DMC4: The-Devil's Arm

Fortuna Castle

The blizzard was about to kick in again. It was so dark, it may as well have been night. Dante strolled along one of the inner courtyards of the castle. The place reminded him of the castle from Mallet Island a few years back. Always interested in architecture, Dante took his time in his surroundings, despite his rush to get things done.

Mallet Island wasn't this nice, that's for sure.

He passed a small balcony jutting out from the courtyard. A distant bolt of thunder rumbled. Even Dante knew that lightening and thunder during a snowstorm was uncommon, though not far from nonexistent. Just the way it sounded gave it away.

A clap of lightening sounded close, striking one of the tall steeples that surrounded the balcony. When it cleared, there was a sleek, muscular creature clinging to it. It's body was covered by strips of white armor, probably it's own bones, and striped with bulging muscles. Yellow lightening constantly arced over it's body. It looked, in a word, pretty cool.

"Heh, yeah..." Dante whispered in approval.

The demon seemed to perk up at his words, then shuddered as it the crackling of energy intensified. It flashed, vanishing, then appeared on the balcony before Dante in the blink of an eye. It flashed again, then again, and again...it vanished and reappeared dozens of times in the air, always in a different spot, until it lunged for the devil hunter suddenly.

Dante was already bringing Rebellion down to meet it, but it disappeared again just as the blade was about to connect; the blade struck nothing but stone. The demon popped to half a dozen locations before stopping a few meters from him.

Oooohh baby...he's got a bit of bite on him...now what do I call your fugly face?

Even though he didn't hit the demon, he felt a tingle of electricity through his blade as it passed close. The demon roared and stretched its arms; a bolt of lightening shot out from it into the castle steeples, shattering them.

...blitzen? Nah, just blitz.

He'd also gotten a good look at it's mug; he didn't see any eyes, which meant that it hunted on sound or smell, or a combination of the two.

The blitz went into a frenzy of jumps, appearing all over the courtyard for no more than a second at a time. Dante didn't move, instead letting his eyes do the tracking. On the next pass it made, it paused for a second longer, then dove with outstretched claws. Dante skated to the side and whipped out Ebony & Ivory, giving it a brief volley. The rounds connected with a flurry of sparks, then the demon went into another spazz of teleporting.

It appeared above him. Dante fired. To the left; he fired again. It popped to his right, and he ducked under a wide swipe, then returned fire. It was all around him, appearing and reappearing again and again. Dante spun, skated, and turned in circles around the balcony, firing in each dizzying direction.

With a whirl of his red coat, he clipped it as it appeared, then prepared to move again. It suddenly vanished. The only sound was the last report from Ebony's barrel. Then, he felt the tingling in his skin, and his hair standing up on end. Dante leaped back as the the blitz appeared on top of him, sending sprays of electricity into the air.

It paused for a second too long, giving the devil hunter all the time he needed to unload his guns into it. The beast stumbled, electricity flickering weakly. Then, it fizzled out entirely. Dante bolted forward, opening up Gilgamesh's exhaust ports. He pummeled the demon with his fists and legs, ending with a duo of kicks that knocked it up into the air.

When it crumpled to the ground, Dante drew his fist back. The rocket burned furiously on it, but he held it in check with his strength. He thrust his fist forward in an uppercut, socking the blitz in the gut. Propelled by strength and fire, he soared upward, drilling into the bone armor of the demon.