Nero''s Master, Rainer, had been wearing a frown on his face after he first saw his Disciple ever since thetter broke the artifact that allowed them to see and hear whatever he was seeing and hearing.


    Thest time they saw Nero was when he was about to face off against Lux.


    Everyone in Wildgarde Stronghold was now fully aware about the bad blood between him and the Half-Elf, who was currently in the limelight.


    Truth be told, Rainer was long worried that the pent up jealousy, envy, and hate that Nero held towards Lux would hasten the growth of the Seed of the Abyss in his heart, which would lead to the corruption of his mind.


    However, a nce was enough to tell him that although Nero had fully embraced the Seed of the Abyss in his heart, he was still sane and was able to make rational decisions.


    This was very different from the time that Lux had lost control over the power of the Abyss in his heart when Eiko was killed. Back then, the Half-Elf had lost all sense of reason, and the only thing on his mind was to kill those who dared to kill the Baby Slime, who had treated him as her Papa.


    ''Nero, just what happened to you?'' Rainer didn''t know if he should be happy or not after seeing his disciple''s current form.


    Although Nero was still in control of his body and seemed to be thinking properly, he was still worried that this might just be a temporary thing.


    If Nero had truly transformed into an Abyssal Creature, then he would no longer be treated as a Human, but an enemy that they would have to deal with when he returned from the Sacred Dungeon.


    Gerald and Natasha also hadplicated looks on their faces. Nero was a prodigy that belonged to their Faction, and seeing him like this made them feel bitter inside.


    ''In the end, you still kept your grudge against Lux,'' Gerald thought. ''As for what happens next, we will just wait until this mission ends.''


    Natasha, who served as the healer of Wildgarde Stronghold, understood that it would be extremely hard to revert Nero back to what he was before the Seed of the Abyss had taken hold of his body.


    Although there were cases where people had managed to ovee the power of the Seed of Darkness, those that had seeded could only be counted with the fingers of one hand. That was how difficult it was to remove the hold of the Abyss on a person''s heart once the Seed had fully grown.


    The other Factions whose representatives were on Nero''s side were feeling hopeful that they might be able to win the war. They didn''t really care what happened to Nero afterwards as long as their representatives cleared their mission.


    Aron, who was the right-hand man of Emperor Andreas, looked at the devil-like teenager with great curiosity.


    He could tell that Nero was an ambitious person, and this was someone that he would like to pull to their side if possible, if not for the fact that the youth had now transformed into an Abyssal Creature.


    ''Unfortunately, he had been corrupted by the Abyss.'' Aron sighed in his heart. ''Such a waste.''


    Truth be told, the main reason why Aron felt a strong urge to get Nero to their side was his hatred towards Lux.


    Just like the devil-like teenager, Emperor Andreas had also started to think that it was better if the Half-Elf was disposed of in order to nip the bud of a future hindrance and keep it from growing. Aron had the same thought, and this desire to eliminate the Half-Elf had only grown stronger after seeing how formidable thetter was inrge-scale battles.


    Wars weren''t fought in one-on-one battles like tournaments. It was a fight between armies, and Lux''s Corpse Explosion skill was a very disgusting ability that each side would want to have.


    A few minutester, everyone outside the Domain of the Fallen saw the Half-Elfnding on the ground, which was the location that he had chosen to fight against Nero.


    Neronded hundreds of meters away from the Half-Elf with his arms crossed over his chest.


    The two only stared at each other, and waited for their allies to arrive.


    The Half-Elf wasn''tfortable facing off against Nero when Jasper and the others were there to potentially "sneak attack him", while he was busy fighting against a Ranker.


    In order to prevent that from happening, he needed Keane and the others to protect his back, while he focused all of his attention on the Abyssal Monster in front of him.


    Several minutester, Jasper and his team arrived. They didn''t stand beside Nero and simply went to a ce where they would not be hit by stray attacks that could potentially harm or even kill them.


    Keane and the others arrived shortly after, and just like Jasper and the others, they also looked for a ce where they could watch the battle safely.


    Einar and Jasper gave each other a brief nce before shifting their gaze back to Lux and Nero.


    The two temporary leaders didn''t intend on simply watching Lux and Nero fight.


    They wanted to eliminate each other as well, so that they would have the upper hand in the war when it resumedter.


    "Everyone''s here," Nero said. "Let''s start. Are you now ready to die, Lux?"


    The Half-Elf didn''t reply and simply covered his arms with dragon scales and took a fighting stance.


    Seeing that he didn''t n on replying, Nero smirked and pped his wings to fly high in the sky. A momentter, the devil-like teenager dove toward the ground with a sneer as he pulled his arm back to punch the Half-Elf, and break the bones in his body.


    Lux remained standing, and didn''t move from his position.


    When Nero was only a few meters away from him, his body stiffened because he suddenly felt a strong pulling forceing from his right side.


    This brief pause was enough for Lux to take action, so he immediately crossed the gap between them and delivered a punch to his enemy''s face.


    Nero forced himself to dodge to the side, while fighting the effect of the Duel [EX] that Pazuzu had cast on his body.


    Lux''s punch grazed Nero''s face, but he had already prepared for such a scenario.


    A momentter, a Dragon Breath mmed against Nero''s body, making thetter grunt and skid on the ground for several meters beforeing to aplete stop.


    At that moment, the effect of Duel [EX] suddenly disappeared, and Nero once again regained control of his body, which surprised Lux who had orchestrated the attack.


    This was the first time it happened, and it made the Half-Elf wonder if an Abyssal Creature had a certain resistance to his tried and tested taunting skill that had helped him face off against strong opponents in the past.


    "Such a troublesome skill." The silver-haired man who was watching the battle from a great distance chuckled. "We can''t have that, can we now?"


    Earlier, he had snapped his fingers to break the effect of Pazuzu''s taunt skill, which he deemed was a very troublesome ability in one-on-one battles.


    Naturally, Nero and Lux weren''t aware that someone was interfering in their battles, and both teenagers thought that the Seed of the Abyss was the one responsible for negating the effects of Pazuzu''s Duel [EX].


    Nero, who had been hit by the Dragon Breath of Eiko''s clone, hurriedly pped his wings to distance himself from the Half-Elf who had sessfully dealt the first strike in his body.


    He was too confident in his strength that he thought that he could brush away all the Half-Elf''s attacks with ease.


    But, the Dragon Breath that he had managed to barely block earlier left a sting in his soul, which made him remember that he wasn''t the only one on the battlefield who had the power of the Abyss, which resided at the deepest part of their heart.