KanColle X Devil May Cry: Devil Trigger Protocol

Dante gripped Rebellion, while Vergil's hand rested on the sheathed Yamato.

Akagi stepped forward. "We'll help."

Vergil's voice was ice. "No place for humans. Stay out of my way."

The shipgirls bristled, but his words didn't deter them.

Dante chuckled. "Waste of breath. They don't listen."

The shipgirls glared harder.

Tatsuta's tone was sly. "Are these brothers picking a fight~?"

Tenryuu snapped, "We can fight too!"

Dante sighed. "Fine, everyone's in."

Vergil's eyes narrowed. "If you're a hindrance, I'll cut you down."

Kaga said coolly, "We'll use curry."

Dante grinned at Vergil. "Hold your breath."

Vergil frowned. "…?"

"Main event time!" Dante roared.

Dante and Vergil charged as one.

Houshou commanded, "Fighters, distract Jester! Bombers and cannons, support them!"

Fighter planes strafed Jester's face, drawing his focus. Bombers and shipgirl volleys rained down.

Vergil glanced at Dante. "Buy me time."

"What's the plan?" Dante asked.

"Yamato will sever his link to the temple," Vergil replied.

Yamato could cleave the boundary between human and demon realms, said to "divide man from demon" or "slash and devour darkness." But Vergil, a temple creation, wielded a replica. Could it match the original?

Dante raised an eyebrow. "Can you pull it off?"

Vergil's voice was curt. "You'll see."

Jester's tentacles lashed out, but Dante teleported above, cleaving Jester with a vertical slash. Vergil's Rapid Slash carved through tentacles and Jester alike, a blur of steel.

Vergil reached the altar, thrusting Yamato into the mirror—the demon world's gate. The blade glowed azure, unyielding, though the mirror didn't crack.

Jester roared, "What're you doing!?"

His tail whipped at Vergil, but Dante blocked it with Rebellion. Curry bombs and shells slammed into Jester.

"GYAAA!" Jester screamed, wounds healing instantly.

Vergil grimaced. "What's this foul stench?"

"Told you to hold your breath," Dante said. "Done yet?"

"Almost," Vergil snapped. "Keep him busy!"

"Been doing that!" Dante shot back.

Jester's wings unleashed a gale, scattering the shipgirls. They rose, undeterred, as carriers launched a second wave.

Jester's tentacles struck again. Dante stood behind Vergil, slicing them with Agni & Rudra.

"Take this!" Jester bellowed, magic pooling in his maw.

Suzuya yelped, "That looks bad!"

Akagi shouted, "It's dangerous! Stop him!"

Kongou yelled, "Aim for his face!"

They attacked to disrupt the gathering energy, but it didn't stop. Dante darted forward, leaping as Jester unleashed a magical breath. A kick to Jester's jaw forced the blast upward, shattering part of the ceiling.

"Dangerous!" Junyou cried as debris fell.

The shipgirls dodged frantically.

Jester sneered, "Can't dodge this!"

Countless magic circles appeared, poised to unleash a storm of energy orbs—but they fizzled out.

"What!? Why!?" Jester stammered.

Kaga blinked. "What happened?"

Jester's gaze locked on Vergil, who smirked.

"What'd you do!?" Jester roared.

Tentacles seized Dante and Vergil, hurling them toward the shipgirls. They landed effortlessly.

"GYAAA!" Jester screamed, curry searing his body. His wounds no longer healed.

Yuubari gaped. "What's going on?"

Vergil's voice was calm. "I sealed the demon gate."

The mirror's sinister reflection was gone, now just a normal surface.

"Arkham, the temple, and the mirror—the demon gate—are linked," Vergil explained. "Stop one, and the energy flow ceases."

Dante grinned. "No more immortality."

Akagi frowned. "How do you know this?"

Vergil ignored her.

Akagi thought, (…Ignored?)

"Answer her," Dante said.

Vergil sighed, annoyed. "I was created by this temple. I know it like the back of my hand."

Tenryuu grinned. "No immortality? We've got this!"

The temple shuddered violently.

Aoba gasped, "What's happening!?"

The shipgirls staggered as the ground quaked.

Vergil said, "Sealing the gate is destabilizing this space."

Kitakami asked, "Meaning?"

Dante replied, "Stay here, and we're dead or trapped."

"WHAT!?" the shipgirls cried.

The halted energy flow caused the temple's demonic aura to run wild.

Dante turned to Vergil. "You knew?"

"I suspected," Vergil said.

"Say that sooner," Dante growled.

Shigure asked, "What now?"

Dante ordered, "Get out of here."

Murakumo snapped, "Leave you behind?"

"I'll catch up," Dante said.

"That's not—" Murakumo began.

Some shipgirls knew from dreams how powerful Dante and Vergil were together. Still, leaving felt wrong.

"Akagi," Dante said.

"…Yes?" she replied.

"Your dream's future's already changed, right?" he said.

Akagi fell silent.

"Houshou, take everyone out," Dante ordered. "Admiral's orders."

Houshou's voice was soft. "Admiral's orders? You're cruel."

"Sorry," Dante said.

"We're withdrawing," Houshou said. "Let's go."

Akagi pleaded, "Wait! Admiral!"

"I can fight!" Tenryuu protested.

"You being outside lets me fight," Dante said. "Please, go."

Tatsuta murmured, "Tenryuu-chan."

Kaga whispered, "Akagi-san…"

Houshou said, "The Admiral gave an order. We must obey."

An Admiral's order was absolute for shipgirls. Dante rarely invoked it.

Akagi's voice trembled. "Promise you'll come back. Swear on your soul."

Dante turned to Jester. "…See you later."

He avoided further talk.

Akagi pressed a Holy Water vial into his hand. "Take this."

Tenryuu shouted, "You better come back!"

The shipgirls fled the temple.

"If I push forward, I might die. But fulfilling my role could return me to my world."

"If I return, I'll forget this world. Akagi, Kaga…"

Dante muttered, "Shouldn't make promises I can't keep."

Vergil scoffed, "Why care about them?"

Jester roared, "I won't forgive you two!"

Curry's sting fueled his rage.

Dante smirked. "You said history repeats, right? Maybe you're not wrong."

"What're you babbling about?" Jester snapped.

"Curry fried your brain?" Dante taunted, echoing Jester's words.

"Look closely," Dante said. "Same situation as before."

Vergil added, "You can't beat us."

Dante referenced their victory over Arkham at Temen-ni-gru, where he and Vergil defeated him.

Dante fired Ebony & Ivory while Vergil launched Summoned Swords, charging Jester. Tentacles surged, but they dodged and slashed them down. Jester's tail whipped forward; Dante cleaved it with Rebellion. Jester's wings stirred a gale, but Vergil's Dimension Slash shredded the wind and wings alike.

"AGH!" Jester screamed. "Not yet!"

His body melted into slime, vanishing. Countless doppelgangers—Arkham's Legion—appeared.

Dante grinned. "Knew it."

In the room's center, Dante strummed Nevan, unleashing bats and lightning, wiping out the clones. Vergil's Rapid Slash cut them down. Numbers meant nothing to them. The clones fell, and Jester reappeared, back in dragon form.

"Eat this!" Dante shouted, leaping to Jester's face and shoving Holy Water into his mouth. Vergil kicked his jaw upward.

"GYAAA!" Jester howled as the Holy Water shattered inside, dealing damage.

Dante smirked. "All that power, and you're still second-rate."

"You ruined my plans!" Jester roared. "Die!"

Magic gathered in his maw. Dante and Vergil leaped, swords raised. Jester's magical torrent clashed with Rebellion and Yamato. The forces balanced until they triggered Devil Trigger, transforming into demons. They pushed the torrent back.

"RAAAH!" Dante roared.

"HAAA!" Vergil bellowed.

The shipgirls emerged from the temple as dawn broke. Blinding light spilled from the top floor.

"Admiral…" Akagi whispered.

"Get back!" Jintsuu urged.

The shaking persisted. Fleeing the temple wasn't enough; they retreated further.

Screams echoed as the light exploded, engulfing the shipgirls, demons, and the city.

The shipgirls awoke on rubble and ground. The city's sinister aura was gone, but its ruins remained. The temple had vanished.

"…Admiral?" Akagi called.

"Where's the Admiral?" Suzuya asked.

"Let's search," Houshou said.

"Admiral!" Shiratsuyu shouted.

They scoured the temple's former site for Dante.

Days Later, Devil May Cry Naval Base, Meeting Room

The shipgirls had returned to the base. Army, police, rescue teams, and volunteers searched the city for survivors. Dante was missing.

The Marshal stood before them, scanning their somber faces.

"He gave an Admiral's order," the Marshal said. "You followed it."

Tenryuu's voice was heavy. "But we left him behind, even after saying we'd help."

"You trusted him, didn't you?" the Marshal asked.

Suzuya snapped, "Trusting him didn't bring him back!"

"You think he's really dead?" the Marshal countered.

Kongou's eyes lit up. "You know something!?"

The shipgirls looked hopeful.

The Marshal shrugged. "I don't."

Their shoulders slumped.

"But I feel we'll see him again," the Marshal said. "Don't you, Houshou?"

Houshou hesitated. "…I don't know."

"Believe and wait," the Marshal said. "No matter how many years pass."

Unknown Location

"Jester failed, huh? Shame," a man in a white coat muttered in a dark room filled with monitors and equipment.

"Dante… an irregular, but entertaining," he said, turning to a capsule where a Deep Sea Ship floated in liquid.

"What's next? Any ideas?" he asked.

The Deep Sea Ship was silent. His voice echoed alone.

Devil May Cry World

Dante gazed up, satisfied, at the glowing Devil May Cry neon sign.

Defeating Jester collapsed the temple, and Vergil vanished with it. Dante was flung through a spatial rift, returning to his world.

He entered, surveyed the room, and slumped into a chair, feet on the desk.

"Finally ready to start work," he said.

The phone rang.

"Devil May Cry," Dante answered.

In the future, a blonde woman named Trish would lead him to confront his mother's killer.

Years Later, KanColle World

Devil May Cry Naval Base was shuttered. With no replacement Admiral, the shipgirls were reassigned to Naval Headquarters, Yokosuka, and Maizuru. They protested, but it was final.

Akagi stood at a cape overlooking the base and sea, joined by Kaga and a new shipgirl, Fubuki. They'd received the Marshal's permission to visit.

"That's our story with the crimson demon," Akagi said, smiling gently.

Fubuki's eyes sparkled. "What an incredible tale."

"Demons are beyond me," Fubuki said. "But that Dante…"

"Still missing," Kaga said.

Fubuki's face fell. "I see…"

"Don't look so sad," Akagi said. "We believe and wait."

Akagi gazed at the sky, then froze. A crimson streak plummeted toward the sea. She sprinted down the path to the base.

"Akagi-san!?" Fubuki called.

Kaga's eyes widened. "That's…"

The sky was clear, breathtakingly so.

Akagi smiled. "Welcome back."

"The Admiral has arrived at the Naval Base. He will now take command of the fleet."