The Insurrection of the Inept Hero
Chapter 120: Culling of Heroes Part I

'7 heroes, huh?' Nero thought to himself as he attempted to process the words through his mind.

'I didn't expect that to pop up. Is this what I really need to do to complete the trial of the fallen?'

[Correct. It is as Seffirot has ordered. You need to collect 7 heroic souls to pass the trial. The rewards will be satisfactory.]

'I see. Now that I know what I need to do, how am I going to achieve it? There are no other heroes around me.'

Nero inspected his surroundings, replaceing only vast wastelands of blood and corpses. As he could not replace anything on land, he ascended into the sky, activating Mystic Eyes of Interspace.

However, due to one of his eyes being damaged, the Mystic Eyes of Interspace could only work at half its usual power, but that was enough for Nero.

He spotted a group walking away from the battlefield. Immediately, he assumed they were heroes. So he accelerated towards them, instantly appearing behind them.

Nero started to whistle but instead, his body moved on its own. He raised one of his legs and performed Distorted Kick, hitting one of the members which sent them flying, alerting the other members of the group.

"Huh? What the?" One of them turned around. Nero quickly inspected their appearances and he was heavily disappointed.

"You aren't the heroes. Looks like my intuition has deteriorated," Nero said to himself.

"Who are you? And what do you-" One of them began but was interrupted when Nero ruthlessly performed a hook kick, killing the man instantly.

Seeing their comrade fall, they circled in on Nero with their weapons out but with a quick motion, they were all burned alive with Nero's Flaming Dragon Breath.

Watching their corpses drop to the ground, Nero once again looked around, flying into the air when he could not spot anyone else.

'Huh… are they already gone? No… the battle only ended minutes ago, they couldn't have gone far.'

Using Mystic Eyes of Interspace again, he began looking around steadily. Before he had rushed, trusting his own intuition. He will wait and only attack a group once he is certain.

'They probably blended with some other groups. Most likely they are walking with the survivors.'

To his left, there was a group of survivors fleeing the battlefield. Most of them were injured so Nero turned away from their direction. On his right, there was another group, most of them looked like they were unscathed.

Nero had reasons to avoid injured ones. Heroes were known to be tough and survive most situations. Even if they were heavily injured, they had more endurance and their wounds close up faster than that of a normal human. Not to mention, they have the energy gauge of a camel, meaning they won't get as exhausted as humans do.

Nero is a hero, but he did not receive the proper blessings of one, hence he did not have those effects. But, his growth was faster as he received power from a third party.

'So if they aren't there, then…'

He turned his head to the group on his right. He stared at them for a while until one of them turned their head, then looked up directly at Nero.

"There you are," Nero smirked. The person, Jessica, spotted Nero in the sky with her Mystic Eye of Interspace, a skill that a mage should have.

"Jessica? What's wrong?" Murai asked, putting his hand on Jessica's shoulder, startling her.

"Gah! D-don't scare me like that," Jessica turned, a pale look on her face.

"What's going on?" Kai asked. He spun around and looked at the two with an annoyed expression, confused about what the commotion was about.

"Well, I think I saw someone up there," Jessica said, pointing to the sky. Everyone looked up but no one was there.

Murai tilted his head, confused while Kai rolled his eyes.

"You were probably hallucinating or something."

"Yeah, you probably were," said Nero who had appeared in between them.

The three spun around, facing Nero, donning Osiris. With one quick motion, he sent them flying with a flurry of kicks.

Everyone around them turned, watching as Murai, Jessica, and Kai went flying. Nero landed on one foot, his head lowered. Since he had no feeling in his arms, he did not equip the gauntlets.

"What the-? Who is he?"

"Where the hell did he come from? Is he an enemy?"

"He just knocked three heroes off their feet!"

Everyone was in shock, wondering who this individual was and where he had come from.

Murai who recovered first drew his sword and darted towards Nero. Nero noticed him approaching and leaned back, catching his blade with his teeth.

"How-!?" Murai gasped.

"Too slow!" Nero cackled, teleporting behind Murai and delivering a devastating downward kick. Murai's head met the dirt floor and he was battered into it again with Nero's foot on his head.

"Are you even trying? Don't tell me this is your all. If that's the case, then you are nothing but an insect."

Hearing those words, Murai raged, trying to lift himself off the ground. Nero continued to apply pressure until he felt a faint presence aiming for his head.

Nero vanished as a man donning black clothing and wielding a short dagger swung his blade. The man missed as Nero disappeared in thin air.

"I just killed an assassin moments ago. You annoy me, I'll kill you first."

Nero amassed mana into his legs and prepared to bash the Assassin Hero, Akira Nuda, into pieces. But as he was about to kill him, he paused, giving Akira the chance to back away.

(Note: If you forgot the names of other heroes, go to chapter 2)

"Everyone get away from here!" Murai yelled, causing everyone to run except the heroes.

Was Nero really about to do that? Was he really going to kill someone to who he bore no hatred? The one he was about to kill was brought to this world without his consent, the same reason he was brought here.

'No… he got the chance to stay while I was thrown away, so why should I pretend that he's innocent?'

Nero's mind started to twist, warping his way of thinking. The source behind this was complex. Imagine this. You mix the violent past of an abused child, his negative opinion on the world, the current blood thirsting instinct he possesses, and the influence of a wicked being like Seffirot.

What do you get out of that? Well, it's pretty easy to figure out.

As Nero looked at the group that surrounded him, he noticed that the numbers were greater than he expected.

'If I do the math correctly, there are 13 heroes here and I only need to take 7 souls. It will not be necessary for me to kill them all, however, it would be easier. Ridding them would get me closer to that bastard of a king... but where is the fun in that?'

Guided by his sadistic, playful nature, he decided it was best to keep some of them alive.

'Once I kill 7 of them, I'll be done here and take my leave.'

As he completed his thought, the heroes made their move.

The Berserker Hero, Michael Kole, darted at Nero and landed a heavy blow to his ribs. Nero felt his bones shatter into countless pieces, causing him to stumble, but he did not falter.

'I didn't even sense him. He hid his presence just like Akira. This will be harder than I thought.'

Swiftly, Nero wrapped Michael's arm with his legs, and with one quick motion, he twisted it in ways that should not be possible.

Despite such injuries, Michael did not cry in pain. Instead, he regained full control of his arm, slamming Nero into the ground.

"I have him pinned!" He shouted, signaling the others to attack Nero as he pinned him down.

The heroes dashed to him, their weapons drawn out. Nero was stunned, processing what had just happened.

'I just twisted this guy's arm and he just pretended like I didn't rip all his muscles into shreds! It seems that he's also formidable.'

Though he was pinned down, he put up a smile, an aura leaking from his body. The aura's presence instantly struck fear into all the heroes, causing them to lose their strength.

"What the fuck? What is this-?" Kai began, puking blood as he tried to resist.

"Damn it... he escaped my grasp," Groaned Michael who clutched his arm and fixed it into place.

"Ow ow ow ow!" Fujita Botan, the Knight Hero, cried as he struggled to breathe.

Landing on his feet, Nero felt strength in his right arm again but the wounds on his fingers were still there. The flesh around his eye had also regenerated, except the skin and the eye itself. His other arm hasn't fully healed yet but one arm was all he needed.

"Now then," Nero scratched the back of his neck, cracking it before balling his fist.

"Who's ready to die?"

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