Digitize: Rebirth of the Silver Death God

Unaware of the circumstances outside of his ring, Nero now stood with his eyes closed, and the scythe held at an angle before him within his battle ring. Following his completion of the Fifth Stage, he had only moments ago completed the Sixth Stage, further consolidating his understanding of the Reaper Stances' second level.

Suddenly, Nero's eye opened, as he stared at the hazy scene around him, listening to the rustling sounds that came from all directions. He could vaguely see a few silhouettes shuffling about at speeds no inferior to his own with ominous lights from their eyes.

'They're coming.' Nero thought as his grip on his scythe's handle grew tighter, its edge shining in a cold ray as a solemn look appeared on his face.

"Kiiiiiii!" The violent sound of the transformed Tyrant Slime resounded once more from all sides, as within moments, dozens of its clones rushed towards Nero at incredible speeds. They each used Nero's Four-Point Unity Steps to bolster their acceleration by over 100 km/h.

Nero's eye remained calm as the world around him slow down, his Spiritual Awareness pushed to the peak as he made sure to keep track of each of their movements.

Nevertheless, it didn't take long for a dozen of the clones to arrive within his range; performing his combat stances as they twirled and utilized the Mowing Twist style of his Reaper Stances. Instantly, a series of spiraling silver rays swept at him from every angle, forcing him in a perilous position.

Nero, who seemed as if he was one step from death, rapidly invoked his Four-Point Unity Steps as he prepared to evade the attacks. The ground below him has the illusory image of a flat-shaped diamond with him at the center of four points.

As if one of the attacks had already arrived, a bright ray swept from behind his neck, but as if Nero saw it coming, he merely took a step onto the left point, which caused his body to slide to the side, narrowly avoiding the scythe's edge that cut a few strands of his hair.

Without even a moment to catch his breath, the other flurry of scythe attacks arrived in full, but Nero seemed to have eyes all over his body. He narrowly dodged each of them by taking one step in each of the four directions, sometimes moving forward, backward, right, or left.

Eventually, his body became indistinct due to the rapidly short distant movement. Dozens of flashes silver blade lights spiraled around his form, creating a terrifyingly wonderful but also devastating scene.

Adult Nero nodded in satisfaction as he pondered, 'Not bad, his mastery of his Four Point Unity Steps is way ahead of his other techniques. It is good to have battles like this that can test his limit. Furthermore, the stronger opponents he faces, the mightier he can become.'

While Adult Nero thought to himself, the battle only continued to grow more heated and dangerous with each passing second.

The Tyrant Slime's main body watched from afar with cold eyes, but as it saw Nero narrowly avoiding the onslaught, it's gaze became even more ruthless as it shouted.

"Kiiiiiii!"

As if they heard his command, each clone's eyes glowed as they stopped their previous assault and adopted a different posture.

Nero seeing this change, had a serious look as he lowered his stance, readying himself again. Following his movement, each of the sixty-four strong clone army bodies split up into multiple ghostly figures that charged towards Nero once more.

If it were any other man, they would have long since lost the courage to face off against such a number, but Nero merely snorted.

"Hmph! You may have my abilities, but you don't have weapons and their effects."

Upon saying those words, Nero raised his arm with the Crimson Mantis Band and invoked its skill.

"Killing Field!"

Following his invocation, the band around his wrist glowed in a crimson light before it created a domain-like field around Nero for roughly ten or so meters.

The instant each of the clones got caught within it; their movements became slow and jerky as if they couldn't withstand the pressure.

Nero knew that this wouldn't last long, so he hurried and utilized his own Myriad Spector Cut, splitting into four ghostly clones that went towards four angles.

In a flash, Nero had used his Mowing Twist stance to leave behind a flurry of silver blade lights as his scythe's edge swirled around the area, chopping apart dozens of clones at a time.

Time passed quickly, and the Killing Field soon faded. As this happened, the hundreds of strong armies of clones had fallen to less than twenty. However, even this would prove to be a difficult number to fight in direct combat.

'My magic power is running out, and there are still too many of them. It won't be easy to finish this, not unless I can achieve another meaningful breakthrough in my skills,' Nero thought as he looked at his magic power.

Nero wanted to find a plan, but as if the Tyrant Slime knew what he was up to, it showed no relent as it mercilessly commanded for another assault while joining the fray.

A series of whooshing noises sounded as all clones charged once more, intending to finish Nero off for good. A brutal look showed in each of their eyes as the scythes in their hands glistened with baleful lights.

'Damn, I've got no choice, I have to use this to get more time!' Nero inwardly said as if he made up his mind.

The clones didn't need long to approach Nero once again, and as they did they, they hacked the scythes from all of his angles once again, ensuring that he wouldn't be able to avoid even a single one.

The Tyrant Slime had a menacing look in its eyes as if it could see Nero chopped to pieces, but suddenly its eyes shrunk as Nero did the unthinkable.

With a few resonant stepping sounds, Nero jumped from the ground into the air, swiftly avoiding the scythe attacks.

The Tyrant Slime was initially surprised, but soon after it sneered as it lifted scythe and commanded each of the others to do the same, it laughed because Nero was now in an unfavorable position.

However, as one would expect him to fall to his demise, his figure stood floating in the heavens as if he were standing on an invisible platform.

As if it didn't matter, the Tyrant Slime made a mean look as it roared at Nero as if proclaiming that it will eradicate him as soon as he fell. The other clones also did the same as they hoisted their scythes and calmly waited.

Nero frowned at this as he cursed while looking down, "That darn slime, so darn persistent!'

Nero cursed at his bad luck but knew he couldn't do anything about it. He could see the seconds fading as he knew that he didn't have long left, causing him to feel anxious.

Soon though, he rapidly calmed himself and took a deep breath, slowing his breathing as he tuned out the world, pushing his thoughts to the maximum.

'I have to master the next stage of my Reaper Stances or I will lose, but just how do I accomplish it? What am I missing? I can swiftly wield the scythe using the force of the momentum brought from rotating, but how does that carry onward to the second level?'

While Nero pondered, he didn't notice, but the timer for the Sky Walk skill had already run out, and his figure had already begun to fall from the sky.

The Tyrant Slime made an expression of victory as it raised its scythe and commanded the other clones to finish him the instant he fell in range.

Seconds passed, and Nero's body soon arrived within their range; without even a moment of hesitancy, all clones used Nero's Mowing Twist and transformed into series of spiral blade lights that swept forward to end his life.

The situation seemed dire as if at any time, he would be diced to pieces. Yet, it was at this moment that Nero had a change in his mind.

'Wait... all that was necessary to proceed to the second level was to reach the state where everything is in one motion. One motion, but the flow of my scythe should resemble the dance of a flowing snake. If one motion is the origin of force, then the flow is the movement, and as for the dancing snake... that should more or likely be referring to its path, a path with no set rhythm or monotony, one of constant change. In other words, I don't need to change anything; one force equals one motion, and one action can lead to a myriad of shifts.'

As if a new dawn came onto Nero, his enlightenment brightened the world around him. Within Nero's mind, the First Door of Memories with a single glowing rune burst open as it sent a series a sinister-looking manual titled - Dancer Reaper Stance towards Nero's core consciousness.

Adult Nero watched in excitement as he thought to himself, 'Excellent, to think he'd truly accomplished this feat in such a short time, truly wonderful.'

Following his thoughts, the scene outside soon started to change, Nero who experienced his sudden change, soon after opened his eyes, his red pupils glowed in a sinister light as if read to unleash havoc to all around him.

The Tyrant Slime shuddered as even though its scythe was only moments away from chopping off Nero's head, it felt that its world was about a change, and this battle of theirs had already ended…