Nero was grinning from eat to ear in a distorted manner. Almost, all his teeth were shown giving him a beastly appearance. Coupled by his fierce crimson eyes, he looked like a demon happily ready to slaughter.
"Ugh, you better learn to stop that." Zenith's voice broke him out of his thoughts, before the smile on Nero's face faded, "You look pretty disgusting."
Nero rolled his eyes in response and just focused on the new power he acquired, [Crimson Drive].
Nero hadn't fully unlocked his spirit energy, but since he was a half-demon, his attunement raised a bit, making him better than most talents.
Nero uses up all the last spirit energy in his body to activate [Crimson Drive] once again.
Bzzzt zat!
The crimson sparks flickered constantly on his being, as he took in a deep breath. "The pain has lessened a bit..." he smiled. Now the pain was now annoying instead of unbearable.
Atleast there was an improvement!
___
One month later...
Rooaar!
A terrifying roar echoed in the dark forest. Most flying creatures, escaped the vicinity in haste, afraid of encountering the deadly beast.
In the dark forest, a figure with crimson sparks, moved with speed as the figure dodged the attacks from the humanoid beast.
"Fuck!" Nero furrowed his eyes in annoyance. The beast he was facing was different...
A demonoid, a humanoid beast with black skin, and white hollow eyes. Demonoids were a rare and deadly species. The chance of finding one was abysmal, and the fact each one was built different with varying abilities made them a problem.
For now, what Nero wanted most, was to not encounter such a beast, but luck was not on his side today.
Bzzzz zat!
Nero, sprinted away from the demonoid with visible fear in his eyes.
He wasn't ready for such a beast. It will be a miracle if he can last two seconds against it. Hell! One exchange is good enough.
Nero passes through all the areas that will allow him to get away from the demonoid, but nothing seems to work. He turned back to look at it and said, "Damn! I am too young to die!"
His situation was grim as it is, nothing could get any worse...
The demonoid put it arms forwards, before thrusting it with speed. The bones seemed to not matter as the arms stretched and elongated far and wide.
Shit!
Nero jumped and swung his leg towards the upcoming pair of pitch black hands. Crimson sparks took form, before a large arc of it charged forward, directly clashing against the pair of hands.
Boom!
A small dust cloud formed at the area of impact. Nero squinted his eyes in an attempt to perceive what was going on. He stood cautiously at the tree tops before making a run for it.
'Frickin' beast get a life,' Nero thought as he sped away.
"You got lucky with this one, I don't know why it left you..." Zenith's voice resounded in his mind. "Hmmm, an abnormality..."
Nero paid no heed and kept moving. He wasn't proficient in his new power and needed time to train. One month has gone by but, he needed more time to train for an entrance exams.
Sadly, time waits for no man.
"Starlight Academy... my stepping stone..."
* * * * *
Nero left the forest after two hours of constant fighting. He came out looking like a mix between homeless and a serial killer.
With dried blood covering half of his face and hair, his torn and ragged clothes gave him a homeless vibe. But, his ruby eyes showed only excitement.
(A/N: Nero's hair is now brown, precisely, mid tone brown, close to dark. Hope u understand.)
Nero, knew that he needed to train, and now as the perfect time
Why? The entrance exam was coming. So? His family was going to have a large gathering. And? A hunt will begin, made to train the youth.
Nero obviously knew this, so he needed to convince someone to invite him. Someone very known in the family, the young master of the Asborn family his brother, Matt Asborn.
* * *
The Asborn palace was busy.
Maids moving around with haste attempting to finish their assigned jobs. In a bedroom, a figure was standing in front of a luxurious looking mirror wearing, a grand suit.
The figure had long dark brown hair falling to his neck. His pair of golden eyes were attractive yet, sharp and devious. His tall frame was quite eye catching, he was very handsome when adding up all his features.
"Good enough," The figure said, "I don't want to look bad at the gathering. I wonder what little Nero is doing, hope he isn't getting beaten up. As Matt Asborn, I have a duty to protect my brother, but, family isn't allowing me to do that, take care." Matt had a habit of talking to himself.
Matt let's say had a brother complex, he was very fond of his little brother Nero. But to others, he was cold, arrogant and prideful. Nero knew his brother wanted to help him to, but he knew he that help was probably going to slow down his progress.
Matt walked to the grand meeting hall of the palace. The hall was large, as expected. It was huge and with a large round table in the middle with multiple seats surrounding it.
Matt walked forward and sat on one, next to his father , Reiner Asborn, the head of the family.
Matt kept an indifferent face, and a cold look to his scarlet eyes. In an hour's time, the place was filled with grand and famous people.
* * *
Nero arrived at the hall and took a seat next to his elder brother, Matt. Soon after the rest of his siblings came.
His younger brother, Seth Asborn, and his two elder sisters, Lexi Asborn and Lena Asborn, titled the two beauties of the Asborn family.
The gathering proceeded with other talks regarding the family and other things, but Nero kept quiet and kept listening.
"Now let's talk about the hunt." Reiner announced.
Nero's eyes flashed with unsheathed happiness. He corrected his lazy position, and sat straight.
"The hunt will he held tomorrow at the golem plains, not only does it provide a chance to earn skill books, it can also be used to farm some minor materials."
Nero thought before getting up, "I would like to come to the hunt!"