, focusing on the mission at hand.

"You'll have to bring the demon into the real world to kill him. So you'll have to defeat him twice." She laid out the cut out of the glyph and sprayed it down. "There you go."

Vergil approached the glyph and hugged Kat.

"Good luck." She smiled at him. Vergil and Dante stood on the glyph and slowly faded away into Limbo. The ground around them broke apart and they were suddenly standing on a platform floating in space. No other platforms were there other than widened tree branches leading upward to their giant sorce. The twins could see the source of the abnormal weather pattern in the distance. The area before would have been mere feet away, but since they were in Limbo the ground had broken apart and distanced them from their objective between several floating platforms with demons waiting for them.

The one demon that stood out the most was also the farthest away. A huge demon dressed half in heavy armor and half in long brown robes. His clawed gauntlets were raised in the sky, glowing in an aura that called upon his power of the weather. They could see huge chunks of what was once hail, but was now giant frozen boulders that were somehow engulfed in flames. The Demon had his back turned to the brothers and was focused on the deity statue of the temple.

Vergil grabbed Yamato and looked to Dante who nodded and pulled out the three bladed Cerberus. He flung it upward and the blade extended in length snaking around and sticking itself into a levitating boulder, the powers on his angel claw had shown. A white blade stuck in the same one and Vergil followed his brother. Dante gave himself a kick off the thick Limbo air and glided down to the first platform. Vergil appeared in a blue cloud and pulled out War's shield and chain defensively knocking a demon back.

Suddenly a wall of fire separated the brothers from half of the demon giving them enough time to fight off the ones behind them. Vergil ducked as Dante sliced through a death knight in front of them, then upon standing Vergil flung his shield upward knocking them back. The firewall faded and Dante tapped Cerberus on the ground bringing up a stone wall then turning around to fight off the other half.

He deflected a hooked sword then ducked as Vergil's chain snaked its way past him, coiling itself around one of the demons. Then he swung the demon around them destroying the stone wall and sweeping half of the demons over the edge of the platform. The other half of the wave jumped at Dante who jumped back and pointed Cerberus at them, which extended forming a claw at the end. The claw stuck into the ground and pulled Dante down to the middle of the crowd.

Six hook swords raise above him ready to strike him down. Suddenly he opened his eyes and spun in a circle slicing through two demons then blocking the rest at once. He kicked himself back and flung the huge blade which then threw a bright white spinning disk at them that spun around them cutting them like Aquila would. Within seconds it slowed and Dante charged in to finish them. He dashed forward and began rapidly stabbing faster than the eye could see. Vergil didn't try to keep count but he did anyway, ten thousand.

Dante looked at his brother and grinned with Cerberus resting on his shoulder. "Don't worry. I got em!"

Vergil smirked and walked past him. "There's a good boy."

They took a huge leap landing perfectly on the fat root of the levitating tree and eyeballed the demon ruling this section. His pointed fingers glowed with the orange energy of the weather condition he was creating. Just then a giant chunk of white hail struck the tree nearly taking it apart. Vergil and Dante stumbled away and looked up at the other falling chunks of hail.

"Guys!" Kat said in her transparent psychic form. "That Hail looks too hot. Avoid them at all cost or you'll burn alive."

Vergil winked at Kat. "Thanks Kat."

The vision blushed and looked away before fading away.

Kat looked at Shigure who was taken back by the way she seemed to be talking to no one. Though the thing that made the swordswoman even more uncomfortable was the amount of Chi radiating off her. Something was wrong.

"Is something... wrong?" She asked in her usual blank tone.

Kat glared at Shigure and folded her arms in a pouty manner. "No. Everything's fine."

She stepped back into her line of sight with a blank look and shook her head. "No it's not."

"Look, I'm fine alright!"

Shigure had a hunch as to why she was mad. The story Dante told her about Kat made it obvious of the girl's infatuation. Even if Dante didn't notice it.

"You don't... like me with Dante." Shigure said.

The girl gasped going red in the face." What? You mean jealous? No fucking way!"

"You can't... lie."

Kat looked at the Japanese woman's piercing gaze which seemed to melt her defiance. This woman was good, she had to give her that.

Kat glowered at the woman, but such a look did not phase her. Shigure only stared blankly back at her. She looked back at the rift. "Whatever. How did you two meet anyway?"

Shigure looked off into the sunset with a smile on her face. "He came to my dojo, after being brought to this world... he was hurt... So my family and I helped him... However, he never did leave..."

Kat nodded. "So you sort of saved his life?"

She nodded with an even bigger smile. The thought made her even more happy, Shigure did save his life.

Kat nodded remembering she also saved his life in a strange way. "So how did all this... romance happen?"

Shigure touched her lower lip to think about it. "At the start we sort of liked each other... I guess I realized I loved him after he defeated the most powerful martial artists in the world... both of them."

Kat lightly chuckled at that. "Yeah. That's not surprising. The first time I met him he took out a giant Hunter demon like it was nothing."

Shigure smiled at the thought. "After that, our relationship sort of... kept going. What about Vergil, how did you meet him?"

Kat gasped at the thought then looked down at the memory. She was in a big mansion in Limbo hiding from demons. They had cornered her snarling and shinking their swords together ready to kill her. Kat was helpless and simply sat there waiting for the inevitable last stoke that would end her life. Then suddenly he appeared. Vergil stood in their way and blocked their strikes. Then he took all five of them out with a single stroke.

'Are you alright?' He looked over his shoulder with a warm smile.

The man was so beautiful the only thing she could think to do was nod with a dumbfounded look on her face.

His smile widened. 'Come on. Stay close to me.'

Vergil was so kind back then, but now he was all about business. If only he could change back. But maybe love. It seemed to change Dante quite a bit, why not Vergil?

"How did you get Dante to like you?" Kat asked with her arms folded.

Shigure shrugged. "He was interested from the start. The only thing that got him to show it was when I showed him my feelings for him."

Kat nodded. "Showing my feelings. Vergil's a tough nut, but it could work. Thank you."

Shigure nodded and looked off again.

Kat was still curious about this woman though, but she couldn't think of anything so she was left staring at her in an awkward silence. Sex questions? No way too personal.

Suddenly seeming to be lost in her though, Shigure looked at her belly and placed a hand over it. With a warm, caring smile she rubbed her flat belly in a motherly fashion. Kat's eyebrows nearly raised to her hairline and the star tattoo on her forehead crinkled.

"You're pregnant!?" She blurted out immediately feeling rude as hell. Obviously there was a more polite way to ask.

Though Shigure looked at her with the same smile and nodded. "Yes. I just recently found out."

Kat stumbled back and brushed her hair out of her face to take it in. "So it's Dante's?"

She nodded again.

"Woah. Well congratulations I gue-"

Suddenly their ears were taken as a high pitched whistling sound could be heard from behind them. Shigure looked over and saw what Kat was staring at, her hand already on the cloth wrapped hilt of her Chi-kata sword.

Two blue demons were flying through the hail at them. The tone of their body matched that of the hail and it was clear that they were made of ice. One arm was normal while the other was rather bulky and make for blunt damage. Shigure knew already that the arm was a means of defense for them. Their lizard like faces showed a row of pointed ice teeth and a long tail trailed behind them as they came to a landing from their giant leap.

Shigure pulled out her lightning blade and held it in front of her defensively, pushing Kat behind her. The girl had come unprepared for battle, so Shigure would have to protect her.

"Stay behind... me." She said.

One of the giant arms came down and dug into the dirt which erupted a sheet of ice across the ground that began to crawl toward the two girls. Shigure gasped and grabbed Kat's hand then jumped over the ice. They landed and the ice melted.

"Shit." Kat whimpered. "These guys are seriously bad news."

Shigure stood firm and looked over her shoulder at Kat. "Don't worry... Dante has... given me strength... I won't lose."

The two Frosts were quick to change tactics however. In an instant Shigure could see their giant bodies fizzle away until they were gone. Completely. But she could still hear and see their foot steps. Cautiously, the weapons mistress began stepping back while pushing Kat with her.

As they stepped the sounds of the demons' growling and footsteps followed them. Shigure kept her eyes on the footprints that imbeded in the ground. Shigure kept her senses sharp which wasn't needed for long since a sheet of ice began following them as well.

It was so fast in fact that they quickly found it under their feet. "Look out!" Shigure threw Kat to the side then jumped up in the air. As she did the ice exploded from underneath them and ice spikes nearly missed the air born swords woman.

At that one of the Frosts reappeared and stood over Kat. Shigure was still ariborn and knew now that thwe spikes were to separate them. She couldn't attack it until she landed, but thanks to Dante's enchantment this sword was now a lightning powered weapon.

With the flick of her wrist the Chikata charged with a bolt of electricity and pulled a giant blue bolt out of the sky , striking the frost head on. She landed lightly in front of Kat then looked up through the hole in the demon's chest. The next instant all that was left of it was sand followed by moth flying away.

She turned around then suddenly found herself being thrown back by the Frost's hit and landed hard on her back.

"Shigure!" Kat was still helpless but it was Shigure now being attacked.

The giant crystal like demon reappeared before her then tucked in it's shield like arm, floating in midair. Shigure scrambled to get her footing then suddenly the Frost picked up speed and flew right at her once again. She wasn't yet on her feet, but she managed to kick herself to the right before the demon could reach her.

The Frost sped right past her, but now it was close to Kat. This demon had no prejudice and clearly didn't care which on it killed first. It lifted it's giant arm above the girl. Shigure had to think quickly. This girl couldn't fight for herself, which meant she had to protect her. Shigure jumped forward in a panic.

"No!" Was all she shouted as she sliced the demon clean through it's arm, then she pointed her sword toward the sky calling a bolt of lightning to the weapon.

After that the swordswoman jumped at the demon again slicing the other arm off, before landing in front of Kat, protecting her. Shigure looked down at the girl who could only stare at her with her jaw wide open. The demon roared with fury, and at that Shigure turned around and flung her blade at it, throwing a slash of light at it which hit it right in the middle of the chest. Then as soon as the attack hit a bolt of lightning jolted from the sky and struck the huge demon.

She and Kat sat next to each other, helplessly looking up at the demon as it stumbled toward them with no arms but still trying hard to attack them. It's mouth opened showing rows of crystal like teeth and it leaned in toward Shigure very closely. Kat's eyes widened and she tried to scoot away, but Shigure simply picked up her sword and drove it into the demon's mouth and through the back of its head. At that the frost demon like his companion turned to sand and a moth flew from its ashes.

Shigure kicked off the sand and backed up, putting her sword away. Kat hugged her knees panting with relief. "Whew. That was fucking close." She looked over at the woman who saved her, who just stared at the pile of sand without expression. "Was that your first demon?"

Shigure shook her head. "No. I have before. But not this strong."

Kat chuckled lightly. "Hehe. I've never even killed one before. I've always relied on Vergil or Dante... Either way. Thank you."

Shigure smiled lightly then looked at the light orange sunset. "I wonder how those two are doing?"

Dante and Vergil were having quite a tough time themselves. Hail of Fire was not only stronger than many other demons they have fought, but he was faster and more overwhelming. His hail flew at them like rain and the brothers had no opening to attack. All they could do was hide behind War's shield as the huge flaming ice balls banged against it.

"Fuckin ay!" Dante shouted. "This guy doesn't let up!"

"I know." Vergil replied. "We need to find an opening."

"Fucking spamming bitch!" Dante shouted.

Hail kept throwing the ice chunks at them laughing hysterically as he did so. "I can't believe you two killed Mundus! hahah!"

Dante listened carefully for anything odd, but the only thing was that the hail was in a thin beam shooting in many different places on the shield, but not that wide apart.

"I got it. Throw your chain around at him!" Dante shouted.

Vergil nodded and gripped his chain lightly then Dante nodded for him to start. The chain clinked around to the demon's far side, but he caught it with ease. By that time Dante had thrown a giant boulder at it.

Hail let go of Vergil's chain and turned to defend the boulder, hearing hundreds of thunderous booms. The hail demon crushed the boulder and ran forward with a bloodlust battle cry. Dante stood firm with a smirk as Hail saw his tactics.

Cerberus was airborne and Dante had thrown it so fast it seemed to be catching fire. Or maybe he caused that with the sword's powers. The weapon was going too fast for Hail to dodge and got impaled.

"Hah!" Dante laughed and jumped up into the air with ebony and ivory crossed.

He fired as many times as he could with precision so great that they hit each other and made the other go faster. Cerberus then broke through Hail which finished him off and turned him to dust.

The next thing they knew the brothers were back in the real world. Vergil looked over War's shield. He then stuck out his hand and sucked in the remaining soul of Hail.

Dante looked over at his brother and saw him holding a small crossbow. On the end was the mouth of a dragon and underneath it was what looked like a drum.

Dante and Vergil have defeated Hail of Fire. Thus slowing down that part of the prophecy.