| “ | I've got two kinds of guns. One for people and one for monsters. One shoots the worst kind of people and one eviscerates irredeemable monsters. Both guns don't differentiate between the two. Because at the end of the day whether you're in the normal mundane world or on the other side of the curtain, you're dealing with monsters on both sides. | „ |
| ~ Melissa Pezzini |
Melissa Magdalene Pezzini was an LAPD homicide detective originally investigating unexplained events that normally involve demonic activity. Her search led her to wielding the legendary Witchblade and joining the Devil May Cry agency. Far later into the story, she married Dante and had a daughter with him named Beatrice.
Overview[]
Melissa Pezzini was the daughter of an LAPD officer and wanted to take cases involving unexplained phenomena. After trial and error she was allowed the case as Melissa had a certain fascination with strange cases that cannot be explained always feeling that there was some other clue hidden beneath all the obvious clues. Melissa was involved in the investigation behind the demonic activities around Los Angeles, specifically ones that began spiking right after Vergil's escape from Hell. The demons themselves were slain each time by Dante or someone else from his agency and putting Melissa in circles much to her dismay and frustration.
Eventually, it has gotten to the point where he chief was putting these cases in cold storage regardless of her protest. As a result, Melissa opted to look into these cases on her own becoming something of a private investigator. She would begin to follow trails leading to the Devil May Cry team who were on the hunt for Vergil's fragmented soul pieces that took the form of his Nightmares during his traumatic time as Nelo Angelo. She confronted Dante a few times, demanding some questions to which the devil hunter only brushed off and told her it was best to not ask anymore questions lest it opens the door for trouble.
At one point, she managed to piece together some data she collected from the Devil May Cry agency's hunts which lead to a warehouse where demons will congregate for an event. Upon arriving first, she called in for backup when she stumbled upon what looked to be an illegal auction, unknowingly staged by Marshall, Carter and Dark Ltd., only to be sensed by one of the buyers who was revealed to be a demon. The backup squadron were slaughtered with Melissa being mortally wounded until Dante and Vergil entered and decimated the demons in turn. Melissa, unfortunately, succumbed to her wounds but unbeknownst by everyone, the contents that the demons were interested in managed to attach itself to Melissa's body.
Melissa was taken to the morgue and was being prepared for an autopsy. Upon attempting to remove the strange bracelet around her wrist, mistaking it for a personal item, the gem on the bracelet glowed and she suddenly sprang back to life, confused and horrified. She made her way out of the morgue and on the run from the authorities. She returned to her apartment only to have the bracelet around her wrist create what looked to be a black metallic viscous liquid that coats her entire body and change her physiology entirely upon sensing nearby threats. Melissa's new leash on life as well as her newfound abilities had her dropping by Devil May Cry where she sought their aid and eventually joining them to help solving cases.
Appearance[]
Melissa is a beautiful well-endowed woman with long dark brown curly hair, full lips, fair skin, and dark blue eyes. She keeps herself in good shape due to her training within the LAPD and her normal attire while outside of her Witchblade form consists of a white or beige tank top, dark jeans, and high heels or boots. She also sported dark brown denim jacket. Her hair reaches all the way to her back and after the Apocalypse she had her hair cut into a pixie cut.
When the Witchblade takes over, Melissa undergoes a transformation where the malleable metallic alloy of the Witchblade rips through her clothing and coats her in a powerful armor. This armor is at times revealing, often exposing her parts of her cleavage, abdomen, and thighs. The armor itself only remains that way when all threats are terminated in the vicinity and when engaging against an enemy, it covers her exposed body completely including her face only leaving the hair. Small portions of the Witchblade often appear as black veins underneath her eyes. Her physiology also changes somewhat where her brown hair becomes a scarlet red and her eyes gain a bright yellow glow with black sclera.
Personality[]
Being once a law enforcement officer, Melissa is strong, collected, and tough. She is dedicated to her work and is willing to risk her life to protect the innocent. She is kind, compassionate and can be smoothly sarcastic when she needs to be. Surprisingly, Melissa is shown to be an open minded person, as she has seen the supernatural and is hardly surprised by it anymore. She is willing to help her friends out in such matters and is very focused in defeating any threat. In the beginning, Melissa was highly fascinated, almost to the point of borderline obsession, with unexplained events as she went against her chief's orders in putting these cases involving demons being drawn to Vergil's escape from Hell in cold storage. However, her stubborn nature can lead to trouble which Dante called her out on and this resulted in her death and rebirth as the bearer of the Witchblade.
Initially, she was wary and scared of the Witchblade, doing all she can to remove it from her person. Moreover, she would momentarily relapse when she would hear voices in her head not knowing at the time it was from the Witchblade. Upon meeting and joining Devil May Cry, Melissa slowly settled into her new environment and was more accepting of the true unnatural world that hid behind the curtain of the mundane normal world. At first some of the members of the agency thought she would be the "oddball" of the team but Dante was certain that she would fit right into their maddeningly weird "family". Melissa would become motherly towards Patty Lowell and Elaine Belloc. She would even act as such towards Dante, Vergil, and Nero, joining Trish and Lady in a trio that keeps the chaotic sons of Sparda stable, leaving the harshest discipline to Izumi Curtis. Melissa would adjust to Dante's laziness and Vergil's bluntness, occasionally bossing them around and exchange in witty one-liners with Dante. She has also, at times, displayed a slight timid nature or nervousness when faced with situations out of her comfort zone. While strict and at times straight to the point, she is not above being lighthearted and laid back.
When possessed by the Witchblade, Melissa becomes cold and sadistic, often acting in an almost sensual manner but with little words being exchanged and instead would rather solve the matter through mutilation, a far cry from her normal personality. This is likely due to the fact that, according to Melissa when she is somewhat conscious during her possession, that the Witchblade elevates her inner desires to high levels and twisting them to where her devotion to punishing criminals becomes a lust to destroy those who she perceives as the enemy. As the Witchblade, she revels in the domination of her enemy and executes them as quickly, efficiently, and ruthlessly as possible. Given that the Witchblade is a sentient entity, it could even speak through Melissa, talking in a cold and pragmatic manner. Similarly to Johnny Blaze, Melissa and the Witchblade speak and argue with another over morals and ways of how to approach a situation.
Powers and Abilities[]
As a human, Melissa has the normal formal training of being an LAPD officer and is an adept combatant. But when being possessed by the Witchblade, she becomes an extremely deadly and powerful opponent. Being the child of two Ab Initio Artifacts, the Witchblade grants Melissa extraordinary powers and abilities, all of which are said to be limitless and can manifest by her imagination alone. The Witchblade grants her exemplary strength, speed, agility, and resilience, capable of tangling with and even overcome all but the strongest of enemies. Her strength is increased to such levels to where she could carry massive vehicles and upturn trees to use as a weapon. Her speed allows her to move in blurry dashes where she can even dodge bullets effortlessly entwined with her impressive agility. And the Witchblade's resilience grants her extreme durability allowing her to survive powerful attacks from enemies.
The Witchblade also wields a variety of other latent abilities. The first of which is the ability to resurrect the dead, but this was only done once when the Witchblade attached itself to Melissa's corpse and resurrected her before her scheduled autopsy. Even when she is injured, Melissa can heal from her wounds including fatal ones. It was also shown to harm incorporeal beings like ghosts and spirits as when Melissa sensed Daniel Kilgrave's ghost, the brother of Curtis Kilgrave from the Nightstalkers, with the Witchblade acting on its own and physically grabbing Daniel's ghost by the neck much to everyone's shock. When Melissa's inhibitions are released, the Witchblade is capable of manipulating the elements and even time itself but only to the extent where it can reverse or speed up time. However, this process is incredibly taxing for the host.
The Witchblade's most impressive ability is adaptation. The Witchblade is capable of adapting to any opponent's combat style or supernatural abilities. It can increase its durability to counter the force behind an energy blast from its enemy, can perfectly mimic one's fighting style with a simple glance, and can match one's speed and agility even when its opponents speed initially outclassed Melissa. The Witchblade can also metamorph Melissa's limbs into weapons, ranging from massive blades, elongated sharp claws, bladed whips, and spikes around her armor. She can also eject these blades from her feet and could conjure multiple bladed tendrils from her back. When adapting and mimicking an opponent's advanced fighting style while using such weapons, the Witchblade becomes an increasingly difficult entity to defeat. The Witchblade also grants her the ability of flight through the use of jet-like propulsion from the back, granting her speed that can help her keep up with ariel opponents.
