Mission:043 The Great Horde

Echidna fell silent for a while, but Nero had asked a question that could not be answered with silence, so for the moment, she took it as permission to speak.

"If you can give me a little demonic power and let me come into direct contact with those plants, then yes."

Echidna answered humbly.

"Then do it."

Nero pulled out Echidna, had her change into a straight-sword form that was easier to throw, poured a great surge of demonic power into her, then hurled her out.

The emerald blade spun through the air and sank accurately into the thick trunk of the Scarlet Tree. Then, from where Echidna was embedded, a branch quietly grew out of the trunk and stretched toward Nero.

The abnormal branch, growing downward, extended all the way to Nero and delivered Echidna to her hand.

"Not bad."

As expected of a demon who controlled the forest.

Nero praised her, pulled Echidna free, and withdrew her back into her body.

Nero stepped onto the branch and jumped up onto the raised Skybridge, sliding down it like a chute. It was just that there were steps on the Skybridge, so it was a little hard on the backside.

This was the Main Hall of Order Headquarters. Farther ahead was the Place of Descent where the golem Savior was located. According to Agnus, Kyrie should be there too.

Nero pushed open the door before her, and in an instant, three Sword Wings pounced at her. Caught off guard, Nero ducked under the flying swords, flung out Echidna, and snapped two of them in midair.

The remaining one flew into the air, only to be caught in Agnus's hand as he dropped down behind Nero. He smiled sinisterly and landed at the top of the Skybridge. "Didn't expect that, did you? I'm still here."

Standing in the doorway, Nero said calmly, "I guessed you wouldn't obediently wait for me at the finish line."

"Oh?" Agnus chuckled. "I saw, saw that idiot Credo go to the Place of Descent. Could it be he lost?"

"You're going to lose too. Where's Kyrie?"

"Afraid I'll use her as a hostage?"

As Agnus spoke, he pointed the sword in his hand behind Nero. "Why don't you confirm it yourself?"

Facing Agnus, Nero slowly retreated and walked into the hall. She looked back and saw Kyrie sleeping like a Little Bird in a cage suspended at the center of the hall, with countless Sword Wings flying around her.

So from the very beginning, Agnus had never planned to do as the conditions he had given said. He also did not believe Credo could capture Nero and make her surrender without a fight.

Agnus jumped down from the Skybridge and landed outside the door. "What a surprise. You actually didn't directly, directly rush up to save her?"

Nero turned back and kept staring at Agnus. "There'll be plenty of chances to save her after I beat you."

"You think I'll still hold back like, like last time?"

He let out a low mocking laugh in a demonic voice that carried its own reverberation, swung the Sword Wing in his hand straight at Nero, and shouted, "All of you, attack!"

The Sword Wings flying all over the sky instantly froze, forming a dense Sword Array in midair and aiming at Nero. It was easy to imagine the scene when they shot forward like a meteor shower. At the same time, beneath the iron cage holding Kyrie, two more squads of Metal Knights gathered together.

Nero was not surprised. This man's so-called "full strength" was bound to be these things. What Nero had to face next was pure violence of numbers.

The Sword Wings came fastest. Facing these attacking demons, Nero held nothing back and directly drew Yamato. She had to cut down the enemy's numbers as quickly as possible and lessen the pressure afterward.

She raised the blade and sang out, "All sin shall suffer heaven's wrath!"

Yamato sliced through the air, releasing two cross-shaped Light Blades that tore the cluster of Sword Wings into four parts. A large number of demons were cut open by the Light Blades and fell to the ground, but they still surrounded Nero like a swarm of bees.

"Murderers shall sink into the Blood Pool!"

Facing the oncoming flock of flying swords, Nero calmly slipped past the nearest few, lightly rotated her body, and with Yamato in her hand swept in an arc to strike down several Sword Wings before thrusting the blade into the ground. In an instant, with Nero as the center, dozens of Azure Blue swords of demonic power rose like a forest and flew into the air, colliding with the Sword Wings.

After fighting Credo, by observing his attacks, Nero had naturally understood how to use demonic power to create flying swords. This had always been her father Vergil's specialty, and that talent had of course been passed down through the same bloodline.

Following close behind was a charging Silver Knight. Demonic-power swords had enough killing power against Sword Wings, but against their armor, they were not quite enough. This demon raised its shield and charged, smashing through several flying swords, its Lance aimed straight at Nero, who still had her blade planted in the ground.

Nero drew her blade and rose, a bright slash flashing through the air. "Those who abandon themselves shall be imprisoned in withered wood!"

The knight's feet were instantly cut off, and it rolled to the ground, no longer a threat.

"I have to say, you really are more, more like the Son of God than that good-for-nothing layabout."

The voice came from behind Nero. Nero swiftly turned and swung her blade behind her, blocking Agnus as he attacked with his sword.

Of course Nero knew Agnus was talking about Dante. Before Nero's Demon Bloodline awakened, he had been the only known living descendant of Sparda in the world, and the plan to create the "Savior" had originally been carried out on the premise of capturing him.

She gave a "heh" of a laugh, as if saying, What right does a guy who doesn't believe in god have to judge a Son of God? Then, sensing the follow-up charge of the knight demons rushing in, Nero gave up the blade lock, leapt up, and used Agnus's strength to flip backward through the air, singing the fourth line of the Anthem.

"Blasphemers shall perish beneath a rain of fire!"

Nero hung upside down in the air, stepped on the air itself, and fell straight toward the ground like a meteor. The blade in her hand landed accurately on a Silver Knight, splitting it in two from the crown of its head. The demonic power wrapped around Yamato struck the ground, and the erupting Airwave knocked back the surrounding demons.

At this point, Nero had already left four demonic-power afterimages in the hall, and the Anthem had also reached the stage where it was time to conclude.

By coincidence, among the group of knights, a Golden Knight happened to make its move. Facing the speeding blade, Nero assumed the stance of "Iai" and charged toward it as well.

"O city of chaos, suffer eternal damnation!"

The instant the two charging sides collided, Nero drew her blade from its sheath and, with an upward diagonal slash, knocked aside the Golden Knight's blade, instantly cutting it into two pieces.

In that instant, the first afterimage that had moved to the end of the hall along the Light Blade, the second and third afterimages kneeling in place, and the fourth afterimage suspended in midair, ready to strike, all transformed at the same time into enormous crescent arcs of blade-light that plowed through the hall, shattering the exquisite Marble Floor Tiles one after another.

"Wh-what is this thing?!"