Digitize: Rebirth of the Silver Death God

When Nero's scythe chopped towards Mikan, it swung towards the outer portion of his torso as Nero only intended to inflict a mild wound. He knew that the judge would mark his move as a tactical win as normally, it would have sliced the foe into two halves.

Nevertheless, as the baleful ray of silver light swooped down, the moment it contacted Mikan's body, a strange scene that caused many of the other talents to gasp in amazement occurred. With a puff, Mikan dissipated into a cloud of poison that rapidly expanded outwards, covering most of the battle platform. 

"That technique..." Yullia said in a bit of surprise on the side of the Blood Steel Society members.

Screwgelman also narrowed his eyes as he spoke, "Hmm, not bad, he's not even utilizing the Everdale's Inheritance Bit, and yet has taken their Poison Blast Wave technique to an adequate stage. Though, I doubt he can perform it for a lengthy period."

Ian, who listened, also nodded, "Indeed, but even so, it's a good thing to achieve this stage."

Elly looked at the battle platform with a bit of worry in her eyes; she saw the dense positions clouds corroding most of the platform, sizzling noises sounding everywhere as even Nero's silhouette had vanished.

"Nero..." Elly muttered with a bit of uncertainly in her eyes, she knew that these battles, though not fatal, could still be quite detrimental at the slightest mistake.

"Worrying again, I say Miss Tyrant, you should stop acting so girlish; he won't lose to this kind of thing," Avollo said in a calm manner as he watched the platform with sharpness in his eyes.

Elly nodded at Avollo's words, but as if only now figuring something out, she glared at him and shouted in anger, "Hey, what was that? Of course I'll be girlish! I AM A GIRL!"

Not paying heed to the dispute, Ryo, who remained silent for most of it, had oddly enough taken his eyes from his phone, paying close attention to Nero and Mikan's fight. His silence and unflustered manner akin to the confidence he held in Nero.

On the side of the Shadowblood Faction, Davia seemed unphased by Mikan's performance, as did Kyle, but as for Weizer, he gritted his teeth while thinking to himself.

'Che, so what if that Poison Shit improved? I wouldn't lose to him.'

Ivy, who stood nearby, didn't hear his words but glared at him as she saw his manner; she rudely cut her eyes away from him, looking back onto the stage with a mix of concern and praise on her face.

'I sure hope Nero's alright; maybe he should give up, that technique is quite dangerous the longer you stay within it, and while brother's version is not as perfect as mine, it should still be quite troubling.'

As everyone expressed their own opinions of the current turnaround, the battle on the stage had continued, Nero soon after appeared as the baleful silver light swirled around his silhouette, reforming into a scythe's edge.

'I underestimated him,' Nero inwardly said as he saw the change around him, a bit of HP had even decreased due to the dense poisonous clouds surrounding him.

"Ha, let that be a lesson," Adult Nero scoffed while lazily leaning back, floating around in Nero's mind.

"Tch, whatever," Nero grumbled before holding his breath, his silver-colored magic forming around his body, protecting him from the effects of the poison cloud. Soon, his red pupils began to shift left and right as if seeking Mikan's form.

"Haha, what's wrong? Can't find my position? You might be stronger than me, but this is a technique I've been working on for quite some time. My Poisonous Blast Wave is highly persistent, and what's more, I can block my presence anywhere within its boundaries. I think that now is a good time for you to give up."

Mikan voiced from all directions as in an obscure corner of the stage; his vague silhouette stood hidden from all sight behind the sea of dense position, his arms held out before him with his fingers curved, as if gripping the cloudy haze.

'He sure is troublesome; I'm nowhere near his match, but regardless, a battle doesn't to be a contest of brute strength. Heh, so long as I hold him off, he'll ingest enough poison and become weakened.'

With such thoughts in mind, Mikan kept his position of advantage, patiently waiting like a predator that readied itself to pounce on its weakened foe.

Mikan thought that he had everything under control, but sadly for him, Nero's following actions would change his dream.

"Mikan, I take back my previous thoughts; you're not so bad after all," Nero said as he slowly raised one of his hands above his head, lifting his scythe held at an angle.

"What did you say?!" Mikan yelled in rage; he felt Nero's words just now to be a bit arrogant. He was about to perform another skill, but Nero had already acted before it could happen.

"I'll end this quick..." Nero said in a strange tone, his manner changing slightly as, within his sea of consciousness, his older self looked at him with a faint smile.

'The benefit of my experience, heh, so lucky you are...' Adult Nero thought to himself as he watched calmly.

'The scythe is more than a tool to reap, it is a versatile weapon, capable of both the defensive and offensive…'

Nero's mind echoed as when he held his scythe upward, he seemed to have momentarily synchronized with his First Door of memories, causing it to glow slightly.  Instantly, his magic power erupted as he spun the handle of his scythe at a rapid speed, causing it to release a swirl of his silver-colored magic power and a gush of wind around his figure.

In Nero's mind, Adult Nero shook his head at this, even more so as he saw the door slowly returning to normal as he muttered, 'Oh well, I guess it wasn't enough, he didn't fully reach the requirement to properly learn the Reaper Gale Swing."

Back on the outside, a small void appeared around his body in a flash as the dense poison haze swirled around his figure. The poison cloud began to clear up when this happened, revealing Mikan's form, which stood with shock on his face.

"You... how could?" Mikan wanted to say something as he stood there in shock, but suddenly, Nero's figure spun and vanished, leaving behind a bright silver ray of light that swept towards him at blinding speeds.

"Oh no!" Mikan exclaimed as he tried to back up, but sadly, it appeared that the speed of Nero's current attack was even faster than before; the light swirling around at odd angles, leaving behind a strange scene of curving rays that looked as if it were dancing.

Seconds later, the lights vanished as Mikan halted his steps, sweating rolling down his cheeks as he gulped, feeling something cold resting at the edge of his neck.

"It's my win," Nero's voice sounded from behind him as he appeared standing with his back turn, a single-arm holding onto the scythe with its edge rested against Mikan's neck.

"I... darn, I can't believe this!" Mikan cursed but said nothing more in the end. He knew he had already lost.

"That was a good fight," Nero said with a smirk as he pulled back the scythe and tapped his shoulder.

"Like hell it was, you freak," Mikan said as he stared at him; though he had no enmity against Nero, he wanted to use this rare chance to get back at him for that petty Novice Village event, but alas, such a thing was only a dream.

Whoosh, as both Nero and Mikan finished their battle, the masked man appeared again, giving both a good look before he waved his hand and spoke, "Victor: Nero."

His voice resonated across the entire room as everyone looked at the scene with varying expressions, most of which were of shock while others were of challenge and eagerness, rearing to one to challenge him for the next fight.