On the outskirts of the factory, beyond the whirlwind of their battle, a white-haired girl crouched silently atop a tall storage tank, her eyes locked on the clash of two figures—one red, one green.
It was Raku. She'd tracked the scent of Samyaza to find them.
She knew both fighters had noticed her watching, their gazes flicking her way. But since neither objected, she took it as a green light to spectate. So, she'd picked a prime vantage point and settled in to enjoy the dazzling showdown.
As both unleashed their devil triggers, the fight escalated, literally, soaring higher until the battlefield shifted entirely to the sky. Nero, fully embracing her Pride Devil form, leveraged her wings for rapid aerial maneuvers, conjuring waves of phantom swords to keep Dante on his toes. She'd occasionally vanish with Yamato or Samyaza's stealth for surprise attacks.
Dante, meanwhile, unloaded an endless barrage of bullets from his twin guns, Ebony and Ivory, shredding Nero's phantom swords. Using recoil alone, he hovered in midair, dodging Nero's ambushes with double jumps or his "Sky Trick" teleportation move. Somehow, he still had the bandwidth to redirect his falling momentum onto Nero during close-quarters clashes, climbing higher without actually flying.
After a few rounds of this cat-and-mouse game, both Nero and Dante were getting bored—and they could see it in each other's eyes. So, when Dante blocked another of Nero's space-rending strikes with Rebellion, he shoved her back, flipped, and landed atop a refinery tower.
Nero didn't disappoint. A pulse of azure demonic energy tore through a crimson-black vortex, and Nero transformed again, shedding her Pride Devil form to return to her human appearance. Silver hair, red eyes, and emerald wings—she was exactly as Dante expected, her voice rising in a holy hymn.
"The seven stars of the first day, they neither descend nor ascend, veiled by nothing but sin!"
With her song, Nero lightly swung Yamato, tracing its tip to summon a chain of phantom swords above her head—seven, no more, no less. As she spun the blade, the swords whirled in sync, trailing Yamato's arc. "When they halt at its call, all turn to its chariot, as if to their eternal peace!"
A piercing sword cry rang out. Dante flipped Rebellion and drove it into the tower's peak. Stepping onto the crossguard, he spread his arms toward Nero and, matching her vibe, belted out a resonant baritone, following her hymn with a recitative: "My princess! Come with me from Lebanon, let us depart together!"
Nero, backed by her seven swords, ascended into the night sky, then dove straight down, moonlight guiding her. She sang, "I often see, at dawn's break, the east filled with rose, the rest of the sky blue as the sea!"
To meet her charge, Dante reached out, drawing every sword from the wing-like blade vault on his back and flinging them skyward in a single motion.
"Blessings to the one who comes—" he sang.
The swords Dante hurled were pinned in the air by crimson demonic energy, forming a dense sword array. The flowing magic trailed behind them like fiery tails, resembling a bouquet of roses from a distance.
He finished his verse, tossing a single real rose from his hand, letting it drift gently to the center of the array.
"—with hands full of roses."
Instantly, the suspended swords detonated in sequence, starting with the one struck by the rose, like dominoes. Crimson afterglow engulfed Dante and swallowed Nero as she charged in.
A sharp clash of metal echoed. Moments later, two figures burst from the explosion, clearly unscathed.
Nero, flapping her wings, stabilized herself in midair first. Her blade traced a circle above her, igniting countless azure stars in the night sky. Facing Dante, who'd just flipped upright, she pointed Yamato forward, and the stars fell like rain.
"In a shower of blooming petals, I saw a noble lady, gazing across the river, her face resolute."
In Nero's song, countless tiny phantom swords poured down, enveloping Dante. Stepping on a platform of demonic energy, Dante's fists blazed with fire. After a brief charge, he leaped, his right fist morphing into a roaring fire dragon that collided with the sword rain.
But Dante, having just broken through the storm, now faced Nero's final strike.
"She will cleanse me with hyssop, wash me with pure water. Make me pure as a child, white as fresh snow."
Ending her hymn with the sixth verse, the five afterimages Nero had left behind solidified instantly, each transforming into a sword beam that surrounded Dante.
Unable to dodge, Dante accelerated upward. The five beams followed, morphing into blades that pierced toward him, interlocking to form a cage binding his limbs.
Then, the final streak of light—Nero, descending like a meteor—leveled Yamato and appeared before Dante. He poured demonic energy into his gauntlets, erupting in flames to shatter the cage, but he was a split-second too slow.
Nero, with Yamato, pierced straight through Dante's chest. The sheer force sent them plummeting to the ground, crashing into a sizable crater.
As the dust settled, Dante dropped his devil trigger, looking up at the girl pinning him down. Her golden hair shimmered with moonlight, her lake-blue eyes brimming with innocence. He shrugged, flashing a "what can you do?" grin.
"Got careless there," he said. As Nero let go of Yamato's hilt and stood, brushing dust off her skirt, Dante half-closed his eyes and sighed. Then, gripping the blade still impaled in his chest, he slowly pulled it out, his voice brimming with energy that belied the gaping wound. "Man, it's been a while since I felt this."
With a stylish flip, he tossed the extracted Yamato back to Nero, adjusted his coat, and planted his hands on his hips. He gave his niece a half-smirk. "You really don't hold back, huh?"
"You said not to," Nero replied with a playful tilt of her head and a faint smile. "Besides, I don't think this even counts as a scratch for you."
Dante spread his hands, catching the verbal boomerang. "Fair enough, I did say that."
Of course, he wasn't mad. Getting run through by Yamato might be "a while" for him, but in some ways, it was just another Tuesday.
Plus, it stirred up a lot of memories for Dante.