What pains had Nero not endured? For as far back as he could recall, though he had lived a happy, content life, it had also been filled with the pain of discipline. It had been filled with the pain of training. It had been filled with the pain of sacrifice.
When he fought a battle of life and death, his concern for pain was the first thing Nero gave up. Pain was simply a tool to tell him how severely he was injured, it was not something that could distract him, or weaken his resolve. It was exactly such a mindset that allowed him to rip his skin off just so that he could fight with more flexibility.
Of course, Nero had not perfectly reached the level of entirely disregarding pain, but his extraordinary self control allowed him to bridge that gap.
