Mission:022 Waltz

Mission:02-2 Waltz

The Demon-Breaking Bullet mixed with silver spun out of the chamber, and the instant the muzzle flash died, it burrowed accurately into the depths of the Parasitic Demon Flower's open stamen.

Nero was a little surprised by her own accuracy. She had not even aimed by sight; that shot had been fired entirely on instinct.

But that shot failed to kill the enemy.

The Demon Flower reeled back under the bullet's impact and thrashed wildly, yet it did not die. Instead, it swung its spiked vine-tentacles and dragged the Scarecrow as it charged at Nero.

Clearly, Nero's shot had not struck its true weak point.

Nero immediately drew the other gun of Light and Shadow, but this time she did not fire recklessly. She did not have many bullets; she had to think carefully about what to attack first.

Facing the Scarecrow pouncing at her with its blade, Nero spun aside to avoid the edge, ducked under the incoming tentacle, and followed through with a Spinning Kick to the Scarecrow's stomach.

Then she raised her Twin Guns, the muzzles overlapping, and fired at the same time, hitting the flower's calyx protected within several tentacles.

"What a waste." Watching the Parasitic Demon Flower shriek as it lost all strength and toppled off the Scarecrow onto the ground, Nero lowered her gun and murmured to herself.

Her Demon Bloodline had not fully awakened. Setting aside the fact that she could not manifest her true demonic form, she could not even use the magic power inside her body. Because of that, she could not do what the others of the Sparda Family could—fill bullets with magic to strengthen their power, or simply use magic itself as bullets to shoot.

This was actually also Nero's initial state in the game. He only became able to use magic after obtaining Yamato, and even then, his use of magic relied extremely heavily on Yamato itself.

There was no helping it. Newly awakened demons were like this. Dante could casually pour magic into bullets and weapons, but Nero had much more to consider. At least, that would remain the case until Yamato could be used normally.

After losing the Demon Flower parasitizing it, the Scarecrow Main Body covered in wounds slowly stood up. It was the same kind of demon as the one that had heavily injured Nero in town earlier; on the outside, it was a ragged cloth sack carrying a blade, while its insides were filled with evil Demon World Beetles.

At that moment, those pitch-black scarabs were spilling out from the wounds in the sack, crawling back and forth across its surface.

This kind of low-level demon had no wisdom to speak of, and defeating it was not difficult. One only needed to create a large enough wound in the cloth sack, making it unable to maintain its form.

But unfortunately... Nero had no weapon that could create a large wound. If they were not charged with magic, the bullets of Light and Shadow could only pass through the Scarecrow and create two small round holes in its body.

So, what a waste.

"Hmm?"

Nero, who had just been about to aim at the other enemies, instinctively let out a sound of confusion. Just now, the remaining two Parasitic Demon Flowers had controlled their hosts and used their great blades to cut the Scarecrow that had escaped parasitism into three pieces.

She really had not expected these demons to turn on one another. From the look of things, the Forest Lord had an extremely strong desire for control and was unwilling to allow any creature in its territory to exist beyond its command, even demons.

The crushed beetles turned into Red-Black mist and scattered, while the ones still intact fled in all directions. Nero twirled the gun in her hand, took a deep breath, leaned forward, and charged out like a cheetah.

Her long golden hair lifted like a cape, reflecting the sunlight leaking through the shattered ceiling, making Nero look like a dazzling bolt of lightning. She closed in on one enemy, leaped into the air, and stepped on the joint where the Scarecrow held its blade. Tilting her head, she dodged an attacking tentacle, letting the blade-like tip pierce straight through her long hair.

Then her right hand restrained another twisting tentacle. She bent her knee and pressed down on the filthy cloth sack, planted her left hand beneath the flower, and pulled the trigger three times in a row, blasting the Demon Flower's calyx to pieces.

Another one down.

Nero flipped away from the Scarecrow and kicked it toward the last demon parasitized by a Demon Flower. As a result, the unlucky bastard had not even gotten up before its body was pierced by a long blade and torn in half. The beetles struggled and pushed at the ragged cloth sack, but after the Demon Flower crushed a few more of their companions, they resigned themselves to their fate and fled into the sewer.

The last one.

There was no way to borrow another blade to kill this one. After Nero killed the parasitic Demon Flower, she would have to personally deal with the remaining Scarecrow.

"Bullets left... three on the left, five on the right."

This kind of calculation did not take much thought from Nero. Her attention remained fixed on the demon opposite her the entire time. At that moment, That Guy was keeping its distance, moving sideways around Nero to probe her.

Nero and it moved at the same time.

The Demon Flower braced its tentacles against the ground and leaped high like a pole-vaulter, the blade falling toward the top of Nero's head.

Nero charged forward, instantly leaving the Scarecrow's landing point. Then, just as before, she leaped up, turned in midair, and aimed her Twin Guns at the demon flying through the air with no way to dodge.

"Bang, bang, bang."

The rhythm of a waltz echoed through the abandoned church. Nero used the recoil to spin her body and fired three consecutive shots in the order of left hand, right hand, left hand, completing a three-beat measure.

The demon tried to raise its long blade to block the bullets, but unfortunately, Nero's first shot had been aimed at the Scarecrow's "hand" holding the blade. As the burlap was torn apart by the bullet, the heavy long blade snapped its connection to the body under gravity and fell toward the ground.

The two bullets that followed struck the Parasitic Demon Flower's core perfectly, taking away its Life Force.

Petals drifted down. Nero landed lightly, spun half a turn, then dropped to one knee to dissolve the momentum. Her long skirt bloomed across the church floor like a flower missing one petal, its color like blood.

Sunlight spilled onto the church floor, illuminating the dust raised during the fight, freezing this moment into an Oil Painting. Unfortunately, demons did not understand how to appreciate the beauty of a painting. The Scarecrow, having lost its weapon, broke free of the parasitism and staggered to its feet, shattering the harmony in the church.

It instinctively charged toward the nearest Living Being to it—the only living person in the church—and was kicked away by Nero again.

"Feels like it'd make a decent punching bag if you hung it up." Nero savored the impact of that kick and made a little joke the demon could not understand.

The Scarecrow flew sideways, rolled twice across the ground, then immediately took another kick and slammed straight into the wall. When it landed again, a round-toed little leather shoe was already stepping on its body.

Nero looked at the demon beneath her foot, raised the long blade she had just picked back up—the one that had originally belonged to this Scarecrow—and stabbed it down viciously, as if venting her anger.

The beetles inside the cloth sack instantly erupted into chaos, dragging the outer sack along as they struggled frantically. But Nero merely turned the hilt, then shoved the blade forward with a fierce thrust, almost cutting the Scarecrow in half on the spot.

The beetles inside could no longer maintain the integrity of the form, and they surged out from the wound like a tide. Nero silently looked at the motionless demon beneath her foot, let go of the hilt, turned, and left.