The Substitution of the Shield Hero

At another table set up nearby.

"Well I'll be damned. So the kid not only saved a princess, but he has one as a personal servant." Dante adjusted his hat as he looked between Mein and Lucina. "Since he's Leon's son, it doesn't surprise me. But it's still funny, right, Vergil?"

Vergil sighed, his arms crossed while his Solar Flare armor emitted soft orange light. "...This is a waste of time."

"Waste of time?" Dante glanced at Vergil and said, "Making that 'legendary copper short sword' is a waste of time."

Vergil glared at Dante and said, "I shall not have you mock the greatest weapon in creation, Brother."

"It's a copper short sword. Even if you kept reforging it with the various essences of ridiculous monsters, it's still just a copper short sword."

"It is the True Legendary Copper Shortsword. The blade that surpasses all other blades, fracturing dimensions upon a level that rivals even the Yamato. One reforged by the most skilled goblin artisan of all the lands, infused with the essences of blades that a fool like you could only dream of and-"

"Yeah, yeah." Dante waved his hand, cutting Vergil off. Then he looked over at Lucina and said, "...But time for the real talk." His eyes sharpened and he said, "Where's your old man, Cici? And... what happened?"

Lucina fidgeted, tugging on the white towel she was using to cover her body. Then she said, "...After the X Zone incident, Father and I were to return to Ylisse. The Outrealm Gates opened, and we made it back. But..." She clenched her hand and murmured, "The moment we did, the Fell Dragon opened an Outrealm Gate as well. I fell into an unknown sea. And while I managed to find shelter, I lost Falchion and my body was weakened by this strange land. Slavers captured me. And after..."

Vergil was quiet, his eyes sharpening. "...Are the fools responsible still alive?"

Lucina let out a dark chuckle and said, "No. Naofumi and his son ensured that."

Dante stared at Lucina. Then he let out a long sigh and a faint smile. "...Okay. We'll leave it at that then." He adjusted his hat and said, "But I'm surprised." He took a look around the surroundings and said, "To think that kid ended up being all the way over here... man, the number of places we had to go through to get here."

At that time, Mein spoke up. "Not to be rude..."

Dante laughed. "Go ahead and talk, Babe. I don't mind."

"...Babe?" Mein blinked. "I'm not a- Never mind." She shook her head and stared at both Dante and Vergil. "...This might be rude. But are you two... not human?"

"That is pretty rude. But I guess we DID show up with a splash." He glanced over to the far shore where Demi-fiend and Nahobino seemed to be having a competition on who could recruit the most monsters to join their party. "...Especially with those two in tow."

Vergil sighed. "I told you we should have left them behind, Brother."

"Yeah... about that. I think I'll pass on annoying the teenagers with the ability to kill the Big G if they have a few more years of training. You're welcome to try though, Vergil."

Vergil coughed. "...They require more training first. Perhaps in the future..."

Dante chuckled, clearly seeing through his brother's deflection. But then he looked at Mein and said, "To answer your question though, Princess, we're half-human. Technically Cambions if you wanna be all biblical about it, but, basically half-demons."

Mein slowly nodded. "I see. Then... is Master Naofumi also this... Cambion?"

"Huh? The kid?" Dante laughed. "Yeah, no. We might be related kinda from his Dad's side since my mother was Italian, but as far as I can tell, he's just human."

Vergil nodded. "Indeed. A mere human... though he does possess some power."

As if to directly refute Vergil, Naofumi's frantic screams and the sound of breaking furniture echoed.

Vergil clicked his tongue and murmured, "...Though it appears such power is meaningless in the face of his parents."

"Oh come on, Vergil." Dante nudged his brother in the arm and said, "Don't tell me you wouldn't act the same if Pops or Mom was around."

Vergil was quiet. Then he murmured, "I suppose."

"It's funny though." Dante chuckled. "Unlike YOUR son, Leon's kid isn't trying to kick his ass."

Vergil huffed and said, "That boy has far to go before he can stand on my level."

"Sure... Keep talking like you weren't proud when Nero unlocked his Devil Trigger and thrashed you a bit."

"...Silence."

Dante smirked and then looked back at Mein. "Anyway... so what's going on over here? You're a princess, so do you know why the kid was dragged across literal metaphysical dimensions?"

Lucina looked over at Mein and said, "Yes. I am curious about that as well, Mein. Just what brought Naofumi to this world?"

Mein coughed. "A-Ah. Well... my late father was a bit of a foolish king, you see. And I was, um... different at that time too. A long story. But we... may have attempted to draft people from different worlds to fight on our behalf as heroes in a war against interdimensional waves of calamity?"

Silence.

And then Dante slowly said, "Let me get this straight. You guys pulled a magical ritual to reach across literal metaphysical planes of existence... summoned a group of young men to fight in a war they didn't choose... against an interdimensional threat with probably eldritch monstrosities..."

Mein flinched.

Dante looked around, genuinely impressed. "...I'm surprised this world's still standing. Haven't personally met Leon's kid until now, but from what I hear he's a genius on the level of Da Vinci and stuff. Apparently he was remaking magic from first principles, so the fact that he didn't go nuclear on this place is pretty lucky."

Mein paled. "...What?"

"Hm? Yeah." Dante looked at Mein. "He never tell you guys? Apparently, just before he vanished... which I guess was why you guys summoned him. He was working on making magic from scratch to run on light. I didn't get the mumbojumbo, but his from what Leon said, it was pretty ridiculous."

Vergil rolled his eyes. "If you would put that brain of yours to use instead of rotting it away with television and junkfood you would have understood that Leon's son was a step away from divinity."

"You mean like you before Nero trounced your sorry behind?"

Vergil's ears turned red. "...I was holding back."

"Sure, buddy."

Lucina paused. "...Half a step away from divinity?" She stared up at the glowing green moon. "...That would explain how he was able to claim the moon then."

"Huh? The moon?" Dante followed Lucina's gaze. Then he paused. "...What the hell? Hey, Vergil. You seeing what I'm seeing?"

Vergil looked up and blinked, genuinely surprised. "...That is the Sefirot."

"I thought so. It's like the angel version of the tree you were farming, right?"

"...Calling the Qliphoth a mere tree..."

"Was it not?"

"...In any case." Vergil stared at the moon and smirked. "It appears that Leon was hasty. His son possesses power. Great power."

"That's high praise coming from you." Dante looked amused. But then he looked back at the moon and said, "...But yeah. Even in that Terraria world or whatever, none of the gods or goddesses there were able to change the moon. Hell, even that Moon Lord guy just lived there."

Vergil nodded. "Indeed. And both the Demi-fiend and Nahobino failed such a level of divine transmutation." He paused. "...Though they are both still new to their powers. Perhaps in the future."

Dante clapped his hands. "Alright, enough heavy talk. It's late, we've met up with Cici after God knows how long, so..." He reached into the air and pulled out a box of pizza and some beer bottles. "Let's party~"

Vergil scoffed and reached into space as well, pulling out wine bottles and fine dining cuisine of all sorts, like authentic Peking duck, a Beef Wellington, and other things. "If we must celebrate, we shall do so with taste."

Mein watched the two do that. Then she slowly mumbled, "If these two are Naofumi's uncles, that explains so, so much about him..."

===

The night slowly passed, turning into day.

Demi-fiend and Nahobino looked around the island with mild interest and chatted with S'yne all night. But after leaving their contact information and world coordinates behind with S'yne, as well as registering this world's coordinates, they teleported back to their homeworlds.

For Nahobino, he used his Return Pillar to warp back to the last Leyline Fount he rested at.

For Demi-fiend... he just chugged a recall potion that he picked up from Terraria since his 'home' was hard-coded into him after becoming a True Demon.

Dante and Vergil decided to stick around and were exploring the Cal Mira Archipelago to test out the various toys they had collected on their journey to find Naofumi.

For Dante, that meant seeing if he could create an even crazier mix-up with all the new weapons he had crafted in Terraria.

For Vergil... that meant using the Sword of Light that he definitely did not 'steal' from Yggdrasil in Erdrea but simply 'borrow.'

Of course, since the vacation home that Naofumi made was currently being occupied as Naofumi continued his punishment from his parents, Dante and Vergil made some temporary shelters for the girls outside to rest until morning.

Both of the Sons of Sparda had inventories, void bags, and dimensional piggybanks full of countless cubic meters of various materials, after all.

But like that, the night slowly passed.