The first demon was a four-legged beast, over a meter tall with rippling muscles. Its jagged fangs spewed sulfur, and its claws sparked, igniting the foul stench into fireballs.
Nero's Serpent Blade struggled to pierce its tough hide, only leaving shallow gashes on its massive frame. So, she had Echidna shrink into a longsword, then, channeling her inner Gilgamesh, pried open the beast's jaws with both hands and drove the blade inside.
The second demon was a winged dwarf, sporting sharp horns and nails like razor blades. It swooped in before Nero could finish off the first. With one hand gripping the first demon's head and the other buried in its maw, Nero had no choice but to kick the dwarf away.
Her Serpent Blade, slithering like a snake, shredded the first demon's throat and stomach into scraps. Nero yanked her hand free, covered in gore and black blood, just as the third demon lunged at her.
There were just too many. At first, Nero could track their movements, their attack patterns. But when ants become a swarm, who bothers to study a single one?
Hernán was having an even rougher time, barely able to down a single demon. The plague from her ring only weakened them, and she didn't dare call down a thunderstorm while tangled in close combat. The cannons she'd summoned from her ship, though, were at least pulling their weight.
Nero grabbed the third demon, kicked the fourth aside, and hurled the one in her hands at Hernán, knocking down the demon she was grappling with.
"Fall back," Nero said curtly. "Stick by the fire ring and cover me."
"Sorry I'm not much help," Hernán muttered.
She retreated with all fourteen of her cannons—her entire arsenal from the Mexico landing—lining them up in a row. Their muzzles roared, syncing with the occasional lightning strikes to hammer the demon army's rear.
As part of her ship and her Noble Phantasm, those cannons didn't falter even in the pouring rain. Hernán, now in full Archer mode, unloaded everything she had to take the pressure off Nero.
Truth be told, her stepping back from the front line had already lightened Nero's load.
After a few more tries, Nero finally stowed Echidna to let it rest. The Serpent Blade was built for range and tricky angles, not for tough, numerous foes. And as Dante once said, Echidna was a lightweight compared to the enemies he'd faced, which only made its lack of raw power more glaring.
Gilgamesh's gear, on the other hand, lived up to its rep as one of Dante's prized collectibles. The impact-absorbing, shape-shifting steel was perfect for enemies too sturdy to one-shot. Nero gave up on quick kills, instead grabbing passing demons and chucking them back into the horde like boulders.
It was like bowling—each demon she threw took down at least two or three others, sometimes seven or eight if she got lucky. The fallen ones piled up, forming a makeshift wall to slow the demons behind.
Then, chaos erupted in the rear. The demons, trampling their own into bubbling meat paste in the mud, kept charging Nero with reckless abandon.
At first, Nero could control their advance, hurling one demon with each hand. But as their numbers swelled, she wished she had three heads and six arms just to keep them from slipping past.
The real problem? If even three demons got behind her, Hernán, manning the cannon line, wouldn't stand a chance.
Ritsuka and the others still weren't back.
Nero took a deep breath and played her trump card.
The Yama Blade slid from its sheath. Devil Trigger: activated. She couldn't wait any longer. If Ritsuka didn't make it back before her Devil Trigger ran out, well, she was out of options.
In this chaotic storm of heaven and earth, a silver-haired, blazing-eyed angel raised her blade. Her voice cut through the rain like a battle hymn, soaring skyward:
"That place is desolate. Flames leap, yet forever dim!"
A bolt of lightning tore through the darkened sky, illuminating her mana-wreathed form. She slashed horizontally, a brilliant arc of light flashing and fading in an instant.
The demons before her froze, then erupted in sprays of blood as their wounds tore them apart. They writhed in the mud, their black blood mingling with the rain, seeping into the earth.
"Peace and calm never linger, hope never visits!"
She spun, layering another horizontal slash in the same direction. The blade's light lingered in the air, shredding demons that barreled into it.
"That place holds only endless torment, waves of fire like a flood!"
She whirled again, slashing a third time. The triple-layered cut blazed like a radiant crescent moon.
Not enough.
"Only ceaseless sulfur fuels this unquenchable fire!"
A fourth slash, the light in the blade's wake growing blinding.
Someone once said light comes from beyond. The countless stars in the night sky are holes in the heavens, letting that light pierce the dark.
In this dim chaos, Nero's blade was like a tear in the world, spilling endless radiance.
She paused, glancing into the distance. As expected, no sign of that white chariot.
No need to hold back. No reason to. The mana in Nero's veins roared like wildfire. Right here, right now, she'd burn these filthy things to ash.
No worrying about friendly fire or stragglers. All she needed was to unleash her full power and…
Kill as many as she could.
The demons, realizing Nero was unstoppable, tried to slip around her. But she stomped the ground, and glowing phantom swords rose in rows, blocking their path.
"Eternal justice has prepared a fated prison for the rebels!"
"In this darkness, a realm thrice removed from heaven's light!"
Another layered slash, then she sheathed her blade, clutching it to her chest, ready to unleash its final verse.
"They'll fall here, drowned in torrents of flame and whirlwind, forever scorched!"
In that instant, a beam of light pierced the gloom.
The final hymn, like a divine verdict, brought the judged demons to their knees, collapsing like dry kindling, retreating in terror.
The rain drowned out all sound. A church stood silently in the blue flames.
Then, the firelight faded. Nero, standing tall and fearsome, swayed.
And collapsed, unconscious.
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