Mission:034 Bean Stalk

Moments later, Credo withdrew his strength first, stepped back, and shielded his body with the Shield Wings on his left hand while drawing his sword-bearing right hand behind him, condensing a massive Light Spear.

Nero closed the distance on her own, denying Credo any chance to launch a long-range attack.

So Credo drove the light spear into the ground, tearing apart the granite plaza. Then the spear burst, and golden shards rained down on Nero like hail.

There was clearly no way to charge straight through that. Nero stomped hard on the ground, using the power of Impact Steel to leap high and avoid the nearest barrage. Then she curled up, shielding herself with Gilgamesh's Gauntlets and Greaves as she dropped toward the ground.

Credo thrust his shield forward, passed through the explosion, aimed at the spot where Nero would land, and swung his Shield Wings like a racket.

If that blow landed, Nero, with nowhere to push off in midair, would be swatted straight away and fall into the sea. Credo was practically playing badminton with his own Sworn Sister.

But that also showed Credo did not truly want to fight. He still intended to shake off Nero's entanglement and go confront the Pope in person.

Watching Credo's shield swing toward her, Nero stretched out her body amid the rain of fragments, then stomped hard on the air. Her height rose again in an eruption of demonic power.

It was a rather unpracticed Double Jump. In fact, it could basically be said she had not jumped at all; she had merely canceled her inertia and gravity, stalling in the air for an instant. Fortunately, that was already enough.

Nero, who had stalled in midair for that extra instant, successfully avoided Credo's empty swing and planted one foot on his shield.

But even with Gilgamesh's weight, Nero had no chance of pinning down Credo's shield-bearing left hand—the difference in their physiques was too obvious. With nowhere to push off from, it was impossible for Nero to overpower Credo with her body weight.

So Nero simply changed her approach. Following the force with which Credo raised his shield, she leaped up again, flung out Echidna in midair to wrap around the shield, and swung herself out, landing behind Credo. The Serpent Sword in her hand also wound halfway around Credo.

Then, before he could turn around, she pulled again, drawing herself toward Credo once more and circling toward the other side that had not been bound.

Credo immediately understood that Nero was trying to tie him up, but the shield tightly wrapped by the Serpent Sword was part of his body. He could not abandon it.

He simply dropped to one knee, stabbed the longsword in his hand into the ground, and called forth countless Light Swords to fall from the sky, covering most of the plaza.

That movement yanked Nero again, dragging her straight toward Credo and into the range of the Sword Rain. This time, Nero chose the same method as before: she drew Yamato, using the eruption of demonic power during her transformation to clear out a vacuum zone and keep the Sword Rain from falling on her.

"Soul of Lombardy!"

Nero sang the Anthem aloud and, imitating Credo, also stabbed Yamato toward the ground. But in truth, the movement was only a feint, just like Vergil's own sheathing motion. Yamato, stabbing toward the ground, tore space apart, transmitting its edge to Credo's face.

"?!"

Credo hurriedly raised his shield to block the Blade Tip that had suddenly appeared, then drew his sword, leaped up, and slashed a swift arc-shaped Light Blade toward Nero.

After displaying her ability to attack across space at any time through Yamato, Nero was no longer afraid that Credo would turn and flee. She drew the blade and rose, flicked the tip, shattered the Light Blade, and carved a Blade Mark into the ground through the air. A phantom formed from demonic power slowly emerged there. "Have you calmed down a little?"

Credo hovered in the air with a flap of his Wings, the expressionless face of his demon form unmoving as he asked in a grave tone, "What exactly are you trying to say?"

"Don't go see the Pope."

But to Credo, that was an unacceptable option. "Are you joking? What about Kyrie?!"

"I'll find her." Nero stared at Credo. "I'm stronger than you."

"This is not a matter of who is stronger or weaker!"

Credo's voice turned stern. "I am the Captain of the Knights, while you are nothing but a sinner possessed by a demon! Understand the situation!"

"You're the one who needs to understand the situation. So what if you're the Captain of the Knights? Does the Pope care what you think?"

"Even so, it can only be me!"

Nero breathed deeply, then after an audible inhale, asked, "Credo, do you really still believe in the Order?"

"...You want me to betray our faith?" Credo's tone surged violently.

Nero shook her head and refuted him. "Our faith is in God, in Sparda, not in the Order."

The meaning of those words was clear enough. The present Order was the one that had truly betrayed their faith.

Credo fell silent. A moment later, he slowly landed, yet did not return to human form. Instead, he tightened his grip on his sword again. "Then all the more reason I should confirm all of this with my own eyes.

"And then personally purge the sinners who betrayed God."

Nero looked at the resolute Credo, and in the end, she still said those words:

"You'll die."

Credo took his stance. "Are you still going to stop me, Nero?"

Nero raised her blade and pointed it at Credo. That was her answer.

Plain words were no use anymore. Now, there was only one thing Nero could still do.

Credo beat his Wings, his whole body turning into a siege spear as he charged straight ahead, the Sword Edge pointing directly at Nero.

"Sacrifice of War—"

Nero sang her second line of the Anthem without the slightest hesitation. Immediately after, she jumped back, turned, and left a flashing sword scar in the air with Yamato. When Credo's charge collided with that sword scar, Nero spun forward and swung again, layering the force of this strike onto the Blade Mark.

Then she sang the second half of the lyric.

"—Wretch of Fratricide!"

The two consecutive strikes knocked Credo's sword upward, destroying the posture of his charge. Yet under such circumstances, Credo quickly set his stance, using his inertia to turn the charge into a stepping forward slash.

"Please, Credo!" Nero turned sideways to avoid the vertical slash, then jumped back again to evade the Holy Light erupting from the ground. "Don't go do something stupid alone!"

The vortex stirred up by the slash tore at Nero's tattered Skirt Hem, making her figure look especially frail. Credo dragged his sword, the tip drawing an arc on the ground. "You going to see the Pope alone is what would be truly stupid!"

"This is different!"

"How is it different?!"

Separated by a single meter, the two of them took their stances again, their gazes locked and filled with defiance.

Credo condensed a flashing Sword Array behind him, while Nero gripped Yamato with both hands, the blade tip pointing forward, raised level with her brow.

The two stepped forward at the same time, clashing at close range. Yamato cut through the floating light swords from a distance and collided with Credo's Durandal.