Chapter 507: Versus Nyx’s clone Final Part

He was making Darkness obey. Maybe, it was where the problem lay.

If he remembers correctly, the other party, he meant, Nyx was allowing Darkness to move.

Nero’s eyes narrowed.

He remembered her words.

Darkness swallowed.

Devoured.

Adapted.

Changed.

His grip loosened.

He stopped trying to force the Law into shape.

The Darkness around his body began to settle.

The clone moved.

Nero didn’t.

She appeared before him.

Her fist came forward.

This time—

Nero moved with it.

Instead of creating a barrier, he let Darkness flow over his body.

The fist struck.

BOOM!

Nero was pushed backward.

But he remained standing.

His eyes sharpened.

The Darkness had moved with the impact.

Instead of resisting the force head-on, it had redirected part of it.

He understood.

Nero smiled faintly.

For the first time since the battle began—

The clone stopped.

Nero vanished.

He appeared at her side.

His sword swept forward.

She blocked.

Nero allowed the blade to dissolve.

Her hand passed through empty air.

The Darkness that had been his sword suddenly reappeared behind her.

She turned.

Too late.

Nero’s second blade struck.

She blocked it.

But Nero didn’t stop.

The sword disappeared again.

Darkness flowed from his hand.

It became a chain.

The chain wrapped around her wrist.

She pulled.

Nero released it.

The chain transformed into several spikes.

They fired.

The clone vanished.

Nero’s eyes tracked her movement.

She appeared above him.

Nero raised his hand.

Darkness spread across the ground.

A giant shadow opened beneath her.

She stepped onto it.

Then stopped.

Nero had expected that.

The shadow wasn’t a trap.

It was a mirror.

His own shadow suddenly emerged behind him.

Nero turned.

His shadow held a sword.

It attacked.

Nero blocked.

CLANG!

The impact forced him backward.

He understood immediately.

She had manipulated his own Darkness.

Nero’s expression became serious.

His shadow attacked again.

Nero parried.

Again.

He blocked.

Again.

The shadow became faster.

Nero changed his stance.

His swordsmanship took over.

He stopped trying to overpower the shadow.

He read its movements.

One strike.

Deflect.

Two.

Counter.

Three.

Step.

Four.

Parry.

His body moved naturally.

Then he noticed something.

The shadow was copying him.

Nero’s eyes sharpened.

He deliberately changed his rhythm.

The shadow copied the movement.

He changed again.

It followed.

Nero suddenly stopped.

The shadow continued forward.

He stepped aside.

Its sword passed him.

Nero struck.

The shadow shattered.

The darkness returned to the ground.

The clone watched silently.

Nero understood another part of the Law.

Darkness didn’t only imitate.

It could remember.

It could reproduce.

It could become an extension of perception.

His eyes slowly widened.

A new idea appeared.

Nero raised his sword.

Darkness covered it.

But this time, he didn’t force it to remain rigid.

The blade constantly shifted.

Its edge became thin.

Then thick.

Then curved.

Then straight.

The shape changed according to his movements.

Nero charged.

The clone met him.

Their weapons collided.

CLANG!

Nero attacked again.

She blocked.

He changed the angle.

She blocked.

The blade suddenly shortened.

Her defense missed.

Nero stepped forward.

The blade extended again.

She tilted her body.

The attack passed.

She countered.

Nero lowered his shoulder.

Her fist passed above him.

He rotated.

His sword swept upward.

She blocked.

The Darkness around his sword suddenly flowed into her defense.

For a fraction of a second—

Her movement slowed.

Nero struck with his other hand.

A concentrated sphere of Darkness formed.

He drove it forward.

BOOM!

The clone was pushed backward.

Nero followed.

His sword became a thin black line.

He swung.

The clone blocked.

The impact shattered the surrounding ground.

Nero’s feet slid backward.

He didn’t retreat.

He pushed forward.

Darkness gathered around his legs.

His body accelerated.

The clone disappeared.

Nero immediately turned.

She appeared behind him.

He spun.

Their fists collided.

BOOM!

Darkness erupted between them.

Both were pushed away.

Nero landed.

The clone landed several meters away.

For the first time—

Nero had forced her to move.

His eyes burned with determination.

But he didn’t become careless.

He understood that he still wasn’t close to her level.

She had barely used anything.

She was still teaching him.

And that realization frustrated him more than the beating itself.

Nero tightened his grip.

He had always relied on overwhelming control.

With Fire, he dominated.

With Lightning, he accelerated.

With Earth, he fortified.

With Water, he adapted.

With Wind, he became faster.

But Darkness demanded something different.

It demanded freedom.

He had to discard everything unnecessary.

The elaborate formations.

The rigid constructs.

The excessive force.

The instinct to control every movement.

Nero closed his eyes for a moment.

Then opened them.

The Darkness around him changed.

It became quieter.

Denser.

Almost invisible.

Instead of covering his entire body, it concentrated only where he needed it.

His feet.

His hands.

His sword.

His eyes.

Nothing more.

The clone attacked.

Nero moved.

Her fist passed beside his face.

He stepped inside her range.

His sword appeared.

She blocked.

The blade dissolved.

A second blade appeared from his elbow.

She moved.

Nero changed direction.

The sword became a chain.

The chain became a spear.

The spear became smoke.

The smoke passed around her defense.

Nero’s fist emerged from the darkness.

BOOM!

The clone was pushed backward.

Nero didn’t chase immediately.

He watched.

Learning.

Understanding.

His control continued improving with every exchange.

The clone raised her hand.

Darkness gathered.

This time—

Nero raised his own.

Darkness gathered around his palm.

Two masses of Darkness collided.

The entire world shook.

BOOOOOOM!

Black energy spread across the battlefield.

Nero pushed forward.

His sword emerged from the darkness.

The clone blocked.

He allowed the blade to dissolve again.

His body moved forward.

His swordsmanship and Darkness became one.

No longer two separate techniques.

His body created the movement.

Darkness followed.

His sword created the intention.

Darkness completed it.

His shadow became a second weapon.

His cloak of Darkness became armor only at the instant of impact.

His feet disappeared into shadows whenever he accelerated.

His sword could vanish and return from another angle.

He could create false attacks without wasting energy on elaborate clones.

Every technique became simpler.

Sharper.

More efficient.

The clone attacked again.

Nero met her.

CLANG!

Their weapons collided.

Nero twisted.

She countered.

He ducked.

She struck.

He disappeared into his own shadow.

He emerged beside her.

His sword flashed.

She blocked.

Nero’s shadow attacked simultaneously.

She evaded both.

Nero’s body followed.

Three attacks.

Four.

Five.

The battlefield became a storm of black flashes.

Yet Nero’s movements were different now.

He wasn’t desperately trying to keep up.

He was learning.

Every failed attack taught him something.

Every blocked strike showed him where his control was inefficient.

Every movement of the clone revealed another possibility.

Gradually—

The gap began to narrow.

Not because Nero had suddenly become stronger.

Because he had stopped wasting what he already possessed.

The clone disappeared.

Nero’s eyes tracked her.

She appeared directly before him.

Her fist came forward.

Nero didn’t block.

He allowed Darkness to flow around his body.

At the last instant, he shifted.

The fist passed beside him.

Nero’s sword appeared beneath her guard.

The clone twisted.

The blade missed.

But Nero smiled.

He had forced her to react.

The battle continued.

And for the first time since entering the black star—

Nero wasn’t simply surviving the trial.

He was understanding it.

Darkness wasn’t something he needed to dominate.

It was something he needed to become one with.

His sword moved.

His body followed.

The shadows obeyed.