Chapter 59: Now it's a party

"Stop," Nero said, as he grabbed the kid's shoulder and squeezed it. This was a technique he learnt to help others focus, though many assumed it was an intimidation tactic. But that's not what it was. By deepening his voice and applying pressure near the neck, he distracted the other person's brain and allowed them to focus on what he was saying, rather than whatever had them distracted.

"What is your name?" he asked, locking eyes with the kid.

"I- my- my name is Isa," he stammered. "Isa Hammel, from the Hammel orphanage."

"Isa, my name is Nero, and I need you to focus on me. Can you do that? Drown out everything else, just focus on me."

He applied more pressure as he spoke, careful not to push to the level where his grip became painful. The point was to regulate the blood flow, not cause pain, which would have the opposite effect.

Isa, who found himself unable to break eye contact with Nero, suddenly found himself focused on Nero's face. He wore a solemn, yet calm face, completely unperturbed by their dire circumstances. His eyes did not waver, and were filled with incomparable serenity. It was as if, even now, he had everything under control.

That's when he felt it. Amidst the chaos of frenzied emotions there was a single, solitary pillar of unwavering confidence and focus. The tension, the panic, the fear, the darkness, all of the things around them buffeted that pillar, and were repelled with ease. They were the emotions of a man completely in control of himself.

Focusing on that confidence, sense that calm, Isa felt himself calm down just a bit. There was still a hurricane of wildly spiking emotions all around him, but by focusing on that single one, he could allow himself to calm down just a bit.

"Ye- yes, I think I can," he said, with an increasing amount of certainty.

"Good. Now Isa, can you explain to me how your ability works? Can you hone in on specific targets and determine their emotions? If you can find a way to do that, we might be able to search for and rescue other students."

He shook his head.

"We've tried many times in class, but I can never focus on anyone. I can't control my ability." He seemed on the verge of sobbing. Regardless of what his own innate quality was, he must have suffered a lot due to the emotions of others.

He wanted nothing more than to just barge out and fight them directly, but he reminded himself that there was a difference between school spars and active combat. He should use more than just combat tactics.

He reached into his card case and searched for his intended card. Having a large deck proved its inconvenience in such situations where it was not easy to find the specific card one wanted at a moment's notice. But if given a little time, it made up for that flaw by providing great versatility.

He pulled out This is us, a card he bought from Maxim's card shop that created illusions of the caster. Whether the vines were using their host's sight, or their attraction to aether, an illusion should suffice to provide both.

He used the card and aimed the illusion to stand in the doorway of an apartment close to him. Although the illusion did not move, nor did it produce any sound, all three creatures suddenly turned to look towards it, though for a brief moment they also looked towards where Nero was hidden.

But the dark outline of a figure standing in the doorway, filled with aether was much too strong a temptation for them to consider other things. The creatures shrieked altogether and lunged at the illusion, rushing through the illusion and crashing into the room itself.

But just as the second one lunged, and the third one had not yet reached the door, Nero also sprang forth. By now it was too dark to make out the details clearly, but he got the impression that the students bodies were now entirely covered in thick vines like a suit of armour, leaving no room open for him to slice through their tendons.

He had no choice. He covered his blade with his Cryoflame and stabbed the student as he tackled him to the side. Nero had only a few seconds, a dozen or so at most, before the other creatures caught up to him so he had to debilitate this one first.

He had the urge to disregard his reverse and maximise his use of Cryoflame, covering the whole student and freezing his body, but his experiments from earlier let him know just how small his reserves were. He had to be tactical.

He pulled the knife out and began slashing the vines wherever he saw them emerging from the skin, causing the student to shriek out in pain. The vines also writhed, and shot forward at Nero to pierce into his body, but he needed to only take a step back to dodge them, as the one coming from the bodies had small range.

Then, before the vines could retreat, Nero grabbed them with his flame covered hand and cut them. After an initial clash, Nero could already determine that he would not be able to knock out the students as easily as before, since the vines covering the bodies were very thick and made it hard to transmit damage. But at the same time, it also made them slow.

One of the vine-covered students emerged from the room, but instead of feeling pressured, Nero only smiled.

Now it was a party.