Translated and summarized by CaT

devils-lair.org

Warning:

hazardous

Volume 1 of the novel says that…

After their first battle, Dante immediately had the idea/impression that Nero had the same look in his eyes as Vergil. What 'look' that is, no one knows. Dante didn't explain a thing. Hmm…

Right after his first battle with Nero, Dante was supposed to go straight to the headquarters to kill off the rest of the Order but he opted to take his time and take a detour to look around Fortuna City for clues that may help answer whether Sparda truly ever lived there. The novel explains that Dante didn't really care to know the truth about such things. Most things he knew about his father, he heard. It didn't matter to him if what he's heard was true or false, he simply accepted them as is, but the same couldn't be said about his twin. Vergil was one who was obsessed to look up everything he could, and this was set as a hint to show that Vergil was likely to have set foot in Fortuna City for that reason.

Nero was an orphan. People of the orphanage found him outside their door one day and decided to name him Nero simply because he was wrapped in a black blanket. (In truth this is just an excuse, the writer Bingo later said it was a name that just simply came to mind. Refer to volume 2's summary for this) While growing up, the other kids often made fun of him by saying his mother was a prostitute. This was because Fortuna City was a town so small everyone practically knew everyone else. If someone was pregnant or gave birth everyone would know, so the fact that no one gave birth around the time Nero was found (plus it was said that prostitutes were common at that time), people assumed he was a bastard child. (My god… can you ever imagine Vergil impregnating a human woman?!)

Nero was an orphan but Kyrie (who is one year older) and Credo weren't. They had parents who were faithful followers of their religion. They believed in helping those in need just like Sparda did, which was why they often volunteered work at the orphanage where they first met Nero. Both parents took a special liking to Nero due to his rare silver/white hair which reminded them much of the god they worshipped, and soon enough the family got close to him.



Unfortunately, they later died under the attack of demons. Unbeknownst to most people, these demons weren't those that got through the hell gates by chance. These were fellow people of the Order who attempted the 'ascension' ritual but failed. According to the novel, only those 'strong' enough are able to survive the process. (By strong they probably mean both mind and body, or something like that) Those who fail simply turn into a demon or half demon and typically lose their sanity. As the commander of the knights, Credo was one of the few who knew the truth of what happened, but he wasn't able to tell Kyrie for obvious reasons.



Nero was never a religious kid but after the death of Kyrie's parents, he stopped believing in god entirely. He thought that if god truly existed, he wouldn't have let the kindest people who prayed and believed in him so much die.

It was Credo who taught Nero his sword fighting skills. According to Nero, the 3-consecutive-hit swing attack that Credo does in his boss battle is his signature move. Nero also admired Credo because of his kindness (like his whole family) and his sense of justice. Part of the reason why he decided to join the Order despite being an atheist was to follow in Credo's footsteps. The other part, of course, was to play a part in protecting the city that his beloved Kyrie loved.

Other than the fact that Nero was a lone wolf and sucked at teamwork, people of the Order disliked him also because of his utilization of guns. They believed that battles should be fought gracefully and swiftly with the sword just as Sparda did. In case you're wondering "Bullshit, what about Luce and Ombra?!" there are two possible explanations. 1) The Order really had no idea Sparda ever used guns. 2) Sparda might really have never used guns. I know -- 'he' used it in DMC1 if you switch the character from 'Dante' to 'Sparda', but who's to say that man is 'Sparda'? It seems more likely to me that that is simply an alternate costume/model for the game, an unlockable, like Dante's cosplaying as Sparda. If it truly and absolutely was Sparda he wouldn't be alive to kick Mundus' ass again and spilling Dante's lines. And if Capcom removed the guns, it's either the player would have to suffer or Capcom would have to create new moves specifically for 'Sparda', which they didn't (cause it'll cost more money and time etc).



Also, notice that the real Sparda is always depicted in his demon form, like in the opening of DMC1, Arkham's transformation in DMC3, and the fact that his statue in Fortuna City is of his demon form. It is likely that no one but Eva and perhaps their sons know how Sparda would have looked like as a human. And in his demon form, Capcom has never once shown him holding a gun. I mean just think about it, really. Majestic beetle-looking cool demon with a kick ass giant sword… and a handgun. That… is… so… awesome…! *Shoots you if you agree*. Well okay if anyone argues that Sparda may possibly use a devil fire arm like Pandora or something, until Capcom reveals a picture like that, we can safely assume that didn't happen.



Anyway, the Order disliked that Nero used guns, but Nero clearly gave no shit. He believed that one should be free to use whatever he could to finish an enemy. Better than losing and then whining about how stupid you were to restrict yourself, especially in a life and death situation. And since no one in Fortuna City used guns, Nero had no choice but to get/modify his own. (How he got that knowledge is conveniently unexplained) Modifications were necessary as regular handgun shots weren't strong enough to take down demons due to their tough exterior. Hence he turned it into a double-barreled gun so that he could shoot two bullets at once.



Apparently Nero required two different ammo types for his gun and there's a split lag between the first and second bullet. The first bullet breaks the enemy's armor while the second pierces through the damaged surface to inflict actual damage. Nero mentioned that he would have preferred an automatic clip but alas his gunsmith skills weren't good enough for that. Although if you ask me, logic should be that he couldn't ever possibly have learned anything about guns in a town that condemns guns. Stupid plot holes. Oh, on an extra note, he carved the motif of a rose onto the handle of his gun and named it Blue Rose to symbolize the idea of 'the impossible made possible', which was something he once learned from a book. (Since when does Nero read??)

The day Nero's arm changed, he was attacked by an Assault. It was the first time he had seen one. He came into the scene to save Kyrie and a bunch of orphans she brought for a walk in the forest (LOL?). A team of three knights was sent to help (Nero went there on his own) but one of them named Josh ended up dying while trying to shield Kyrie and the kids from a leaping Assault. It wasn't mentioned when Nero's arm changed, but it was definitely not during the battle against the Assault. It also didn't explain how it changed, like whether the skin slowly peeled off and it hurt like hell, or whether it magically turned into the demon arm complete with high pitched sound effectsl. So....lame. In the end, Capcom still never explained the very shit we wanna know.



But wait, near the end of the story in volume 2 it actually did mention what Nero thought to be the reason behind the change. He figured that perhaps this arm is now how it originally should have been, just like how a caterpillar transforms into a pupa and then a butterfly. (Yeah he made this analogy, not me!) He thought that perhaps he had simply reached that time in his life to be who he really was. O_o… Okay…?? LOL. Apparently Capcom/Bingo forgot to explain how his 'original self' could have had a demon arm when he's only a quarter demon (assuming his dad is Vergil as the novel hinted at throughout) as compared to Dante and Vergil who are half demon but look entirely human. But yeah, that's pretty much the only 'answer' (if valid at all in the eyes of fans) Capcom/Bingo gave to explain why Nero's got that arm.

The very moment Nero devil triggered for the first time in his life (at the end of mission 5), Dante (who was in the bedroom at the top floor of Fortuna castle) felt this surge of energy through the floor that caused him to devil trigger for a split second. According to Dante, this was a reaction that he could get only from someone of the same blood origin. The novel wrote it this way: "the cry of a soul that only one of the same blood origin can detect". (WTF LOOOL) He also thought that this 'feeling' was similar to that of Vergil, except as far as he knew Vergil was "no longer in this world" as he put it, word for word. (Goddamn Capcom, they really wanna make it official that Vergil's dead.) This, my friend, is how Capcom/Bingo wants us to welcome Nero into the Sparda family. *Spazzes out*

Nero was supposedly dying after Agnus stabbed him in the chest at the end of mission 5. In the game, what we got is an unexplained flashback of Nero screaming Kyrie's name. In the novel, he thought about a dream which he apparently saw a lot of lately. In the dream, there was a man he had never met staring at him. Nero described his glare as 'cold', but at the same time he could feel a touch of 'gentleness' or 'kindness' (the word in Japanese has two possible meanings) in him. After a moment of silence, the man (obviously Vergil) opened his mouth to ask him "Can you hear it, the cry of a soul?" (LMAO) And then he added, "What is your soul saying?" Instead of answering, Nero pushed the question back at him, "What's yours saying?" Vergil smiled a little and answered, "Power… I want more power." Hearing that, Nero replied, "I'll take that too then." And then Nero woke up and all the devil trigger shit happened along with Yamato repairing itself. And the blue ghost on his back? *GASP* It's Nero soul…! Best. Idea. Ever. (Sorry for those of you who believe the handsome blue spirit is Vergil. Apparently it's not working out)

In mission 11 of the game where Sanctus preached to Nero atop the Savior about how he was glad to have found someone else with Sparda's blood (cause Dante would be a nutcase to capture), he revealed a flashback of what happened 16-17 years ago.



At that time, Santus was not the Pope of the Order. The Pope was someone of around his age by the name Solemnis while Sanctus was a retired commander of the knights. He had thought about giving up hope of becoming Pope as the only way for a next Pope to be elected was only if the current one passed away, but in the end Sanctus was still unable to give up his dream to turn the world into what he deemed to be Paradise. In order to realize his ambitions, he had no choice but to kill Solemnis using a slow but safe method that is poison (which he abstracted from plants). It took two years for the Pope to die but no one suspected Sanctus one bit as they believed it to be natural death.



As schemed, Sanctus then became the next Pope. As part of their tradition, the new Pope was to rest in the private room at the top floor of Fortuna castle (which was believed to have been Sparda's) in order to 'inherit' his 'noble soul', whatever that means. It was at that time when he heard someone come into the room. Sanctus was about to attack the man in defense but he paused when he could sense the clear difference in 'strength' through the man's aura. The man, obviously Vergil, told him that he came only to trace Sparda's footsteps. Judging by this aura, Sanctus figured that the man wasn't human. He wanted to ask Vergil if he was a demon or perhaps a god when he heard his guards heading for the room. Vergil went straight for the window and was about to leap out when Sanctus asked him to wait.



Vergil paused in response and looked back, only to say "I don't mind that you pray to Sparda as a god, but do think clearly of this. One day I will surpass that god, and when that time comes, who will you worship? The one that was once god or the son who exceeded him." And then he disappeared through the window.



Back to present time, Sanctus told Nero this story in order to explain how he came to the conclusion that Nero was likely to be Sparda's descendant. He was convinced that it was probably 'that man' from16-17 years old that might have impregnated a woman (a prostitute to be exact) in town and out came Nero who's now 16-17 years old. As sucky as this story is, there's still a piece of good news – Nero isn't convinced so neither should we! Yippee yay! =D

Agnus saw Sanctus in his 'angel' form for the first time inside the Savior after it had been activated. This is a scene not included in the game. Agnus hated to admit that he was honestly disappointed when he saw Sanctus' angel form because he looked almost no different from his human form. For a moment he actually doubted if Sanctus was truly as powerful and admirable as he thought he was. His doubts were erased only after Sanctus touched Agnus' shoulder and he could feel his 'insurmountable demonic power'. He concluded that Sanctus looked similar to his human form most likely because he only yearned/wished/asked for demonic power itself instead of a warrior or fighter's built and strength like Credo. This way, there was no need for Sanctus to have a drastically different form.

Volume 2 of the novel says that.....

Lady was on a mission to exterminate a demon when she encountered a Bianco Angelo who took her prey before her. The same thing happened several more times after that to the point that she got annoyed that they're 'stealing' her jobs. Of course, most importantly she felt they were suspicious (she knew they were demons cause she fought one) as it didn't make sense why a demon would be collecting other demons as well as devil arms. Knowing that her weapons were incompatible against them, Lady decided to let Dante solve the mystery behind the Angelos. This was how the story began.



Lady got the information about Fortuna City and its people from an acquaintance who was a collector of artifacts and old materials of all sorts, including demonic ones. She drew him a symbol she remembered seeing on the Angelo and the guy told her what it was along with some basic background info on Fortuna City itself.

Yamato was known as the sword that "separates/divides humans from demons", whatever the hell that means. This is the reason why it was able to 'save' Nero from literally melting and becoming one with the Savior. However, it also mentions that Nero's body was already melting when Dante was going around clearing his missions (in the game) but he kept his own consciousness pretty much by his sheer will to live and protect the one(s) he loves (LOL?). As for Kyrie, she did not melt/die as she was kept in a different 'chamber' from Nero (she's in the last boss room) which is safe. If you're wondering why Sanctus would keep her alive, the novel explains he made precautions in the unlikely (or likely) case that Nero survived and escaped, he would need her as a trump card.



However, ironically in both the game and the novel Sanctus did not actually threaten to kill Kyrie before the last boss battle. He only did so when Nero was about to defeat him, which makes absolutely no sense. There is NO reason why a villain would not use his hostage before it gets risky/dangerous. Even Nero in the novel pretty much thought that was lame.

Dante did not believe in things like 'fate' and 'destiny', but yet he felt like it had to be fate/destiny that led him to Nero as he had never thought of the possibility of there being someone else who shared the same blood as he. How did he know they share the same blood? He just could feel it. LOL.

This was never once mentioned or even hinted at in the game, but the three new devil arms in DMC4 originally belonged to Dante even before the start of the story; he got them from some of his past missions. It was Trish who took them without permission along with the Sparda sword and gave them to the Order to earn their trust and let her join them in her attempt so spy on them as Gloria.



The novel says that Dante is not one to get attached to materialistic stuff (except for those he got from his family of course) hence he rarely bothered to keep any devil arm he might have found in his missions, but sometimes when he is in need of money thanks to the amount of debts he's got (a reference to the anime) he finds it handy to keep some of them so he can sell them to a devil arm collector acquaintance (not the same guy Lady knows). Now the question is, if he kept them only to sell them off, why does he still have these three devil arms if Trish hadn't taken them away? Talk about plot holes.

Dante fought Echidna, Dagon and Berial with Gilgamesh, Pandora and Lucifer respectively. Unlike the game, he retrieved the respective devil arm first before fighting with the boss. Against Echidna, he did Rising Dragon first and finished the fight with a gunshot. Against Dagon, he pretty much skipped right to the Pandora cutscene and did everything as shown. Against Berial, he stuck 20 or so blades in him while blabbering the infamous sexual harassing lines as in the Lucifer cutscene (which confused the shit out of Berial) before setting them off with the rose. Then Berial did somewhat of a Kamikaze move which Dante purposely took before the beast died.

Apparently Berial recognized Lucifer when Dante retrieved it. Lucifer used to be a demon and he was shocked how he could have become a devil arm in the hands of Dante. It was then when it was revealed that there are two ways of how a demon could turn into a devil arm. 1) Like Cerberus (and others) in DMC3, they lost a battle and acknowledged the winner's strength hence offering their own powers in the form of a devil arm. 2) A demon may not acknowledge its defeat but if deep down inside it understood that it couldn't defeat its opponent, it will unwillingly turn into a devil arm. Lucifer is said to be the latter.

2000 years ago when Berial was still just a little thing, he admired Sparda who was Mundus' right hand man. It was because of Sparda's contribution that Mundus was able to conquer the demon world. It was this admiration that puzzled Berial why Sparda betrayed all of his own kind to save the helpless human race which he thought was just meant to be demon food. At the end of his battle with Dante, he concluded his own answer to that question – "Whim of the moment". He concluded that answer from Dante who for no reason purposely took his last attack before he died. "Perhaps it was Sparda's whim of the moment... Just like his son." He thought. Wow... seriously... =/

Dante had never exactly used Yamato before so every Vergil move he did with it in the game/novel was simply a so called 'imitation'. I'm assuming Capcom left it to us to wonder how Dante could copy his brother's specialty moves simply by visual memorization and without training, cause if you ask me that's a giant slap in Vergil's face, especially in the novel when he did Judgment Cut against the Savior and complimented himself, "Hey, not too shabby for a half-assed imitation!"

After destroying the last hell gate (as in mission 17), Dante saw Trish and mentioned that he thought it was odd why his father didn't destroy all the hell gates properly if his goal was to save humankind. Trish felt that she knew the answer but she's determined to keep it from Dante as she felt that he probably wouldn't understand considering he was born in the human world and was raised and lived as one. Her answer was that even though Sparda did set out to save the human race, the demon world was after all his home where he was born (just as Trish was). She figured that he must have been unable to completely let go of his sentiments. (True, and that's sad, but we also know that if there weren't any hell gates left there'll be no game to play >_>)

When evacuating the people, Trish had them take refuge temporarily in a large warehouse which she then cast a barrier around before returning to Dante (she met up with Dante at the end of mission 17). Trish does not have the power to cast barriers but apparently she was able to do so through the use of one of a few unknown/unnamed devil arms which she took from the Order. Ooh… so the Order has more devil arms which we've never ever heard of… Yarrr…

Dante may be half demon but his human side makes him age just about the same rate as a normal human being.

Dante used Dreadnaught against the Savior's mega beam attack because he thought he wouldn't be in time to evade it. He also did a long distance Judgment Cut at the blue crystal on its back.

During Dante's battle against the Savior, he took care of a bunch of Angelos simply by performing Pandora's Omen move and they vanished instantly. So… convenient… He should have done the same against Sanctus and the game/story would have ended in mission 11.

Nero lost Red Queen and Blue Rose after escaping from the Savior's heart - they melted, which makes sense. So he fought Sanctus with only Yamato and his devil arm. Sanctus surprisingly lost pretty fast, faster than all the other bosses Nero's ever fought in the whole game/novel.

When Nero went on to fight the final boss (False Savior), Dante actually said (to himself) that in terms of brute power, Nero might just be stronger than him. Bullshit.

It is revealed near the end that Dante was neither interested nor curious to confirm Nero's origins. It didn't matter who his parents might be because it's not like Nero could show him any evidence. To him, the one important thing was that he could feel that the kid carried 'the soul that should be inherited' (translated word for word) and apparently that was enough reason for Dante to leave Yamato with him. To be honest, I'm not sure if that meant Sparda or Vergil's soul but if by any chance they meant "the soul with a passion to hunt demons for the good of humankind", we should be prepared to quit this series.

After the whole ordeal, Kyrie told the people what happened behind the incident and most of them believed her as they didn't think that someone as pure as Kyrie would lie (it is assumed that Nero told her the story first), but there was a fraction of Order fanatics who believed she was lying and that the Order couldn't possibly have done the shit she said they did. Instead, they believed that the Order died fighting against the demons. These people even spat at her claiming she was possessed, especially considering she now lives with a dude with a demon arm. And yes, Nero no longer hides his arm. He's proud of who/what he is now but is still afraid to let some people see it still in case they hurt/insult Kyrie. However, Kyrie encourages him not to hide it.

In the ending, instead of bringing in just one stack of bills, Lady actually brought a whole suitcase of them and then slowly deducted some amount (in their face) for every work/effort she contributed to the job. 1) Trish had requested for her to fetch a boat at Fortuna's harbor for them to escape when the job's over. She had to pay for renting the boat and the driver, along with all the ammo she used up fighting some demons along the way. 2) After arriving at the harbor, Trish requested her to help protect the people she just evacuated from the remaining demons. 3) Lady forced Dante to tell her what happened that blew the incident out of proportions and when Dante slipped his tongue and told her that the Savior and stuff happened cause they got the Sparda sword which Trish gave them, Lady's conclusion was pretty much "Oooh so it was you (Trish) who made things worse when they didn't need to be", which was why Trish gave Dante "Tsk, Dante!" look in the epilogue cutscene. If you ask me, this has nothing to do with anything but Lady still deducted some money for this 'reason' anyway. Bitch is bitch.



The ironic part, though, is that the novel keeps defending her and explains that Lady is indeed fussy about money but that is not because she is money minded. Reason is, unlike Dante and Trish, she really needs the money as she has no demonic powers and is fully reliant on her weapons to fight, and those things ain't cheap. Yes that does make sense, but it doesn't justify why she'd charge Dante/Trish for helping them save the people, especially when the novel goes on to say that she works a demon hunter not for money but because she hates demons with a passion. If that's the case, you wouldn't bloody charge your buddies for helping out as a demon hunter! What a bullshit of an excuse.

At the end of the epilogue when Lady asked to join Dante and Trish in their new mission, she suggested they have a competition - the one who kills the most demons gets to take all the money she brought to the office today. That is the dumbest thing ever. How on earth can Lady ever beat a demon and a half demon? And, in the super duper unlikely off chance that she won, the only thing she'd get is the little stack of bills while Dante and Trish would get the entire suitcase (the money that Lady deducted from them). How is that a good bargain for her?

The very last scene in the ending was, Nero decided to open a demon hunting business in Fortuna (as we can all guess) and Dante sent/gave him a neon sign board that says "Devil May Cry". To be honest, now that the hell gates have been destroyed, how many demons are there gonna be around for Nero, Dante, Trish and Lady to share and make a living out of? And, does giving Nero the same sign board with the same shop name mean that Dante's initiating a franchise and that his office is headquarters?



Anyway, Nero now stays with Kyrie in an apartment they rented and Kyrie busies herself everyday trying to help the people who have lost their homes and family. Apparently she cooks them food.

Nero was originally named after a sculptor called Rodan, who apparently once created a motif of a hell gate mentioned in Dante's Inferno. However, because the crew preferred a two-syllable name, and because they were afraid 'Rodan' might give too much of an 'intellectual' impression, they decided to go for a different name. In the end, the name "Nero" just somehow innocently came to Bingo. For all the people who thought Nero might be directly related to Nelo Angelo, you've got fooled. =_= That was merely a coincidence. Truth is that he got the idea from Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (what a name) who apparently once suppressed Christianity, which is something similar to Nero putting an end to the Order and their cult.



On the other hand, Sanctus was originally named Benedict but because it is the name of the Pope they decided to scratch it. In the end, they took the names for the remaining characters from Christian songs/hymns.

Nero's move names are named after gambling/casino terms cause Bingo thought of him as a 'sink or swim' person. (a.k.a. just wing it!)

The End