Nero knew that Arter's sword was extremely sharp, and although he had not be able to observe him properly, he understood the gist of his fighting style. It would take him some time to use an attack strong ough to cut through berserker bone, though for himself ev a weak attack would be lethal. It wasn't like Nero's body, or his defce, were on par with the berserker.
Having said that, his spear should be fine. After all, metal was metal, and could not be compared to bone.
Indeed, he blocked the attack successfully, but was shocked by the mistake he made. Literally. The blue light that coated the edge of his blade was the result of Arter's ability which carried an electric charge.
Although Nero blocked the blade, as soon as the weapons touched Nero felt the electricity travel through his spear and into his body, freezing his muscles stiff. But while Nero was froz, Arter was not. He pushed his blade forward, its pointed tip cutting towards Nero's neck ev as its body stayed connected to the spear.
Just as the tip was about to stab Nero's neck he shifted his spear upwards, pushing the sword tip away and kicked Arter right in the crotch.
Although the kick connected, he felt some resistance, as if there was a barrier protecting Arter.
The two parted and looked at each other warily. A blue flame covered both of Nero's hand, and slowly began to spread across the body of he spear, while a blue hue began to gather on the edge of Arter's sword.
Both of them observed the other's weapon.
Nero had anticipated that the sword would be sharp, but he could not have guessed that it would have also carried an electric currt! If he had not reacted immediately, coating his hands in fire to resist the ability, th the fight would have be over immediately.
It was not that his fire could especially target electricity, but that because both abilities were based on aether, they could offer some resistance to one another. But that did not mean that either ability was strong or weak against the other. Superiority would be reflected based solely on the individual ability's effects.
This would be the same for any other elemtal abilities as well, unless the specific elemts themselves had a suppressive effect on each other. For example, if someone faced Jackal with a water-based ability, th his own flames would be naturally suppressed.
But since the nature of Nero's flames was differt, he actually might d up with an advantage if he faced someone with a water-based ability.
Faced against an electricity-based ability, Nero did not automatically assume what its traits were. After all, ev his flame was ultimately a flame, but it could not be judged based on common sse. He would have to note its effects as they fought.
"Shall we try that again?" Nero asked with a grin, and this time struck first. In a one-on-one fight, Nero was at an advantage based on the fact that his spear had a longer range, but this was not a one-on-one fight.
Just as Nero pushed Arter back, another soldier attacked Nero from the side, distracting him. Arter's attack triggered a huge fight, though considering the poor visibility, it was hard to tell what was happing.
The sound of fighting echoed through the room, and there were ev a couple of s of gunfire, indicating that ev Remi had gott involved.
"Gabe, can you take over for a minute?" Nero called out into the fog. He didn't know where his redheaded frid was, but he had the confidce to let him handle this for a short while.
Arter, as if ev more incsed by Nero's nonchalance, attacked ev more furiously, but with his spear coated in flames to resist the electricity, he had no trouble blocking him easily. That wasn't to say that Arter was weak.
He was actually quite skilled with the sword and had great technique, but Nero could also tell that he was heavily reliant on his ability. That meant that as soon as Nero negated his ability, half his battle strgth dwindled.
Ev th, Nero did not take him lightly. There was a strange protective ability a his body, not to mtion that as a descdant of the Ferro family, it seemed unlikely that he had no other means, which is why he didn't rush to immediately defeat him.
Having said that…
Nero stabbed his spear towards Arter, once more pushing him back, and used the oping to attack one of his soldiers instead. He used his internal aether to momtarily increase his strgth, but a ball of black dirt appeared just in time to block Nero's attack.
He raised his eyebrow in mild surprise, but didn't slow down. He kept attacking, forcing the soldier to retreat continuously until his back wt against the wall. Hitting the wall startled the soldier, which was all the distraction Nero needed. He finally broke through the ball of dirt with the back of his spear and slammed it against the soldier's head, knocking him out.
Compared to Arter, this soldier really was weaker, but his ability was still interesting. The ball of dirt, though small, could easily absorb a large impact, directly reducing the strgth of his attacks.
Nero turned back to see Gabriel and Arter fighting. Or, well, trying to fight. Arter's sword was deadly, but Gabriels sand was no joke either. Both of them kept trying to land an attack on the other while also dodging each other's attacks, resulting in them never actually clashing.
Nero smiled mischievously. This was a very serious fight, and giv the odd conditions anything could happ. Failing here could directly cause them to fail their mission.
But Nero was at least confidt in being able to catch up with anyone in case they took the artefacts, which is why, before trying to finish the fight, he wanted to do one other thing.
The reason he had noticed that the blonde girl was missing was because he had be paying special atttion to her throughout. Earlier, wh he thought he heard the sound of footsteps speeding up, it was coming from a differt direction of the room. It was just a guess but he felt like she would be there if he wt in the same direction.
Nero took this opportunity wh no one was paying atttion to him to slip away, and stride into the fog away from the fight. Nero did not step lightly or sneak over, which is why his footsteps could be easily heard.
Nero walked to a corner of the room and arrived before another glass box, but this one differed from the ones he had se before. Not only was it larger, but the specim inside of it wasn't human.
As a result of its skinny, shrivelled state, it was difficult to tell what it might look like ordinarily, but it vaguely looked like a humanoid panther with two horns jutting from its forehead. Moreover, while it was also suspded in a red liquid, and wearing a mask, its eyes were op, and it was looking directly towards Nero.
He paused to take in the sight, his mind trying to grasp at what the presce of this creature meant, wh he heard a familiar noise.
He turned and raised his spear just in time to block a sword strike.
"Why are you following me?" asked the blonde girl, a solemn expression on her face.
"Come now, is that any way to talk to an old frid?" Nero asked with a charming smile.
"I don't know you!" she said, and struck once more. With a sword in her right hand and a shield in her left, she struck quite a gallant sight. There was no hesitation in her swing, and quite a lot of strgth behind it too, but Nero parried it easily.
Before she could attack once more, Nero spun his spear, causing the sword to swing with it and be pushed aside, creating an oping. He stepped forward, coming face to face with the blonde girl, their eyes staring into each other.
She had blue eyes, which, unlike his, seemed like normal blue eyes, instead of ones changed because of synchronisation. But there was just something off about them.
"Oh come now Vanessa, you're going to break my heart. I thought we were finally getting along."
Her eyes constricted, and the blonde girl suddly pulled back.
"That's not my name," she exclaimed, and readied herself to attack again, but was too slow. Nero used his internal aether to boost his strgth just ough, and knocked the sword out of her hand, and th once again stepped right up to her.
"You've gott better at hiding your daggers, but I've also gott better at spotting them. One dagger strapped to each calf, one to each thigh, and four on your back, right above your hips. Did I miss any?"
Anger and irritation flashed in the girl's eyes as she suddly pulled out a dagger from her sleeve. But before she could do anything with it, Nero grabbed her hand, and stepped ev closer.
"That's new. Did you make that one with a card? Or is your ability related to daggers?"