Side Story 1 - Nova: Origin Story

A familiar figure with gelled back white hair and rectangular glasses stood next to a table with various materials on it.

The entire room was dark, save for the light that illuminated his table.

He sighed as he shuffled some papers around.

After a moment, another person with dyed yellow hair and dark brown roots came out of the darkness and called out to him.

『Oh! How are you, Oswald?! How is the research going? Are you not using a pellet today?』[Cael]

Oswald looked up from the papers and gave him a bittersweet smile.

『...It's an assignment I got from the school. I had to use my mana to help start the awakening process in the civilians.』[Oswald]

Cael grabbed a nearby rolling chair and sat next to Oswald's station.

『Ah… Sounds like a pain..』[Cael]

Oswald laughed it off.

『Hahaha. You'll have to do it next year. I hope that you won't have to go through what we did, though.』[Oswald]

『Huh? Wait.』[Cael]

Cael spun around in the rolling chair before abruptly stopping.

『What happened? I heard that normally all that happens is that you go to do it and sometimes there are some people who can use their seed abilities early. Nothing should have happened, right?』[Cael]

Oswald nodded, not taking his eyes off his work.

『Nothing… should have happened.』[Oswald]

Cael looked at Oswald with shining eyes, as if he was expecting a great big story.

『Hmm. There's a few unexpected factors. I'll let you know when everything is figured out.』[Oswald]

『What?! You gotta let me know!』[Cael]

Oswald deftly flipped his arm over to look at his watch.

『7 o'clock. You should be heading back to the dorms.』[Oswald]

『Huh?! You got me hyped up, too...』[Cael]

Cael stood up and rolled his chair back.

『Well, I guess you're right. I've got Raidagems early tomorrow morning. Good night, senior.』[Cael]

『Mm. Good night, then.』[Oswald]

Cael faded into the darkness before the clinking of the main door echoed throughout the building.

Oswald continued writing the report for a while before he put his pen down and began to talk to himself.

『...Really. None of that should have happened.』[Oswald]

His mind wandered back to the moment everything happened.

...…

He had just pulled up at the front gates of the academy.

The person with speckled beard hair and a long ponytail in the passenger seat yawned incredibly loudly.

Once Oswald heard this, he turned to check up on him.

『Got much sleep yesterday, Hanzo?』[Oswald]

『Nah. You think anything fun is gonna happen?』[Hanzo]

They both began to exit the car.

『I've seen these before. All that happens is that some of the civilians get a seed that can be used maybe a week after. Some take even longer, but it all depends. They usually all think of themselves as becoming a superhero or something afterward, though.』[Oswald]

Hanzo began laughing loudly.

『Hahaha! I used to think so too! Actually, you don't think we're superheroes?』[Hanzo]

Oswald began to contemplate what Hanzo said while they walked to the site of the examination.

『In a way, huh?』[Oswald]

Hanzo was kind of surprised that Oswald agreed.

『Oh? You kinda see what I'm getting at?』[Hanzo]

『Well, we protect the peace, right? In a way, we sacrifice our safety to protect the masses. I'd hope that all of these people may live a carefree life doing what they'd like.』[Oswald]

『Hmm… You're really kind, Os. I had often envied them or even looked down on them for taking the Houses to be taken for granted.』[Hanzo]

Oswald laughed quietly to himself.

『We don't have to worry about feeding ourselves, though. They do. I'd hope for them to at least be happy at the cost of our happiness.』[Oswald]

『Well, it's only a few years of service. I'm sure there are some of kids that dream of being in our places too.』[Hanzo]

Oswald paused for a moment.

『Hmm… did you hear about the seed dream theory?』[Oswald]

『The one where the dreams and goals of the individual determine the strength of their seed?』[Hanzo]

They stopped to stand under a roof that shielded them from the sun.

『Yeah. If the civilians actually wanted to take our place, they'd awaken a strong seed ability, right?』[Oswald]

Hanzo scratched the back of his head with a bitter look on his face.

『Can't be helped. Who would willingly choose to be taken away from a stable, safe lifestyle?』[Hanzo]

Some other third-year students walked over to them.

『Hey, Os, Hanzo. We're done with our shift. Have fun, dudes.』

『Alright man, good work out there.』[Hanzo]

They waved at the other students that left Hanzo and Oswald on their own.

They both looked over at the swarm of young, excited 16 year olds that were coming to get awakened.

『Alright. Not much people left, let's get this done.』[Hanzo]

『Exactly. So let's get these young people awakened, then go meet up with Sarena and Derenne for food.』[Oswald]

『Alright. Let's do it!』[Hanzo]

Oswald motioned for the first person to come over.

A young girl with long brown hair came over to him.

『Hold your hand out.』[Oswald]

She put her hand out and Oswald grabbed the middle of her palm lightly.

『Try to absorb the energy I provide.』[Oswald]

Oswald lightly poured mana into her body and let it lightly trickle in.

She made strange expressions and noises that made Oswald and Hanzo exchange uncomfortable glances.

『...Ah!』[Girl]

She jumped around stiffly for a moment, then Oswald gave her a kind smile.

『...If you're fine, you can go home. Please don't play around with the energy until you feel more comfortable with it. Any abilities you have will be revealed to you intuitively.』[Oswald]

Her face flushed pink and she began to move her fingers strangely.

『A-Ah. T-t-thank you!』[Girl]

She quickly sped away, occasionally looking back at him with an embarrassed look on her face.

Oswald raised his hand up to flag over the next person.

『Next please.』[Oswald]

An eye catching young man with pale platinum blonde hair with streaks of bright blue walked over.

『...ello.』[Boy]

The boy handed a slip over to Oswald.

Oswald examined the slip- noticing it was engraved with a magical circle on it and nodded.

The slip meant that the boy was a part of a house and had a good chance of "Sprouting" then and there.

Oswald nodded and gave him a reaffirming smile.

『Please give me your hand. I'll pour some mana into you to help saturate your seed.』[Oswald]

The boy put out his hand and let Oswald pour some mana into him.

If the boy fully awakened there, the slip would be used to form a barrier around the boy to prevent the spectators' awakenings from being harmed by the flowing mana.

Oswald kept the slip between his middle and index finger, ready to pour mana into it to erect a barrier, but it seemed fine.

Oswald sank a good amount of mana into the boy before a fine mist erupted forth and spiraled forth around the boy.

『...Ah..? It's very pretty...』[Boy]

Oswald smiled and gave the boy a thumbs up.

『A safe Sprouting. Let your mana stabilize a little before doing anything.』[Oswald]

The boy had a light smile.

『...Thank you.』[Boy]

Dewdrops and water coalesced around and spiraled all around the boy as he left, garnering many looks of attention from the others who came to get tested.

After he got home, it was likely that he'd experience a second awakening that would teach him spells and techniques to use with his seed.

The next boy who came wasn't as eye-catching as the boy who had just left, but also stuck out in a way.

He had bright blue eyes and dark blue hair that shone like the deep color of the ocean.

「...My mana is still full, so I should be able to awaken all of the people here.」[Oswald]

Oswald stared at the young man's unkempt attire.

「...Probably woke up late. What are his parents doing?」[Oswald]

Oswald inwardly sighed at the thought of a young man missing his coming of age Seed test due to irresponsible parents.

『Put your hand out and try to absorb the energy I'll give you.』[Oswald]

Oswald poured mana into him, but found that something was missing compared to the other two…

Signs of stopping.

「...What is this?! Just.. how much energy can he hold?!」[Oswald]

The mana he had disappeared at an exponential rate.

「This is… impossible! I have over 10000 units of mana! He's probably absorbed over 300 already!」[Oswald]

Oswald began to start nervously sweating.

After another 40 seconds, Oswald was left with only half his mana.

「If I stop the flow of mana, his awakening will go awry. If I don't, everyone here might awaken from the waves of mana that erupts from him.」[Oswald]

After another moment, he was left with less than a tenth of his mana, causing him to momentarily black out and lose control of his mana.

「...Huh?」[Oswald]

The moment his vision went dark, a loud roar woke him back up.

『GRAAAAAAAAAAAH!』[Nova]

Once Oswald's eyes were open again, a pillar of deep blue fire that reached far into the sky filled his eyes.

『...This is impossible. An immediate awakening from outside of a House?!』[Oswald]

He diverted his attention to some panicking 3rd years that stood at the gate of the school.

『Barrier unit! Get on it!』[Oswald]

He gave a sharp glare to the rest of the crowd.

『Evacuate! This is NOT a drill!』[Oswald]

They raised their hands and formed a barrier to protect the students from the shocks from the awakening...

But it was too late.

From Hanzo's side, a red dragon silhouette erupted forth and lacerated Hanzo's body.

『HAAAAANZO!』[Oswald]

The recoil blasted Hanzo to the floor with a bleeding arm.

『AAAAGH!』[Hanzo]

『An oriental dragon?! A sign of House Lin?! This is too unusual!』[Oswald]

It began to expand forth in every direction, but Oswald quickly took the slip and poured mana into it, causing it to fade to ashes and form a barrier around the oriental dragon, causing it to ascend to the skies.

『Ggh...』[Hanzo]

Hanzo held his bloodied arm and tried to stop the bleeding.

Oswald quickly concentrated on Nova once more.

『WHAT?!』[Oswald]

The barrier unit that was in charge of suppressing Nova's awakening was passed out on the floor.

Oswald quickly drew a complex barrier spell with his finger.

『Tetragram Sealing!』[Oswald]

A barrier that spanned up to the skies covered the blue flames.

Nova collapsed limply onto his knees on the floor.

『My mana is being drained! What kind of blue flames are these?!』[Oswald]

He kept the barrier up until his world began spinning, but after a certain point his mana stopped being drained.

Oswald was panting for air and was trying his best to recover mana.

He quickly realized that Hanzo wasn't unscathed and looked at his injuries quickly.

『...Many deep lacerations. Heavy bleeding. Somebody get a doctor! He's going to bleed out if we don't get him immediate medical attention!』[Oswald]

Nova stumbled over with his arm covered in blue fire.

Oswald watched in amazement before shouting in fear for Hanzo's life.

『Yo-You! What are you doing?! You can't control your ability right af-!』[Oswald]

Nova grabbed Hanzo's bloodied arm, causing Oswald to retch a little.

The bloodied arm squeezed out even more blood onto his hand.

Hanzo clenched his teeth together to suppress a scream, but there were some tears that leaked out of his eyes.

『Blessed Flame Rebirth.』[Nova]

A complex multi-layered magical circle appeared under Nova.

『...What… stage is that spell?!』[Oswald]

A blue flame that was the color of a bright blue and darkness of space climbed up Hanzo's arm and quickly fixed the rendered flesh that even had exposed shards of bone.

Nova let go and stepped back before the flames faded from his being.

Hanzo looked at his arm before looking back at Nova with a look of fear.

『...What? What are you?』[Hanzo]

Oswald walked over to Nova to examine the traces of blue flame, but Nova suddenly lost his balance, causing Oswald to catch him.

『...Oswald?』[Hanzo]

Oswald stood in stunned silence for a moment before he shook himself out of it, calming himself down.

『...Yeah?』[Oswald]

Hanzo struggled to get up before he regained his balance.

『...This kid on the floor next to me is a millennial talent for being able to damage me that much in that amount of time.』[Hanzo]

He stared at Rai, who was on the floor, occasionally jerking around in pain.

『Right. Though his control of his mana is weak at best, his explosive power rivals that of the militant nobles. Assuming his control increases, it would be fair enough to say that he could be a powerhouse of the Kingdom in the future.』[Oswald]

Hanzo nodded.

『...And him.』[Hanzo]

Hanzo picked Rai up before staring at Nova.

『What kind of monstrosity is he to be able to fix all of that damage up in a few seconds?』[Hanzo]

『...His flame sapped mana from everyone nearby. It seems to have fueled his spell then. It's fortunate that the young man from the House came by to give me that slip. If I had used it on the blue flames, you would have died.』[Oswald]

Hanzo's face remained pale.

『...Died? But.. what do you think of that boy with the blue flames?』[Hanzo]

『He could completely overthrow all magical theory and cause a revolution. His spell combines multiple effects that are sought after in research. It almost resembles a lost magic type.』[Oswald]

He readjusted the grip on Nova.

『...What kind of dream or goal would he have in order to have those abilities?』[Hanzo]

Oswald looked at the remnants of blue flames that slowly faded off of Nova's body.

『...It's a kind ability.』[Oswald]

…..

Oswald finished writing the report on the matter.

『...That whole incident felt like someone was manipulating all of us.』[Oswald]

Oswald thought of how everything lined up in such a way.

『...Maybe fate does exist…』[Oswald]

He closed the folder with information on the incident case shut, before grabbing it and heading into the darkness of the Magical Advancement Association.

『...But I wonder what it has in store for us.』[Oswald]