AN:I feel like doing some shameless advertising, read the author's note below for more details
Til then, let's get back to the chapter, shall we?
"Sparda..." the large, obsidian-black creature spoke; its giant, star-shape eye glowing ominously. "At last, we finally meet again after all these year. Do not think that I've forgotten what you've done to me"
"Uh, hate to break it to you pal, but you got the wrong guy" Nero corrected, "but I guess like my old man and crippling debt of an uncle, I must've inherited some of gramp's rugged good looks as well"
Without warning, the giant demon suddenly moved its face close to the young devil hunter, who jumped back and slashed in surprise. However, his silver sword didn't do any damage. If anything, the demon looked as if it was still in mint condition.
"Hmm... indeed you have his blood, but aren't truly him" the demon examined, his star-shaped eye watching intently. "No matter: he may not be here, but his cursed bloodline shall be a good substitute"
The giant demon suddenly brought its fist down onto the young devil hunter stood, striking the ground where he stood over and over until it left a large crater.
"I'm not really one to care for such things, but why so grumpy about gramps in particular?" A voice asked, belonging to the young hunter. The giant demon turned to the source of the voice, and to his surprise, found the devil hunter sitting on his shoulder. "Seriously, gramps has pissed off way too many people during his lifetime, what's your story?"
"Do you really wish to know, cursed spawn of Sparda?" The demon questioned, before continuing. "I was powerful demon lord, and none have dared challenge my rule..."
"Let me guess, then Sparda came along and beat your ass into submission?" Nero asked.
"Until there was nothing left... but my beating heart!!!" The titan roared, slamming his free hand on his shoulder: Nero jumped off before the demon's hand came into contact, causing his other arm to fall off. But somehow - like a magnet - his arm suddenly reattached itself back to the body. "That cursed knight drove me into such a pathetic state! Depriving me of my beautiful form!"
"The flames of revenge kept me alive for so long" the giant demon continued, "until Mundus found me, gave me power beyond anything I could ever imagine: he granted me this adamantine body, in hopes that I would end this forsakened bloodline!"
His star-shaped eye glowed brighter than normal, before suddenly unleashing a particle beam fueled by his ever-burning rage. Nero promptly rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the supernatural blast.
"The flames of revenge? They can't even melt a marshmallow!" Nero laughed, before drawing the silver sword. "But, if it's a fight you want, I'll gladly give you a pummeling"
"Such arrogance coming from a mere child, disgusting..." the titan spoke, before his eye glowed brighter. "This shall be your first and last battle against Apophis, The Devourer!"
Instead of a large particle beam like before, Apophis suddenly sprayed the terrain with smaller particle beams. Nero quickly dodged against scattered projectiles, but one of the beams left a nasty gash on Nero's arm.
Clutching onto the wounded arm, Nero quickly got out of the titan's line of sight. He hid behind an untouched bush waiting for the large gash to heal but...
"Why isn't it healing?!" Nero shouted, watching as the wound still remained on his arm. He suddenly felt a killing intent scratching the back of his mind, before rolling out of the way as a familiar particle beam incinerated the bush.
"What's the matter? Your wounds won't heal?" Apophis mocked, "mighty is the power of Mundus, Sparda's power no longer serves a purpose!"
The giant demon brought an opan palm down on the devil hunter, only for it to get lodged into the ground as Nero dodged the incoming attack: using the titan's current predicament Nero scaled the giant demon's arm, jumping off the shoulder as he swung the silver sword his all his might onto Apophis' eye.
But the silver sword immediately broke as it came into contact with the titan, leaving Nero vulnerable: seeing the young devil hunter unarmed and airborne, Apophis clasped his hands together and brought them down on Nero, slamming him into the ground with a large crack!
"Die! Die!" The titan shouted, slamming a barrage of punches onto Nero as he helplessly couldn't move. Apophis then pulled back his arm one more time, before sending it flying at the young devil hunter. "Die you piece of shit!"
As the last punch was about to make contact, Nero's winged arms manifested and grabbed onto the fingers of the large demon, desperately struggling to stop it from moving any further. As blood slowly trickled from the side of his head, Nero's vision suddenly began to grow hazy.
"Is this... the end?" He thought, pushing back against the giant hand. As his strength slowly began to give in, Nero could've swore he began seeing things.
He found himself in an open fields, standing before a group of people: he recognized two of them as his parents, his uncle, and-
"Kyrie..." Nero muttered, recognizing the familiar auburn hair of hers...
Hallucinations or not, she's still waiting for him to come home. And he's sure as hell he's not dying this quickly.
Turning around, Nero's back was now facing Apophis' hand as he grabbed his fingers from behind. Disregarding the nasty gash on his arm, Nero pulled with all of his might, suddenly sending the demon flying before slamming him onto the ground.
"How..." Apohis questioned, before suddenly sent flying once more. "my power was beyond his just mere moments ago! How did he suddenly get so strong?!"
His answer never came as he came into contact with the cold, hard ground. As the titan regained his senses, his eye caught the young devil hunter attempting to pull Apophis towards him.
Charging his star-shaped eye, Apophis fired a large particle beam directly at Nero. Nero suddenly ran to the left with the demon's arm, as if he was attempting to tie Apophis into a kno-
The particle beam came into contact will Apophis' wrist, suddenly damaging the titan's adamantine shell. The wrist that connected his hand to his arm was now destroyed, allowing his dismembered hand to be much lighter for Nero to carry.
With the dismembered hand in... well hand, Nero charged forward to the demon's head as he was encased with a mysterious glow. As the smoke clears, the young devil hunter suddenly moved faster and faster, to the point he was already reaching re entry speeds.
When earthly silver meets an adamantine shell, many would know who would win. But when an adamantine shell meets another, one of them may be bound to break.
The dismembered hand managed to pierce through the star-shaped eye, causing it to suddenly fizzle an sent out sparks like as if it was part of a machine. Apophis howled in agony, the damge causing most of his body to go limp.
"Had... enough...?" Nero panted, sitting down. "Get back up... then I'm knocking you down on your ass again..."
Even after sustaining serious injuries, Apophis still laughed, confusing the young devil hunter. "What's so funny? You got your ass kicked and your little 'flames of revenge' won't be able to save you" Nero asked
"Did you think I would be furious? Ha! Mundus promised me that he will wipe Sparda's name, bloodline, even memories off of existence!" The titan guffawed, "when the dead of night hits, you shall be overwhelmed by our might! His legacy won't save you now, and soon you will join me in perpetual darkness!"
Nero quickly shoved the dismembered hand deeper into his static eye, watching as the glow slowly grew dimmer as his laughter began to fade. Suddenly a white, glowing orb materialized from the body, before immediately making its way towards Nero.
Nero's heard of this phenomenon before: befriend a demon or beat it into submission, they will eventually grant you power. As the orb merged with Nero, the young devil hunter wondered...
Could this be... his new weapon?
Nero suddenly felt his vision going blurry, realizing the adrenaline had already worn off and the consequences of his wounds were beginning to take effect: he could've sworn he heard other voices, but they were too static for him to hear. And despite the blurry vision, he turned to see a shade of red heading towards him with other colors, before eventually collapsing onto the ground.
Nero woke up in a cold sweat, suddenly finding himself in a open field within the tall grass: there were no signs of civilizations to be seen for miles on end, unless you count that one stranger over with his back turned to face to young hunter.
As soon as he realized that he was not alone, Nero quickly moved to reach his weapon, and then realizing that it was not where it usually was. Despite that ruckus the young devil hunter made, the stranger didn't seem to care. Instead, he seemed more focus on watching beyond the horizon.
"So it's come to this then?" The stranger asked, still not facing Nero. "Our worlds will eventually merge with one another, returning to float within the ocean of darkness as the original world"
Nero didn't understood what the man said, until he eventually decided to turn and face him: upon closer inspection, the man wore purple clothes befitting of a noble, it even makes him look like he originated from the victorian era.
"I'm sending you back now, there's still more you need to do" the stranger continued, "finish what I've started"
"Hold on, what? Bud, who are you and what are you on about?" Nero asked, perplexed.
The man suddenly moved closer, examining the young devil hunter's face. "Actually, you were quite right" he commented, "like them, you did inherited some of my rugged good looks..."
Hold on, you're-" Nero was about to say, before eventually, a bright flash of light suddenly cut him off...
Nero woke up in a cold sweat, and this time he found himself in a room. He felt a sense of itchiness emanating from his arm and head, only to find that they've been bandaged as his hand came into contact with the fabric.
"Hey you. You're finally awake" a voice called out, Nero realizing he was not alone. He turned to the source of the voice, only to see three individuals standing on the other side of the room: he recognizes one of them as Amber, and the other the blue-haired man he vaulted over. In between them was a woman with blond hair tied into a ponytail.
"Amber here told me that you know about these monsters we saw earlier" the blonde-haired woman spoke up, "if it's alright with you, I have a couple of questions that needs answering"
"Alright, and... you are?" Nero asked
"You may call me Jean, and I am acting grandmaster of the Knights of Favonius"
AN: has anyone ever realized that some boss demons takes names from characters in myths and fiction? Kinda like Beowulf and Geryon. Just in case people get confused why I name the demon the wag he is.
Also - in the making of Apophis - what came into my mind was "I want Nero to throw a cyborg demon the size of a mountain like Jack did to a metal gear" thought it be funny to share
Also, does anyone realize the UMvC3 reference?
Almost forgot about the shameless advertising lmao: I decided to challenge myself into rewriting the entire story and lore of the reboot from the ground up. Once I release it, I hope you guys can enjoy the 0 budget and an overfried braincell written story version of the continuity.
Also, want to point out: in GI, the description of the silver sword states that it was once used to exorcise demons. So GI does acknowledge the existence of demons, but more so on hearsay.
Also, it's kinda fucking funny that a sword is used for exorcism: imagine whatever a priest is in Genshin going into a possessed person's house saying to the possessed's relatives "don't worry, I will free them of their suffering" and then suddenly drawing a silver sword