Creed

This is my rifle. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

“Heads up!” From the chaos of the battlefield, Claudia’s voice barely managed to warn Reese’s back. She knows that her Devil Trigger form could keep most of the injuries at bay but it was better to avoid damage if they could. She quickly reassembles her trusty rifle (at this point, Claudia feels like she can set it up with her eyes closed) and begins firing at the Empusas swarming V and Nero.

My rifle is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

“Dia? Need more ammo?”

“Yeah, tell Nico thanks.” Claudia has lost count over how many refills and magazines she has gone through just to cover all their main fighters backs’. She hears some shuffling from below and could swear that Nico said some unflattering words but Claudia doesn’t mind as she aims and fires her rifle at a floating Death Scissor near Dante’s unprotected back. Without a pause, she switches her aim towards her left at another Empusa (a green one this time) threatening to ambush Aradia and Trish and once again fires without worry of missing. The bullet hits its mark, as some disgusting bits of the demon end up on Lady’s jacket. From her scope, she sees Trish and Aradia wave to her direction and Lady giving her the finger.

Claudia smiles as Tasha hands her some new magazines. Once more, she aims and fires--

Without me, my rifle is useless. Without my rifle, I am useless. I must fire my rifle true. I must shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me. I must shoot them before they get to me. I will …

“Shall we dance?” Claudia nearly laughs as Nero bowed down to her general direction. She fires precisely without hesitation, her aim stays true as the bullet takes down a Fury threatening her boyfriend from behind. From her peripheral, she sees another Fury who got a bit too close to their safe zone (something that got past V and Tasha’s combined defense) The sniper changed her position fluidly and shot the enemy head on without a pause. Somewhere below, she hears Nico yell out something (did she just say Super Sexy Sexy?) and turns back to see Nero once again looking at her general direction.

She knows that Nero could barely see (or hear even) where she is standing at, despite her seeing most of them clearly. But then again, she just couldn’t help it.

“Boom. Headshot.”

My rifle and I know that what counts in war is not the rounds we fire, the noise of our burst, nor the smoke we make. We know that it is the hits that count. We will hit ...

V crouched as he lets go of Griffon’s claws, immediately summoning for Nightmare and Shadow to take lead on the Riots reforming. He checks his right to see Tasha deflecting a Pyrobat with the help of Mystery but the momentary distraction caused one of the newly summoned Pyrobats to break past his familiars and head straight for his head.

He hears a scream of his name and a brief gun shot before realizing that the demon never made it to him. V looks up to the direction of the van, smoke rising from the barrel of a sniper rifle on the rooftop. Tasha is by his side immediately, asking if he is hurt anywhere. When he shakes his head, the cook sighs in relief as she immediately waves in Claudia’s direction to convey her gratitude.

The two of them barely see her wave back before another round of gunfire erupted as she sprays cover fire for the rest of their allies.

“That… Will she not run out of ammo?”

“Don’t worry. All of her shots would always count because she never misses.”

The two spared no more idle chatter as another wave of demons break out from the Underworld.

My rifle is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its sights and its barrel. I will keep my rifle clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. We will ...

“Fuck--!” Claudia swears, as a sudden group of Empusas led by a Queen appeared within their safety zone. V and Tasha were busy dealing with some Hell Judecca (and a Lusachia) so back up would be a bit difficult to ask for. Nico joins in the fray and helps keep some of them at bay with her own set of firearms but Claudia knows she’s gonna have to get up close and personal to keep themselves from being overrun.

Without a minute to spare, Claudia jumps down from the roof of the van, her feet landing and bashing the head of one of the Empusas. Her trusty rifle sits on her left side in a sling while Menace is gripped by her right hand, the bat ready to taste demon blood once more.

There was a brief pause in the battlefield, tensions running high as the Queen Empusa stare down against pink defiant eyes. For a second, Claudia felt like she was back in the Order, when demons were running rampant and she and Nero were running around trying to catch Dante.

She smirks as her left hand carries her rifle with pride.

“Let’s boogie.”

Before Sparda, I swear this creed. My rifle and I are the defenders of my family. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of our lives.

“Dante, I swear if you put those demon-infested-filthy boots on my counter again--" 

“I won’t, I won’t!” Dante raised his hands in mock surrender, his smirk saying otherwise however.

“He will, won’t he?” Aradia tiptoes and leans onto Trish’s shoulders as the blond smirks and holds the other girl close. Lady laughs in the background, knowing how the charade will end with the bickering probably-married-couple. Aradia smiles mischievously and suddenly, Trish knows that her girlfriend is up to something again.

Not that that would make the tall demon stop her.

“Careful there, Dante. Reese is going to feed your coat to Sophie and the little darling does need a new toy.”

“Hey now listen here, this coat is priceless--”

“It’s eight-thousand dollars--”

“And I’ll have you know--”

“Aww, Reese, Dante is bullying me, how cruel.” Aradia mock fainted onto Trish’s arms as Lady snickers from behind them. Reese glares at the older man who simply smiled and winked back. The fiery hybrid said nothing, red spreading onto her cheeks as she leaves the crowd to meet up with the rest.

“Man, you shouldn’t tease your wife that much.”

“Nah, I’ll just whip out that cowboy hat and she’ll be raring to go--”

“Ugh, gross, no one wants to hear about your exploits--” As Lady makes some gagging noise, Trish puts down Aradia’s hand, the other girl obviously interested in the juicy details Dante is all too willing to provide.

Soon enough, the group reassembled into the center of the city as the demon swarm finally comes to an end. Nero flies down and retracts his Devil Trigger while Reese checks her nephew for any extra injuries. As the trio arrive, so did Nico’s van and with it the last three missing people. Tasha and V step out followed by Claudia who immediately stands by Nero’s side.

“Hey Nerdy, good job on the cover fire. Didn’t think you had it in you.” Everyone agreed as Claudia is filled with warmth and pride. She clutches onto her rifle, as she allows herself to be at ease towards her family. Nero slips his hand onto her waist as she lets the feeling of his warm hand and everyone’s silly banter wash over her.

---

September XX, XXXX [XX:XX pm]

“Nico, are you sure this is where it is located?”

“Yeah, I guarantee ya it’s--Found it!” Nico grins as she holds up some of the parts needed for a much needed upgrade for her various projects. Claudia sighs in relief as she looks over some of the overturned boxes and various scraps of paper lying around. A picture drawn in one of it drew her attention as she goes over the sketches.

She finds a detailed report towards the rifle she is using.

“Huh… Looks like someone disagreed with the Order’s belief about swords only… I wonder if Nero met the creator.”

“Is that the guy who designed yer rifle?”

“Looks like it…” Claudia unknowingly clutches the rifle, as she turns the paper over. She finds a mess of scrawls, probably written by the same designer.

“Find anything?”

“Yeah… It looks like a… poem?” Nico pauses as she heads over to where Claudia is. The sniper shows her the paper as the artisan skims over the barely legible handwriting.

“Ah, the Rifleman’s Creed. Must ‘ave been one of the folks from outside Fortuna.” Claudia reads through the entire scrawl once more before folding the paper and placing it on her back pocket. She caresses her rifle, feeling the dedication the creator must have poured into forging it.

‘To make something even against the Order’s wishes just for a creed… Creed…’

“Yeah. Creed. I like it.” The sniper smiled as she heads outside after some beckoning from Nico. Mentally, she promises Creed’s creator that she’ll use it to protect her family.

So be it, until victory is ours and there is no enemy, but peace!