"Here's your matcha."
After setting a teacup in front of everyone, Nero took a seat, knowing full well the girls had a ton of questions. She lifted her own cup with a casual grace.
Mentally tallying her demonic energy, she figured a quick one- or two-hour nap after answering Aine's questions would get her back to peak condition. The Pride Demon Stone was another story—it'd take longer to recharge. This city was drowning in "Lust" energy, so her Pride power had no fuel to draw from, forcing it to recover at a snail's pace.
But with Dante still out there duking it out with the Demon Emperor, Nero couldn't shake the worry that resting too long might screw things up.
So, screw full recovery. A short breather, then she'd haul ass back to the fight. If she could take down Nanna, she'd end Dante's battle with the Emperor ahead of schedule.
"…You're Samael, aren't you?"
The brief silence was broken by Riki, of all people.
Nero didn't leave much of an impression on her compared to Samael. They'd only met once at the coffee shop, where Riki knew Nero as Aine's classmate and nothing more.
That's why, when Nero's true identity came to light, Riki was the first to roll with it.
"Yeah, sorry for keeping you all in the dark."
Nero's apology was directed at everyone, but her eyes never left Aine. Meanwhile, Aine, still processing, absentmindedly grabbed her teacup and brought it to her lips, only to flinch from the heat. Snapping out of it, she blurted, "Nero-lo-lo…"
She stumbled over the name, and Nero tilted her head. "What's up?"
"Got any sugar?" Aine scratched the back of her head, chuckling awkwardly.
Nero smirked, half-laughing. "Hang on, I'll grab some."
But before she could move, Aine waved her off. "No, no, I was just kidding. Don't bother."
Then Aine stood, took a deep breath, and said, "Thank you. For saving me, like, a million times. Seriously, I owe you."
After wrestling with her thoughts, Aine didn't question or doubt—she chose gratitude.
Her words set the tone for how the others would handle "Samael," and the tense air in the room finally started to loosen up.
"No problem," Nero said with a light smile. "We're friends, right?"
"Tch." Riki let out a faint scoff, but Nero pretended not to notice. She glanced at the group and got serious. "Right now, the priority is saving this city. My uncle's not likely to go down, but he can't hold out forever."
"Do you need our help?" Riki asked, cutting in again.
Nero didn't miss a beat. "I'm not saying you guys can't do anything, but the 'Blood Moon Princess' is way out of your league. If you wanna help, maybe track down 'Death,' 'Fear,' or 'Love'—see if you can find their trails."
Truth be told, she just wanted them far from the battlefield. Even with their magic gear, these girls had no shot at joining her fight. Plus, Nero was still uneasy about Ais's plan, which seemed to be chugging along without a hitch.
Step one: fully awaken "Nanna" and let her run wild. But what was step two?
Ais's goal was probably to siphon off Nanna's demonic power, but how it planned to pull that off was still a mystery to Nero.
The only thing she could predict was that Ais would use those sleeping girls it had slipped into this world to invade the dreamscape. But Nanna was an ancient demon, one that had tangled with the Demon Emperor himself back in the day. Nero doubted it'd be that easy to steal her power.
What else did Ais have up its sleeve?
Nero's gaze swept over the group, hesitating. Should she tell them Ais was a liar?
Probably pointless. After a quick mental rundown of how close she was to each of them, Nero realized only Aine might believe her.
"Granting wishes" was a honey-coated poison. Until it killed you, nobody would spit out the sweetness. No need to drive a wedge between Aine and her teammates, then.
"Nero-lo-lo, are you seriously planning to fight a demon alone?" Aine asked, her voice tinged with worry.
Nero just grinned, waving off her concern. "You know my grandpa was the lord of Fortuna, right?"
"Yeah, you mentioned that," Aine said, puzzled. "But why bring it up now?"
Nero leaned back, her tone slow and deliberate. "Because Fortuna's only ever had one lord.
"And his name… was 'Demon Blade' Sparda."
She unbuttoned her collar, pulling out the Yamato blade and resting it across her knees. "This is his weapon—the blade that sealed the Demon World's gate."
As the hero who saved humanity a thousand years ago, Sparda's name was legendary. Nero's bombshell—"My grandpa is Sparda"—left everyone floored.
Sosei was the first to recover. She took a delicate sip of her tea, set the saucer down, and said, her voice still laced with shock, "So, Nero's uncle is…"
"Sparda's son?" Riki's eyebrow shot up, and she visibly shuddered. "Damn, if even that guy's struggling—"
Hii-chan whispered to Nero, "Sho-chan… how did it come to this?"
She shouldn't have that kind of power.
"Sorry, but this is way beyond what any of you can handle," Nero said politely, doubling down on keeping them out of the fight. Then she answered Hii-chan's question. "No doubt about it—'Sho-chan' as you knew her is gone. What's left is just some ancient demon brought back to life."
Feeling that wasn't convincing enough, Nero dropped a heavier truth. "The demon fighting my uncle right now? That's Mundus, the Demon Emperor Sparda sealed away."
"WHAT?!" Riki's shout was louder than she probably meant it to be.
Rena, munching on her parfait, looked up. "Riki, loud."
Ignoring Rena's complaint, Riki stood, slamming her hands on the table. "You're not screwing with us, are you?"
"Who else could push Sparda's son to the brink like that?" Nero shot back, shutting down any doubts. Then she hit them with another grim fact. "And your 'Sho-chan'? She had a full-on chat with the Demon Emperor after summoning him. They know each other. From a long, long time ago."
If that was still Shoko, how could she have Nanna's memories?
So, let go of those pipe dreams, Nero's silence seemed to say.
(End of Chapter)