75 Rewind

『Hngh...』

Nova panted, completely out of breath.

『...N...』[Nova]

He raised his head toward the sky and screamed.

『NIIIIIIICE!!!』[Nova]

Standing before him was an absolutely destroyed piece of forest.

Freyana had allowed him to train on his own- which relieved him a lot.

But, sometimes Nova finds that he himself was a bit scared of this place.

In that moment where he was attacked by the 5th circle brownlings, his naivety of Reischneid's presence keeping him safe was shattered.

Holding the hilt of Reischneid, he found that it had returned to normal- no longer having the short length of a dagger.

『...but still, not enough.』[Nova]

When Nova last used Reischneid, he had triggered something that caused the blade to become more of a dagger.

He had heard a whisper in his ear and felt a strange wind when the blade changed.

『...Why won't it change?』[Nova]

Nova gripped the hilt even harder.

『...Damn it.』[Nova]

He swung the blade, yet there was no pressurized wind that shot out of it.

『...and Raiment. What is that?』[Nova]

He felt like it was a new seed ability, but didn't receive the information and memories of how to use it in the same way he learned how to use the others.

When it came to Area, he had received all of the information to use it with a certain degree of proficiency.

However…

『Raiment!』[Nova]

Nothing happened.

Not even the draining of mana, nor the trail of Leo's seed ability, or anything else.

『Haah… This is useless.』[Nova]

The more he tried, the less and less inclined he felt to try.

『...Nevermind that. What caused Reischneid to do that? And...』[Nova]

He stared at the gem embedded into the hilt.

It still burned, but it was slowly burning out.

『When the flames run out, will he wake up?』[Nova]

He shook his head before he continued to run through the forest.

『Reischneid!』[Nova]

The sword turned into a blue blaze before it disappeared.

Nova ran deeper into the forest, beating up brownlings and collecting crystals.

….

On Sunday, he was having the worst experience ever.

『...What?』[Nova]

『My seed works now!』[Leo]

Nova was just thinking about how his Raiment ability was just as useless as Leo's seed- which brought him solace… even if he felt a little bad.

『...That's awesome. Show me.』[Nova]

It was a bit early in the morning, but Leo dragged their entire group of friends out to the training yard.

『Okay! Okay! Are you ready for this?!』[Leo]

He took on a low stance and jumped into the air before he swept the air with his leg.

『Rewind!』

The air seemed to have a tear in it, as if Leo had swiped ink over it.

『...What happened?』[Nova]

Rai walked up to it and moved to poke it.

『What does i-』[Rai]

Suddenly, it dragged Rai's face into the dark ink and a shadowy silhouette suddenly swept out and kicked Rai in the face across the yard.

『HUAGH?! WHAT THE FUCK?!』[Rai]

Rai hit the ground several times and some scales popped up on his skin in an attempt to mitigate some damage.

Rai's skin split and cut each time he skidded across the floor.

Andrew's eyes suddenly shot open wide.

『Huh?! What just happened?!』[Andrew]

Leo stared in shock at what just happened.

『It… does that much?!』[Leo]

Nova ran over to Rai and propped him up.

『You didn't test it beforehand?!』[Nova]

Nova directed his attention over to Rai.

『Blessed Flame Rebirth!』[Nova]

The blue flames covered Rai's body and quickly healed the cuts and bruises over him.

『That was the first time I've ever used that! I didn't think he was gonna walk into it!』[Leo]

Jack also stared at Leo with a strange look.

『...You.. that wasn't a Tsukikaze kick. Are you...』[Jack]

『...It was a Hwarang kick.』[Nova]

Nova had recently seen a Hwarang film with Freyana and featured inside it was a showcase of multiple martial arts.

Leo looked a little conflicted.

After a bit of reluctance, he answered them.

『...It's the Koyeon style.』[Leo]

After a moment, Rai got up.

『...Ggh. That really hurt… And why aren't you using the Tsukikaze style anymore?』[Rai]

He shook his head.

『Although I belong to the Tsukikaze house, I wasn't given the right to practice the Tsukikaze clan's techniques.』[Leo]

This was the first time Nova had heard about a Tsukikaze "clan".

『...Clan? What do you mean by clan?』[Nova]

Leo looked a bit uncomfortable talking about it, but he pulled himself together.

『Many houses are built around an original family. This would be the "clan". People who are in the clan are given preferential treatment and are the future leaders of the house. Han-bro is a clan member, so he was given the right to practice their kenjutsu.』[Leo]

Jack raised an eyebrow.

『Kenjutsu?』[Jack]

Leo looked over at Jack and nodded.

『Sword techniques.』[Leo]

He put one hand high into the air and another low in front of him.

『If the Tsukikaze's martial arts is right here...』[Leo]

He moved his hand that was a little low in front of him.

『Then the Tsukikaze's kenjutsu is the stars, the sky, and the rest of the universe.』[Leo]

『...So you're resorting to Hwarang techniques?』[Nova]

『Huh? Nononono!』[Leo]

Leo quickly crossed his arms together.

『The Koyeon style is something I'm learning in conjunction to the Tsukikaze style. It's something that I'm being taught by elder sister Saeyeon!』[Leo]

『..Elder sister Saeyeon?』[Andrew]

『Uhm?! She's not really my elder sister! She's the person Han-bro likes-』[Leo]

He suddenly covered his mouth.

『...This is too much information for me to worry about. Can we return to the matter about your Rewind ability?』[Jack]

Nova and Rai were very, very, very interested, but they looked at each other and nodded, deciding this could be used to torment Hanzo later.

Leo nodded and got back on topic.

『Rewind seems to be a physical duplication ability.』[Leo]

Rai nodded his head and gave him a thumbs up.

『...What does that mean?』[Rai]