Devil May Cry: Revolution

Chapter 17.5

"We wait for him to recuperate. Then we're in for one hell of a shit show..." Those words didn't sit well with Dante and the group. It had been a little over an hour now and there was still no sign of the demon kings father. The remains of the palace had been reduced to no more than a pile of glowing embers and the thick black smoke rose all around them turning the sky a dull grey while the ground was alight with the glow from the debris.

"How much longer are you gonna be in that wolf form...?" Nero's question snapped Dante out of his thoughts and he turned his head to look at Memphis laying on the ground still in his large wolven body.

"As long as I please..." The king snarled sarcastically. Nero just made a face ignoring the harsh tone in Memphis' voice.

"No I'm serious. How much longer? You can't really do much against Jesileth as wolf..."

"I don't know how much longer kid, my body's worn out. It could take anywhere from a few hours to a few days to change back unless I can find some way to force the change but even that's draining..."

"So in other words you're stuck like this..." Vergil more spat then asked. "Perhaps changing into this wolf of yours wasn't the brightest of ideas..."

"Would you rather of stayed in that palace and found your own way out half breed?" Memphis growled baring his fangs angrily.

"To me it seems that you don't really know what you're doing anymore..."

"Verg come on..." Dante huffed tiredly. "We're all tired, we're all cranky and we all want this battle to be over but fighting with the high strung king here isn't gonna make this end any quicker..."

"Dante's right Vergil." Fin cut in. "As long as Jesileth is here all our energy must be focused on him lest we fall at his hands for lack of concentration..."

"Hey..." Summit interrupted lost in his own mind.

"What?" Fin replied with a sigh looking overly annoyed with his brother.

"Hmm? Oh.. I was just wondering where the hell Red Eyes scampered off to is all..."

"Now that you mention it, I haven't seen the bastard since Memphis started that fight with Dante back in the palace.." Nero added looking around.

"I'm sure it's no cause for concern." Crasious stated nonchalantly. "As powerful as he is, he needs a host to use any of his strength and he hasn't had one since Lucien cast him out..."

"Alright, that makes it a little better... But it's still concerning... How would we know if he's taken root in someone?" Nero asked.

"You wouldn't..." Crasious replied.

"Then how could we find out?"

"You'd have to wait for him to take over, then it would be quite obvious."

"That doesn't tell me how though..."

"Well, the host would look like Lucien. Black hair, crimson eyes, long black coat..." Before Crasious could continue Memphis stood up, his wolven eyes fixed on the burning embers of the palace.

"This is it..." He growled pointing his ears flat back against his furred head. The small group jumped to their feet when a loud rumbling noise began to shake the air around them and the ground beneath them making it split and crack. The three half devil's drew their weapons and prepared for what was likely to be their toughest fight since this whole journey began.

"Kyrie, go and hide till this is over..." Nero demanded pushing her back with his Devil Bringer.

"Nero no, I won't le-..." She was cut off before she could finish.

"I don't think that was a question woman that was an order. Now leave." Vergil hissed angrily. Kyrie merely looked at him put off before looking back to Nero concerned.

"Nero..." She pleaded.

"Nero and Vergil are right miss. You'll need to get out of here while you can." Crasious motioned to her to follow a troop he had summoned to take her out of the line of battle. Reluctantly Kyrie kissed Nero for luck and left with the demon kings troop.

"Now that that's outta the way we can focus on the matter at hand..." Summit said flatly. Almost in response the all too familiar fifty storey shadow loomed in the smoke followed by an ear splitting roar.

Jesileth had finally recuperated, and now he was out for blood.

"Where are you young demon spawn... Do not hide from your fate..." His smoky voice carried across the burning plains through the thick black smog as the Earth shook with each step he took until the group of warriors was in his line of view. "Ahhh... There you are..."

"Took you long enough you old bastard..." Memphis barked disgusted. His father simply snorted a puff of smoke from his nose in response.

"Pity you're stuck like that boy... I was looking forward to hearing your pathetic cries when I crushed you..." That's when it hit Dante. Jesileth couldn't understand what Memphis was saying, all he could hear was barking and growling.

"Hey, this gives me an idea." He whispered to his comrades. "Looks like ol' Tennessee was tellin the truth, you can't understand him unless he's submitted like he did back in the palace"

"What are you getting at Dante..." Vergil hissed.

"Well, if Jesileth can't understand him we could take advantage of that and use it against him in battle."

"How's that gonna help us beat him old timer?" Nero asked quite sure this was another of Dante's death campaigns.

"Think about it. Memphis is his son and their both a HELL of a lot older than any of us. They even seemed older then Pops." Dante replied with a slight grin.

"What's your point Dante?!" Vergil growled growing rather impatient with his brother.

"Memphis has probably tried to kill this guy hundreds, if not THOUSANDS of times before so he's gotta know what works and what doesn't and as long as Jesileth can't understand him he can point us in the right direction and he won't know what the hell's going on because all he'll hear is..." Dante turned his head and held his hand out motioning for them to finish his sentence hoping they'd gotten his point now.

"All he'll hear is barking and growling... Huh wow Dante, you're not as dumb as you look sometimes." Nero half joked.

"Ha ha, very funny kid. But listen, we need to get Tennessee's attention long enough to give him the idea of what we want him to do." Dante looked to Fin and Summit who had been listening in on what he was saying.

"I'll keep Memphis out of the fight so he can instruct you and recuperate long enough to change himself back. Until then be EXTREMELY cautious. Jesileth is more likely to eat you alive then wait for Memphis to bark his commands out..." Fin stated harshly and nodded in turn with the half devils as they walked into battle, weapons drawn.

"What the hell are those idiots doing?!" Memphis growled ready to bolt after them only to be stopped by Fin. "Outta the way Bat..."

"Memphis, listen. The boys have come up with a plan and I need you to stay out of the fight and coach them in this..." Fin looked Memphis in the eye long and hard until he sighed understanding what he meant.

"Alright, what do I have to do...?"