Applying the complete perfect amulet to Force Edge, the sword became unsealed, taking on its true form. A sword that was equal parts metal and flesh, that shifted between being a sword, a spear, or a scythe in shape depending on how it was held or swung. It glowed with the combined energies of the blood of Sparda.
Applejack stared at the living sword in her hooves for a time, looking somewhat nervous.
"What's wrong, AJ?" Dante asked.
"It's...well..." She shrugged. "Ah know this is Grandpa's sword...ah can feel his power in it, responding to mah own and yours and Uncle's...but, well..." She shivered. "Seeing a sword that's half metal, half flesh, ah can't help but think of Soul Edge!" She pointed to the glowing red circle in the fleshy part of the blade. "And that eye looking thing ain't helping!"
The red circle squeezed in at the middle and the flesh part of the sword rippled.
"Now don't you start laughin' at me!" Applejack scolded the sword. She slung it over her shoulder. "Come on, let's get a move on!"
Dante suppressed his own laughter, ignoring a glare from Virgil. Trish glanced back and forth between them. "Is...is it always this crazy?"
"Should we be serenading her now?" Alastor asked.
"Wait until we figure out who we're supposed to serenade her for," Nevan scolded.
"Never mind," Trish added.
The four of them made their way through the living cave, fighting the strange humanoid demons. While Sparda proved to be an effective weapon, Applejack preferred to wield Beowulf. She decided to save Sparda for when they actually confronted Mundus.
However, given that they were actually in the Underworld now, all the Devil Arms were able to fully manifest. Griffon flew overhead, sniping with lightning alongside Nevan and Alastor. Ifrit, Agni, and Rudra flanked the group, Ifrit with his flaming fists, Agni and Rudra with their sword heads. Cerberus stalked behind, gaurding their rear and shooting a blast of ice anywhere he could find a hole.
Before too long, the seal upon the massive gate was broken, and the group passed through.
Entering a massive cathedral, the group approached a gigantic statue.
"Again I must face a Sparda," the statue spoke without moving its lips. "Strange fate, isn't it?"
"Not just one this time," Virgil pointed out.
"Indeed...and two traitors," Mundus growled. "Your punishment will be great for your betrayal...Griffon...Trish..."
Applejack rolled her eyes as she drew Sparda. "So...how long are we gonna keep jawing?" she asked. "Can we fight now?"
"You have no patience for-"
Applejack interrupted Mundus rant by smacking the face of a statue with an apple pie.
"Son of a-! Yes!" Mundus roared.
The statue stood up, stone flaking off as it broke apart to reveal the true form of Mundus.
Applejack grinned as she placed her hoof on the hilt of Sparda. "Come on, everybody!" she said with a grin. "We've got a demon king to spank!"
Grinning, Dante added his hand to the hilt. Rolling his eyes, Virgil added his own. All three drew forth Sparda's power, unleashing the true might of the Devil Trigger.
As Dante's Demon form sprouted wings to carry him into the air with Rebellion, Agni and Rudra's stone bodies transformed into gargoyles, spreading their own wings for flight. Nevan, Alastor, and Ifrit levitated themselves in their own elements. Trish climbed onto Griffon's back as he expanded to his full size, and they combined their lightning.
Clutching Sparda close, Applejack flew into the air in an aura of pure demon magic. "Let's end this!" she snarled, and battle was joined.
Griffon swooped around Mundus, blasting away with lightning amplified by Trish's magic, easily evading the large blasts Mundus sent at them. Agni and Rudra darted in close, slashing away. Alastor and Nevan attacked from above and below, while Ifrit attacked Mundus' wings with giant fireballs. Applejack, Dante, and Virgil circled in and around the fight, delivering magically charged blasts as they built up demonic energy to attack.
When their shared energy reached a peak, they flew together, seizing hold of Sparda together as the three took on the form of a demonic dragon that tore massive chunks out of Mundus' body. While Mundus reared back from every attack, this seemed to be the only way to cause real damage.
After a time, Sparda was no longer able to maintain the trios shared Devil Trigger, and the group withdrew to a lava strewn field to recover strength. Mundus followed to engage in further battle...but left himself open for further assault. A glowing light in the center of his chest was plainly an obvious weak point, and Applejack hopped onto Griffon's back to swing in close and attack with Sparda, now energized by her own Devil Trigger when she had enough magic built up to do so. Everyone else focused on drawing Mundus' attention away from her while she was charging.
After enough damage had been done, Mundus reared back in pain. Leaping into the air, he let out a despairing, "Nooooo!" as his body slowly dissolved.
The group found themselves once more in the cathedral as the entirety of Mallet island began to collapse. "We need to get out of here!" Dante shouted, but staggered. Virgil and Applejack weren't in much better condition. Sharing Sparda's power had left them all drained.
"All aboard!" Griffon shouted, landing full sized to pick them all up.
Once everyone was on his back, Griffon took to the air, diving through the gates and blasting any demons that attacked with his lightning bombs. Once they exited the underworld and mirror world, Griffon shouted, "Hold tight!"
As they all did, Griffon borrowed some of Trish's power and blasted the roof open with a blast of lightning that resembled a laser. Once the dust cleared, Griffon took to the skies.
As they took to the sky, Mundus leapt after them from a portal. "You won't get away!" he roared.
Griffon attempted to flap away, but began to flag. "Applejack's too weak," he said. "I...I can't maintain full manifestation..."
"We'll help you," Nevan proclaimed.
Each of the Devil Arms resumed their weapon forms. Cerberus wrapped around Griffon's neck, supporting his head. Nevan and Alastor each supported a wing. Agni and Rudra braced his legs. Beowulf and Ifrit braced all six talons between them. On his back, Trish once more poured all the lightning she could gather into Griffon.
The combined power blasted out of Griffon's mouth, driving Mundus back. With a pulse from Sparda, the blast punched through Mundus, shattering his manifestation.
"Jackpot," everyone said together as the blast punched through.
Mundus screamed in agony as he was banished back to the Underworld anew. "I will return!" he screamed out. "I will rule this world!"
"When ya come back, I'll solo ya!" Applejack yelled back as she started to sway.
As Mallet Island collapsed, Griffon winged for home.
Yes.
This is good.
I like this.
YOU WILL DO MORE
That DBZ Abridged reference
If he returns, it will be New Game Plus. And both Dante, Virgil and AJ can solo it stopwatch mode to see "who's faster". Poor Mundus, he better dig to the Underworlds bottom and hide there.
And so the DMC2 arc draws to a close, now bring out the few chapters of family bonding before the next game starts
5955638
Actually, it was the DMC arc. The first arc was DMC3.
5955678 we are ignoring the second game i hope.
5955638 This is DMC1, not two
3 was a prequel.
5955726
5955678
Admittedly never played the games, all I can do is trust the author in giving me a canonical rendition as he plows through it with a pony
5955716
We will be covering two, but don't worry, it won't be that bad.
5955737
The canonical order is 3, 1, 4, 2.
I know that this may be crazy, but will the gang run into Garcia Hotspur from "Shadows of the Damned"?
5955876
Depends. Who and what is that?
5955880
Garcia "Fucking" Hotspur is a character from "Shadows of the Damned," which is basically Devil May Cry as imagined by Suda51 (the guy who made Lolipop Chainsaw). SO, it's quirky, and he has a magical talking gun called Johnson who also doubles as Garcia's "johnson" at certain times, like when they fight a giant demonic stripper. Check out some videos on Youtube if interested because I don't think I can do the game or the characters justice just by summarizing them.
5955915
It won't be involved in this story. But I might check it out.
W... where did that Apple pie come from?
OH NO! APPLEJACK BECAME PINKIE PIE! IT'S SPREADING!
Also, nice Soul Edge reference.
Also, nice 'Dante was like Vergil in the first game' reference.
All and all, great chapter.
I'm wondering if you'll add the anime to this somewhere? Because it's all awesome so far.
5956156
My reasons for not using the anime have been discussed frequently in previous comments.
5956161 Guess I missed those. Well I'm still looking forward to more.
5956055
Where was the "Dante like Vergil" reference? The second game had him most like Vergil.
5956707
Well, still, we can all agree that Dante was very much like Vergil in the terms of maturity and seriousness during the early games, so naturally, Trish getting attracted to Dante's demeanor during the first game shows that in this fic, her being attracted to Vergil means that Dante was like Vergil during the early games.
Either way, pretty interesting.
5956055
From inside her hat.
5957043
Of course, because THAT sounds like an acceptable answer...
5957046
She is Applejack, she loves apples, so of course she must have some magic to turn her hat into a storage device for apples and apple related products.
5956055
From her inventory screen.
The same place Dante keeps all those life stars, devil stars, yellow orbs, and what not. Applejack keeps food there.
5957075
5957069
...
SO SHE IS LIKE PINKIE PIE!
AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
5957079 Trying to apply logic and sanity to ponies...You must be new...
5957234
Hey! That is the line we feed to saps that try to explain Pinkie Pie, Applejack of all ponies acting like her is SCARY!
5957237
5957240
... Screw you Voidwalker, screw you.
5957245 My pleasure, author.
-Voidwalker-
Mundus is in for an even more humiliating beating the next time Applejack sees him. I can't wait to see if he makes the mistake of attacking her again. Nice use of all the Demon Arms in true form, very badass. And the escpe on Griffon was awesome!
I wonder what would happen if AJ used her EOH on her weapons?
Mundus was surprisingly powerful for a Tetsuo wannabe.
Gonna include the anime events or straight to the next game?
5964149
No anime events.
5964361
Well on one hand I'm sad because it's good. On the other I can see how this AU would make much of it redundant if not impossible.
AJ's trump card is the "buck canon".
Uh... Where'd the apple pie come from?
orig04.deviantart.net/3029/f/2012/090/e/3/apple_jack_shrug_by_rainbowcrash123-d4ujr28.png
6289760
AJ always has an apple pie
6289760 Piemations! YYYYYYYEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!
7362731 No. *blasts Jake's head off with a gravity cannon*
Soul Edge?
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e1/Nightmare03.png
That is all
7373354
I read this in the voice of the Amazing Spy.
7905070
Kinda reminds me of a Shushu.
5957079
Well, I guess they are related.