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.
"Congratulations," Gravis said with a nod.
"Yay, you also have a Unity Will now!" Joyce shouted.
"Well done," Manuel said with a laugh.
Nero looked to the side. "Thank you all," he simply said.
His reply had appeared taciturn, but Gravis could see his face getting a bit red. Apparently, he was embarrassed. Gravis laughed when he saw that.
"I have something that I want to ask you," Nero said suddenly as he looked at Gravis.
Gravis raised an eyebrow. "Ask away," he said.
"What do you think of darkness' temperament?" he asked.
Gravis furrowed his brows. "I haven't had a nice meeting with someone from the darkness element. Everyone I have met only showed ridicule and greed."
Nero's eyes shone. "You're right. That's how darkness cultivators are, but the temperament can change with a different outlook, right?"
Gravis nodded. "Yes."
Nero looked at his daggers. "Darkness is inherently greedy," Nero said slowly. "It wants to possess everything and become the only remaining thing. When the world is bright, you can see the trees, the water, the earth, and the air."
Gravis wasn't sure what Nero wanted to say, but he grew interested.
Nero turned his gaze to Gravis. "In darkness, you can't see anything. It appears like it consumes everything and nothing remains. That's how the temperament of darkness is. It wants to be the only thing you can see."
Suddenly, Nero's even gaze changed into a slight smile. "But isn't that wrong? Aren't the trees, the earth, the water, and the air still present in darkness? Everything is still there. You just can't see it. So, instead of saying that darkness consumes everything, why not say that it protects everything by hiding it?"
Gravis blinked a couple of times. He thought about this and came to the conclusion that it actually made sense. "That's your belief?" he asked.
Nero nodded. "A cultivator can reach the top alone, but is that a worthwhile life?" Nero asked. "Why not connect with everything on the journey. Like this, the trees become obstacles to others, the earth grows unsteady, you can't see the air coming, and water can become a trap. I think darkness is best utilized by working in harmony with the other elements."
"After all," Nero said slowly, "a world in darkness without anything in it is not darkness, but just emptiness."
Gravis felt himself resonate with that sentence. He was strong and could control his emotions, but didn't having friends feel better than being alone? He might be able to deal with the loneliness, but that didn't mean that he wanted it.
Gravis put his hand on Nero's shoulder again. "I misjudged you," Gravis said. "I'm happy to have you as a friend."
Nero smiled calmly. "Thank you."
"See?" Joyce said as she shoved Gravis lightly. "You always looked at him like some unimportant person that just accompanies us, but there is a reason why I'm friends with him. Do you really think I would be friends with egotistical and selfish people?"
Gravis smiled bitterly. "I guess not."
The group talked for a couple of minutes. Then, Manuel jumped into the arena. Gravis looked at him but shook his head. 'He is already very experienced. He has his own fighting style already, and every additional teaching from my side might tarnish it,' Gravis thought.
"Heaven," Manuel said, eliciting surprised expressions from everyone else. Someone else was talking to Heaven now? "I want to use this trial as a tempering opportunity. Please send whatever you feel is the best tempering for my current self."
Gravis nodded. For once, he and Heaven had the same goal. They both didn't want the others to die and to increase their strength. Leaving the enemies up to Heaven was a good decision.
Three cultivators at the Seed Stage appeared, and Manuel summoned his spear.
"It's my turn now!" he shouted with determined eyes.