...Agnus
(Missions 6, 9, & 17)

Agnus is the head scientist of the Order of the Sword.
He is best known for his bad hairstyles, Shakespearian
acting, stuttering, and BEING BATSHIAT CRAZY!! He
somehow got his hands on Yamato, opened gateways to
Hell, and has painstakingly experimented on demons,
extracting their essence in order to perfect his crowning
achievement: the Ascension Ceremony, which transforms
humans into demons. Now he and his buddies think they
can attach the word "Angelo" to their name and fly
around playing God. Well, not if Dante and Nero have
something to say about it!

Agnus... (Mission 6)
You first encounter Agnus in his Containment Room. He
hides behind a red force field, and contains you in a
circular arena with an electric generator at the center.
Unlike every single other boss fight, this one takes place
near the beginning of the mission instead of the end, but
it's an easy one, don't sweat it.

Okay, that's not entirely true. There'll be Gladii swords flying around everywhere and he'll zap you with lightning, and you'll probably be overwhelmed at first... but once you know what to do, it's easy. The objective here is to break Agnus' barrier, but attacking it directly damages you. That's why all those Gladii flitting about are your best friends! Snatch them with Devil Bringer and fling them into the force field with Buster. They will damage the field and break into red and green orbs, but you have to stand far enough away or Nero will throw them into the wall.

To make things easier for yourself, I would highly recommend buying buying Snatch 3 for this battle. It gives Nero greater range to snatch the Gladii out of the air. But it's not necessary. Even if you can't reach them, you can slash them and knock them out of the air, then grab them with Buster. The Gladii aren't passive, by the way. Before they attack, they'll spin and glow yellow, then shoot themselves at Nero. Jump away and they'll miss and impale themselves in the ground. Then you can safely Snatch and Buster them, but do it quick, because they'll unhinge and start over.

Occasionally the ground will shake and Agnus will zap the floor with electric current for a few seconds. Air Hike or wall jump and keep yourself airborne with aerial combos and/or bullets. You become particularly vulnerable then, because the Gladii will keep attacking. Defeating Agnus gets you Yamato, and unlocks the Devil Trigger ability!

Angelo Agnus... (Missions 9 & 17)
After he undergoes his demonic transformation through the Ascension Ceremony, Agnus turns into a beetle-type-thing. It's not exactly an improvement, but it does give him enough confidence to attack you directly from time to time. Agnus' true power is his summoning ability. Any time a yellow circle forms around him means he's summoning one of four things...

AGNUS' SUMMONS
Fire Bombs: Dark spheres form in the rim of the summoning circle and ignite as they prepare to fire. Agnus is safe to attack up close until the balls start to glow, then jump out of their way and keep shooting him.
Gladii: Those flying swords from the first battle are back, and NERO can still Snatch and fling them at Agnus with Buster. Otherwise, DANTE can just ignore them or destroy them.
Basilisk: These fire-breathing dogs sure look menacing, but if you're constantly on the move - as you should be - they'll have trouble hitting you and you can pretty much ignore them.
Cutlass: Or as I like to call them, floor sharks! By far the most insidious of the summons, it comes in two forms...
1.) If you see the ground under Agnus glow when he casts his yellow summoning circle, the pair of Cutlasses will do a preemptive dive (hurts a bit if you're standing on top of them) before leaping out of the ground and causing true damage.
2.) Instead of summoning the Cutlass in the ground, Agnus will summon them to his hands as a pair of winged blades. He'll start spinning and then launch towards you at full speed. Hurts a lot. Jump away.

In general, Agnus stays airborne... sometimes glowing yellow, sometimes not. When he's glowing yellow he will try attacking you with several very slow sword slashes, so move away. When he's not glowing yellow, he is the most vulnerable, and if you're playing NERO, this is the time to run up and Buster him with Devil Bringer and tap the button for extra damage (as always, being in Devil Trigger helps). Whether he's glowing or not, keep chasing him and doing aerial combos at his body (Swordmaster + Style button for DANTE).

After you damage him enough, he will fall in a corner of the room and raise up a strong wind with his wings to knock you away. This means he's entering survival mode and will become more aggressive. In particular, he will start doing his most devastating attack...

Life Drain: Agnus starts chanting "Time to die!", flies to the center of the room, and starts to glow green. Interrupt him at all costs by jumping up and spamming him with aerial combos!! If he finishes casting the attack, he will latch onto you and drain your life to replenish his own. You can throw him off by Devil Triggering, but it's best to prevent him from getting that far.

Defeating Angelo Agnus gets Dante the Yamato, and Nero the chance to see his girlfriend get hauled away, again, forcing him to chase after her in a futile attempt to give his life some sense of purpose.


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