Digitize: Rebirth of the Silver Death God

Within the Battle Arena, the crowd watched silently as the misty arena's had two glowing icons above them. The bet between Nero and Delkan had only begun a few minutes ago, but they all wanted to see if the newly rising Silver Boy could even contest someone as famous as Rampant Axe.

At this moment, two glowing icons were shining above both battle rings. One of them had number six, while the other was stuck on the fifth number.

Suddenly, the icon above one of the two Battle Ring's flashed as a number 7 appeared, and a notification resounded in his mind.

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Ding!

[Challenger Rampant Axe has ascended to the 7 Stage!]

____

When everyone heard this, they didn't show signs of alarm as they had long since expected this result; what mattered for him was whether he could break past his limits and achieve the 8 Stage.

What caught everyone's attention was that Nero, who entered the challenge a bit later, could so quickly rise to the Fifth Stage.

'Oh, he's much better than I'd thought, even more interesting...' Bramble Child thought with a smile on his face as he stared at Nero's battle ring.

Thunder's Daughter and Crazy Blade stared at this with sharp eyes as they were pretty much at this level, making it a step further would put them into the ranks of that ever so fleeting but overwhelming Rising Fox, bringing them one step closer to the Grassroot Sword Child and those before him.

Elly had a hesitant look on her face; though Nero was in a favorable position, she still didn't know if he could win in the end, causing her to show a tinge of worry. However, it was at this moment a few light steps were heard behind her.

"Eh? Miss Balkras, what's going on here? It looks like a lively scene," A familiar voice said.

Elly turned around and saw Avollo sporting his straw hat over his dreadlocks. His dark chocolate colored skin melded perfectly with the room as his white teeth became more prominent due to his smile.

A few others noticed his arrival, and their faces sunk as they knew that this seemingly at ease youth was none other than the current Number Two Ranker.

'So even he's come, looks like he might have made some progress...' Thunder's Daughter said with eyes that flickered with thunder.

Crazy Blade also had similar thoughts, as did the silent and low-key Bramble Child, who merely looked on with shining eyes.

Elly made a complex look before she spoke, "Well, it's like this..."

Following those words, she began to explain that situation that happened prior and how it led to the current bet.

"You said, Nero, what? Hahahaha!" Avollo said before he laughed at the top of his voice, unable to control himself as he wiped the corners of his eyes.

A few others cast looks at him, but no one did anything; they knew better than to provoke a tiger; besides, the current bet was more interesting.

After a while, Avollo soon calmed down and spoke after taking a deep breath, "Phew, oh man, you guys are something else, you sure know how to create drama, I'd almost believe this to be some script for some serial on the Miki Drama Channel. Hmm, I have a bit of advice, would you like to hear it?"

Elly's face a bit ashamed at his laugh, but after hearing his latter words, she rolled her eyes and looked at him suspiciously and asked, "And what kind of advice do you have to give?"

Avollo snickered before he bent closer and spoke in a soft tone as he winked, "I think you two should just confess your little puppy affection; it will speed up the drama and bring closure to everything."

Upon hearing those words, Elly had a red face as she lowered her head before she is shouting, "Y-you, don't speak such nonsense!"

Avollo looked at her shy manner and chuckled as he thought to himself, 'Nero, you lucky little devil, only you can transform a tyrant into this manner.'

As Avollo heard this, he couldn't help but recall the rumors he heard in the upper society's grapevine, those connected with the youngest miss of the Balkras.

After thinking for a moment, Avollo shook his head and cleared his thoughts; he stared at the location of Nero's battle ring and sat himself down with his sword on his legs with a look on interest on his face.

"Huhu... come now, Nero, it hasn't been that long since our rematch, so let's see how you've progressed," Avollo said in a soft voice as his eyes flashed in a competitive light when he gazed at the ring.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed as the icon above Nero's ring started to change. Everyone who saw this had surprised expressions as they knew he was more or likely transitioning to the next rank; they stared at Delkan's stage with looks of mock as based on this already, Nero had already one that bet of theirs.

Avollo chuckled at this as Elly also stared in silence, her thoughts now unknown to the world.

***

In a sea of haze, a battle between four indistinct figures was currently fighting a fierce battle. They both had glamorous silver hair and a handsome making. With every movement of their bodies, one would see a myriad of ghostly shadows that flashed about, each using a long and sinister-looking scythe to do battle against each other as they left sparks with every collision.

Nero was currently facing off against three of himself, ever since his first victory against the Tyrant Slime from the First Stage, he had found against them in increments.

The Fifth Stage had 16 versions of himself, each with Level Five Mastery in his core skills, making for a decent battle. However, after slaughtering most of them and narrowing their numbers to three, Nero felt that this battle was quickly beginning to bore him.

'Well, I've practiced long enough; I should finish these others and prepare myself for the next phase. I'll likely be able to advance my mastery a little more against that bunch,' Nero said with a sharp look in his eyes.

Following his words, Nero gripped his scythe tightly as he stared at the clones of himself that surrounded him from all angles. With an angry shout, they each charged at him once more from the hazy mist, each using the power of his Myriad Spector Cut to send out ghostly shadows of themselves to confuse him.

Yet, Nero didn't seem to mind this; his thoughts at this moment seemed clear as if he knew that the scythe was meant to battle against numerous foes of this standard. As if drawn by his instinct, his Mowing Twist posture changed slightly as he rotated his body to swing his scythe.

The moment this happened, his figure vanished, leaving behind only the edge of the scythe itself spiraling across the void. However, it was during this movement that the blade's twisting motion soon changed, as if it had come to life.

It began to dance around the battle ring like a snake, moving like an S shape before reverting to the typical motions, which left trailing lines of spiraling silver lights.

Within a few seconds, this movement had ended as the scythe's edge halted a positioned behind each of the ghostly shadows. Not long after, Nero's figure appeared, holding onto the handle that connected to the edge. His robe fluttered behind him as his back faced his enemies, who oddly enough, didn't even seem to notice what had previously transpired as they continued to attack.

Suddenly, the ghostly shadows vanished into nothingness as the three Tyrant Slime clones had startled appearances. They looked down and noticed that their torso was severed from their bodies. Their corpse soon after joined the other ranks of the others that laid on the ground lifelessly with a thud.

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Ding!

[You have completed the Fifth Stage of the Ranking Challenge, transference to the Sixth Stage shall begin in 1 minute!]

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When Nero heard the notification, he had only just awoken from his previous state as he stared behind him in surprise.

'Just now, that feeling... is this the doorway to the level that my older self was always mentioning?' Nero thought with a look of curiosity on his face.

His eyes flickering as he recalled how he vaguely melded with the edge of the scythe and had started to twist it in strange angles.

Adult Nero stared at him and spoke, "You are correct, you've touched the doorway, but whether or not you can master it depends on your efforts."

When Nero heard this, he felt excited; he knew that even if it didn't increase his actual power, this would be a big boost to combat effectiveness. Power, in the end, is but only one aspect, learning how to transfer that power efficiently, is what defines the masters from the amateurs.

Nero tightly clenched his fist as his eyes had a firm look when he spoke, "I will do it! I will master the second level before this Ranking Challenge ends!"

Adult Nero smiled at his attitude, he said nothing as the time soon ran out, and a bright light flashed transforming the entirety of the ring, preparing for a brand-new battle.