Nero

History

Origin

Little is known about Nero's true origins. His strength, agility, white hair and Devil Bringer seem to insinuate a connection with either Dante or Vergil (the sons of Sparda). Nero didn't appear to have any family or many friends, and was raised as an orphan in Fortuna alongside Credo and Kyrie. He had grown into a strong young warrior in the Order of the Sword (a society that praised Sparda), fighting with the Blue Rose gun and Red Queen sword. He kept his right arm wrapped in a sling to hide the increasingly demonic changes.

Kyrie

Despite being uncouth & disrespectful towards religious ceremonies, Nero was courting Kyrie who often sang for the choir at ceremonies. On one such occasion when she was performing, Nero was late to the ceremony because he had to fight his way past dozens of monsters. He'd spent time wrapped a necklace to give to Kyrie as a gift. When he arrived, he pretended that he wasn't listening to Kyrie's singing. He kept his headphones on at all times, so the tinny music would drown out the rest of the ceremony.

Dante

However, Nero's right arm began to glow and the ceremony was interrupted by the sudden violent arrival of a white-haired man in a red leather coat. Dante crashed in through the glass domed ceiling and assassinated the High Priest, Sanctus. The population fled the Opera House, Kyrie's gift was crushed in the stampede, and Nero was left to fight Dante. The similarities between the two, surprised them. Nero could repeat or counter Any move that Dante could perform, and visa versa. Dante revealed that the Order soldiers were really demons. As Nero saw the dead demon bodies in Order uniforms, Dante suggested that something different was responsible for Nero's strange demonic arm. However, before he could reveal any more, Dante left the scene as suddenly as he had arrived.

Fortuna Castle

As reinforcements arrived, Nero found the necklace he'd bought for Kyrie. Although the box was crushed, the gift was still intact and Kyrie immediately wore it. Credo commanded Nero to apprehend Dante. Nero had to fight his way through the streets which were littered with scarecrow monsters, and eventually cut a path to Fortuna Castle. There, he was met by a mysterious tanned female warrior with white bobbed-hair. Gloria defeated the monsters that led across the drawbridge to the castle, and seductively approached Nero. However, he wasn't interested in flirting with the stranger.

Inside the castle, Nero stumbled across a secret underground laboratory. It belonged to Agnus, the stuttering scientific genius responsible for the Order of the Sword's demonic transformations.

Yamato

There, Agnus had been using the shattered blade of Yamato to harness it's demonic power and open portals all across the city. Although Agnus severely wounded Nero, the shattered remains of Yamato responded to his call. The fragments repaired themselves, and the demonic katana took itself to Nero. With Yamato's power, Nero became encased in a blue glow and defeated all of Agnus' demonic guards. However, the effort drained Nero who collapsed on the floor. Agnus fled back to Credo and Sanctus (who had been resurrected with a demon's soul) to inform them of Nero's power. Concerned that Nero would be uncontrollable, Sanctus despatched Gloria to hunt down Dante, while Credo was sent to confront Nero.

Credo

Nero soon encountered Credo, who had also been infused with an external demonic power. Credo began to transform with giant wings, and believed that he was evolving into an angel. After a difficult battle, Nero defeated Credo who collapsed & transformed back into a normal man.

However, Agnus appeared with Kyrie. He warped her perception of events. She saw Nero stood over her brother's wounded body, and Agnus revealed Nero's demonic looking right-arm. Scared that her lover was really a demon who had killed her brother, Kyrie was an easy target. When Nero went to attack Agnus, he used her as a human shield. Knowing that Nero wouldn't attack his lover, Agnus kidnapped Kyrie. Credo regained enough of his strength to apologise to Nero & went off on his own mission to discover what the Order of the Sword was secretly up to.

Second Encounter With Dante

Worried for Kyrie's well-being, Nero disregarded his original mission to hunt down Dante. However, he soon encountered Dante in battle once more. They met indoors, and Nero only wanted to pass by quickly in order to find Kyrie. However, Dante recognised his brother's Katana and demanded that Nero return Yamato. Since Nero refused, a fight broke out. Despite all appearances to the contrary, Dante wasn't fighting to kill Nero. Instead, he admitted that the fight was a test; to test Nero's worthiness. Having accepted Nero's worth, he allowed him to keep Yamato. Nero and Dante exchanged names & formed a tentative alliance.

Sanctus

Nero soon found the resurrected Sanctus. He had transformed a giant statue of Sparda into a colossal monster known as the Saviour. Sanctus intended to bring the Saviour to life with Yamato and the blood of Sparda. To stop Nero's attacks, he had tied Kyrie to the front of the Saviour to act as a human shield. Nero's attacks were focussed, making sure not to hit Kyrie. However, Sanctus managed to gain possession of Yamato. So when Nero was distracted by Credo's arrival, Sanctus used it to stab Nero.

Inside the Saviour

Nero's blood spilled onto the Saviour, which slowly developed a life of it's own. Sanctus revealed that Nero was in fact a descendent of Sparda. The Saviour then began to absorb Nero. Despite the arrival of Dante and Trish (who had disposed with her disguise as Gloria) they were unable to save either Kyrie, Nero or Yamato.

Nero was helpless until Dante finally managed to reclaim Yamato. The katana was plunged inside the Saviour's chest, where Nero caught it. Using Yamato to free himself, Nero faced Sanctus once more. By defeating Sanctus in battle, Nero successfully freed Kyrie.

Reconciliation

After escaping from the Savior, Nero, Kyrie, and Dante all meet together for the first time. The False Savior revives again due to Sanctus' influence. Nero decides to be the one to defeat it and he leaps high into the air. Nero extends the Devil Bringer and crushes its head, putting an end to Sanctus and the Savior once and for all. Nero returns the Sparda sword and offers the Yamato back to Dante, but Dante lets him keep it. Nero questions Dante if they will ever meet again but Dante just walks off with a mere gesture. Alone at last, Nero and Kyrie look around and see the city in shambles, and the two are about to kiss, but they get attacked by the last of straggler demons left over. Once Nero defeats the demons the two clasp hands, reunited with no more demons.

Powers and Abilities

Nero's demonic heritage has granted him immense superhuman capabilities.

Superhuman Strength: Nero's biggest physical upgrade is his strength. Using his human arm, he managed to create a wind gust powerful enough to put out multiple burning buildings. He has locked swords and overpowered massive demons with his human arm as well. With his Devil Bringer arm he has shown to easily crater the ground, throw giant demons with it and kill them in one punch. His biggest feat of strength was against the False Savior, where he used his Devil Bringer to crush the face of the colossal statue and the resulting force created a shockwave that shook the buildings and area around him, even causing boulders and debris to fly up from the ground.

Superhuman Speed: Nero possesses a degree of superhuman speed. He has shown to be able to run along falling objects and ran around the large snake demon, Echidna, as she was speeding around a forest with falling off. He can move faster in speed bursts, almost as if he teleported across the room such as when he punched Dante across the church and reappeared next to him mid-flight. Despite his speed and ferocity he was shown to be slower than the more powerful Dante as the Son of Sparda disappeared on him casually.

Superhuman Reflexes: Nero has enhanced reflexes, being capable of dodging bullets from Dante and shown to repel multiple blitzing angels.

Superhuman Durability: Nero was capable of tanking hits from rather powerful demons and being pinned and slammed against walls at high speeds.

Regeneration: Nero possesses a potent healing factor, very much like Dante and Vergil, in that he has been able to heal from being speared by multiple demons wielding lances and spears virtually instantaneously.

Devil Bringer: Nero's manifestation of demonic power comes in the form of an altered right arm. It's main ability is to project an ethereal form of the arm, enabling Nero to attack from distances and acts out whatever the real arm does. This enables him to reach and grab things from far away, punch from a distance, or grasp and crush massive and durable objects such as the Savior. The arm is also capable of absorbing other demonic items of power such as the Yamato, and also utilize the objects or powers he absorbs. The arm also boosts Nero's already formidable strength and the arm is very durable, being capable of block attacks from Dante's Rebellion. The only known weapon that was able to damage it was Vergil's dimension cutting sword, Yamato.

Devil Trigger: Nero is able to use his own devil trigger. The devil trigger takes the form of an astral like figure attached to Nero that utilizes energy based sword swings, faster healing, and stronger use of the Devil Bringer.

Expert Combatant: Nero grew up and trained with the Order of the Sword, especially taking time under Kyrie's brother, Credo, captain of the royal guards. Through his training he has become an expert swordsman and marksman. This experience has enabled Nero to effortlessly beat groups of demons without his Devil Bringer, defeat other powerful demons and even make Dante acknowledge he underestimated him.

Equipment

Blue Rose: Nero's custom revolver. It is a long nosed, double barreled revolver. The revolver itself is capable of taking chunks out of stone and was able to knock Dante back when he deflected gunfire from it. The revolver also seems to be quite durable as Nero blocked a swing from Dante's Rebellion with it. Nero is capable of channeling his demonic energy into the gun causing the bullets to explode upon release and delayed contact with an opponent.

Red Queen: Nero's sword of choice. It takes the appearance of a large gross messer. It is Nero's customized version of the typical Order of the Sword's typical weapon. Due to the customized properties, it has a motorcycle like handle that sprays a flammable propellant on it to increase and add a burning property to its strikes. Nero is also able to use this feature to propel himself short distances.

Yamato: Originally Vergil's weapon that he inherited from his father. This sword possesses the ability to cut through dimensional barriers.