Nero had not thought of a way to explain the silver light, so the best solution would be if he didn't have to explain it. Pushing Bael into the blood would be so easy, and there would be no fight to leave any traces. Even if there was an investigation, no one would be able to prove that Nero played any part in his demise.
Death by curse was the most common kind of death in this world, and regardless of how strong or well prepared he was, how could Bael survive a curse that even Nero could not face?
He did not intend to do it, but his brain naturally presented him with possible flaws in his plan. Maximilian had used a space card, which meant that it wasn't impossible that others had them too. More importantly, the kinds of cards were so diverse that Bael could literally have any kind of card hidden for his survival with effects that he could not anticipate.
The threat of the unknown was too great. After all, with such a powerful father, Nero did not believe that Bael did not have a few last resources.
That was not even considering the influence of the mysterious organisation Unity.
There were a lot of risks, but the benefit of keeping the silver light a secret might be worth it.
But Nero's brain, which was used to analysing situations thoroughly, did not stop there. He even began to consider the benefits and drawbacks of not killing Bael.
The exposure of the silver light was the largest risk. He would need to come up with a convincing way to justify it. But the thing was, it would be impossible for Virtuous Moonlight to remain a secret forever. Eventually, someone would see him using it. That, in itself, was not a risk. In fact, as long as he exposed a false hand now, no one would look deeper into this matter.
He would, at most, seem like he was hiding a very valuable card he got from the chamber. No one would suspect that he received another innate ability.
A gleam flashed through Nero's eyes as a plan began to form. He could kill Bael, but he could also make use of him.
Both of those paths had potential risks, but they also had their potential benefits as well. He just had to choose which one he wanted to take.
Nero did not, even for a second, feel bad or guilty about deliberating whether to kill Bael or not. He was in this situation because of Bael to begin with. The organisation Unity was just making use of him, and that came with associated risks. If he wanted to make use of them, he also had to accept the risks that came along with it.
Although he himself was still a teenager, this world did not give him a chance to act like one - not that he was too interested in it anyway.
Nero quickly made his decision, just in time to swipe the Test2 card from the second chamber door as they passed. They kept running till they were dead in the middle of it before yelling, "stop!"
"What is it?" Bael asked in a panic, looking over Nero's shoulder to search for any dangers up ahead.
"Listen to me close, Bael. The situation has changed," Nero said grimly, staring Bael in the eyes. He had to put up a facade as if he was feeling intense pressure - as if he had discovered a treasure that aroused his greed, which was affecting his decision making process.
"I don't have a lot of aether left, and we don't have a lot of time left either, so you better make a decision fast. If Unity wants to work with me, they have to prove themselves first. Once we exit from here, my bag and equipment will be taken as is standard, but you have to stop my cards from being taken. If you can't manage that, then I have no interest in working with an organisation like Unity."
"You- what? This is not the time…"
"This is exactly the time," Nero said dangerously. "I don't mind too much. It's not much of a loss for me. If my cards are taken, I'll still be in the same situation I was when I came here. But Unity can forget about working with me - ever!"
By successfully directing all attention towards his cards, he made Bael think this silver light was a result of an Eldrim card, which technically wouldn't be wrong. Through Bael, Unity would also be influenced into thinking that he had some card he wanted to hide.
If this plan succeeded, he would effectively maintain the secret of his second innate ability. It was in the situation that Unity failed, and his cards were confiscated and inspected, that he would have issues.
It was precisely for that reason he had swiped the Test2. It was poorly and hurriedly made, and was already on the verge of collapsing. All Nero needed to do was push it over the edge, disfigure it and place it within his card case without being seen.
In case his card case was confiscated, in case Unity was unsuccessful, or became greedy for the card, what they would discover was a card that had already disintegrated. It was completely believable that a really old card discovered in some ruins would have very little durability left.
Nero could then claim that he never really cared about the card, and was just testing Unity. Either way, the preliminary precautions to protect his newest secret were taken. Now he just needed Bael to respond.
The teenager grit his teeth and then exclaimed, "alright! I'll make it happen somehow."
"Good. Then keep up."
Nero resumed his run, cognizant of the fact that four minutes had already elapsed. They wouldn't make it at this rate.
"Grab on to my back," Nero yelled backwards once. As soon as he felt Bael grab him, Nero began manipulating his internal aether as strongly as he could, and bolted forward!
He literally carried Silas, and dragged Bael through the fog and pool of blood, moving as quickly as he could.
With all his attention on running, and all of Bael's attention focused on holding on, no one noticed Silas open a single eye, look at Nero, then close it back as if he were still unconscious.
They exited the tunnel at last, and saw how the pool of blood seemed to be draining into a brick shaped hole in the wall, as if it too was escaping the incoming fog.
They didn't slow down and kept running, though fortunately soon they escaped the limits of the blood pool which meant that Nero could deactivate Virtuous Moonlight and preserve his nearly elapsed aether.
The duo did not stop running though, and now without the need to worry about Bael keeping up, Nero bolted forward.
A berserker appeared in Nero's path, angry and ready to fight, only to receive a flaming fist right in the face, launching its massive body across the room.
Completely out of breath, Nero finally reached the ground floor of the library, where Ascendant Oana was waiting for him.
"Bael is right behind me," Nero yelled.
"You're cutting it close," she said as she wrapped an invisible force around Nero and Silas, waiting a few seconds longer for Bael.
As soon as he exited, without waiting for him to say anything, she wrapped him in her energy as well and then dashed out of the library as if her life depended on it. Already somewhat familiar with the blur, Nero was fully expecting not to be able to see his surroundings at all once more.
But what he didn't expect was that as soon as Oana exitted the library, she ran in a straight line away from the library, giving Nero a clear view of a massive wall of fog rolling over the city.
Nero saw as the research facility was engulfed by the thick fog, completely vanishing from sight, as if it had entered the maw of a terrifying beast. The rest of the city followed right in its example, with the library engulfed less than a minute later.
The fog was moving fast, but fortunately, the Ascendant moved faster, and soon they crossed the boundary of the city where the fog previously stopped. But the Ascendant kept running, and soon they exited the walls of Lumina.
Nero didn't understand the urgency, until he saw that the whole city itself was soon covered in fog, with no indication of the wall stopping any time soon. It was as if the fog was chasing after them, demanding back the secrets Nero had stolen from within Lumina.
But ultimately, after proceeding forward a couple of kilometres, covering land that had never felt the touch of the fog before, the wall stopped, as if its momentum was lost.
Nero finally breathed a sigh of relief. They were finally out of Lumina. The most urgent threat was gone, but Nero was far from safe just yet.