In a minivan heading towards the local Mistralian Fair was a family of seven - a mother and her children - five daughters, and a single son. The mother, Jeanne Arc, was an angel in almost every sense of the word. From her looks - having long, golden hair that passed her shoulder and a single bang covering the right side of her face, a gorgeous look accented with gray-silver eyes and rosy lips. To her movement, and way of speaking. If one were to ask a variety of people regarding her personality, the results would be mixed. Some would say she acted like a cold-hearted devil, while the others would speak of her caring nature, similar to the angels of myth.

Next were her daughters. The oldest was Noir, age 24. She had inherited her mother's looks, apart from her eyes, being steel blue. Two well known facts about her was her seriousness and perfectionist habit. Though once you get pass that, she's actually quite affable. Wanting to forge her own path, she had pursued a military career and held the rank of Specialist. Currently, she was off-duty, since there weren't any wide scale events that had caught the military's attention.

Her weapon of choice was an O-katana with the scabbard customized into a shotgun. Yes, a shotgun. A lever action that took in either rounds or Dust. It also enabled her to swiftly draw her blade, if sheathed, by pulling the trigger, causing it to shoot out. The weapon's name was Murasama.

After her were twins, Sol and Luna, age 20. Being twins, it was expected for them to look the exact same, their hair being the main difference. The former had it styled wild, like a lion's mane, while the latter had hers tied into a simple yet refined topknot.

Sol was the text-book definition of energetic and adventurous, while Luna was quite the opposite, being more reserved and highly preferred to read. Despite this, the two of them aspire to become Huntresses, and are currently enrolled in Mistral's academy, Haven. Sol's weapons are twin revolvers, aptly named Amaterasu, that she often uses with gun-fu, while Luna wielded a large scythe that could be shifted into a broadsword, called Tsukuyomi.

Then came Saphron, age 17. She had wavy, dirty blonde hair. Like Noir, she had inherited their father's eyes - steel blue ones. She's an understanding, kind, caring and loving type of person, liking to tease her siblings and friends. She had little interest in the art of fighting, and is instead working to become a writer. Despite this, she had been trained how to fight, using gauntlets.

And the last daughter was Nera, age 15. Probably the most rowdy of the bunch, having been caught stirring trouble numerous times. She got into the art of crafting weapons and aspired to be a weapons smith. And, she turned out to be a prodigy, having managed to create numerous weapons. Although, she used them to caused the aforementioned trouble. But those were all a result of her overly protectiveness to the youngest child of all, her little brother. Jaune Arc.

Jaune, age 9, was the most well-behaved, but also the most quiet. Due to the fact that he was the only male in his family, he had became an outcast of sorts to the children in their neighborhood, often being subjected to ridicule and bullying. At first, it was just nothing but harmless insults, until it started to become pushing and tripping. It wasn't long when someone threw the first punch, and others followed suit.

He tried to hide it, but unfortunately for him, he couldn't mask his bruises and his emotions. His mother had discovered his pain and gave the most brutal tongue lashing she could to the parents of the bullies. For the most part, it worked, but some were stubborn and kept on bullying Jaune.

And that was when Nera took matter into her own hands and tracked down each individual bully and humiliated them all. It was easy, since they were all in the same school. She would've been expelled if it wasn't for Jeanne's threats of having the school be shut down for negligence and allowing harm to her child.

This led to Jaune becoming more of an outcast and had to be home schooled as a result.

Jaune passively watched as they passed by the many houses on their way to the fair. He hoped he didn't had to be babysat by any of his sisters. He loved them, but he wanted to be alone and probably play by himself.

"I wonder how things will be today. Will they be the same, or will things finally change and be different for me?"

The minivan came to a halt, snapping Jaune out of his musing. Quickly, his sisters exited the car, with him following suit. The six of them looked at the numerous amounts of rides and stands with varied reactions. Jeanne's eyes narrowed for a split second as she went back to the minivan.

"Kids, go on ahead. Noir, take charge of your siblings. I'm just going to check on something, alright? Have fun."

The eldest sister nodded and led the others into the fair, right towards a couple of table benches, with a nearby wishing well. While Noir relayed her orders, Jaune went up to the well, looking down at the numerous coins inside. He fished out a quarter from his pocket and decided, why not? He flipped the coin into the well and made his wish.

"I wish…for a friend, and for things to be finally different. I don't really care how, but I just want it to happen."

"Alright, don't wander off too far. Go on, have fun, and try to stay out of trouble, alright? Let's meet up back here after we're all done, okay?"

When no one voiced any sort of objections, Noir nodded and walked off. As Jaune was about to break off from his sisters, Nera grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him away. After passing a couple of more stands, Jaune finally spoke up.

"Nera, where are you taking me?"

The youngest had a cheeky smirk as she stopped and looked at her little brother. "Ah come on. Did you think I'll let you have fun all by yourself? Besides, you're too young to go out all by yourself. And as your big sister, it's my duty to protect you."

Despite the annoyance he felt, Jaune couldn't help but smile at Nera's insistence in protecting him. It may be suffocating, but it also felt nice that they cared.

"Alright. You win. Now, let's go win us some games!"

"That's the spirit! Come on!"

The two siblings spent their time wandering around, playing fair games that they knew had a cheat in them. It was fun watching them gape like fish when they beat their games. They mostly took some of the sweets that were available in the stands, though Jaune did get a red fox plushy because it seemed adorable. He didn't want it, but was just compelled to for some reason.

Nera and Jaune sat on the bench, compiling their winnings. The former grinned, admiring their spoils. "Heh. Serves them right for trying to cheat us out on our money. And probably on some poor souls too. So, will you take the caramel chocolates or the ones with strawberry?"

When she didn't receive a respond, Nera looked up from the pile to see Jaune staring off. She looked in the direction he was staring at and a saw a young, redheaded girl trying out the ball toss to win the top prize - a fox plushy. And from the looks of it, she was being played a fool. From their direction, the siblings could see that the stacked cups were held together by something. Whatever it was, it made the game quite difficult. The stall owner cockily told the girl that she lost, making her feel dejected and start walking away.

Nera looked back at Jaune and something lit up in his eyes. Something she never saw in him. The desire to help. The youngest sister smiled and supported his decision.

"Go ahead, little bro. I'll be close by."

With conviction, Jaune grabbed his fox plushy and rushed over to the redhead. "Hey, wait up!"

The redhead turned around, a bit surprised that some stranger was calling out to her. She looked at him and immediately thought he was cute. She saw what he was carrying and couldn't help but look jealous. Again, she was surprised as Jaune handed the fox plushy to her.

"Here. You can have it."

The girl looked shock that the cute stranger before her was giving away his plushy. For her. She looked a bit hesitant before gingerly taking it off his hands, accepting it. She pressed it against her chest tightly, looking happy.

"T-Thank you." she spoke out for the first time.

Jaune smiled back, scratching the back of his head. "You're welcome. My mom told me that we should help anyone in need. And, I didn't really need the plushy, so it'd be better to give it someone else who really wanted it. My name's Jaune. What's yours?"

The girl lightly blushed and looked away for a moment before introducing herself. "P-Pyrrha."

The blond nodded, before he realized that Pyrrha was just by herself. "Hey, where are your parents?"

Pyrrha looked down, a bit scared. "I got separated from them. I stopped to look at the rides and next thing I know, my parents weren't there."

"Well, do you wanna hang out with me for a while? We can go explore the fair, and maybe we'll find your parents." he suggested.

Pyrrha's expression changed. She beamed and nodded. Jaune beamed back and gently grabbed her by the wrist, starting their fun. In the background, Nera couldn't help but tear up in joy in seeing her little brother socialize. It made her happy that he finally made a friend.

This was possibly the happiest Jaune has been. Besides his family, he had always been alone. He had no friends to talk to, share his interests with, or to hang out with. His sisters didn't count because they were his sisters. To finally have a friend was a big deal for him.

He and Pyrrha had very much played through all of the games they could have found, winning some and losing some. Unfortunately, they weren't able to find Pyrrha's parents, so they went to the benches, eating some candies as they talked.

"So, Jaune. Can you tell me about your family?"

Jaune popped a piece of strawberry chocolate into his mouth as he spoke. "Well, Noir is in the military. People say she's scary, but I think she's nice. The only time I saw her be scary was when someone tripped her and made her dropped her caramel sundae."

Pyrrha chewed on her chocolate bar, humming in thought. "Well, if caramel sundaes are her favorite, I think I would get angry at that man too. Plus, it's not nice to trip someone."

"Yeah. Big Sister made sure he wouldn't do that again. That bad guy's stuck in prison, I think. Anyway, next are Sol and Luna. They're like night and day. Big Sis Sol likes to make fun of me. That's why I like Luna more. She always gives me helpful and advice and would read me stories before I go to sleep. And she always gives me candy!"

The redhead nodded. Jaune then continued.

"Big Sis Saphron is pretty different from my other sisters. She doesn't like fighting and likes writing books. Not much else to say. Then there's Nera. She's my favorite. She's always there for me and we hang out most of the time and prank Sol. And my mom, well, she's the greatest. She teaches me a bunch of great stuff and would always treat us whenever we do great. She's the nicest person I know, so I don't get why some people would call her a witch."

"What about your father?"

Jaune's mood turned somber as his head lowered, his hair hiding his eyes. "I never met him… He just picked up and left a day before my 1st birthday. I only see pictures of him, and never got to know how he was as a person."

Pyrrha immediately felt guilty asking that question and tried to apologize, only for Jaune to quickly turn it around.

"But enough about me, what about you, Pyrrha? Tell me about yourself."

The redhead twirled her hair around shyly with one hand, and used the other to nibble on her chocolate. "Well, it's just me and my parents, actually. My dad works as an instructor in Haven while mom works at a bakery in our home. I'm actually kind of jealous of you, Jaune. I always wanted a little brother or sister to play with, but for some reason, they get sad whenever I ask for one."

Jaune was also confused at that but made no remark. He went to unwrap his next piece of candy only to hiss in pain and wag around his finger, a little bit of blood dripping onto the floor, making Pyrrha concerned.

"You should be careful, Jaune. You never know when you'd get a paper cut."

"I know." he hissed out. "It's always when you least expect it."

Unknown to them, a random bystander suddenly stopped walking. His nostrils being invaded with a sweet scent as his eyes widened. But it didn't make him salivate, it made him furious. He turned around and found the source coming from Jaune. More specifically, his little paper cut.

And he wasn't alone. Numerous others were doing the same motions as he is, confusing many bystanders. As one, they began to chant out a single name, shouting it louder than the previous ones.

"Sparda... Sparda! SPARDA! SPARDAAAAAAAAAA!"

They roared out as their skins became a pure red. Their skins shed off, revealing reptilian-like skin, and horrifying features. Numerous people recognized what they were, but one sole idiot screamed it out.

"DEMONS!"

All hell broke loose as everyone screamed and panicked. The demons roared and pounced on whatever that came within their sights. From behind a booth, Nera bit down a curse as she saw Jaune and Pyrrha freeze up in fear. She turned to run, only to be pushed back by a stampeding crowd, further separating her from her brother.

"No! Clear the way, dammit! Jaune!"

Hearing his sister, Jaune regained his bearings and grabbed Pyrrha by the wrist. "Come on, let's get out of here!"

The two of them ran while the demons were preoccupied with slaughtering the bystanders.

At the Center

"Move, people, move! Forget whatever you're doing right now and evacuate the fair! This is not a drill, nor is this an exercise! If you want to live, get out of here!" shouted out Noir as she directed the people into the exits.

Saphron was helping her out, reuniting the lost children with their parents. Luna and Sol were doing the same. The guards were trying their best to hold them off, but their weapons seemed to only piss them off.

"Sissies!"

The four Arc children turned their heads, seeing Nera run up to them. Saphron, being the closest, approached her. "Nera, where's Jaune?"

Nera panted, trying to catch her breath. Before she could speak, Jeanne appeared, carrying a large briefcase. She opened it up, revealing an array of weapons, all belonging to her daughters.

"Girls, gear up."

The fighters quickly grabbed their respective weapons and got ready. Saphron grabbed the battle gauntlets. Nera reached in and grabbed two guns - a twin-barreled revolver and a large automatic pistol. Jeanne reached out into the air, and a white and golden O-katana materialized into her hand. She twirled it around and flicked the handle up, She drew it and released a wide arc of energy, striking a group of demons.

She sheathed back her weapon with a satisfying click. She turned back to her children, but then that's when she noticed that she was missing two of her kids. "Where did Nera go? And most importantly, where's Jaune?"

None of the girls responded since they didn't know where they were. The mother gritted her teeth in worry. "Noir, Saphron, stay here and protect the bystanders. Sol, Luna, scatter and see if there are any more trapped inside the fair. I'm going to find Nera and Jaune."

The four of them nodded and went on to their assigned tasks. The twins ran off in different directions, while Saphron and Noir stayed behind. Jeanne closed her eyes and felt out the entire area, trying to find her youngest children. It wasn't long until she pinpointed Jaune's location.

"Stay safe, darlings!"

"You too, mom!"

And with that, Jeanne headed off. Saphron and Noir stared at the enclosing demons with a heated glare. Her finger hovered the trigger as her hand prepared to catch the blade. "Shall we?" asked Noir.

Saphron nodded. The two of them charged in to the horde of demons with a loud battle cry.

Back with Jaune and Pyrrha

The two of them were still running as the demons followed them, all the while stopping for a moment to kill a few people. Jaune could only feel despair as he heard the monsters get closer.

"Why is this happening?! Where did they come from?! And why do they keep following us?! Mommy, where are you?!"

Those were their shared thoughts as they hastened their speed as much as their legs could allow. Pyrrha spotted a relatively safe hiding spot and brought it to Jaune's attention. They quickly headed towards there as the demons preoccupied themselves with another group of bystanders.

Jaune and Pyrrha leaned against the wall, catching their breath as silent as they could. Suddenly, Pyrrha wrapped her arms around Jaune, and clutched on to him, trembling as she wept.

"I'm scared, Jaune."

The blond reciprocated this action and teared up as well. "Me too, Pyrrha. Me too."

As he said this, a demon smashed through the building, the debris falling around them. Jaune's first instinct was to wrap his arms around Pyrrha in a protective manner. The demon stared down on the blond child, excitement in its eyes as it bared its fangs.

"Finally! We get to exact our revenge against Sparda! Now, die h-urk!"

The demon's words were cut off as it got gunned down, his body shredded by bullets. Both the blond and redhead slowly looked up and saw Nera standing in front of them, holding out two guns with smoking barrels.

"Get. The hell. Away from my brother!"

More demons crawled towards them, and Nera responded with pulling the trigger on her weapons - Blue Rose and Clean Sweep. While the demons were being killed, Jaune and Pyrrha quickly ran behind Nera for safety.

The blonde stopped firing once there were no more demons in sight. She holstered Blue Rose and turned to her little brother and his new friend.

"Come on, let's get out of here!"

Unfortunately, however, another horde of demons arrived, blocking their path. Nera gritted her teeth. In the corner of her eyes, she saw a little booth mostly unscathed from the sudden attack. She pulled out a little canister with a pin on the top, her eyes unwavering.

"When I give the signal, run as fast as you can into that little booth. And don't turn back. Got it?" she whispered.

Both kids nodded. Nera threw the canister into the air and shot it. The thing erupted in a bright flash, blinding the demons. Jaune and Pyrrha took this as the signal and started sprinting.

The youngest daughter let out a battle cry and rapidly fired at the distracted creatures of hell, killing them all before they could react. A demon managed to evade the bullets and lunged at the blonde. Nera jumped back and spin-kicked it on the head, before blasting its chest open.

Another horde appeared, making Nera blanch. "Just how badly do they want us dead?!"

Nonetheless, she stayed firm and swiftly reloaded her guns. Nera jumped high into the air twirled around, unloading on the demons like a hail storm. She landed and continued firing. She shifted her aim with Blue Rose to the right, stopping the demons that approached.

Out of nowhere, a demon took her by surprise and managed to wretch Clean Sweep off her hands. The demon roared in her face then broke the gun by chomping down on it. Nera growled in anger and pulled out a dagger.

"My Papa gave me that gun!"

She slid under its claws and impaled it through the chest. She flipped off behind it and stabbed it twice, making a huge gash on its back. Finally, she finished it off splitting its head in half. The blonde glared at the corpse, covered in blood

"That, was for breaking one of the few things my Papa gave me."

Nera looked yonder, seeing more demons coming out. "There has to be someone summoning them! Every time I kill one, more take its place… Papa, where are you? Please, help us."

In the booth, Jaune and Pyrrha were huddled in the corner. The only thing they could hear was the ongoing slaughter by Nera's hands.

Jaune grew worried as he heard Pyrrha sniffle, whimpering out for her mother. The blond just comforted her the best he could by placing his hand on top of hers and tried to placate her fears.

"Hey, don't cry. We'll get through this, I promise. Nera is strong, she'll protect us."

The redhead wiped away her tears and looked into his eyes. "Really?"

"Yeah. And after everything, we'll hang out and play again, right?"

Pyrrha smiled at the thought of being with Jaune again and nodded.

"There you are~ I see you~"

Jaune pushed Pyrrha down and screamed as she was snatched up by a demon. The demon, in simplest terms, looked like a demonic minotaur, its horns and eyes ablaze, fire coursing through its skin. Pyrrha's eyes widened at her friend being held captive.

"Jaune!"

The demon rumbled out a laugh, looking at the Arc boy. "So, you are Sparda's latest descendant? Not so impressive."

"Let him go!" Pyrrha gathered up her courage and started hitting the demon on its hooves.

It was not amused and casually kicked her out, which also knocked her out. Before Jaune could voice out his reaction, the demon tightened its grip around him, sneering at the struggling blond.

"I will enjoy this!"

The demon smacked him around like a ragdoll before tossing him up into the air and struck him with the blunt side of his weapon, sending him out of the booth.

Nera, who had just killed off another horde, noticed. "Jaune!" However, more demons surrounded her and blocked her path.

Jaune felt his everything ache. The pain he felt right now compared was magnitudes more painful compared to the abuse he suffered from the neighborhood children. He feebly pushed himself up to witness the demon stalking up to Pyrrha, a sadistic grin on its face.

"I should kill you right here and now, but I want you to suffer first! Now, watch as I end this miserable worm's life!" it declared, raising its axe up.

The blond found himself standing up, trying his best to ignore the pain. "PYRRHA!" he shouted out in desperation as he ran to his newest friend.

There was no way. No chance in hell that he'd let someone who gave him happiness to die just after they met. No way! He ran as far as his injured body could let him. Soon, he reached Pyrrha and pushed her out of the way, letting him be the target of the attack.

The demon had no time in re-coursing his action and brought down his giant axe upon Jaune's right arm, completely severing it.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" he screamed out as the blood gushed out from his newly formed stump.

Forget what he had thought earlier. There was no greater pain than what he was feeling right now! The demon looked at the blond with an almost disappointed look.

"How foolish of you, boy. I had hope to grant you a quick death, but now I will make it slow and painful. I will make you bleed down to the last drop!"

The demon moved to attack once again. Jaune closed his eyes and braced for his impeding death. At this moment, Pyrrha had woken. She saw Jaune's current state and was horrified. She couldn't move, and she couldn't even speak. She could only close her eyes and pray for a miracle.

And it came…with a cost.

Jaune heard the sound of flesh being penetrated as his face was splattered with blood…yet he felt nothing apart from his earlier wounds. He tentatively opened up his eyes, and he dearly regretted that he did.

In front of him was Nera, her face scrunched up in pain as blood dribbled down her chin, the large blade belonging to the demon poking out from her chest. Nera weakly aimed Blue Rose at the demon and shot it in the face, making him stumble and pull back his axe, letting Nera fall.

No. This couldn't be happening. Not his sister! "NERAAAAAAAAA!" he screamed out, momentarily forgetting his pain.

The demon groaned as it recomposed itself, feeling annoyed at the intrusion. Jaune winced and scrambled up to his sister, a large of pool blood forming under her.

"Nononononononononono! Nera!" Tears steamed down his face, seeing his sister in pain and not being able to do anything about it. "Please…don't leave me!"

Despite her eminent death, Nera took the time to smile as her eyes wavered. "I-it's alright, Jaune… Everything's going to be okay. Papa will come…and save us."

"No!" he denied. "He's not coming back. He abandoned us!"

"Silly Jaune… Papa promised me…that he would come…like the heroes in fairy tails…to save us whenever we're in danger."

Jaune could only sob harder as Nera's eyes fluttered, finding it difficult to keep her eyes open. She turned to her little brother and made a request.

"Hey, Jaune-Jaune…? Wake me up…when Papa comes, okay?"

"Do that yourself! Just don't close your eyes, please!"

"But I can't… I feel so…tired."

Nera's head tilted to the side as her eyes closed. And with that, she slipped into the eternal slumber of death, never to awaken once again. Jaune desperately tried to deny it. He tried, but he couldn't. The only thing he could manage was to scream in anguish and hope that everything was just a nightmare.

The demon grunted, gaining Jaune's attention and snapped him back to reality. He wasn't dreaming. Everything was real. Nera's dead, and soon, he and Pyrrha will be next.

"Is this really why Sparda betrayed us? For such pathetic reasons?! Tsk, such annoyance. Now," it handled its axe with its other hand, glaring deeply into the blond. "If there will no longer be any interruptions. Perish!"

Jaune watched as the axe got closer, but he paid no heed to it due to his internal despair. "Am I really going to die? After I've just made a friend? After I've just lost my sister?" He gritted his teeth, becoming angry at his situation. "To hell with that! Power… If only I had power! Power to change my fate, power not to lose the world!"

Unknown to him, everything around him came to a halt and his surroundings changed. He was now in a dark plain with only him and a blue flame present.

"Tell me, why do you desire power?" asked the flame.

Jaune could only grit his teeth and clutch his stump of an arm, his mind flashing to his sister's corpse then to Pyrrha. He looked down, his eyes shadowed by his bangs.

"I'm tired. I'm tired of being useless. I'm tired of sitting in the sidelines while my family risks their lives in trying to protect me! I want to help. I want to return the favor when they protected me. And not just them! I want to be a hero. One who saves others because they can't protect themselves. That's why… I need power!"

"But would you be willing to pay any price to gain it? What would you give up?"

"If I have to become a demon, then so be it!" he declared. "I'll shed my humanity. Anything...to protect those that matter to me!"

The flames seemed amused and satisfied with his answer and grew brighter.

"Then step forth, and claim the power you rightfully deserve, Jaune D. Arc!"

Jaune's eyes snapped open. His eyes lost its soft, azure color, now replaced by a deadly, blood red. A bright light shrouded his body, making him look menacing. Whatever it was, it changed the color of his hair. No longer was it a golden blond, it had become a silvery-white, what remained of his old hair were left with nothing but the tips.

"What sorcery is this?!" roared out the demon.

The light then surged and went to his stump. It expanded and began to mold itself, starting to resemble an arm. The glow dissipated and showed off Jaune's new arm. It was scaled, clawed, radiating with raw energy.

The demon felt itself slightly panic at the sight. "It can't be! Has he unlocked his demonic powers?!" It recomposed itself and placed up its bravado. "Feh. It matters not. He's nothing but a we-"

The demon was cut off as a fist embedded itself into its stomach, courtesy of Jaune. He roared and smacked the demon onto the ground. He straddled it and started pummeling him with his new arm at a rapid pace.

Jaune then punched it through the head, leaving a gaping hole. He looked at the other demons, scaring them with his blood-coated face.

"Who's next?" he spoke in a warped and echoed tone.

The demons didn't move, completely frozen at the amount of energy that Jaune exuded. The blond narrowed his eyes and slowly stood up, huffing out in anger.

"If none of you are gonna move, then I'll grab the first napkin!"

And it was literal. A phantom arm emerged besides him and snatched one of the demons. He looked at it with contempt and smashed it into the pavement, immediately disintegrating it. He raised and crossed his arms together, blocking the attack of two demons. The blond clenched his fist and punched through the demon's chest clean. Jaune pulled back and grabbed the other one by the head and crushed it mercilessly.

In the sidelines, Pyrrha watched in a mixture of awe and fear as Jaune basically beat the demon into submission. She couldn't deny the fact that the way he was acting was scaring her, especially his eyes. She then noticed a strings of red emanating from the demons and entering his arm.

Pyrrha screamed as a demon grabbed her from behind and tried to suffocate her. Jaune turned around and panicked. "Pyrrha!"

Before Jaune could even move, the demon's arms fell limp as its head rolled off its body. Pyrrha shrieked in fear and quickly ran into Jaune's arms. He hovered his demonic arm over her protectively, getting anxious as to what killed the demon.

The demon's headless corpse slumped down and revealed his mother, Jeanne, her weapon now stained with blood. Jaune's eyes bugged out in surprise.

"Mom?!"

Before she could respond, more demons popped out and lunged right at her, Jeanne sheathed back her blade and slipped into an Iaido stance. She narrowed her eyes at the creatures of hell and dashed forward, disappearing in the blink of an eye. No one reacted as she reappeared behind Jaune and Pyrrha, her weapon drawn. Jeanne wasted no time and placed back her blade in its scabbard with a satisfying click, blades of light shredding the demons into nothingness.

The mother turned around to face the two, looking very worried. "Are you alright?"

"Mom…" Jaune mumbled out. He lost the red glow in his eyes and ran into his mother's chest, letting loose the tears that have been building up. "N-Nera, she's-!"

Jeanne looked at her son in confusion, before spotting her youngest daughter's body, sporting a large gash with a pool of blood below her.

"No…"

Jeanne took a few steps forward, tears threatening to burst out as she slowly approached Nera's corpse.

"Not my baby girl…" she uttered to herself in disbelief.

Unfortunately, she would not get the time to mourn. More demons appeared and started circling around them. Pyrrha pressed further into Jaune, who hugged her protectively.

The grieving mother couldn't contain herself and let out an ear splitting roar, a bright flash erupting from her body, blinding those near by. The light died down and the two children gasped in awe at the sight before them.

Jeanne had changed. No longer did she look human. Her most notable difference was her skin color, having become a lightly chrome white. Above her head, a halo floated. From her back, white, feathered wings sprouted and covered her body, which was practically bare, apart from the markings that traveled across it. Her face bore a scowl of rage, her eyes only white coronas and no pupils.

Despite that, she had transformed into what seemed to be an angel. A warrior angel. Jeanne slightly unsheathed her blade, glaring at the demons before her.

"Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. We're nothing more but dust, and to the dust we shall return!"

With an ear-piercing cry, she dashed in and brought down her fury onto the creatures of hell. From the sidelines, both Jaune and Pyrrha looked on in awe. Despite Jeanne's anger, she still moved and attacked with grace, precision, and most importantly, style.

It looked straight out of a choreographed action scene from a move.

Jeanne stabbed her blade into a demon's gut before pulling back and twirled around like a ballerina, striking those dumb enough to enter her rage. Finally, she had enough and decided to end things. She placed back her blade into its sheath and slipped in an Iajitsu stance. She steadied her breath and suddenly, a burst of energy mowed down the remaining demons, without her even drawing out her sword.

The two children had their eyes bugged out in surprise, not at all expecting that.

"W-what just happened?"

"I… I don't know. It's like my mom was so quick in attacking, we didn't even see her take out her weapon. I know my mom is awesome, but not at this level."

Jeanne stood up and straightened her hair, getting some blood and chunks of flesh out. Now that the demons were gone, she allowed herself to change back into her human form.

Suddenly, Jaune gasped and fell back, feeling a bit faint. Pyrrha cried out in surprise and caught him before he could hit the floor. Jeanne walked up to the two and checked up on her son, placing the palm of her hand onto her forehead.

"There's nothing to worry about. His body had just caught up with the adrenaline he felt earlier. That," she looked at his new arm, caressing it gently. "and his heritage having been forcefully awakened."

Noir and her sisters ran up to the scene, having dealt with the stragglers. "Mother, the local Hunters have arrived on the scene and are cleaning up the rest of the stragglers. Have you found-"

The eldest interrupted herself, seeing the unmistakable corpse of their youngest sister. The four of them displayed varying reactions. Noir clasped her mouth in horror, the twins clung on each other to desperately stave off the tears, while Saphron had the vocal reaction, openly crying.

"Oh god… Not Nera!"

Jeanne approached her daughter's corpse and knelt besides it. She gently caressed her hair, tears dripping down onto her body. The mother leaned in and gave her a parting kiss on the forehead, gently whispering to her.

"Good night, little one."

Jeanne stared back at her lone son, or to be more specific, his arm… She had no idea how to deal with it. Her husband had insisted that he would be the one deal with their son's training once he became of age. So, she knew nothing on how to train one's demon side. And with her husband gone, she was lost.

That was, until, she remembered a certain someone her husband had mentioned numerous times. Jeanne shook her head, focusing at the task at hand.

"I'll deal with that later… My family comes first."

A Week Later - Somewhere in Mistral

A motorcycle skid to a stop in front of a building, the rider disembarking and put it on stun. He stared at the building, more importantly, at the neon sign at the top it, though it didn't light up since it was currently day.

It read, DEVIL MAY CRY, with a figure of a person wielding a large sword and a gun at the end.

The person allowed a somber smile to grace his face as he continued to gaze upon the sight. "How long has it been since I've last been here?" he asked himself.

He had silvery-white hair, brushed down and parted into two bangs, one of them covering his right eye. He wore a red coat, with two long coattails. The front of it was designed differently, resembling a vest, the zipper closed all the way up. He wore red jeans, high black boots, a belt with a skull-themed buckle wrapped around his chest and black, gauntlet-shaped gloves.

The man in red sighed and slowly walked up the steps to the entrance. He gently opened up the door and was lightly surprised to see a black-skinned man in dapper clothing on his desk, a fresh box of pizza sitting in front of him.

"Morrison." he said in familiarity. "Guess that means you've been running the shop since I was gone?"

The man took off his hat and nodded. "That's right. Guess I felt it was my duty to keep it afloat while you did your business in hell. Pizza?"

"Don't mind if I do." he said, taking a slice. "So, where are the other two?"

Morrison leaned in on the chair, propping his feet up on the desk. "They're on a job. Somewhere out in Vacuo. They're really something. You know, they might've not shown it, but they missed you, Dante."

Dante grunted, taking another bite into his pizza. "Then they got crazy way of showing it- stealing my jobs, putting me in debt? Honestly, I wouldn't have it any other way."

The dapper man nodded in agreement, the two of them basking in the silence.

RING RING

The telephone rung, attracting both of their attention. Morrison smirked and pushed it into Dante's direction. "Looks like business is beckoning for you, Dante."

"Right, right."

Dante walked up to the telephone and plucked its receiver, putting it on his ear as he grabbed another slice. "Devil May Cry. How can I help you?"

As he prepared to bite into his pizza, the caller decided to spout words that were all too painful for him.

"Where's your motivation?"

The white-haired man almost let his pizza drop onto the floor, as the familiar words sunk into his mind. "E-excuse me? Who is this?"

"Foolishness, Dante. Foolishness."

By now, Dante was starting to become angry. "Enough with the jokes, what do you want?'

"Might controls everything. And without strength, you cannot protect anything. Let alone yourself."

That settled it for Dante. He was feeling a myriad of emotions, mostly anger and confusion. The mysterious woman on the phone had quoted things that Vergil had told him. But only he and his brother were the ones present that time. So it begs the question, who is she?

"Just who are you?" he hissed out.

"187 Hyperion Avenue. Three-story home with a front-yard and blue rooftop. Get here and I'll explain everything."

And with that, she hung up. Dante stared at the phone blankly, still registering the fact that someone knew of Vergil… The brother he had lost and killed. Morrison grew concerned and lightly shook the red-garbed man's shoulder.

"You okay there, Dante?"

"...I'm fine." He stood up and strode to the exit. "We're gonna have to cut things here short, Morrison. Need to get going. Oh, and don't tell Lady or Trish I'm back. I'll tell 'em myself."

Dante walked back to his parked motorcycle and kicked back its stun, straddling it. He activated the ignition key and began revving up his ride, as he sped off.

"187 Hyperion Ave., huh? That's just an hour away from here. Have you been alive all this time, Vergil?"

So... Hi. Welcome. This is what I've been doing for the past month. The plot bunny came to me and I couldn't help but see its fruition.

Honestly, I actually had no plan of even making this, but a certain person in the Arkos Discord convinced me otherwise. And honestly, it was fun making this. If the premise wasn't already painstakingly obvious, Jaune will be Nero in this.

We'll see where this leads into the future. Until the next chapter.