Chapter 6: Resurrection
Nero continued to explore the hidden basement he found. Unlike the castle, it wasn't too hard to navigate. Basically, there was only one path to take. It led to a large staircase, which took him even lower into the earth. Spanning like a spiral, it circled down. Like the hallway before, it was veined by pipes and wires far to high tech to have anything to do with the castle above. There was only one door at the bottom.
The large, round, tubular tunnel was closed off by a thick metal door, much to Nero's dismay. Not wanting to give up so easily, he ran and kicked at it, hearing only a solid metal thunk. He flipped and landed on his feet. The door was pure metal, and there was no way he was going to get through it, not even with his equipment.
"Dammit!" he swore, then began to storm back the way he came.
He stopped when he heard that familiar sound of metal on metal, the kind made when two swords collided. He stopped, then looked behind him. The door was collapsing into five different parts. From between the pieces, three separate dorsal fins were gliding through the ground. The entire pipe was made of metal, but that didn't even slow down the fins. They looked like they were thin blades gliding through water, but were patched with glowing red flesh.
The three fins began to circle around him. Nero reached up and gave Red Queen's throttle a few tweaks. It seemed that even this place had an infestation.
The fins scattered as Nero lunged for one. They were quick. As soon as they scattered, one doubled back, then disappeared. Something burst out of the ground in front of him, arcing into the air. It was the owner of the fin, some kind of demonic fish. It had a sleek, aerodynamic body, with four clawed flippers and a pointy tail. It's bullet-like snout was aimed at Nero, looking to pass through him like it did the ground.
He rolled to the side, the cutlass fin slicing through the air then into the ground again. A second cutlass demon swam to the top of the tunnel, then dove out from above Nero's head. Blue Rose was up in less than a second. Nero fired and two thorns slammed into the rounded head. It jerked in midair and hit the ground flopping. He buried two more rounds into it for good measure.
Another one hurtled towards him in a burst of speed, looking to slice his legs with its curved blade. Nero shuffled to side, then brought Red Queen down on the fin. It quivered, but only slowed. He brought it down again and again, working off of the rebound as he pummeled the demon. Its body held just as well as a regular blade. With a grunt of effort, he thrusted her blade into the ground, hearing a squeal of pain. He wrenched her back up, forcibly pulling the demon out of the ground. Once it was helpless above the floor, he took hold of it with Devil Bringer, then leaped into the air, whirling it around a few times before slamming it into the ground.
The remaining cutlass demon tried to come up from below Nero. He flipped back and up, traveling with it. He let out with three quick slashes, the third of which spliced the demon down the middle. It fell spurting blood from its partially severed body.
Nothing else attacked him in the tunnel. It turned once, then ended in another door. It lead to a mainly empty room. With the exception of some colorful circles on the floor, Nero didn't see anything of any purpose or interest. There was a single door in the northern wall. Nero passed through it.
He was in some kind of viewing room that was dimly lit by a few naked bulbs. It was circular, with a large thick window set a few feet above the ground. A video monitor was embedded in the wall near it. All around the room hung ancient Order gladii, the thick, over-sized weapons that were discontinued decades ago.
There was nothing of merit inside the room. The only noise he heard was a rhythmic pulsing echoing from further inside the complex. Nero was just about to turn back when Devil Bringer interjected, glowing brighter and tingling. It seemed to be drawing his attention to the window.
On the other side, Nero could just make out a soft blue glow from the angle he was standing. It was some kind of device, dropping a pale blue curtain of light. Inside the light, held by some type of containment field, was the most beautiful sword Nero had ever laid eyes on. A pity is was broken in two.
It was a katana, with a spotless, mirror shine blade, broken in half at the middle. Its white, cord wrapped handle was perfectly woven, like a serpent's scales, with a golden hilt to crown it. The two sword halves lazily circled each other, almost longingly wishing to be rejoined.
Nero couldn't explain it, but Devil Bringer felt drawn to the sword. He could feel a desperate thirst creeping from it into himself. A thirst for power.
Movement jolted Nero from his attention to the sword. A figure had walked into view. It was a short, dumpy man with greasy, dark skin. His shaggy hair was pulled into a loose ponytail, but some bangs still dangled over his right eye. His thick lips pulled into a thin line as he glared at Nero through a monocle. He wore the white and gold of the Order of the Sword, but Nero had never seen him before.
"So...you've come," the man said, his voice dripping with disgust over an intercom. "Just as I'd expected."
"Huh," Nero grunted. So, the guy knew him. "Who the hell are you?"
The man spread his arms in grandeur. "I, am Agnus. Working in secrecy, few are p-p-p-privy, to my existence."
Nero stifled a laugh and turned from the window to hide his reaction. Judging by his halts and stutter, this guy wasn't a friend with words.
"Funny," Nero remarked lightly, "to figure an Order official out for a stroll in a hellhole kinda place like this-"
"Hellhole?!" Agnus screeched, pointing an threatening finger at Nero. "Watch your words!" Nero wasn't impressed.
"Just as, foul-mouthed, as I had heard...the rumors prove true. As will the new ones concerning your d-d-d-demise..."
"Don't you think that's a little harsh?" Nero asked. "Killing me because of the way I t-t-t-t-talk?"
Agnus grunted. "Hmph." He raised his hand, gesturing with a pencil he'd been using to scratch in a notebook.
A rattling began to fill the room. From out of various slots in the wall, more gladii began to pour into the room. As they entered, their shapes shifted, blades unfolding into wings. Their hilts opened into tiny, screaming beaks. Apparently, they weren't really swords after all.
"Great..." Nero breathed, taking hold of Red Queen's weighted handle, "More demons."
They began to swoop down on Nero, their wings outstretched. Nero jumped over one, then ducked another, parried a third, then side-stepped another. They were everywhere. He could barely stop to counterattack. Not like it mattered anyway; the demons just flew by again and again. Over the constant banter of steel on steel and rustling wind, Nero heard Agnus again.
"This...this is all Credo's doing. It was Credo who ordered you to follow Dante...It was Credo who brought you here!"
The flying gladii tangled enough to spare Nero a break in defense. Credo had ordered him to follow the assassin. Dante? The assassin's name was Dante? Credo knew this and didn't tell him?
"Dante?" Nero barked over the clatter of living blades. "You mean the guy who killed His Holiness? What the hell is going on here?!"
"I don't have to answer to you," Agnus snarled, scribbling a few notes in his pad. "For you are already as good as d-d-d-dead..."
Nero bared his teeth. The hell if he was going to let some greaseball he'd never met try and kill him.
"I beg to differ," he hissed.
The demons began another assault. Nero was forced into the crazy dance of dodging their swoops. Red Queen swerved around him in an effort to stay the relentless punishment. Already his stamina was beginning to wane. Nero was in excellent shape, but the constant night of fighting was beginning to drain him.
I gotta think of something quick, or else this bastard's going to be laughing even harder.
Agnus was already busting a lung on the other side of the glass. Nero spared a moment to draw Blue Rose, then fired on the glass. The thorns didn't leave even so much as a scratch, and only acted to intensify Agnus's insane laughter.
Some of the demonic swords began to change shape. They reverted back into a gladius. By some unknown propulsion, the launched at Nero. Some flew like spears, embedding themselves in the wall. Others spun like propellers, trying to slice him a new one.
Blue Rose can't break that glass, I need something heavier!
Something heavier...Nero spun and reached out with Devil Bringer. The projected hand grabbed the handle of a gladius buried in the wall, then yanked it free. He hurled it at the window. It rebounded off with a thunderous clatter. Agnus gave a small yelp, but the glass held. That didn't stop Nero from grabbing another gladius out the air, then chucking it like a spear. Like before, it rebounded off, but this time, he spied a small spiderweb of a crack in the glass.
He grabbed another, hurled it, then another, then another. It wasn't until the sixth gladius that the window began to crack noticeably. The seventh actually cracked through the glass, sticking into, as did the eighth. By now, Agnus saw the threat and flipped a switch. Nero heard the hum of electricity. He didn't know what was coming, but he didn't want to stick around and find out. He grabbed one last gladius, then launched it spinning into the glass. The window shattered, sending Agnus sprawling to the ground.
Nero leaped up into the observation room just as a bolt of electricity shot through the room, incinerating the last of the gladii in a bright yellow flash.
Agnus now had to contend with a very angry Nero with Red Queen resting on his shoulder. He noticed the blue glow of Devil Bringer, then pointed in surprise.
"Th-th-th-that's demonic power!" he cried, his eyes wild behind his bangs and monocle as he scuttled back on his hands. "How can it be...?"
"Look who's talkin', jackass," Nero snarled. "Answer my question: what the hell is going on here?" He brought Red Queen's point around to his chin. Agnus let out a comical shriek.
Just as quickly as the fear entered him, it left when he took a closer look at Devil Bringer. Instead of pulling back further, he drew closer to Nero, almost crooning at it.
"How...profound! It's...magnificent!"
Nero backed away in disgust, Red Queen falling away from the scientist's throat. The mere presence of Agnus was disgusting. Beside them, the broken katana floated silently, witnessing the conversation.
"Okay..." he said slowly, thoroughly confused. "Did you even hear me?"
Nero swung Red Queen lightly, about to take a piece out of his shoulder to get his attention. With a surprising amount of speed, he caught Red Queen in the thick black gloves of his hand.
"If it you want answers," he said softly, "then I shall give them to you."
He released Queen, and Nero took a few voluntary steps back. Agnus scuttled forward again, still mesmerized by Devil Bringer. Nero kept the distance between them by placing the point of Red Queen into the ground in a casual rider's stance.
"It has only been a few years since I began this research," he began quickly, no trace of a stutter. "Could we...isolate and bind demonic power? It could enable us to conquer the world! And that, that, is the wish of His Holiness!"
Nero couldn't believe this crap. There was no way the Order could do something like this. Worship a demon, yeah, but world domination? Even that went against the teachings of Sparda. But then again, he had heard of some strange tasks the Order was issuing, like the round up of demons and collection of Devil Arms, all of which were banned. Where they being used for experimentation?
But never in a million years would someone like the old man work for something like this! Neither would Credo. He might always act like he had a stick up his ass, but Credo never struck Nero as the type to go on a power trip.
There were two options: Agnus was telling the truth, and the Order was truly no better than the demons they slew, or that Agnus was just some crazy ex-Order official.
...a psycho hermit wouldn't have access to this type of equipment. And if he has a bunch of demons captive, the Order wouldn't just look by. Oh man...
The grim truth sank into Nero: Agnus wouldn't feed him this type of garbage to save his life. The Order was corrupt. He couldn't believe it.
"What a crock," he snarled, "and you may as well ditch the efforts pal, because His Holiness is dead."
Agnus grinned at the news, his eyes flashing with excitement.
"Ahh, but his Holiness has been reborn...as an angel!"
"An angel..." Nero said, exasperated
"And soon...so, shall, I!" Agnus pronounced dramatically, bowing gracefully.
Nero shook his head in annoyance. This guy sure was weird. He looked back up, grinning again, only this time, it wasn't an excited one. It was cold and confident. The eyes that shone with the excitement of explaining his research burned with an intense hatred.
It happened so fast that Nero didn't even feel the pain at first. He turned, then there was a blur of white. Something metal slammed into him, driving him off the floor and into the wall. A pain like nothing else rocked through his body, originating from his gut. It was a knight, like the ones he fought in the library. Its lance was buried up to the hilt in his stomach, impaling him to the wall.
The pain intensified as the knight pulled his lance out of Nero, a small river a blood coming with it. Before Nero could hit the floor, two more knights rammed him, pinning their lances beneath Nero's arms, crucifying him on the wall of the room.
Steam from burst pipes seared his skin. He choked and blacked out, then stumbled back into consciousness. The front of his pants were already soaked with blood from his wound. It was a wonder his inner organs didn't spill out onto the floor. He heaved for air, each breath taking more and more life away.
"You see what only a small fraction of my research has yielded? Look!"
Nero could hardly see through the pain, but he could make out four shapes: Agnus, and the three knights hovering above him on glowing wings.
"How beautiful this white armor stands! You have no idea the hardship to make just...one armor come to life! I had to capture and control countless demons to harness...their souls. Summoning them alone was almost an insurmountable task!"
Agnus just kept rambling on, pacing back and forth. Nero could barely make out what he was saying. Everything was beginning to turn fuzzy.
"Summoning...?" he gasped. "So it was you...who made the gate!"
Agnus turned to Nero, excited that he'd made the connection. "Yes, yes! The Hell Gate! I created it merely as a reference, in substitution, for the real gate, but after utilizing an extremely powerful Devil's Arm...it proved sufficient."
Nero wheezed out another breath. It was getting painful to even breathe.
"What the hell are you talking about?" he asked weakly.
Agnus's excited mood vanished again. He stretched out his hand. A gladius soared to it, folding into its bladed form. "You...should rest."
With those words, he plunged the thick sword into Nero's chest, just above the gaping lance wound. Nero jerked, blood erupting from his mouth, mangling his scream of pain as the sword annihilated his internal organs. The sword passed through, pinning him to the wall even further.
All Nero could do was hang while his body began to shut down. Thick streams of blood dribbled from his mouth onto the gladius and the floor below, as well from the gaping holes in his chest.
Agnus's voice dropped to a low, quivering growl. "Soon...you will be the next subject of my experimentation, so I can learn a little something from you...and, that, arm."
Somehow, Nero managed to lift his head.
"Never..."
There was no way in hell that was going to happen. Even though he was buried in pain, he managed to inhale sharply, snorting the gunk out of his nose and into his throat, then hawked a massive, blood colored loogie onto Agnus's cheek.
The scientist stood, stupefied at Nero's audacity. He let out a shuddering growl, then yanked the gladius from Nero, another river of blood flowing free. Nero contorted in his crucifixion, but no longer had the strength to scream.
"T-t-t-t-take...him...out..." Agnus breathed to the knights.
The knights' armor clanked as they shifted position, then preparing to dive for Nero. There was nothing he could do. He was going to die.
"Kyrie, run!" screamed Nero. His rapier sliced into the demon, dropping it to the ground.
Kyrie scrabbled to her feet over the root she had tripped over. She pushed through some bushes, her dress ripping on a thick branch. She let out a blood-curdling scream as another demon dropped from the canopy, blocking her path.
"Kyrie! KYRIEEEE!!"
Nero awoke with a start. The room seemed frozen, the three knights in mid-flight, Agnus walking away. The middle one had its blood stained lance trained on his face, its two partners flanking it. Behind them, the broken katana still floated in its field, unaffected by the sudden lapse in time.
I'm not dead...?
He was aware of his wounds. They didn't hurt, but he could feel the tears in his body. Nero slowly blinked, and when he opened his eyes, something slapped him across the face, hard enough to turn his head and shut his eyes.
"Stupid kid. Why do you refuse to gain power?"
Nero let out a hissing breath, but didn't bother to look back at the speaker. He could feel him standing right in front of him.
"Why?" he snarled back, "Because I don't feel like selling my soul to a demon's arm!"
The speaker gave a harsh laugh. "Foolishness. Might controls everything, and without strength, you can't protect anything...let alone yourself."
Protect...
"Without strength...I can't...protect her..." he realized weakly.
"Especially if you're dead. I think you know what needs to be done. Take Yamato...take your power..."
Nero looked up, but the speaker had vanished. He saw only the broken sword, hovering seductively behind the knights.
Yamato...
The two halves of the sword touched, then seamlessly connected, completing the blade. A strange feeling began to rise in Nero. It felt like adrenaline, but somehow different, like an electricity that quickly spread through his body and limbs. It felt good.
It felt very good.
Agnus ignored the boy's screams for Credo's younger sister. In a second, his knights would silence the despicable boy for good. He'd almost miscalculated. The boy was more clever then he thought, but in the end, his cockiness was his end. Now, he was in control again. He could begin to examine the boy's right arm. It simply tingled with demonic energy.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a distorted growl behind him. Agnus turned, confused at the source of the noise.
What!?
A light blue aura surrounded Nero. Though his head was tucked down, Agnus could see that his eyes were open. They were glowing the brightest red he'd ever seen. It was the light of a demon. The boy's beautiful right limb was outstretched, the claw splayed to grasp something. The entire arm was shaking, as if a great strain was being placed on it.
The boy's growl intensified to a distorted scream. His eyes blazed even brighter, now staring hungrily at the center of the room. Spellbound, Agnus followed his gaze, stopping on Yamato. His eyes witnessed an impossible event: the two pieces of the broken sword became one. As soon as it mended itself, it flew out of its containment field, spinning wildly to Nero's right hand.
As soon as the handle touched the arm, a massive wave of energy emitted from the point of contact. The knights disintegrated in the blue haze. Agnus felt himself being lifted off his feet. Out of reflex, he ascended. His own pulse of energy fought the onslaught of the boy's.
Still, he was pushed back, spinning in the flux. He fell into the containment room, bouncing off one of the walls in a flurry of white feathers. The armored carapace of his ascended form softened the blow, but not by much.
Such an incredible burst...but how!?
The lab was obscured by a thick veil of dust, as well as a light curtain of the white feathers that covered his thorax and abdomen. All he could do was stutter in confusion, unsure of what happened or what was going to happen.
The dust began to settle, then the boy staggered into view. It seemed that he was set ablaze in a blue fire. His eyes still burned with that piercing red light. Both of his major wounds had simply closed; there was no trace of them. Blood still dripped from his mouth, which was contorted into a snarl.
Rising from the blue fire on his body was a remarkable scene. A humanoid shape, a demon in armor stood above and behind him, like a three dimensional shadow. It mimicked his moves as he staggered closer to the edge of the containment room. Agnus was infuriated when he saw Yamato, the sword he devoted months of research to, complete in his right hand.
"But how!?" he howeled, his large insect eyes bulging. "Not even I could succeed in restoring it!"
Nero didn't seem to listen. Instead, he spoke, his voice mixing with a deeper, sinister voice that seemed to pierce Agnus through his ascended form.
"From that day forth...my arm changed...and a voice echoed..." he growled. "'Power...give me more...power!'"
Agnus sputtered. "What?" What was he talking about?
"And if I become a demon...so be it...I will endure the exile...anything to protect her."
Nero simply drew Yamato up in a swing. A bright arc sprang from the blade. Agnus froze. It headed straight for him. The blade of energy sang past, inches from his shoulder, then ricocheted off the floor and into the wall. He covered his head as an explosion rang out, showering him in steel and rock. Gibbering, he turned and saw that the blow had cut clean through the roof; several feet of reinforced steel simply gone.
Agnus had made enough observations for one day. The boy was looking at him with murder in his eyes. Of all the demons he'd seen and cataloged, nothing could hold against the presence he felt.
"This is preposterous!" he shouted, then added as an afterthought, "Preposterous!"
He spread his glossy insect wings, a light powder spilling from them as they began to buzz, then took to the air and zipped out through the hole in the ceiling, leaving the abomination the boy had become behind him.
Whatever Agnus had become disappeared, though Nero was far from caring. He was running on the biggest high he'd ever felt. It was out of this world! He felt no pain, no fear, and was ready to take on the devil himself.
Yamato shivered, then faded away in a bright light, absorbed into Devil Bringer. Nero fell to his knees, surprised. He grasped his chest, expecting to feel fresh blood running from his chest, but instead felt torn cloth and skin. The mortal wounds inflicted upon him seconds ago had healed, becoming a distant memory.
He looked at Devil Bringer, which glowed its steady blue. It almost seem to be saying "see? I told you so." He began to laugh in disbelief at his own thoughts and situation. The power trip he'd experienced was like nothing he'd ever imagine. It was better than anything he did when he was younger, better than sex.
And zero crash!
Well, that wasn't true, he was a little winded, but that was nothing in comparison to what he just felt.
"I should get back to headquarters," he said to himself, his voice shaking a bit at first. "If what Agnus said is true...Credo must've known something."
He was going to get to the bottom of this, even if he had to beat it out of Credo.
Author's Note: So a lot happens in this chapter. So what's the extra scene with the unknown speaker? Well, there's a lot of debate of the relationship with Nero and Yamato. Fans of Devil May Cry might recognize what the speaker says from a previous game. Its just a theory, and I decided to throw it in for content. And non-players of the game don't worry, what happens in Agnus's section will be more or less explained later on. Thank you to all the readers who have made this my fastest read story to date!
