Dante Alighieri vs. Alex Mercer : Battle and results

         Dante's head was pounding with such intensity that even his mightiest hangover couldn't compare with. Groggily he opened his eyes, yawning as he did so and quickly surveyed the land around him. There were various clothes scattered haphazardly on the ground, mixed in with books, food and rather morbidly, blood. A torch of some kind was hanging loosely from the wall, its light flickering. Oddly Dante could not detect any flames emanating from it, but it still produced light.  A cabinet lay on its side in front of the broken down door that was apparently the entrance to this place; apparently its inhabitant had attempted to lock someone out of the room, and failed. The blood-stained bed opposite to the door revealed his/her ultimate fate. “Strange" Dante said to himself, "there is no body" . Usually when there is this much blood there would be a body to go with it but not in this instance. The blood trail led from the bed to the door and out past it. While Dante knew that it wasn't usually the best idea to follow a foreboding trail such as this one, in this case he didn't really have a choice. After all the only way out was through that door. He began to cautiously approach it, only to trip over something and hit the floor with a loud crash. Expecting to see a detached limb or even a head he was surprised to see it was neither; unbelievably it was a halberd, shield with arming sword, and yes evens his Scythe that he had pried from Death. Even more astonishingly those former two weapons belonged to him! Both of them had his initials carved into them and he could even remember each of their use. The Scythe had been destroyed by Lucifer himself; how it ended up next to him confused the hell out of Dante.

Speaking of hell...

 Dante knew that the Devil’s foul hand at work. 

"What sorcery is this? Why would he give me back my own weapons?" Dante wondered aloud. Before he could ponder this question more a low and menacing growl came from the darkness beyond the door. Dante's hands moved to the sword and shield right as a woman appeared in the door way. She was a truly horrific sight! Her intestines hung loosely from her body, much of her face had been chewed away, and there was nothing below her left elbow. Dante had seen and fought similar abominations before in hell, but this one seemed different; not evil per say but ....hungry. The creature in question took advantage of Dante's temporary absent mindedness by leaping at him.  Dante however was not one to be taken off guard and his shield collided with her frail form in mid air.  Pinning her down with his shield he thrust the blade deep into her neck, severing it and ending the threat.

     Dante decided it would be best to leave this house, so he could better understand where the devil he was. Before leaving he strapped his halberd and shield  to his back, the  sword to a sheath on his side, and carried the scythe in his left hand. One couldn’t be too careful, especially if there were more monsters like her around. Dante cautiously moved out of the room, into a even more gore soaked kitchen, and then finally he went through the door to the front of the building.

 A beam of light hit him, blinding him for a couple seconds. What he saw made him seriously wonder if he was still in hell. The scene before him was that of a city, like Dis only much much larger. The buildings were made of steel and the ground was covered in concrete, to the point where no grass could be seen.  Big metallic objects on wheels littered the streets, some overturned and some on fire.  In the streets there were ghoulish figures that resembled the woman who he had met inside, only this time there were hundreds of them.  They had been wandering around the streets rather aimlessly; at least until a certain snack had burst onto the scene. Seeing the crazed multitudes rushing at him only caused Dante to sigh. He had hoped that he had seen the last of Hell when he teleported out of Lucifer's realm but unfortunately for him and whatever inhabitants of this world that remained alive it seemed Hell had followed him.

       Extending his scythe-blade to its normal form, Dante charged into the ghastly horde, eager to send these minions of Satan back to Hell.

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  Inside his domain, Lucifer squealed in delight at the situation he had created. Dante had never really escaped from him as no sinner could ever escape him.  The snake had always had special meaning to Lucifer; after all it was in this very guise that he had created the very concept of sin! After two days of following Dante in Purgatory disguised as a snake he finally managed to catch him by surprise while he was scaling a wall. The first part of the plan was a huge success and Dante fell two hundred feet before landing with a loud smack! The drop had knocked him out but when Lucifer had tried to proceed with the next part of the plan, the actual killing blow, he found to his frustration that rules of the place forbade killing and not even he could get around that. The devil had almost gone into one of his horrifying rage before he remembered that he was, in fact, the devil. If the rules of this realm forbade him from killing anyone, then he could teleport him back into the mortal realm, where he could die.  The only tough question for him was what time period to send him to? World War 2 was ruled out immediately; he'd die for sure in that period but it wouldn't be gruesome enough for the Devil's liking.  After considering the Hundred Years War, Sengoku Japan, the American Civil War and even the Vietnam war,  Satan finally found a perfect time period which to teleport him to; the New York outbreak. Lucifer could hardly imagine a more horrifying time to send someone to but that wasn't the only reason he sent the so-called holy warrior there....

  In that period there resided a soul almost as black as Dante's, Alex Mercer. This unethical scientist turned monster had unleashed the virus that destroyed his nation's most glorious city for the sole purpose of getting revenge against his immediate pursuers. Lucifer looked forward to the fight, especially as it could be a way to get rid of that pesky Mercer who had been absorbing souls, thus denying Lucifer of some of his rightful subjects. On the other hand, if Alex won then the Devil would get his revenge on Dante by putting an end to his quest to get Beatrice back. Either way the Devil wins. Or so he thought. ...

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   Alex Mercer, otherwise known as Zeus, was feeling particularly elated at the moment. After over two weeks of searching, he had finally found his ex-girlfriend Karen Parker. That bitch had been made to regret her betrayal, brutally. Alex still smiled as he relived the pain he had inflicted upon her in her last moments. Eventually when his anger had mostly faded he had absorbed her, not that there was much left to absorb at that point...

     Alex was pulled from these thoughts by the sound of a fight just a street away, in Times Square.  Curious as this didn't sound like a normal military fight, Alex flew to the top of the Conde Nast Building in order to get a better view of the fight. To say that he was surprised by what he saw on the streets below was an understatement; he was near certain now  that Karen was under the influence of some sort of drug when he had absorbed her. In the middle of the square there was what looked to be a knight wielding a scythe with near impeccable skill. The infected had been driven to a near frenzy by the site of this man, but were unable to get within 20 feet of him without getting turned into Souvlaki.

 Now interested, Alex sat down to observe this man in the same manner that he would a particularly fascinating specimen in a lab . He had a crown-like helmet, with mail draping his neck.  Plate covered both of his shoulders, however on his left this extended all the way down to his leather gloves.  His chest was completely uncovered and grotesquely had a red cross stitched into it; from this Alex was immediately able to deduce that this guy was a ULTRA-fanatical Christian.  Moving further south Alex could see plate greaves, a leather belt, and leather boots. On his back was what looked to be a halberd and shield, and he had a sheath for a sword on his waist. Also on his waist was a giant cross, which further cemented Alex's view that a crazed fanatical Christian was rampaging through the streets of New York.

    Alex spent a further thirty minutes watching him, observing his techniques and marveling at his endurance. By this point there were few infected left, which was rather amazing to Alex as a government analysis had estimated that there were fifty thousand infected in Times Square alone (Alex knew this because he had absorbed said analysis) . Finally Alex came to a conclusion about the strange man; regardless of who he is he MUST be absorbed! The former Gentek scientist knew that he still was not as powerful as he could be at melee fighting, and absorbing this man would go a long way towards bringing his hand-to-hand combat skills to perfection.

 Silently he glided down to the middle of the square, landing and hiding behind a burnt-out tank. Seeking to get this fight started rather quickly , he picked up the vehicle and threw it at Dante...

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 Dante had long ago lost count of how many minions of Satan he had killed. All he knew that other than this one group to the left this town square was mostly cleared. As Dante raised his scythe to strike down these last few ghouls a shadow fell over him. With lighting fast speed Dante turned his head and saw a huge chunk of metal flying through the air, right at Dante! Dante instinctively rolled out of the way and the metal smashed into the few remaining infected, crushing of them. Dante turned his head to the direction of the projectile and saw a strange hooded man with a rapidly extending arm. Caught off guard, the bladed fist wrapped around Dante's torso and buried itself into belly (luckily missing all major organs) and pulled him closer to a strange hooded man.

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  The tank had served Alex Mercer's purpose well, it had both killed the remaining infected, removing any other interference to this battle, and distracted Dante long enough for his WhipFist (right hand)  to close in. Alex Mercer now directed the biomass on his left hand to turn into a claw so that he could impale this strange warrior and quickly absorb him. A well planned execution, however unfortunately for Alex he was about to learn that even the best laid plans don't survive contact with the enemy...

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  Dante saw the wicked set of claws that his new foe had sprouted from his left hand and he was having none of it. When he was about thirty feet away from the fiend Dante held up his scythe and changed it into a spear, pointing directly at Alex. If anyone was going to get impaled at the end of this joyride, it would not be Dante.

   His opponent hissed and quickly twisted his arm and threw him against a wall.. Dante was used to brutal punishment from all of his time in hell however and was easily able to shrug off his blow with the concrete.

 Pointing his spear at his opponent he angrily said, ”Lucifer, you will not keep me from Beatrice any longer!" 

  Confused, his assailant said " My name is Alex Mercer and-" but the enraged Dante didn't let him finish.

    His spear was already aimed at the fiend and he had it extend forward at the speed of a longbowman's arrow.  With unexpected speed, "Alex" narrowly evaded the blade and just avoided being impaled. Dante could already tell this was going to be a long fight.

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 Alex struck back, sending his Whipfist flying directly at the crusader's heart. Dante did a dodge roll and retaliated by swinging his scythe in a wide arc, which forced Alex to jump high in the air.  Changing his hands into Hammerfists he brought them crashing down onto the Earth directly in front of Dante, sending him spiraling backwards.  Changing his left hand back into a Whipfist again, he swings his giant tentacle in a half-moon circle, seeking to eviscerate the crusader. Dante blocks with his scythe, which results in the tentacle wrapping around it. A grapple ensues where Alex's superior strength is made evident and he wins, tossing one of Dante's two greatest weapons aside.

   Dante, not perturbed in the slightest, switched to his halberd.  Once again Alex swung his Whipfist at Dante but this time the holy warrior is ready. Showcasing his excellent reaction time and perception of spatial distancing, Dante brings the Axe-blade of the halberd smashing down onto Alex's tentacle, pinning it to the ground and causing its owner to grunt in pain. Not finished with Alex, Dante steps on the halberd, driving it all the way through the tentacle.

    To Dante’s surprise, Alex doesn't seem particularly demoralized by the loss of his limb. To the horror of the crusader, Alex calmly directed his biomass into the void that was formerly where his left hand was and within moments he had a new hand.

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   On the outside Alex chose to put on a calm demeanor, however on the inside he was pissed. How dare this psycho throwback from the medieval ages wound him so?  Coming to the conclusion that any further use of his Whipfist would be foolhardy, Alex shifted his biomass to his fingers. Within seconds two nasty looking sets of claws emerged (four blades for each hand). Alex rushed forwards, intent on slicing Dante to tiny bits.

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  Dante thrust his Halberd forward; however Alex was ready and merely dodged the medieval weapon. Not missing a beat he sliced off the halberds head before turning on its user..... But Dante kicked him back and promptly switched to his sword and shield. If Alex wanted a duel wielding fight then Dante was more then willing to oblige.  Alex attempted to thrust his claws over the shield but Dante merely raised it higher and stabbed at Alex's exposed ribs. Hissing Alex managed to slice deep into Dante's face before pulling back; there was no way he was going to let a blow like that go un-avenged.  Alex's next two blows were both parried by the shield and Alex quickly realized that a change of tactics was needed. He started to back up only to be hit in the face by some sort of fruit thrown by Dante. Alex tried to move back a couple steps more

    For the first time in this fight Alex felt fear catch up to him. The fruit had somehow paralyzed and he fell helpless to the ground. Dante strode forward, hoping to bring this fight to its conclusion but Alex was not quite finished. While the fruit may have somehow stunned his limbs, it hadn't stunned either his brain nor his biomass. Summoning as much of it as he could in one location, he transfered  it to the ground in order to perform one of his most devastating attacks. ...

      As Dante got within five feet of his fallen foe, Alex put his plan into action.  Dante, sensing danger instinctively jumped just a no less then twenty spikes erupted from the ground, impaling adjacent cars, bodies and still living flesh...

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   Shakily, Alex picked himself up and turned to look at his opponent. Amazingly he was still alive and still standing but it was clear to both parties that he had not escaped the mass of spikes unscathed. Dante was bleeding from multiple holes in his chest, stomach, legs and arms; clearly he was not going to live, even WITH serious medical help.  Alex, realizing that his prey would not survive long, manipulated his biomass to form around his muscles, making him stronger then the greatest steroid addict( except without the ball shrinking...). Alex advanced on Dante with the intent of making him pay for that involuntary amputation that he suffered earlier.

       Weakly Dante raised his shield and slashed overhand with his sword. Alex caught the slow moving sword with both hand and bended it in half. Dante had thought that something like this might happen and he put all of his body weight behind his shield and slammed it forward, breaking the Gentek scientist's nose. Now royally pissed off, Alex punched right through the shield and grasped hold of Dante's left hand, crushing it and causing its owner to cry out in pain. "Eye for an eye you motherfucker" Alex told his mortally wounded foe, as he grabbed Dante by the neck and was about to squeeze when...

   Suddenly a blinding, burning light burst forth from Dante and Alex was flung backwards by some unknown, supernatural force. When the light had eased up enough for Alex to open his eyes he saw to his great incredulity that blue wings had now sprouted from Dante's back . The wounds that had so covered him only moments ago had begun to heal, and confidence his   muscular form radiated confidence. This just pissed Alex off even more. Shifting the biomass towards his fist again, this time he shifted all of it into his left and a large amount of biomass shot forward. Alex had used this move to kill some of his toughest enemies, but amazingly the attack just glanced off Dante.

 For once the scientist in Alex could not explain what was had just happened. He could dismiss the wings as a fancy light show (well this explanation didn't really hold up in Alex's mind) and the regeneration  could possibly be attributed to possession of the Blacklight virus in this crusader's veins (admittedly unlikely) but nothing could explain the invisible force field that somehow surrounded Dante. As far as Alex Mercer knew neither cloaking nor force fields had been invented yet.

    The wings started flickering like a light-bulb and from this Alex guessed that the the forcefield would leave when the wings did. Dante apparently thought so too, as he had picked up his scythe and was readying himself for the renewal of hostilities.

     

     The wings flickered away and the fighting resumed...

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   Dante had a purpose, a motivation,  that was more noble then this vile fiend could ever have, and that was Beatrice.  He would not let this creature's foul machinations get in the way of his ultimate goal. Extending his scythe once again, he charged forward with it, colliding directly with his big-fisted foe.

  Alex attempted to smash him in the face with his huge fist but Dante dodged it yet again, jabbed him hard in the gut. Realizing that this form may be a little too slow to win this match for him; Alex turned his biomass into claws yet again.

  Alex rushed forward faster than Dante expected and gave him a brutal slash across the arm.  Dante transformed his scythe into a sword, and before Alex could swipe again he impaled him through the gut with it. Alex grunted and merely started tearing into his foe's chest, which resulted in Dante kicking him away.  Healing quickly, Alex changed his right arm into a shield and charged forward with cheetah-like speed. Dante tried in vain to knock it aside but Alex moved in faster than he could swing, collided with him and drove him into a wall. Dante hit the concrete with a resounding crack; something was clearly broken down there. Alex slammed into again, causing a rib to break. As Alex maneuvered to ram into him a third time Dante whispered a incarnation and all the sudden Alex felt electricity surge into his veins and some skin ripped off his flesh, causing him to instinctively jump back 30 feet.

    Alex was flabbergasted when he returned his gaze to Dante; there was now what appeared to be a storm of energy completely surrounding him. Oddly pink lightning could be seen emanating from the said storm, and the vortex itself was moving at literally flesh ripping speeds; no way in Hell was Alex getting close to that. Dante, seeing this, decided to bring the fight to Alex and bolted forward. Not surprisingly Alex beat a hasty retreat, at twice the speed that Dante could ever hope to run. Exasperated at having to fight such a dishonorable foe but at the same time slightly relieved that the fight was apparently over, Dante called after him "Flee hellhound, run back to your master with your tail between your legs." Alex came to an abrupt and complete stop. _____________________________________________________________________

     Alex Mercer had wanted to retreat as he had calculated that there was too great a risk of dying to make absorption worth it. That insult however had targeted Alex's brightly burning pride however, and all logical conclusions were thrown out the window. The desire for vengeance had once again awoken within him. Alex had considered himself a particularly vain man; in fact he had been a quiet one. At Columbia University he was famous (or infamous) as that "loner kid" who never talked to anyone, yet radiated even more knowledge then the professors did.  This, and the subsequent hiring by Gentek, had boosted Alex's ego and self-confidence. Now that ego and confidence were being threatened; Alex wasn't going to allow that. Giving up his hopes for absorbing this person, he sprinted towards the tank that he had thrown earlier. Using his superhuman strength, he picked up the giant vehicle and lifted it over his head. Alex was satisfied to see the fear that had erupted on Dante's features; apparently his strange vortex armor wouldn't prevent him from being crushed.

    Dante's fear turned to a weird sort of glee, and he muttered another sort of incarnation. Three golden jeweled crosses materialized seemingly from out of nowhere right behind Alex and flew towards him, spinning quite quickly  as they did so.  The spiked points began digging into the defenseless Alex, causing him immense pain and threatening his major organs.  Alex chucked the tank a few feet in the air and back flipped out of there. When the massive vehicle came crashing down it caught one of them beneath it, crushing it. The other two were hot on his tail. Alex ran up the side of a skyscraper to try to evade them but the crosses apparently had some sort of heat seeking device, and they charged up after him. Realizing he could not outrun them, Alex decided to imitate Dante's form of fighting and charge right into them. Alex sprinted up to the last floor and jumped up thirty feet above that. As he was jumping he began to change; biomass began shifting around his entire body, an a particularly large amount had moved towards his right arm. A massive blade sprouted from it and the biomass began hardening all over his body.  Alex turned his entire body around to face the incoming projectiles. Alex dived toward them, blade outstretched. In one quick slice he  split both of them in half  and continued his free fall towards the Earth, aiming right for Dante!  The crusader in question tried to dive backwards but ended up being sent flying backwards from the force of the impact. Dust covered much of Times Square, obscuring both duelists’ views. 

 Alex adjusted easier then Dante did, switching his sight to thermal vision.  Twirling his blade, Alex bucked towards Dante. The crusader only just managed to block in time thanks to his superb sense of hearing. Alex had the offensive and tried to slash at Dante's face. Dante only just managed to block this but it left his mid-section exposed to Alex's punch. Unfortunately for the later and fortunately for the former Zeus's left arm was not in Musclemass form or else this fight would have ended with that blow. Still as it was Dante staggered back and it seemed that yet another rib had been broken. Alex quickly changed his left hand into a claw; he wasn't going to make the same mistake again.  The battle had seemingly reached a turning point as Dante was finding himself increasingly hard-pressed to block his foe's attacks. Deep scratches began appearing all over his body as Dante was forced to choose which weapon to block. The blade seemed to be the logical choice, as one hit from that giant thing and the match would be decided. This left him open to the faster strikes of the claw. 

      Finally when Alex attempted to bury his claw in Dante's face he was forced to block it, leaving him open to the already in motion blade. It cut off Dante's right hand, cleaving straight through the leather gauntlets and forcing him to drop his scythe. As Alex prepared for a killing blow Dante pulled out his last great weapon.... 

     A bright white light burst from Beatrice's cross, blasting Alex back a startling 30 feet.  To his utmost horror, Alex saw that the blast had burned through his armor- and it wasn't healing. Now panicked Alex switched to his shield, hoping to use it to absorb most of the blast and allow him to quickly decapitate Dante with his blade; he had had enough of this fight. .  As Alex charged Dante, Dante sliding towards Alex, ice trailing in his wake. When cross smashed into shield, it was the shield that was annihilated and Alex was sent wobbling backwards with additional grievous wounds to his chest, legs and  left arm.   

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     Alex limped through a nearby alleyway in apparent retreat with Dante in fast pursuit(after having wrapped the gaping hole that was formerly his hand in white cloth). Such was the speed of Alex Mercer however that even limping he was faster than his opponent, and Dante lost him around a corner.  Frustrated beyond belief at having his nemesis escape from him, he at first failed to notice a woman's cries far off in the distance.  Eventually it dawned on him that there was a fellow human in need out there, and that this good deed could help make up for some of his past sins. No way in Hell he would let that fiend Alex get to her.  

   After traveling through two city block and dispatching a few infected along the way, he found a blond woman (the face was obscured, but could it be Beatrice at long last?)  cornered by a whole horde of this monsters.  Rushing to her side he raised his holiest weapon and giant flaming crosses shot forward from it, extinguishing vile creatures and turning them into dust. 

   When he got a little closer to the damsel in distress, he was disappointed to see that it was NOT Beatrice, although it was a fairly attractive dirty blond.  She had clearly seen better days however as her as her skin was pretty torn up, her hair disheveled and she had clearly been crying for a while. She turned to him and said while sobbing

“Th-th-thank you for rescuing me but those ...th-things killed my husband and childr-" At that she broke off and completely broke down into tears. Dante, awkwardly but kindly, put his hand on her shoulder and she drew herself closer to him. Something didn't feel right to Dante though and when he saw the flicker of a bestial smile form on her lips he knew...

     A brilliant flash of light, the sound of flesh being torn into, and two near-simultaneous grunts of pain defined the next couple of moments. Alex, now in his true and original form, was on the floor gasping from a stab by the cross to the chest. Dante was leaning against the side of a building, vomiting up blood from a fresh claw wound that had penetrated deep into his stomach. 

 Both warriors picked themselves up, both eager to bring this fight to a conclusion.

       Alex Mercer molded his biomass into muscles as he hardly had the energy to do much else.   In response to this Dante merely flung his cross forward, and a fiery cross hit Alex yet again, forcing him to his knees.  A second cross hit him, and now he was on his hand and knees. Dante laboriously walked towards him, just as the extremely resilient but weary Alex picked himself up. A long cold stare commenced between the two, which was only broken by Dante punching Alex in the face with his cross.  As Dante raised his hand to perform the finishing blow, Alex summoned all of his remaining biomass towards chest; he had only one shot at winning this. 

   Dante slammed his cross down, just as a mass of tentacles burst from Alex's body, spearing Dante through the lungs, liver, throat, eye and heart.  Dante’s body twitched and spasmed for a couple of seconds before going completely limp, Alex had won the day. Alex pulled the tentacles back without pulling Dante in with them as the crusader's hand had the cross clutched in a death grip. Hearing the distant roar of a helicopter's engine he ran into a nearby building to hide. He would have to get Ragland to heal him, but at least he was the victor of this battle, the hardest he had ever fought. 

        

Epilogue: 

    Lucifer was pissed, that plan had backfired horribly. Not one of his objectives had been achieved.  The Grim Reaper fled in fear as soon as he saw Dante, so the crusader's soul was still wandering Purgatory, seeking Beatrice. Alex Mercer had assumed control of the infection, becoming more powerful than ever, and was denying the devil a great many souls. Neither of the men had been sent to hell and both were only causing more trouble. The devil would have to find new opponents to deal with them...

Winner: Alex Mercer!

Conclusion: Alex Mercer possessed both brain and brawn, and in the end this is what gave him the fight.  Alex also had a huge advantage in versatility, as he could effortlessly and quickly switch forms/weapons to whatever suits him. His superior regeneration was also a big factor in his victory. It was a close victory however…

  

Category	Dante Alighieri	Alex Mercer
Long Range:	Scythe: 27.5	WhipFist: 28
Mid range:	Halberd: 17	HammerFists: 16
Close Range:	Arming Sword and shield: 11.5	Claws and blade: 14
Special Weapons:	Holy Cross: full 30	Musclemass: 23
Basic Armor:	Armor(except chest): 7	Hoodie: 2(for mobility)
Special Armor 1:	Divine Armor: 15	Armor Form: 16
Special Armor 2:	Lust Storm: 14	Shield: 13
Strength:	Dante: 6	Alex: 10
Regenerative Powers:	Dante: 8	Alex: 9
Speed/Agility/Endurance:	Dante: 6	Alex: 10
Magic/Biological Powers:	Magic: 30	Biological Powers: 30
Experience:	Dante: 18	Alex:17
Motivation:	Beatrice: 10	Alex: 8
Tactics/Personality:	Dante: 24	Alex: 29
Total:	224	225

 If you are fans of Dante you may want to call this a mulligan, I admit I’m sorely tempted to.  This grading list has experienced two revisions prior, so Dante may have won. I will stand by the result though as I believe I was a little unfair to Alex( his disguise power should have broken the tie in that category).  Hope you enjoyed the fight everyone, and know that a alternate version of it does exist and that you will see it soon J.

 And now for the kill Breakdown:

Category:	Dante Alighieri	Alex Mercer:
Long Range:	Death’s Scythe: 124	Whipfist: 110
Mid range:	Halberd: 64	HammerFists: 59
Close Range:	Sword and Shield: 61	Claws: 47 Blade: 94
Special:	Cross: 145	Musclemass: 65
Magic/Biological:	Magic!: 78	Devastators: 115
Miscellaneous:	Lust Storm: 19	Shield Bash: 8, Thrown tanks: 11
Total:	491	509

Alex Mercer Kill Breakdown:

 The Whipfist reached out and nabbed 110 direct kills, and plenty more indirect.  The ridiculous length of this weapon ensured that it would get kills way before the scythe did, although it wasn’t as lethal as its rival.

The HammerFist was usually easily dodged by Dante but when he was unable to do so it pulverized Dante into Oblivion 59 times.

Claws had a lot of factors going against it including lack of range, weakness against armor/shield , ease at which Dante could dodge the ground spike attack(this move accounted for 13 of the claws kills) and Alex’s preference for the blade. Still this power tore Dante a new one 47 times, as it could make mincemeat of Dante’s unarmored chest.

The Blade was the King of its range, being able to cleave straight through Dante’s shield and body. In this manner it earned 94 kills to its name.

Despite its lethality the lack of range of this form really hurt it, as Dante was able to kill Alex before the fighting got to this range. When fighting DID get to this ultra-close range though, Alex’s musclemass turned Dante into pink mist 65 times.

Devastators were the most deadly weapon Mercer possessed in his arsenal, and Alex used this power to utterly annihilate Dante a startling 115 times.

Alex bashed Dante’s brains in with the shield 8 times. Also had some indirect kills, as this could be used to get in close with the claws, muscle or blade.

 Alex’s ability to pick up extremely heavy objects and use them to crush his foes resulted in 11 kills with thrown tanks. Most of the time Dante was able to get out of the way but when he couldn’t….(thrown tanks is a euphemism for “thrown heavy onjects”)  

Superior strength gave Alex the “thrown tank” ability as well as helped Alex dominate in melee kills.

Superior Regenerative powers helped Alex out enough to stave off more than a couple of deaths.

Agility/speed was Alex’s best defense against the cross and other magical powers, and the reason he wasn’t completely dominated by holy magic.

Armor Form helped reduce Halberd and Sword kills; although it couldn’t do anything against the cross (it also had problems with the scythe).

Shield Gave Alex some kills, and saved Alex’s life more than a few times when it took the full brunt of a holy blast.

Thermal Vision helped Alex in achieving victory in those rare low vision scenarios. Relatively minor.

When the Disguise was convincing enough it helped Alex get some claw or musclemass kills.

Lack of Experience hurt Alex a lot against the experienced Dante

Motivation didn’t really help or hurt Alex, although it Dante was helped more by it.

Tactics was one of the greatest reasons Alex won this fight, as his brilliant mind would analyze Dante’s style and predict his future movements, as well as create a multitude of backup plans/ambushes.

Dante Alighieri Kill Breakdown: 

Death’s Scythe had been claiming lives for untold generations and it didn’t cease to do so now. This legendary weapon earned 124 kills for its versatility, surprise factor, speed, and ability to be used at all ranges.

The “three weapons in one” Halberd got 64 kills. Although outdated it was able to hold its own against Alex.

The Sword and shield combo was very useful when Alex was in any form but the blade one and it got 61 kills. When Alex was in the blade form the tables turned….

The Holy Cross Was the best weapon in this match, achieving a whopping 145 kills since it nullify Alex’s regenerative powers. Alex’s superior speed was his only savior.

Magic! Got 78 kills with the “martyrdom “and “the sins of the father” spells being responsible for the majority of the kills. Suicide Fruit could only stun, setting Alex up for many kills, while Righteous path really counts towards Holy Cross kills.

The high intensity winds and lightning of the Lust storm ripped Alex to shreds 19 times.

Dante was in a disadvantage in the strength, regeneration, and speed categories, which hurt him a lot against Alex.

His Armor protected him from a lot of limb or decapitation strikes, although his lack of chest armor resulted in Alex targeting that part of the body.

Divine Armor Helped Dante heal from many mortal wounds.

Lust Storm saved Dante from melee attacks, and got some kills itself.

Dante’s superior experience helped make up for his inferiority in the attribute category, as he knew a little bit more about fighting then Alex did.

Dante never gave up till the last breath, and this borderline insane devotion towards Beatrice resulted in his victory more than a few times.

Tactics hurt Dante as much as it helped, as he was a little too predictable….

 Well I hope you enjoyed this fight between two great video game protagonists, I know I did. Next time get ready as the Pride of Poland, the Winged Hussar, faces off against the Byzantine Cataphract, once of history’s most armored warriors.