CHAPTER I: The Devil's Right Arm

It was past midnight. The pale moonlight filled the room through a small window, if one squinted enough, he could see the particles of dust dancing to a silent rhythm. All that was enchantingly beautiful, but they were left unnoticed by him, there were other things, seemingly more important that occupied his mind.

The young man lay on his bed unable to sleep, thinking of the day to come, thinking of how he would stand with great pride amongst the othe…………..knock,knock………….

"Someone came here this late at night?", the young man thought to himself. He forced himself out of the bed and moved to the door. As he did so, he looked for a fleeting moment at his small mirror that was hung to the wall. He was rather pale and that feature was further enhanced by his white hair, despite all that, he was rather handsome and if it weren't for the order, he would be quite the ladies man.

He approached the door, turned the knob and opened it……….before him stood the Grand Master of the Order himself. The young man knelt and said: "What is it that you inquire from me this late at night, Grand Master?"

-"Stand up my son, this is not the time for formalities". The Grand master spoke in a sweet and slow voice that gave emphasis to every word he said. The young man did so and many questions raced through his mind but they were all insignificant, whatever the Grand Master should say, he would do it without questioning."The Order requires your services for one more time my son, get dressed and get your weapons, you will need them. I will be waiting outside your room", the grand master spoke again and left. The young man put on his pants, a shirt and a jacket, a combination of blue and red, his two favourite colours. He took his trusty magnum( which himself had customised so it would shoot two bullets simultaneously) and his sword, The Red Queen as he liked to call it and met with the Grand Master.

The two men, young and old, moved through the cold and damp corridors of the monastery, none of them saying a word… They finally reached a door. It was made out of pure silver with delicate engravings. Behind it was a circular room, located at the very center of the monastery.There were candles all over the place, a pentagram was drawn in the center of the room and at the pentagrams very center there was a pedestal, but nor the candles, nor the pentagram, nor the pedestal was what caught the young man's attention. The thing that caught his attention was what was lying on the pedestal, an amulet unlike any other, it was the same amulet that the great Sparda used to seal the demon world. Suddenly many monks entered the room, formed a circle around the pentagram and started chanting in a language far beyond the young man's understanding. A purple mist started forming on the pentagram, then it started swirling, the young man could see electricity inside this mist, it was like a small storm and then there was a sudden flash of light…………………….. it filled the young man's eyes and for a moment he was blind. When his sight returned, he could see that a staircase had materialised inside the mist, a staircase that went downward, into... the abyss. The young man was greatly puzzled. "What could all this mean?", he thought to himself and as if the Grand Master had read his thoughts, he opened his mouth to explain:

"Using Spardas amulet we have managed to make a crack in the seal of the demon world, big enough for you to pass through. The order needs you to descend this staircase and retrieve a certain artifact of great power. We ensure you, it for the order's greater good, you should have no doubts about that". The young man had to obey, he moved towards the staircase, his fear was great, but he had to do it. Before he could set his foot on the staircase, the Grand Master touched his shoulder and told him to wait, then the he spoke again:

"We are sending you my son, because you are special" –"Special?", the young man asked in a puzzled voice. –"You are the only man who can retrieve this artifact. A great destiny lies ahead of you my child and since you are a man of great things, you deserve a great name". Suddenly, enthusiasm filled the young man as he had waited for this moment a good 21 years…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….."By the authority I have as the Order Of Demon Blade's Grand Master, I hereby name you Nero", the Grand Master Spoke in a loud and resonant voice.

"Nero…… ". The young man liked the sound of it. "Nero it is then" , he thought to himself.

"Go forth now my child, go forth and return victorious, for the sake of the Order!".

Nero started descending the staircase. He looked down at the abyss and, for a moment... it seemed as if the abyss stared back at him, it was terrifying, he couldn't stand it, so he pushed himself to move. He continued descending and as he did so a lot of white things leaped from the abyss. As they moved closer to him, he could tell that they were people, not exactly people but their souls, souls filled with malevolence. they charged at him, trying to throw him off balance. He decided he wouldn't let his training go in vain for some pathetic souls and so he marched forward watching his step.

After what seemed like an eternity, the staircase ended. Before him there was a door, a perfectly normal wooden door with a golden doorknob and hinges, hinges attached on……………nothingness, this couldn't be right! But he was at the demon realm, nothing was supposed to be right here. Having passed through the door, Nero found himself in room made exclusively out of marble. Almost-blinding white light was passing through the huge glass windows that were filled with murals, those murals he couldn't make out because of the strong light. But the murals weren't what he had come here for…. and at that moment he spotted the artifact, well it had to be it because there was nothing else besides it in this room. It was a black glove inside a glass case, the glove was made by neither silk nor leather, it was made by a strange material obviously of demonic origin. What fascinated Nero was not it's origin but the strange aura of power it radiated, he had to have it! And so he did, he smashed the case, took the glove and wore it in his right hand and then it happened………………………. The glove started melting on his hand and he could feel the substance seeping into his skin, his own essence was becoming tainted, the pain was unimaginable. When all the liquid was absorbed by his hand, Nero looked at it, it was black, charred and seemed dead, very dead. Suddenly, like the hand sprung to life, it lifted itself in the air and glowed with an inhuman yellow colour, he could feel power seeping into him, it was like the hand absorbed power from the realm itself, now yellow lines that emanated pure energy were running down his hand. At last, all feelings of pain and confusion had subsided, now he could feel as if someone was watching, as if he wasn't alone in this room. It seemed all too easy and this feeling of being watched further enhanced his suspicions. He turned to face the door and saw a knight in front of it, a knight that bore a black armor and an enormous black sword, veins that glowed purple run down both the sword and the armor. This demon seemed very weakened, but Nero could see intelligence and ambition burn in his eyes, also he inspired a nobility and great sense of pride. It was obvious now that Nero had to fight his way out of this place.

The huge black knight let out a roar and charged forward, Nero drew his sword and readied himself for the impact, he found out that now with his handicap he would have to wield his sword with his left hand, that complicated things but at the same time it made them more challenging and Nero enjoyed a good challenge. The black night suddenly leaped to the air, lifted his sword and brought it down, but Nero rolled out of harms way with ease and then struck the black knight on his back. Of course his sword couldn't cut through such armor but that hit hurt, it hurt a lot. The black knight let out a gasp and teleported to the other side of the room. He brought his hands together and started gathering blue energy at his palms, Nero found this as a great opportunity to try his gun on this guy. He shot several times but all bullets were wasted the time they touched the black knight's aura. All the energy in his palms had now materialised into a huge blue fireball, the black knight seemed somehow weekend by pulling this feat. Then the black knight shot this blue fireball towards Nero, it was rather slow-moving and Nero easily hit the fireball with his sword and returned it to it's master. The fireball hit the black night with a huge blue explosion. When the smoke cleared, there was no armor but a tall man, no not a man, a ghoul with white shoulder-length hair and icy blue eyes that glowed eerily.

The ghoul rushed for the door, it was fast, Nero charged after it. He chased it up the staircase and for a moment Nero was very close to the ghoul. He reached out his right hand to grab it and then something very strange happened.Iit seemed as if his hand ripped itself out of the rest of his body, shot forward, grabbed the ghoul……….but the ghoul continued moving seemingly unaffected by the hand. His hand, the demonic hand, tore a part of the ghouls body and as his hand returned, he assimilated that part. A strange wave of dizziness swept over him and when tha passed, he could feel as if something……or rather somebody was latched on the back of his head, he could also feel his humanity diminishing little by little and that was what worried him the most. He looked around, the ghoul was nowhere to be seen, so he marched towards the exit to the demon realm.

Once out, the Grand Master greeted him with a broad smile on his face. He explained to Nero the purpose of this artifact, "With it you can trap the essence of demons, it is the perfect tool for demon hunting", he said. "They also have a name for it my son, they call it The Devil Bringer" –"But I fee…", Nero didn't manage to finish his words because the Grand Master interrupted him:"Your humanity is not at stake my child if this is what scares you, it's perfectly safe, the only thing you need to do is cover it when you are arround people, you understand me?" –" Yes, master", Nero replied. Nero rolled down his right sleeve, wore a glove that perfectly hid his hand and some of the priests helped him into a cast.

After all that had finished, Nero returned to his quarters, he fell on his bed dead tired, closed his eyes and a single thought drifted through his mind: The Devil Bringer , and with that though he drifted into a deep sleep……………………