Wow, three months. Sorry guys for the delay. I need to make sure my mind is not scattered, otherwise this chapter's quality would be low.
So, since there are not many recommendations for what skills to buy next... I would record the next mission now, and wait for you guys' suggestions if any of you is interested.
Note: I played this mission twice so I could give Credo a chance to fight back.
For now, enjoy mission 8 of DMC4!
Mission 8: Profession Of Faith
Embrace the light to escape the forest!
"Snatch 3 is a must now, Ruby." Weiss immediately reminds Ruby what to buy. Even though it would leave the remain Souls not being able to buy anymore skills, it's necessary to be able to reach foes from afar.
Pyrrha notices the new background being familiar. "Hey, haven't we seen this structure before?"
Everyone focuses on the picture and tries to figure where they could have seen this... and ends up with none.
"At least, based on the forest, it's around somewhere the boss battle field." Weiss reasons.
"Hm... let's start the mission then."
The mission starts with Nero being in the Ancient Training Ground. A normal walking through the only way so far, with an additional Blue Orb Fragment hidden over an upside-down egg. Then random mobs in the way, with Ruby immediately dispatches the bush-monsters with Busters so they won't cause any problems.
Returning to Lapis River, and with the Sephirothic Fruit, Ruby is able to wither the demonic tree. Collecting some Red Orbs, she continues towards Ancient Plaza.
Something rushes directly towards Nero's location, then runs pass him and nearly knocks him off with their sudden appearances. After jumping up to the air, they land down in front of Nero, revealing themselves to be lizard-like demons wearing alabaster helmet and shield on its right front limb. Then, one of them screams in the air in high-pitch, calling the others to help it killing Nero.
"...Why do I feel like this is another of Agnus' work?" Seeing the shields, Ruby can't be helped but wonder.
"I... don't think so. Berial has a sword that's clearly not a part of his body." Yang denies.
"Grimm could evolve their bones to enhance their endurances. I think this is the case here." Ren theorizes.
Shrugging it off for a second, Ruby pulls one of the reptiles towards her and High Roller it to the sky, separating them from the other two demons. Using Roulette Spin to keep them on the air for a second longer, Ruby pulls the demon closer to her again because the skill pushes the demon away a bit too high, then uses Split to return back to the ground with it. With an exceeded Streak, she manages to kill the demon right there. Then, a bit too quickly, she grabs a nearby demon with her Devil Bringer and smacks it around, stunning the other one in the process. After she releases the grab, the demon flips back and tries to attack, but she's quicker by hitting it with a full Combo C from Red Queen and sending it fly away. With the demon on the ground, she releases a Charge Shot I, then hits it with three hits of Combo A before the demon flips back... and meets a wall. She accidentally delays the fourth hit, so, when it happens, the slash grounds the demon back. Sending the demon back to the air with her, Ruby uses Exceeded Calibur to finish it. The last one plans to shoot something to her, but she already jumps up and pulls it towards her, unleashes her fury and kills it with a Split.
"I'm getting good at it..." Ruby praises herself, before putting down the controller. "Hey Weiss, you want the next turn?"
"Sure."
Collecting Red Orbs during the way, Weiss heads straight to the Ruined Church, where the camera pans towards the demonic tree they found before. Then, it returns to show the reptiles and the scarecrows already waiting for her. Deciding to just deal with the scarecrows first, she Snatches one towards her and High Roller it, like usual. But, she makes a mistake: the reptiles won't just stay idle, as one of them spins in the air for a second before spears her out of the sky. Now knowing that the reptiles are more dangerous, Weiss starts focusing on them first by Snatching them to her and beating them up, while occasionally rolling or jumping to avoid the scarecrows' slashes.
"At least they're not dummies for us to fight." Yang comments when she sees Weiss getting hit by an unexpected thrust from the reptile.
"Not everyone would appreciate that, but I can see why you think like that." Qrow replies, knowing about some 'fair rules' in fighting.
"Except bullies though." Jaune reminds them of one specific case. That earns him nods.
After killing the demons and taking the Red Orbs, Weiss runs to the demon tree then withers it, and walks through the door behind it...
Now she enters an open space area, which is in Lost Woods. She then sees a black pillar in the middle of the area, with a note on it. Once she reaches the thing, she reads the letters:
This is a gentle forest, yet those who treat her unkindly will fall into darkness.
Those who do not wish for darkness should seek the light. For if not, all efforts will be in vain.
"So that explains the title of this mission." Blake sees the connection. "Embrace the light... what light, though?"
"Sunlight." Pyrrha and Jaune deduce at the same time, then blush up because of an old memory.
Yang notices the strange expressions on their faces, so she asks: "Hm? You have something in mind?"
"Remember the 'first' time we took our Initiation?" Jaune replies with a question. "We mistook the Death Stalker's stinger as the Relic..."
That earns light chuckles from everyone, then Qrow asks: "But, what does it relate to this?"
Pyrrha: "It's about the 'follow the light' thing when you're lost in a cave or tunnel. After that experience, we decided to sometimes fight in different environment, them being ones."
"That's... a little unorthodox. But I can see the reason." Weiss understands the reason behind the method. She then spins the camera around to see if she could find the sun...
"Stop spinning the camera." Hearing Ren's advice, Weiss follows. He then points to the forest ground. "See the shadows? Try to see their position."
"...I see what you mean." Weiss immediately finds out the right direction. "To the North, huh? Well that's..."
"Hey, turn left, Weiss." That earns the leader of RWBY questioning looks. "I mean, even falling into the pit doesn't kill us. What could a wrong turn do?"
Weiss rubs her left temple, then says: "...That's...it's okay here, but NEVER suggest that if we're on a real mission, okay?"
"No promises!" The heiress sighs at her teammate's antics, but she humors her request...
And, like the pit fall, another demon encounter.
While Weiss deals with the demons, Nora asks Yang: "Hey, has Ruby ever done that?"
"Done what? The 'other-direction' suggestion?" Nod. "Yep, a lot. We denied half of them, though. The other half... well, you can see the result here."
While spamming the Buster animation, Weiss sends Ruby a look of 'I'm going to have a lot of questions about it' that causes the young leader to shrink in fear. She's not going to let her guard down after hearing that.
Although... there's a small reward: a Blue Orb Fragment, which also results to a complete Blue Orb.
"At LEAST one of the times there's a good result." Weiss admits.
After exiting the restrained ground, Weiss follows the instruction this time, and it helps her escaping the Woods...
And now she's in the Forgotten Ruins, the upper bridge to be specific, as Weiss looks out to see the familiar Divinity Statue from afar.
"Now that's familiar." Pyrrha remarks.
"Not the same, though." Weiss replies. "I mean, to the first image." And when she goes to the other end of the bridge and reaches the upper Ancient Training Ground: "Okay, here we are."
Like the previous mission, a group of demons ambushes her right before another Divinity Statue. And of course, they're dealt with easily. After that, once seeing the Red Orb, Weiss gets herself a Purple Orb before heading to the next area...
And she reaches a LONG bridge called Gran Album Bridge. Weiss blinks for a second, before comments: "Okay... why do I have a bad feeling now?"
"Don't we all have that when we first saw the Divinity Statue?"
"Remember how long we walked before reaching a boss, Yang?"
"A couple of steps... Oh."
"Yeah, oh."
Nero reaches the end of the bridge which leads to a stairway that leads to an open arena. Reaching the upper floor, the young Hunter notices Credo slowly walking towards him from the opposite way...
"NO! We have to fight him?" Ruby whines, clearly afraid of what happens next.
"Damn. I would gladly fight Agnus or anyone in this Order, but your brother-figure? Not cool." Yang crosses her arms before her chest, not liking the situation one bit.
"This is going to be a hard fight..." Blake mumbles.
Seeing the glare Credo is sending him, Nero tries to ease the atmosphere a bit: "That's a look you shoot your enemy." Seeing no reactions, Nero continues, but with a little hesitation, since he has guessed something's wrong. "Okay, well then let me ask you this..." Credo stops in the middle of the arena, then slowly walks around Nero's back. "What exactly is the Order after? And who the hell is Dante?"
"This is more terrifying than those previous demons." Nora comments, earning a nod from Ren.
"Yeah, I feel it too." Jaune joins in. "Siblings being silent against each other is the worst thing."
To Nero's surprise, Credo draws his sword and swings it right at the Hunter's head. "You do NOT demand answers from me!" In a nick of second, Nero jumps out of the way, making the sword of Credo hit the ground. But, the following hit forces him to raise his demon hand up to block it, effectively pushing Credo back. The Captain of the Order, after regaining his balance, points his sword towards the demon hand and says: "You possess the power of a demon..."
"Wait! He didn't know about the arm either?" Ruby exclaims in confusion.
"I think... if that's the case, the Order might already know beforehand." Qrow replies.
Not wanting to fight him, Nero tries to tell Credo to stop in a low whisper: "Back down! I don't want to hurt you. I won't do that to Kyrie!"
"Hurt me?" This time, Credo replies, with a chuckle in the end. "You don't get it, do you?"
"...Is EVERYONE in the Order a demon?" Blake says, not wanting to believe it being truth.
With a grunt, power emits out of Credo, as a golden Aura surroundings him, and he turns in front of Nero, causing the Hunter to speak in shock: "You too..."
Floating in the air, with white wing on his right and a black shield over his left arm, Credo transforming into a demon with an image close to a fallen angel, with claws for his feet and a tail as well. Credo then speaks with his voice echoing in the air: "I have been chosen to take the next step in evolution, to become something far more than just human." The camera spans to his face for a second...
"... To be fair, we could still consider that a human's face." Qrow tries to light up the mood... with no success.
"I am an angel!" Credo concludes by saying what he is...
Which is not in Nero's eyes. "Wrong, Credo. All you've become is a demon."
The boss doesn't care of that comment, and announces: "As the Captain of the Holy Knights, you are now under arrest." And he moves into a preparation pose. "It is the wish of His Holiness!"
The moment the gameplay returns, Weiss presses the pause button, and puts down the controller... "Not dealing with this now." And leaves to pour some coffee for herself.
The room turns silent for a few seconds, as everyone's trying to process about the situation. Even in their wildest dream, would they NEVER think of fighting against each other in ANYTHING, after the Fall of Beacon happened. But now, they have to see, through another person's eyes, a fight where each participant has their good reasons to fight for. Needless to say, they're afraid of the outcome.
After a few minutes or so, Weiss returns with a tray of coffee cups, and everyone thanks her before taking one for themselves. Weiss then starts first: "This reminds me of when we were still ruled by that bastard..."
"Must be very hard. To this day Jacques is still trying to get back what he claimed to be his..." Qrow says, having heard about the news recently.
"And I'm glad that he never succeeded." Weiss grunts. "And thanks Oum that I don't have to deal with his immature image..."
"That's...harsh, Weiss. I know that Whitley is a little too..."
"Oh believe me, Blake, you haven't seen his last moment of truth."
Ruby snugs into Yang's arms for comfortness, as the latter slowly pats her head. "Things are rough back then...But hey, at least now we don't have to deal with their stuffs anymore."
"Yeah, for the better goods." Weiss concludes.
After ten minutes of enjoying the coffee, she brings up the controller... when a piece of paper appears out of thin air. Qrow grabs it and reads:
'Didn't think it would affect you like that. Sorry for not warning you beforehand.
Anyway, remember Phoenix Champion? About the Counter-Buster? Credo has one move that you could do so, but I won't say which, so you have to find out on your own.
And, this is one of the best fights in the game.'
"Best fight?" Ruby asks out loud.
Weiss continues the fight. "We will see."
The moment the game continues, she immediately jumps back when she sees Credo is too close for her. However, the captain just lands a few feet back and then summons out a lance in his hand, charges up a little before throwing at her, causing her to roll to the left to dodge it, and one more comes but the delay between the throws is long enough to notice. Then, she uses Streak to Credo, but he just teleports away and then continues his spear-throwing. This time, Weiss jumps up at the first one, then unconsciously uses Buster when the second one comes to her... and throws it right back at Credo, completely sending the third spear off the track and nails Credo right on the floor.
"Wow, that's... hurt to watch." Pyrrha winces, as she actually felt it once, when Cinder tried to kill her. Everyone is having similar expression with her.
Weiss, luckily the last Streak filled her gauge, rushes to Credo with Max-ACT Streak and Busters the captain. It results in the demon floating slightly on the air, then she punches right at the shield and throws him off. Then, to close the distance again, she Streak... only for her slash to hit the shield, knock her balance... and get hit from Credo's immediately counter-hit. She then runs away, expecting Credo to rush right at her. However, he just slowly walks to her with no attempting to attack, yet, so she stands and wait. And the moment he's in range, he prepares his attacks, so Weiss starts jumping/dodging so she wouldn't get hit by the 4-hit combo. She then Split down and throws Credo off guard, however, the next Streak is getting blocked again, but this time she's prepared and managed to roll to the side. She hits him again, but the third slash is blocked and countered again.
"Okay, it's getting interesting." Qrow scratches his chin. "It's a proper fight so far. Every boss before would just let us hit them."
"It looks like a spar between Huntsmen, to be honest." Ren comments.
"Like Jaune against Cardin?"
"No, Nora. Like Jaune against Pyrrha, which has him as the boss." That earns the gunslinger a pout from his leader, and a chuckle from his girlfriend.
After dodging the overhead counter, Weiss goes in for another hit, gets blocked again. But this time, instead of an overhead, Credo sends out a quick successful two-slash, then tries to cut her from above, but she luckily escapes with a well-timed DT. She tries to uses the DT Streak, but with nearly-impetrenatable shield, it doesn't work. Credo counters with a uppercut then a split down, both easily being dodged. Weiss High Roller Credo up, with her still on the ground, and then Busters him again. Then, she notices the shield losing a layer of Aura after that punch.
"Oh... at least now we know that we can break the shield." Weiss comments.
The two start trading blows-and-counters over and over for the next thirty seconds. With a few successful Busters as well. And then, with a normal slash, Weiss manages to destroy the Aura of the shield, sending Credo into a vulnerable state.
She Busters him again, and starts punching him right at the face, causing Credo to kneel on the ground while being hit. Then, when his head in the right position, she throws a hook right at his chin, sending him up in the sky, and everyone watches the demon fall back to the ground back-first.
"That would definitely be me." Yang chuckles.
Blake grins. "Yeah. New moves for your work?"
"Good idea. Thanks!"
After the Buster, Weiss presses Taunt, and starts guitaring right in front of the captain, as he flips back and gets on his feet. When the first hit of Credo comes, Weiss enters DT to throw him off guard... and that's a bad idea, since he's not flinched. He slashes Weiss twice before going for a Split, but she jumps up in place to avoid, then hit him once, because the second one gets blocked again. Credo teleports...right next to her for some reasons, and calls out his spear. And because of the close distance, Weiss calculates the throwing speed wrong, and earns a spear to the face. At least it doesn't hurt much since she still has her DT on. He teleports again and throws spears again, and this time Weiss throws it back easily.
Another half of minute trading blows, Credo teleports away and drops on his knee, his health only has three bars left. Not wanting to hit him in that, Weiss stops her attacks, but walks to his front and taunts, which is the 'Hey, hey, hey! Come on babe!' one.
"...Damn, I was expecting his kneeling taunt, not this one. But, it still fits, somewhat."
"A little disrespectful there, Heiress." Yang teases the girl, which earns a glare back.
And...yeah, the cockiness backfires. As Credo recovers, he sends a slash out which causes Weiss to jump back, then he does the uppercut to the air. While Weiss is expecting a split, the demon sends out an energy wave which hits the surprised Weiss. And the next minute is basically Weiss trying to jump/roll out of the way while trying to hit at any seconds possible.
To end the fight, Weiss enters DT and Busters Credo once his shield is down. She punches him four times in the face, then throws him in the air, jumps up and stabs him through the torso.
After taking the damage, Credo charges back in with his shield. However, Nero's strength proves to be more powerful, as he holds the shield with his Devil Bringer. Just the moment he pushes Credo off, the arm absorbs something of Credo's shield power. When the captain's on the ground, Nero notices the power absorb, but before he could check it out, Credo shouts up in anger: "No! NOT YET! I'm not finished!" Already turning back to his human form, the captain tries to hit Nero, but his power severely spent after the fight, his attack is blocked completely by Nero's arm. Even with a weakest push from the Hunter, Credo falls to the ground and rolls a few times before stopping.
"Your strength has increased!" Credo splurts out, as Nero slowly walks to him...
"Don't kill him!" Ruby shrieks.
"I don't think he's going for the kill, Ruby." Yang assures her sister. "Just some questions."
At the worst timing possible, Nero hears Kyrie's scream from behind him. He immediately turns back to see the girl standing there, trembling as she watches the scene. "Kyrie..." All words get lost as he wonders why she's here. Then he notices what she's staring at: the Devil Bringer. Nero tries to hide it but it's already too late. Then, Credo's grunt temporarily distracts Nero...
"Oh this is not going to end well. A complete misunderstanding from Kyrie." Blake mumbles, loud enough for anyone to hear her.
"Everything just goes straight to Hell." Yang says, not intending for a joke.
"No, wait..." Nero tries to explain to Kyrie, who's backing away from Nero in fear. "This isn't what you think..."
"Why...?" Kyrie asks, her voice cracking. "Why did you do this?"
Nero plans to say more, but Agnus appears from nowhere, who then sends him a smirk of satisfaction...
Immediately Ruby has to hold Yang back as the leader feels her sister's Aura flare up in danger. "Let me go! I'm going to punch his bastard to the face!"
"Calm down, you brute." Even when she shares the same sentiment to her teammate, Weiss wouldn't let her emotions do her work. "It's a record, you can't do anything to it from this side." After hearing that, Yang grunts and reluctantly sits down, the fire in her eyes and her Aura still burns. "But, we all feel the same, so we could understand."
"...You think Kuro might have entered one verse and done so already?" Ren suddenly asks out loud something not entirely related.
"Knowing who he is, I think it's done already." Qrow says back, totally believing the case being real.
Agnus then starts whispering to Kyrie, with obvious lies: "It was our intentions to protect you from the truth..." He then points the demon-sword to Nero's face. "Nero is a demon."
"You son of a..." Nero is angry, not only at Agnus' obvious intention of using Kyrie as a hostage but also his lies. He plans to go aggressive on Agnus, but the coward hides behind Kyrie, forcing him to stop on track. Kyrie calls out his name in fear, and Nero clutches his knuckles in anger.
"Not to worry, I have no intentions of harming her..." Agnus replies upon seeing Nero's anger... then puts the sword right over Kyrie's neck. "Yet."
If Qrow hasn't already held Yang down, and Ren doing so with Nora, the TV would have been flung away in pieces.
"Though..." Agnus continues. "It would appear your attachment extends beyond friendship..."
"She has nothing to do with this. LET HER GO!" Nero angrily shouts.
"AGNUS!" Credo is also pissed at how things go. First, he lost to Nero, which he could suck it up. But having his sister here is out of question. "How dare you use my sister! This is my fight and I will finish it! LET...HER...GO!"
Agnus then explains his actions: "His Holiness predicted your defeat..." Realization dawns on Credo's face. "And so ordered that your sister be utilized."
Credo shouts in disbelief and plans to grab his sister, but Agnus transforms into his demon form, which pushes Credo and Nero away, and flies up with the unconscious Kyrie in his arms. "If you want her, then come and get her, for I cannot guarantee her fate. With his last laugh, Agnus flies away.
Watching in anger, Nero cannot do anything since it could hurt Kyrie...
"His Holiness..." Nero turns to the defeated Captain. "He used Kyrie?" Credo couldn't believe that the one he serves could do such things.
Nero walks up to him and pulls him up to his feet while shouting: "WHERE'S HE TAKING HER? TO THE HEADQUARTER?"
Credo grunts after Nero pushes him hard: "I would assume so. Nero, we must set aside this battle until I find out the truth of this." Nero then watches as the transformed Credo flying away, possibly heading to where this 'Headquarter' could be. He's now having a new objective: Save Kyrie.
The game continues...
"It still hasn't ended yet?" Yang shouts in disbelief.
Everyone then sees how the new power works: basically using a demon as a shield. Then, Weiss reaches the other ladder's end... and the mission ends.
"That's... a train wreck." Blake comments, as she rubs her eyes in annoyance and anger. She has heard that Adam has stooped THAT low after the Fall of Beacon, but this must be worse.
"...How about a small break?" Ruby suggests, and everyone nods in agreement.
Chapter 8 end!
One of my favorite boss fights, and one of the best. Anyone agrees?
Skill added:
Snatch 3
That's it for now. See you guys in the next chapters!
