Author's note: I realize a little too late that Nero has a system for where he has his Devil Breakers, it's in the art book that he has something attached to his belt like a little rack that he can stock up. It's not shown in game (cause I'm guessing it'd be just a small detail that wouldn't matter). But I didn't know until recently when I was researching the artbook for artist reasons. I could change it but it wouldn't have been as funny. So enjoy this alt universe where Nero has a satchel for his Devil Breakers. Or what some may call a murse :3
This was originally going to be posted after Lent, but I figured I can promote later on Tumblr. So I apologize to those who find out through Tumblr XP
The ride there was slow but peaceful. As per usual I watched the people on the streets as they roam about as we drove past them. Occasionally, I'll look over to Nico and her speedometer as nearly killing us with her horrifying speed. The ride to edge of the town is a bit of ways since Devil May Cry was in the center of the town. It's been a while since I visited Vestos, or at least I think I have. It tends to blend in with Red Grave, until you wind up in the middle of it. Vestos is more quieter than Red Grave, especially when it comes to Hell Gates. There's not many calls from them, thanks to their own task force. This has been my third time going over there to take care of a demon problem. However this time it's not as far into the city unlike last time. Vestos seems to do better than Red Grave, however it has one thing that I cannot deny is better in Red Grave: the pay. Plus, it's home to a lot of devil hunters and the pay is nice since the city relies so heavily on us. The government practically relies on us for these jobs, which is great especially with the Qliphoth incident going on.
"I'll be heading over to Heppin to see how my old man's holding up his shop" Nico spoke up as she slowed to a stoplight, for once.
"I thought your father died?" I asked her, scratching the back of my head. That's what she mentioned earlier from what I remembered.
"Nah it's my adoptive dad, technically half uncle since my real daddy left and died like the ass he is," she explained, lowering her voice when she talked about her biological father. Her hands clenched the steering wheel tighter as she trailed off. That's right… her father was Agnus. At least he's not alive like mine... "Yeah well that's the past, and you can't do shit about it," she continued, waving it off like it was nothing. The light turned green and she stepped on the gas pedal, pushing me back into my seat. We remained quiet for the rest of the ride there. There was signs on the road, saying the road was closed due to "construction". More like demon hoards and a stupid tree destroying the road. Nico drove around the signs, going off onto the shoulder and into the grass to bypass them. The Qliphoth roots weaved in and out of the highway, destroying the asphalt of the road. Nico swerved the car around, parking close to the destruction, but enough road for her to turn around. I got up from the seat and walked towards the back. Once I reached the array of Breakers on her workbench, I picked off some of my favorites off of the ring, stuffing them into a satchel.
"Hey hey you better be careful with the merch, asshole" Nico called out in the back, turning around to me. Smirking, I crammed more into my bag while looking straight at her. Her face scrunched into a frown the more I jammed in there. She got up from the driver's seat and stormed over to me. Hurriedly, I held up the satchel over my head before she could reach it. Nico hopelessly flailed her arms, reaching up to my satchel in attempt to steal my bag.
"Nero, you ass these are fragile!" she grunted as she attempted to reach over. I held the bag higher, making me feel superior.
"Well, if you want them, come and get them" I mocked in her face. Her brows furrowed at her brown eyes, making a pouty face. Is this what it feels like to be the superior one? It's kinda nice in a way to feel actually bigger than someone and not made fun of for being short for a guy. Nico mischievously smiled. Wait what is she doing? Before I could answer my own question, I regretted standing there like a dope. Elbowing in the gut, she snatched away the satchel filled with Devil Breakers. I hunched over in pain, feeling the sting in my gut.
"Never mess with a Goldstein" she pushed up her glasses, then tapped my nose with a smile, sticking her tongue out. I tried to get her back, but she hit me well. Nico dug around in my satchel, pulling out Breakers. From what I could see, none were damaged, thankfully. She shook her head, putting two Breakers aside. Once the pain subsided, I walked over to her to see what she pulled out. Gebera and Raw Hide were taken out of the bag, leaving Punchline, Overture, and Ragtime inside.
"From what I could see, there's no need for this many" Nico explained, zipping up the satchel then handing it to me. "There's some fast ones out there, slow 'em down then kick their asses"
"Thanks Nico," I half smiled, clipping the bag to the gun holster. Grabbing Red Queen and Blue Rose, I headed out of the van and into the fray. Several demons took notice of my presence, which I welcomed with open arms.
"Sup! Heard you guys were being asshats to this city" I shouted to them. They snarled as I got closer. Acidic drool dripped from their mouths, scratching the floor as they get into a battle stance. "I don't think you guys need to be so mean, or disgusting." I slipped on Ragtime up my arm, wiggling my fingers inside like a glove. The Breaker was cold at first but it quickly adjusted to my body temperature.
"Kick demon ass, Nero!" Nico cheered from her car. The enemies broke into a run towards me, howling ungodly screams. I unleashed Ragtime's special attack, freezing the enemies in place. Ragtime shattered to pieces, leaving me empty handed.
"You guys aren't very nice, you're supposed to greet then kill me" I taunted at their immobility. "Or at least give me an obnoxious monologue of how I'm dumb and you are smart," I charged up Blue Rose and shot the first Empusa straight in the head. The bug-like demon fell backwards, stunned in the process. After slipping on another Breaker, I followed up the attack with Punchline and crushed its thick headed skull. Soon after, Chaos made a followup attack by rolling over to me like a tire rolling down a hill. Quickly, I blocked the attack with Red Queen, stopping the creature from rolling over me. Sparks flew from my blade and its shell as we pushed each other. Once it stopped rolling, it exposed its underside. I charged straight through the enemy's gut, puncturing in the process. I laid down several combos to complete the job until the creature turned to ashes. With the grappling hook of my Breaker, I launched myself on top of the Empusa Queen's back. The large demon tried to fling me off but I clung onto its scaly back. As it horsed around, I charged my sword up and stabbed into the back of the creature. I hopped off the back of it and took a final stringed combo on it, finishing off with a launching attack. As the Empusa Queen flew into the air, it shattered to dust. The remaining demons began to scatter back to the Qliphoth root. The Breaker launched off of my arm and like a rocket, and began heading towards them. Quickly I hopped on before it could get too far and rode it like a skateboard. Repeatedly, the arm weaved around the Riots, Hell Bats, and Hell Juddecca, allowing me to finish up the remains of all of them. I couldn't help myself from laughing, it was way too good to ride that thing. After it combusts, I slipped on Overture and I finished off the remaining demons with a glorious combo. The last demon leaped into the air, about to pounce on me. Without looking, I shot it to death, vanquishing to ashes.
After the adrenaline calmed down, I only realized then I was completely out of breath. Sweat beads down my face while my body tenses up. After I caught my breath, I went over to the source of the problem: the Qliphoth root. Its dark purple roots glistened with pulsating pink-reddish bubbles along the intertwining root. The crux of the root stuck out like a sore thumb as always, a large pulsating red sore-looking sac. I took a few slashes at it until it punctured. It deflated like a pimple, squirting out a bit of blood before it disintegrated. The root itself disintegrated as well, making the roads collapse behind it.
"Whooohoo!" Nico hollered excitedly from the car window. "That was some bona-fide ass-kicking!"
I smiled at her with a big grin. Good thing I brought Ragtime or else I would've gotten hit by an Empusa… again. And be embarrassed for letting a small fry get to me... After letting out a huge yawn, I sheathed my sword and put away the gun, my good trustworthy weapons. I began searching for good chunks of usable material. Ragtime was beyond repair, with pieces being crushed by the enemy feet like glass. Luckily, Punchline still had some salvageable parts that can be reused. It just needed some tinkering and polishing to make it usable for other Nico creations. Or my own creations if Blue Rose or Red Queen take too much of a beating or I have time to tinker. Seeing the Empusas always reminded me of the disgusting form that Angus took on when he "ascended" as a knight… almost like an Empusa with it being like a preying mantis. Quite ironic for a bumbling jackass. After collecting the goods, I headed back to the Devil May Cry van and saw Nico talking to someone. Right when they saw me, they quickly wrapped up the conversation, quickly saying, "Thank you so much you two!" then went on their way to elsewhere. I went up to the driver's window of the van, with Nico smiling big.
"Get in the car, Nero," she beamed, rolling up her window. I walked around to the other side and got in the car. The "donations" box was empty once again. Hopefully they'll be more Breakers soon, there wasn't as many on the rack as there was last week. Though the stuff I picked up today wasn't much as last time. After emptying the bag, I unhooked Overture from my arm and put it up on the rack. Then I headed over to the small booth and began cleaning off Red Queen, which was stained with fresh blood. Grabbing the rag that was left on the table earlier, I started wiping down the blade. Nico started up the van, making a nice growl in the engines, then took off. After a couple minutes of silence, I asked Nico "who's the guy that came up to you in the window?"
"Standby," she quickly replied as she made a U-turn. "They were one of the people who called for some help. They also paid us in cash. I know it's supposed to go to the Devil May Cry office, we can split it here and see how it goes. Besides it wasn't anything to ride home about. Plus you'll need it for your small branch in Fortuna."
"Sick" I say in response. The blade shined in the light from the windows, free of grim unlike the used-to-be-white rag. I put the blade into the large case, along with Blue Rose, into the shaped case. I unloaded the bullets from the gun, in case of an accident and put a safety lock on it. If I needed to fight at all, I have my Devil Breakers to use. I put back the remaining bullets into the box, then set them back into the pocket next to the gun. Once everything was tidied, I put down the top half of the case and latched the two sides together, sealing it with a lock key.
"Hey Nico," I call out to her.
"Yeah, buttface?" Nico replied, with a bit of a snark in her voice.
Holding back from calling her a name back, I asked "Did you ever wanted to find your biological parents?"
Nico remained silent for a while, slowing down at a speed limit change.
"Sorry if this was a bad time—" I apologized but then immediately cut off by her.
"No, its fine," she said in a serious tone. She kept her eyes straight onto the road, not looking back at me. "I did at some point, found out that my mother died through my half uncle, and that my daddy decided to ditch us for some research opportunity. Found him dead when I was 20, so a couple years back. Though that jackass died like the weak ass he was, which would've been nice to kick his ass."
"He's a lot worse to work with," I muttered, recalling the stuttering fool. Never had there been a day that he left his clipboard and was hunched over muttering some science jumbo. He was there when I awakened my Devil Trigger… at least part of it since I couldn't transform like Dante. "If it helps, he turned into a bug like an Empusa" I joked, only for her to smirk a bit.
"Figured… Fortuna's Order of the Sword had that huge cult with turning knights into demon creatures right?"
"Yeah…" The whole incident was still fresh on my mind even though it's been years since it happened. Couldn't forget the looks on the faces of people that were horrifically mutated due to the experiment going wrong… all for the sake of a damn experiment to "save the world"… more like destroy. Then there was Credo, who I couldn't have saved at all. For days Kyrie wouldn't even talk after the whole thing happened and I told her about Credo… nothing I could've done would've cheered her up.
"But," Nico changed her tone in her voice to a more chirpy southern drawl I know. "Knowing that Dante and you kicked that idiot's ass I'm more than relieved to know he does not exist anymore."
"That's good," I smiled, then lifted the box right side up and pushed it against to the wall. I headed over to where Nico was and sat down in the passenger's seat. Once I buckled up, she drove off, heading off to Fortuna.
A pile of broken bricks forming what used to be a tower laid before us, with dark purple roots wrapping around it. Green Empusas swarmed around the structure, like moths to light. The tower was made of cement bricks, and looked as if it housed something before. I recalled the Temen-ni gru, the tower I once used to gain power. Though this one was smaller than that one, or else we'd encounter more of the building earlier in our journey. Since the root is buried deep within the building, we would have to climb up the tower and find either a weak point or a way to chop it down at the root, without digging it out.
"What do you think, Vergil?" Dante asked, looking at the same ruins as I was.
"Seems to be something that might've come from the human world… or something," I observed, figuring out the best way to go about this. Once a plan formed, I began walking over to the ruins, with Dante tailing me. There's not a single brick that's not either crushed or wrapped with the Qliphoth root. The flying bugs took notice of us and swarmed down to us. Dante switched out his signature guns for a missile launcher. Without even touching my sword, I summoned my hard-light blades. Once they got close enough, I fired at them with my blades, ripping them to shreds before any could touch me. Such feeble scum. Not even worth pulling out my sword. Eventually all were wiped out, with nothing of the dust remaining that showered onto the ground. We headed towards the structure and began looking around in it. We walked through crumbled doorway, stepping over the rubble and into the building itself.
The burgundy tiled floor were coated in a dust from the building, while some furniture like a bookshelf and some chairs were still in tact. The place was in complete disarray, with books scattered onto the ground, tables flipped over or piled with rubble from above. Roots webbed itself along the edges of the walls, acting like ivory on a house. I couldn't help to remember of the time when we were younger, Dante decided to eat some of those leaves. He got horribly sick from it, running over to me with a sickly pale face. Dante went on exclaiming the fence leaves weren't good and warning me against trying them. Ironically at the time, I was just about to read about those ivory and how it can be poisonous. Luckily, our mother saved the poor fool from dying with herbal medicine. In a day or two, he was back to annoying me with his wooden sword whenever I was reading. Now as I recall this, I couldn't help the thought of worry for him. The thought he could have died scared me a bit as a child. Of course that went away when he wouldn't follow our father's footsteps and unlocking his true potential. Maybe it was the worry of losing another person, but I've wanted — and still would like— to kill him. Though back then, something about him dead bothered me…
"There's a bunch of books here, extra virgin olive oil!" Dante shouted, picking up a book or two from the rubble. He waved them to me, then began opening up one of the books.
"How many times did I tell you to not call me that?" I icily snapped at him.
"As many times as you whisked my ass in battle" Dante nonchalantly replied, flipping open a book. Rolling my eyes, I came over to him and peered over to what he was reading. It was a poetry and short story anthology novel. There wasn't any pictures but the word play and how it is printed the page were the pictures themselves. He tossed the book over to me, then picked up another book. I scrambled to catch it, finally securing it with my arms. I scowled at him for mistreating the book, throwing it to me as if it was a ball. He has absolutely no respect for books I do swear. I opened it up and began to scan some of the pages. They were simple stanzas but they painted an entire picture in my head. Some pages had simple drawings, and usually contain less lines compared to other poems. The short stories usually depict of a man journeying through pastures or forests, vaguely discussing his past life. There's no conflict, only the struggles of his past that is personified into the creatures he encounters along the way. The only destination he has in mind is to find home, wherever or whatever that is. Staring at the never-ending—
"There's stuff on Mundus around here" Dante shouted from the upper level, waving a book carelessly. Again. This man knows no end to ways of annoying me.
It breaks my heart to tear away from such an exquisite book. Maybe I will come back for it, just to read it some more. After putting the book down, I begrudgingly walked up the stairs where Dante was. He excitedly came over to me with an embroidered book, flipping open a random page. The writing was slightly illegible due to the cursive, but I was still able to make out certain words… after reading it over twice.
"…Mundus is great sparing fellow, we'll fight, conquer other places in the underworld, all in a day. We are friends who rivaled to see who was the strongest. He enslaved many of the demons under his command, even convincing the strongest of them all to ally with us. I wouldn't have dared to dream of betraying him unless if we were the only ones left to rule. With myself certainly destroying him in a flash. However, something happened during our travels to the upper world recently, the human world. I'm certain this is just a mere phase but something caught my eye…"
The book was filled with journal entries that were written like this. Some of the pages were torn out, others were scribbled or written in cursive. It was almost like two people were writing this book.
"Was there a name in this?" I asked Dante, flipping through the book. He shook his head, scratching the back of it. At the end of the book, there was a dried up pressed flower with the words "You left this, see you soon! xoxo". It was written with a flowery cursive, different from the almost chicken-scratch of the previous entries. Deep within me, something felt familiar about this handwriting. I couldn't place a finger on it yet, but it rung something deep within me. I set the book down onto the railing and left it there. As much as I'd love to take it, I didn't have the pocket space for it. Besides, I didn't want to leave my black book behind since I wanted to finish it.
"We could come back here once we finish up the Qliphoth if you wanted," Dante offered.
"It'll be fine," I gritted my teeth and ignored the temptation to bring it along with. This tower will probably be gone by the time we come back. We went up to the lowest part of the root and began to chop it down. Every time I stare at it, I keep thinking back to what happened to me. How I became so desperate to survive, winding up being both weak and all powerful at once. Why did my humanity yearn for me to be whole again? I hated that side of me. It was weak. There wasn't anything worth being it. However… being fully demon was just pure chaos. I couldn't control, nor had a will. Always wanting more power, more destruction, chaos. Is this what our father experienced? How did he become so infatuated with a human if he was this powerful? Once the root crumbled, I slid the sword back into its place and walked out of the ruins. I made a mental note to come back once everything was done, just so I could grab the book and take it with me. I will make room for it. After a few yards of walking, Dante broke the silence that was between us.
"It's kinda funny to see you get so into a book after so long," he says, chuckling a bit. "Makes some sense that V was you in the end. The way you two are attracted to books is like glue where it's hard to pull you away from it. Never have seen you without it."
"I wouldn't say glue, per say" I countered, not looking over to my idiot. More like a curious hole that calls you deep into its mysterious portal to another world. One to escape from the real world until you finish it.
"Well you two are book nerds, that's one thing for sure" he beamed, baring his teeth a bit as he smiled. "I thought he was some kid needing to clear out some demons in an alleyway or something, ha ha!" His smile faded as he spoke the next sentence. "Though I wasn't expecting him to mention you."
I snapped my head towards Dante, with furrowed brows. "What?"
"V vaguely mentioned that Urizen was you." He lowered his voice as he spoke more. "Though I wasn't expecting V to be one half of you and Urizen the other half"
I barely have memories as V or Urizen, since I wasn't fully me anymore at that point. They only had the memories that were associated with them, with V having my human side while Urizen my demonic side. Only snippets of what happened as V or Urizen came to mind, mostly what he expressed to me: powerlessness.
"If you are wanting answers of why my humanity wanted me to be whole outside of crumbling away, you will find nothing" I answered briskly. This only seemed to frustrate Dante more, so I explained more to his simpleton self. "I don't remember being split outside of the beginning and when I was put back together again, so you might as well make your own conclusion. Or would you like me split myself again so you could ask V."
Dante bit his lip, then sighed. "I'd rather not do that and have to go through that again…" he sighed, giving up on finding an answer. "Rather not find you and kill each other over that crap again…"
I was shocked to hear this, especially coming from him. I couldn't believe his words. We've fought for years on end over things, even over the stupidest of things. I fought for my right to gain power, to defeat the greatest villains, to save myself. We did that years and years ago when we were younger, fighting over who's better. Did none of what we fought matter to him? I silenced my gnawing thoughts, pressing forward to other matters that need to be addressed: what was that tower? It reminded me of the Temen ni Gru, only filled with books and was a lot smaller. I turned to Dante, who looked to be in a dark mood. I turned away and didn't bother him with anymore questions about what might that tower have been. A tension rose between us, making it difficult to talk… just like what happened all those years ago when we fought the first time…