Lone Wanderer

In the end, Nero had been taking too much for granted in this matter.

Dante's assassination attempt on the Pope would happen a month later. In other words, everything before that was only the preparatory stage of gathering intelligence and making plans. It was only natural that someone as impatient as Dante would let Trish act on her own. So, without knowing when Dante would arrive, Nero should not have assumed on her own that Dante was already on this island.

It was also Nero's fault for getting carried away while fighting Credo. Credo had already been driven almost out of his mind by Agnus, and as it turned out, even Nero, who had seemed relatively calm, had not escaped unscathed. The moment Kyrie was taken away, Nero, whose concern had thrown her into chaos, lost half her brain along with her.

According to her original plan, she only needed to persuade Credo to take her with him to find the Pope. But as they fought, she forgot all about that. Somewhere along the way, while thinking about how to increase Credo's chances of survival, it had turned into driving Credo away and leaving the matter to Dante.

She had clearly known all along that Credo would never give up on personally bringing Kyrie back.

"Ugh..."

Enduring the pain, Nero pushed against the blade with both hands and pulled Durandal out, then threw the sword down in front of Credo.

After that, she lay on the ground and panted for a while. When she raised her head and saw Credo kneeling before her, looking completely at a loss, she could not help laughing.

"You're still laughing? What's so funny!"

Her soft, clear laugh dispelled some of Credo's worry. First, he snapped at her angrily a couple of times, then asked, "Are you really all right?"

"Mm. I'm fine now," Nero answered softly. "Credo, you go on ahead."

Nero's sudden change in attitude left Credo somewhat confused. Seeing this, Nero added, "But please promise me one thing."

Credo frowned and asked, "What is it?"

"No matter what happens, don't make the first move," Nero told him seriously. "Wait until I get there before doing anything. Before then, they won't harm Kyrie."

Credo fell silent for a moment without agreeing or refusing. Then he asked, "You're still coming?"

He did not wait for Nero's answer. He only took a step back and transformed in the Holy Light. "I can promise you that, but afterward, you must give me an explanation. About the things you know, and about those strange things you said just now."

Then, before Nero could speak, he turned around and flew toward Order Headquarters.

"...What an awkward guy."

Nero watched Credo fly into the distance, then moved forward as well, stepping through the headquarters' main gate.

Only, this made things a little troublesome. Dante, whom Nero had always regarded as the fuse for this incident, still had not arrived. That meant that if things continued to develop like this, then not only Credo, but even Kyrie and Nero herself might be in danger.

If things went badly, then Dante, when he eventually arrived in Fortuna Town, would have to handle all of this alone. With Dante's strength, of course he could defeat the Savior and the Pope by himself and take back Yamato and Sparda's Blade, but if that happened, Nero, who had been stuffed into the Savior, would be completely beyond saving.

If too much time passed, the possibility that Nero could still be separated from the Savior by Yamato like in the game would probably be vanishingly small. And Kyrie, who had likewise been absorbed into the Savior in the game, and Credo, who had wanted to save the two of them...

Nero did not dare think about that possibility.

Did she have to defeat the Pope without Dante?

After passing through the outer gate, Order Headquarters, white, square, and as massive as a giant tombstone, came into Nero's view. This grand building had only been constructed within the past decade, and its purpose was to hide the enormous golem known as the "Savior." Before that, the Order's headquarters had actually been Fortuna Castle in the snowy mountains.

Before entering this building, Nero still had to cross the magnificent sea bridge in front of her. And at the end of the bridge, five demons were waiting before the gate.

Four of them were Silver Knights that Nero had already fought before. They held lances and shields, surrounding the demon in the middle.

Nero knew the one in the middle, too. The "Golden Knight." It was an upgraded version of the Silver Knight, wielding a longsword extremely similar to Credo's, and at this moment it was already flying in the air.

Nero's impression of these guys was quite deep. Under the Golden Knight's command, these demons would form an ironclad defensive formation and keep suppressing their enemy with rotating attacks that had almost no openings at all. To break it, she could practically only use the Devil Bringer to grab the one attacking as a shield and counterattack. It was extremely annoying.

But again—that was only the case for Nero. Uncle Dante just had to activate infinite Devil Trigger and spam "hiya," and Old Man Vergil could launch a Judgment Cut End and wipe them all out. Only Nero had to consider so much.

The Golden Knight raised its sword, and the four Silver Knights took off at the same time, still maintaining their formation. Cyan smoke sprayed from behind them as they gathered momentum. Those were jet vents beneath the wings on their backs. These guys could accelerate like jets.

The first Silver Knight charged in with its lance, but through her battle with Credo, Nero had already found the trick to breaking this kind of frontal assault. She equipped Gilgamesh, shifted her center of gravity forward, drew her right leg back, then snapped it out like a whip.

Nero's Spinning Kick was timed perfectly, the middle of her calf striking two-thirds of the way down the side of the lance. The instant it hit, Impact Steel exerted its force, and the suit of armor, unwilling to let go of its lance, began spinning like a Spinning Top.

But that alone was not enough to break the knights' spear formation. The second Silver Knight was already charging closer, clearly not intending to give Nero any chance to pursue. And Nero's attack just now had only broken the charge; it had not caused any damage to the armor's Main Body.

If she could not get past that, Nero would only be worn down here forever, unable to break through.

So in that instant, Nero threw out Echidna, wrapping it around the first Silver Knight. That Silver Knight spun as it shot past Nero, and the moment Echidna caught it, it was bound up tight. Incidentally, it also dragged Nero away from its companions and rushed toward the iron railing.

The Serpent Sword's entanglement rapidly shortened the distance between Nero and the Silver Knight. When they were close enough, Nero seized the chance, leaped up, and stomped the Silver Knight down from midair, stopping its spin. Then, wearing Gilgamesh, she grabbed its right arm with one hand and smashed a punch into its right elbow, tearing off the lance along with half its arm.

The second Silver Knight's charge finally reached Nero, but by now Nero had already used the lance she had seized to pin the first one dead to the Stone Bricks of the bridge deck.

One down.