World Tree MUSH

    Dante had a weird knack for picking places to brawl. There was a reason; No collateral damage, no breaking stuff that anybody would miss. Despite the ridiculous debts he'd rack up, sometimes he had the right idea.

    Dante drags Rebellion across the sand of an old playground, at some abandoned school he'd cleared out a few months ago. "Had some mean customers chewing on kids here a while back." He explains, making a perfect circle in the dirt. "I didn't get paid for it, just kinda happened upon me. Guess nobody even wanted to address the problem, after so many lives were lost. Long story short, teacher was making blood sacrifices to resurrect their daughter. He got what he wanted, just not how he was hoping for."

    Then Dante pops his neck, "Okay, storytime can wait. We doin' this or what?"

Well, if anything, Vergil always did approve of Dante's choices in spots. Most of the time. There was one time where they fought on the side of a mountain, where if there was a landslide, there were no cities or villages that would get absolutely destroyed. 

 The older twin carries the Yamato by his side as always, sheathed in its ornate casing as his eyes find Dante. "As much as I enjoy your grim memories, we still need to settle the score. After all, I believe we're tied, which is something I cannot in good faith abide by." Vergil grins now, entering a classic Iatsu stance. Vergil was notorious for his quickdraw. 

 and Dante for being one of the only people alive to know how to defend against it the way Vergil uses it. 

 A tumbleweed passes in a moment of silence.

    It was out of sheer bloody experience, the brothers had fought constantly over the years. It was hard to tell if it was out of any kind of resentment, or just pure sport. Sparda relished a chance to test his strength and skill, naturally his sons weren't much different, to mother's endless exasperation.

    "I'd be pissed if you stopped trying." Dante grins back, before he lunges into action. Blurring suddenly, Dante seems to teleport close enough to get within slashing distance, aiming to move too close for Vergil to actually attack properly. Then he dashes forwards, his sword stabbing at the Dark Slayer.

    It's on, now.

    https://youtu.be/rYn0PpvYTas

Vergil gives one last grin, before drawing Yamato just enough that the barest glint of the Devil Arm could be seen. It truly is a beautiful blade, as was Rebellion. Though both blades spoke to the night and day personalities of the Twin Sons of Sparda. But then, Dante charges, and Vergil narrows his eyes in focus. He immediately enters Dark Slayer stance, and while he can't exactly get a good strike in right off the bat, Vergil, like Dante, is a master of improvisation. 

 A sharp angling of his body allows Vergil to dodge the stab coming straight for his chest, with Vergil using his sheathed Yamato to try and bat Rebellion to the side to give him space to draw his sword. If successful? He'll ditch his sheathe and aim to try and slice directly at Dante's chest!

    Oh hell YES.

    Dante had missed this rush of violence and skill, the sheer deadly bliss that came from going blade to blade with a formidable opponent. The sons of Sparda shared a lust for battle that was impossible to quench, and it was apparent as Dante shot his brother an ear-to-ear smile. As Rebellion is batted aside, Dante feels the bite of Yamato split through his leather waistcoat, silk shirt, and muscular flesh. Blood trickles from the wound, and Dante is sent skidding back, boots leaving behind a trail of dust as he plants his sword into the ground.

    "Gnnn, fuck yeah...that's what I've been looking for! LET'S GO!" Dante roars, drawing his shotgun from under his coat, blasting away at Vergil while he flanks left this time, 12 gauge buckshot hurdling toward Vergil.

HAH! score for Vergil! But then Dante draws his shotgun, the Coyote. A weapon that Vergil has been shot with many...many times in the past. Though Vergil is prepared, he twirls his blade in a way that he catches or splits most of the bullets on the flat edge of the Yamato, though one does get through and hits him right in the shoulder. "Damn." 

 Then Vergil is - smiling -. He draws the tip of the Yamato agaist the ground, lining up the bullets he caught with its side, and proceeds to, with a swing of the blade, toss the bullets right back at Dante! 

 Old tricks, but surely nothing Dante can't handle.

    Dante smirks. Volume of fire might not be quiiiiite enough to punch through Vergil's defenses, but buckshot still does a good enough job. He stops in his tracks as Vergil flings back pellets. He focuses, and suddenly begins to block repeatedly. His arms blur as he protects himself, a red aura over his fists. Block, block, block, block...he's practically building meter for something...which he proves by blasting away at Vergil swiftly immediately after.

Oh, Dante has some ranged attacks huh? Well, so to does Vergil. Entering a deep stance that a nodachi samurai would be proud of, he swiftly uses his offhand to start generating those energy daggers that he so loves to employ and he launches them at Dante's attacks! Canceling them out while managing to dodge any close-range strikes that Dante intends to deliever. In return? Vergil actually intends to use his Dark Slayer style to his advantage. In an instant, he's in front of Dante, attempting to use the pommel of the Yamato to smack Dante in the face. 

 Good morning!

    Dante blocks and parries the summoned swords, only to get clocked right in the face. He takes it head-on like a champ, stumbling back and switching to Ebony and Ivory. The pistols rattle on with a barrage of .45 Auto that'd be impossible with any other gun, given the minigun-esque hailstorm of lead. Once Dante has his groove back, he swaps back to Rebellion and lets out a flurry of slashes, speed untouchable by any that isn't Vergil.

Oh shit. 

 Vergil leaps backwards, deflecting the bullets with speed only Vergil could truly put out to match Dante's own. and the edge of the Yamato is quite literally smoking after all that deflection. Something that Vergil casually and comically blows on. 

 THEN THERE'S DANTE. 

 Vergil manages to meet Dante mostly blow for blow, though Rebelling does manage to slash right into his side, causing blood to trickle down the beautiful coat he always wears. Well, what to do about that. Well, Vergil now tries to spin on his heel with the slash, attempting a reverse-roundhouse kick to Dante's chest to kick him back.

    Blades clash as Rebellion and Yamato collide. Dante takes the kick but grabs Vergil, hoisting his leg upwards before he flips Rebellion in his hand, striking out at his brother with the pommel of the blade aimed for his face. That million dollar mug's taken worse in the past, he'll be fine.

Vergil kicks Dante, but gets a pommel to the face for his efforts, and yes, he now has a nose bleed, but is knocked to the ground in the process. He does quickly kip up back to his feet though, and doesn't attack, simply taking a gloved hand to rub at his nose. Yep, that's blood. 

 "I see you haven't lost your step, baby brother." Vergil teases, twirling his sword as he enters his stance once more, glaring down Dante, before rushing forward to try and stab Dante in the gut! Non-lethally, of course. Vergil being one of the only people who could miss a vital organ on purpose when stabbing somebody.

    SHUNK

    Dante is stabbed in the stomach, just like before, on the top of the tower...when Dante first activated Devil Trigger. "You don't know the half of it. I'm...gnnnh, I've been warming up all this time." He grins ferally, crackling with red hellish energy, before his body shifts and alters, forming wings out of his coat, claws out of his hands, scales out of his flesh...and bright red devilish eyes.

    Devil Trigger is brought on, and Dante rips the katana free from his midsection, and he headbutts Vergil.

    "Let's really kick this up a notch, huh? C'mon, take this seriously."

    Dante's voice intones as his fanged maw curls into a bloodthirsty smile, before he charges at Vergil, sword thrusting out.

Stabbed in right in the stomach, but Vergil knows that Dante won't be beaten NEARLY that easily. So when he activates the Devil Trigger, Vergil just grins now, before he's headbutted so hard it causes a 'voosh' with the wind, sliding backwards, the Stab is blocked with the Yamato, but the sheer force causes Vergil to fly backwards, and just barely lands on his feet, and ends up dropping to a knee. 

 "I tried going easy on you, but it looks like I no longer have that kind of luxury." Okay, yeah, Vergil wasn't taking this seriously at all. Now its game time. 

 Blue energy forms around vergil, until wings sprout out of his back and his teeth grow demonically sharp. His flesh turns pitch black and scaly, with claws on his hands. Ironically, his arm seems to have a 'sheathe' for his sword. But he flies at Dante, attempting to slice at Dante with a series of impossibly fast strikes that anyone who's not Dante would surely be turned into sushi by.

    Dante and Vergil have clearly stopped with the kid gloves. Rebellion strikes back, parrying and retaliating to each strike. Wounds are inflicted that knit together with blinding speed, as the brothers go at it with the fury of a hurricane. THere's no Lady to interrupt them, and no Arkham to spoil all the fun. So the cutting keeps going, as blades clash with increasing fury.

    Over the metallic grinding and squelching of rent flesh, Dante laughs madly.

Dante wasn't theo nly one. Was Vergil....chuckling? Even as Rebellion tags his demonic flesh four times, the wounds heal extremely fast, as if it never quite happened at all. Eventually, it begins to rain, but not a single drop touches them, for they struck each other with such fury and speed that their blades destroyed the raindrops before they could even touch the twins. 

 Finall, Vergil seems to identify what may be a weak point in Dante's impossible offense, and so, Vergil swings his blade in a diagonal fashion, attempting to slice Dante from the shoulder to the hip. Though the way the strike is delivered, assuming Dante hasn't fallen completely to battle lust, it would be easy to get into a swordlock.

    The blades clash, an impact that causes the playground to shudder and creak, shattering distant windows. Dante grinds with so much force that Rebellion is making a shower of sparks, edge blazing hot. Dante's wings try to blast Vergil away, and he aims to break the deadlock. "ARE YOU READY?" If successful, he'll break out a flurry of strikes; Slashes, stabs, even spinning his sword like a giant prop shredder, before delivering a fearsome baseball swing unleashing demonic force toward Vergil. "ONE! TWO! _FINISH!_"

Ohhhh now here we go. 

 As soon asDante strikes at him, Vergil takes it like Peter Parker when he got dumped by MJ: like a god damn champion. Though the 'FINISH' part is when Vergil strikes, suddenly lunging forward with a horizontal slice aimed to Dante's chest that would cut anyone else in half...but not Dante. Though Vergil would take the hit, the effect doesn't kick in until Vergil sheathes his sword samurai style...then Vergil's Devil Trigger wears off, and he falls to his knees, gasping.

    To be fair, that happens a lot.

    Dante feels his DT dissipate after the final blow is struck, and he cackles. Bloodied and beaten, Dante approaches Vergil. "And we got a tie-breaker. One for Dante..." He says, offering Vergil a hand up.

    "That was somethin' else. Man, I missed this." He says, grabbing Vergil's arm and lifting him.

Vergil coughed for a moment. Devil Trigger always took a lot out of him. But as he's helped up, he leaves the Yamata planted in the ground, and sharply turns so with his last bit of strength, he tries to punch Dante in the face! hopefully strong enough to knock him on his back. THEN Vergil's done. 

 "Me too, fool. Me too." He slowly gets up to his feet, but drops to a knee now. "So...what now?"

    Dante gets slugged good and hard, alright. He topples over, coughing blood and laughing still. "I was thinkin', 'Does Vergil even like pizza' on the way here. So hey, maybe try that?"

Vergil coughs as he chuckles. "Point for Vergil." Before he reaches to grab Dante's hand in a brotherly clasp, so they could work together to bring their battered bodies back to their feet. "Sure...pizza sounds good."

    Dante grabs the hand and stands, nabbing Rebellion. "Point for Vergil." He says, clapping his brother on the shoulder.

    Yeah, things were looking up.