Nero (Devil May Cry) vs. Sora (Kingdom Hearts)

[Dark Soul # 7]

Fresh of their hit games from last year, the devil hunter and keyblade weilder face off in the arena.

Nero is from the end of Devil May Cry 5 and has one of each devil breaker available.

Sora is from the end of Kingdom Hearts 3 and has all his upgrades and keyblades from that game.

They start out in their base forms.

Who wins?

[Nik Hasta]

Is Sora still cutting buildings in half and blocking tons of lasers?

[Dark Soul # 7]

Is Sora still cutting buildings in half and blocking tons of lasers?

Were the lasers as fast as actual lasers, or were they more like random energy blasts?

As for the building cutting, Dante's done as well and Nero overpowered him and Vergil at the end of DMC5.

[Nik Hasta]

Were the lasers as fast as actual lasers, or were they more like random energy blasts?

It was in KH2. They weren't literal lightspeed but there was a metric ton of them firing simultaneously from all angles. It's a pleasantly wild feat.

As for the building cutting, Dante's done as well and Nero overpowered him and Vergil at the end of DMC5.

Dante was nowhere near his peak of power in that confrontation. He'd been hit so hard he'd been a coma for the better part of a month, woke up, fought all the bosses he did with no rest, including fighting Vergil to a standstill again which historically always wiped him out to do so.

Nero effectively turned up at the end and pushed him over and then Dante literally said "Alright, you know what? I don't care any more," and mostly took a nap while Vergil and Nero fought each other.

Nero in terms of actual feats doesn't actually have that much in terms of destructive power as I recall.

[Dark Soul # 7]

It was in KH2. They weren't literal lightspeed but there was a metric ton of them firing simultaneously from all angles. It's a pleasantly wild feat.

I have seen that. Riku helped him, but it's still a cool feat for just either of them.

Hmm. How does it compare to that time Dante and Vergil created a dome of empty air around them by slashing all the water drops from the pouring rain.

Dante was nowhere near his peak of power in that confrontation. He'd been hit so hard he'd been a coma for the better part of a month, woke up, fought all the bosses he did with no rest, including fighting Vergil to a standstill again which historically always wiped him out to do so.

I don't know. It's Dante, he seemed to have recovered a lot during that month and got a pretty major power boost by unlocking Rebellion's true strength and gaining the Sin Devil Trigger. Mainly seen in how he initially couldn't make Urizen get from his throne, but when he was in SDT mode he tore through the guy fairly easily. And when Nero intervened both Dante and Vergil were in SDT mode, and while I won't argue that they're probably super tired at that point they both seemed to be going pretty strong. Mainly seen by how they recover pretty quickly after the fight and jump down to do some more fighting with the armies of hell and slice down the Qilpoth roots.

Nero in terms of actual feats doesn't actually have that much in terms of destructive power as I recall.

That's fair, Nero himself doesn't have the destructive feats. Plenty of strength feats though from how he can toss and smack around bosses the size of buildings.

[BitVyper]

Dante was nowhere near his peak of power in that confrontation. He'd been hit so hard he'd been a coma for the better part of a month, woke up, fought all the bosses he did with no rest, including fighting Vergil to a standstill again which historically always wiped him out to do so.

Yeah but he'd also taken down Urizen, who the entire group working together couldn't even manage to get off his throne a month previous, so Nero might not have KO'd him at his best, but he's definitely more powerful in that period than he has been previously. Nero also proceeded to wipe the floor with a Vergil who'd just finished powering up to about the same extent and did not appear to be particularly winded by his skirmish with Dante.

I mean no, Dante getting smacked down by Nero wasn't a fight, but it, and the ensuing fight with Vergil, definitely demonstrated that Nero has gotten into their ballpark powerwise, and this is at a point where, again, they both just took a massive power up.

[Len Ikari145]

I have seen that. Riku helped him, but it's still a cool feat for just either of them.

Latest Remind trailer from last month showed him doing it on his own now.

[Nik Hasta]

I have seen that. Riku helped him, but it's still a cool feat for just either of them.

Hmm. How does it compare to that time Dante and Vergil created a dome of empty air around them by slashing all the water drops from the pouring rain.

I mean, that's a hard question to answer. Neither are easily quantifiable.

Also, Nero isn't Dante or Vergil specifically.

My view would be that Nero is still a little below Dante and Vergil's level for my money.

I don't know. It's Dante, he seemed to have recovered a lot during that month and got a pretty major power boost by unlocking Rebellion's true strength and gaining the Sin Devil Trigger. Mainly seen in how he initially couldn't make Urizen get from his throne, but when he was in SDT mode he tore through the guy fairly easily. And when Nero intervened both Dante and Vergil were in SDT mode, and while I won't argue that they're probably super tired at that point they both seemed to be going pretty strong. Mainly seen by how they recover pretty quickly after the fight and jump down to do some more fighting with the armies of hell and slice down the Qilpoth roots.

I was more reaching for the point that your statement of Nero "overpowering" Dante is a bit of an oversell for me. Like there's caveats to it.

Nero matched a likely somewhat fatigued Vergil in combat. It's also worth noting that after their fight, Vergil is breathing heavily and says "Interesting," he also then says that he can actually still fight but taking out the Qliphoth takes priority. He was tired but nowhere near as torn to pieces as his fight with Dante in DMC3 for example.

My take on the situation is that, even with his powerup, Nero isn't quite at the level of the Sparda Brothers yet. He's close, certainly good enough to give them a good fight. This is in strong contrast to his presentation compared to Dante in DMC4 wherein he is distinctly below him and Dante is just kind of dicking around the whole time.

[Nik Hasta]

Also, just a small note, I just watched the scene in question; Nero doesn't actually stop Super Devil Trigger Dante and Vergil. Neither of them have actually swung their weapons when he appears. He drops in and gets between them, both of them are surprised and power down to their normal forms and then he pushes them over.

Dante does comment "that bitch slap nearly killed me," after Nero hits him in the face but I'm not sure how much weight to put into that given how the confrontation with Vergil goes.

[Len Ikari145]

Also, just a small note, I just watched the scene in question; Nero doesn't actually stop Super Devil Trigger Dante and Vergil. Neither of them have actually swung their weapons when he appears. He drops in and gets between them, both of them are surprised and power down to their normal forms and then he pushes them over.

Dante does comment "that bitch slap nearly killed me," after Nero hits him in the face but I'm not sure how much weight to put into that given how the confrontation with Vergil goes.

How would you also quantify that as a speed feat (Specifically, the time it took him to seemingly warp to the summit of the Tree to get between Dante and Vergil)?

As for the match itself, I don't think Sora's winning here, mostly because Nero has more solid BT feats and his strength feats are at least on par with Sora's without Devil Trigger.

[Dark Soul # 7]

Also, just a small note, I just watched the scene in question; Nero doesn't actually stop Super Devil Trigger Dante and Vergil. Neither of them have actually swung their weapons when he appears. He drops in and gets between them, both of them are surprised and power down to their normal forms and then he pushes them over.

Dante does comment "that bitch slap nearly killed me," after Nero hits him in the face but I'm not sure how much weight to put into that given how the confrontation with Vergil goes.

They are totally charging at each other before he zips between them and he is keeping them from swinging their swords. Not with his regular hands mind you, but with his wing hands.

And I mean, these guys heal a lot. How tired and damaged they are from fights can be tricky to gauge.

Here's the scene for all to see and examine at their leisure, and because it's really cool.

As for the match itself, I don't think Sora's winning here, mostly because Nero has more solid BT feats and his strength feats are at least on par with Sora's without Devil Trigger.

Do you think Sora's various different forms would help him out?

[BitVyper]

I mean Nero's wing-hands can throw Goliath around and he's pretty giant. Not to mention that the scene where he intercepts Vergil and Dante (and again, cleanly beats Vergil) is all of like thirty seconds before they sever the Qlipoth's roots offscreen, which are enormous, so it's not like they've been rendered as comically helpless as disregarding Nero's feats there would require.

Edit: And for that matter, didn't Sparda spend the entire month both masking Dante's presence and siphoning energy off the tree for him? Literally all evidence points to him being stronger, not weaker, after his KO, even before getting the ginormous power up that lets him take on the guy who absolutely destroyed his entire friendlist a month ago.

[Fallman]

At bare minimum, Dante wasn't weakened by spending a month in a coma. He fought a few bosses before getting Sin Devil Trigger, but I don't recall anything that pointed to Dante needing to be stronger to face them.

Okay, looked at Nero, he's always been a physical peer to Dante, and I think that Nero's Devil Bringer still has the best feats of physical strength in the series. In Dante and Nero's first confrontation, Dante didn't take him seriously and got punched in and out of Devil Trigger before being impaled on his own sword. In their second fight, Dante ended it by outmaneuvering Nero until he calmed down. Devil Trigger might have changed things a bit, but Dante's advantage was shown to be experience and skill more than raw power.

Then in DMC5, power levels jump up a ways, in a series where they otherwise seem to be fairly static. Nero and Dante both fight Urizen twice; both losing the first time, and Urizen destroyed remained seated, even while destroy Rebellion. The second time, Nero still loses, but manages to get Urizen to rise and put in effort to kill him, something that Dante couldn't do. I'm inclined to think that Urizen was more frustrated than concerned, but at bare minimum, Nero with the Devil Breakers was able to perform on par with Dante prior to his getting powered up.

Dante's power up made him strength enough to actually hurt Urizen, and Vergil seemed to have retained the strength that he gained as Urizen. Dante and Vergil are then portrayed as dead even, kind of odd given that Dante had ultimately shown a visible edge over Vergil in their previous confrontations and he's only got more experienced since then, but whatever. I guess Vergil got some more octane out of his boost.

Nero then shows up and stops them mid charge. They drop out of Trigger right afterwards, but Vergil, at least, appears to be still be going strong at this point. By comparison, after the second Vergil boss fight in DMC3, Vergil and Dante are both so exhausted that they're having trouble standing. Nero proceeds to fight and Vergil and at least get him to concede. I'm inclined to think that Nero did genuinely outfight Vergil; even after absorbing his non-doucheknuckle human side, I wouldn't bet my life on Vergil being unwilling to kill family members.

So, Nero seems to end the game roughly where he started; about as strong but less experienced than Dante. His major problem was loosing his cool, and he's gotten much better about that. Nero just pulled a crazy strong power boost out of his ass, but he also did that when he willed the Devil Bringer into existence, and then again when he reforged Yamato.

[Nik Hasta]

I'll just clarify, I have played precisely zero KH games in my life so I'll happily defer to others.

As for the match itself, I don't think Sora's winning here, mostly because Nero has more solid BT feats and his strength feats are at least on par with Sora's without Devil Trigger.

I was thinking about this statement and... does he?

No disrespect to him but I was running through the events of DMC4 and 5 in my mind and was actually kind of hardpressed to think of solid bullet time feats for Nero.

I might be misremembering but beyond like... the intercept flight which is... tough to figure out, his van flip gunfight in the opening of DMC5 is great and likely BT at least but it's not that easy to figure out and... beyond that... I can't actually think of real BT feats for him.

[Sensational C]

I think Sora comfortably takes this.

At the beginning of KH3, when he's weakest, Sora w/ some help from Goofy and Donald are able to defeat the Rock Titan from Hercules's world. This Titan was able to toss and summon giant boulders that could break away chunks of Mt Olympus. By the end of the game Sora, again with Goofy/Donald, are able to defeat a version of organization 13 minus one at the same time. With the Power of Awakening, Sora is able to cheat death not only for himself but others by reversing time, he's able to travel vast distances (the space between various worlds/planets) in a few seconds and cheat death again to save a friend so Sora can basically bend time and space perhaps reality itself, while not to an unlimited extent as it does come at a cost. I imagine Sora can certainly freeze time long enough to summon his magical attraction rides, or/and unleash a torrent of magic spells, or/and slash Nero to pieces, or/and yeet him out of the battlefield etc.