All I've Got

Once Nova shouted out "Starflash", the world melted away.

He was back where he was, save for his leg being completely returned to normal.

『How… disturbing.』[Asmodasiah]

She looked at Nova's leg with a look of disgust.

『What… happened?』[Nova]

『You expelled the excess mana into your spell and it fixed your leg, along with the rest of your body.』[Asmodasiah]

He pulled himself off the floor, confirming that his body was back in a good condition.

『What was.. that?』[Nova]

『The world is very mysterious, even to me. Consult the old man.』[Asmodasiah]

The skies were filled with huge explosions.

『What is… that?』[Nova]

『That is a fight between those high level mages that you slipped past earlier.』[Asmodasiah]

Nova stared up at the fight and remembered what happened earlier when he ran into Oswald and Reagan.

…..

They were using Nova's Area to rapidly get closer to the area where the fight was taking place.

『Nova! Over here!』[Oswald]

Out of nowhere, they appeared from an alleyway, Reagan in a tattered state.

Raina was the first to get to him, while everyone else ran over in time.

『Honey?! What happened?!』[Raina]

『Reagan!』[Mune]

He coughed and sputtered.

『I underestimated a kid from the Cardinal Sins...』[Reagan]

『The Cardinal Sins?!』[Mune]

Reagan's stomach was exposed with a nasty burn and he had bits of cuts and burns all over everywhere else.

『...It's been too long since I've fought seriously… We can't underestimate the people involved in this mission. I was careless and didn't go at it seriously enough.』 [Reagan]

…..

After Nova had healed him, they rushed into the point of contact, leading up to the current events.

『But… those are them?』[Nova]

She disregarded Nova's question completely.

『...I suggest that you don't try to reach the floating platform. You'll fall again.』[Asmodasiah]

『I won't look at the light. I'm sure it will be-』[Nova]

『No. The light didn't cause you to fall. You fell because of the overwhelming amount of mana condensed into the attack.』[Asmodasiah]

She poked him in the center of the chest.

『Each of you have this little core inside of you that enables you to hold mana, use mana, and control mana.』[Asmodasiah]

『My… My Seed?』[Nova]

『I believe that is what you refer to. Well, when mana is deprived from you for an extended amount of time, you will lose your strength and feel lethargic, most likely. When mana hits you in a huge wave, your core will lose control and become unstable, which is most likely what caused your movement ability to fail.』[Asmodasiah]

Nova took a moment to process her words.

『So does that mean…?』[Nova]

『The mere waves from their fight are disabling you from using your ability.』[Asmodasiah]

Nova thought about any ways to get to Mariya's platform, but couldn't find any options.

『...What can I… do?』[Nova]

『Go back to the old man. He'll most likely offer you some advice.』[Asmodasiah]

Nova nodded his head.

『Right.』[Nova]

Nova looked over to the direction where Reischneid's sword remained.

He put his hand up to his side.

『Area.』[Nova]

The portal opened before quickly falling apart.

『...Like I said, you won't be able to use your ability.』[Asmodasiah]

Nova looked at her incredulously.

『...I have to run there?』[Nova]

『Yes.』[Nova]

『...』[Nova]

….

He ended up just going for it and running there.

While he ran, Asmodasiah floated by his side.

『Oh! Asmodasiah, didn't you say you didn't have that much energy left? How did you manage to save me?』[Nova]

『I managed to absorb some energy through the contract. Possibly from the appearance of the Remnant, I soaked up a small amount of the energy in Purgatory.』[Asmodasiah]

With that, her form disappeared.

Nova nodded halfheartedly, just understanding that she had got some energy when the weird shadow appeared.

He ran as fast as he could without extending himself.

「I'm a lot faster than I was in middle school! Not just that…!」[Nova]

Each time his feet hit the ground, a decently big amount of dust exploded from under his feet.

「I'm stronger too! Is this the result of my mana growing?」[Nova]

Though he didn't feel like he was invincible, he felt like he was growing to be pretty strong.

「I think I can even put a dent on Mune if we fought!」[Nova]

Before long, he returned to Reischneid's side, panting.

「Nova! Why are you back?!」[Reischneid]

「The mana in the air is disrupting my spell! Is there any way to get up there?!」[Nova]

Reischneid remained embedded into the ground.

「Nope. Not unless you can grasp and create a baseline Domain technique that keeps mana stable in your general area.」[Reischneid]

「Uh… How do I do that?!」[Nova]

「Nope. No way. You don't even have enough mana to keep a Domain up for a long enough for anything practical. You have no choice but to train your control. Maybe buff up your Mana Heart until you can control each little bit of mana in your body. 」[Reischneid]

「I can train my Mana Hear-」[Nova]

His thought was cut off by a huge streak of light in the sky.

The streak of light suddenly smashed into the ground about a hundred feet away from them.

「What was that?!」[Nova]

「Leave me here, Nova! I'll watch them! You can investigate that but... 」[Reischneid]

Nova waited for Reischneid to finish his sentence.

「You aren't in your best form. Your Raiment has been overextended, your Area is useless right now, the only thing you have besides those are your basics and your Torrential Rain Fist.」[Reischneid]

Nova nodded.

「I know it best… My battle power is highly dependent on my Area, and my techniques are mostly for melting mana or healing others...」[Nova]

He started running off toward the crash site.

「...But if someone pushes me to it, I'll defeat them with all I've got!」[Nova]