Chapter 28: Skysea Alliance Tournament: Fated Reunion Part 1
Everyone in class zero except Nero had their Eyes widen in astonishment especially Tang Wulin who always wanted to witness a Battle Armor in action.
" Do you have an issue with my student ? " Wu Zhangkong who was now in his battle armor form, questioned the teacher from Team Rising Sea. " N..no esteemed Battle Armor master " the teacher of Team Sea Rising stammered in a flustered manner, addressing Wu Zhangkong with reverence as even the president of Skysea Alliance would be respectful to a Battle Armor soul sage let alone a soul emperor like him.
" Senior Brother calm down, you should let your student take a rest after all he still has his final match tomorrow " Shen Yi who was also clad in a Battle Armor hastily intervened to calm down Wu Zhangkong. She could understand why Wu Zhangkong took Nero's side after all if someone dared to disrespect Long Bing like that then Wu Zhangkong would have done the same thing as Nero.
Wu Zhangkong took one last look at the Teacher of Team Rising Sea and went back to the hotel with Class Zero. Everyone in the stadium finally exhaled the breath they were holding as a Soul sage equipped with a Battle Armor was equivalent to a Contra at Rank 89 and not even the Black mecha could contend against that type of combat power.
After a series of complications, the night eventually came to an end.
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The Next Day, Nero woke up a little bit late as his final match was in the afternoon. [ It is probably against Gu yue as there is a very less chance of her losing in the semi-final ] Nero also agreed with Aria as not even a soul-elder would be able to defeat her.
*🚿🧻🥗🥤*
After tending to his personal needs, Nero finally made his way towards the stadium.
In the waiting room of Class Zero, a heavy silence enveloped everyone with Gu yue looking like someone killed her thirteen generations. " Ah! Nero you are finally here " the silence was broken by Xie Xie's exclamation at Nero's entrance in the room. " What's the matter with her " Nero asked Xie Xie in confusion as Gu yue should be happy for being in the finale. " Well you see she lost in the semi.. " before Xie Xie could continue Gu yue retorted" He was just lucky ". However, everyone could tell she lost fair and square. Nero was now intrigued as defeating Gu yue was no easy job especially when Tang Wulin was watching her.
" So, who am I up against? " Nero asked as he was now curious about his foe. " We only know that he wields a sword and nothing else as he always covered himself with a black cloak " Tang Wulin said from the side informing Nero about his mysterious opponent. Before Nero could ask anything else the stadium Exploded in a frenzy of cheers due to the announcement of his fight.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the moment we've all been eagerly awaiting has arrived! Welcome to the Junior division Individual finale of the Skysea Alliance tournament "
" Firstly, Welcome the Ace of the Dark horse team in this competition, It is none other than Nero "
" NERO..NERO..NERO...." The chant of Nero's name resounded throughout the stands as almost everyone cheered for Nero and why wouldn't they after all he was able to defeat his every opponent without even using his spirit ring abilities. Nero walked up to the stadium with his usual expression.
" Finally the anonymous contender who, much like Nero, has emerged victorious against his opponents and we also have his name now" during the host's announcement Nero's opponent also entered the Arena.
" Please WELCOME! REN " supporters of Nero's opponent also cheered.
"Long time no see, my other half," a voice echoed from the cloaked opponent, his words following right after the host's announcement. Upon hearing his opponent's name and the words he just uttered Nero's expression finally changed. Among the eager gaze of onlookers Nero's opponent or Ren finally removed his cloak, what came into view was a white haired 10 year old boy who bore a striking resemblance to Nero. Draped in a blue full-sleeve t-shirt paired with black leather pants and boots.
The stadium hushed into silence with everyone having a collective expression of shock. "Are they brothers? " Xie Xie asked Class Zero, his eyes wide in disbelief. No one answered him as this was a question that every person present in the stadium had.
" Ren..." Nero whispered with a serious voice.
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* Flashback *
In a dimly lit room, a black-haired boy sat on a chair, his gaze fixated on a kitchen knife placed before him. "I have no choice," he murmured while picking up a knife to slash his wrist. " Clang! " The boy's hand suddenly started behaving abnormally and automatically dropped the knife. " What is happening? why can't I control my hand ? " the boy who was none other than Nero exclaimed while using his other hand to restrict the abnormal arm. Despite using all the force, Nero wasn't able to control his arm and kept stumbling around the room, colliding with various objects.
Five minutes later, Nero finally stopped as the abnormal moment of his hand finally reduced but it still kept shaking. " Huff... puff... " Nero was breathing heavily due to the exertion caused by his collision with various objects. ' I have to see a doctor ' Nero thought as what happened just now wasn't normal and immediately headed towards the hospital in his residency.
{ Please don't take the upcoming information seriously, I just made this scenario up using the two conditions }
" Mr. Nero the cause of your hand's abnormal movement is two very rare medical conditions " Dr. Clark who was the neurosurgeon of Nero's residency Hospital informed Nero after checking his Test reports. " What conditions Doctor " Nero asked Dr. Clark while suppressing the shaking of his hands. " Parasitic Twin and Dual consciousness, Patristic Twin is a condition in which an incompletely developed fetus is found inside the body of its twin. This condition occurs during the early stages of pregnancy when one twin envelops or partially absorbs the other twin. The parasitic twin is dependent on the host twin for blood supply and nourishment while dual consciousness refers to a concept in which an individual experiences the coexistence of two distinct streams of awareness or consciousness within themselves " The doctor stopped to let the information sink in and continued " Your case is a much rarer condition, You didn't have any deformation because the neurons of your brother that survived inside you didn't have consciousness until now, According to me your brain probably developed another consciousness to deal with trauma of your parents death which then combined itself with the neurons of your twin brother that reside in your left shoulder ". Nero shifted his gaze at his trembling hand with shock as even in his dreams he never thought the reason would be something like this. " We can remove it but there is a chance your entire right hand might stop working so please decide after taking this in consideration " The doctor left the room after leaving this last piece of information. A couple of moments later, Nero sighed and decided to go back home as he couldn't come up with a decision.
" Are you really gonna ignore me " Nero who was washing his face in the bathroom before going to bed suddenly heard a sound in his ears. " Who! " Nero exclaimed and glanced around in astonishment, " Look in the mirror, my other half " the voice again sounded, bewildered Nero looked at the mirror in front of him and became shocked. It was Nero's reflection which was talking to him but strangely its facial expression bore an uncanny difference from Nero's.
" You are... " " Yes I am your brother, the other half or whatever it is that you regard me " the reflection interrupted Nero and declared his identity. Nero also calmed down and asked " How are you talking to me, I thought you resided within my arms " the reflection chuckled and explained " Yes, the doctor was right about everything else but not the hand part, I can only control those body parts which will not harm you otherwise your body will subconsciously suppress me ".
Thinking of the morning incident Nero guessed " So, you were able to control my hand because I was going to harm myself and to save me my body allowed.." Nero's reflection affirmed the guess " It allowed me to control the hand and stop you as for how you are able to see me, it's simple I was able to alter the reflection information coming from your eye. So, although I am talking to you but if someone else comes in he would only see you talking to yourself ".
Comprehending everything Nero nodded and finally asked the most crucial question " So, Why save me ? You should also know that I don't deserve to live after all it was my fault they died and if I die wouldn't it benefit you, I mean maybe there is a chance you can control my body ". " Firstly, my name is not 'you,' it's Ren. Secondly, this is exactly why I didn't reveal myself earlier. I loathe and hate you. You keep immersing yourself in regret, blame, and suffering. Do you think Mom and Dad would have wished for you to become like this?" Ren lashed out after seeing Nero's illogical behavior.
"They aren't your Mom and Dad, and what do you even understand? You're just a consciousness formed from my happier memories. Stop acting like you know everything. You are not my brother, You are just a shadow " hearing Nero's emotionless words Ren didn't get angry instead replied in a disappointed tone " You're correct, I am just a shadow what do I even Know? You know what, you can go die , I don't even care anymore " after saying this Ren disappeared from the mirror.
Months passed like this, the relation between Nero and Ren became something complicated with Nero not fully acknowledging Ren as his brother and Ren sometimes annoying Nero as revenge. Even, Aria with her logic couldn't say what the two really were they were not close enough to be called Brothers or friends but they were also not distant enough to be enemies. Perhaps with time they could have solved their differences but Fate can be a bitch sometimes.
It was afternoon and most of the roads were desolate due to the day being on vacation day, Nero was waiting for the pedestrian signal to turn green with earphones in his ear. " Ping! " With the signal finally indicating "walk," Nero started crossing the road. Suddenly out of nowhere, a speeding supercar crashed into Nero sending him stumbling down the road. The people in the vicinity hurriedly called an ambulance and tried to catch the car owner but the Supercar continued its course without stopping.
In the quiet recovery room, the heart- rate monitor was slowly beeping while a Nurse was changing glucose for a black haired boy who was none other than Nero. Nero suddenly opened his eyes and uttered " Where am I? " as he found himself in an unfamiliar room. " Please wait! I will call the Doctor " seeing Nero awoke, the nurse exclaimed and ran out of the recovery room. A few minutes later, the nurse arrived with the doctor who was none other than Dr. Clark.
" How are you feeling Nero? " Dr. Clark asked Nero after sitting down. " Mostly fine but Doctor why am I here ? " Nero asked in confusion as the last thing he remembered was crossing the road. Dr. Clark sighed and explained the situation " You had an accident, from what I know it was a supercar with an unidentified owner. Honestly, You wouldn't be alive now if it weren't for your other consciousness. From the moment of accident till the operation, your other half was forcibly keeping your body functions active but in doing so he was also overworking the neurons in which his consciousness resided. He could have waited for you to die and then occupy the body but he chose to sacrifice himself " Dr. Clark stopped for a second to take out a letter and continued " This is the last letter he wrote to you ". Dr. Clark left the room to give Nero privacy.
Nero's whole body tensed up even though he never regarded Ren as his brother but it didn't mean he wanted him gone after all in a sense he was still his brother. With a hesitant hand, Nero slowly unfolded the letter.
" Nero, if you are reading it means you survived, Thank God. I know no matter what I say you wouldn't listen to me after all for you I am just a shadow. I still hate you with every fiber of my being but I also don't want Mom and Dad's death to be in vain. I am sure they cared about you till the very last moment of their life. So, please live no matter how much hard it gets please live.."
"Drip, drip," Nero's tears kept falling on the paper in realization that he once again lost someone important just because of his foolishness. " Brother... why?" Nero whispered in grief, sadness and anger as he finally accepted Ren as his brother but it was already too late.
*Flashback ends*
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