"I’ve said a lot so far. Do you know why I am saying all this?" Nero asked, completely ignoring Andrew’s red eyes and crazed look. By now, it was abundantly clear - at least to the observers - that there was a fundamental difference in their combat abilities.
Many of them would have felt bad for Andrew, if only they had not seen him beat Silas repeatedly for so many days already.
Andrew did not answer. Instead, he slowly stood up and began to circle Nero, his mind racing for ways to get back at him.
"The reason I am breaking down the benefits and drawbacks of your actions is to demonstrate critical thinking. Establishing such a background is necessary for what is to come. So far, we have discussed your actions in the past. Now, we will discuss your options for the future," Nero continued to orate.
"Your incessant bullying of Silas has now made you a decent target to serve for the purpose of his training. The motive for revenge is a good one, and wanting to get back at you will help keep him focused. So, while I train him, you will have to accept all of his challenges until he can beat you. But that begs the question: why would you agree to this? There are two possible answers for that."
Andrew attacked again, and Nero dodged easily, not forgetting to push him slightly to cause him to lose balance. Yet Andrew, for what it was worth, was a quick learner. He did not fall, already expecting something like that. Instead, he leaped forward into a roll.
"The first answer is the one I hope you pick. As an officer in training, if you can put aside the hurt and damage to your ego and assess the situation clearly, you’ll realise that resistance is futile, but there’s much to gain through cooperation. In exchange for accepting Silas’ challenges, I’ll train with you in a spar for every challenge you accept, pointing out your mistakes and flaws to help you grow stronger. Thus, everyone gets something out of the situation."
Andrew stepped in closer to Nero, slowly, taking a stable approach. Upon hearing Nero’s words, he couldn’t help but feel even more infuriated.
"You’re crazy," he responded, and then punched.
Nero sighed, shaking his head.
"That leads us to the second possible answer - the one I was hoping to avoid," he said, this time grabbing Andrew’s punch directly. There was no quick dodge or eloquent technique. He simply grabbed the punch midair, and then forcefully pulled Andrew closer.
To his credit, Andrew tried to resist, but Nero’s physical strength was far beyond ordinary Initiates. His ability as soon as he entered the Initiate rank was already as great, if not greater than most Initiates at the peak of their rank. Now, after months of training, and recovery, he was already touching the threshold or the kind of strength Arcanists had.
In short, Andrew’s resistance was futile. He was pulled into Nero’s reach who directly grabbed his neck.
"Well, if you’re unable to set aside your ego and look at the bigger picture, proving yourself a worthy officer, then your reason to cooperate with me is simple. It’s because you have no choice," Nero said as he began to choke Andrew, lifting his entire body off the ground. His tone, which up until now was neutral and instructional, became grave and daunting.
Everyone who heard suddenly got chills, for the up until now friendly and lighthearted Nero was suddenly showing a side of him they had not seen yet. Only Wendy and Silas weren’t affected. In fact, they relaxed upon seeing this side of Nero, because this was the Nero they were used to - strong, fearless and unstoppable.
"What you did to Silas, I can do to you as well, and I can do it much better than you," he said, staring Andrew in the eyes as he lifted him in the air.
Andrew, suffocating, first tried to pry open Nero’s hand, but couldn’t. He slammed his elbow into Nero’s hand, trying to get it to give, yet it did not work.
Fear and panic started to replace his anger, realising that he could not get free. In desperation, he tried to punch Nero’s face. He did not expect his punch to land, since Nero had blocked all his previous attacks so easily, yet this time it did!
Nero did not even blink, and let the punch land. In fact, he waited, and allowed Andrew to punch him some more.
Andrew did not think - he began punching Nero’s face incessantly, even kicking Nero’s chest, yet Nero remained entirely unaffected. Even his nose did not bleed after all those direct punches!
Fear, panic, desperation gripped his mind as darkness started to close in around him. He even forgot that this was a spar, and that he could not truly die here. All he felt was suffocation, and mind numbing fear.
Just as his limbs lost strength, and the referee was about to call the match, Nero dropped Andrew on the ground.
"As I was saying, what you can do, I can do much better than you," Nero said, his tone suddenly returning to his instructive tone. "You see, I am not going to beat you, or challenge you everyday. No, I will begin by isolating you. Your friends, your partners, your acquaintances - they are the ones I will challenge.
"Even if you can reject my challenge, can they? Can they afford to ruin their evaluation just because they fear a fight? When they discover that they can’t beat me, what will they do? Will they hold out in the face of insurmountable pressure, or will they choose to abandon you? Tell me honestly - what do you think?"
There was a deep, deafening silence all around Nero as all those observing suddenly got chills once again - and this time they stayed for much longer. What the hell was Nero thinking? How had a simple fight become so serious?
The answer, they realised, was by crossing Silas. For all the indifference he showed towards his friend’s difficulty, it was obvious that he was actually quite committed to it."
Andrew was gasping for air, struggling to regain his strength, but he could not focus on anything. He could not focus on his burning lungs or his weakened limbs. He could only focus on Nero’s words.
"But you see, Andrew, that will merely be the beginning. Once you are isolated, I will offer benefits to anyone who bothers you. To anyone who challenges you, beats you, humiliates you. Andrew, I will not just ’bully’ you. I will, within the limits of the rules of this academy, turn your life into hell, to the point that you will either become an undefeatable, uncompromising titan of this academy, or you will drop out, a broken, pale imitation of the man you could have become."
Nero reached down and grabbed Andrew by the collar and lifted him once again in the air.
"Now tell me, Andrew, which one of those two options do you like?" he asked.
"Will you accept Silas’ challenge? If you do, you can vent all your emotions on him. You can beat him senseless and show him just how impossible it is to overcome you, and in exchange, you will be rewarded. Whether you want my training or not, that’s up to you, but I can teach you how to fight. Or you can choose to resist, and in that case, not only won’t you get a chance to vent, your whole life will turn upside down."
Nero went silent, waiting for a response, and for the third time the observers felt chills. From the referee, to the cadets, to everyone else, they looked at Nero as if they were realising for the first time that this smiling, friendly cadet was actually not normal. No, he was more a monster in human skin than just a normal human.
Yet... for some reason, they could not find it in them to hate him. They thought back to his words. He was acting with the moral highground, with a very clear objective in mind, which was to help his friend overcome a difficult challenge.
With that in mind, no matter what depths he went to, they could not find him to be detestable. At the same time, they could not help but acknowledge he was incredibly formidable. As a friend, he would be an irreplaceable asset. However, as an enemy, he would be their worst nightmare.
Andrew gulped, and looked from Nero towards Silas, who was looking at him with a pale face. The fear in his heart was instantly replaced with a fiery anger.
"Fine, I’ll accept your deal," Andrew said with gritted teeth and anger.Before he could process what happened, Nero let go, dropping him to the ground.
"Excellent. Silas, the next part is up to you," Nero said and walked away, not even bothering to look at Andrew, or the shaking Silas. No, his gaze was on a tall, blonde cadet who was watching him from the stands. Vilhelm - he had been watching everything.