My brother took this story down, but I am bringing this back cause... why not? I want to do something for everyone who loves this story, and I have always wanted to write a different protagonist than Naruto. but the thing is... I don't know a thing about Devil May Cry aside from a few basic things, even though I know him and love his design very much.

I will try to do some research on DMC, but I cannot promise that I will be able to write as well as he does, or the author whose story is the inspiration for him to write from.

Sorry for all the troubles that he has caused, my brother can be such a child sometimes. I have removed Nero's Chimera devil arm from this story, cause that seems to be the source of all the drama that has been going on recently. That being said, I love the way he uses his Devil Breakers more, it's a nice change from Dante and his father.

He's in hosptial now and will have surgery tomorrow. I don't think he will be able to walk soon, that's what the doctor said, and had to stay on bed for some time, but that will give me all the time I need to show him what he has missed out for taking this story down, so for the time being please support me ^^ Okay?

P/S: Red Raven if you are reading this, can you please answer my private message? You seem to know a lot about DMC so I can really use your help with this story, don't mind my brother cause as soon as he recovered I am going to kick his ass for being such a child.

Summary: After the event at Red Grave, Nero was left with not just the responsibility of dealing with the abnormal activities of demons all around the world, but also several questions that involved the other side his family… If Vergil was his father, then who was his mother? Who in her right mind could see the good in his father, and love a power hungry demon like him?

This is the first book of a long series.

This work is inspirited by Devil May Cry: The Godly Demon written by Shocknawe 425. I have asked him permission to use some of the basic ideas of his story.

"Nero" Normal Speech.

'Nero' Normal Thought.

"Red Queen" Magic/Jutsu/Technique.

"Devil Trigger" Demon/Monster Normal Speech.

'Devil Trigger' Demon/Monster Thought.

Son of the Hearth

Chapter 1

It's because you're here we can go.

I won't lose next time. Hold onto that until then.

"What the…" A violent shake woke Nero up from his sleep, his head smashing onto the ceiling of the RV he was in. As he growled in annoyance, he could hear the laughter of his companion, a short but rather attractive young woman with light tan skin and black, wavy, waist-length hair that she tied in a ponytail. She wore a black studded headband and red-rimmed glasses, and her outfit consisted of a white tank top showing her midriff covered with a dark-yellow sleeveless jacket that resembled welding cape sleeve, blue denim shorts with a brown worker belt which carried a pair of brown leather gloves and several tools. She finished her outfit with a pair of brown leather cowgirl boots. "You think that's funny?" He asked while looking at the female driver, who continued to laugh for a good ten seconds.

"That's what you get for not putting on the seatbelt." She said, smirking a bit.

"I will, if there is a fucking one here." Nero told her, pointing at the area beside his seat before standing up and making his way to the back of the RV, heading into the bathroom near Nico's workshop to wash his face. He was not in the mood to have one of those banters with his companion. He could still hear their voice in his head, the voices of Dante and Vergil before they both went to the Underworld. Even two weeks after the event at Red Grave City, he still found it hard to believe that Dante was his uncle and Vergil, the true identity of V and Urizen, was his father, making him a spawn of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda, the demon who betrayed his own kin for the sake of humanity.

Nero cleaned his face with a towel and looked at himself in the mirror. He did not want to admit it but ever since he knew Vergil was his father, he couldn't help but see himself becoming more and more like his father, in appearance of course. His white hair had grown noticeably longer, but still kept its faux-hawk like style. He still wore his dark blue hooded jacket over the tattered dark shirt underneath, and from what he had learnt from Trish, the woman who was now in charge of Dante's original shop, blue had always been his father's signature color, making it another similarity between him and Vergil, because blue was his favorite color, beside red. "Fuck you old man." The white haired young man growled as he walked out of the bathroom and returned to his seat, waving his hand in front of his face when he realized Nico was once again smoking, his nose catching the unpleasant smell of her cigarette "Seriously, do you have to do that in here? Smell like the same ass as the last time." He asked and lowered the mirror to get some fresh air, poking his head out of the RV and looking at the trees on his side of the road. "Are we there yet?"

"Hold your horse, cowboy. We still have a long way to go." Keeping her eyes on the road, Nico told him before she asked in interest "Have you ever been to Long Island before?"

"Nah, you?" He asked, turning his head around to look at Nico.

"Nope, but grandmother said she came here every summer when she was young." Nero shrugged and sat back down his seat, reaching his hand out for the brown, gold-embroidered book with a large "V" insignia in the cover on the dashboard. "You're reading that book again?"

"Yeah, I'm just… trying to understand my old man." Nero answered honestly, even though he could not understand a thing that was written inside. He knew V greatly treasured his book of poems by William Blake, as his original-self Vergil possessed it since he was a young boy. However, Nero couldn't help but feel that there was more to the book than it appeared, because if not then his father would never give it to him before leaving to seal the portal connecting the human world and the Underworld. "Same old craps." He read a few lines and threw the book back to where he had put it.

"You know, it's kinda hard for me to believe that there was a woman who could fall in love with your father, considering all the horrible acts that he had done to obtain powers, unless of course, she did not know who he was… and was into tentacles."

"Can't agree more." Nero replied as he put one foot on the dashboard and leaned his head back, closing his eyes. It was hard for him to believe that too, that there had been a woman out there capable of seeing the good in his father, the V in him, and giving him a son, unless of course, she did not know who he was and was into men like him (he tried to not think about the tentacles, but Nico did have a point when she pointed that out).

He did not know who his mother was, not that it was important anymore, but she had to have been a citizen of Fortuna, where most people had called her a prostitute because she had a son with an unknown man and left her child at the orphanage before their teeth was punched right into their fucking skulls. Having grown up with a girl like Kyrie at his side, Nero had come to understand that for whatever reason his mother had abandoned him, it had to be a reason that she could not avoid. No one did something without a reason, and no mother wanted to leave their newborn child.

"Hey Lizard boy." Nico called, making Nero open one of his eye to look at her and see her holding out the phone to him "It's Kyrie."

"Thank you. Hey Kyrie, how are you doing?" A smile made it to his face as he grabbed the phone from Nico's hand and held it near his ear, hearing the voice of his girlfriend on the other side of the line while ignoring the sly smirk Nico was giving him.

Their journey continued like that for another two hours before Nico decided to make a stop at a local gas station to refuel the truck, giving Nero time to think about his job while shopping for some snacks for the trip. He was currently tracking down a group of demons heading in Long Island on a request of a client that had contacted Morison and asked the man to look for a devil hunter who could eliminate them as quickly as possible before they could cause serious troubles to the local people. Because both Trish and Lady were busy with their own contracts at the time, Morison had no other choice but call Nero, telling him to be careful once he had finished with all the important details. That was not necessary, but Nero knew the man only meant well. Dante had been the only reason the demons hadn't overrun the human world yet, and when the news about the legendary devil hunter being trapped in the underworld got out, even the stupidest ones knew there wasn't a better time for them make their moves, causing chaos all around the world.

"I will take all of these please." Nero said as he returned and put the basket containing the snacks he had chosen on the counter, not noticing a person pushing the door open and stumbling into the shop until the female shopkeeper made a sound in horror while looking away from him. "What the…" Looking to the side, Nero widened his eyes when he saw a young girl, probably around thirteen and fourteen year old standing with a broken bow and quiver of silver arrows in her hands and behind her back, her body covering in her blood. "Hey, watch out!" Quickly, Nero rushed toward her and caught the girl with his arms before she could fall on her face. He looked at the bleeding wounds on her body, and could immediately tell they were not caused by humans. "Call 911!" He told the shopkeeper and then turned back to the girl in his arms. "Hang on, help is…"

But before he could finish his sentence, the girl reached her hand up and grabbed the collar of his shirt, looking straight into his eyes. Blood were still flowing out from her mouth and wounds, but she did her best to speak "You… have to tell… Lady Artemis… Echid…na." She coughed, tears slowly falling from her eyes "I'm… sorry… milady…" With that, her grip around his collar loosened, and her arm fell lifelessly onto the bloody floor beneath them.

Nero could only look at her in silence.

"Nero?" The white haired demon hunter turned his head around and looked at Nico, who was standing at the door with her eyes widening in surprise. Nero did not say anything, could only shake his head at her.

For some reason, he had a very bad feeling about the upcoming mission.

Line Break

"So according to my father's research," Nico said while driving the RV with one hand, the other holding a book. Nero was sitting on his usual seat beside her, with his head leaning on the back of his hand "Echidna was a giant serpent demoness that once took over the Mitis Forest, where she flew around and scattered her Chimera seeds on the forest floor that she planned to use to create a world where demons would prosper, before you encountered her and Dante put a stop to her."

"So that means she's dead?" Nero asked, still remembered that snake demoness "That doesn't make any sense. How could a dead one return and attack that girl?"

"Well, don't ask me." She answered him with a frown, crossing her arms on her chest "However, I do know that Artemis, the other one she has been talking about, is a goddess."

"A goddess?" The devil hunter asked, raising his eyebrow in surprise "According to what?"

"According to this." Nico said and tossed him another book that she picked up from the dashboard, nearly hitting him in the face. The white haired young man took a look at the title, and looked back at the female weapon-smith in annoyance "Greek Mythology? Really?"

"From what I learnt, Artemis is the Greek virgin goddess of the hunt, wilderness, wild animal, the Moon, chastity, and childbirth."

"Wait, how can a goddess of chastity can be a goddess of childbirth at the same time?"

"Why don't you ask her?" Nico retorted with her own question "Anyway, according to some myths about her, Artemis has a group of female attendants known as the Hunters of Artemis, a group of young women that have turned their back from the company of men and have their loyalty to the goddess."

"So you think that girl is a hunter?" He asked "And then these… Hunters of Artemis or whatever… are real? And the goddess is also real?" with each questions, Nico answered him with a nod of her head. Even saying that, Nero had to admit that was not the craziest thing he had ever heard, or concluded. After all, he was living in a world where a demon would appear out of nowhere, self-proclaimed himself the king of all demons with the intention to take over the human world so that it might rule over humans.

"Greek Mythology does have an Echidna as well, in case you are wondering, she is considered the mother of all monsters in there." Nero nodded his head in understanding before opening the book in his hand and gave the first few lines a read "This shit is so fucked up, but at least I can understand, unlike V's book." The devil hunter muttered while flipping through some pages, before he came to a sudden stop at a particular chapter:

Hestia.

Line Break

Artemis was not in a good mood.

She and her hunters were currently tracking down a group of monsters that had been gathering near Long Island, not too far away from the magical border of Camp Half-Blood on her father's request. As they travelled, they were ambushed by all sorts of monsters, from small armies consisting of Cyclops and Dracaena to the much more powerful ones like the Drakons and Hellhounds of the Underworlds. A number of hunters were injured, but Artemis had been very thankful that none of her sisters had fallen. The Hunt was a flawless fighting unit, as they were stronger, faster, and more accurate than the average demigod, nymph or mortal, but sometimes there were monsters that were too powerful even for her greatest hunters to handle by themselves, and that was when Artemis came in, picking out the most dangerous targets and usually fighting them alone, so that her hunters would not get hurt.

For three months, the hunters had been on the move, moving from hunt to hunt without break. Artemis had also not picked up a single new recruit, believing that there was no reason for her to bring in inexperienced girls when they kept going on dangerous missions for Olympus like this one. It had been the most dangerous series of hunts they had taken in a very long time. For an unknown reason, monsters had become a lot more active recently, attacking everyone, even mortals, and making it even harder for demigods to arrive at Camp Half-Blood.

Artemis had never seen such behaviors from them since the moment she started hunting with her mother's bow and arrows. Monsters were primal creatures, but Artemis knew better than anyone that they were not stupid. They would never attack mortals on sight, because they had no reason to do so, and let them move on with their life, but lately, there was news about them attacking towns and villages in large numbers. Zeus was worried that someone was using them to cause chaos all around the world, but Artemis couldn't help but feel that her father knew much more than that, because for once he did not take it too seriously like he had done in the past. Whenever monsters became too much of a trouble, he would summon Athena and order her to study them, see if they were working for someone with the intention to create an army to go against Olympus. That had happened before, several times even, and it was all thank to her sister they had been able to prevent wars before it broke out, but now, when monsters started leaving their marks all over the world, as far as she knew, Athena was not called.

"Have the scouts returned?" Artemis asked as she walked out of her tent and asked the nearest hunter, who shook her head in response. "I see…" Frowning, Artemis nodded her head thankfully at the girl and walked to the border of the camp, where a group of girls were feeding their hunting wolves treats. It'd been hours since they left, and the scouting unit had never taken so much time to scout Long Island in the past.

"Zoe." She called, and almost instantly a hunter came to stand at her side. She was a tall, graceful and gorgeously beautiful young woman, with dark brown eyes, copper-colored skin and long, dark hair that was braid with a silver bracelet. Like every hunter of the Hunt, she was dressed in silver, as her outfit consisted of a white shirt, silver jacket, silvery camo pants and black combat boots. She also carried a silver bow and wore a quiver full of silver arrows on her back. Her name was Zoe Nightshade, and she was a loyal lieutenant to Artemis, having served the goddess as one of her most trusted hunter in over two thousand years.

"My lady?" She asked, lowering her head a bit to greet the auburn-haired goddess, who was taking on an appearance that looked even younger than she was, but it was the average age of her hunters and all young maidens for whom she was patron before they became smitten with boys.

"How is the injured doing?" She asked in concern. She cared for her hunters greatly, because when a young maiden became a member of the Hunt, they became her maidservants, her companions, her sisters in arms and in a way, they became the daughters that she would never have on her own.

"They are ready to continue, my lady," Zoe answered.

Artemis nodded her head in understanding, but still, she said "I want them to remain here. You and I will head out with a few others. I have a feeling that the hunt ahead of us will be the most dangerous." Zoe widened her eyes in surprise. It was rare for her mistress to give out that order. "You come back to camp and select the ones you want to come with us on this hunt. It's time for us to head out." She told her lieutenant "The sooner we can get this done, the better."

"Yes, I understand." Zoe nodded her head and headed back to the camp, leaving Artemis behind to think about every possible outcome of the upcoming battle.

Line Break

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"No."

"Are we there yet?"

"Shut the fuck up you lizard asshole! We'll be there when I say we are, got it!?"

"There it is." Nero chuckled in satisfaction as he leaned his head back and put one foot on the dashboard before him "Just try to stir things up a little bit. You're awfully quiet, Nico." He said, turning to grin at his companion, who hadn't talked much since they left that gas station. Nero had wanted to give the hunter a proper burial, but the local authorities had arrived and taken over before he could do that. The cops had asked them a few things, and the two had told them everything they knew about the girl but decided to leave out their devil hunting business. It was fortunate that they had that clerk at the gas station to testify for them, or else they would not be able to leave the area and continue their journey any time soon.

"Just… thinking you know, about that girl." Nico said while focusing on driving to their destination. It should not take much more time for them to get there.

"So you think the goddess Artemis and monster Echidna are real?" Nero questioned, remembering what he had read in the book Nico had given him.

"Duh, we're living in a world where your father and uncle are half-demons, and we are going on a demon hunting trip to earn some cash. The gods and their monsters being real is not the hardest thing to believe." The female gunsmith reasoned, something that Nero had to admit was entirely not impossible "Some myths are based on true stories after all."

"Some, let's hope not all because what I saw in that book were a bunch of horseshits anyway." Nero pointed out. He read, but Nero would never call himself a bookworm as that had been Kyrie's job when the two of them were younger. He had read many stories and knew human imaginations truly knew no boundaries, but what he found in Greek Mythology was fucked up on so many levels. There was a story about a human, Pasiphae, and a white bull. The sea god Poseidon sent the white bull to Pasiphae's husband King Minos for him to sacrifice in his honour, but King Minos did not sacrifice the bull because he saw that the bull had the most beautiful fur that he had ever seen and let the bull live. Mad with rage and anger that Minos had not sacrificed the bull, he cursed Minos by having Aphrodite, the goddess of Love, made Pasiphae fall in love with the bull and when Poseidon had left for Olympus, Pasiphae ordered Daedalus to make a fake cow for her to hide inside and lure it. The result of their union was the Minotaur, a monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man.

There was another story that he remembered very well, and it was about the goddess Artemis. When Queen Niobe of Thebes insulted her mother Leto by saying her children were more numerous and better overall, an enraged Artemis shot arrows at Niobe's seven daughters, while Apollo shot arrows at Niobe's seven sons, killing them all in the process. In an act of what they called mercy, the gods only left alive to the Queen's youngest daughter, but turned Niobe into stone… and that wasn't even the end of it.

However, there were some deities that were okay in his book, and one of them was the Goddess of the Hearth Hestia, her stories happened to be the first that he read. She was the eldest child of Kronos and Rhea, the Greek virgin goddess of the hearth, home, the right ordering of domesticity and family. Hestia loved her siblings and their children dearly and her fondest wish was that her entire family was able to get along, despite the fact that they had never been and always head to head with each other in Greek Mythology, especially during the Trojan War. Still, that made her the only one to have an amicable relationship with every other Olympian, even the vain Apollo, the conceited Aphrodite, the grim Hades and the violent Ares, to the point everyone in her family also watched out for her when they could, even issuing severe punishment on her behalf on those who offended her, like Priapus, a minor god of vegetation who had been beaten up harshly by almost every god and goddess because he tried to rape her. The punishment was harsh, but Nero had to admit that he deserved worse.

"Hey Nero, we're here… woah." Nero was snapped out of his thought when Nico spoke up to inform him about their arrival and stopped the van at the entrance leading into a small town before making a sound in surprise when she saw that there were no one on the street at the moment, making the whole town awfully quiet, and look abandoned. "Now this reminds me of Red Grave." She commented while looking around with Nero doing the same thing, double-checking the map to make sure that they had come to the right place.

"Let's hope that it's not," Nero said as he stood up and walked to the back of the devil may cry van to pick up his sword, Red Queen. Nico had been working on a few modifications to make it even more powerful, but overall his most trusted sword still had an ornately etched base, and appeared to be modeled after the German Great Knife, with its most unique feature was the motorcycle-like gear shift around the handle that, when pulled, would spray a flammable propellant across the blade, increasing the destructive power of his already immensely powerful strikes. On the other hand, his customized firearm Blue Rose that he always carried in the gun holster behind his back, still remained pretty much the same, a heavily modified Smith and Wesson Model 500 double-action revolver with an extra barrel underneath the normal one, allowing him to fire two bullets per shot, and a moulded wooden grip and an intricate blue rose design carved into the right side of the gun, hence the name of it. "It's time to get back to work," Nero said as he sheathed his sword behind his back.

"Hold your horse cowboy, I have something for you," Nico told him as she went behind her worktable and showed him a new, but not unfamiliar Devil Breaker.

"Gerbera? Now we're talking." The devil hunter commented with a small smirk. The Devil Breakers had been artificial appendages with several unique and special abilities created by Nico to help Nero on his missions to eliminate demons ever since his Devil Bringer arm was ripped off by his father. However, after the event of Red Grave, the expert craftswoman had started making the new gauntlet versions of the old Devil Breakers for his new arm, allowing him to wear them into battles. "So how much does it cost?" Nero asked, reaching his hand around for his wallet.

"Ah, I see… you are starting to understand." Nico said smugly as she put the Devil Breaker on the table between them "Don't worry about it. This one is on the house. It's the prototype of the old Gerbera, so I will need you to test it out first before I can decide how much it's worth." Nico said before she turned around to show him a series of blue devil breakers, the Overtunes, smirking evilly "These babies, however, will cost you five hundred, each."

"Ugh…" Nero growled in annoyance before pulling out the necessary money for a demon shocker "I will take one. Man, I am not being paid enough for this." Still, the devil hunter had to admit with his new arm and new power he no longer found the Devil Breakers as useful as before. The only reason he was still using them was that Nico said she had a great plan for the new version of the Devil Breakers in the future, and needed someone to test the gauntlets out without worrying about them exploding in their face.

"Remember…"

"It's a work of art, I gotcha." Nero said mockingly before Nico could continue, grabbing the two devil breakers on the table and strapping them to his belt.

"… and it's ain't complete without you." The craftswoman smirked, pointing her hand at him. "So be careful out there." Nico finished, no longer smiling and her tone became a bit more serious than usual.

"Thank you, Nico." Giving her a wry smile, Nero nodded his head and turned around to leave, walking out of the van and cracking his neck a bit before he headed into the town. "Now where is everyone?" The devil hunter couldn't help but wonder, picking up the pace as he looked for Groove Street, which was where his client's relatives lived. The town did not look big, but Nero knew he had to start somewhere or else he would not be able to return to his annoying companion before dinner.

"Uhm… just like that babe… you are turning me on so much."

"What… the… fuck?" Stopping in his tracks when he heard that Nero turned his head to the side and was treated to a very odd sight of a couple heavily making out with each other near the entrance leading to a dark alley, which would have been normal if they were not the first people that Nero had seen in the town. The man was being pinned against the wall, his hands roaming around the woman's backside while the two were sharing a hot and passionate kiss with each other. They continued to do that for another ten second or so, and when Nero was about to decide that the couple was not worth his time, the woman did something unexpected.

She pulled back from the man's lips and then shot her head toward his neck, doing something that Nero did not know because her hair was in the way, but he could see the man widen his eyes in shock and then horror. He opened his mouth to scream, but no sound was able to come out. With his hands, he tried to push the woman away, but she continued to remain firmly where she was, appearing to be much stronger than she looked. Like that, it did not take it long for the man to go limp, and fall to the ground with a dull thud.

"That was so delicious." The woman moaned as she wiped her mouth with the back of her head while standing facing away from Nero. Her voice was soft and silky, almost sickeningly sweet "Hum, what's this strong scent?" She wondered aloud and turned around to look at Nero, who had one hand reached behind his back for Blue Rose. She looked at him for a second, smiling seductively before approaching him in a way that made her blonde hair sweep alluring from side to side. "Hey there handsome, you…" But before she could take another step closer to Nero, the devil hunter pulled out his gun and pointed the barrels at her forehead.

When Nero was about to pull the trigger, he sensed another woman lunging at him from behind him and instantly turned his body around to dodge, slamming the heel of his boot into her stomach before she could scratch him with her hands, sending her crashing into the first woman. Unlike the first who appeared to have a perfect human form, she had a very distinct appearance, most notably due to her half human/half-demon characteristics, with pale white skin, red eyes and flaming hair. Her shoulders and arms were concealed by a jacket with flaring sleeves, which covered most of her hands that assumed the form of sharp and scaly talons. One of her legs was of a donkey while the other one was a prosthetic one made of bronze.

"Now, didn't your mother teach you not to creep up on other people?" Nero mocked while pointing Blue Rose at the two women who were picking themselves up, snarling angrily at him. The white-haired devil hunter then looked around and could see several more women like the two standing on the houses and buildings in the area, looking down at Nero with hunger in their eyes. "What is this? The trophy wives club meeting? I know that I look great and all, but I am taken… and there is only so much a man can do to this many ladies."

"You…" The first demoness snarled, no longer talking to him with that sickening sweet voice of hers "What are you? You smell like a demigod, but why do you have the scent of a demon?" Nero raised his hand above his head and took a sniff at his shirt, wincing when he realized how bad he smelt.

"Well, maybe because I killed a lot of you recently," Nero answered as he looked around. It appeared that he was outnumbered, as usual. "I don't suppose any of you vampire ladies can tell me where Groove Street is, can't you? I am new in town." He asked, smirking as he unsheathed Red Queen from his back and lowered it down to the ground, making the demons around him stop moving and step back rather nervously. However, they quickly hid their surprise and started circling around the devil hunter, blocking every possible escape route that Nero could take.

Little did they know that they would soon be the ones who have to take those escape routes, not him.

Line Break

"What's wrong milady?" Zoe asked quietly as she came to stand beside Artemis, who had come to a stop and was now crouching on the ground in front of her and the chosen group of the twelve most skilled and experienced hunters.

Artemis' eyes narrowed as she put her hand on the ground and looked at the town in front of her, saying "There is something very powerful nearby, more powerful than what we have been hunting." She said, making Zoe look on in surprise. She was about to respond when suddenly a hunter named Phoebe exclaimed in alarm and fired a silver arrow at the Hellhound that tried to attack them from above, making it dissolve into golden dust faster than a normal human eye could blink. It did not take it long for the other monsters to make themselves known to Artemis and the Hunt, as a Drakon that was over two hundred feet long bursting out from the ground beneath them. From the hole that it made on the ground, monsters, a small army of Cyclops, Dracaena and Empousai rushed out and grouped up with the Drakon around the hunters, each one of them was heavily armed with weapons made of celestial bronze. "Stray strong, sisters!" Artemis shouted as she removed her silver bow from her back and notched it with an arrow, aiming at it the Drakon that was baring its fangs at her. Zoe and the other Hunters also back down and gathered around their mistress, forming a battle formation with their backs to each other that left no opening for any monster to catch them by surprise.

"What do we have here?" A loud, rumbling voice could be heard, and the monsters parted away to reveal a monstrous, and extremely fat woman in a denim dress to step forward, smiling down at Artemis, who did not take much time to recognize the mother of all monsters standing before her. "It's the little moon and her stars. It's been a while since the last time I met you, Artemis." She said, her reptilian tongue slithered between her lips in a manner not unlike a snake as she spoke.

"Echidna." She stated fearlessly "Where is your pet son Chimera? I thought it could never leave its mother's side?"

"My son is out hunting, dear… like how he hunted down those hunters of yours." Artemis' ichor turned cold when she heard those words, and to further proved her point Echidna reached her hand into the handbag that she wore around her left arm and pulled out the bleeding head of one of her sisters, a member of the scouting unit Artemis had sent out earlier that day, making the hunters who were watching to almost drop their weapons in shock. "Oh my, say hello to your mistress dear. Didn't you cry her name and ask to meet her while my son was feasting on your flesh?" She asked mockingly, faking a much younger tone while shaking the head around as a mercury-like tear fell from Artemis' silver eyes. Echidna then tossed the head at Artemis' feet before saying "Wanna guess what else I have in my handbag?"

"DAMN YOU!" For the first time in centuries, Artemis lost control over her emotion and roared in anger, firing a barrage of silver arrows at Echidna faster than a machine could do with bullets, before launching herself at the mother of all monsters, transforming into a wild board that swung her claw down the face of the monster. Echidna roared in pain as Artemis scratched her across the face, but she was able to grab the moon goddess by her now oversized body and tossed her to the nearest building with so much force when she crashed the entire building broke down and collapsed around her.

"Kill the hunters. I will take care of this myself." Echidna snarled while blood was flowing down from the wounds on her face. There was another explosion that sent the broken pieces of the building away as Artemis stood up and tossed her quiver of normal arrows away while being shrouded in a silver aura. In her hand was no longer the bow that she used for hunting, but her godly possession, a silver bow that the Elder Cyclops made for her when she became an Olympian, capable of forming powerful arrows that she could fire with destructive power on its own. "Come, little goddess, let's see if you are still as powerful as the last time." With that said, Echidna transformed, reverting back to her true form. In such her true form, she still had a human head, but the rest of her body was snake-like, growing even larger in size. Her tongue was forked and her teeth were replaced by fangs. Her skin and eyes also resembled a reptile's as her eyes were sideways slits and her skin was bright green and scaly..

Line Break

"What a pain!" Nero commented as he entered the telephone booth and dialled Nico's number. In his hand was a piece of the broken Gerbera Devil Breaker he had received from Nico earlier. It had functioned the way he had expected it to be, exploding right into his face when he tried to launch into the air. "Hey Nico, your fucking gauntlet blew up again."

"Wut? I was sure to tone down the power a bit this time? You sure you didn't do anything?!" He heard the craftswoman screamed, making him move his head back a bit.

"Like hell I did." The devil hunter said while rubbing his eyes "Look, you're up. Think you can find me?"

"Duh." was her reply before the call was ended. Nero stepped out of the telephone booth and looked around while debating whether or not he should wait for Nico to arrive. She had never had trouble finding him, no matter where he was, in the middle of a forest or inside the roots of a giant demon tree. It made him think that she put a tracker on him or at least on the Devil Breaker.

"HELP ME!" Before he could make the final decision, Nero heard a scream and snapped his head to see a man running toward him from the other side of the street while being chased by a giant creature. At first, Nero could have sworn he saw an oversized Chihuahua, but as it drew closer, the creature's form shifted before his eyes, and it became a monstrous monster wearing a rhinestone dog collar, with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and the head of said creature sticking out from its back, a blood-caked mane, and a ten-foot-long diamondback snake-headed tail which grew out of its behind.

Without the need to think, Nero pulled out his gun and channelled his demonic energy into it, waiting until it glowed to take the shot. The bullets brimming with his power hit the monster just before it was about to claim its massive jaw around its prey, and while they didn't seem to do any damage, they were powerful enough to knock the monster down, causing it to roll on the ground a few times before it was able to get back to its feet right in front of Nero, unleashing a powerful roar at him with the lion head.

"Woo… you need some mints, bud." Nero said while waving his hand around in front of his face. The monster unleashed another roar before firing a ball of fire from its mouth, blasting the entire area where Nero was standing away. When the fire was clear, however, the monster couldn't see Nero anywhere. "Let's see…" Nero said as he landed one foot on the area between its lion and goat head, looking at the collar its wear around its neck "Chimera… hold on, you are not THAT Chimera, aren't you?" the devil hunter asked in surprise, before pushing back to avoid the wave of fire that was fired from the head on the back, and then leaping into the air to dodge the snake/tail that came at him from behind, flipping around in the air before landing behind the monster.

The Chimera turned around and tried to lunge at Nero, only for him to unsheathe his sword from his back, and crouched his head down to block its claws with the flat side of Red Queen before using its momentum to hurl the monster away, sending it crashing into a nearby truck.

Seeing that it was clearly at a disadvantage, the monster turned around and ran away, but Nero did not let it escape that easily and he wasted no time to chase after the Chimera, running at the speed that allowed him to match the monster. "Oh no, you are not going anywhere." He cried, and fired empowered shots at the Chimera, drawing its attention. The goat head fired another fireball at Nero, only for the devil hunter to dodge with his whole body down, using Red Queen to gliding several feet on the ground before leaping into the air, landing horizontally on the wall of a building before launching back down toward the Chimera while spinning around, revving up the engine of his sword and unleashing a wave of fire that, when combined with his attack, becoming a tornado of fire that slammed into the monster, violently slashing its torso and knocking the Chimera onto its side. All three heads roared in pain, and the snakehead tried to bite him, but Nero was faster and he stood up before it could land its attack, thrusting the barrel of Blue Rose into its mouth and pulling the trigger, blasting the snake head off with two empowered bullets.

"NOOOOOO!" He heard a cry and turned around to see a massive snake monster with the human head of a fat woman looking at him. There was a girl holding a silvery bow standing not too far from it, and she was also staring at Nero with shock in her eyes. Not being a pedophile or anything because she only looked twelve or thirteen, but Nero had to admit that she was possibly the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life. She had auburn hair gathered back in a ponytail and very strange eyes, silvery yellow like the moon. Her face was so beautiful it made Nero catch my breath, but her expression was also stern and dangerous. "You, how dare you hurt my son?!" The snake monster cried, making Nero wolf-whistle in mocking amazement.

"This is your son? Now you are making me want to meet the father." Nero finished as the Chimera stood up, knocking Nero from its bleeding body and sending him into the air, but it was easy for the devil hunter easily to return to the ground, standing with his sword on his back not too far away from the auburn-haired girl. "Damn, there's a whole party going on here." That statement came out of his mouth as he put Red Queen on his shoulder and looked around. There were more girls in silver fighting monsters across the area with bows, arrows and also hunting knives.

"It's okay sonny, mommy will kill the one that tried to hurt you," Echidna said to the Chimera as it came to stand at her side and acted like, in Nero's opinion, an oversized Chihuahua, like how it first appeared to him. "You will pay for this, you insolent demigod!"

"That's the second time someone called me that today," Nero said but made no more comment because Echidna suddenly threw herself at him, much faster than how her son could do. However, before she could reach the devil hunter, who casually sheathed his sword onto his back much to the surprise of the girls in the area, the Devil May Cry van shot out from the hole that Nero had created on the building with the Chimera, crashing into Echidna from the side with such force that it knocked her away from Nero before flipping into the air and then landing back down on its wheels right in front of the devil hunter, who hadn't moved an inch unlike the auburn-haired girl who had moved back in caution. "Now that's how you make an entrance." He smirked, pointing his hand at Nico as she poked her head out of the van and threw him a new Gerbera Devil Breaker.

"This is for you, asshole. Remember you have to pay for that one once this is over." The craftswoman told him before looking at Artemis and her hunters. "Hey Nero, who is this?"

"No idea, but get them out of here." The devil hunter said as he turned around and made his way fearlessly toward Echidna and her son, the Chimera, thrusting his right arm into the Devil Breaker. Moving his fingers around a bit to test its movements, Nero reached his hand up to grab the handle of Red Queen and unsheathed it from his back "So…" The grandson of the legendary Dark Knight Sparda began as he looked at all the monsters standing before him and turned his sword around to stab it down in front of him "Let's just get right into the party, shall we?" Nero announced, and revved up the engine of Red Queen, dosing the whole blade in fire.

Artemis could hardly believe what she was watching.

The Chimera roared and its mother snarled, sending the first wave of monsters at the young man, Nero, standing before them from every direction while ignoring Zoe and the other hunters. The blue cladded swordsman pulled out a white gun, a customized double-action revolver with an extra barrel underneath, from the holster that he wore behind his back, firing a full round of bullets at the monsters running at him, killing three Empousai in the process as each and every bullet was shot in pair with the power of an anti-material sniper rifle, and the precision and accuracy that rivaled even what her best hunters could do with their bows and arrows. However, as she and her hunter had expected, it did not take it long for the gun to run out of bullets. Artemis did not have to be an expert in weapons like her least favourite brother Ares to know even a modified revolver could only hold six at a time, and he had fired all six of them in less than a second, giving the monster an opening to circle around him.

How he was able to do that without worrying about the recoil was beyond her.

A dracaena slithered her way around Nero, and raised her mace to strike him down from behind, but Nero evaded by performing an acrobatic jump to the side, leaving a faint shadow where he once stood before tossing a full set of bullets into the air behind his back and pushing the cylinder of his firearm to the side to throw the empty cartridge cases out at the same time with his body crouching low. Standing up and holding his gun horizontally, Nero then made a full spin and, much to everyone's surprise and amazement, slid all six bullets perfectly into the cylinder while it was still in midair, loading his gun and pulling the trigger as soon as the barrels were pointed between the dracaena's eyes, blowing her head into golden dust before the rest of the reptilian body soon followed.

"WHOO YEAH! Now that's what I called smoking sexy!" Artemis heard his female companion shouted and saw her moving back and fore on the window of her van, with her arms waving above her head like a cheerleader while cheering for Nero.

"Shut up Nico, if you are not going to help me here then keep your fucking voice down, do not attract their attention!" Nero shouted and pointed his hand at her, before he fired another shot without even looking, killing the Empousai that tried to sneak up on him with her bronze sword.

"Sorry asshole, can't hear ya!" the female craftswoman mocked, but Nero decided to ignore her attempt to annoy him. Turning his attention back to the monsters, the white-haired young man then ran to his sword and yanked it up, having no problem holding it with only one hand, before swinging it down, slashing a Cyclops standing in front of him with its club raised above its head, knocking the monster back with a bloody gash that traveled across its oversized body. Artemis and the hunters continued to watch on as he hacked and slashed his way through the wave of monsters, dashing back and fore between them with his sword leading the charge, wasting no more than a second to down a monster before moving onto the next target.

"Kill him! Kill that insolent brat!" Echidna yelled and the Drakon finally joined the battle, charging at Nero while violently knocking the other monsters out of its way. Nero then turned his head and smirked at the approaching Drakon, waiting for the moment it was about to reach him to take one step back and then rush forward to slash his sword up, revving up the engine of Red Queen to increase the power of the blow. The Drakon was launched into the air while roaring in pain much to the shock of Artemis and her hunters, but Nero did not stop there and continued to follow it, spinning around repeatedly and continuously revving the motorcycle engine of red queen, creating a spinning flame blade that sent the giant monster so high up into the air its tail couldn't touch the ground. Smirking, Nero then turned his blade upside down and performed a violent descending slash down the Drakon's head, splitting it right down the middle before continuing to travel down until he touched the ground, unleashing a powerful explosion of fire with the Exceed system of Red Queen, blowing the monsters in the area away and possibly killing several of them in the process.

"Hey, fat ass!" Picking up Red Queen, Nero then shouted and pointed his sword at the stunned Echidna as the Drakon fell down dead behind him with its body slowly dissolving into golden dust until only a huge skeleton remained. "You and the Chihuahua aren't going to join? It'll be really good for you. You know… move around, exercise a little with your son. I am sure at the end of this you will be able to lose some weight." The devil hunter taunted and to further annoy her, he pulled out his gun and shot the last two bullets that he had in Blue Rose at her forehead. He was able to knock her head back a little, like a punch to the face but overall wasn't able to cause any real damage, not even a scratch, to her head. "Guess you are so fat not even my bullets can penetrate you… hot damn, your husband must have a drill for a dick."

"HOW DARE YOU! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!?" Echidna roared in anger, and she was followed by her son.

"I am!" Nero smirked with his arms extending out dramatically.

"DIE!" with that, Echidna rushed at Nero to attack him. When the mother of all monsters was only a foot away from him, Nero thrust the palm of his Overtune Devil Breaker forward and unleashed an electrical burst at Echidna that stopped her on her track. The electrical pulse shocked her through her core, blurring her vision for a moment. When she could finally see clearly again, her eyes became even redder with rage as she saw Nero giving her the middle finger. The Chimera ran past her and spat its venom at Nero with the snakehead, but the devil hunter easily dodged the attack by rolling to the side.

Just when Nero was about to finish his dodge roll and stand up, he felt someone stepping onto his back and looked up to see the auburn-haired girl leaping over his head, using him as a launch pad to jump even higher into the air before firing an arrow into the Chimera's left eye, making it howl in pain and stumbling back beside its mother. "Stand back, these two are my preys," Artemis said in a calm tone as she landed gracefully down before Nero.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Nero asked, arching an eyebrow in surprise "What do you think you are doing? Why are you still here?" He then snapped his head around to look at Nico, shouting "Nico! Didn't I tell you to get them out of here!?"

"They refused to leave." The expert craftswoman answered, shrugging her shoulders.

"Do I seriously have to do everything myself?" The devil hunter grumbled in annoyance as he turned his head back to look at the girl "Look kiddo, this is no place for…" But the girl had already rushed into battle with the mother and son monsters duo, firing silver arrows faster than the eye could blink at the both of them, before leaping at them, becoming a blur of silver as she fought with speed and grace that surpassed even the like of Trish "Okay…" her bow then became two hunting knives, each as long as her arm, and she used them to slash wildly at Echidna while dodging the Chimera's fireballs with unbelievable grace.

Then, to his surprise, she began to change form as she maneuvered. The girl became a tiger, a gazelle, a wolf and a falcon… using their natural advantages as her own in battle against the two monsters, before transforming back to her human form to deliver the most powerful blows. Nero looked behind him and saw the other hunters firing arrows at the other monsters that tried to aid Echidna and her son, aiming for their most vulnerable spots and taking them down with great accuracy. "Ah well… guess I am not needed here from the beginning." Nero muttered as he watched the girl fight and returned Blue Rose back to its gun holster "She got this. The hell is this kid anyway?" He couldn't help but wonder, his mind drifting back to the book he had spent his time reading earlier.

Hold on a second…

"No freaking way." He muttered, looking on in amazement as the girl leapt into the air and stabbed her hunting knives into Echidna's chest, causing the mother of all monsters to howl in pain while violently whipping her reptilian tail around, forcing Nero to take a step back to avoid it. She then pulled her weapons out, causing blood to shoot out from the wounds on Echidna's chest and transformed her knives back to their bow form, pulling the string and notching a silver arrow that appeared out of nowhere, before she fired it down the Chimera, blinding its other eye. She then landed both her foot on the lion head, and gracefully front flipped into the air, firing a volley of silver arrows at the goat head, before transforming her bow into the hunting knife, slashing the tail and beheading the snake from it. Landing gracefully on the ground, Artemis made her bow disappear as the Chimera fell down behind her, following by its mother in a massive pool of her own blood.

"Excuse me but… they aren't dead yet." Nero told her, but the girl shook her head.

"I did not want them to. Their deaths this time will be slow and painful." Artemis finished as she pulled out a normal hunting knife, but it still looked much sharper and dangerous than the normal ones. As Artemis walked around the Chimera and stomped her foot on the lion head, keeping the whole monstrous sized monster down with surprising strength for someone so small and had a slender build like her, Nero couldn't help but wonder what she meant when she said that. "This is for my sister," Artemis said, and raised the knife above her head, preparing to torture the beast until it regretted its existence.

But before she could do that, the hunting knife was shattered into million pieces and Artemis was knocked away from the Chimera by an invisible force, sending her into the air. The goddess was quick to recover, however, as she turned around in midair and landed gracefully down the spot a few feet away from Nero, looking hard at the figure standing near a building on the other side of the field, appearing to be a tall man wearing a formal black suit and an oddly looking beaver hat. He had one hand rested atop a gold cane while the other was being raised in the air, palm facing the direction Artemis had been earlier.

"Good evening." The man said in a smooth and formal tone, bowing his head low looking at Artemis "My most sincere apology for the sudden interruption, but I cannot allow you to kill Chimera. He's important to my experiment." He then turned to Echidna while casually walking his way toward her, his gold cane click-clacking on the ground as he walked "I am also here to retrieve Mrs Echidna. It's time for us to leave." He told the mother of all monsters as she tried to sit up.

"Like I am going to let you do that." Artemis immediately summoned her bow and fired a silver arrow at the man, only for him to raise his hand and stop the arrow in midair, before making it drop harmlessly onto the ground and disappear, causing the goddess look at him in surprise. No one had ever been able to stop the arrow of her godly weapon like that.

Echidna turned to give her a murderous glare, the mysterious man continued to ignore her and reached his hand into his suit's pocket as he came to stand beside Echidna, speaking with the mother of monsters "The preparation has been completed. It's all thanks to you that I can now begin the first test." He then pulled something out of his pocket and showed it to Echidna. It was an apple-like fruit that was brimming with human blood and almost sickening to look at with the amount of demonic energy it was emitting. Nero's blood turned cold when he recognized it. He had never actually seen it with his own eyes, but he had read more than enough notes that Nico had made about that thing to know very well what it was.

"Oh no… this isn't good," Nico said from where she was while watching the whole thing from her van.

It was none other than the demonic fruit of the Qliphoth.

"Where did you get that thing?" Nero instantly pulled out his gun and pointed the barrels at the man, realizing what had happened to the people of the town. Artemis took a glance at the young man, feeling a bit of a surprise by the sudden change in his tone and behavior, becoming much more mature than before in her opinion. The goddess of the hunt then turned her focus back to the object in the mysterious man's hand, because while she had no idea what it was, having never seen such thing in her life, she knew it was extremely dangerous. Artemis could feel some kind of dark energy coming from the thing, and it actually made her feel uneasy and a bit sick in the stomach. Also, there was no mistaking that the red liquid it was overflowing with was fresh human blood.

"Give the fruit to my son." Echidna snarled in hatred "If it can make him become as strong as you claim, then let my son have it… so he can kill all of them!"

"Very well." and with that, he tossed the Qliphoth Fruit to the Chimera.

"No, don't!" Nero shot forward and ran as fast as he could toward the monster, trying to prevent it from eating the Qliphoth fruit. But he was a second too late because while it was blinded by Artemis' arrow, it could still hear what its mother was talking with the mysterious man. The Chimera wasted no time to open its mouth to receive the demonic fruit from him, and it swallowed the whole thing down in one go. "Shit." was the most intelligent word Nero could manage before his gun was knocked away from his hand and he was blown away as the area around the Chimera exploded, surrounding the monster in a dark aura of demonic energy and blocking it completely from sight.

Artemis was also being pushed back, but because she wasn't standing so close to the Chimera as Nero, she wasn't sent flying like him but still she was finding it hard to keep herself on her feet while holding both arms in front of her face to shield it from immense heat waves that were being released from the Chimera along with powerful bursts of dark energy. When she looked up, her eyes widened when she saw three giant pairs of glowing red eyes looking down at her from above.

"What the Hades is this…?"

When the wave of dark energy disappeared, the Chimera finally revealed itself before Artemis. While it still retained the front body of a lion, the Chimera's lower body was that of a dragon, with scaly lizard skin and long and sharp red claws. The goat head had somehow moved down from its back and was now standing beside its lion counterpart, topped with vicious looking horns and a mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. Its back now had numerous spikes, reaching all the way down from the back to the end of its tail, which had also grown back into a king cobra instead of the rattlesnake. In addition to the changes, the Chimera had also become at least three times larger than it had been before, easily towering above every house near the battlefield.

Echidna and the mysterious man was nowhere to be seen.

The Chimera unleashed a roar and nearly knocked Artemis back with the shockwave it created. The monster then lunged at her, forcing Artemis to dodge to the side and causing the ground in the area to shake when its forepaws landed on the ground. Before the goddess could recover and make any counterattack, the cobra shot forward, baring its venomous fangs at Artemis, who raised her bows to block at the last seconds, her boots skidding back on the ground before she could push it away. Zoe and the hunters tried to aid their mistress by firing at the Chimera, but the arrows bounced right off, unable to leave even the smallest scratch on its hardened skin.

"Oh hell no!" Nico shouted and climbed back to the driver seat when she saw the Chimera turning its attention toward her and the hunter. Starting her van, she looked at Zoe and shouted as loud as she could "Get the fuck in. We need to get out of here! That thing is going to attack us!"

However, Zoe decided to ignore her and pulled out her hunting knife, realizing that her ranged weapon couldn't do anything to the Chimera. The others soon followed her example, but before the hunters could head into battle with their mistress, the goddess raised a hand to stop them and fired an arrow to the lion head of the monster to draw its attention back to her. Her arrow was able to pierce its skin, but overall it didn't do any real damage to the Chimera, which then turned and marched on toward Nico's van and the silver cladding hunters. "My lady, we can…"

"NO! Leave now!" Artemis shouted and ran after the Chimera, firing a volley of arrows at the three-headed monsters but she was unable to alter its course. Zoe and the hunters steeled their nerves and braced themselves to fight against the empowered monster.

"Oh no, you don't!" Returning to the battle, Nero came down from above and slammed his Devil Breaker into its head, activating its battery ability to unleash a massive electric burst. The head was knocked down, but the other one shot up and unleashed a wave of fire at the Devil Hunter, who immediately shot down with Red Queen at full charge, delivering a powerful cleave onto its head. At the same time, Artemis rushed toward it from behind, avoiding a stream of venom that was spat at her from the king cobra head, and wrapped her arms around the tail, pulling the massive monster back with her godly strength before swinging it around and throwing it away, but the Chimera was able to recover in midair and landed on the ground before it could crash into the building Artemis had intended to throw it into.

"Here," Artemis said as she tossed Nero Blue Rose, which she had picked up while chasing behind the Chimera. Catching it with one hand, a smirk made it to his face as Nero nodded his head at her to show Artemis his gratitude and reloaded his gun, normally this time, before going on ahead to fight the Chimera, firing several empowered shots at its heads. "No, stand down. I will handle it." She turned to Zoe and the other, speaking to them when she realized that they intended to follow her "The beast has become too powerful."

"But mistress, the boy…" Zoe tried to reason, but Artemis looked at her firmly.

"He seems to know what he is doing, and he's strong." She told her lieutenant as Nero shot into the air and landed on the beast back, where he started running around like it was solid ground "He dies, I don't care… but so many of our sisters have fallen today to that beast, I can't lose any more of you girls." She said, her shoulders in sadness, but only for a moment before she turned around and pulled back the string of her bow, notching a silver arrow "Stand back, Zoe. That's an order." With that, she charged into battle.

"Artemis…" Zoe said before gritting her teeth at Nero. Since the day she became lieutenant of the Hunt, Zoe had always been the first hunter to be chosen to follow her mistress into battle, to watch her back and fight alongside her no matter what foes and beasts they faced, but now, Artemis had ordered her to stand back and headed into battle with someone else… and it was a boy no less. It was hard for her to believe that. Zoe knew her mistress had good reason to do so, and she could easily forget it if it was one of her sisters… but him, a boy?

The Chimera roared in fury as Nero stabbed Red Queen down its back and revved up the engine of his blade, before sliding up as hard as possible, cutting into its flesh and drawing some blood. He leapt into the air and aimed Blue Rose at that same spot that he cut, charging up his shot with his demonic power. Three empowered shots were fire, exploding on impact, and hurting the Chimera even more than before, but he seemed to piss the beast off even more. The cobra tail shot into the air and attacked him from behind, but before it could do that, a silver arrow shot with extreme accuracy stab into its eyes, making the snake spray its venom violently around while hissing in pain. He looked down and smirked when he saw Artemis running around firing arrows at the beast, providing him with the support he needed to return to the ground safely. The goddess then dashed beneath the Chimera, transforming her bow into hunting knives to slash its ankles, and jumped back when it tried to stomp her with its forepaw.

"Try to keep up," Artemis said, not needing to look around to know that Nero was behind her.

"Funny, because I was about to say the same thing to you…" The devil hunter smirked, and with that, the two of them rushed toward the Chimera. When they almost reached it, they both split into two different directions, causing the Chimera to pause in confusion before it could snap its head sideways to follow them "Hey shit heads! Over here!" Nero shouted and shot the lion head with Blue Rose, making it focus its attention on him only. The lion head breathed a fireball at him, but Nero avoided it and the explosion by rolling to the side, continuing to attack it until he had emptied his fourth clip. Rushing forward, Nero used Red Queen to parry the cobra as it shot at him, knocking it back before leaping into the air and delivering a series of aerial slashes at the lion head, ending with a powerful thrust forward. The Chimera roared in pain and tried to create some distance between it and Nero, but Artemis did now allow the monster that luxury and fired an empowered arrow that she had been holding for five seconds at the goat. The arrow exploded upon impact, and actually generated a shockwave so powerful Nero was forced to use Red Queen to block it in midair before returning to the ground.

"The hell was that!?" Nero shouted, but he did not waste any time, running around the beast to face the cobra while swimming his sword around. Artemis seemed to understand what he wanted to do and followed him with her weapon transforming into the hunting knives. She faced the Chimera at the front as Nero attacked the cobra with powerful slashes of his sword every time the cobra slammed its head down, trying to land a bite on him "Miss me." Nero said as he kept on sidestepping its fast but predictable attacks "Oops, miss me again." The devil hunter taunted and then slashed his Red Queen horizontally at the area near the head, leaving a bloody gash there before rushing forward and thrusting his arm into the bleeding wound. As Nero was lifted into the air, he quickly pulled his hand back, leaving his Devil Breaker gauntlet behind after he overloaded it. As Artemis transformed into a falcon and flew over the Chimera toward him, Nero pulled out his gun, reloaded with a single bullet and shot the overloaded Devil Breaker, making it explode like a bomb just in time Artemis transformed back and dove down with her hunting knives at the ready. Aiming for that same spot on the tail, Artemis slashed her weapon, beheading the cobra and removing it from the Chimera's tail. "That's one down, two more to go."

"Focus," Artemis told him as the Chimera roared in pain, seemingly in more pain than a normal animal beast would when it had its tail cut off. Nero dashed towards the monster's legs and went underneath its body, gripping Red Queen with both hands as he swung the weapon in a circle. Flames swirled around him when he revved up the engine of Red Queen, further expanding the range and power of his spinning attacks. Artemis wasted no time to follow him as she launched toward the goat head from below and slashed her hunting knife up, cutting the part that had been weakened by her empowered arrow.

"HEY, PSYCHO!" as Nero came out from underneath the Chimera, his eyes widened when he saw the Devil May Cry van making a ridiculous turn toward him, with Nico standing at the door and Zoe the one sitting behind the wheel "Use this!" She said and tossed a long weapon into the air with the help of a hunter. Nero widened his eyes in surprise when he realized it was the Kalina Ann or at least another version of Lady's trademark rocket launcher. "That thing is for Lady, so don't mess it up!" Nico shouted and then slammed her fist into the van, exclaiming "TIME TO BAIL!" With that, the van made a full circle around the Chimera and dashed away.

Smirking, Nero ran forward and then leapt into the air to catch the Kalina Ann with his hands, spinning it around and holding it at his hip as he landed on the ground several feet away behind the Chimera. "Hey, kid! Get out of the way!" He shouted to Artemis while charging up the rocket launcher with as much of his demonic energy as he could, causing it to glow brightly while fire was flaring out from the back. Artemis looked at Nero and did what she was told, not bothering to ask him any question. The Chimera turned its heads around and looked at Nero, who pulled the trigger and fired the fully charged, empowered rocket at it. "Kaboom." The devil hunter whispered while smirking as the rocket exploded upon impact with the monster.

The explosion was nothing but devastating. The Chimera was sent crashing into the building behind it, with its left torso had been completely blown apart. Artemis looked between the dying Chimera and Nero as he walked toward her with the rocket launcher on his shoulder in shock and awe. "Great work kid." He praised and gave Artemis a pat on her shoulder as he watched the Chimera dissolving into golden dust. "Hot damn, I think I need to ask Nico to make one of these babies for me." He commented while looking at the Kalina Ann 3 in his hands.

Ignoring his comment about the rocket launcher, Artemis turned her eyes to glare at him and raised her hunting knives above her head, causing Nero to take a step back in caution "Call me kid one more time, and I will shoot you." Artemis said, but Nero did not seem to acknowledge her threat.

Still, she needed some explanations.

Line Break

"Didn't she tell us to wait?" Nico asked while driving her van out of the town, looking at her companion who sat on the seat beside her with one foot on the dashboard. After collecting the handbag of Echidna which contained the bodies of her hunters, Artemis had left the area, going back to her camp because she wanted to give her fallen sisters a proper funeral after telling Nero and Nico to wait for her to return so she could talk to them. "It's not wise to defy a goddess' wish, you know."

"Like hell she is. She's just a kid…" The devil hunter replied but then trailed off as he remembered what she could do "an insanely strong, shape-shifting kid. Anyway, why should we listen to her? I am hungry and want to go home." He said and leaned his head back, but his mind went back to the man that had given the Chimera the Qliphoth Fruit.

"You thinking about the fruit, aren't ya?" Nico asked as she put a cigarette in her mouth and leaned a bit to the side so Nero could light it for her.

"Yeah… There wasn't a fucking huge tree there, was it?" Nero asked as he opened the window to get some fresh air. That was the part that he could not understand. How that man was able to get his hand on a Qliphoth fruit without its tree was what he had been thinking about ever since the moment he saw it. While it would take a while and a great amount of blood for the Qliphoth to grow fruit, the tree itself was gigantic and could be seen from miles away. There were also several other conditions that had to be met, and none of them was there when they arrived. "You know much about the Qliphoth?"

"Nah, I am still researching on it, and V did not tell me much about it." Nico pointed out "You should give Trish a call, maybe she'll know something."

Nero nodded his head in agreement and reached his hand for the phone that they put on the dashboard, dialling Dante's shop number knowing that Trish would be there. He did not have to wait long for the female devil hunter to answer his call.

"Devil May Cry."

"Hey Trish, it's me." Nero greeted her with a small smile. Trish had always been nice to him, but he couldn't help but wonder if she knew he was Vergil's son from the moment they met. "Look, there's something I need to ask you. You know about that job Morison gave me..."

End of Chapter 1