Bloody Palace, Vergil's Ascent

Ka relaxed in his tub while his body did mild stretches for him. Sometimes, being formless had it's advantages... A shrieking wail like the cries of the dead stopped his day dreaming. Julius could probably have done that one a bit quieter, but it certainly got everyone looking... Ka could see it now, shooting up past his window with a speed that vaguely resembled a freight train... Being launched out of a cannon. Into orbit.
The spines, skulls, and occasional bloody head on the outside of the Gothic architecture blurred across the window, unseen to mortal eyes until at last the building stopped. The spirit wondered who had been fool enough to challenge that particular gauntlet. It wasn't going to be pretty, whoever it was.

Contestant Vergil! You've been selected to participate in the Bloody Palace! Good luck...

Luck, it didn't factor into the half breed's vocabulary, let alone his fighting. Speed and precision were his strong suits, and having a powerful Devil Arm always helped to as Vergil grabbed his blue coat and slipped it back on, leaving a very battered punching bag behind. Jumping out of the only window that was in his room, Vergil ran down the vertical wall with ease, setting down on his feet and continued walking without breaking his stride at all. Entering the tower's main gates that resembled the gates to the Underworld more than anything, Vergil put a hand to Yamato's hilt as the massive double doors shut behind him...

((On PS 3 so can't post as I'd like. The fight I'll finish tomorrow.))

Bloody Palace, Floor 1

Vergil was greeted by near darkness, the only sources of light in the room the flickering fires of the hellish bats that swept the room. The light glinted evilly off the scythe like blades impaled through the life sized puppets standing silent vigil in the entrance to the tower. The puppets turned slowly, as if suspended, though the only strings in evidence hung limp at their sides. The bats squealed in delight, having sensed their prey, and the mannequins joined in with vile laughter...

"Is this the best you can do?" Vergil asked no one in particular as he moved in to the closest of the mannequins before him, walking slowly as if he had all the time in the world. When he was about to be slashed apart, Vergil just seemed to take a step to the side before slamming his sword sheath into the thing's face hard enough to send it into a nearby pillar, kicking another one in the stomach as the first sailed away. Only then did Yamato come out of its sheath with a wicked gleam of light on its blade before Vergil cut the third one that approached across its chest, severing it from its legs in one fell swoop. The Hell Bats were within reach by then, diving in fast to shred the half demon apart while consuming him in magical fire at the same time. Too bad they were no where near close in power or in speed to match Vergil's ability as he jumped on one's back, sliced both wings off before jumping on the other, driving Yamato clean through its chest and its heart before backflipping back onto the ground, cutting another mannequin on his way down clean in two. Two swords appeared shortly after that, impaling the two demons that were left so Vergil could get within reach with his blade, finishing them off with one swing across their necks. The fight was over with their demise, and the two swords that Vergil had summoned disappeared as well, being nothing more than telekinetic force given shape and substance by his powerful mind to aid him in this fight. Reaching the stairs, he began his way up, sheathing Yamato until it 'clicked' back into place.

Bloody Palace, Floor 2

The remaining pieces of his opponents littered the floor, oozing shadows which slowly pooled on the stone floor. Rough blocks of stone pressed out of the wall, forming a spiraling ascent towards the top of the building. It would be a long, long staircase. In the near darkness, lit only by the candles set into the crevices at the end of each stair, the roof of the ceiling dwindled to nearly a point, ten stories above. And that was only the first set of stairs, one of many... The bubbling shadows pooled, waiting. When Vergil began his ascent, these foul creations would take form and ensure it was a brief attempt at this tournament.

Vergil was no fool, and so was not surprised when five black ooze like creatures and three more bats appeared out of the walls and air, both opening up a portal of some kind in an attempt to ambush him. The ooze creatures he had not seen before, but the half breed didn't consider them much of a threat, other than they might be harder to kill physically given their nature. The bats he understood and he wondered, as he ran up the wall and launched himself at the closest of the three, if he could use them against each other? Landing on the creature's head, Vergil kicked off of the animal's back and sent it tumbling down into two of the slimes. The moment they touched, the oozes exploded violently, taking most of the floor and wall with them. The reaction of the two meeting had not been expected, but it helped as Vergil landed on the second one in line, Yamato taking its life as it passed through its head like a hot knife through butter, allowing the demon to launch himself at the last one. It was trying to flee upward, away from Vergil, but it had started its ascent too slow as Vergil slammed into its chest with his sword out, impaling it into the wall, several feet above the staircase. Leaving a slash mark in the stone as well as eviscerating the bat, Vergil landed on his feet, two dozen steps above the ground floor, well on his way to the next one.

Bloody Palace, Floor 3

From beneath and behind, the low crumbling sound would be difficult to detect... Which was good, because the cause of the grinding stone did not want to be heard. The golem ground itself together of chips and rubble, larger stones for the head and body, smaller for flexible apendages... It would cut off the demon child's path, barring his way, forcing him to fight.
The stone of the moved inwards, the wall itself drove similarly outwards, blocking the advance with an impassable obstacle. The golem threw a part of itself with missile-esque speed and precision towards it's prey.

Reaching the third floor, and seeing the rest of the staircase was blocked off, Vergil heard a very small grinding noise before it stopped. Something didn't feel right though, and a moment later Vergil knew why as a stone hand came out of a nearby wall. Yamato came out, but it was ineffective against the stone missile as it left a small gouge as the demon jumped up and over it. Putting his weapon away, four points of light radiated around his hands and feet as Beowulf, the gauntlets and greaves he had taken as his prize from a demon of the same name by absorbing the creature's soul after Vergil had cut its face into four pieces, appeared. They were far stronger when it came to brute strength, and with Vergil wearing them, far quicker as well. Yamato was still faster though since Beowulf was also heavier. It would be enough though as the stone golem reached out of the floor, only to have Vergil punch the grasping appendage hard enough to shatter it completely. That got the creature's attention as it pulled itself completely out of the wall. "An elemental. I thought your kind were all but destroyed." Vergil said, getting a roar from the demonic creature as it lumbered towards the agile warrior with surprising speed for its size. Slamming its other hand down, intending to squish him flat, Vergil jumped aside at the last moment before going in just as quickly, but it had a few tricks up its sleeve as it shot stone spikes out of its chest. This is what Vergil desired though as the blue and white blur shot forward and down onto the thing's chest, both greaved feet lit up brightly as Beowulf smashed through everything that tried to pass through its magical and physical barrage until passing right through the golem's chest. Vergil wasn't done though as he shot back up, slamming through the back of the creature's head as it fell, sending it falling the other way in a dozen pieces. Landing on the stairs again, Vergil made Beowulf disappear, pulling Yamato back out and holding it by its sheath again as he went up the rest of the stairs to the fourth floor.

Bloody Palace, Floor 4

Scattered stone chips bounced across the walls in the aftermath of the crushing defeat of the golem. Those that remained perched on the stairs began to shiver, as if trying still to reorder themselves into a usable form. The shivering continued, now accompanied by the unmistakable sound... Of marching footsteps. Four suites of demonic armor, one each wielding a massive battle axe, a shield and sword, a shield and mace, and a gruesome looking flail. More footsteps could be heard from behind, accompanied by a similar clattering of metal and threatened death.

The fourth floor, and already Vergil was getting annoyed by the weaklings he had faced so far. A stone golem, hell bats, oozes, and mannequins. Now it seemed there was demonic armors, carrying various weapons, out to get him. Yamato couldn't handle stone, but metal was something else altogether. "You are all going to fall here." The demon said as the closest one, wielding the sword and shield, rushed him first, shield rushing forward. Yamato met the armor across its stomach as Vergil moved to the right, letting the armor cut itself in half by its own momentum. The axe was there to greet Vergil however, or at least it seemed like it would until the warrior seemed to disappear into thin air, appearing behind the armor and its axe, cutting the armor in twain on his way down. Two down, eight to go. The mace and shield was next, narrowly avoiding getting hit by the shield, and ducking under the swing that followed, Vergil pointed Yamato up and stabbed that way, skewering the demon possessed helmet straight through before yanking it free, slamming it into the next one hard enough to send both into a nearby wall, killing it as well as the one behind him. Yamato sang its deadly song as three more with spears rushed in simultaneously, trying to pin and skewer him against a nearby wall. Yamato cut through both armor and weapons with ease, severing their midsections clean in two with one well timed slash. The flail was the last, and Vergil again avoided getting smashed, instead slamming into the armor that he had smashed into the wall with its companion's head all over again before it could fall. "You are a danger to your own companions, I'll have to remember that for future use." Vergil smirked as he landed on the armor, having ran up the chain before it could pull it back in time. Yamato dived in twice, severing the arm and the neck of the beast in two quick motions. Jumping off, Vergil stood with his back to the creature, slowly sliding Yamato back into its sheath until the click was heard, and the armor fell apart.

Bloody Palace, Floor 4 Part 2

Pieces and chips of ancient armor littered the ground, dark red energies pouring off of them in waves. No sound could be heard, no life still detected in the possessed metalworkings, until one by one each piece began to steadily rise. In only moments, a once proud honor guard had been torn to chunks of shredded steel. Now they would have their revenge, and pull the demon-kin apart to rest forever with them...

Turning around when the spiderweb like barrier came up again, Vergil saw, much to his surprise, that all of the pieces of the possessed armor that had been torn apart and smashed, had risen up again. When they flew in like as warm of locust, Vergil turned his head to the side for half a second before jumping down, Yamato out of its sheath in the same moment, cutting a gauntlet in half and then again the other way, and then again for good measure. The pieces fell and didn't rise again. Two dozen and more armor pieces still remained though, and Vergil knew his sword wouldn't be enough here, at least by itself. Beowulf appeared again as it had before, and Vergil became a force of nature that grabbed a floating mace, threw it into a small group of random pieces of demon possessed chunks, and watched as several of them were turned to dust that weren't able to get out of the way. The flail he grabbed next, by the chain, severing the handle from the rest with one quick jerk. The handle stayed down, but the rest Vergil used to smash up the rest of the competition, his every attack amplified with the power of his gauntlets he wore as the magic that held them together added fury to his attack routine, Spinning the ball and chain over his head, Vergil let the ball fly, smashing a torso piece and dragging it across the stone wall for several feet before yanking the chain back and having the ball strike two more in the process. Ducking under a sword thrust, Vergil snapped his gaze and his flail the same way, snapping the sword in two as the ball struck it like a raging bull. Several remaining pieces came at him at once, and Vergil yanked the chain to him again, this time spinning it in front of him like a fan. The 'shield' was enough as it turned everything that ran into the weapon into dust. When the fight was over, Vergil slammed the ball into the ground at his feet before stomping that as well through the floor, hitting an already destroyed golem all over again hard enough to shatter the floor below, sending the lot onto the second floor, never to rise again.

Bloody Palace, Floor 5

Fire danced along the side of the stairway, a trickling rush as each candle poured into the next... This was the fool that had destroyed her children. She was not mad, she knew they would not survive long, she would have eaten them herself long before they rose to challenge her power. Even so, she needed food to prepare herself for the next birthing, and this demon man would provide the energy for a wonderful new brood...
The fires danced, and from the flames rose the mother of the Hell Bats. Burning a brilliant shade of crimson, which seemed to glow in a color that would normally not be considered light, her form shimmered and twisted in the tunnel of the tower. The stairs both above and beneath Vergil vanished, leaving him only a few scant meters of steps to traverse before an impassable gap cut him off. The flaming form of the mother took shape, wings stretching nearly across the room, her humanoid body twisted and wretched as if rocked by a violent explosion, her body itself facing sometimes backwards from her head, which stared with greedy eyes at her prey. This foe would be a good meal, this one would sate her hunger for many years...

The Hell Bat Mother that came to greet him between 'floors' five and four was a monstrous beast, and most mortals would have ran at the mere sight of her. Vergil however took one look at her before letting Yamato out of its sheath, slashing the air fast enough to send an energy wave at her instead of going in close, cutting her right wing off. At least, that's what he had in mind until it reattached itself right before his eyes and she swooped in to eat him, her mouth wide open to swallow him whole or in tiny pieces, Vergil wasn't about to stay around to find out what was the preferred choice. "If you want to devour me, come and catch me!" Jumping to the closest of the stairs going up as she slammed into the one he was just on, Vergil hit her again with Yamato's blade, again having the same affect as last time as her face and part of her neck reformed from where he had struck her. This could be a problem.

The Hell Mother gave a hiss like the sound of a dull knife scraping roughly across dry bone. "What kind of demon are you, to be so weak?" Her voice had a strange tremor to it, as if several thousand voices where hissing in synchronization and each was competing with varying degrees of success to be the dominant sound.
Her wings batted down and forwards, propelling her backwards and singing the stairs for several feet around her. She wheeled through the air, her gaze always locked on Vergil though her body spun madly between the wings. "I'll crush you!" She gathered momentum, scraping alongside the wall and taking up nearly all of the stairs, flying waist height up the staircase like a flaming bullet.

Vergil was in trouble here, but he wasn't nearly close to being beaten. The weak comment though pushed him, and Vergil wasn't about to let her get the best of him. "You made a mistake and you will pay for it." Jumping up and over the beast, Beowulf appeared again as he sailed over the demon bat that went across the rest of the stairs, landing on the few remaining steps. "You are dead." Yelling at the top of his voice, Vergil came at her as a white comet of rage that went through the Hell Bat's chest, rebounding off of the wall and back onto the stairs.

The hole in her chest was massive, essentially severing her torso from the rest of her, and disconnecting her right wing entirely. Slowly, the hole filled back in from the edges until it met back in the middle. Her fiery wings thrust outwards, blackening the wall where one touched as she twisted to face Vergil. "You're going to die here!" Her flaming hand glowed hot, hotter, white hot as it expanded to the size of a basketball before she flicked it towards Vergil. It's form flattened, a discus of intense heat which began to flicker before flapping it's wings... A newly formed Hell Bat young that would seek Vergil down, no matter where he ran. She followed soon after it, her hand glowing once more as she prepared to launch a second of her spawn, these sacrificial missiles attempting to distract and weaken her food source.

Vergil's left foot met the living missile, sending it to the ceiling. However, it exploded before it ever made it halfway, sending chunks of the wall down to crash into both of them. Vergil avoided the falling stones, but the Hell Bat Mother was not affected at all as they passed through her, becoming flaming meteors that hit the bottom of the tower with small explosions. Panting a little from the effort, Vergil took the time to regain his composure, knowing he hadn't finished the fight yet. He may have to use his Devil form before he even made it to the tenth floor. Seeing that the demon was still coming at him, Vergil slammed his fist into the beast's face, but that only made the fire swirl and form around his hand that was in her face. "What would it take to kill you?!" Of course, the attack hadn't slowed her down in the least...

The Mother had him in her fiery clasp now... her face contorted around his hand, sucking to it and moving upwards. She would drain every drop of power... She began following Vergil's arm upwards leeching from his life force and grasping at his arm as she tried to absorb all of him.

Feeling the life being sucked away, the half demon almost lost his calm and icy demeanor, but then inspiration struck as he remembered that all of the wounds he had inflicted so far had closed up slowly. They were fast enough to be a problem if he didn't keep attacking her hard and fast, but if he could do enough damage, then this fight was over. Vergil smiled, actually smiled as he realized the answer to her death was so simple. Yanking his arm free before she could suck anymore life out of him, taking most of her face with his pull, Vergil started pounding every part his hands and feet could reach. He became a blur of white light that was too much for the fire beast to take. While he didn't kill her, Vergil knew that so long as he did enough damage and in rapid succession, he could win this fight.

The Mother threw her wings forwards, propelling herself away from Vergil. Her face filled in, from the neck up, with a dark red fire as she put herself back together as quickly as possible. "Why won't you just die?" Her strange voice shrieked. Three of her hell bats that had missed Vergil swooped around her, she grabbed one and stuffed it into a massive hole in her chest, which glued together. Her form flickered slightly, it's color now somewhat dimmer than before. Her hands glowed the brightest, still white hot as she launched herself back towards her opponent. She wouldn't have time to savor this meal... But if she killed him, she could at least recoup her losses from what stayed in his corpse.

"You are weak and therefore do not deserve to live! I need more power and you are in my way to getting it!" Vergil yelled as he smashed one of the two bats against a nearby wall before using the other as a spring board to get to the Mother before she could regain her strength completely. His fist was pointed ahead of him, and the force of his spring was enough to send him on a collision course right through the demonic Hell Bat, hopefully splitting her in twain..

The left side of the Hell Bat fell apart, leaving a haze of flickering fire trying desperately to pull itself back to it's grotesque form... The right side screamed in rage and desperation, and fought to chase after Vergil in a violence blinded fury. She clawed at the air as she launched towards Vergil, now seeking only enough energy to survive the encounter. Three of her strongest brood shrieked in through the walls, coming to her aid in the charge.

"You are FINISHED!" Bouncing off of the closest of the two strongest bats, ripping the life from it at the same time as he broke its head like a grape, Vergil came back and tore apart the rest of the Mother Hell Bat, letting the remaining half of her face be smashed through by his heavy boot in rapid order. Four kicks to the face, neck, and chest before using the last of the bats that swooped in and almost turned tail and ran to get back on the highest stairs he could reach before ripping it in two with Beowulf. Watching the remains fall to the ground floor, Vergil just offered a cold laugh before heading up further.

As Vergil safely reached the farthest point the stairs would allow, a low rumbling ground out from the wall as the missing stairs replaced themselves. A scream of despair cried torturously from the burning scraps of the Hell Bat Mother, as her children swooped in through the walls and from the lower floors to tear and shred and feast upon her... One of them would consume her power, and rise as a new Mother. The brood would survive, but her long term as queen was ended.

Bloody Palace, Floor 6

Marionettes... Puppets, possessed by demons, gruesomely carved to include vicious weapons at every part of them. Here on the winding, narrow staircase these puppets would be as dangerous to each other as to their opponent. Unfortunately for Vergil, in front of the wall of fire that blocked his path stood a small army of over twenty of these demons... Each with a peculiar black glow. The spirits possessing these puppets were decidedly NOT the same ones holding together the flimsy dolls on the first floor.