CHAPTER 257: GRAVITY VERSUS LIGHTNING

Nero watched the exchange, deeply amused by his girlfriend’s protective and decisive action. A sweet, grateful warmth spread through him, reinforcing how fortunate he was to have her by his side. The couple then sat down together, quietly waiting for the next match to begin.

Blake was forced to participate in the next session. The demon prince sighed dramatically before taking out his wand. Standing opposite him was Lux, smiling confidently with his own wand in hand. They represented two opposing Laws: the Law of Darkness for Blake and the Law of Light for Lux.

Adam gave the signal.

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"Begin!" Adam’s voice boomed across the field.

What happened next defied the demon prince’s lazy demeanor. Blake’s movement was a study in efficient, almost bored power. He didn’t so much as wave his wand as he flicked it, muttering a single, guttural word under his breath.

The shadows at his feet deepened, swirling and congealing into solid form. In moments, two figures stood before him, clad in ornate, funerary black armor that seemed to drink the light from the air. One was a hulking knight wielding a wicked spear of solidified shadow. The other, slimmer and standing further back, nocked an arrow of pure darkness onto a bow of bone.

Lux’s smile didn’t falter, but it sharpened into a focused grin. "Always with the dramatics, Blake," he commented, his own wand already moving in a graceful, circular motion.

The dark archer fired. The black arrow shot forth silently, leaving a faint, smoky trail. Lux didn’t dodge. He completed his circle, and a shimmering, golden Aegis of Dawn materialized before him. The shadow-arrow struck the luminous shield and detonated in a puff of dissipating darkness, unable to penetrate the pure, concentrated light.

The spearman charged, its heavy footfalls making no sound on the grass. As it thrust its shadowy weapon, Lux was already on the move. He was a streak of silver and gold, his agility his greatest asset. He chanted a quick phrase, and a Blinding Bolt of pure sunlight lanced from his wand, not at the knight, but at Blake himself.

Blake, looking mildly inconvenienced, raised a hand. A Veil of Midnight—a disc of swirling, star-dotted darkness—sprang to life before him, absorbing the bolt of light with a sound like sizzling static.

The battle settled into a strange, beautiful rhythm. Blake remained almost stationary, a lazy conductor directing his symphony of shadows from the rear. He summoned creeping tendrils of darkness that tried to snare Lux’s ankles and fired volleys of Shadow Spikes from the ground itself.

Lux was a dancer of light, constantly in motion. He wove through the attacks, his wand a conduit for brilliant, cutting energy. He fired Rays of Radiance that forced the dark archer to constantly reposition, and used Flash Bang spells to momentarily disorient the spearman, causing it to swing wildly at empty air.

It was a battle of attrition and fundamental opposition. Where Blake created, Lux purified. Where darkness spread, light pushed it back.

Seeing his knights being slowly whittled down, Blake finally decided to put in a modicum of effort. He pointed his wand at the ground between his two creations. "Abyssal Mire."

The grass blackened and died, and the earth itself turned into a tar-like pit of grasping, semi-sentient shadow, slowing Lux’s movements drastically.

Lux’s eyes widened. This was a problem. Trapped in the mire, he was a sitting duck for the archer. He made a quick decision. He abandoned all subtlety and poured a massive amount of prana into his wand, aiming it skyward.

"Solar Rain!"

A miniature sun glowed above the battlefield before erupting into a downpour of hundreds of needle-thin beams of concentrated sunlight. They peppered the entire area—the mire, the two knights, and Blake’s position.

The mire hissed and recoiled, its hold broken. The two shadow knights raised their arms, their forms flickering and dissolving under the relentless, purifying barrage. Blake reinforced his Veil of Midnight, but the shield visibly strained, cracks of golden light appearing on its surface.

When the last beam faded, the field was clear. Blake’s knights were gone, his mire was a scorched patch of earth, and his shield dissipated. Lux stood panting, having expended a significant amount of his energy.

Both combatants were at their limit. They locked eyes across the field. A silent understanding passed between them. To push further would require their ultimate techniques, turning a friendly spar into a destructive, potentially harmful clash.

Simultaneously, they lowered their wands.

"I’m too tired for this," Blake announced, his lazy demeanor returning instantly as he yawned.

"Agreed," Lux said, breathing heavily but smiling. "My prana’s just about spent."

Adam looked between them and gave a sharp nod. "Match is a draw!"

It had been a spectacular display of opposing forces, a perfect stalemate between shadow and light, proving that even a lazy genius and a radiant prodigy could be perfectly matched.

A wide, eager grin spread across Adam’s face as he hefted his massive warhammer.

"Little Nero, let’s have a bout. I want to feel this new power of yours for myself."

Nero smiled, a spark of competitive fire igniting in his own eyes. He nodded to Khione, who gave a single, sharp nod.

"Begin!"

Adam didn’t waste a second. He stomped his foot, and the very earth groaned in response. The Law of Earth surged from him, and the air around Nero grew dense and heavy.

"Gravity Well!" A powerful gravitational field descended, intending to pin Nero to the ground, to crush his speed, and to make every movement feel like wading through solid stone. It was the perfect counter to a lightning user who relied on agility.

Nero’s smile never faded. Instead, a brilliant, terrifying gold flared in his ominous red eyes. He didn’t try to resist the gravity with muscle; he overwhelmed it with pure, unadulterated power. He unleashed the prana from his second core, the golden star of lightning.

"Lightning Domain."

A storm erupted around him. The air itself crackled and snapped as a sphere of dancing, forking golden lightning enveloped him. The oppressive gravity field met the chaotic, repulsive energy of the lightning, and the two forces warred visibly in the space between them, creating a shimmering, distorted barrier.

Then, Nero moved. He didn’t run; he became the lightning. His body transformed into a living current of golden energy, phasing straight through the Gravity Well with a deafening CRACK. To the stunned onlookers, it wasn’t a dash, but a teleportation—a bolt from the blue striking within Adam’s guard.

Adam’s eyes widened, but his dwarven instincts were impeccable. He swung his warhammer in a low, devastating arc to keep Nero at bay. Nero, still wreathed in lightning, didn’t parry. He simply wasn’t there when the hammer passed. He Flash Stepped a foot to the left, the shockwave from the hammer ruffling his hair.

"Earth Pillar!" Adam roared, thrusting a hand upward. A pillar of rock erupted from the ground beneath Nero’s feet, aiming to launch him into the air.

Nero anticipated it. He kicked off the rising pillar before it could gain momentum, using it as a springboard. In mid-air, he pointed a finger at Adam.

"Lightning Lash." A whip of crackling energy shot forth, not to strike Adam, but to wrap around the head of his warhammer. The moment it connected, a powerful electrical current surged down the metal shaft.

Adam grunted, his grip tightening as the shock jolted up his arms, but he refused to drop his weapon.

"Is that all?!" he bellowed.

In response, Nero landed and began a relentless, shocking assault. He was like a ghost, a storm given human form. He used Flash Step not for grand leaps, but for micro-adjustments, creating after-images that confused the eye. He’d appear to Adam’s right, forcing a block, only to vanish and deliver a sharp, stunning tap to Adam’s armored shoulder with a lightning-charged palm from the left. The electricity couldn’t pierce Adam’s dwarven armor, but the concussive force and the numbing shock rattled him.

Adam tried everything. He created walls of stone, which Nero simply phased over or around. He unleashed a Tremor Wave that shattered the ground, but Nero was already in the air, raining down javelins of lightning that Adam was forced to block with his hammer.

It was a masterclass in counters. Nero, using only his second Law, was systematically dismantling Adam’s every move with superior speed, unpredictability, and the sheer, overwhelming nature of lightning. He wasn’t just fighting; he was demonstrating a new paradigm of power.

Seeing his stamina waning from the constant electrical shocks and fruitless attacks, Adam gathered his remaining strength for one final, desperate move. He leaped into the air, his warhammer glowing with condensed earthen energy. "Mountain’s Descent!" He came down like a meteor, aiming to smash the entire area and end the fight in one blow.

Nero looked up, his expression calm. He didn’t dodge. He met the attack head-on. He raised a single hand, and all the scattered lightning in his Domain coalesced into a single, blindingly bright sphere above his palm.

"Heaven’s Judgment!"

He thrust the sphere upward. It wasn’t a beam, but a concentrated pillar of raw lightning that met Adam’s falling hammer.

The collision was cataclysmic. Light and sound ceased to have meaning for a moment. When vision returned, Adam was lying on his back several feet away, his warhammer beside him, smoke rising from his armor. His body tingled violently, completely paralyzed by the final, controlled shock.

Nero stood over him, the golden lightning around him subsiding. He extended a hand.

Adam stared at it for a second, then let out a pained, but genuine laugh, taking the hand and letting Nero pull him to his feet.

"Alright, little Nero," he wheezed, clapping Nero on the shoulder with a still-trembling hand. "You win. That... that was something else."

Nero simply smiled in response.