The Devil of Zero

Disclaimer: Neither The Familiar of Zero nor Devil May Cry belong to me.

Prologue

– ? –

Location: ?
Time: ?

It was endless. Stretching forever in every direction, beyond the limits of my sight, was nothing.

A void.

I can't say I didn't see this coming. I knew that this could be my fate if my endeavor failed. Certainly, my numerous sins would bar me from any paradise depicted in religious script, even if any such fantastical place existed.

No Heaven would want me. My unwillingness to repent would be clear to any celestial judge.

Hell was done with me. One of its Princes had used me, but failed to do so effectively. As if I could have accomplished anything against Him in the state that worthless mass had left me in. The agony from his defeat would make him churn in place for millennia, distracting him from my leash, before he got the stomach to try again, and none of his lieutenants would have the gall to try and control me.

Sinned too heavily for anything less than the most absolute punishment, yet denied due to fear that I would throw off the jailor's bindings and conquer. What was left but nothingness for one such as me?

Time passes without note. I cannot tell if I have been here for seconds or centuries. I do not even have the beating of my heart.

I find myself wondering about the world. And Him. Despite our differences, our fights, I can't help but hope he survives…..or better yet, thrives. Despite me actively searching, He proved the more powerful, defeating me once, during the apex of my quest, and again, years later, despite the 'gifts' my Princely lord had bestowed on me.

He, truly, was the best of our family. And with Him still fouling the world…..I can endure here, until the End of All That Is.

…

What is this? A light? Perhaps….no, Heaven would not claim me now. Most likely, one of the other Fallen. A particularly proud one.

Well, even without my blade it shall find me a hard slave to break.

– The Zero –

"My name is Louise Françoise le Blanc de la Vallière. Pentagon of the five elemental powers, Heed my summoning..."

Louise was desperate. Several times had she tried to summon a familiar, each resulting in nothing but explosions.

"And bring forth..."

It has to work this time…..it HAS TO!

"My familiar!"

The chant ended, and an explosion, greater than all the others before it, heralded the ritual's coming completion. A wind swept through the crowd, chilling and bringing with it a wave of bestial terror that petrified the students and their new familiars. The smoke cleared, and they beheld what Louise's spell had wrought.

A man stood, taller than any present. White hair, so bright it seemed to glow in the sunlight, hung around his head, hiding his eyes from sight. A blue coat of strange design wafted softly in the breeze caused by the explosion, with a silvery, serpentine design on the right side. Under that he wore a strange black shirt, and pants, both obviously woven from fine silk. Under the sleeves of his coat, he wore fingerless leather gloves, and boots of the same adorned his feet.

The crowd stood awed by the stranger, staring for several long seconds, before he moved. Slowly, almost as though not to startle them, the man lifted his right hand to his head, fingers curling into his hair….before with a single, violent movement he flipped it back, hand running through it and revealing a pale face that could have been carved from marble, and cold blue eyes of unnatural frost.

– The Devil –

"Well…what have we here?" Vergil asked softly, gaze sweeping the crowd.

– The Author –

I shouldn't be doing this. I have two other stories on-going, no less than three more planned and charted, countless mecha, vehicle, and weapon designs to refine…..

But I just couldn't help myself.

I read The Hill of Swords (Familiar of Zero/Fate Stay Night)

I read Herald of the Void (Familiar of Zero/Warhammer 40k (Necron)) and am reading Void Tyrant (Warhammer 40k (Tyranid))

I'm reading Unfamiliar (Familiar of Zero/Prototype, on SpaceBattles)

I'm reading Zero's Shock (Familiar of Zero/Bioshock)

And when I checked, there was one FoZ/DMC crossover story, and it was in Spanish.

I really, really, really, couldn't help myself.

Anyway, I bet all of you guessed instantly who the summonee was halfway through the first third of the prologue. I'm not sure how accurately I captured him, but I hope I did well.

Why Vergil? I honestly thought about using Dante or Nero. I dismissed Nero because of the Devil Bringer. There's obviously something not right about that, you'd have to be an idiot to not notice the GLOWING BLUE arm. I was this close to using Dante, and I could honestly see him cracking wise about damn near everything he came across in Halkeginia. And it would honestly be so satisfying to write him conquering everything, bar nothing, with his infinite armory of Devil Arms and infinite-ammunition guns.

But Vergil….Vergil drew me. He's the polar opposite of Dante: calm, cool, serious and utterly amoral versus Dante's flippant, laid-back demeanor and ethical code. He chose his Devilish heritage over his humanity. He sought power, and let nothing bar his way. He made me weep with frustration every time I fought him, first as Nelo Angelo in DMC1 and then in his original form in DMC3.

And in this, he's been summoned into a world where mortal humans use magic to rule over their lessers, each and every noble arrogant and proud, and most of them only capable of such tricks as fireballs, animated statues, icicles and gusts of wind. Against a Half-Devil who's slaughtered the Denizens of Hell en masse with nothing more than a single blade, many of which could teleport, become invisible, swath buildings in flame or freeze a city block in ice, and all of which could survive hails of demonically-generated .45-caliber rounds that would have killed a man with a few shots, and is himself super-resistant to damage of all stripes, with a healing factor that even fixes his clothing.

….Mwahahaahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahaahahahahahah!

Knightmare Gundam of Ni