[If the reaction means anything, he recognizes the word. Maybe the way most people -- religious mumbojumbo that doesn't exist. Same plane as the boogeyman. The way people should be when they're not growing up on a place full of hell gates. The way the world, ideally, should be. Where demons stay where they fuckin' belong instead of clawing their way into the human world every few years.

He sets his water down and crosses his arms over his chest. It's not that he trusts or distrusts Steve in particular; they sort of got off on the wrong foot, and maybe his whole Boy Scout routine is annoying, but you gotta give it to a guy who gives someone like Nero a blunt weapon with an organ attached to it without much fanfare.

It's not any of that. It's that Nero doesn't talk about it with anyone. The only reason Kyrie gets it is because she was raised right next to him in the middle of it... and at one point, she believed. He takes a sharp breath and looks away; probably says enough that he has to put so much effort into controlling his temper. Doesn't feel like the question is meant to poke him, but poke him it does.]

Maybe. Probably. [He's far more sure of it than his answers might sound.] I know that's what they were hoping for. [He cracks his neck, picks up the water, thinks twice, then puts it back down. Maybe Dante won't like him being upfront about this shit, but seriously. What does it matter now?] No. It was the Order of the Sword. A holy order of knights meant to protect the human world from demons. [It rolls off his tongue like he's recited it a thousand times -- because he has.] I was raised hunting them. Just like anyone strong enough was expected to. And believe me, no one was better at it.

[Not to mention he liked it. If he wasn't a knight, he's not sure he would've been anything.]