No Hope

Nova shut his eyes in anticipation of the hundreds of fireballs that flew at him, blowing him to bits.

...But it never came.

Nova's eyes slowly opened to find that there was a bright translucent orb with multiple lights swirling in it.

The orb grew bigger, but it was still enough for Nova to see through it.

Fireball after fireball was entering the orb, being absorbed by it and making it change color.

「Wh...What is going on?! This is… the new ability?!」[Nova]

Despite Nova's internal struggle, he noticed that he did not hear Asmodasiah talking to him.

「Hey! Asmodasiah! Are you here?!」[Nova]

No response.

Nova grit his teeth.

「I didn't get any information about this ability! How long will this hold up..?!」[Nova]

He felt like he had been thrust from a calm spell into the frying pan once again.

Looking through the orb, he could see that Nezha's standing body could partially be seen through the dust.

「...Oh my god.」[Nova]

It was hard to tell if he was even conscious.

He was rapidly firing fireballs at Nova, but there was blood running down his entire body.

「...I can't pull off any more moves like that! I'm almost tapped dry of my mana! If I use any more, I'll be at risk of collapsing again.」[Nova]

The more fireballs launched into the orb, the more it changed.

It became less and less transparent, and more and more blue.

『It's changing…?』[Nova]

Cracks gradually began to appear on the surface of the orb.

『It won't hold! I have to do something!』[Nova]

He carefully thought to himself on what to do, but the orb began to fracture off, threatening to give out at any second.

『Damn it…!』[Nova]

Nova put his hand up and pointed straight into the orb at Nezha, as if he wasn't thinking.

He gathered energy from the orb into his finger, feeling the flow of an overwhelming amount of mana being drawn into his finger and body.

「I'm… absorbing it?! What is this?!」[Nova]

Mana was entering his body through the orb, those lights and wisps within it, converging onto his finger.

He could see the mana glowing through his veins, pulsing in waves.

「This… really isn't good, is it?!」[Nova]

Through the now mostly transparent orb, he could see Nezha cackling to himself.

『Ke..keke..! I… LOVE THIS! DIE, DIE, DIE! KAHAHAHA!』[Nezha]

At this point, glowing blue mana climbed all the way up Nova's arm and threatened to explode.

「I have no choice….」[Nova]

『This…. IS THE END!』[Nova]

He reversed the flow of the mana, forcing the mana back into the orb.

『ETOILE!』[Nova]

The orb suddenly converged onto Nova's finger.

The wide orb quickly became no bigger than a marble before it turned into a comet at the fingertips of Nova.

『FLY AWAY!』[Nova]

The sound of glass breaking echoed around before something exploded then Nova suddenly fell backwards with his finger still pointed at Nezha.

A massive comet that was more akin to a laser came blasting out of Nova's finger.

It was something that was out of his current means, by far.

It swatted away incoming fireballs like they were flies.

The earth rendered itself as Nova's Etoile dug through it and climbed toward Nezha.

A searing pain filled Nova's arm, but he didn't stop the flow of mana.

「Please! Let this be the end!」[Nova]

The light had impacted where Nezha was standing, causing lights to cascade in every direction.

The skin on Nova's arm cracked and began climbing up his arm further.

「...Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT!」[Nova]

He grit his teeth, but felt a few tears leak out involuntarily.

「I can't… take it anymore!」[Nova]

Luckily, the mana began to run dry, causing the beam to drain in size slowly.

Nova kneeled over onto the ground, panting.

「What was that…?」[Nova]

He held his arm up, looking at the lacerations and cracks that resembled a barren wasteland.

『Blessed… Flame Rebirth...』[Nova]

Blue flames enveloped his arm, causing it to slowly mend the damage that was created by him.

「I can't even handle the new ability I received…! The damage it did to me was probably more than what Nezha did!」[Nova]

Sweat pooled on his brow, causing his hair to stick to it.

「Please… don't get back up!」[Nova]

There was yet another cloud of dust surrounding the area, but Nova slowly shuffled himself backwards.

「My mana can't keep up with this battle. I have to go meet up with Reischneid!」[Nova]

When he turned around to run, he suddenly stopped in place.

A panicked girl with translucent white and gray hair ran straight at him, being tailed by a terrifying creature.

『Nova! Please help!』

His jaw was stuck slightly ajar.

The girl ran closer to him, being chased by the Remnant they had encountered.

『...No way...』[Nova]

He collapsed to his knees, any hope of surviving melted away.