Nero watched the spectacle. Luis's attack was stronger than he had expected; its destructive power was terrifying. Nero saw how Ramor while in the middle of breaking the last symbols, was too focused to react to the attack at all. The gigantic wave of pure light carved its way through the Polykenas directly toward Ramor, but only seconds before it would have hit him, a massive figure leaped onto the wall. It was a giant among the Polykenas, clad in pitch-black armor. Behind his visor, six small yellow eyes glared grimly out.
It was none other than Shire, Nero's personal bodyguard, who threw himself into the wave of light to shield Ramor from it. When the beam struck him, symbols across his body flared to life, and he was driven down toward Ramor, but the Polykenas caught hold of a small ledge in the enormous wall, clinging to it with all his strength. With his other arm, he shielded his face from the attack. Even from this distance, Nero could clearly see how the light was scorching his skin, but Shire was as unmovable as a rock, not even his expression changing. He had the same grim look as always.
He activated his magic. His body swelled, his muscles bulged, his skin hardened like steel. The healing of his body was accelerated so greatly by his magic that his wounds closed before the remaining light had passed him.
At last, the attack passed. The wave continued to flow on and began to weaken drastically until it faded into nothing, but it had caused enormous damage along the way. Thousands upon thousands of Polykenas had been burned to ashes. Ramor still did not look up, still entirely absorbed in his work on the symbols, but thanks to Shire, he remained unhurt.
Luis cursed when he saw that. He jerked his hand up to unleash another attack on Ramor, but now Nero finally intervened. He raised his own hand as darkness shot from his fingers like a spear toward Luis, who was suddenly forced to defend himself.
Luis lifted both hands, and golden light poured from them, spreading in front of him like a shield. The darkness crashed against the shield and burst like a rotten fruit. It crawled along the edges of Luis's barrier, clinging to it. Luis groweld in anger. He was forced to extend the shield to a barrier around him. Soon, darkness enveloped everything, like a living organism trying to find a gap in the shield.
Nero focused and slowly curled his hand into a fist. The pressure of the darkness increased on Luis. His shield seemed on the verge of shattering when he snarled a short prayer to the Sun God. The light around him expanded violently and tore the shadows apart. Then he clapped his hands together to send a golden beam of light straight at Nero. It was fast, incredibly fast. Nero managed to move at the last possible moment and slipped to the side, but the beam bent like a snake, changing direction. It struck Nero in the left arm and pierced straight through, leaving behind a smoking, blackened hole.
Nero's expression betrayed no pain, remaining motionless. Darkness closed the wound in his arm, but he did not wait for it; instead, he swung both arms wide. A wave of darkness gathered like a tsunami. Nero held it briefly and then let it go. It raced toward Luis, who prepared to ward it off, but at the last second, Gerald flew in front of Luis, carried by a bright light.
His golden armor glowed as the darkness hit him. He was pushed back at least twenty meters, but he held both arms outstretched. Light shone brightly as his magic held back the darkness. The tsunami rolled harmlessly past Luis and Gerald and hit the wall behind them, which was protected by countless symbols. Ramor still hadn't finished deactivating the protection.
"Deal with the troublemakers down there," he growled, referring to Ramor, his eyes burning with golden light. "I will handle this traitor!"
Luis nodded, his focus again turning towards Ramor and Shire.
When Nero saw this, he gave Xersies, who was floating beside him, a brief nod. Xersies rose higher and vanished in a flash of golden light. Nero then turned his gaze to Gerald, who now hovered in the air, staring back at him with eyes that burned like fire.
"Where is my daughter?" Gerald asked. His voice sounded cold, but the seething rage beneath it was almost tangible.
Nero grinned at him. "I assume you are the great General Gerald I have heard so much about," he said. Without waiting for a response, he continued, "Then I suppose your daughter must be Sophie. She truly was a kind-hearted but naive little girl, screaming about your God while we slowly cut her limbs apart. She really believed her god would save her."
Nero laughed coldly.
"Unfortunately, her God abandoned her. But shortly before she died, she stopped crying out to her God anyway and instead cried out for her 'daddy'."
Gerald's entire body began to tremble. "You are lying," he hissed, but his heart sank as he heard this. He had hoped that his daughter had hidden somewhere, but now that Nero had said her Name, it confirmed his worst fears.
Nero only shrugged. "Perhaps. Perhaps not. Perhaps my beloved subjects enjoyed her as a late-night snack. Perhaps she is still alive somewhere among the prisoners. In any case, you will never see her again."
Gerald roared. Of course, he had known that the hope his daughter was still alive was small. When he found out that she had disappeared, he had convinced himself that he couldn't help her anyway. That he had to put the safety of the city of Gloris and its people above his daughter, but now that he heard this monster in human form talking about her, he couldn't help but fall into a rage. Deep inside him were enormous feelings of guilt, which now emerged in the form of hatred. Hatred for the creature that had taken his only child from him.
The rage inside him began to twist and distort him. The breath of the normally controlled general became heavy and uneven as he tried to calm himself. His body heated up, and the magic inside him bubbled out of control. Nero, who was watching the general closely, knew that Gerald was only a step away from losing the last trace of control and composure. Yet somehow, he actually managed to pull himself back.
He looked at Nero with eyes that now spat pure hatred. "I am going to kill you now!"
He threw his hand upward. His magic surged through his veins as if he was trying to seize all the light in the area, and then he hurled it at Nero in a continuous golden beam. Nero dodged by flying to the side. The dark cloud beneath his feet had dissolved as he was now held in the air by a pair of dark, translucent wings that beat furiously as he dashed away. At the same time, he also reached for the darkness of the night to swing forward like a monkey on vines, giving him even more momentum.
Gerald followed him with the beam, trying to catch him. Everything the light touched was erased, wiped out of existence, but Nero was too fast. He flew in a wide arc toward Gerald and lashed out. A whip of darkness snapped toward the general, who was forced to cut off his beam to block Nero's attack.
Nero seized the opening. He ripped his hand backward and dug into the emptiness behind Gerald. The shadows there swelled up and attacked the veteran general from behind. Now the darkness struck at him from every direction, and Nero directed it like a conductor guiding an orchestra.
Gerald roared, and his body exploded in light, burning away the darkness around him. He shot toward Nero, carried by two wings made of pure radiance. It truly looked like an angel fighting a demon, light against shadow.
Gerald ripped the massive broadsword from his back and struck at Nero, channeling his magic through the blade. A gigantic sword of light formed around it, hundreds of meters long. Nero had no time left to evade. He threw both hands up and caught the lightblade in midair. Darkness dripped from his fingers like liquid. The momentum of the blow hurled Nero downward. He plummeted toward the ground at breakneck speed.
Like a spiderweb, the shadows reached for him almost on their own and slowed his fall considerably. While he dropped, Nero made a sweeping motion with his arm and hurled a gigantic crescent of darkness at his opponent. Gerald grunted as he blocked the sickle with his sword, but when he glanced down again, Nero had vanished from sight.
He hovered motionless in the air, senses sharp, ready for any movement, when Nero suddenly stepped out of the darkness behind him. Gerald felt the shift in the air, and that alone saved his life when Nero drove a spear of darkness at him. He twisted his body just in time, so the spear barely missed his throat and instead struck his shoulder, which the golden armor still protected.
The force of the attack spun him around his own axis. Nero took advantage of the opening and lashed him with a surge of shadow. Gerald blocked with his sword and launched his own counterattack, but Nero had already disappeared again. Cursing, Gerald spun around, expecting Nero behind him, yet Nero appeared not even two steps away from where he had been before. Again, he struck at Gerald's back and hit him hard, though the blow was not perfectly placed. Gerald was flung away, with Nero right on his heels.
Nero snapped his arm out, and a long rope of shadow coiled around Gerald's leg. With a sharp jerk of his hand, Nero yanked him down and slammed him toward the ground. Gerald crashed into the earth, and a small crater opened beneath him. Nero lifted both hands and unleashed a volley of darkness at him, but Gerald reacted too quickly. A dome of light blossomed around him. It was not strong enough to fully block Nero's barrage, but it slowed the attacks just enough for Gerald to turn himself into a ray of light and dart to the side.
Nero struck at the luminous streak with tendrils of shadow. He knew this move from his spars with Xersies, and when the attack hit, Gerald's form solidified again as he was hurled back toward the ground again. The general recovered in midfall, spun once around his own axis flinging his golden sword at Nero.
Nero was caught off guard. He didn't manage to dodge in time. As a consequence, the blade sliced through his right shoulder without losing the least bit of momentum.
Meanwhile, Gerald crashed into the ground again, a thin layer of golden light protecting his body from the impact. As he rose from the crater with cracking bones, he looked up with golden eyes at Nero, who was standing high above him in the air.
Blood flowed from the deep wound in Nero's right shoulder, but darkness gathered there and closed it. Nero rolled his shoulder, his gaze cold and fixed on Gerald.
Their battle had only just begun, and both of them knew it.