117 Vermillion Crisis
A clashing of metal caused sparks to fly all over the place.
Mune stood in front of Nova.
『...Who are you, and what are you doing to my underclassman?』[Mune]
The girl withdrew her feather and held it close to her chest.
『...I apologize. My name is Yudola. Now that we are acquainted, let me turn your hideous existence into a work of art!』[Yudola]
Her gray eyes seemed to shine when she saw the both of them.
She started to breathe harder and have a flushed face when Mune appeared.
『Your eyes… They're the same color of blood… Haa… Haa… HAHAHAHA!』[Yudola]
『Oh. She's batshit insane.』[Mune]
She took the feather and placed it into her book.
『...My beautiful art pieces! Let's paint! Vermillion Lycoris!』[Yudola]
Her book began to float, with the pages rapidly turning.
A bloody lycoris flower sprouted out of the book and caused many different bloody silhouettes to fall out of the ends of the lycoris flowers.
Once they hit the ground, they turned into dark, bloody figures of varying types.
Nova realized that they were at risk of killing everyone nearby.
『...Mune! There are civilians nearby!』[Nova]
『Right! The clearing! That's where we'll take this! Teleport us too! We have to subdue this girl, here and now!』[Mune]
Nova nodded and put his hand up.
Nova concentrated the excess mana that remained from the Stardrop that he received to his next ability.
『AREA!』[Nova]
A giant black void wrapped all of them up and caused the entire alleyway to clear of any indications of a fight.
…..
They all jumped out into the giant clearing that Mune and Nova once fought in.
The girl quickly distanced herself from Mune and Nova, creating more creatures made of blood.
『...Nova. This isn't the kind of fight we're used to.』[Mune]
Mune held his katana ready.
Yudola stood with her floating book nearby, laughing maniacally.
『That's right. My beautiful pieces of art are created from the blood of my victims. Their soul and mana are still imbued into them! They will stay with me for all eternity… and so will you.』[Yudola]
The bloodied silhouettes' mouths began to stickily gape open.
『H...Hel...Help me!』
A female figure of blood began to scream throughout the clearing.
『...S..Stay back!』
A masculine blood creature began to shout as well.
『Oh.. god...』[Nova]
Nova suppressed the urge to throw up.
『...We have to put these people to rest.』[Mune]
Nova nodded.
『...Reischneid...』[Nova]
He summoned the hilt and gripped it tightly.
Yudola was surrounded in a mob of bloody humans.
『Put them to rest!』[Mune]
Mune ran into the crowd and began to cleave through the bloody creatures, trying to get closer to Yudola.
Immediately after he cut through a handful of them, they continued to move, screaming and grabbing onto him.
『...Null to physical attacks…!』[Mune]
He struggled to move once they got a hand onto him.
『Blessed Flame Rebirth!』[Nova]
Nova waved his hand, sending a wave of flame as far as possible as it could go.
The blue flames burnt the masses of blood that latched onto Mune, causing them to half evaporate and half dissolve into a puddle of blood.
Nova wretched when he saw them turn into a puddle of blood, before he threw up.
『..Kuh… Hgh… Rest.. In peace...』[Nova]
Yudola's eyes began to shake in fear.
『...He.. can take my art away from me?! This.. is not good.』[Yudola]
The flower dissolved and she took the feather out of the book, shoving the sharp side into the ground.
『...I call you to abide by the rules of my contract. Uphold the terms of our agreement and receive the promised reward.』[Yudola]
A purple pentagram began to glow under her.
『Contranyx!』[Yudola]
The pentagram on the floor raised up, forming a tunnel that people began to emerge from.
『...Oh. Not good. She seems to have summoned a bunch of people that are under contract with her. We may have bit off more than we could chew.』[Mune]
『...Please take care of them. I'll take care of the blood puppets.』[Nova]
『That's the correct strategy.』[Mune]
He thought of it for a moment but decided to tell Nova the truth.
『Most likely, this spell is related to her Seed. Her blood puppets are immune to physical attacks, and probably harbor the souls of her previous victims. When you burn them... you're sending them to the afterlife.』[Mune]
Nova was taken back when Mune said that.
His eyes suddenly began to glow a bright blue.
『...If I have to play as the ferryman to these lost souls... so be it.』[Nova]
Mune nodded and began to observe the people that came out of the portal.
The people that emerged out of her tunnel were all dressed with the same black robes with a mask on their head that would hide any way of identifying them.
Mune let his sword float by his side as he jumped over the blood puppets and take down Yudola.
The moment he tried to get to the humans, the blood puppets tried to reach him.
『Blessed Flame Rebirth!』[Nova]
The flames melted the puppets into a puddle, allowing Mune to attempt to subjugate Yudola.
The people she summoned got in the way, however.
『Not so fast!』
『You will not touch the pure!』
The humans that she formed a contract with were easy enough to brush aside, though.
Mune swept their legs, effectively knocking them over and sending them to the floor.
『They're ordinary humans! You can subdue them with your blad-!』[Mune]
Suddenly, a large fist went crashing into Mune's face, sending him flying.
『..Ku...Kuhack!』[Mune]
Mune shoved his sword into the ground, allowing him to stop himself before he went flying too far.
A tanned giant of a man with unkempt, short hair and a beard that didn't connect with his sideburns stood in between Mune and Yudola.
He didn't have any outfit, unlike the rest of them.
『...Second pillar. Grynzael of the shield.』[Grynzael]
He wore a white martial gi with the sleeves ripped off, contrasting with his dark skin.
On the left side of his gi written was "Risk".
『...You will not escape from the judgment given to you by the great Purity.』[Grynzael]
Mune forced a smirk.
『...Great. This sucks.』[Mune]
