Nero won. The deafening silence that filled the arena for the first few moments after his victory, and the short exchange between the two participants, was a clear result of his victory. But the silence only lasted so long for the new cadets, once they got over the shock and surprise of such an abrupt end to the match, began cheering loudly, rushing the arena to lift Nero up into the air.
Yet what the new cadets failed to understand was that it wasn’t as if Vilhelm hadn’t lost before. His entire prestige was built on the fact that he never lost to the same person twice. No, the thing that truly shocked everyone else wasn’t that Nero won, but that Nero dominated.
Why was Vilhelm called a prodigy? It was because of how quickly he improved, and how quickly he learned. With every fight, he got a little bit better, which is why it became increasingly difficult to beat him. Yet even at the very start, when his skill was at its lowest level, Vilhelm had not suffered such grievous injuries.
After all, even at his lowest point in the academy, he had already been through a lifetime of preliminary training at school, which made Vilhelm more skilled than most.
So to see him bloody and bruised brought them a new perspective on Nero. It was not just his brute strength that was on display. After all, it was clear from how easily Vilhelm dodged all of Nero’s attacks that brute strength alone could do nothing to him. It was his genuine skill that impressed everyone.
The only question on everyone’s mind now was whether Nero could repeat the feat tomorrow. Vilhelm seemed confident enough that he could maintain his streak of only losing once, but Nero was clearly no push over either.
Neither Gabriel, nor Arter looked too surprised by the outcome. However, what would happen tomorrow was something even they could not predict.
Nero made no attempts to talk to Gabriel. Whatever the issue was had to be pretty serious if Gabriel had been avoiding him for so long. Their eventual meeting had to be carried out discreetly. For now, Nero enjoyed the praise and celebrations of his battalionmates, even as his mind wandered to the fight the next day.
If today’s fight was tough, tomorrow’s would be even harder. Now he knew how Vilhelm fought, but Vilhelmm also knew how he fought. He would be prepared for Nero’s strength, not to mention his Aetheric Halo. Landing a hit on him would be even harder.
Before he knew it, it was already night and Nero lay in his bed, planning what he could do to win. Vilhelm’s speed was genuinely remarkable. Nero’s body was still growing stronger, and would continue to do so while he was in the Initiate rank, but he doubted that he’d be able to catch up to his speed. After all, Vilhelm would be growing stronger too.
Even so, Nero was not about to give up so easily. Only through challenges like these could he actually improve.
At the same time, within the Astarties Lines, Vilhelm lay on his bed in his private room - something he got due to his position on the Crucible List - and read a book. Just as he told Nero, the character in the book he was reading had something similar to Aetheric Halo as well.
As Vilhelm read the book, he thought about how he could counter Nero’s Halo, or at least how he could replicate it. The crux of it was higher aetheric control, which he could not forcefully attain. However, if he could use something else to create the same outcome....
A flash white covered his hand while he read, and the aether in the room seemed to ripple weakly in response. It could not be called an Aetheric Halo, but at least it was a start.
If the previous day had been filled with anticipation, then the day of the second match was even more so. Even Professor Isabella commented on Nero’s win, but then warned him that repeating the feat would not be so simple.
Compared to the previous day, while Nero was still not nervous, he was a whole lot more occupied as he kept thinking of ways to combat Vilhelm. Nero had thoroughly analysed all his moves, but he was aware that Vilhelm might have done the same as well.
It would be easy for Nero to not think about or plan for the impending fight, but it was only due to how seriously he was taking the fight that he kept planning. After all, he was about to find out for himself what exactly it was that made Vilhelm a prodigy.
The day seemed to blur by, and though Nero wasn’t nervous, almost everyone else around him was. Once again, everyone gathered inside the Battle Arena, though this time Vilhelm was the one waiting for Nero.
"You know, while going over yesterday’s match, I composed a short poem for you," said Vilhelm as Nero walked up to the stage.
Nero raised an eyebrow as he looked at Vilhelm curiously.
"I think that would make you the first one to ever do that," said Nero amusedly. "Well, I’m all ears."
Vilhelm shook his head as he got into position.
"I’ll tell you after the match," he responded.
Nero originally planned on asking Vilhelm if he was sure about the fight. After all, no matter what, it would be impractical to expect Vilhelm to heal completely from yesterday’s injuries overnight. However, seeing his determination, Nero did not ask.
All things considered, his attitude was pretty good for someone who had lost a fight, but that did not mean he didn’t feel the pinch of loss.
Nero took his stance, ready for the match to begin. He could feel it - there was a confidence in Vilhelm’s actions that hadn’t been there yesterday.
The referee asked the same questions as yesterday, and once all the procedures were done, he started the match.
"Begin!"
Just like yesterday, the fight started at the exact moment as the match, but the difference was that this time, Vilhelm took the initiative to attack. Instead of fearing Nero after facing his immense strength yesterday, he chose to attack head on!
Nero, too, had planned to attack early, but this time Vilhelm set the pace of the match. He punched, straight towards the face, and Nero blocked before the punch came even close, aiming to grab Vilhelm’s hand.
To Nero’s immense surprise, he succeeded on the first attempt. Not letting surprise slow him down, Nero began pulling him closer to himself yet things did not go according to plan.
Instead of slowing down, Vilhelm made use of the greatest weakness he discovered in Nero. Though he boasted tremendous strength, his body weight was normal, and there was nothing keeping his feet on the ground save gravity. So...
Vilhelm grabbed Nero’s hand as well, making sure that they would stay connected. Using his tremendous forward momentum, Vilhelm suddenly turned inwards, wrapping Nero’s arm around his own shoulders and then lifting him off the ground.
Vilhelm had made full use of his speed, and by the time Nero realised what was happening, his feet were already off the ground.
Nero’s mind raced, and based on Vilhelm’s movement direction, Nero could already tell his plan. He would not slam Nero down, but fling him off the arena, causing him to lose the match!
In the very first exchange, Vilhelm already demonstrated an excellent understanding of Nero’s fighting style, and showed extreme decisiveness as he went for victory from the start.
But it would not be so easy. Nero was no easy prey.
On such short notice, there was only one thing Nero could do, and that was to pull himself closer to Vilhelm using the hand that he had grabbed so that he couldn’t be flung away. However, once he landed, he would be in a bad position so he needed to-
Almost as if he had been expecting that, Vilhelm put his arm around Nero’s neck before he even landed.
"In my chest I don’t have a heart, I have a wish," Vilhelm suddenly recited, even going as far as to waste precious seconds to do so.
Nero did not care if he had one wish or a hundred. The moment his feet landed on the ground he grabbed Vilhelm’s hand so that he couldn’t be choked and tried to elbow him in the gut.
Yet once again, Vilhelm did not behave as expected. Instead of trying to choke Nero, he used Nero’s grip on his hand to launch a suplex.
" Shit ," Nero cursed internally as he tried to lift his feet up to somehow stop himself from slamming his head, but it didn’t work. His suplex landed perfectly, slamming Nero’s head into the ground, causing him to momentarily blackout.
"A wish for a rival, and a lover, and an enemy or two," Nero heard in his groggy state, quickly waking him up. But unlike yesterday, today Vilhelm seemed to be entirely in control.