72 To Be Alone
Nova found himself in a strange space, filled with darkness.
It felt like he was bleeding from every pore and his mana and blood leaked into the endless darkness.
『Am I...』[Nova]
He felt a force on his eyes, pushing them down.
『Is this… where it...』[Nova]
Suddenly, he heard a voice echo across the space.
『Is this where you will meet your end?』
Nova's eyes slowly slid shut as he felt his body falling down.
『I feel no more energy in my body… I can't continue...』[Nova]
Nova felt cold embracing his body before he suddenly heard a loud shout echo through the space.
『Nova!』
A strange feeling surrounded him before another voice rang out.
『Nova!』
『Nova.』
His eyes shot open.
Instead of the dark space, he found a fire being lit in the woods.
『...Are you finally awake?』
Nova looked for the source of the voice and found a cloth clad woman sitting next to the fire.
『A-Ah, yes. Did you- save me?』[Nova]
The woman nodded.
『I was traveling when I found you on the floor with wounds all over you. What were you doing there?』[Masked Woman]
『I was ambushed by a bunch of brownlings..』[Nova]
She nodded and got up to leave.
『Extinguish the fire once you're done. I'm going now. Please don't die.』[Masked Woman]
He tried to get up, but the injuries he had still hurt.
『Ggh! Wait! What's your name?』[Nova]
『...Call me Nian.』[Nian]
Her silhouette quickly flickered before she disappeared.
『..Thank you, Nian.』[Nova]
He sat up and saw the wrapped bandages on his body.
『Blessed Flame Rebirth.』[Nova]
His mana was more stable than before, allowing him to finally heal himself.
『Haaaaah...』[Nova]
A cool burning feeling enveloped the wound.
Maybe it was Nova's denser mana, but his wounds began to heal at a visible rate.
The skin meshed together, leaving no blemish or scar.
『Aaaaaah….』[Nova]
The pain stabbed into Nova's flesh with each second he kept the flame on the injury, but it healed at such a fast rate, he couldn't complain.
『Hey, Reischneid.』[Nova]
He remained quiet.
『Reischneid?』[Nova]
Nova began to grow anxious.
『REISCHNEID!』[Nova]
In a large inferno that covered the entire area, the hilt appeared in front of Nova.
『...These flames?!』[Nova]
They were much stronger and vibrant than before.
Nova shifted his attention to the hilt.
『...Reischneid?』[Nova]
The part of the hilt where the orange gem is was burning blue.
『Is he..?!』[Nova]
Nova then realized.
『Sir Fluffles?』[Nova]
He poured mana into the spot near his forehead where Sir Fluffles normally stayed.
『Sir Fluffles!』[Nova]
He shut his eyes until his surroundings were completely blocked out.
『...arf. Wuuuuu….』
Nova faintly heard Sir Fluffles' barking in the mental space.
『...You guys...』[Nova]
Nova had looked down at his legs before bringing them close to him.
Now that it had begun, there was no way to stop it.
Nova's tears began to flow non-stop from his eyes.
『...If only I hadn't gone so deep into the forest...』[Nova]
He hadn't felt so alone for a long time.
No matter what pinch Nova was in, Reischneid would shout at him and navigate Nova out of it.
Although it was recent, Sir Fluffles felt like someone that has been by Nova's side for years.
『...and because of me, they are in this state...』[Nova]
He stared up at the hilt of his blade before grasping it.
『...What did Oswald call this?』[Nova]
Nova's memory flowed back to when he had first met Reischneid.
『...Armory of God?』[Nova]
The hilt's guard suddenly fragmented, leaving behind just the gem and hilt.
Nova moved back, in shock.
『...What?』[Nova]
The hilt felt much lighter and some kind of wind began to float around Nova's hand.
A voice was heard speaking- almost as if into Nova's ear.
『...May the wind guide your blade.』
『Who's there?!』[Nova]
He got up and held the blade with his right hand.
Although he had healed the physical injuries in his left arm, he didn't have enough control to heal the internal injuries that were in his arm.
『...Who is it?!』[Nova]
Nova had raised a mana shield around him that had enough defensive capabilities to survive most attacks.
A cold chill had hit him, causing goosebumps to appear on his arm.
This reminded him of yet another occurrence, causing him to quickly throw himself on the ground.
Yet again, the trees had been sent flying dozens of feet into the air.
Nova had the time to conjure an Area and escape, yet…
『...I want to kill them.』[Nova]
After the barrage of 5th circle brownlings had happened, Nova forced himself on his feet and faced the closest one.
His blade was in the shape of a short blade, no- long dagger this time, and he kept his left hand ready in the stance of the Torrential Rain Fist.
He noticed that they had kept a distance away from Nova this time.
Nova glanced over and saw that they kept an eye on the fire.
『...They're scared of fire?』[Nova]
Nova knew that he didn't have much mana left- maybe about 10 percent of his normal maximum.
Nova formed a Wave before he shouted out a spell.
『Blessed Flame Rebirth!』[Nova]
From the part of the hilt where the blue flame was already blazing came a brilliant inferno that made his dagger look more like a greatsword.
The brownlings clearly feared it and took a step back.
Nova then cut through the Wave- leading to an outcome he hadn't expected.
The blade had cut straight through the Wave and sent out a blade of wind that obliterated a small portion of the brownlings.
The magical circle had suddenly exploded into countless lights in the air in front of Nova- almost reminiscent of the stars in the night sky.
Together, the blue flames and countless shining white lights looked like a star had suddenly exploded and created countless other stars.
For a moment, Nova had his breath taken away by this.
His mind was suddenly filled with a shining light as memories of things that have never happened flowed into his head.
『...Ra-Raiment?』[Nova]
A new word flowed into his mind, yet nothing had happened.
Realizing the danger he was in, he shook the confusion off and gripped the dagger harder.
However… by the time he realized it- all of it was over.
In the split second he had gone through all of that, all of those lights and flames had exploded in every single direction in front of him, impaling most of the brownlings before incinerating the rest of them.
The blue flames that had normally healed were imbued with a property that Nova had never used before- Destruction.
Those brownlings that had been set on fire were incinerated into dust at a fast pace- save for their gems that had somehow resisted these flames.
The attack was reminiscent of a thousand shooting stars cutting through an azure blue night sky.
『H-H-Huh..?』[Nova]
After the flames cleared, Nova stood in shock for a bit before picking things up.
『...What just happened?』[Nova]
His body ached from the amount of mana that exploded from it, along with the countless wounds he suffered earlier.
『Rei-』[Nova]
He cut himself off before he had finished saying the name.
『...I've relied too much on him. Now that he's gone, does that make me useless?』[Nova]
Nova got up and used the last of his mana to teleport himself back to his room.
『...If I get stronger, he'll be back. But until then, I have to rely on my own strength.』[Nova]
