While Nero was many things, and wholly self confident was one of those things, he was not blindly arrogant. His father had knocked some sense into him, and he understood what Edward meant when he asked Nero to stop thinking of himself as the best.
It was not wholly literal. It also meant not to underestimate people, especially if they were being recognised by Kolar for being the best available in their level.
That is why, when Nero declared himself better than all the others, it had not been ego or arrogance that had driven him to it - far from that. It had been strictly a tactical decision.
First of all, Nero did not know the background for any of his new teammates, and chances were that some of them were antagonistic towards him due to a host of different reasons. As such, he wanted to skew their understanding of him to something that he was in control of.
If they thought they knew how he would react, he would be more easily able to read them and their actions. That was because even if they did something they thought might anger or distract him, in truth, he could just observe everything objectively.
Secondly, with how his reputation had spread, everyone already had developed an image of him in their minds. This was exactly the kind of thing they expected him to do based on their understanding of him.
By doing this, he was able to take in everyones reactions. Most people instantly became offended, or felt challenged. There were two, however, who showed no changes in expression, as if they didn't care. Or as if they were hiding their true intentions.
Sometimes, hiding one's thoughts was a good indicator that they were thinking something they didn't want others to detect. Compared to the ones who openly showed him hostility, Nero paid more attention to the others. But first…
He raised his hands and smiled harmlessly.
"Just kidding guys. But the invitation to spar is genuine, though I suppose that can wait till
after
my fight with Bael."
Bael himself looked less than satisfied at how lightly Nero was taking him. Unlike Nero, ever since leaving Lumina, Bael could not stop thinking about how strong Nero had gotten. While Bael himself was desperately clinging to life, barely holding off a single Berserker, Nero treated them like nothing.
Although later on Bael found out that the army had briefed everyone on how to effectively take them out, that did not change the fact that they were a genuine challenge. Heck, the number of Neophytes who had
survived
their encounters with berserkers was shockingly low, let alone those who could fight them back.
That is why he had trained desperately since then. Sure it had not been so long since then, but Bael was practically a new man. The thing he found most ironic was that his own dreams had been within his reach all along, but his own arrogance and ignorance had gotten in the way of it.
He'd wanted his fathers Herculean strength, but got passive self healing which sucked. But as it turned out, it really didn't. Even ignoring the fact that it kept him from bleeding out, and fighting far longer than it should have, and that his stamina never really ran out, or that he was always in peak condition, the ability gave him something far
greater
than strength.
Every time he was injured, and healed from his passive, his body improved. The actual improvement was miniscule, barely noticeable at first. But as it continued to heal, the effects became obvious.
Not only had his natural strength increased drastically as a result of his workout session that had literally lasted days, so too had its durability, its speed, and so much more. The best part was, in a fight he could still continue to actively grow stronger.
Now that he understood these aspects of his ability, Bael honestly couldn't imagine himself losing. Even so, he never slacked off and continued to train.
It hurt his ego a little when Nero clearly dismissed him, but Bael would make Nero recognise him. In fact, he would make Nero regret underestimating him.
Little did he know, Nero
was not
underestimating him.
In fact, due to how seriously Nero took his fathers advice on a fundamental level, he was preparing himself to face a lot more than just bael's self healing - which was not such a big secret. He was preparing himself to face whatever Eldrim cards Bael was going to use.
Their group hadn't been super chipper, which was fine by Nero, and they soon arrived in the combat hall, which was not too far. The actual hall was a part of a larger building specifically built for combat, apparently, and came with its own armoury.
To everyone's genuine surprise, despite Nero's cocky attitude earlier, he took the spar very seriously. From the armoury he grabbed the actual synthetic armour they would be wearing in Perilith, and even took a Victus-3 spear - the same spear he had used during training while in the draft. It was a strong, flexible spear with a decent blade, so there was no reason for him
not
to use it.
Seeing Nero grabbing armour slightly improved Bael's mood, and he too grabbed some, as well as a sword and shield. Although he was much stronger, he knew better than anyone that Nero was no weakling.
"Before we do this, I just want to make sure," said Nero as he stopped outside the changing room. "We
will
be using cards during the spar, right?"
It was an innocent question, but it suddenly caused everyone to become solemn. Compared to a simple fight, using cards greatly increased the danger of a fight.
The Neophytes exchanged glances with one another, causing a moment of silence.
"I think we should limit it to innate abilities for now," Bael said finally, much to Nero's disappointment, though the teenager did not show it. "Booking a combat hall requires oversight. If we want to use cards, the level of oversight required will have to be increased, and we'll have to wait until more observers are sent."
"Very well," Nero said, and stepped into the changing room. Even though they would not be using cards, Nero still placed six cards into his armour. Three of them were attack cards, similar to air push, which would do damage but were not lethal, and three of them were defensive cards.
To be entirely honest, some of the books his mother made him read recently gave him a lot of new insight into how various cards can be used to improve the output of one another. It was quite intriguing, and caused him to reconsider his entire way of considering which cards to use.
Nero was planning on getting himself some new cards anyway, as well as spend even more time practising crafting. That was because his mother had revealed something to him that he had only vaguely known but never thought out about.
All the cards being sold in shops in public were… kind of mediocre. To get really good cards, there were only three ways.
First was the army, but the army never handed out its more useful cards, only loaned them.
Second was through private deals with artisans, using influence or money to get what was normally reserved for themselves or their affiliated groups.
The third was to make it themselves.
Considering how common card shops were, it just never even occurred to Nero that the
good
cards were actually hard to get one's hands on. In that regard, the Initiate realm was at the most optimum level, for it was still easy to get your hands on somewhat decent cards in that realm.
The hall itself was larger than Nero expected, with a height of about 5 metres (16 feet) with the actual hall being 20 by 25 metres (65 by 82 feet). There was a small border around the main arena itself, where viewers could stand and watch, and where their designated observer was standing as well.
He looked like a kid, not much older than them, and didn't speak much so Nero ignored him. Instead, he walked into the centre of the arena and turned to look at Bael, holding his spear beside him with his arm stretched out.
It was a casual stance, especially with the butt of the spear resting on the ground, but for some reason he was radiating an aura of power. Bael felt pressured, but he did not back down. He had trained for this for quite a while, and he had grown
much
stronger. He was different now.
He walked out in front of Nero wordlessly and got in position, holding his shield and sword out in front of himself. For a few seconds they just looked at one another, and a palpable tension began to fill the room.
The others watched in relative silence, a few whispering something to one another. Clarissa was the only one who spent more time looking at Nero than Bael. Her ability was at work, and what she saw made her hands feel itchy. She should have taken Nero up on his offer to fight.
Then Bael moved, dashing forward with speed and force he had never shown them before. In fact, he moved so fast that Nero seemed caught off guard, having not moved at all as Bael came close.
Using his shield as a battering ram, Bael smashed it towards Nero, hoping to catch him off guard. His eyes were locked onto Nero, who had not as much as flinched upon seeing him arrive.
But it was because he had only eyes for Nero that he missed the back end of the spear as it slid through his defence and pushed down his knee. It was so gentle, so soft that Bael didn't even understand something had happened. He just felt his leg move oddly, and his sense of balance suddenly affected.
On instinct he moved his body to prevent himself from falling, which meant lowering his shield.
The next thing he knew, his face somehow connected with Nero's foot, and one whiplash and a momentary loss of consciousness later, he was on the floor.
The room returned to silence.