[[Prologus: NERO]]
The rate of his special targets seems to have increased the past few months, Nero thinks, giving Red Queen a single twirl to fling the blood off her blade. By his feet are several disfigured corpses, once human then turned into demons due to corruption, and the remains are slowly dissipating into black mist. Nero takes a few moments to stand at attention, a solemn silence as he pays his respects to the dead. They might've died at his hands as demons, but before that they were humans. The least he could do is send them off, muttering a short prayer.
"Usually, they'd send me one or two 'special missions¹' per month," Nero mutters to himself as he returns Red Queen to her resting spot at his back, the corpses finally gone, and he turns on his heel to slowly make his way back to the castle town. "But Credo's been making me run around the place almost every week, if not more. The hell is going on...?"
See, Nero is part of the Order of the Sword, one of it's strongest Knights, but he's not assigned to any of the regiments like the other Knights. Hell, even Novena, the only active female Knight in the Order at the moment, is assigned to the newest Executive - whom Nero heard was also a woman - and they make up a two-person team. Which leaves Nero alone.
Works for him; after all, the nature of his special targets are ones that even the most faithful of the Order Knights wouldn't be able to stomach.
After all, would they be able to raise their swords against the very people they were sworn to protect...?
Not to say that Nero has a hard time doing it, mind you; for every corrupted human he cuts, the more disgusted he feels with himself, but he presses on. Watches the bodies as they disappear as one last act of respect for these innocent people. Write the names of the lost in the sealed record books himself. The families and friends of these corrupted humans would never know the truth, and the Order would bury said truth as deep as they possibly could to protect the rest of the populace, so Nero might as well remember them himself. Just because they dislike him doesn't mean they deserve to die like this; devoured from the inside out by demonic parasites, a prolonged suffering that only has death as cure.
Nero doesn't love the populace for they don't love him back. But even so, he can't bear to see innocents suffer like that, and if no one could put them out of their misery, grant them mercy... He might as well do it himself. At the very least, he could promise these poor souls a quick passing, so they wouldn't hurt any longer.
But anyways...
It was admittedly a little bit worrying, the amount of corrupted humans that's been popping up lately.
Nero had asked Credo about it, but even the man - holding the second highest position in Fortuna after His Holiness himself - doesn't know a thing about this. And Nero can't even tell Novena about those, who isn't included in the loop and thus someone Nero couldn't discuss things with. Which is annoying; the only other Knight Nero knows personally and is friends with, and he can't even talk to her about the corrupted humans? One would think, what with Novena practically being the adopted daughter of His Holiness Sanctus, she'd be more in the loop, but no.
"What a headache..." Nero mutters, finally finding one of the beaten paths that leads back to Fortuna proper and out of Mitis Forest. It was never good to stay too long in the forest, and considering what happened to him just a scant month ago in this very forest... "First I got my arm turned into... whatever this is right now, then His Holiness started sending more and more of the guys beyond the island for who knows what, and now the corruption has been popping up more and more. At this rate the demons outside the walls wouldn't kill us, it's the corruption... Science Bureau better come up with a solution fast, because at this rate the wouldn't be able to hide the corruption any longer."
And wouldn't be that a mess of epic proportions? Nero already has his plate filled with his own problems, what with his arm - his 'Devil Bringer' - being what it is, with seemingly no way to turn it back to the way it was. He's been keeping it under carefully placed bandages and further hidden within a thick sling, and he could only pretend for so long that he's injured until someone looks deeper into his situation. Someone like Novena. Nero has managed to wiggle himself out of medicals so far - the few times he's thankful that he's not particularly well liked by anyone - but who knows how long that will last?
Who knows what'll happen to Nero if they find out his arm, while no longer injured, is also no longer human?
It was a question Nero isn't too keen on answering, and honestly, he doesn't think he'll ever want the answers.
Shaking his head, Nero picks up his pace; night fall is almost upon Fortuna, and while he could handle himself, he'd really rather not stay out beyond the walls of the castle town, preferring the warmth of his home with the Eleisons and thus Kyrie. Moreover, he better turn in his report now to Supreme General Credo, what with everyone being preoccupied with the preparation for tomorrow's Festival of the Blade. Not even Nero would be exempt from duty, though he's thankfully not needed in the traditional formations the other Knights would have to do. Another perk of being the social outcast, yay.
At the very least, he can look forward to Kyrie's performance tomorrow, as she would be the Songstress for this year's Festival of the Blade. A warm glow of light amongst the darkness that perpetually hangs over Fortuna.
And with that thought, Nero hurries on onward. He has a gift to prepare, a girl to come back home to, and a duty to uphold.
¹: according to the DMC4 - Deadly Fortune light novel, Nero is the only solo operative of the Order and he specifically takes the missions where he has to put down humans that become demons. Fun fact, Nero is confirmed to be 16-17 during the events of DMC4, so our boy Nero literally has been racking up quite the body count way before he could even drink lol
