Family heirloom, then turned into a demon girl

Chapter 18 Mission: 04-1 Alone
Ultimately, Nero took this matter for granted.

Dante's assassination attempt on the Pope took place a month later, meaning that the period before that was merely the preparation phase for gathering intelligence and planning. It was only natural that someone as impatient as Dante would allow Tracy to act alone. Therefore, without Nero knowing Dante's arrival date, she shouldn't have assumed that Dante was on the island.

Nero's fault lay lost in the fight with Credo. Credo had already been driven nearly insane by Agnus, and even Nero, who had seemed relatively calm, wasn't immune. When Jillie was taken away, Nero, distracted by his concern, lost half his mind as well.

Originally, her plan was to convince Credo to take her with him to the Pope, but she forgot about that during the fight. While thinking about how to increase Credo's chances of survival, she ended up driving him away and leaving the matter to Dante.

She had clearly known that Credo would never give up on going to find Jillie himself.

"Woo..."

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

Then she lay on the ground and gasped for a while. She looked up and saw Credo kneeling in front of her, looking helpless. She couldn't help laughing.

"Still laughing? What's so funny?!"

A gentle, crisp chuckle dispelled some of Credo's worries. He cursed angrily before asking, "Are you really okay?"

"Yeah, it's all right now." Nero replied softly, "Credo, you can go first."

Nero's sudden change of attitude left Credo somewhat bewildered. Seeing this, Nero said, "But please promise me one thing."

Credo frowned and asked, "What is it?"

"No matter what, don't do anything yet." Nero warned him seriously, "Let's wait until I get here before we discuss anything. Before then, they won't do anything bad to Jillie."

Credo was silent for a moment, then asked, "Are you still coming?"

He didn't wait for Nero's answer, but took a step back and transformed in the holy light: "I can promise you, but you must give me an explanation later. About what you know, about those strange words you just said."

Then, before Nero could speak, he turned and flew towards the Order's headquarters.

"...What an awkward guy."

Nero watched Credo go away, then followed him forward and stepped into the gate of the headquarters.

However, this was a bit of a problem. Dante, whom Nero had always considered the fuse for this incident, had not yet arrived. This meant that if the current situation continued, not only Credo, but also Kyrie and Nero himself might be in danger.

If things go wrong, Dante, arriving in Fortuna, will have to deal with everything alone. With Dante's strength, he could certainly defeat the Savior and the Pope single-handedly, reclaiming the Yama Blade and the Spartan Blade, but Nero, already absorbed into the Savior, would be completely hopeless. If too much time passes, the chances of Nero being separated from the Savior by the Yama Blade, as in the game, are slim to none. And what about Jillie, who was also absorbed into the Savior in the game, and Credo, who wants to rescue them...

Nero didn't dare to think about that possibility.

To defeat the Pope without Dante?
Passing through the outer gate, Nero saw the Order's pristine, square, tombstone-like headquarters. This magnificent structure had been constructed within the past decade, specifically to conceal the massive golem known as "Savior." Previously, the Order's headquarters had been Fortuna Castle, nestled in the snowy mountains.

Before entering the building, Nero had to cross the magnificent sea bridge in front of him. At the end of the bridge, five demons were waiting in front of the gate.

There were four silver knights that Nero had fought before. They were holding lances and shields and surrounding the demon in the middle.

Nero also knew the one in the middle. The "Golden Knight," an upgraded version of the Silver Knight, wielded a longsword very similar to Credo's, and was already flying through the air.

Nero was quite impressed by this group of demons. Under the command of the Golden Knight, these demons would form an ironclad defensive formation, constantly suppressing them with nearly flawless, rotating attacks. To break through, the only way was to use the "ghost hand" to grab the attacking demon and use it as a shield, which was quite annoying.

But the same thing goes - only Nero is like this. Uncle Dante can just use the infinite "Ya Ya" repetition of the Demon, and dad Vergil can use "Dimension Slash: Absolute" to kill everyone instantly, but only Nero has to consider so much.

The Golden Knight raised his sword, and the four Silver Knights took off simultaneously, still maintaining their formation. They belched cyan smoke from behind them, ready to launch. Those were the jet ports beneath their wings, allowing them to accelerate like jets.

The first Silver Knight charged with a spear, but Nero had learned how to defeat such frontal assaults during her battle with Credo. She equipped Gilgamesh, shifted her weight forward, stretched her right leg back, and swung it out like a whip.

Nero's roundhouse kick was timed perfectly, perfectly landing with the middle of his calf, catching the spear about two-thirds of the way to the side. At the moment of impact, the shock steel unleashed its force, and the armor, unwilling to relinquish its spear, spun like a top.

But this alone wasn't enough to break the knights' spear formation. The second Silver Knight was already charging closer, clearly not intending to give Nero a chance to pursue. And Nero's previous attack only broke the charge, causing no damage to the armor itself.

If he cannot break through this point, Nero will just be stuck here and unable to break through.

At that moment, Nero flung Echidna, tangling it around the first Silver Knight. The Silver Knight spun and darted past Nero, instantly being bound by Echidna, dragging Nero away from his companions and towards the iron fence.

The entanglement of the accordion sword caused the distance between Nero and the silver knight to rapidly close. When they were close enough, Nero seized the opportunity, leaped up and stepped on the silver knight from the air, stopping its rotation. Then, wearing Gilgamesh, he grabbed its right arm with one hand and punched its right elbow, tearing off the lance and half of its arm.

The second Silver Knight's charge finally approached Nero, but at this moment Nero had already nailed the first one to the stone bricks of the bridge with the lance he had captured.

Solve one.

(End of this chapter)