The Emperors Return

Chapter 2: Murder mysteries

Nero and Dante had now boarded the boat that was going to Fortuna and were now sitting at a table that was located at the front of the top deck. Nero looked around and made sure no one was eavesdropping on them before starting the conversation, "Tell me what you're thinking" he said.

Dante also checked for eavesdroppers and then replied, "that there's more to this that I thought," He put his feet on the table.

The teen gave him a confused look, "What do you mean?" asked Nero. He saw Dante smirk and felt a bit stupid.

"Well I've been kept in the dark about this case and I don't know too much, but you do" said Dante.

Nero looked more confused, "that made no sense"

Dante sighed; he felt like face-palming, "How much do you know about the murders?" he asked.

"Well, people have been going missing for two weeks. Twelve went on the first week and were all kidnapped one hour after the other. The weird thing is, only eleven went missing on the second week and no one can figure out, who or namely what is doing it" Nero explained. Dante expression changed and he was suddenly in deep thought. The red clad leaned back in his chair, his crystal blue eyes were distant.

"Twelve on the first week, eleven on the second…" Dante muttered. Nero began to see a more serious side of the half devil, not like the cocky self centred idiot he had encountered in Fortuna who had been extremely annoying. In some ways, Dante looked wise at the moment, but only a bit. This was slightly amusing to the teen, because he had never thought that he would refer to Dante of all people as 'wise'. Sure, he was powerful, but wise, now that was just weird.

"Dante?" said Nero in an effort to get the red clad to share his thoughts.

The older half devil continued to think until he came up with an idea, "The numbers aren't equal so... they could be holding someone hostage," Dante suggested, but more to himself.

The teen had picked up on his thoughts, "Not equal? Do demons really care about that stuff?" asked Nero. He had never heard of anything like that before.

Dante snapped out of his thoughts and looked at him, "Kid, you know that demons are thick right? Well for some reason they prefer to kill an equal number of people if they can. I don't know why, they just do," Dante explained. "But they always take the same number of people and that's what makes them stupid because after a while people tend to figure them out."

"Weird," said Nero.

Dante smirked, "Do you know anything else about this case?"

Nero thought for a few seconds "I know that when they were found, they were found individually and were left outside the cathedral with two stab wounds on each side of their chest," said the teen.

"Right it looks like we got our work cut out for us kid, so how about we team up and figure this little problem out," said Dante.

"Thought you'd never ask," said Nero.

The red clad chuckled "okay now that's settled, I'm going to get some pizza."

Nero rolled his eyes "Dante, the cafeteria on this ship only sells slices of pizza."

Dante thought for a second, "Then... I'll get ten slices of pizza."

Nero sighed and followed Dante to the cafeteria.


Thirty minutes and a pizza later, the demon hunters decided kick back in the ships bar and pass the time.

"So, how are you getting along with Kyrie?" asked Dante.

Nero blushed slightly at the question, "We're getting along fine, and it's going alright"

Dante smirked, "Have you asked her the question yet?" He knew the teen was secretly planning to ask Kyrie to marry him and the red clad had to admit that she was a nice girl. Since the young couple had moved to Capulet city three months ago, Dante had seen more of the sweet Kyrie and had grown to like her and saw her as a friend.

The teen went a bright shade of red, "No! But-I," He sighed and took a deep breath "I haven't had the courage to ask her yet."

The red clad chuckled, "Kid, you've fought demons, you can handle a little question"

"Really?" asked Nero.

"No," Nero gave him a confused look "I'm joking"

The two sat there for a minute until Dante spoke again, "So, how long is this boat ride?" he asked.

"You don't know?" said Nero, "How did you get there last time?"

"I took the plane," the red clad replied.

"Well, it should be another three hours" said Nero.

"Okay then, time for some shut eye," Dante put his feet on the table and attempted to catch up on some sleep.

"Why are you always asleep in the day?" Nero asked.

Dante spoke but kept his eyes closed, "Well I would normally awake at this time, but I was out killing demons until three O'clock this morning" the red clad explained.

"And then Lady woke you up I suppose," said Nero. He knew full well what Lady was like when she woke the red clad up in the morning...

It had been two weeks since Nero and Kyrie had moved to Capulet city, and the teen was currently on his way to meet Lady at the Devil May Cry shop. The young half-demon had only met the Gunslinger two weeks ago, but had already become good friends with her and Trish. The teen walked up the steps and into the shop, where he saw an angry Lady talking to Trish.

"What do mean he's not up yet?" Lady exclaimed.

"He's currently too lazy to drag himself out of bed," Trish explained. She looked behind the fiery Gunslinger and saw Nero come in, "Oh, hey Nero."

Lady turned around before the teen could say anything, "Right so Nero's here now and he still hasn't dragged his ass out of bed? That's it; he's in for it now!" She stormed upstairs.

"What's going on?" The teen asked, confused.

Trish sighed, "I'm sure you've noticed that Dante can't seem to get up at the moment, Lady's angry because she wants to get moving and because you're here now, we should be."

"He really is lazy," said Nero.

The two hunters heard a shot being fired upstairs and sighed.

Lady came down looking pleased with herself, "He's coming."

Sure enough the red clad walked down the stairs rubbing his chest. He growled at Lady.

"Next time, don't shoot me." Said the red clad.

"Then next time, get up," The Gunslinger said...

"Yeah," Dante replied. He yawned.

Nero leaned back in his chair and sighed; he was also tired. The teen glanced at the bar and saw a man quickly turn his head away from Nero's gaze. The teen suspected something.

"Hey Dante" Nero said quietly. He didn't change his position so the man didn't suspect anything, "There's a guy at bar watching us."

"I know, kid" Dante replied. He kept his eyes closed, "Don't do anything to arouse his suspicion and wait for him to make the first move."

"I'm not that stupid," Said Nero.

They sat there in silence for a few minutes, not letting their guard down for a second. Suddenly, the man got up from the bar and walked through the door at the far end of the room. Dante cracked open an eye when he heard the door close. He looked at Nero, "That's our cue" Nero nodded. Dante got up and stretched. They stood up, grabbed their swords that were resting against the wall next to the table and went after him.


They walked out on to the deck and looked around. Nero went up a set of stairs that lead to a higher deck; he took the glove off his right arm but kept his sleeve rolled down in case anyone saw. Dante meanwhile stayed on the lower deck; he unsheathed Rebellion from his back and searched around for the man.

After ten minutes of looking around, Nero came down onto the main deck. His expression explained everything.

"Let me guess; you didn't find him," Said the older hunter.

Nero sighed, "Nope and I'm guessing you didn't either," Said Nero.

"No, it's weird though; I can't even pick up a trail," Said Dante. His highly trained senses suddenly picked up a surge of Demonic power and he looked up suddenly. Nero seemed to sense this too as he looked as well. They saw that the man that had been watching them was standing on the very top deck. He looked down on them with a pair of eyes that at a close glance, could be seen to be black. He also had black hair and was wearing a pair of jeans and a navy shirt.

"Looking for me?" he asked. He had an evil smile etched onto his face. He was obviously a demon.

Dante chuckled, "Well, that depends on who's asking."

"Forgive my manners, but I do not wish to tell you my name," His expression became more evil. "But I will tell you that I wish to kill you both."

"Now where have I heard that before?" said Nero. He rolled up his right sleeve, exposing the Devil Bringer. The teen then folded his arms and smirked.

"Ha, you couldn't defeat us even if you wanted to," He put on a cocky smile, "And do you realize who you're even talking to?" Dante said, pointing Rebellion at him.

It was now the demons turn to laugh, "Yes I am very much aware who I am talking to, but do you realize who I am?" he asked.

"How can we, you haven't told us your name" said Nero, "But I do know that I'm talking to a guy with a bad dress and a sense of humour to match"

"So, shall we fight now or what?" said Dante.

"First, I'll even the odds" the demon clicked his fingers. Suddenly, about twenty Scarecrows appeared. They surrounded Dante and Nero, and started closing in on them.

The two hunters stared at the Scarecrows in bewilderment, was this demon really serious?

"Scarecrows, are you serious? I was expecting something a little... bigger" said Nero, "But seriously, Scarecrows? Ha, this is gonna be quick." He cracked his knuckles.

"You got that right kid; this won't even let me work off the pizza I had earlier," Dante sighed, "Let's show these guys who they're messing with!"

"My pleasure," Nero unsheathed Red Queen.

The demons began to attack the hunters. The man started to change into his demon form; his hands slowly shaped into long sharp claws and a mist that surrounded him like a black cloak began to appear. After a few seconds, his transformation was complete and it could be seen that this demon was a Faust.

As the Scarecrows launched themselves towards the hunters, Nero maxed out Exceed on Red Queen and charged at them. Once he was close enough, the teen slashed at them with great force, doing massive damage and even Decapitating some. After the deadly opening, Nero grabbed one with his Devil Bringer, smashed it on the floor a couple of times and then threw it at Dante. "Hey Dante, catch!" he yelled.

The red clad turned to see a Scarecrow flying towards him. He skewered the demon with Rebellion and then smashed it into another Scarecrow. "What was that, early Christmas present?" Dante asked.

"Nope, I just wanted to throw something," Nero replied. He sliced a Scarecrow in half with Red Queen.

Dante smirked and prepared to unleash Round Trip. He threw Rebellion in Nero's direction; it sliced though the crowd of remaining Scarecrows and was about to hit Nero when he turned around and caught it.

"What was that for?" Nero asked. He threw Rebellion back at Dante, who caught it easily.

"You throw stuff at me, be prepared to have something thrown back," The red clad replied.

"Whatever," Nero looked around and saw that the Faust was the only demon left.

"H-how, can you be so powerful?" he stuttered.

"You have no humanity; it's that simple," Said Dante.

"What?"

"Go back to Hell," Nero took out Blue Rose and shot the Faust. Dante gave him a confused look, "What? I can't let you take the glory all the time."

Dante chuckled, "Nice one kid."


6 hours later

The ship had landed in Fortuna.

"Okay, from here we need to take that boat," Nero pointed to a boat on another dock, "To Crimson Island."

"Alright then, let's go," Said Dante.

Nero nodded and they walked to board their next ship.


Me: Okay there's still no one reading this fic... oh well if you have read this I hope you liked it

Dante: So do I

Nero: Yeah

Me: Thanks for reading if you did...