Demon Lord's Reincarnation

"Sir, are you certain that we shouldn't do something?" One of Nero's supporters asked while watching Nero do his morning training.

"There's no need to do anything but continue training as usual, and wait for the day of the duel." Nero calmly replied while in the horse stance.

"I know you don't want to do something like that, but Julius is someone who would use any means necessary to win."

"Erik, as a person following the same path to find the truth, you should know that I will not do something underhanded."

"... I understand... Still, shouldn't we at least prepare something in case he does something before the duel?"

"There's no need, whatever plans he has I will crush them in an upfront manner." When Nero said those words a smile appeared on his face it was the same smile Ren showed when he was fighting the Old God.

'I guess I shouldn't be too worried Nero is someone who is the most similar to the Ancestor, and his blood is the thickest among us. Someone as insidious as Julius wouldn't be able to win against Nero.'

...

During the night after the declaration of the duel there had already been several attempts to harm Nero. At first, it just looked like a series of bad luck but since the frequency was too much it didn't look like bad luck anymore.

The things falling from above Nero's head were easily avoided, there were the exploding training dummies that shattered and almost hit him, there were also the unlucky times he entered another person's workshop that suddenly exploded upon his entry.

Even though there were minor inconveniences for Nero they were getting worse, so he had someone check if he was cursed. As it turns out he was truly cursed with increasing misfortune, the curse masters in the clan were able to remove it quite easily.

After Nero removed the curse he headed home and made himself a meal but when he ate it he quickly sensed the poison in his food. Nero quickly spat out the food in his mouth and got into a lotus position using his spiritual energy to push out the poison in his body.

He didn't even swallow the food and just simply put it into his mouth the effects were devastating. If it were anyone else in the clan they might have already fainted from the intense pain the poison gave, but it only made Nero sweat and grumble in pain.

It took Nero several hours to remove the poison in his body, and once he was done he lay on the ground exhausted. It was a good thing that while he was removing the poison Erik and several others came to check on him so that he was able to fully concentrate on the task at hand.

"I told you that we needed to at least prepare, but you wouldn't listen," Erik complained as he looked at the exhausted Nero.

"If I can't even deal with something like this, then how could I face the Ancestor with pride? You do know the stories, right? When the Ancestor was but a child barely a teen he was besieged by multiple organizations wanting to make use of him, he was not able to stop and rest since stopping would mean death. He was pursued for several years, but no matter what his enemies did he overcame it.

If the Ancestor can withstand such things for several years who am I to complain for just a measly five days."

"Are you actually comparing yourself to that kind of monster that could kill even Gods with his bare hands?"

"Aren't we all trying to reach the truth and among all isn't the Ancestor closest to the truth, so shouldn't we always try to compare ourselves to him and try to surpass him?"

"Tsk, you truly are the descendant closest to the ancestor. Alright, I understand that you don't want to retaliate but can't I just have some people follow you around so that a situation like today won't happen again? I'm sure that even you don't want to die before even getting to do that duel."

Nero was silent for several seconds as he lay on the ground thinking about some things, after a while, he finally responded.

"Alright, do what you must just tell them to not bother me while I train."

"Sure, sure," Erik responded while shrugging his shoulders.

"Now is that all you wanted to say?"

"Yeah."

After hearing Erik's reply Nero closed his eyes and slept.

...

After that on the next day, Nero had several people accompanying him, they shadowed him from a distance and tried their best not to get in the way of his training. Also unlike the first day, Nero was holding onto a few talismans against curses so the same thing won't happen again.

Nero and Erik thought that they had prepared enough, but they were proven wrong. The training dummies Nero usually uses did not explode today, but instead upon punching one he felt his skin was burning, it turns out the training dummies had been coated with poison.

The group then checked every training dummy and learned that each one had poison. It was a good thing that only Nero's training dummies had poison since it was a poison that would affect anyone with just skin contact.

It seems that Julius changed his strategy from curses to poison which was even more irritating.

"I checked several times, but it was said that after he challenged you to a duel Julius has never left his workshop."

"So you think someone else is doing all these to me?"

"It could be since there are also many people who want to see Julius as the new patriarch."

"This might be even more bothersome than I thought," Nero spoke while sighing, all he wanted to do was train but it proved to be quite difficult to do. "Should I also hide in my personal workshop?"

...

On the third day Nero trained inside his workshop but upon entering the workshop exploded. The cause of the explosion was unknown but it burned everything down. If it weren't for Nero's fast reaction to defend himself he might have been injured.

"Are the next two days going to be all like this?" Nero once again sighed at the situation he was in.