Nero

"My name is Nero, a simple traveler passing through."

Nero is a recurring character in Monster Girl Quest: Paradox.

Biography
Nero is first met as Luka leaves Iliasville to begin his quest.

As Luka is preparing to leave Iliasville to go on his adventure, a stranger walks up to him and introduces himself as Nero, a simple traveller passing through (if you try to run away from him, he will stop time). Luka thinks that Nero's clothes are rather odd for him to be just a simple traveller passing through. Ilias agrees. He explains to Luka that he heard he would be leaving Iliasville soon, and wanted to investigate. Nero is also unaware of the Great Disaster and is therefore surprised by how many magic users there are in town. Luka asks if the people where he lives are faithful to Ilias, as magic is rarely used there. Nero replies with, "You could say that". He notices Sonya, and when she introduces herself as Luka's childhood friend, Nero says Luka doesn't have a childhood friend, much to the annoyance of Sonya. He then takes his leave, leaving the party bewildered.

Where Nero appears next depends if you have recruited Alice or not.

If you took Alice with you, she'll try to give Luka Angel Halo once you leave Iliasville, but Nero will stop time and take the sword, claiming it's too dangerous.

Nero will next appear, no matter who you recruited, in Harpy Village. Luka and the party had gone there to investigate the mysterious disappearance of the harpies. After venturing through the village, the group find Nero drinking tea (out of his own cup – he brought it with him) in the Queen Harpy's house. Vanilla likes the look of Nero's clothes and asks where she could get them. Nero replies that he made them himself. He has the answer to why all of the harpies have mysteriously vanished; they've been infected with ALKQ5 Lust Fever, which drives members of the bird race mad with lust. But that virus should no longer exist, as it was last seen during the Great Monster Wars. The Angels used it as a biological weapon against the monsters, which Nero helpfully points out. Nero suspects that a person from that time must have come to the current world and unintentionally spread the virus. Since the harpies couldn't control their lusts, the Queen quarantined them all within the Harpy Tower, north of Happiness Village. But it could take decades before the virus goes away naturally. Luckily, Nero just so happens to have the cure. A piece of Yggdrasil Fruit, from the World Tree. He wants Luka to deliver it to the harpies. Luka is still suspicious of him, and Nero asks if he is really that suspicious, to which Gob replies she's never seen anyone more suspicious in her life. He mentions he has some other things to take care of, and leaves the harpy situation to Luka. Nero goes back to reading through the Harpy Queen's journal while drinking from his personal teacup.

Nero is next seen briefly in Ilias Port.

When Luka tries to get on a boat to Sentora, the captain of the ship mentions that no-one has been able to cross the sea ever since the storms started. Nero overhears the conversation rushes over to them from seemingly out of nowhere. "Fancy seeing you here", he says. He explains they can get to Sentora if they acquire Poseidon's Bell, an ancient artefact hidden in a cave to the west. The bell is capable of protecting the ship from capsizing, no matter the weather. Before he leaves, Sonya thanks him for the fruit used to cure the harpies. He mentions it was nothing important compared to protecting co-existence between harpies and humans.

Nero next appears in the Cave of Treasures.

 Luka and his companions encounter Nanabi, who is guarding the treasure stash while Tamamo searches for Poseidon's Bell. Nanabi almost overpowers Luka, but Neris steps in and saves Luka and his companions by using Vaporizing Rebellion Sword on Nanabi. It deals over 20,000 damage. Tamamo comes to seemingly investigate what's going on, but starts re-enacting the same events from the original trilogy. Tamamo thinks Luka has sealed Nanabi and explains to her that Nanabi will have to wait longer before she can be unsealed. Neris explains that it's not the real Tamamo. It's just been "copied and pasted" from another source. White Rabbit appears in Tamamo's place but is disappointed that she was found out. She explains to Neris that she's been altering this timeline too much from the correct history and therefore increasing the Chaos in this one. White Rabbit stops time, and tries to "erase" Neris, but Nero materialises behind White Rabbit while time is stopped, and hits her with Flash Kill. White Rabbit is surprised that she was attacked by Nero, as time should have stopped. Nero mocks her for thinking she was the only one who could control time, and they both vanish, presumably to fight elsewhere. Luka or anyone else didn't see any of what just happened, so it looks as if White Rabbit disappeared on the spot. Except Neris, who somehow saw the entire scenario.

 The final time Nero appears in part 1 is in the Forest of Spirits, along with Neris.

After a battle with the Armored Berserker, Luka and the party ultimately collapse, too weak to fight him. The Armored Berserker is about to deliver the finishing blow to Luka while he's unconscious when Nero materialises in front of Luka and blocks the Berserker's attack with his scythe while time is stopped. Neris appears shortly after. Nero asks Neris to take the still unconscious Luka to a safe location, as Luka and the rest of the party received a lot of damage. Neris asks if Nero will be okay handling the Berserker alone, to which he responds "No problem, I'll take him on". Nero knows who the Berserker is, and explains to him his current predicament, before revealing his true angelic/monster/human form. He effortlessly destroys the Berserker, who then turns into light particles. Nero notes that he wasn't destroyed and that so long as his soul remains, he will go berserk again and again.

 Nero is the child of Luka. Not only does he have angelic, monster and human traits, but he also wants to protect co-existence, as shown with the harpies. And since Neris refers to Nero as "bro", that would make them brother and sister. No, Nero cannot be recruited in part 1, unfortunately.

Trivia

 * If you run away from Nero while still in Iliasville, he will never stop time so long as you don't try to cross the bridge. So if being chased around the village by Nero indefinitely sounds enjoyable to you, go ahead.
 * Nero is 1-4 human, 1-4 angel, and 2-4 monster