The silence was deafening. Ryan was contemplating whether Henry had lied to him about his name.
Henry was wondering, 'Why the fuck is my name Atticus?'
Ryan gave Henry a look, internally fuming that the boy he had been so kind to and done his best to believe lied to him.
"You told me your name was Henry."
Henry was too lost in thought to pay mind to Ryan's fair question.
'If he can kill people without touching them, he has to be Awakened. But what is he doing to kill them?'
Nero moved forward, touching Henry's shoulder, startling him.
"You will follow me."
Henry didn't see a way out of this, whether or not he listened to the man.
"Do I have to?"
Dumbfounded at being ignored by the two people in front of him, Ryan attempted to reach for something in his pocket.
"I would advise you against that."
The response pierced Ryan's ears. Ryan put his hands up instantly.
"*Understood!*"
The two followed Nero to the middle of the room, surrounded by bodies.
'I need to get out of this, but if my trial's objective is to kill this guy, then I need to find out how his ability works.'
Lost in thought, Henry tripped over the hand of one of the frozen bodies, Slamming headfirst on the floor.
"Dammit."
From the corner of his eye, he noticed Nero bent over, holding his own forehead.
'Maybe…'
Henry finished his thought before he felt the words seep from Nero's covered mouth.
"What is your name?"
Nero pointed towards Ryan, who looked towards Henry for guidance. The boy however was instead looking at the floor, lost in thought..
"It's Rob, my name's Rob."
Ryan thought he was being clever just giving his first name, unaware that everyone in the past group had also given Nero their first names.
"Rob, my name is Nero. I would like to ask you to do something for me."
Ryan stared at Nero, nervous for what was going to happen next.
"I would like you to copy my movements."
Ryan slowly shook his head yes, plotting something behind his eyes. Nero took his right hand and reached it into his pocket. Ryan did the same. As Nero pulled his hand from his pocket, Ryan followed, now holding an oddly shaped charm with a small head with its neck deforming into a sharp edge.
Henry only had a few seconds to make a move. Henry ran to Ryan, tackling him, the weight and strength difference was massive; however, Ryan was too caught off guard to react quick enough. The thud of their fall echoed throughout the room.
"What the fuck are you doing?"
Ryan screamed at Henry, who was too focused to respond. Henry grabbed Ryan by his collar using his basic fighting experience to make an advanced move… headbutting Ryan. Ryan attempted to fight back, trying to push Henry off however his grip was powerful, Henry would fight until he couldn't.
'I don't know how much longer I can do this, he's not going to feel any of this, I don't even know if it will hurt him.'
Henry remembered the small charm Ryan had, it had fallen during Henry's tackle just slightly out of reach Henry would have to lose his grip on Ryan to get it. Henry leaned back, rolling off Ryan, grabbing the small pendant. Ryan saw Henry backing off, grabbing Henry's ankles and pulling him back.
"What the fuck are you doing?"
The time was now he didn't have the leisure to answer questions, Henry looked back towards Nero who was now on the floor shaking. When Henry fell tripping on the corpse he didn't feel any pain immediately, he chalked it up to adrenaline but when Nero reacted with pain in the same spot Henry had landed on he knew he was on to something.
"Just shut up and die!"
Henry lodged the charm into Ryan's neck, spitting in his eyes to catch him off guard. Pushing Ryan over, Henry slammed the charm into his face over and over. Ryan kept fighting like nothing was happening, but Nero was on the floor writhing in pain.
'Just a little longer.'
Henry continued until he felt something. Ryan's body had gone cold, freezing cold.
'Fuck, no not you.'
Henry flung his head back looking towards Nero who was now standing making a gun shape with his hand and holding it to his head.
"You piece of shit."
Henry was filled with anger, he stood up, scrambling towards the exit to the room.
"I will get you no matter how far you run."
Nero's words would usually strike fear into whom he was talking to, but Henry wasn't scared he knew how to win, filled with confidence Henry made it to the exit of the room just before being pierced with a sharp pain. Turning to face Nero, he saw a large chunk of ice on the floor behind him. Nero wasn't able to just hurt people on will, he could control ice projectiles created from his hands, and now one had just pierced through Henry's stomach. Nero was playing with him, tying to weaken his resolve.
Henry turned from the room, finding a staircase leading up to the third floor, the pain from the wound was strong, but it wouldn't kill him yet. If Henry was right, Nero had to see him to be able to connect their damage. Escaping Nero's gaze, Henry pushed himself running up the staircase as fast as he could while keeping himself conscious.
"I told you, you can't run."
Henry made it to the third floor, barely able to move, he pushed on, making his way to the catwalk of the room he was in before. Now it was just up to luck, If Henry was right, Nero would want to play with his prey.
Henry watched as Nero peeked his head overlooking straight at Henry.
"You know, you're right. I can't run, especially with this."
Henry pointed at the wound in his chest.
"But you were wrong about something—something really important."
Nero's head perked up, he was interested in what the soon-to-be dead boy was saying.
"I wasn't trying to escape; I was just making you follow."
Henry threw himself over the catwalk, plummeting down to the bottom floor.
'Only two outcomes, either I die or he dies.'
Henry closed his eyes, preparing himself for the inevitable answer to his dilemma.
Thud.
That was all Henry heard, he couldn't tell if he had landed or if that was all you heard when you died. Feeling around he had landed on solid ground, he didn't even feel a thing. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was at the main floor of the room he did it he won, far above the limp body of Nero rested.
There was only one problem left, Henry was still lying on the floor with a hole in his stomach.
"If you wouldn't even tell me what the trial was, it would be nice to know if it's over."
Henry yelled out to someone that wasn't there. Slowly his body went limp, he felt his breath getting shallow.
'Fuck, I really wasn't looking forward to the death part of this.'
Henry's eyes weakened, his consciousness slowly fading.
'I thought I won…'
[You have slain Ascended human: Nero.]
[You have died, pity upon you. Reborn, you are now Veilbourne.]