"Stop," Nero said, as he grabbed the kid's shoulder and squeezed it. This was a technique he learnt to help others focus, though many assumed it was an intimidation tactic. But that's not what it was. By deepening his voice and applying pressure near the neck, he distracted the other person's brain and allowed them to focus on what he was saying, rather than whatever had them distracted.
"What is your name?" he asked, locking eyes with the kid.
"I- my- my name is Isa," he stammered. "Isa Hammel, from the Hammel orphanage."
"Isa, my name is Nero, and I need you to focus on me. Can you do that? Drown out everything else, just focus on me."
He applied more pressure as he spoke, careful not to push to the level where his grip became painful. The point was to regulate the blood flow, not cause pain, which would have the opposite effect.
Isa, who found himself unable to break eye contact with Nero, suddenly found himself focused on Nero's face. He wore a solemn, yet calm face, completely unperturbed by their dire circumstances. His eyes did not waver, and were filled with incomparable serenity. It was as if, even now, he had everything under control.
That's when he felt it. Amidst the chaos of frenzied emotions there was a single, solitary pillar of unwavering confidence and focus. The tension, the panic, the fear, the darkness, all of the things around them buffeted that pillar, and were repelled with ease. They were the emotions of a man completely in control of himself.
Focusing on that confidence, sense that calm, Isa felt himself calm down just a bit. There was still a hurricane of wildly spiking emotions all around him, but by focusing on that single one, he could allow himself to calm down just a bit.
"Ye- yes, I think I can," he said, with an increasing amount of certainty.
"Good. Now Isa, can you explain to me how your ability works? Can you hone in on specific targets and determine their emotions? If you can find a way to do that, we might be able to search for and rescue other students."
He shook his head.
"We've tried many times in class, but I can never focus on anyone. I can't control my ability." He seemed on the verge of sobbing. Regardless of what his own innate quality was, he must have suffered a lot due to the emotions of others.
Nero was about to speak but he was distracted by a sound and tilted his head for a moment, listening in for any more sounds. A moment later, he heard the sound of dragging feet. It seemed some pursuers had finally caught up with them.
"Isa, circumstances in the field and in the class are very different. I want you to try and focus. There are some enemies outside. I will go take care of them, and I want you to focus on them and let me know if you can sense what they're feeling specifically. Keep in mind, you're not doing this for yourself. You're not doing this for me.
You're only doing this for all the other students who need our help. I have faith in you, you can do this."
"You- you don't even know me. How can you have faith in me?" Isa sounded defeated as he asked the question. No doubt he had seen his fair share of failure, and then some, which had overwhelmed him.
"It's like the emperor said," Nero said, letting go of his grip on Isa's shoulder and giving him a hearty slap on the back. "'A man burdened will fall to his knees, but a man burdened with purpose will carry the weight of the world on his shoulders.' It's time to get off your knees, Isa. We have the weight of many lives on our shoulders now."
Isa was stunned as he felt some unfamiliar emotions stir, and was startled to realise that they did not belong to someone else, but himself! Was it… expectation? This boy, who did not even know him five minutes ago, was holding such massive expectations from him! A part of him wanted to live up to them, but a larger part of him was afraid.
It knew too well the sting of failure, and was urging him to retreat once more into his shell.
But just as he was about to let his own fears take control of him, he once again sensed Nero's emotions. In the face of this tide of darkness, they were staunch and stalwart. But, most importantly, there was genuine belief and expectation - belief that he would rise to the occasion, and expectation of what they could achieve together.
It was overwhelming and invigorating.
Isa grit his teeth, and for once tried something he had never done. He closed himself off to his own emotions, and tried to use Nero's to give him courage as he trailed after him. Although he still didn't think he could control his ability, he would at least try.
Nero pushed away the plan he had in his mind, and instead focused on the enemies outside. In the darkened, foetid hall outside Nero could hear the sounds of three distinct sounds of dragging feet. There might be more, so he needed to check. But, surprisingly, instead of nervous, Nero was starting to feel a hint of anticipation.
Initially, he had been thinking of the most logical thing to do which did not give him room to feel any emotions. But now that he had accepted that this is what he was going to do, he could not actually wait to see his training in action. His only regret was that he had not trained with his innate ability enough, but now was as good a time as any to begin.
He peeked his head out the door to take a look, and indeed only saw three dark figures wading through the hall, searching the rooms as they passed. Nero turned and made sure that there was nothing behind him, before considering how he was going to attack them.
He wanted nothing more than to just barge out and fight them directly, but he reminded himself that there was a difference between school spars and active combat. He should use more than just combat tactics.
He reached into his card case and searched for his intended card. Having a large deck proved its inconvenience in such situations where it was not easy to find the specific card one wanted at a moment's notice. But if given a little time, it made up for that flaw by providing great versatility.
He pulled out This is us, a card he bought from Maxim's card shop that created illusions of the caster. Whether the vines were using their host's sight, or their attraction to aether, an illusion should suffice to provide both.
He used the card and aimed the illusion to stand in the doorway of an apartment close to him. Although the illusion did not move, nor did it produce any sound, all three creatures suddenly turned to look towards it, though for a brief moment they also looked towards where Nero was hidden.
But the dark outline of a figure standing in the doorway, filled with aether was much too strong a temptation for them to consider other things. The creatures shrieked altogether and lunged at the illusion, rushing through the illusion and crashing into the room itself.
But just as the second one lunged, and the third one had not yet reached the door, Nero also sprang forth. By now it was too dark to make out the details clearly, but he got the impression that the students bodies were now entirely covered in thick vines like a suit of armour, leaving no room open for him to slice through their tendons.
He had no choice. He covered his blade with his Cryoflame and stabbed the student as he tackled him to the side. Nero had only a few seconds, a dozen or so at most, before the other creatures caught up to him so he had to debilitate this one first.
He had the urge to disregard his reverse and maximise his use of Cryoflame, covering the whole student and freezing his body, but his experiments from earlier let him know just how small his reserves were. He had to be tactical.
He pulled the knife out and began slashing the vines wherever he saw them emerging from the skin, causing the student to shriek out in pain. The vines also writhed, and shot forward at Nero to pierce into his body, but he needed to only take a step back to dodge them, as the one coming from the bodies had small range.
Then, before the vines could retreat, Nero grabbed them with his flame covered hand and cut them. After an initial clash, Nero could already determine that he would not be able to knock out the students as easily as before, since the vines covering the bodies were very thick and made it hard to transmit damage. But at the same time, it also made them slow.
One of the vine-covered students emerged from the room, but instead of feeling pressured, Nero only smiled.
Now it was a party.