[NERO]
Nero stares in horror and confusion.
What?
He makes his way over to the armour, the empty armour, kneeling next to it. Nero picks up the helmet by its horns, turning it over in his hands and peering at its insides. He leans down, takes a whiff-
"Demon taint…" Nero mutters, watching the helmet dissolve into light motes, along with the rest of the broken pieces of the armour. He continues to kneel there, chewing on his lip. "… What the hell just happened?"
The Library's silence seems almost mocking, and Nero dusts off his hands as he stands, clicking his tongue. "First His Holiness' murder, then that bastard's riddles, the whole damn castle…" Nero spins in place slowly, scowling at everything, eyes trying to pick apart something different from the place. "… And now a demon possessing the Order's armour... That's not a good sign."
'If you poke around places, do a bit of sneaking, I think you'll find your answers.'
Nero shakes his head sharply, cradling it in his hand as he hisses in annoyance. "Shut up, shut up, shut up…!" He mutters to himself.
No time for doubts, second guessing and lies fed to him by that man in red, by that murderer. There are times where Nero envies Novena for her absolute loyalty, her unquestioning faith, because at least then, she's spared the mental mess of self-doubt. Spared the words clawing and clawing at the back of your mind, destroying your confidence, destroying your faith in yourself. It's easy for her, as she's fine with putting her life in someone else's hands.
Nero can't do that.
Nero presses the heel of his palms over his eyes, groaning in misery. "This mess is just getting bigger and I'm not even done with this Saviour damned place!" He grumbles, exasperated and frustrated.
With one last grumble, Nero stalks off to circle the room, poking and prodding every nook and cranny he can reach and/or find the switch that would reveal the Anima Mercury, the annoying little thing. He finds the switch five minutes later, disguised as a book with the title 'Divina Comedia' – "Divine Comedy"? Weird name – and weird figures on the book's cover.
He pulls it, and the groaning of stone scraping across stone pulls his attention to the side, where a 'book case' disappears down the floor to reveal the hidden chamber, as well as the weird glowing pedestal holding the Anima Mercury.
Nero approaches it with the slightest scowl, swiping the ornate canister out of its resting place before finally taking his leave. He casts one last apprehensive look at the Library, wondering if he's missing something- if he missed something. He shakes his head after a moment, leaving the Library entirely, in all its upturned state.
He passes the Divinity Statue – not enough Red Orbs yet, better save up for a bigger bonus later. Besides, he has a lot of stuff that's still unused – and enters the castle again, via the gallery. He's not surprised when demons fill the place back up, but Nero grins as he hops over bladed arms and legs, ducks beneath icicles sent his way as he makes his way over the inactive Gyro Blade.
The Devil Bringer spits out the Anima Mercury – since apparently his arm is a storage now, how convenient – and he pours a little bit of its 'flame' into the receptacle of the Gyro Blade.
It activates, with loud clicks and whirrs, the sound of metal sliding against metal, the gears within the statue moving and working and soon enough the Gyro Blade is active, floating a few inches above the floor – okay how does that work – and the blades are deployed and ready to kill demons.
Nero hastily gives it a couple of good whacks, making the rotors work and thus making the blades spin at a rather, eh, dangerous speed. Nero grins, before punching the Gyro Blade's side and making it rip through the room.
He leaps up to the chandeliers immediately, clinging to the ornate fixture as he watches the Gyro Blade literally tear the demons to pieces, sending demonic viscera splashing everywhere. Nasty, nasty business but it worked wonderfully; not only was it fun to watch, but it saved a lot of time as well. Really, really convenient.
Nero now has to wonder why Gyro Blades aren't strategically placed around the castle town, because this thing would've made defending the place a whole lot easier. Not to mention it saves up on manpower, lowers casualty rate and all that.
Tsk, tsk.
Nero hops down just as the Gyro Blade slows to a stop, dripping wet from demon remains and whatever else splashed on it. Nero grins and pats it, like he would a dog, and he collects the Red Orbs, which is quite the amount, and when everything is done he leaves the gallery, returning to the Great Hall.
Now that the barriers are gone, Nero is free to hop over the rails and drop down to the ground floor, walking over to the Gyro Blade situated at the raised dais at the front. He casts a look around the place, finds the huge, glowing casket sitting there in the middle of the aisle and judging by the sigils on the side, it can only be destroyed by a Gyro Blade.
Speaking of, how did he miss the casket earlier?
At any rate, he pours a bit of that Anima Mercury into the Gyro Blade, activating it before he guides it along to where he wants it. Soon enough, the casket crumbles easily, and Nero leans over the odd… mechanism he finds hidden within the casket. Brass rings – or something like that, he's not too sure – set in a complicated, multi-layered configuration.
Nero pokes at it, and when nothing happened – the thing didn't react to the cocktail of demonic energies and artefacts floating around inside his arm – Nero knows he's missing something.
"The old hag didn't mention anything about this…" Nero murmurs to himself, scratching at his chin before narrowing his eyes. That's a little odd, considering Novena knows the Order buildings like the back of her hand. Not to mention, she knows and hears a lot of things because she's one of the favourite Knights - has His Holiness's approval, really, so she gets access to a lot of places normal Knights don't usually have access to. "… But if she knows about the Gyro Blades, but not about this… thing, then why…?"
Nero puts his hands on his hips, chewing on his lip as he thinks. As of now, this thing is inaccessible to him – at the moment, anyway – so he needs to find a way to start it up, find a way to the rest of the castle-
Wait. Wasn't the main doors to the central courtyard sealed off?
"Hmm, I got the Mercury, and have no damn clue about this one right now…" Nero tilts his head, before walking towards the door to the side, where it would take him to the main hallways. "Might as well check that one out then come back for this when I find something…"
So he does exactly that, slipping into the Large Hall's corridors. Demons are there – should he be surprised? Probably not – but Nero dodges them, grinning to himself as a plan formed in his mind. He jumps over their heads with ease, swinging from the chandeliers just because he could. He taunts them all the way to a certain area, the one with the pedestals and Gyro Blades. He activates one, giving it one good whack after activation, before sending it towards the demons.
He laughs in glee when the Scarecrows gets turned into bloody confetti, shaking his head at himself. "Aah, that was too fun." He walks over to the Gyro Blade, guiding it towards the other end of the corridor where he saw the caged Gyro Blade. Carefully positioning the Gyro Blade he has with him, Nero gives it a handful of hits, get the blades spinning until it blurs, before sending hurtling down the corridor.
Nero hears demon screech as they die – so there really were demons waiting for him there – and he jogs after the Gyro Blade, look at the walls and the sealed off room. It's… honestly amazing that the walls aren't too damaged – is gouged, yes, but not as deep as he expected – and the metal bars sealing off some rooms aren't even bent, let alone broken.
Okay, what is Fortuna Castle?
Nero shakes his head, putting that thought out of his mind for the meantime. He continues with moving the Gyro Blade, down and down the hallway until he finally reached the end, where the caged Gyro Blade is. He destroys the barrier with the active Gyro Blade, watching the thing bounce against the inactive one. He walks up to the weapons, humming in his throat as he passed a hand across the surface of the inactive Gyro Blade, noting the lack of damage despite having been hit by the other one. Odd, really odd, and clearly, whatever material they made these things from, it's definitely not normal.
… Is he able to get some for himself, though? Something to think on later.
Anyway, he herds both Gyro Blades down the hallway, not even bothering to deal with the demons himself. He simply sends the weaponized statues streaking down the corridor, letting them do the dirty work while he takes a break from hacking and slashing.
Not that he's tired, but, sometimes, killing demons can get pretty tedious. Especially if it's the same damn weaklings over and over.
But anyway, he finally reached the right place, and he only spares the Divinity Statue for a moment before dragging the Gyro Blades to their proper places, the pedestals lighting up with a soft purple glow as the statues are put into position. One Gyro Blade left… He saw one, in one of the empty areas locked behind a metal gate, further down the opposite end of the hall.
Humming to himself, Nero runs down the Large Hall's corridors, sprinting because there's no one here and he wants to reach the place as soon as possible. In no time at all, he finds the locked away area, and on the other side of the metal bars, up on the dais, is the last remaining Gyro Blade. Nero raises his demonic arm, pulling it back briefly, before punching at the gate-
Only to stare in surprise when the metal bars just gave an almighty clang, and remained unchanged.
"What in the…?" Nero grabs at one bar with Devil Bringer, yanking it at with more and more force, without any results. "What in the hell?"
Okay so there's something really, really freaky going on here and Nero doesn't like it. Not one bit. It's giving him a headache, and he that's something because Nero never gets a headache.
Well, until now, apparently.
Nero, annoyed and frustrated, punches the metal bars of the deceptively flimsy-looking gate, giving it his most venomous look as he walks back down the hall, resigning himself to looking for another way in. Novena is going to answer his questions later, because he has a lot. Like what is that disc-like mechanism in the main area? Or what metal are the Gyro Blades made from? What the hell is up with Fortuna Castle? Those kind of questions.
Nero finds a door – which he somehow missed – after a few minutes of walking, grumbling to himself all the while. He opens the newly found door, stepping through to find himself in a dining room of sorts. He walks in, observes the table that is still laden with empty plates and cutlery, all gleaming silver. The candles have long since died, if the tiny wax stubs are any indication. Someone was here, but quickly left. Probably when the demons attacked earlier, most likely.
The white-haired Knight was about to leave the room via the other doorway, when the sound of wind chimes sounded behind him, followed closely by the vicious whirr of an engine-
Nero leaps, and the Angelo – most likely a possessed one – misses him. The massive lance was poised to kill, and Nero scowls as he twists in mid-air, whipping out Blue Rose and pulling the trigger.
The Angelo bears its shield forward, staggering just a little under Blue Rose's explosive bullet. After that, the demonic armour shifts its shield to its back, which spreads, fumes jetting out of it as the shield splits in half, forming the 'wings' of the now airborne Angelo.
Nero growls in frustration. "You got to be shitting me." He snarls to himself, and he is forced to leap to the side, as the Angelo dives towards him, its lance pointed towards Nero. The white-haired Knight rolls to his feet, drawing Red Queen in one smooth motion, and he flips, dodging the lance that swung at his head by several inches. He twists, slices downward with his sword, and cleaves a deep gash on the Angelo's left arm, cracking it, revealing the glowing insides.
No flesh, though.
The Angelo didn't yell, didn't make a sound, but it staggers, clutching at its injury, and it clumsily swings its weapon to force Nero back, not that it worked. Nero loads up Blue Rose with a charged bullet, before darting forward, fast a snake, and into the Angelo's guard.
Red Queen pierces through the armour's chest, and Nero finds it highly disturbing when no blood comes out, no shout of pain. In fact, the Angelo just looks at the massive sword in its chest, before looking at Nero. The white-haired Knight grimaces, bringing up a fully charged Blue Rose and blasting its whole head off. The possessed armour dissipates before completely hitting the ground. Nero thought that's that, but another Angelo coalesces into being with the same wind chime-like sound, and he just scowls at it, revving Red Queen threateningly.
He deals with that Angelo as quickly as possible, though this one he skewers with its own lance, throttling the rev several times and sending it crashing into the table. And the two other walls behind it. Nero winces at the damages, but at this point, he thinks he can be forgiven for roughing up Fortuna Castle a little bit. After all, in a way, the castle attacked him first. He's just fighting out of self-defence, that's all.
He's not looking forward to filing the official reports to Credo.
At any rate, Nero proceeds to the branching hallways, turning to the right-
FWOOM!
He stops dead in his tracks when a gigantic fireball – of all things – explodes, no dissipates against the wall, which is engraved with alien looking shapes and squiggles that didn't give Nero a lot of confidence. A far of boom sounds, and Nero risks a peek down this weird hallway, only to yelp and backpedal as fast as he could, just in time for another fireball to dissipate against the wall.
What. What in the hell is this?
Seriously, who even made this bloody castle; a demon nest, a death trap, a puzzle that's a colossal pain in his ass-
"Novena is going to hear from me," Nero mutter darkly, marching over to Gyro Blade he just spotted. He activates it with probably more force than necessary, but considering his current predicament and feelings, he feels like he's justified. "Novena is going to hear a lot from me."
Nero sends the Gyro Blade down the hall, punching it with as much force as he can muster, and he may or may not have grinned in satisfaction when it destroyed the magical generator at other end of the hallway, putting an end to the fireworks. Heh. Fireworks. Continuing, the door that's near the other end leads to the sealed off room he found earlier, and as soon as Nero steps into the room Scarecrows coalesce into being, greeting him with those creepy laugh of theirs.
Nero sidesteps the first attacker, smoothly slipping to the side and drawing Blue Rose. He pulls the trigger once, twice, and the Scarecrow explodes. The second set bullets hit the blade of another, throwing it off course and slicing through another demon unlucky enough to be on the path of the wild blade.
The white-haired Knight draws Red Queen as he leaps, skewering a laughing Scarecrow in the chest. He twists, roaring as he does so, and he revs the engine all the way up, streaking across the room, slicing through the rest with steel and flames. Nero skids to a stop, legs braced, and he lashes out with his own demonic arm, catching a Scarecrow on its wooden leg. He slams it down viciously and ruthlessly, making it pop like a fruit underneath the phantom limb.
He lets the frustration and agitation fuel his movements, all animalistic fury and feral grace, and soon enough, the Scarecrows crowding the room are gone, as well as the red web-like barriers that sprung up at the beginning of his fight earlier. Panting from exertion, Nero walks over to the generator, activating it to open the gate. That done, Nero proceeds to get the now free Gyro Blade to move where he wants it.
Again.
"I wanna have a nice, long chat with the architect of this hellish castle," Nero mutters to himself, not bothering with the freshly spawned demons and just sending the whirling Gyro Blade speeding down the hallway like a top made from metal, swords, and murder. "I wanna know what the hell they were thinking. Or if they were thinking at all. I have issues I wanna voice out. I have questions. A lot of them."
He's muttering to himself the whole way, until he finally guided the blasted Gyro Blade to the last remaining pedestal. The light intensifies for a moment, before the blue barrier shatters with a sound of glass breaking. It falls, disappearing, leaving the door to the central courtyard finally open.
Nero walks towards it, rolling his shoulders and shaking his hands out to loosen them for the upcoming fight. He holds a hand towards the door, only to turn sharply and lay a hand on the Divinity Statue instead, a frown on his lips.
Hail, young warrior. Do you seek to trade?
Nero thinks about his… new friend. Berial, was it?
Ah. You want to be shown the knowledge to wield the Firestarter once more. Very well, it shall be done.
Nero is much more prepared for the mental assault this time, and he bears it better this time, mind racing as he tried to keep up with the sheer speed. His hands and arms twitch with the motion, aborted movements of him doing the newly learned moves right then and there. The flood stops abruptly, just as suddenly as it began, and Nero steps away, blinking rapidly and just the slightest bit woozy.
He pats the base of the idol, grinning at it. "You're a handy guy to have around, huh? Thanks." The statue's surface gleams, and Nero turns, going through the doors of the central courtyard fully this time.
He is immediately assaulted by snow, and cold, and what is happening.
Nero brings a hand up to shield his face, squinting up at the sky. Or at least, what he thinks the direction of the sky is. There's a thick wall of ice and snow and frost forming a massive dome over the courtyard, blotting out the sky, and the spires of the castle are mere blurry figures. Nero clicks his tongue, feeling his skin crawl at the sheer wrongness of the situation.
How did a simple hunt for a murderer become so complicated?
Feminine laughter suddenly rings in Nero's ears, and he whips around, Blue Rose in his hand and ready to fire.
He sees them, then, two ghostly… vaguely feminine figures floating and dancing in mid-air. Clearly demons of some sort. Most probably the source of this freak snowstorm. Novena mentioned an ice demon before, who also looks feminine, during one of the very rare overseas hunt she managed to join. Apsaras, was it? Or was it a, uh, Yokey Owner? Wait no, that's not the right pronunciation-
Ah. Yuki-onna. Snow woman.
These (presumed) Yuki-onna demons twist around each other like snakes, spinning in the air, and they suddenly turn to Nero, beckoning to him with twisted smiles and laughing voices.
Nero just twists his lips, charges Blue Rose to full power, and fires.
The blue demon women spin away with shocking speed and grace, and their bell-like laugh are manic now, floating towards Nero with clearly malicious intent. Nero draws Red Queen just as the first reaches him, its arm transforming into a rapier-like appendage, and the screech produced from the clash of Red Queen and the demon is unholy.
Nero twists to the side, lashing out, and the she-demon slips beneath his blow, its laugh mocking. Its sister follows up, aiming viper-quick jabs at Nero's head with the intent to kill him. Nero parries some and dodges the rest, trying to land a strike in with either Blue Rose or Red Queen. The (presumed) Yuki-onna merely keep up their own dodging game, but due to their numbers, they keep the pressure on Nero, forcing him back and keeping him on the defensive more often than not.
It's frustrating, and Nero finally snaps, his own snarl matching Red Queen's roar as flames burst from its engines. He whirls, the next strike catching both she-demons across their torso, making it split open and spill copious amounts of Red Orb. One of the (presumed) Yuki-onna falters, is far more dazed than the other, and Nero pounces on the chance, grabbing it with Devil Bringer and slamming it to the ground.
The two Yuki-onna suddenly slip away, disappearing, and Nero finally smells it before he sees it, making him turn towards the dark corner of the courtyard and seeing the massive row teeth-
Nero darts away, kicking up snow as he skids to a stop, lips pressed to a firm line as the real demon shows itself. So it's not a Yuki-onna, after all. But rather…
"You're stronger than you look!" The demon… frog… thing roars, like that fact pisses it off to no end.
"And you're smellier now that I can see you!" Nero shoots back, grimacing at the stench and feeling the hairs on his arm and neck stand at the sight of this ugly beast of a frog. Yuck. "Ugh, I'm gonna hurl-"
"Watch your tongue, boy!" It roars, whipping around its antennae, where the two she-demons – which is, apparently, mere bait – are dangling from. Disgusting bile flies from its massive mouth, and Nero really, really feels like putting the contents of his stomach on the ground.
Like, right now.
"Oh, by the Savior that's so disgusting- hrk!" Nero almost did throw up, but when the froggy-looking monster leaps at him with its smelly mouth open, Nero is forced to leap away, lest he become froggy-chow. He grimaces, already feeling a disgusted shiver lance down his spine. But either way, he pulls Red Queen free, revving it up for a charge.
"I'm filing for a psychological evaluation after this, and Novena is going to cover the expenses. Her and Credo." Nero mutters angrily to himself. "I deserve a damn recompense for all of this!"
He streaks towards the frog demon, his sword's boosted engines carrying farther than the usual, and Nero twists with the moment, cutting at the demon's slimy white hide with a vicious growl. The demon shrieks in pain, and it hops, plopping heavily onto its stomach a few paces away. It puffs up, throat swelling, and Nero was too slow to dodge the wave of ice that came pouring out of its mouth.
Nero feels himself become encased in ice, and he gasps, the ice burning him, through him, inside him, and he can't feel his fingers, his toes, his face-
The ice shatters, and Nero stumbles to his knees, weakened by the sudden temperature drop, and he was struck by one of the demon's freaky antennae, and he feels something snap somewhere in his ribs. Nero hits the steel gates, and he falls to the ground, hacking and coughing. He tries to breathe, and he ends up wheezing, his breath coming in wet and there's a taste of metal in his mouth. He spits, and he scowls at the blood now staining the white of the snow.
He staggers to his feet, and he glares at the frog demon happily croaking and gloating where its fat ass is sitting. He takes out a Vital Star, Devil Bringer summoning one from the depths of its… storage, and he chugs it down quickly, strawberry taste a relief to this honestly awful scenario.
"You're not so tough now, huh?!" And the frog dares to mock him.
Alright then.
Nero returns Red Queen to his back, and he rolls his shoulders, cracking his knuckles. "You asked for it…" Nero growls.
He thrusts his demonic hand out, like what his mind says, and he thinks of flames, of heat, of rage and fury that destroys all. His Devil Bringer glows bright red, losing its blue hue, and it goes up in a blaze, the fire collecting into his palm to form a rod roughly one and a half feet long.
He wraps his clawed fingers around it, the rough surface of the rod finding purchase within Nero's equally rough demonic hand. His grin is purely malicious, and he brandishes it sharply to the side. A massive tongue of flame pours out of the rod, cracking against the air with a sharp sound. Nero swings his arm sharply again, and the whip made of hellfire snaps with the motion, arcing in the air and bringing a bright, orange hue to the immediate vicinity.
At his mental command, the fire detracts, shortens, until all that is left is the rod in Nero's grasp. But despite its now innocent state, its power has left remains; the snow around Nero not only did melt, but the ground is dried, scorched. Nero grins evilly at the demon frog, who rightfully cowers and croaks in fear.
"You really shouldn't have pissed me off, froggy." Nero says, almost casual and light-hearted. He shifts his grip on the rod, on Berial the Firestarter, his very first Devil Arm. The rush of power… it was intoxicating.
Apparently calling this frog demon thing a frog is the wrong thing to say. "A frog? A frog?!" Bile flies everywhere once more, smelling up the place. Nero mentally apologizes to the poor people who will need to clean this up once all of this freak show is over and done. "I am Bael! Of the Toads of Cocytus! I will freeze your body, and send the shattered remains to the far corners of Hell!"
Nero jabs Berial forward, and the flame whip comes out, and the white-haired Knight pulls back at the last second, laughing when the whip cracks the air just in front of the toad demon's nose, making the massive thing flinch from the sound and vicious heat. "Frogs, toads, I don't care." Nero declares, bringing the whip to the ground and watching in satisfaction when it burned for the briefest moment, removing more of the annoying snow. "I don't like you either way."
Bael the Toad of Cocytus roars in rage, and the icicles on its back fires up into the air, numerous chunks of it falling over Nero's head. He leaps backward, rolling to his knees just as the icicles bombarded the spot where he previously was, and he whips out Blue Rose, pulling the trigger a few times. Bael flinches, hopping to a different location this time. It roars, a wave of ice speeding across the ground at an alarming rate. Nero whips Berial, the end wrapping around a pillar, and he hauls himself out of there, twisting so he hits the pillar feet first, which he uses as a springboard, getting himself high up in the air, soaring over froggy- toad demon's head.
Berial is swapped out for Red Queen, and Nero triggers a maximum boost, flicking off the limiter and letting the kick of Red Queen's engines and flames carry him into a nigh violent downward spin. Bael somehow manages to jump out of the way, bouncing high up in retaliation, obviously aiming to crush Nero under its bulk.
Nero clicks his tongue, and Berial reappears once more. Nero spins wildly, the whip causing a whirlwind of fire to form around him, climbing higher and higher until it hits Bael, who screamed in pain. The white-haired Knight dismisses his Devil Arm, instead jumping up and reaching out with Devil Bringer's phantom limb.
Nero wraps the ghostly appendage around the ice encased tail, and with a snarl of effort, slams the demon toad down, knocking it dizzy. It opens up the window for Nero to bring back Berial – he's getting the hang of summoning and unsummoning things with Devil Bringer – and wail on the vulnerable toad like a, well, like a demon possessed. Nero manages to land several flesh rending blows, blood gushing hot from the demon, before Bael twists suddenly, swiping at him with unexpected speed that catches Nero off guard.
Nero feels the wind get knocked out of his chest, pain blooming all over his body as he hits the ground, kicking up snow and dust. He twists, getting up on his feet only to falter and cough wetly. Blood dribbles down Nero's mouth and he grimaces.
For some reason, this fight is harder than Berial.
Bael jumps to the corner farthest from Nero, and the demon breathes deeply, bloating up to thrice its size before letting loose a dark, dark haze, blanketing the courtyard in almost suffocating dimness. The women-shaped baits comes back, and they're already going for the kill, intent on not leaving Nero any room to breathe.
He evades their blows, swerving and weaving, until he finds a window of opportunity. He draws Red Queen and Berial at the same time, and he whirls violently, both weapons aflame. The baits shriek shrilly, cut open at the torso and dropping Red Orbs all over their feet.
Nero doesn't waste time, grabbing onto one of the baits and hauling it backwards, pulling Bael back into the light. The demon flops, weakened and bleeding, and Nero collapses briefly on his knees, starting to feel the cold biting at his flesh, the fatigue weighing on his bones, his healing tiring him as it repaired his damaged body. Nero wheezes, before forcing himself to get back up on his feet, staggering, spitting blood to the side.
Berial manifests in his Devil Bringer once more, and the flaming whip makes a reappearance, melting the snow and turning it to steam as Nero paces around Bael, who seems like it wouldn't be getting up soon.
"You know, I don't like frogs. Or toads, whatever." Nero flexes his hand, before settling into a stance and flicking out a flaming whip. "I really, really don't like you."
Nero cracks the whip, wrapping around the base of Bael's tail, and with a yell, he yanks hard. He spins, round and round, ignoring the demon's terrified screaming. Nero whirls, once, twice, thrice, before hauling Bael up, getting it into the air, before slamming the full weight of the demon into the Hellgate.
The demon Bael wails, twitches, before falling still, now lying dead atop the rubble of the Hellgate. Nero collapses on his ass, breathing hard, panting and hurting from the particularly nasty fight. He grins to himself in satisfaction, pleased at the now destroyed Hellgate and the now dead frog thing.
"F… Finally done…" Nero mutters to himself, moving to lie down on the ground for a while. "Gotta… gotta get some breather…"
So Nero lies there on the scorched ground, Ice practically none-existent around his Devil Arm and the power he could wield. He absently muses if Novena has known about this, knows about the secrets, the trapdoor and the mazes. Considering her close standing to His Holiness, she probably does.
But before Nero could ponder more about Novena's involvement, or how the murderer could be possibly linked to all the questions he's having, the ground shakes.
Nero is up on his knees in just a second, looking around in alarm and fear when the ground breaks, splits, and it's originating from the Hellgate, black, spidery veins incoming, splitting the earth like it's nothing.
Nero tried to jump, tried to pull away. But it fails, moving too fast and too erratically. And Nero, weakened as he was…
Falls.