Following a Worm

Lyle and James sat at the bar of the Purgatory, a shady dive and the type of place someone would usually try to avoid. However, they had sought out this particular place with the intention of meeting someone. Things had been slow for them lately. The Fiends had been covering their tracks well, and the pair hadn't been able to take one down in what was almost a month now.

“He's late.” James said, irritated as usual.

“Of course he's late,” Lyle replied, joining James in his exasperation, “did you expect better out of the guy? This is Verme we're dealing with, the guy's pathetic.”

“I suppose so,” James said, right before he saw a skinny man with long grubby hair and greyish skin walk into the place. “There he is,” he said as he waved to Verme, who walked over and had a seat next to them.

“What is it this time, Verme?” Lyle demanded, “If it's another dud, I swear I'm going to kill you, I don't care if there isn't a reward.”

“Hold it,” Verme stalled, “let me get comfortable.” He ordered a drink, and Lyle and James sighed. This was going to take a while.

War was standing there in the middle of a deserted area of a park that seemed to just be dead at the moment. All he could think about was how perfect the situation was at the moment no one in the park to disturb him of destroying this semi-powerful demon that stood before him. It seemed like it was waiting to be defeated. That's when the Templar smiled as he looked up to the demon.

War was wearing a business suit which was flowing in the wind as the demon began to breathe in air. This was basically how it fought was with air. The suitcase in his hand was being pulled in by the power of the breathe. Then the demon stopped and all wind was calm. War found this to be the perfect time to attack the enemy when it was in the middle of releasing his attack.

The Templar dashed forward towards the beast that was attacking him. Within a few moment the warrior reached the demon's back, in which was then struck with a powerful blow delivered by the suitcase itself, which was his Pandora Crux in a non-activated form. When he delivered the blow the beast released all the air he had store in him into the land which created a crater in the ground.

The demon spun around swing its arm at War who simply blocked it with the suitcase holding back the demon's powerful strike. This was a simple task for him to complete, but the demon was a little bit hard then he had been informed on.

“Hey Suckie, do you mind dying a little bit quicker?! “ War yelled out in a light-hearted tone to the demon he was facing as he seemed to be no problem at all.

" Shut the hell up you pathetic human! ", the demon yelled with anger filled into his voice.

“XXXPerfectoXXX! “ War yelled out to release his Pandora Crux which was highly unnecessary, but it was something that he loved to warn his enemies about. Also the X's were unneeded, but that was another thing he liked. Only the first ones are said though. The last three he says are added in the first ones.

The Templar pushed the demon's hand away from him. In which he threw his suitcase into the air. The suitcase flashed a bright light before appearing as an umbrella which drifted down into War's hand. This is when the demon was over with, when he finally released his Pandora Crux. That was always a good sign that the battle was over.

The moment War had XXXPerfectoXXX in his hand he swung it towards the demon with the blunt end of it slamming into the leg of the demon breaking the bone, while the spines of it were jammed into his leg as blood began to gush out. He jumped into the air and slammed the tip of the Umbrella which was a sharp spike into the head of the demon completely making it vanish into its death.

War had a different kind of smile on his face after the battle; it seemed to be more innocent. The Pandora Crux flashed a bright light before reverting back to the suitcase form.

“Well that was somewhat of a hassle. “ He said with a completely different tone of voice. Like the smile it was more innocent then the average brutal warrior.

Mr. Epicton then turned around and walked towards the bar known as, Purgatory in which he sat down and order a glass of water, since he didn't drink because it was bad for you. He just kept sitting there taking sips of it. Glad that he didn't have to work anymore.

“Man, that thing was hard to beat. “ [i] He said slightly under his breathe in hopes that no one had heard him.

A desecrated cathedral sat alone in the middle of nowhere, completely devoid of all life; or so was thought. A man walking a demonic looking dog walked towards the structure, a crazed grin on his face. He had a dark red headband over his eyes, covering his mutilation, and wore black pants, a blood-red button down shirt, and a black overcoat overtop. He ran his fingers through his messy black hair, feeling the cold breeze on his face.

The man's name was Victor Callistus Blaze, a newly appointed Demon Hunter. A foul spirit energy led him to this destroyed cathedral. It was powerful and rich, attracting the attention of his hell-hound. Soon they made it to the tall steps and ascended into the cathedral, greeted by nothing but utter silence.

Victor's steps echoed as he walked past the pews throughout the center aisle. He turned about casually, looking on the top balconies for any sign of a foul creature looming around.

"I know you are around here, demon," Victor said with a cruel smile, talking in a harsh voice. "Why don't you come out and fight? Or do you fear me so much that you won't even show your whimpering face?"

Suddenly a loud crash was heard behind him as the demon he seemed to be going after jumped down from the balcony, seething in rage. Victor smiled. His opponent had finally decided to show up. Good. The demon was a little larger than usual, having the physique of a large but muscular man. It carried a claymore and wore rugged clothes.

"Why would I be afraid of a mortal like yourself?" the demon asked with much hate accenting his words. "I do not need to fear you at all, for you are a fool and a weakling."

"Is that so?" Victor asked, amused now. "How about we get to the fighting before skipping to conclusions, shall we?"

The demon looked surprised at the response, but grunted in reply, readying his claymore. Victor laughed deeply, looking down at his hell-hound.

"Enter your true form now, my servant," he said to the dog. "Become the Unholy Exitium!"

The dog suddenly changed into a wicked looking katana, with teeth like blades and a glaring eye in the center of the blade. Victor grinned and charged forward at the demon, laughing as he entered combat. The demon was almost caught off guard from the sudden attack, but raised his claymore just in time to deflect the attack, making a terrible shearing noise as they blades collided.

Victor slashed immediately afterwards at the demon's leg, the teeth cutting into it and causing a large gash. The demon yelled in pain and fell down to a knee, but recovered quickly, unleashing a barrage of powerful attacks at Victor. Victor dodged left and right easily, laughing with each succession.

"Is this truly all the power that you possess?" he asked the demon with a crazed look. "Fight faster! Strike stronger! Surprise me!"

Victor deflected the next claymore blow and charged forward, kicked the demon in the chest and slashing his across the chest. The demon roared in pain and dropped its weapon, holding its wound.

"What the hell are you?" it asked with much fear. "No human can be this strong!"

Victor laughed audibly, obviously enjoying every minute of this.

"I am no human," he said to the demon. "I am a Demon Hunter."

Victor raised his sword to deliver the final blow when suddenly the demon punched him in the stomach and charged away, aided by some sort of speed demon magic. Victor cursed and ran out the doors of the Cathedral, seeing the demon speed away into the distance.

"Coward," Victor said to himself disgusted. "I cannot allow a demon with such a strong soul power to escape my reach. I will follow him until I finally catch him with his tail between his legs..."

Victor reverted Unholy Exitium to its hell-hound form and started to travel in the direction of the demon...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A couple hours later
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Damn, that beast can travel fast," Victor said to himself, slightly frustrated. "I have completely lost him and now I am in the middle of nowhere."

He spotted some sort of rough looking bar named the Purgatory and grinned.

"I might as well get a drink at this place," he said. "I have been traveling for a while now, and I am very thirsty."

He changed the dog to its sword form and formed a sheath around it, making it less suspicious looking. Victor walked into the Purgatory and took a seat at the bar, asking the bartender for a quick drink.

"I wonder if I'll ever catch that demon," Victor said to himself. "Probably a lost cause. I need to find others to take care of."

Dante lays on his back starring at the blue sky letting the clouds going by. "My perfect place" he says to himself letting the wind going by letting it echoing through the clear but lush land. He looks over and sees the town where many infamous locations such as the Purgatory Bar.

He stands up and unleashes his Pandora Crux shouting its name to the wind and throw the stone in the sky. The sword becomes unleashed in mid air and landed ever so perfectly in the hands of Dante.

He walks over and a post stands with a light switch on it. "Time for training" he says to himself. He flicks the switch and only 50 ft away several paper human targets rise to the air revealing it self to Dante.

He pulls out his pistol and fires the 1st target that is 72ft away, he suddenly sprints to the targets holding his blade towards the targets and shouts very loudly "Malvagio!". The blade mid section glows red and the surroundings of Dante burn away and only a dark flame covers Dante and his blade. He stops and the second target is 40ft away, he swings the swords towards the target and the body is sliced in half the sound of a very large sonic boom echos. He flash steps to the third target and slices the head off while the forth gets stabbed in the chest and exploding the body inside of it.

Lyle sat twiddling his thumbs, while James disdainfully stared at Verme. Lyle let out another sigh and looked around the bar. He saw a young man in business attire at the bar with a glass of water, surprised to see someone at all health conscious in a place like this. He continued his inspection to see a man in a blindfold. He was clearly aware of his environment despite having no vision. That, and the less subtle hint of the sword at his side, led Lyle to the conclusion he was no ordinary man. Lyle knew his kind. This man was probably a Devil Hunter. Now that I think of it, he thought, the guy in the suit seems like he might be in our line of business as well. I don't see any other reason a guy dressed like that would be in a place like this.

Verme was finishing his eleventh round, still giving no information, when Lyle sighed once again and looked to James with a silent request in his eyes. James nodded, and Lyle grabbed Verme by the neck and threw him against the wall.

"Alright you damn freak, you're done relaxing!" he yelled in Verme's face, and he pumped his shotgun and brought it to his chin, "Why are we here?"

The crowd, despite being in a place where violence was rather commonplace, were understandably taken aback. James stood up and held out his hands. "Remain calm," he said, "this is only an interrogation. Devil-Hunting business. This is for your safety." James walked over to Lyle and Verme. "Speak quickly, Verme, Lyle is a trigger happy idiot, it's only a matter of time before he slips."

The pair expected a look of terror on Verme's face. However, instead of his usual cowardice, Verme displayed quite the opposite. He began laughing, then yelled out. "You're here because you don't know a setup when you see one!"

With that, the door of the Purgatory busted off its hinges and flew several feet. Behind it was eight large cow-like demons, each hefting a large axe.

"Dammit!" Lyle roared as he stuck both barrels of his shotgun into Vermes laughing mouth and blew the top of his head off, bits of hair, skull, and brain matter splattering against the wall and his body collapsing. Lyle spun on his heels and pumped his gun again and blasted one of the hellish bovine, knocking it against a wall but leaving it very much alive. James took off his watch and held it up in his hand, and with a flash, it became a black, sheathed katana. He reached for the hilt, then a flash, and the top half of the demon Lyle shot fell to the ground, James' sword sheathed before a glimpse of it could be caught. He turned and drew his pistol from its holster and pointed it into the group of demons.

Victor turned just in time to see a man get his head blown off by what seemed to be a Devil Hunter and his compadre. Several cow demons surged through the doors of the inn and started to attack, a couple of the people in the Purgatory actually fighting back with weapons that acted in a manner much like his own.

He turned swiftly in his seat and ripped out his sword, teeth emitting from the sharp side of the katana as he drew it, the eye looking this way and that. A couple people gasped when they saw the half living sword, but he just laughed wickedly.

"Cow demons," he said, "how amusing..."

He walked forward, his cane in his other hand, into the fray of the battle. He stood in the carnage for a moment, then he a demon raised its axe to cut the blind man down. The eye of the sword flashed open wide as the attack came and Victor instantly blocked the axe with his sword, catching the demon off guard.

"I have my eye one you," he said to the beast. He shot the demon's arm off with his shotgun-within-a-cane and cut into the cow demon's neck with his blade, the teeth sinking into the flesh and sucking out the very soul of the devil. He laughed as blood spurted out the wound and kicked the body away from him into a couple others, sending them toppling.

"Come and give me a real challenge, you worms!" he said rather fanatically, and charged towards a few other demons, his sword flying in a deadly arc, thirsting for more souls.