Honor and victory

A warrior with pride

Nero's makeshift ice sword shattered immediately as the creature's scythe ran through it, causing Nero to receive a gash on his face as he narrowly avoided the incoming attack. Wiping the blood off of his face, Nero created another makeshift sword out of ice, before another fox-like spirit sailed passed him and attacked his opponent.

The spirit's attacks did nothing but annoy the creature it targeted, which in turn, provided openings as it shifted its focus onto them instead. Using the opportunity presented to him, Nero jammed the ice sword deep into the monster's abdomen, watching as the element did its work and froze the creature solid.

The white-haired teenager turned to the other two that accompanied his fallen opponent. Sure enough, they were also kept busy by the same spirits. Closing the gap with one of them as quickly as possible, Nero jumped and spun as fast as he could as he exploited his momentum, becoming a glacial cyclone of death as he tore another invader into ribbons.

After executing the attack, Nero stumbled a bit during the landing before catching himself, although suppressing the urge to gag afterwards. He should probably not overdo it with the flamboyant fighting style for a bit.

"My, someone seems to be having fun" Yae mused, Nero forgetting she was there. "Even we're in quite the predicament."

Well, she has a point there. Nero thought, gazing up at the crimson-colored sky. This has been a strange evening: the empty void, the blood moon, and the misshapen intruders, what was originally Nero's plan to go to town, literally and metaphorically, was now to put these creatures to the blade.

He snapped out of his thoughts as the last creature suddenly roared violently. One may think it was hurting itself in its fury; in all honesty, they're probably right: the blood moon suddenly began pulsating ripples at an alarming rate, as if the sky was alive and the moon was its heart. These "ripples" than began to contort and tear the creature's body in an unimaginable way, while its scythe slowly began to melt into its hand.

What was once a cadaverous-looking monstrosity became a bulky, raging behemoth. From within its empty eye sockets, came an explosive flare as light-blue flames now occupy them. Its left arm is covered by an obsidian-black sheen, with a familiar jagged blade of a scythe resting on the back of its hand.

Without warning, it suddenly grabbed the fox spirit that was attacking it with lightning reflexes, forcing it down its throat as the spirit helplessly tried to break free. Nero could practically hear the shrine maiden wincing at the scene. In all honesty? He'd probably do the same thing as well.

He snapped out of his thoughts as the mutated creature is now looming over him, its bladed left hand ready to cut his head clean off. He quickly brought up his demonic right arm, softening the blow but still causing him to skid a bit.

The two were stuck in a standstill, until Nero felt a devastating blow on his abdomen as the mutant slugged with its free hand, getting the wind knocked out of him. Still reeling from the attack, Nero felt a sharp tug at his short hair as the behemoth lifted him by the head, before slamming him down on the hard stone ground. Gritting his teeth through the pain, Nero quickly grabbed the jagged blade as it was about to gouge an eye out, the creature now on top of him ready to end the fight.

Nero could feel the jagged blade scraping against his normal hand, causing him to feel his own blood trickling from his hand to his cheek. He then felt his adversary's earth-shattering blows of its free hand as it tried to win over the standstill, but the fuel of adrenaline allowed Nero to remain strong. Though despite that, he could feel that his strength was beginning to wane. He could really use a miracle right about-

"Great Secret Art: Tenko Kenshin"

A large thunderbolt fell from the sky, striking the beast along with Nero. Stunned by this sudden attack, the beast then shook off any paralysis left in its system, before glaring at the person responsible for it:

With a hand on her chin and her eyes a pinkish glow, Yae stood there with an amused expression, watching the monster's infuriated expression. The creature charged with an unbridled fury, only to realize it was restrained by a pair of arms wrapped around its waist.

"Oh hell no!" Nero exclaimed, suddenly lifting the mutant into the air as he went for a suplex. "Here! Now's your turn!"

Slamming it headfirst into the ground, Nero quickly recovered and jumped towards the monster, extending both legs into its chest as he hit it with an electrically-supercharged drop kick.

Nero pointed his index finger at the mutant as flying from the impact, flicking it upwards at the same it crashed... into the shrine...

Nero winced as the crash kicked up copious amounts of dust, hindering his view of the shrine, as the dust finally settled, he was relieved to see that the damage was still reversible. Now onto more important matters: as Nero turned to face his honorary aunt, he could've sworn he saw a quintet of violet tails embedded on Yae's tail bone, before suddenly vanishing out of sight. Choosing to ignore that for now, he pressed one with a question.

"Did you know that lightning was going to supercharge me?" He asked, mix of annoyance and curiosity. He was pretty sure she clearly saw him struggling underneath the beast, so why?

"If you're anything like Ei, then it should work out the same way" she replied.

"And if I wasn't anything like my mom?"

The shrine maiden didn't say anything at that point. Rather, she just kept an amused expression. Realizing that the conversation was going nowhere, Nero sighed, before looking up at the crimson-red moon.

"This is going to be a permanent change, is it?" Nero wondered aloud, the blood moon not having reverted back to its original state. "Welp, I'm gonna go home now. I don't want my mom to know that I-"

Nero winced as he heard the sounds of tearing paper, seeing a familiar tear in space followed by the electro insignia. A familiar shade of purple hair came barreling towards him, the last person he wanted to see after all of the conundrum he went through.

"Arashi! Are you okay!?" She exclaimed, cupping her eldest son's cheeks as she examined him from head to toe: bits of his clothes have been torn off while he was covered in dirt and dust, but no wounds were evident in his body as they were already healed before she got here. "I saw what was happening outside so I went to check in with you and your siblings, but by the time I got to your room, you were gone and-"

"Mum Om fim" he mumbled, unable to speak properly with his cheeks pressed together. He quickly tore away her hands from his face, giving her a reassuring smile in hopes of calming her down. "I'm fine, really! I just fought a monster attacking the shrine, nothing too severe"

"I see..." she sighed in relief, loosening up a bit. Nero relaxed as he saw the familiar calm smile he always saw on her face, before immediately changing into a serious expression when something in her mind clicked. "Nero, what were you doing here? Didn't I say you were not allowed to leave home during the evening?"

"Ehehehe, about that..." Nero chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his head. His nervousness came to a stop as he noticed something off in the distance: a pile of debris was sent flying into the air, revealing that the hulking behemoth from earlier was still alive. In a berserk rage, the creature suddenly ran towards the group, heading straight first into "Mom!"

The shogun narrowed her eyes onto the beast as she drew a familiar violet sword from her heart, a sword once used as a symbol of true peace.

"A state of full serenity, severed with one slash!" She proclaimed. As quick as the element she wields, and with one sweeping motion, she was now suddenly behind the rampaging creature, with her sword raised at shoulder level. The creature was suspended in animation, looking relatively unharmed, until nine lightning bolts surrounded it, erupting into a blast reaching the heavens above as the crimson-red sky suddenly returned to its original color.

"Nero" the teenager in question flinched upon hearing his name. Looking at his mother, she merely gave him a sidelong glance, her face aloof. "When we return home, you and I will be having a long talk"

Nero whimpered quietly. If he had to choose between taking on the monster from earlier or his mother, he'd take on the former in a heartbeat. In fact, he'll take on thousands of them unarmed rather than facing his own mom.

Present Day

Mondstadt. The city of winds. The city... of freedom...

A city bearing the same name as the region it dwells in, residing atop a large island inside a larger lake: famous for its windmills and surrounded by castle walls, the city remains secure under the watch of the Knights of Favonius, an organization enforcing the peace in order for Mondstadt to thrive.

Though one particular knight is seen sprinting towards the entrance. Then again, if one were to be away from their home for a few days, they would be just as ecstatic when they return to it too.

"Betcha can't keep up with me!" Amber called out playfully to her friend, running towards the direction of the city. Nero chuckled amusingly as he watched her run across the bridge, scaring what seemed to be a flock of pigeons as she sailed passed them. Taking it all in, Nero let out a satisfied sigh as he gazed onto the city, finally one step closer into finding his dad.

He snapped out of his thoughts as he heard the outrider calling for him, waving enthusiastically by the city gate. He decided to just take it easy and walk, nothing's gonna go wrong if he took his time for a bit, right?

With each passing step, he suddenly began to feel heavy. Closing his eyes, he came to a stop and sighed. Was he just getting nervous about his objective? That wouldn't make sense. If he was nervous about it, it would've been during the time he was going to leave his home. So why is he feeling so... off currently?

Deciding to put off that thought, Nero was about to resume walking as he opened his eyes, only to find himself in a familiar dark void.

"Aw, crap..."

Amber stood there, puzzled. Nero was just standing there in the middle of the bridge, stiff as a statue with a blank look on his face.

"Nero?" She called out to him, slowly walking towards the bridge. Her walk shifted into an alarmed sprint as her white-haired companion suddenly keeled over, both his hands clutching at his throat as he went into a coughing fit.

"Nero!" She cried out this time, rushing to his side as she got a better look at him: his complexion was hellbent into mimicking the color of his hair, with bluish veins that began to throb visibly through his skin. His scleras were irritated and in a deep, bloody crimson, looking like they're ready to pop out of his eye sockets as each cough grew more and more violent.

As she was about to put his left arm over her shoulders, she flinched immediately as she grabbed his hand: she had her fair share of fevers in the past, and how unnaturally warm people tend to become upon contracting them. But with Nero? Touching his skin felt like being in the epicenter of an erupting volcano!

There's no time to complain! I have to get him help quickly! She shouted mentally, berating herself. With gritted teeth, the outrider quickly pulled him up and put his arm around her shoulders, wincing from his heat as she somewhat dragged him to the entrance.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, there were two knights guarding the city's front gate, who were currently running towards Amber's direction when they saw the commotion: one had honey-blonde hair and the other, an auburn brown. The outrider recognized those two immediately, recalling that their names were Lawrence and Swan respectively.

"Outrider Amber, Ma'am!" They both saluted as they stood to face her. This time, Lawrence was the one to speak up next: "what happened here?" The honey-blonde sentry asked, noticing Nero's coughing fit.

"There's no time to explain, my friend here needs help!" She exclaimed, continuing to lumber towards the city with her overheating friend.

"Well, the Knights' guidebook did say we have to take action whenever a traveler or a civilian is in dire need..." Swan mentioned, heading towards Nero's free arm. "We should help her in assisting him"

Upon hearing that, Amber's head perked up in alarm. "No! Don't-" she tried to warn the brown-haired knight, but it was too late: upon grabbing Nero's free arm, Swan jerked back as he screamed in pain, clutching tightly onto his searing hand as a startled Lawrence looked to him in confusion. "...touch him, he's burning up, quite literally..." she winced, watching the scene unfold. "Listen. If she's still up, I need you two to get Jean, she'll probably know what to do"

Nodding hesitantly but affirmatively, the two saluted once more and took off into the city, leaving the outrider back to somewhat carrying and somewhat dragging her sick friend again. Shuffling forward, they eventually made it past the city's front gate.

"A-Amber?" A voice beside her groaned weakly, shifting her gaze to the man beside her: his sickly-pale complexion and his coughing fit had vanished, but the throbbing blue veins alongside his bloodshot eyes still remained.

Amber sighed in relief seeing as he was slowly getting better. "Everything's fine, we're just taking you to get help" she assured him as they were lumbering to a nearby bench. Finally allowed time to rest, the two sat down to catch their breath. Amber looked to her side to see her friend, who seems to be skittish for some reason. Though she just brushed it off, thinking that it's caused by the strange illness he has currently.

She then noticed that the night's natural light had undergone a shade of deep red: looking up at the sky, she noticed that the moon has gone into a crimson color, with the sky slowly following suit.

"Another blood moon?" She wondered aloud, looking at the now crimson-red sky.

"Blood moon?" Nero asked, his skittishness now replaced by curiosity.

"It first appeared a long time ago" she began to explain, "while it looked really ominous, nothing seemed to have happened even before things turned to normal"

"Oh" was all Nero could get out, before suddenly taking an interest onto the cobblestone streets. He wasn't sure what to make of this realization: his home was attacked by those strange creatures from the "blood moon" as Amber calls it, yet every other region seemed unaffected? He didn't know whether or not he should be at ease that no one else got hurt or annoyed that everything seems to keep targeting his home and his home alone.

His confusing feelings were suddenly overruled by a sense of uneasiness, causing him to tense up as he looked at his surroundings. The outrider seemed to have caught on to his frantic state as she gave him a puzzled look.

"Nero? What's-"

"GET DOWN!!" He cried out, tackling her off the bench. The two could hear the sounds of wood splintering as Nero rolled to his feet, though stumbling slightly given the extra weight of holding Amber. As they picked themselves up from the ground, Nero could see a familiar hulking figure snarling at them, brandishing a jagged blade glued to the back of its left hand.

"Oh you got to be kidding me..." he muttered, "I'm dealing with another Bulkie..."

"Bulkie?" Amber asked, confused.

"Too lazy to give it a decent name" Nero explained, "but basically these monsters appear during the "blood moon" as you call it, picked a fight with one of them as a stupid teenager."

He quickly pushed her out of the way as a jagged blade came down on them, Nero spun to the side as aforementioned blade slammed onto the cobblestone ground.

"Hey! Didn't your parents tell you it's not nice to attack people unprovoked?" He catechized, before taking a deep breath as he examined the hulking brute. "Then again, you have a face that not even parents would love"

The creature turned its gaze from the cracked ground to the white-haired hybrid. Finally, got his attention. Nero smirked, his lacquer-cladded right arm challenging the bulkie to try and hurt him. Enraged, the hulking brute brought up its bladed arm for a lethal strike, only for the blade to get lodged into the ground as Nero redirected it with his own.

"I'm not a stupid teen like last time" he stated, slinging the large blade over his shoulders. As he was about to drive the claymore in between the creature's fiery eyes, Nero's vision began to see doubles, causing him to lose footing and nearly stumbling over had he not used his own weapon to support himself. The world around him began to spin and he didn't understand why, until he got a good look at his reflection in his sword: the blue throbbing veins on his face grew longer, already reaching near his bloodshot eyes. With bated breath, he tried to pull himself back up, only to feel his strength reaching its limits.

He could hear the crumbling sounds of stone as the bulkie successfully pulled itself off of its temporary prison, brandishing the jagged blade as it leered at Nero. He tried to pull himself up again as he heard its cumbersome walking, only to fall back down on one knee again. As the creature lifted its blade before the killing blow, it staggered forward slightly as something impacted its back.

"Over here!" Amber called out, an arrow already nocked. The bulkie turned to snarl at her, his focus was now away from the sickly Nero. She fired another arrow, but it did nothing but aggravate the creature even further. Finally pulling himself back up, Nero watched with bated breath at the dilemma the two were in: he looked over to his demonic right arm, which was still cladded in lacquer armor. Guess he'll have to stop hiding secrets.

Well, it was fun being treated like everyone else for a while... he thought. But before he could tear off the armor, he suddenly heard the bulky creature howl in surprise: looking up, he saw one its calves was cut, but was caught his attention the most was that the injured calf had frozen over.

"Looks like I made it just in time" an unfamiliar voice spoke, causing Nero to turn to its direction: it revealed to be a young man with a tanned complexion and navy blue hair, wearing a white-collared blouse adorned by a cape with a fur collar. Underneath the bangs that covered the right side of his face, Nero could barely make out an eyepatch.

"Kaeya?" Amber seemed surprised at the blue-haired man's arrival, "how'd you get here so quickly?"

"Well, it's not everyday you hear a monster in the city" the man, Kaeya, chuckled, gazing at the behemoth. "That and because I came across two knights who told me everything"

"I don't mean to put a stop on your little chitchat here guys but..." Nero coughed, getting their attention. "We still have an uninvited guest to take care of"

He gestured to the large creature between the three, who was trying to thaw out its leg.

"Oh right, hold on" Amber said, nocking another arrow. The arrow suddenly ignited itself as it sailed through the air, landing onto one of the bulkie's eye sockets.

However, much to the trio's surprise, the fires in its eyes suddenly burned intensely, and then fire erupted from its loosely hanging mouth. Driving them into a even bigger shock, the bulkie redirected its newly developed flame-breath ability onto its frozen leg, thawing it completely.

"Nero?" Amber was the first to speak up after the scene, "this 'bulkie' monsters you mentioned, are they capable of evolving?"

"Yep..." he replied, his expression now blank. "They originally looked like they were starving and were about to die soon, then they just... suddenly grew bigger and stronger..."

"So what do you s'pose we do?" Kaeya asked.

Nero looked around for an answer, only for his eyes to land on a nearby fountain. He then look back to the creature as it was shaking its now unfrozen leg, before brandishing its fire breath as it launched it into the air. Suddenly, he got an idea.

"We goad the bastard into the fountain" he told them, psyching himself up to try and ignore his current handicap problem. The two seemed hesitant about his idea, to which he reassured them. "Just trust me on this and follow my lead"

He picked up a nearby rock, and threw it at the bulkie's head. "Hey bogbreath!" He hollered, garnering the creature's attention. "Keep your mouth shut, it smells like something died in there!"

The creature began making its move as Nero was in between the lines of somewhat jogging or dragging itself to the fountain, though he won't be able to outrun it for long. "Okay! Someone get its attention next!"

Kaeya was the first to react, slashing across the brute's back as he sprinted. "Try to keep up!" He taunted, now the monster was chasing him now.

As it was about to close the gap between itself and the blue-haired man, a burst of flames caught it off-guard. Turning to where it was fired from, it saw Amber holding her bow. "Can't catch me!" She challenged, before suddenly taking off to the fountain also. Slowly but surely, the trio were successful in leading the bulkie towards the fountain, where Nero suddenly jumped on its back and kicked it hard behind its head, causing it to fall face first onto the fountain water.

As the hulking brute pulled its head out of the water, the blazing flames in its empty eye sockets were now extinguished, allowing Nero to perform the last step of his plan: grabbing both of the bulkie's empty eye sockets in each hands, Nero began pulling them opposite from each as hard as he could. The aforementioned creature desperately tried to get him off its back, but its rather bulky body prevented it from reaching its back. He could feel his strength wavering as he was becoming short-winded, but he couldn't stop now.

With a sharp tug, he felt the bulkie's flesh and skull beginning to weaken. Using up what remains left of his strength, Nero pulled as hard as he could again, only this time, the creature's head was torn in half, still attached to its body.

Kicking off of its back, Nero sent the bulky creature limply to its knees, before turning the fountain's water red as it returned to falling head first into the base of the fountain. Nero turned to his two companions with a tired, yet triumphant, smile, before eventually succumbing to his own fatigue and fell on his back.

"So, it seems you made a new friend" Kaeya commented as they were walking towards the fallen man. "mind if you introduce him to me?"

"His name is Nero" Amber replied, her gaze didn't leave her companion's tired body. "Apparently he's traveling while looking for his father"

"A traveler looking for a missing family member?" Kaeya said aloud, suddenly chuckling at that statement. "My, doesn't that give you a sense of déjà vu, no?"

"It does, doesn't it?" She seems to smile at that thought, before running over to check on her white-haired friend: to her surprise, the throbbing blue veins and his bloodshot eyes had finally vanished, leaving him looking as healthly as a bull if you ignore his fatigue.

"Hey..." he panted, noticing her. "Don't mind me, I'm just... catching my breath."

"Well, there's better ways to do that then lying on the ground, you know?" She teased, then stretching her hand towards him. "give me your hand"

Accepting her help, Nero got up from the ground, yawning as he stretched his arms. Looking up, the night sky had finally returned to normal.

"So what are you doing now?" He asked, only for another voice to respond.

"We'll have to report this to the acting grandmaster" Kaeya spoke up, finally arrived at the scene. "She'll want to know what's going on recently."

"Do I have to come with?" Nero asked

"Since you ended up being involved, she might want to talk to you too" Amber replied, though reassured him afterwards. "You might talk to her tomorrow though"

"Right..." Nero muttered, before straightening himself out. "well, I'll just be heading to the inn now. I'll be outside in the morning if you need me"

He said his goodbyes, and then separated from the two. Though while walking, something kept bugging him in the back of his mind.

Why do I feel like I'm forgetting something? Nero thought, making his way to the inn

In a cliff somewhere stood a lone dendro slime, gazing down on the rough waves as they crashed against the cliff's walls. Beside the slime was a small pouch half its size, which the slime suddenly threw into the deadly waves below.

The slime wobbled happily as the pouch disappeared into the depths below, why it did that is anyone's guess.

AN: You know, as someone born with asian parents, Nero should be careful with making his mother angry, because otherwise, he'll see her other secret art: one slipper of no conception. (I wanted to translate it into japanese but I suck at it)

Anyways, while researching deep into each character, I've realized that I might not be able to introduce everyone into the story. While I'll try as hard as I can to do so, just know that I'm hellbent with Nero meeting the Archons of each known region so far other than his mom.

You know, thinking about it. Maybe the reason why DI:DD! was created was for me to learn how to integrate GI! Characters properly so I can do it for DMC:LU! hope I'm doing well so far

Okay, being serious now, turning this into an M-rated fic is going to give me more creative liberty, though That doesn't mean I'm going to introduce lemons. I literally relooked at my old lemon fics months ago and I deleted them because I hated how it went. So I'll be sticking with good ole implications.

Anyways, time for three random trivias:

RT1: the lyrics of the song in this chapter shares the same name with the two recent chapters of DI:DD! being "Devil Moon" what I love about this song is that it's basically a prototype version of Bury the Light, y'all should give it a hear!

RT2: the demons introduced were supposed to be hell envys, but after creating the devil moon concept, I decided to become a little more creative and made new demons. Hope you guys enjoy the bulkies, I made them with thought of Nico's theory on demons mutating based on desires.

RT3: the devil moon concept was a mixed between reboot's limbo being able to pull others into itself and the DMC1 novel's Nexus' status effect, where it can cause unearthly illnesses and forcefully transmutate others into becoming demons. I made the symptons of the illness around the appearance of the corrupted Vergil costume, and It'll slowly become worse and worse for Nero upon each progressing devil moon event.

I might take a break for this week, my birthday's coming up and classes are back. See you all in the next chapter!