Nero (Devil May Cry)

Nero is the deuteragonist of the franchise, appearing as the main protagonist of the 2008 action-adventure game and its 2019 sequel, .
He is the illegitimate son of Vergil, the nephew of the legendary Devil Slayer Dante and the grandson of the legendary Demon Knight Sparda. Long separated from the rest of his family, Nero grew up unaware of his heritage, becoming a member of the Order of the Sword with a magical arm known as the Devil Bringer.
He is voiced by Kaito Ishikawa in the Japanese version, who also voiced Genos from One Punch-Man and Tenya Ida from My Hero Academia, and is portrayed and voiced by his motion capture artist, Johnny Yong Bosch in the English version, who also voices Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach, Lelouch vi Britannia from Code Geass, Yukio Okumura from Blue Exorcist, Makoto Tachibana from Free!, Jonathan Joestar from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Artemis from Sailor Moon, Guren Nash/Bravenwolf from Tenkai Knights, Zero from Mega Man X, Giyu Tomioka from Demon Slayer, Yu Narukami from Persona 4, Kiba from Wolf's Rain, Nathan Adams from Yo-kai Watch, Bumblebee from Transformers: War for Cybertron, Genma Shiranui from Naruto, and Kung Jin from Mortal Kombat X.
==Personality==
In contrast with Dante's laid-back and occasionally flirtatious attitude, Nero is a serious, cynical, distant, sardonic and somewhat unsocial person. He is a choleric character, prone to mood swings, and has been seen to both cry and become very angry multiple times during the events of Devil May Cry 4.
He is also very rebellious, much like his uncle and grandfather before him: he wields guns, despite the Order's general prohibition against them; he doesn't really believe in the Order's religion; and cares little for the legend of Sparda. Despite this, he is also very loyal to his friends, especially to Kyrie and Credo. Even though he doesn't care for the Order of the Sword's religion, Nero still participates in some of their activities out of respect for Credo and Kyrie. However, his rebellious nature leads to the Order having him work alone on "special jobs." In fact, Nero actually prefers to act as a lone wolf.
Like Dante, Nero is a somewhat arrogant and cocky person. He shares Dante's habit of casually mouthing off to even the most powerful of his enemies, making taunts and sarcastic jokes on the battlefield. Nero also taunts in a similar, sarcastic fashion to Dante: One taunt involves him bowing mockingly and asking, "Shall we dance?"; another has him aiming the Blue Rose at his enemies and saying "Bang!" instead of shooting; and another has him applaud his enemies.
When he first received the Devil Bringer, he considered it a curse, and covered it with a medical sling to hide it out of shame. However, over time he began to train with the Devil Bringer but doesn't fully accept it's existence until the end of Devil May Cry 4.
Nero is one of the few characters in the Devil May Cry series to actually swear and showcased offensive crude behavior to others. Such instances includes: He calls Agnus a "jackass" and his laboratory a "hellhole". He also almost calls Agnus a "son of bitch" later, but is cut short. Before fighting Dante, he tells him "Kid? Well, if that's how you see me I think you'll blush a pretty pink when I kick your ass." Later on, he tells Sanctus "Go blow yourself", and could say "I'm not interested in your bullshit!" when using a Buster in the first battle with the vicar. Lastly, he gives Dante the middle finger before being absorbed by The Savior.
In Devil May Cry 5, his personality is still the same. However now that he has Kyrie at his side, he warns her not to get hurt when he goes into a battle as he tells her to stay inside the house. He also holds a grudge against the person that took his Devil Bringer arm away from him. He still works alone, but uses the gadgets that Nico makes for him. He also doesn't like paying Nico when she asks for the pay.
==History==
===Before Devil May Cry 4===
Little is known about Nero's past, except of his paternal link to Vergil and that he was an orphan in Fortuna and was taken in by Kyrie and Credo, who he grew up with. Nero later became a member of the Holy Knights, performing "special missions" for the Order of the Sword. Because of his lone wolf attitude, the Order had Nero work solo. He and Kyrie later developed romantic feelings for each other.
Shortly before the events of Devil May Cry 4, a group of demons emerged form Mitis Forest to attack the city. But luckily, Nero was present and managed to take them all out. Kyrie, who was with him at the time, received a minor injury, while Nero's shoulder was hurt and his sword, Red Queen, was damaged and sent in for repairs.
===Devil May Cry 4===
Nero was almost late for a singing performance by Kyrie after he had to deal with a group of demons, but arrived in time. He left a necklace as a gift for her and prepared to leave, not wanting to have to listen to another of Sanctus' sermons. However a man in red, Dante, burst in through the window on the ceiling and shot Sanctus in the face, but before he could confirm the kill, Credo and a group of Holy Knights attempted to subdue him. But Dante easily killed them and Kyrie, who Nero was attempting to get to safety, broke out of his grasp upon seeing that Credo was about to be killed by Dante.
Nero quickly delivered a two-legged kick to the half-demon's face to get his attention and the two battled, while Credo went to get reinforcements. At first Nero fought only with his hand gun, Blue Rose, but then took up a sword from a fallen Holy Knight. Finally during the fight, his right arm revealed itself as the Devil Bringer, giving him a new edge in the battle.
Eventually Nero succeeded in knocking Dante against a statue of Sparda and impaled him there with his sword, Rebellion. However the half-demon yanked himself free and Nero stated that Dante wasn't a human, but he said that they were the same, pulling Rebellion out of his body. He pointed out the knights he had slain and Nero saw they were demons, confusing him while Dante made his escape, just as the reinforcements arrived. Shortly afterwards, Kyrie gave Nero his modified sword, Red Queen, on Credo's request, who ordered him to hunt down Dante. He stated witnesses had seen the half-demon heading to Fortuna Castle, but suddenly the three of them felt a tremor.
Upon heading outside, they found the citizens under attack by demons and while Credo and Kyrie escorted the citizens to safety, Nero fought off the demons. He then began hunting for Dante and as he headed through the city, he found demons had completely overrun Fortuna. Soon enough, Nero found a Hell Gate outside Fortuna in a small village and battled its guardian, Berial the Conqueror of the Fire Hell. After defeating him, he headed to Fortuna Castle where he met a new member of the Order, Gloria, and upon journeying into the castle, he found a second Hell Gate guarded by the icy toad demon, Bael. Eventually he found the lab of Agnus, chief alchemist of the Order, who revealed he had been using his research to create the Hell Gates to summon demons and that Sanctus wanted to use demon power to rule the world. Nero was almost killed by Agnus with help from his Bianco Angelos, but this unleashed Nero's Devil Trigger, at the same time reforging the shattered sword, Yamato, which was in the lab at the time.
=== Turning against the Order===
Nero headed for the Order's headquarters to find out more about what was going on from Credo and crossed a bridge that lead into a cave behind a waterfall. He found himself in a forest and had a brief encounter with Dante, who left by falling off a cliff. Nero fought his way through the forest and eventually confronted the demoness, Echidna, who thought of the forest as her children, succeeding in driving her back into the third Hell Gate. Nero then went to the Order's headquarters where he met up with Credo and demanded to know who Dante really was, but Credo told him not to ask any questions.
He then transformed into his demon form, Credo Angelo, and declared that Nero was under arrest. The two battled and Nero won, but Kyrie arrived on the scene, seeing his demonic arm and thought that he was trying to kill Credo, who had changed to his human form. Agnus arrived and took advantage of Kyrie's surprise and fear, kidnapping her and revealed that Sanctus wanted her to get to Nero.
Credo was furious at these actions and after Agnus flew off with his sister, put aside his fight with Nero for the time being. Nero managed to head into the headquarters and found Agnus, who he fought and defeated, but failed to rescue Kyrie, who was taken away by Sanctus in the form of an Alto Angelo. He continued to pursue her, but ran into Dante, who wanted to take Yamato from him, but Nero refused and the two fought again. However this time, Nero lost, realizing Dante had been playing with him the whole time, but the half-demon didn't kill him and let him keep Yamato, because he needed it to save Kyrie.
Nero left after telling Dante his name and found Sanctus with an enormous statue like demon he created called the Savior. Sanctus wanted him to willingly be absorbed into the Savior and showed him that Kyrie was already within it to try and get him to do so. Nero refused and tried to rescue his love from the Savior, but Sanctus managed to use Kyrie to trap Nero, taking Yamato from him. Credo appeared and attacked his former leader in anger at the way he used Kyrie, but was stabbed through the chest for his efforts. As he fell, Dante caught his body and he and Trish watched as Nero was absorbed into the Savior, awakening it. As it flew towards Fortuna, Credo used his last breath to beg Dante and Trish to save Nero and Kyrie.
===Defeating Sanctus===
Later, Dante, having retrieved Yamato and destroyed all the Hell Gates, faced off against the Savior and succeeded in driving the blade into its chest. It found its way to Nero, awakening him and allowing him to escape the heart, he was trapped in. After fighting his way through the Savior's body, he found his way to the Sacred Heart where Kyrie was located, along with Sanctus in his true demon form, Sanctus Diabolica. Sanctus asked Nero why he had betrayed the Order and he said that Sanctus had done enough cruel deeds to earn him Nero's hate. The two engaged in a final battle and as he was on the verge of defeat, Sanctus asked Sparda to lend him power. When this call went unanswered, he angrily cried out, demanding to know why the demon knight would not give him the power to defeat Nero. Nero explained to Sanctus that while Sparda was a demon, he still had a heart and was capable of loving another, which was something Sanctus lacked, who only had a desire for power. Nero then finished off Sanctus and escaped the Savior with Kyrie and the sword, Sparda, which Sanctus had used to control the Savior. 
However things weren't finished yet as the Savior fused with Sanctus' remains to become the False Savior, a much weaker form. Nero handed the Sparda to Dante and finished off the False Savior, crushing its head with the Devil Bringer. Nero then came to accept his demon side and that though he had demon powers, he was not evil. He exchanged thanks with Dante and offered to give Yamato back to him, but the half-demon told him to keep it. Nero asked Dante if they'd meet again, but he only waved vaguely in response as he walked away. He then met up with Kyrie, who told him she was happy it was all over and they almost kissed, but they were interrupted by a horde of demons that Nero took on, while Kyrie waited for him.
===Devil May Cry 5===
====Before the Nightmare====
In the next five years after the events at Fortuna, Nero starts his own business as a devil hunter. He formed his own branch of Devil May Cry with a blue neon sign given by Dante through the latter's friend J.D. Morrison. Since the Fortuna orphanage had not been rebuilt after the incident, Nero and Kyrie took in three young orphans: Julio, Kyle, and Carlo. He also met with many people, such as occult reporters and novelists, who were investigating The Savior incident including Jeffrey Turner.
While running his business as a professional Devil Hunter, he meets Nico who revealed to have significant knowledge over Order of the Sword's demonic research and other occult knowledge. He initially distrustful towards her upon learning her identity as Agnus' daughter and even considered to kill her as they explore Agnus's old lab in Fortuna Castle, fearing that Nico might continue whatever sinister plan her late father had started. He also felt uneasy owing to the fact that Dante had killed her father with Ebony and Ivory, two handguns which revealed to be crafted by Nico's role model and grandmother Nell Goldstein. To his delight, Nico doesn't hold any grudge over his and Dante's role in her father's death, as Agnus later revealed to be a horrible father for his own family.
Shortly after he and Kyrie decided to make their Devil May Cry a mobile one for more assignments to support themselves and the orphans, Nero worked on improving and fixing the RV required for the job when a mysterious figure showed up. Thinking the man was homeless, Nero causally invited him to eat with him and Kyrie, only for the figure attacked him, tears off his Devil Bringer for Yamato stored within, and left through a portal he made with katana-like Devil Arm. Nero soon passed out from the blood loss as Kyrie and Nico arrived on the scene and tried to stop the bleeding as they called a hospital for help. 
Awakened from his coma at the hospital few weeks later, he meets the mysterious V who revealed the assailant's true identity as Urizen, as he hired Dante to deal him as well. Despite unable to see whether V can be trusted with the loss of his Devil Bringer, Nero decided to tag along, but chose to do so without Kyrie's knowledge. After picking up his arsenal from his garage, Nero catches up with V and traveled to the Qliphoth Tree Urizen summoned at Red Grave City. Unfortunately, despite of Nero joined the fight, Urizen proved too much for him, Dante, Trish, and Lady, with Nero and V are forced to retreat, leaving his comrades on their fate in process.
Despite their loss, Nero and V knows they cannot give up yet, and they only have one month of preparation before the world ends. As such, they agreed to meet again in the next attempt. Realizing his own disadvantages, Nero requests Nico to craft a prosthetic arm as substitute, an endeavor she initially unsure to capable of. However, they soon have to deal demon outbreak at Mitis Forest. At first, Nero wanted Nico not to join him on the field out of concern with her safety, but Nico ended up inspired and chose to stay. After studying a Blitz's corpse, Nico managed to replicate its electrokinetic ability into her first Devil Breaker, Overture.
With his first Devil Breaker at his disposal, Nero said goodbye to Kyrie telling her that Morrison may be sending people to protect the town while he was away. On the road, Nero received a call from V and set a meeting place so they could plan their next move. Grateful with her success with Overture, Nero allowed Nico to join him in the fight against Urizen since she has more ideas for next Devil Breakers and that he will gather more resources for her along the way. Not having heard any news about Dante for a month, Nero mentally readied himself to save Dante and fight with his pride on the line.
==== Return to Red Grave City====
==== Saving Lady ====
====Rematch with Urizen and Dante's Sin Devil Trigger====
====Urizen and V Revealed====
====Breaking Up Dante and Vergil's Rivalry====
Despite his friend's protest, he goes to where Dante and Vergil fight and awakens his Devil Trigger to stop them from killing each other. Afterward, he fights his father Vergil himself, after Nero beats him, both Vergil and Dante Reunite to sever the Qlipoth roots from the Underworld so it doesn't take over the world. Before they go they tell him to take care of the world.
====Returning Home====
We can see him in the car of Nico reading the book of V, Nico tells him that it's ok to cry about his father's death, to which Nero responds that devils never cry. Nero is later seen fighting demons.
==Powers and Abilities==
*Cambion Physiology: Due to his paternal heritage from Vergil himself, Nero has similar powers to his uncle Dante, his father Vergil and his notorious legendary grandfather, Sparda. Despite Nero's cocky attitude, the fact that Nero has the capacity to possess and embrace human virtues such as love or mercy on the same vein with his demonic grandfather allows him to reach his true supernatural power.
**Supernatural Strength: Nero has incredible supernatural strength, due to his cambion heritage. He has overpowered beings who are five times bigger and more muscular than him using only his human hand. He was even able to block an attack from Berial using only his human hand, holding the Red Queen Sword.
**Supernatural Mobility: His super speed has been seen when he is combating Dante and when he killed Sanctus. His speed gives off the illusion that he is teleporting. His reflexes are also similarly enhanced as well.
**Supernatural Stamina: Even after being in a large coma within he savior and having most of his power used to power the savior, he was able to get back up and regenerate his power as well as quickly go after Sanctus. Similarly, he managed to recover from severe blood loss after Vergil tore his demonic arm off.
** Supernatural Durability: While not bulletproof, his physical constitution can withstand high levels of physical trauma. His demonic arm is bulletproof and can easily stop and automatically deflect sword strikes from supernaturally strong beings.
** Regenerative Healing Factor + Immortality: Due to his heritage, he has an impressive healing factor. supernatural healing abilities are so developed that they are able to instantly heal the damage done to his physiology. They have also rendered him immune to age & illness. While being powered by Yamato, his healing breaks through its limits as well & is even capable of resurrecting him from death. An example would be when he was stabbed through the chest with a Gladius by Agnus, but when he got to his feet, he showed no damage from this. Although, it took the awakening of his true Devil Trigger ability for his healing ability to reach its full potential without Yamato's powers, enabling him to regenerate his original human right arm.
**Devil Trigger: As with his father and uncle, he possesses the ability to assume demonic form at will. Just as Dante possessing to version of such ability (normal and Sin version), Nero has demonstrated two versions of his demonic forms:
***Devil Trigger (Yamato Ver.): Nero's initial Devil Trigger. Unlike those of Vergil and Dante, his Devil Trigger is his human form with minor changes, notably glowing red eyes and enveloped by a large blue phantom like being to appear around him that follows his movements and can unleash powerful slashes in combination with Red Queen. His overall ability still improved on the same vein with theirs however, though it requires Yamato's demonic power to keep up with Dante and Vergil's in terms of combat parameters.
***Devil Trigger (True Ver.): Nero's true demon form after awakening the full potential of his demonic power through the desire to stop his father and uncle's feud. Unlike previous one, he assumes an angelic-looking demonic form complete with a pair of spectral arm wings that are improved manifestation of his Devil Bringer power along with his now human-like right arm, replacing previous version's energy avatar.
**Devil Bringer: Nero possessed unique demonic power referred as Devil Bringer, which initially manifested in form of a monstrous-looking right arm. This power was temporarily inaccessible after Vergil severed the right arm to reclaim the Yamato sometime prior to events of Devil May Cry 5, but Nero managed to regain it through his desire to end his father and uncle Dante's rivalry so they won't end up like Credo, in which Devil Bringer returns as a pair of clawed spectral arm wings and more human-like right arm.
***Demonic Arm: Devil Bringer's initial form. The arm possessed incalculable levels of strength, as it was even able to destroy the savior and kill a powerful demon such as Bael with only a punch. While powered by Yamato, the strength of the arm increased further. Nero can also use Yamato to unleash energy slashes and stores the sword in Devil Bringer when not using it.
****Artifact Absorption: The Demonic Arm can absorb and store powerful artifacts to improve its abilities.
***Bringer Claws: Improved version of Devil Bringer ability, which assume the form of a pair of spectral arm wings that enable flight. They also act independently from his body, where as the former Devil Bringer mimiced his arm movements. The power comes with more human-like right arm that he can change into spectral state so he can use Devil Breakers with.
***Demonic Power Manipulation: As with Sparda, Dante and Vergil, Nero can manipulate his demonic energies to increase the firepower of his Blue Rose (Charged Shots) or concentrate the power beneath his feet to perform double jump (Air Hike) via. Devil Bringer. He can also turn his right arm into its spectral form so he can in a Devil Breaker when needed, which Nico joked as "Raw Demonic Power knows a good thing."
* Supreme Combatant: He has shown great amount of martial arts skills, muscle control, swordsmanship & marksmanship. Nero's weapons include a double barreled revolver called Blue Rose, a sword called Red Queen, which has a motorcycle like gear shift that he can use to make it emit a flame like propellant along the blade, and Yamato, a powerful Devil Arm katana that possesses tremendous power and he normally only utilizes it when he activates his Devil Trigger. Nero's weapons include a double barreled revolver called Blue Rose, a sword called Red Queen, which has a motorcycle like gear shift that he can use to make it emit a flame like propellant along the blade, and Yamato, a powerful Devil Arm katana that possesses tremendous power and he normally only utilizes it when he activates his Devil Trigger. Nero can also use Yamato to unleash energy slashes and stores the sword in Devil Bringer when not using it.
===Former Powers===
*Yamato Empowerment: Nero initially relied on the power of Yamato to improve his demonic abilities to the same level with his uncle Dante. After Vergil reclaimed the Yamato and he awakens his true demonic form however, Nero no longer needs the katana-like Devil Arm.
==Trivia==
*Nero's name is the Italian word for black, similar to how Nelo Angelo's name is a play on the Italian words for black angel. The phantom being that appears around him resembles Nelo Angelo and in combat, he sometimes shouts "Blast!" and "Begone!", which Vergil sometimes shouts in boss battles in Devil May Cry 3.
* Nero's voice actor and motion capture artist was Johnny Yong Bosch, who is also known for playing Adam Park, the Black Mighty Morphin' Power Ranger, the Green Zeo Ranger, and the Green Turbo Ranger from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, Power Rangers Zeo, and Power Rangers Turbo. Similarly, Vergil's voice actor and motion capture artist was Daniel Southworth, who played Eric Myers, the Quantum Ranger from Power Rangers Time Force. Bosch also voiced Ichigo Kurosaki from Bleach and Renton Thurston from Eureka Seven, the love interests of Orihime Inoue and Eureka who were voiced by Kyrie's voice actor, Stephanie Sheh.
*Nero's design underwent a lot of work, including some with white clothing and others that look similar to Vergil. In most, he was slimmer with a different eye color and he was also designed with a full Devil Trigger, but it changed to the more specter like one he had in the game.
**Nero's full Devil Trigger would later revisited and finally debuted in Devil May Cry 5, which more human-looking than in previous version.
*La Vita Nuova, the name of the final scene between Nero and Kyrie, is named after a series of poems by Dante Alighieri about his love, Beatrice.
*Early on, his Devil Bringer had a gold color instead of blue.
*His Devil Bringer has also a reference to Hellboy, as the two characters have normal left arms while their right ones are demonic in origin and have considerable strength. Unlike the latter however, Nero lost his Devil Bringer before reclaimed it and even gained extra one on his left hand in his true demon form he awakened later on.
*In the entire Devil May Cry series, Nero is the only playable character that wields his sword left-handed. Despite this, the specter that appears around him wields in Devil Trigger wields its sword right-handed, most likely because Nero absorbed Yamato into Devil Bringer, which is his right hand.
* In the final battle with Sanctus, if the player defeats him with Devil Bringer, Nero shouts "Checkmate!" or "Jackpot!" but if they use Red Queen, he shouts, "Bingo!"
* Like Dante and Vergil, Nero has held all the swords that Sparda wielded. He used Rebellion to pin Dante to a statue, wielded Yamato throughout the game, and took Sparda as he was escaping the dying Savior.
* Nero's Devil Trigger form is similar to the appearance of Yoh Asakura and his spiritual ally Amidamaru from the Shaman King series as both characters' spirit allies were in the form of blade-wielding warriors; as well as the Mangekyo Sharingan wielders' Susanoo from the manga and anime, Naruto..
*Due to his young age, Dante, the other protagonist frequently calls him a kid.
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