Upon finding his rhythm Nero could not help but challenge the others once more, hoping someone else would take him up on the offer that Clarissa took. None of them did.
Though truthfully speaking, that was probably for the best. Although he was easily able to fend off Bael and Clarissa, actually winning their spar was another story altogether.
Early in his fight with Bael, Nero came to an unusual conclusion, but one he had no choice but to believe. Every time Bael recovered from an injury, his body would grow subtly stronger in that area or against that attack.
Nero did not actually notice that increase in strength himself, but just arrived at that conclusion after fighting for a while. While Bael's increase in strength was more or less even across his body, the actual sturdiness of his body was not.
His skin was more resistant in certain areas, and more vulnerable in others. He more easily resisted bruises in certain areas, and was easily bruised in others. Heck, even some of his bones were more resilient than others. Nero was not certain if Bael himself had noticed this yet, but the man's nose was actually harder to break than any other bone in his body! Probably because it was the one that broke the most often.
So while Nero fought him off, he had to do so without actually hurting him in any way lest he become stronger. Or he had to defeat him in a single blow. While that in itself was not an issue, Nero seriously doubted Clarissa would give him the opportunity.
While it seemed like he was handling her just fine, she was perhaps one of the most, if not
the
most gifted hand-to-hand combatant he had ever faced. Every single move she made would be absolutely lethal to him if he didn't use his superior speed and reaction time to respond. Not only did she manage to find the weakness in each and every one of his stances
every single time
she attacked, so far she had perfectly dodged all of Nero's retaliatory attempts.
Neither his spear nor his body had come into contact with her, not that he allowed her to be able to touch him, either.
Her prowess was admirable, and the problem was that Nero was fairly certain that if he tried to make any significant movements to attack Bael, she would take advantage of it to attack him. In fact, she was already beginning to get used to his superior physical abilities, and so her attempts at his life were becoming more dangerous.
As much as he wanted to finish this fight without revealing any of his abilities, he would have to show
something
.
So far, he had only fought using his natural abilities. Sure, his natural physical capabilities had seen an upgrade due to him using Radix Augmentation on curses, absorbing
something
from them that refined his body, bringing him to a quasi-Initiate level. But if he used his internal aether manipulation…
A few seconds passed since Nero made his challenge to the others, and the lack of participation made it clear that they were not going to join this absurd fight, so Nero finally made his move.
He did not attack Bael first. No, he attacked the much greater threat: Clarissa. She was attacking him once more, this time aiming for his left leg. At a glance, it looked like her aim was to destroy his knee, but Nero's instincts told him she was aiming for the artery in his leg. After all, every single move she had made, she made to kill.
Unfortunately for her, what was a weakness in his stance suddenly changed into strength in a way she had never seen before. The sudden change in her eyes made it clear that she saw that
something
had changed, yet before she could react to it, Nero put all his weight on his left leg, spun his body with full force and delivered a kick to her face with his right leg.
The speed he moved at was so fast that the other Neophytes weren't even able to see what happened. All they saw was a blur, and then Clarissa's body was flung into the air, spinning like a ballerina.
The observer was already moving, and caught her before she landed, clearly unconscious.
"He's cheating!" someone screamed, but before anyone could respond, Nero and Bael had clashed. Much to Nero's surprise, Bael actually managed to withstand his attack as he skidded back, putting some distance between the two.
Before the clash could continue, however, the observer arrived between the two.
"No Eldrim cards were allowed for this sparring session!" he said sternly, looking at Nero.
"I didn't use any cards," Nero said, shrugging.
"Nero Grant, you have been registered as having a flame oriented innate ability. Sudden physical augmentation is clearly an application of an Eldrim card."
Instead of explaining, Nero thought it would be better to just show everyone he was not using a card. He dropped his card case on the side and took off the chest piece of his armour, dropping the four cards there - two in his arms and one on his back and chest each.
Then he removed the cards in his leg as well - this time without removing the armour - and then displayed his enhanced speed by stepping up to the observer at his maximum speed.
"You can search me for other cards," he said, holding out his arms as if welcoming a pat down.
Some in the room stared at Nero in shock, some in anger, some with hesitation, and some with awe. Of course, the black, massive tribal tattoo on his back also drew a lot of attention, as no one had seen it before.
It looked impressive, or maybe it was just the fact that the perfectly symmetrical tattoo was painted on a canvas of well toned, well-defined muscle that made it look like that. A trace of doubt filled the observer's eyes, but he began to pat down Nero nevertheless, even going as far as using a card himself to search for other, hidden cards.
Yet the result was quite predictable. Nero had no other cards on his person, proving that the speed he had just demonstrated was absolutely his own.
"You're card free. Sorry for interrupting your fight. You may resume if you wish," he said, hiding how awkward he felt as he turned around and carried the still unconscious Clarissa to the side and healed her using a card.
Nero, still shirtless, picked up his spear from where he had dropped it on the ground and turned to Bael with a questioning look, as if asking whether he wanted to continue.
Bael did. He wanted nothing more than to continue the fight. The fact that he had survived Nero's attack already proved that his training had been working. But the fact that he had been using his ability to full effect, while Nero had not demonstrated his at all, told him of the massive gap between them.
His passive healing not only kept him unhurt, it kept him topped up on stamina and allowed him to never suffer from muscle fatigue, so even though he hadn't really been hurt in his fight, his ability had been working nonstop.
"No need," Bael said, for once using his common sense rather than his own blind desires. Maybe having sense beaten into him was really all he needed to start using his brain, much like his father had been openly proclaiming for years. "The point of the fight was to get everyone familiar with you. I think it's fair to say that has been achieved. Unless someone else wants to spar, I think we can sit and have a proper conversation now."
Bael and Nero both looked towards the others, yet no one spoke up or stepped forward. Everyone was still wrapping their heads around how
fast
Nero had moved. What the hell was that?
At first, every one of them - save Bael - had thought that he was an arrogant egomaniac. Now… now they thought he was strong. The negative emotions they had towards him had suddenly transformed into positive emotions. After all, it had to be remembered, they were all actually allies.
Who wouldn't want more powerful and competent allies out on a dangerous mission?
"Yes, I think it's for the best that we become more familiar with each other through our words than our fists now," finally said one of them, a blonde-haired, green-eyed boy who looked a fair bit younger than them all. In fact, if Nero had to guess his age, he'd say the boy was 13.
His natural hair and conflicting eye colour meant he, too, had a non-elemental innate ability.
Counting Nero, there were a total of 10 Neophytes there, which wasn't a lot, but they were supposed to be the best of the best anyway, so it made sense that it was only a few of them.
Actually, Nero expected to see others here, such as Arter or Maximilian if the
best
Neophytes were being called here, but maybe that was limited to the best who were still serving the army. After all, the draft was already over.
"Sounds great. Let me just put my shirt on."
Nero couldn't be certain, but he felt like he heard someone make a moan of disappointment as he said that.