Nekosh - Keeper of the Books

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**Nekosh - Keeper of the Books** is a boss in *Dark Devotion*. He is the main boss of The Obsidian Cathedral.

## Description

Nekosh is the librarian of The Obsidian Cathedral. He guards the wealth of dangerous and blasphemous knowledge contained in the Cathedral's archive. He is devious, and tricks the player. He appears to be a human, small in stature, who is proficient in spells.

However, once defeated, he seemingly tricks the player into unleashing what may be his true form from the book he carried. Revealing himself to be a grotesque demon in control of fire, wielding duel scythes. On defeat, he drops the Weapons#Burning scythe.

## Lore

Like most other bosses in *Dark Devotion*, we know very little about Nekosh's background and story. However, Nekosh is easily one of the most mysterious, with almost no mentions throughout in-game notes. However, given his official title, we can assume he may have been guarding this section of The Temple since the King's reign, and has not strayed from his duty since. The description of his weapon states that, *"the Temple's historical knowledge is as intact as it is thanks to him."* He wields spells found in the books from around the room, so it's safe to assume that he has quite a sizeable knowledge of The Temple and its history.

### Theory 1

He seems to be just as corrupt as the rest of the inhabitants of this layer of The Temple, as he resorts to demonic transformation in order to defeat the player, implying that he is very aware of the heretical rituals taking place throughout The Temple.

#### Theory 1.1

Seeing as how he clearly has no eyes just like The Ritualist - From the Night's Kingdom (whose defeat trophy states *"The night’s kingdom is a charming name demonologists use to mean Hell."*), it might not be far off to suggest that he too is from Hell. Bearing the typical tropes of flames and a monstrous demon form support this. The fact that The Ritualist bears no flames and is "*from* the Night's Kingdom" leaves one to wonder what their respective positions within Hell are.

### Theory 2

An additional mystery to him is what the book he drops upon first defeat says:

> *Seeker of truths,
> Of complete lies.
> The pact was broken.
> Pay the price.*
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Whether or not the book is referring to him or the Player Character is very debateable since

1. *Seeker of truths:*
	1. He's a librarian keeping "the Temple's historical knowledge (...) intact".
	2. She's a Templar traversing the mysterious and sacred place (while learning more about it along the way) in order to free her God
2. *Of complete lies:*
	1. He kept historical knowledge that could've been entirely based on lies (or the victor's telling of events). A real life example of this would be whitewashing.
	2. Her mission very well could be for the wrong reasons considering we never meet the Templars' leadership (besides Saint Amand and Saint Gilad) or learn much about the exact reasons behind their actions beyond what the intro says:
		1. > *Fearfulness and obfuscation of knowledge are the foundation of our society.
		> (...)
		> Holding onto their hope and their faith...
		> Drawn to the divine light like moths,*
		>
		>
3. *The pact was broken:*
	1. His power (e.g.: fireballs, Weapons#Burning scythe, and transformation) seems to spawn *from* the book itself in a similar manner to the Player Character's spell books. In the case of the Weapons#Burning scythe, it seems to almost posess *him* with the way it carries him around like a puppet. The pact being with the book is supported by all of this. The only thing missing is how the pact was broken in the first place. Could be that he was never supposed to lose a battle or fail his mission. Could also be that he broke it before she even arrived and is only now paying the price because she weakened him enough for the book to take revenge by absorbing and trapping him.
	2. Her and the other Templars infiltrating the Temple in the first place could very well have broken a pack between the Temple and her Church. Her opening the book and triggering the second phase of the boss fight in doing so *kind of* supports this.
4. *Pay the price:*
	1. Him being sucked into the book like a flame after being defeated and it seeming to have *something* trying to break free immediately after could be part of his punishment for breaking whatever pact was made with the book itself. Not to mention the demonic form showing no signs of him within its appearance or behavior and *actually* possessing the scythes instead of the other way around. As if his very soul was consumed and the book itself took its true form once the Player Character opened it. The book disappearing supports this.
	2. Her facing a demon that spawns from the book after she opens it supports this.

All of that being said, it very well could be that the book was referring to *both* characters. This is kinda supported by Saint Amand's warning that *"Nothing can prepare you for what you will face inside. Time, space, flesh and soul. Once the threshold gets crossed, everything gets distorted."*

## Attacks

### Phase One-

* Nekosh will summon a set number of fireballs, and throw them individually at the player.
* Occasionally a fireball will burst in two, sending out two smaller fireballs horizontally.
* After his first barrage of fireballs, he will float into the air, summon a scythe and occasionally take slow, single swings at the player.
* He will frequently fly out of range and summon pillars of flame from the ground.

### Phase Two-

* He will perform single horizontal swings.
* He can swing downward, which will cause a small burst of flames where the scythe strikes the ground.
* He can swing upwards with both scythes at once, and will occasionally delay a second swing back downwards. He can change direction between these hits.
* After swiping his foot on the ground like bull, he will charge towards the player, leaving a lingering trail of fire in his wake. He can repeat this up to three times in a row.
* After anchoring both scythes in the ground, he will summon many pillars of flame around him.

## Trivia

Phase Two's boss strikes a strong resumblance to [Hide Spoiler] *Dark Souls*' Capra Demon[Show Spoiler]