Chapter 319: Different Darkness (1/2)

The darkness disciple fought head-on against his foes, and he fought rather impressively at that. He had said himself that direct confrontations were his weakness, but it was hard to see why he thought that.

”Nero has always been impressive in fights,” Joyce said.

'Nero?' Gravis thought but then realized that he had never asked for the darkness disciple's name. That was probably his name.

Initially, Gravis didn't expect much from the darkness disciple. Their temperament didn't agree with him, so he hadn't paid much attention to him. Yet, Nero's impressive performance garnered Gravis' attention.

Normally, darkness cultivators stabbed both of their loaded weapons into a target to kill them instantly. The first dagger would sap the target of all their Life Energy while the second one turned them into a lifeless husk, but Nero fought differently.

Even when he had the chance to hit the opponent with both daggers, he only used one. After that, he fought defensively. Without Life Energy, the body couldn't regenerate. Normally, cultivators had no issue to shrug off an injury that would kill a mortal, but without Life Energy, they would slowly succumb to their injuries.

Nero would stab the enemy and then cut down to create a huge gash. After that, he would jump away while retrieving his used dagger into his Spirit Space. The fight would then become a defensive match. Nero easily dodged and parried attacks while always keeping his distance.

Even when he got another chance to hit the enemy, he would only use his already unloaded dagger to add another cut. Usually, Gravis would think that such a fighting style was bad. After all, it gave the enemy more time to win.

Yet, Nero never made a mistake. He controlled his opponents just right. None of the opponents even managed to hit him, even if it was a two-versus-one. To top it all off, since the fights took longer when he fought, he nearly recovered all his Energy when the enemy died.

When Gravis saw that, his eyes narrowed. 'He's really good. I think he also has a chance against him.'

”Heaven!” Gravis shouted. ”Summon the priest that killed Claude again. Same strength, but fully healed.”

Joyce got a little nervous when she heard that, but she trusted Gravis and Nero. Even though Nero was a darkness cultivator, and darkness cultivators tended to be selfish, Nero was different. He had a wholly different interpretation of darkness' temperament.

The copy of the priest appeared with its massive shield, but Nero's eyes remained cold. His eyes showed that he wasn't taking the enemy lightly, but they also showed that he was in full control.

The puppet charged at him with its shield raised. Nero leisurely closed in on it. The puppet didn't stop charging, and they were about to hit each other.

CRRR! BANG!

Nero crouched down and kicked the shield at the bottom, making the puppet nearly fall over its own shield, but it recovered quickly. It increased the weight of its shield and pushed down.

BOOM!

With one hand, Nero grabbed the side of the shield and pushed himself to the side while the shield hit the earth behind him. His eyes remained icy as he easily climbed above the shield.

Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!

The priest's spear penetrated Nero's chest, but Nero buried both of his daggers into the arm that held the shield. Before the puppet could destroy Nero's body, it lost all its strength. Its whole body shriveled up, and Nero twisted his body to pull the spear away from the puppet's grip.

Nero jumped back, and the weapons, as well as the puppet, vanished. The fight had ended.

Joyce applauded in ecstasy while Nero took a deep breath to calm down. The spear had been quite massive, and it had created an enormous hole in his chest. Such a wound would severely impact his fighting strength, but it wasn't deadly.

Nero looked at Gravis, and Gravis looked back. Then, Gravis nodded. ”Impressive,” he said. ”You're done.”

Nero jumped out of the arena and was healed by Joyce's Life Lightning. Gravis walked up to Nero and put a hand on his shoulder. ”You are patient without underestimating your enemy, but you can be decisive when it's necessary. Your temperament appears similar to the priest I have fought. That's a very powerful temperament.”

Nero nodded. ”Thank you.”

Nero wasn't very talkative, but Gravis could feel his sincere emotions.

BANG!

Nero's Will-Aura changed as it expanded. He had just condensed his Unity Will. Even though the fight had seemed simple, it had been pretty risky. One wrong move from Nero and he would have died. The direct confrontation had been quite a test for him.