9 - Helpful Advice

"What is…this?" Joshua watched with haggard breath as the sparks of blue lightning coursed through his whole body. The body of the demon, limp and headless, twitching as the familiar currents of sparks travelled similar to a river flow as it drew nearer towards him while it began to leave the demon completely. "What just..."

?!

A blink, Joshua instincts to the sudden brightness caused him to close his eyes for a second before having adjusted to the sight behind the corpse sudden brightness dimming down. Except, the corpse wasn't as much as a corpse would be. The was dead demon towered over him, its head being reattached. The slash he had made sewing itself together with its body. "How is it alive?!" He shouted in astonishment as the boy began to ready himself to shoot with his gun, the demon was quicker and flung the gun away to the other side before kicking the boy to the opposite direction. "Argh!!"

Dante who was up and ready, but not transformed, too brought out his guns and began firing his dual pistols at the demon to build some distance between it and Joshua. "Hey kid, you still kicking?" The demon did not dodge as efficiently as previously and took the attacks that would present no actual lethal damage to a regular demon dead on. "This one a real pain I tell ya. It's got one good brain on it no doubt in surviving."

Joshua grunted as he caught his bearings, bringing out his other gun. "Aim for the head when you have a chance, I'll keep it busy." Reloading with his natural bullets rather than manifesting one with his [Barrier], due to the lack of magic power he had left, he began to slowly and surely circle around the demon and start shooting at its head when the chance was provided. "So, what's the deal with this one? It seems to have an agenda against you."

Joshua could only furrow his brow at the sudden question while he was more focused at the task at hand in trying to kill the demon in front of him, "Now's not the time, kill it first!"

"Come on, just trying to get some reading into why it's coming for you specifically."

Joshua not having anything else to say and to make the whitehead actually focus, he replied a few seconds later. "It stole everything for me!"

Dante trailed his eyes on the boy rather than the demon itself after kicking it a great distance. He could see the pain, anguish and anger that seeped through the kid's eyes, the missing limb being one of the major thinks that was stolen from him. The memory of the boy coming back to life by using the gold orb and creating skills that was not known to common people. 'Well, to this era of people.' Even so, Dante knew the brat wouldn't be able to live his life the same even if he tried with the trauma this whole place that will stay over the year.

Flashback of him losing his mother to demons inside his burning house still caused him pain. His mother protecting him and making sure he was not noticed by those that had entered their home. "Yeah...figure as much."

The demon continued to take its beatings while Joshua began to become even more exhausted with each sprint with small burst of magic used to cover distance quicker. Then, for a moment, it's hand twitched and Dante noticed it as he began to give the final strike with his sword.

*Clang!*

"Huh?" Dante watched as the demon blocked the strike with its claw before pushing him entirely. "It got stronger." He mused. Joshua continued to growl in frustration as he too charged and aimed his shot in between its eyes only for him to stop and spit out gobbles of blood.

"My...power." Dante looked at the boy who spat out large amount of his blood while blue sparks began to fizzle more harder around him. The same spark which the demon previously. He realised what it was going to do and blocked its path immediately. "Give...back!"

"Not so fast!" Shooting at it while he charged towards the boy caused the demon to stop and screech. "Looks like your little power play chose the winner of the fight when you died?"

"W-what do you mean?" Joshua looked at his hand while several sparks of light blue danced around his hand. There was a slight singing pain, except it came more towards the inside of his body rather than the outside and had felt to be coming from his magic core. "It's hurting me..."

"It's demon magic." The teen explained, "Not meant for the usage of humans in the first place." He brought out a glass shaped as a star with its content being the colour of purple. "At least it checks out that you're truly a human being," he threw it back to him while Joshua watched the content of the glass bounce without breaking. "Drink it, it'll replace the energy slurping up your magic core as its meal for the time being."

Having no other choice unless he wanted to have his core truly destroyed, he grabbed the glass and drank its content and almost threw up. "Hold your breath kid, you won't taste a thing." Dante suggested as he created even more distance between him and the demon. Following his advice, he held his breath and drank it and noticed no sense of taste being followed while doing so. With each gulp he took, the crack that was felt to his core soon started to fix itself while only causing the demon to become even more angry.

"Not yours! MINE!!" The remaining sparks of lightning that the demon could produce held a tinge of blue before changing to red entirely.

"Yeah yeah, mister 'my power' demon. You're really going all in, huh?" Dante grinned as parried the clawed attack. "Using your own life force to power up is risky, you're getting desperate." The demon did not entertain the teen at his goading but nevertheless charged again once more. The teen's eyes widened at the newfound speed and was pushed aside. "Damn that's fast..."

The demon did not focus on him when he found it self near the child once one any ran towards the boy who had already finished the content by the that was provided.

A heavy sigh left his mouth while the demon stopped its movements. The pulse that was not heard but felt from the demon's own body caused it to hunch forward and scream in a agonising pain. "Looks like it haven't recovered enough." Dante stated as he walked forward with his gun at the ready to shoot. "Go for the kill kid, we haven't got all day for you to rest up."

"I know..." Joshua shakily stood up as he readied his gun and created a [Barrier Bullet] with his magic core feeling slightly refreshed. The sparks of blue lightning began to envelop the gun as he fired, feeling the major recoil he didn't predict to happen. "Ugh!" He missed his shot but the damage had dealt a good enoug singe to the wall which had caused a large noise to vibrate the room.

"Whoa!" The room they were in shook as gravity changed causing both Joshua and Dante to tumble to the side.

In contrast, the demon was still standing in its positioning even when now they was sideways, and had raised a sneer before pulling up one leg showing a large dark needle absorbing blood. It was secretly eating the demon they were inside. The demon looked at the boy before lunging upwards. The force it made having caused a major hole of the giant whale demon's inside and blood to flood the room.

"Looks like it ran away." The Devil Hunter pulled his sword back and placed his guns back to their respected holster before walking towards the boy. "Hmm?" He noticed a glint while the pile of flood started to reach his ankle. A name with a small picture of the brat with his mother and father.

"D-Damn it, I couldn't kill it!" Joshua pounded the wall while grieving as he held on to..."my necklace, where is it?" He searched the bloody floor while his hands gave out the foul smell of the demon's blood.

"Hey, Joshua." Said name turned around to see the teen hand a necklace. The boy lunged his hand and held it to his chest. "Thank you, sir."

Dante smirked and held the boy's arm before pulling him up to stand. "Don't mention it kid, just Dante is fine." The boy nodded slowly, while looking at the broken chains of the necklace. "Looks like it's broken, you're gonna have to hold on to it more tightly until it can be fixed." Joshua nodded with a sigh. "Come on, I don't know about you, but I don't want to stink of blood anymore than I have to."

Joshua huffed and gave a forced smile that didn't reach his eyes and nodded, "Yeah, that demon made too much of a mess inside of it that it's weird this demon is still alive."

The teen chuckled and shrugged his head, "You've got that right." He began to go to leave the room with the whole the demon had oh so generously had made for them and jumped before forgetting about the kid. "Uh, you need my help...or not." He watched as the boy shoot out a hook shot and follow behind. "You know," the boy looked at the devil hunter who scratched his cheeks while going through other holes. "I wasn't as strong as you when I was your age I think."

Joshua blinked before huffing, "I don't think people my age was meant to still be alive when something like this happens in the first place." Dante could only give a dry chuckle slightly at his statement, the mood worsening for the kid. "But thanks. I'm only alive because of you and I don't think I can ever repay you."

Dante smiled and rubbed the boy's bloody and messy head, "I don't think I want to, I still have some dignity as the grown up between us two."

"Heh," Joshua shook his head while Dante grinned at getting a decent reaction. "I guess your right about that." Looking at his hand before channelling a bit of power, the feeling of his core not cracking caused a slight surprise as well as the sharp pain of hunger than came with it. The small spark that appeared on his chest began to flow to his arm. "This energy."

"Kinda surprising." The teen looked at the boy's hand.

The boy titled his head at his words, "What is?"

"You in general. I've seen many devil hunters kill different types of demons and use their unique ability as Devil Arms. But they didn't have any ability with magic so it was basically a pile of metal designed like an antique."

"Devil Hunter. That's some sort of job?"

"Yep, that's my job. Although I do other work as a mercenary, if the pay is right of course."

"Then that means you're also like me, you can use magic right?"

"That's right. It's one of the most crucial ways to have an advantage against demons in general but, times have changed and weapons such as guns can be modified to pack more power in order to actually deal some damage to them."

"Then your gun is different to the one I have?"

"Yep, it's been customised in handling demons especially with my magic. The bullets in general is a different matter as a whole."

"...Has there been a demon that guns wouldn't work against?" Dante looked back at the kid as he raised his gun. "I need to know everything that can help me in making sure I can stop all of this. Dante hummed before shrugging.

"I'd say you're sorted if you can make the bullets you create a bit more lighter but sharper to penetrate." He looked at his eyes that now had a slight glow to it before it disappeared. "What you did previously when you missed your shot," Joshua looked away at that, "you somehow accidentally used your little spark show to power it up to deal more damage, you should start with figuring out how to handle that situation first."

"Guess I don't really have a choice if I don't want to die, even a little attack from any demon would kill me." Dante grimaced slightly at how the boy said that sentence nonchalant with that dull eyes of his. "I need to learn to slow down for a bit. Screw that demon."

"Can't blame you for hating demons but, I do have to say that while demons are evil in general, humans too can also be the same. The opposite is also true as well. There are some who are even more kinder than humans."

"That's not funny, I've seen enough to know that they kill because they can and want to. I can't see them not doing so."

Dante changed the touchy subject instead after noticing the boy getting agitated again. "Just give it some thoughts in the future." Joshua didn't give a reply to his advice, he decided to ask something else that caused his curiosity. "I won't ask how you learned to use magic, but I'm more curious about the sword." Joshua raised the handle as the blade started to extend to a longer length. "That's not something you made with your own power."

"Yeah, it was a demon, dressed in all blue. Had some sort of lizard like face and a sword." Joshua clenched the handle tightly as he put it back inside the holster, "The demon was toying with me, testing me for some reason. It could have killed me whenever it wanted, all because I wasn't strong enough." Clenching his fist, Dante felt some sort of familiarity towards the boy and his brother. "I need to get stronger."

Dante hummed at his short by precise description. 'It's definitely Vergil, but what's his play for him anyway?' He coughed lightly before continuing the conversation, "Have you ever heard of a story about a demon called Sparda?"

Joshua shook his head as a negative, "I can guess it's something dark and gloomy for the human world." He was surprised when he saw the devil hunter shake his head.

"That specific devil actually fell in love with a human." He already knew the surprised expression that would come from the boy and he merely grinned. "He went against his whole race and prevented an invasion to the human world."

"...But why would he do that?"

"Why do you think he would do such a thing?"

"...Because he knew it was wrong?" Dante gave a quick 'nope' while Joshua hummed and continued to think but the answer never came to him.

His thoughts was stopped with Dante holding onto his arm in order to stop his from falling, the tremor of the demon began to worsen, forcing the two to double their speed and leave as soon as they could.

"Double time kid. Looks like it won't hold up much longer." Following along, Joshua started to run after him. It was difficult to actually catch up to the white haired teen with how fast he could actually go with his little legs. Dante probably didn't take that into measure as he had to wait for the boy.

"Just go, I can survive this much."

"You sure?" Receiving a quick nod, Dante didn't think twice before running so fast that the boy lost sight of him within a few seconds.

Luckily the path was one way trail and if there wasn't any well, Dante had made one by cutting the walls like butter. Joshua decided to lower his pace in order to not grow tired and started to bring out his barrier. With his magic core restored, he was able to access his [Barrier Magic] and encase his whole body once more. The feeling had become somewhat natural to have on him, it was more important now that the shield he had on his back was gone so he had to be extra careful with attacks that came from behind.

Even so, "He's way too fast. Is it because of magic?" The boy speculated with the amount of distance the guy had covered. "Or is it because of the amount of training the guy did?" He didn't know what it was but it was not normal, shaking his head, he reminded himself that he too cannot be called normal now can he. 'Still better than being a demon.'

The ground he was running on began to shake rapidly before he collided with the wall. He felt gravity shift as he fell on the ceiling with a groan. Luckily he had made a barrier on his body to reduce the damage to be no more than the feeling of a slap to his face...literally. Still painful, mind you.

A slight crack in the air appeared around him and he scowled as he readied himself. Before he could pull out his weapon, the room shifted again causing him to collide with a the edge of a scythe from one of the demons that was near him. The pain was filled and yet it still ached all the same.

"I really do hate you demons."

XXX

Whatever that was, it was giant and was falling quickly towards her general direction. Backing away immediately, she took cover as the giant demon fell from the sky dead. The teen girl readied her gun and aimed, ready for any sudden movement until she noticed the big crimson shaped eye dull. 'It's dead no doubt, but you can never be sure with demons.' 

Her thoughts was correct as the giant dull eye started to pulse with blood leaking out, her gun aimed for anything to come as she watched something or someone come out with a slash to the eye, 'Him.' She watched as he jumped some distance without focusing on her and wipe some of the blood that he was drenched with. It didn't accomplish anything.

"So this is the next stage." Noticing that he wasn't gonna look back, she aimed her gun once more at him with shooting this time and halted him from moving forward.

"Wait!"

"If you're asking for a date," the white haired demon turned around swiftly and moved her gun away from aiming at him, she was not unperturbed and moved her arm back to position. "Forget it, Cause I make it a point to not got out with women who shoot me in the head."

"Date a demon? Heh" The girl smirked at him while her eyes showed disgust at such a thought, "I'm not that desperate." She shook her head at the sight of blood on him. "Besides I really don't care for guys who stink like blood."

The demon stared at his arm before smelling himself, taken aback before he grinned. "You're right." She noticed a presence and pointed her gun at the demon that appeared from behind him. The demon whitehead followed along and shot his gun from the one that was creeping behind her before their back was together with guns on both hands, shooting any demons that came near their sights. "So tell me, what's your name?"

Not going along with his friendly banter, she scowled as she reloaded her guns. "I don't have a name."

"Okay, then what should I call you?"

"I don't care, whatever you want."

"Whatever Lady." The demon halted his shooting and jumped past the demons towards the stairs that led to a door. "I'll leave this to you, because I don't want to miss the party." Giving a little kiss to his finger before pointing at her which she didn't notice, he walked away.

After noticing that he was no longer here, she backed away to not leave her back vulnerable and reloaded her guns. "Wasn't counting on you anyway." Getting ready to shoot again, the bulging sound of the eye caught her attention along with the demons. The small hand pushed between the slice eyeball. "Wait, the kid?" She watched in amazement as the boy she had encountered frequently as of now drop down to the floor with one knee down and a small gasp.

"Finally out, huh?" The boy looked around to notice her and the demons that now surrounded them both. Slowly pulling out his gun, he began to calm his breathing before his eyes gain a sudden glow which caused the girl to freeze up along with the demons. "Stop getting in my way."

The teen girl could only huff at the sudden expression the boy had on his face as he started to shoot at them with quick precision while kicking the demons away some distance that she would expect from an frown martial artist. 'He's gotten better, stronger even.' Nodding her head at his strength. She returned focus at the demons at hand and became her assault once more. "I can handle this myself, kid."

"I don't care, I'm doing what I want."

XXX

"Hmm, welcome sir~" Although her skin was that of the colour of lime, her aurburn hair was mesmerising as well as the way her type of clothing which was made out of bats was only covering the bare minimum allowing Dante to get a real good look at the demon's figure, it was t helpful that only her hair was the only sense of protection she used to cover her assets but Dante wasn't complaining with his staring and she knew that he was focusing on it, she was of course a succubus and her general appearance would cause the opposite gender to have a really hard time even not look at her. "Is this your first time here?"

Dante grinned while her up and down. "Yeah it is. You'll be nice to me, won't you?" The demon succubus caressed his cheek before walking around to be behind the devil hunter.

"Of course I will, I'll treat you so nicely, you'll never want to leave~"

Dante's grin became a smirk as he brought his sword from his back. "Now that's what I'm talking about."

The demon turned back and walked towards the stage in the room before breathing out sparks of purple lightning with bats flying near her. "Then come on, sugar~"

XXX

The demons continued to pile up however, with the appearance of Joshua himself, the amount of bullets the girl had to use was less than she expected even more so when the boy decided to start creating his barriers into bullets and shooting immediately without a second of stopping.

"Guess I should say thanks for helping," the teen girl brought out her rocket launcher named after her mother, Kalina Ann. "But I didn't need it in the first place." She waited as the demons was pushed into a pile before she fired a rocket causing a major explosion along with scatters of blood and red orbs to spray across the floor.

Joshua calmed his breathing before putting the gun back to his holster. The [Barrier Bullets] dismantled immediately and a sudden pulse of his magic core acting up again. Clutching his chest, he groaned in pain before getting out a vital star with green liquid. "Not this again."

"You alright?" She waited as he drank the full content and gave a wary eyes as sparks of blue lightning started to run across his body. "That doesn't look normal."

Looking up at her, he shook his head. "The demon who got my arm did something to me. It got eaten up with me by this...whale?" Putting the vital star glass back, he sighed in relief before facing her properly. "Don't know what happened when we killed it the first time but it seems really pissed when it saw this happen to me."

She raised a brow at that statement, "The first time?" The boy nodded at his own statement.

"Yeah, It came back to life, attached its head back and everything." Feeling his magic core stop pulsing, his sense of hunger calmed down a bit. "It got even stronger than before that I couldn't even damage it."

The girl hummed at the boy's word, "If it's a demons that has a unique abilities, it must definitely be a high class type." She placed her rocket launcher to her back before shrugging, "What can I expect from demons, they all have some sort of trick up their sleeves."

"That's true."

"...by the way, you said 'we' when you first killed the demon right?"

Joshua titled his head slightly while raising a brow but nodded nevertheless. "That's right, me and another human called Dante, he's the one who saved from getting eaten when I was about to lose more than just my arm." The girl looked at the lost limb and gave a grim expression, it was never a sight that she like to see no matter how many times she had seen it in just one day. "He's really strong."

The girl gave huff at the boy, "Another human, is that right?" Her thoughts of the man didn't change with the boy's word. 'He lied to him that he was human.'

"Yeah, I thought you had met him already since he made that exit for me to follow." Joshua looked at the stairs which led to the door. "Or did you not meet at all?"

"I guess I didn't." She looked away from his face as she said so. She looked at the now empty path upwards and proceeded to go up stairs to the door. "You coming?"

Joshua shook his head, he looked around the floor that had red orbs everywhere. "I'll be doing something first."

She watched as he started collecting those red crystals and shook her head before looking away. "Suit yourself, I know you can survive well enough." She stopped her walk once more, "Even so, be careful. I don't want you dying."

'...You too.'

A/N: Just to give people notice if you've enjoyed the story so far, there is more chapters already uploaded in Wattpad as that's where I usually upload first before doing so here.

Just letting everyone know since there are word formats here you can't do whereas you can do so onto that site which will give you a better insight of the way each character talks as well as images of the main character and things that you already know if you a fan of. The Devil May Cry.

Although some would say I'm just printing out the same text I've done on the other site, I am editing these chapters to have better wordings and pronunciations that I may have missed the first time after I have uploaded it.

Thanks for your time,

Bye.