Whoreson.
It was one word Nero hated the most.
He frequently heard that word in his childhood. His father, his father's lawful wife, and their daughter, who was also his half-sister, used to call him that.
However, that's not the reason why Nero hated that word so much.
You see, in this world, governmental titles are hereditary. So obviously, those who own these titles like to highly value their bloodline.
It's not rocket science. Imagine you are a mayor of a city. Now, naturally, since you own a city and you're no saint, you'll want to bed every jade beauty you see.
Yeah, here's a problem. You can't do that.
Why? Because you wouldn't want thousands of children claiming to be the successor of your title since that would mean an internal conflict—a civil war.
And as of right now and for the foreseeable future, it's not safe for the world to even think about having a civil war.
It is for this reason that the Central Government has enacted legislation stipulating that men holding government positions are permitted to have only one legal wife and may maintain mistresses but shall not enter into matrimony with them, and these mistresses must be incapable of bearing children.
In simple words, you can fuck around and bed as many jade beauties as you want but those jade beauties should be sterile.
So that's why when Mayor Blaze Dekrauf, Nero's father, took in a prostitute as his mistress, he made sure she was infertile by checking her medical reports. And it turned out she couldn't have kids.
However, fate being a prude little bitch, played one of its twisted jokes again.
A few months later, the mistress that Blaze Dekrauf had taken in became pregnant with Nero.
Of course, the mayor was not happy to hear that news. He thought he was lied to and got deceived.
Even though his mistress told him time and time again that she didn't lie, he never believed her.
He wanted to kill her. However, there was a problem.
She was now pregnant. And it is an absolutely unforgivable crime, even for a member of the Central Government itself, to kill an unborn child.
Why? Because that unborn child could have a heaven-defying potential that the world could use.
So he didn't kill her. However, that didn't stop him from making her life a living hell.
Every kind of physical abuse one can think of, he put her through even when she was pregnant with his child.
Even after Nero was born, the abuse didn't stop. The poor guy had to grow up watching his mother getting beaten day in and day out by his biological father.
Until one day, Blaze Dekrauf finally decided to stop the abuse and kill her. He drove a dagger right through her heart in front of Nero and asked him to itch that scene into his mind.
As he did so, he said, "You know why your mother has to die? Because she gave birth to you, you whoreson bastard!"
Those words scarred his soul. He realized his mother died because of him— because she gave birth to him.
He realized that his mother had to die because he was a… whoreson.
That's why when Alberto referred to Nero as the very thing he hated himself for being, he lost the leash on his emotions.
With a cold and emotionless expression etched on his face, his eyes void of focus, he slowly turned around and began to make his way toward the towering figure of the giant black boy.
"What did you say?"
"I said, apology accepted, you whoreson!"
Of course, Alberto, who had no idea what that word meant to Nero, kept using it to insult him with a mocking smile on his face.
He thought he was annoying Nero. When in reality, he was angering him.
Seeing that this verbal conflict was about to turn into a physical confrontation, Amelia, Anastasia, and William got up from their seats in hopes of grabbing Nero and calming him down.
Almost in response, several students from class 1-C-1 got up from their seats too.
Oof, the tension was high!
"Should we go too?" Kent, who was sitting across from me, asked in a worried tone.
"Fuck no," I replied without even entertaining the idea of getting close to Nero right now. He was in a dangerous state of mind and he was not going to differentiate between allies from enemies.
"But we're in the same Unit," Kent tried to argue. "We should help him."
"Kent, if you want to help someone, then call an ambulance."
"For Nero?"
"Of course not. For everyone present here."
"What does that mean—!"
Before Kent could even react to my words, a crushing pressure swept over the whole cafeteria, suffocating everyone present there instantly.
The sound of once lively chatter and clanking of utensils ceased and the whole area was plunged into silence when all the cadets present here started choking on their breaths.
"Khuuuu!"
Kent was also subjected to the same fate. Even Amelia, Anastasia, and William, who were running toward Nero in hopes of calming him down, stumbled and dropped to the ground under the intense pressure in the air.
Yes, Nero was oozing off that pressure. It was his [Silver-1] ranked mana pressure.
Since most of the people present here were around [Bronze-1] rank at best, no one was able to withstand Nero's fury.
Even Alberto was the same. Although his condition was a little better than the treat, he was on one knee, panting like a dog out of breath.
"Haaaa!" my condition wasn't very good either. I was choking on air too.
Of course, I could've used my [Phoenix's Embrace] armor to endure Nero's fury; I was not stupid enough to reveal the ace up my sleeve for something as trivial as that.
I manned up and faced the crushing mana pressure head-on.
While everyone else lay on the ground with their body convulsing under the crippling pressure, I used the fork in my hand to stab myself in the thigh.
It wasn't enough to draw blood but it was still enough to keep me functioning. However, even after that, it was still not easy for me to breathe.
Just how strong was this monster?!
After overpowering everyone with his strength, Nero walked up to Alberto and stood over him, who was struggling to get back up but was unable to do so under the former's presence.
"I'll ask again," Nero coldly stated. "Think very carefully before answering because it could be your last sentence. What did you say?"
Seeing the unfocused look in Nero's eyes, Alberto's heart was struck with a feeling that he could only describe as fear.
He trembled as we weakly muttered, "S-Sorry…!"
Thwack—!
A kick landed flat right across Alberto's face, making him fall to his right side and knocking him out cold.
As soon as he hit him, the emotionless look in Nero's eyes disappeared, and his face returned to normal.
After looking around and seeing how many people he had made suffer, Nero quickly withdrew his mana pressure and bowed deeply.
"I'm sorry, everyone!" he shouted and trailed out of the cafeteria.
"Arghh!" groaning in pain, I weakly got up to my legs and looked around me.
Everyone was sweating profusely, with some even unconscious.
With a curious look, I swept my gaze at the main character to take a look at what everyone was thinking.
Some were lost in awe of Nero's strength, some had fearful looks on their face, some were worried that this would become a big matter, and some… were envious of the power that Nero possessed.