The Bounty Hunter

April 1st, 2090

Terra’s POV

The undead gathered around me as they stared down Dante and his demonic and human troops.  The one-sided battle has turned around completely since my large-scale necromantic ritual.  The undead don’t tire, do not feel fear, and are intimidating to boot.  Although I had the crystal ready for a power boost, I hadn’t intended it for this specifically.  Nor did I expect it to be so widespread and powerful.  Although when I think about it, it makes sense.

The invasion has caused casualties across the country that are numbering in the hundreds of thousands if not millions.  Necromancy is at its strongest in places of death, particularly if it’s fresh.  Furthermore, Japan and China have had a long history, fraught with rivalry and conflict.  That history and the desire to protect one’s home is what I think made my call to arms resonate with the dead from all eras of Japan.  I was almost as surprised as Dante to see the ghosts of samurai, veterans of WWIII, and others appear alongside the corpses of the dead.  It just goes to show how much there is to magic that I have yet to learn.  If science is dedicated to facts and knowledge, then magic is dedicated to belief and feeling. 

With the warriors of those who had died for Japan behind me, we have rallied.  The girls have successfully eliminated Dante’s lieutenants, with the exception of Jumbo, who no one has seen since Dante punted him away at the start of our battle.  The JSDF has arrived, and along with help from the girls and the undead, are clearing the city of both Pandemonium and the Chinese army.  The frenzied lesser demons have foolishly tried to stay and fight rather than regroup, meaning that if I can kill Dante here, Pandemonium will fall.

“Finish them.”  At my words, the undead horde of rotting flesh and bone and ectoplasm charged forward.  Ghastly cries of hate filled the air as the fallen of Tokyo went to claim vengeance against the invaders who killed them.  The Chinese troops formed a firing line, riddling the oncoming undead with bullets and lasers.  The Pandemonium members threw spells into the mix, with the larger demons charging into the horde.  They bellowed in bloodlust as their horn and fang and claw tore into the putrid flesh.

I teleported above the mosh pit of violence, trading blows with Dante as he mirrored my action.  I teleported again, forcing Dante to mimic me once more to keep up.  I did an overhead chop, which Dante held out his was-sceptre upwards to block.  Before I finished my motion, I did a short-range teleportation, appearing between Dante and his staff.  I headbutted him, knocking him down into the melee.  Before he could reappear, I seized the was-sceptre and claimed it as my own.  Dante cut out a large swathe from the warring combatants below me, and then took to the air once more to face me as I wielded his former weapon.

“It’s going to be over soon, Dante.  Your lieutenants are dead, the other demons are being exterminated, and you don’t have enough power to ward off the dead and me.  I will be standing over your corpse before the dawn.”  I said intimidatingly as I prepared for another exchange of blows.  Contrary to my expectations, Dante snickered at my words.

“Darling, you continue to underestimate me.  Who cares about some minions, demon or not?  I am Pandemonium!  And I would never leave my dreams of an inferno of fun to chance.  You have your ace-in-the-hole and I have mine.  And my ace-in-the-hole is way better, and thus by the dawn my ace will be in your hole.”  He said in a creepy tone of voice as he pulled out a ring.  He must have been shielding it before, because now that I saw it I could sense the crazy amounts of mana and malice contained within it.  “I said this before, but back when your world had magic there were some truly scary people.  Take this King Solomon guy.  He not only decimated the last demon lord to have come along here on Earth, he compressed its essence into this ring, and then used said ring to usurp the demon lord’s authority and control his former minions!” 

Before I could try and stop him, Dante swallowed the Seal of Solomon whole.  “Yum, that was delicious.  Now darling, what do you get when you combine two demon lords?  A DEMON KING!”  he roared as his mana spiked to an impossible level.  The demons around him along with the Chinese soldiers died under the pressure of his new demonic aura.  The undead were banished back to death, even the ethereal ghosts could not withstand it.  Our surroundings were already devoid of buildings that were still standing, but the rubble was crushed into a fine powder.  Damnit, this is like when I faced Jupon!  Heros and Demon Kings, why can’t I face a pushover for once?!?!  I tensed before flaring my entire mana capacity to maximum output.  I can reinforce myself for about 30 seconds to a level on which I can resist Dante.  Fuck!

Dante vanished from my sight, crossing the dozens of the meters as if he teleported.  I took a fist to the face, breaking most of the bones there, and was flung across the empty expanse that once was Tokyo’s downtown district.  My trajectory led me into another skyscraper on the edge of wasteland, busting through it and another two behind it.  Waiting for me behind my 3 building detour was Dante, where he drop kicked me into the street below.  My impact created a large crater and a subsequent tremor of such magnitude that the 3 skyscrapers I had just broken through toppled as their weakened foundations gave way.

I managed to teleport from the several tons of falling steel, glass, and concrete.  I didn’t have time to counter-attack, being forced to throw up a barrier to try and stop the blast of hellfire sent my way.  It failed miserably, doing just barely enough to prevent my instant demise.  My body was charred, with a variety of full thickness burns adorning my skin.  I was blasted back into the wasteland as the entire square mile where I had been burned with hellfire.

Dante appeared in the sky above me, pitch black storm clouds gathering around him.  Crimson lightning was generated, and then sent down to strike me with a vengeance.  I jerked around as the millions if not billions of volts tore my body up internally.  Great, I’m now charred inside and out.  When it ended, I managed to get to my feet unsteadily.  My 30 seconds finished at this point.  What?  I said I would be able to resist him, not fight him.  Any attack beyond this point will kill me for sure.  Dante likely realized this as well, choosing to increase gravity to what seemed like 1000 times normal around me.

I was forced to kneel as I desperately tried to overcome the enhanced gravity.  “DO YOU KNOW WHY I DIDN’T USE THIS BEFORE?  BECAUSE IT’S NO FUN TO USE A CHEAT CODE TO WIN THE GAME!!!”  Dante said, his very voice bombarding me like a series of intense blows.  Several buildings in the distance crumbled from his voice alone.  “BUT YOU HAVE PROVEN TO BE FAR MORE WORTHY AN OPPONENT THAN I EXPECTED.  I WAS RIGHT TO KEEP THIS RELIC IN RESERVE.  NOW IT’S OVER AND I SHALL CONQUER THIS WORLD!!!!”  Dante gloated as he walked, his very footsteps causing the ground to quiver.

I futilely struggled to stand up, an effort that did not escape Dante’s notice.  “I HAVE POWER TO RIVAL THE GODS, SOMETHING NOT EVEN A HEROINE LIKE YOURSELF CAN RESIST!!!”  Dante stopped within arm’s reach of my kneeling form.  He lifted an arm up towards the sky, gathering mana comparable to what I’ve done in the other world.  Wait…  Dante launched his spell into the night sky, extinguishing my golden sun with ease.  The dead succumbed to death once more without my necromantic ritual to sustain them.

Dante then proceeded to generate mana in an amount that was even greater than his previous spell.  “WATCH IN DESPAIR AS I DESTROY THIS CITY AND COUNTRY.  I WANT TO SEE YOUR HATE AS THE HOME YOU LOVE BURNS IN HELLFIRE!”  Dante cackled with insanity as the temperature picked up rapidly.  He then grabbed me by the throat, lifting me up to see him face to face.  I must have made quite the sight, with my disfigured face, well-roasted skin, and generally battered appearance.  Blood leaked from a multitude of wounds, and my nose was far off center.

“ANY LAST DEFIANT WORDS BEFORE I PROCEED TO BREAK YOUR SPIRIT?”  Dante asked, basking in the glow of his perceived victory.  Despite his certainty of success, he still had his guard up around me.  Paranoia at its finest, I have to respect that regardless of the predicament it puts me in.  All I have left is one last desperate gambit.

“Yes, you misspoke when you called me a heroine earlier.”  I said, resigning myself for what I was going to do next.  “HOW SO?”  Dante asked.  “I am not a hero… AND I’M NOT A GIRL EITHER!”  I yelled as I released my shapeshifted form.  The beautiful Rin Yamamoto that Dante had an unhealthy obsession with was revealed to be a guy.  And there it was.  For the briefest, tiniest fraction of a second, Dante was startled and knocked off-guard.  I took that opening.

I materialized my rhomphaia’s handle, plunging the jagged edge right into Dante’s heart with the last dregs of strength I had left.  Even though I do not have the strength of a demi-god here, a divine artifact is still a divine artifact.  It bypassed Dante’s near-god like power and dealt him a fatal blow.  His grip on my throat faltered, dropping me as he staggered back with my rhomphaia’s handle firmly lodged in his chest.  And as he died, Dante started laughing.

“You twisted little fuck, you had me going for the longest time!  Good thing you killed me, otherwise this would have been such a dealbreaker on our honeymoon!  I become a Demon King, only to die getting trolled!  And I thought my April Fool’s joke was the best!  Yours is just TOO FUCKING FUNNY!”  Dante winked at me before taking his last breath and saying “Look me up in hell when you get there, I’ll buy you a drink!”

And with those odd final words, Demon King Dante died, combusting spontaneously into a smoldering pile of ashes that stank of sulfur.

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