Reprieve

All of Nova's body felt like it was hot and burning up.

「Is my… Seed changing? It feels so… similar..to when I first awakened!」[Nova]

Nova's consciousness faded in and out, and all the noise faded from around him.

He could faintly hear Asmodasiah's voice, but no words could be made out.

「...I'm… not dying… I think..?」[Nova]

He felt like he was bleeding from his ears, until he started to notice that his flames were fading away.

As Nezha became clearer and clearer amongst the flames, his vision and consciousness returned, along with his hearing.

Nezha looked down on Nova, who looked up at Nezha and the hundreds of remaining fireballs in the air.

『...You think that the fireballs are how I get you?』[Nezha]

Nova struggled to breathe, but was slowly gaining back his body's nerves.

『The heat, kid. The heat messes with your brain, and drains your energy. All those fireballs exploding on your flames, and all I did was direct the heat into your little protective flame bubble.』[Nezha]

Despite Nezha's detailed explanation, Nova had a hard time paying attention to him with the splitting headache going on in his head.

『...Oi, are you listening?』[Nezha]

Nova's eyes kept darting around at some of the hundred fireballs in some poor attempt to stay awake.

『...So you still aren't paying any attention to me...』[Nezha]

He stormed up to Nova in a blink of an eye.

『YOU BRAT!』[Nezha]

Nova received a kick on the chin that sent him flying back a few feet.

Feeling the sensation of pain rush through his body, he suddenly got a bit of a grasp of himself.

「...What..? I… need to get rid of all this mana...」[Nova]

His mind began to clear up slowly.

「...Right..! If I can… get rid of all the excess mana, I can use Area… right?!」[Nova]

Slowly he began to rise to his feet.

『Hey, hey…! How are you still able to move?!』[Nezha]

This time, Nova managed to make direct eye contact with Nezha.

『...You… You're finally giving me some respect?』[Nezha]

Nova murmured under his breath with an expression that looked as if he wanted to fall asleep on his feet.

『...burnt to ashes...』[Nova]

Nezha strained to hear, instead opting to get closer.

『What was that?! You think you can do what to me?!』[Nezha]

Nova also took a step forward, despite almost losing his footing.

『...dust and nothing...』[Nova]

『You… still haven't learned your lesson?!』[Nezha]

Nezha finally raised his fist against Nova, slugging Nova on the side of the face and causing him to lower to the ground, but not fall.

He slowly raised himself up back to eye level with Nezha.

『....INCINERATE THE ENEMY INTO ETERNAL NIGHT!』[Nova]

Nova's eyes burned a brilliant blue as a serious expression appeared on his face.

『INFERNO PURGATORY!』[Nova]

Nezha's eyes suddenly widened as he stepped back and began to turn his body.

『Plus… BIND!』[Nova]

A set of blue chains grabbed Nezha's feet from the ground, causing him to trip and fall.

Nova made eye contact with Nezha as he fell crashing to the floor.

『You…! YOU!』[Nezha]

Nova stayed quiet as the sky brighten up, eating up Nezha's fireballs.

Blue brightened up the sky and flooded the surrounding area, leaving a giant blue pillar that could be seen miles away.

…..

Reagan and Raina who were running rapidly towards them, was suddenly hit by a strong gust immediately after they saw the giant pillar of blue fire.

『....What… just happened…?』[Raina]

『...That should be impossible…!』[Reagan]

The explosion of light illuminated even their surroundings.

『Is that the Trickster?! There's no wa-』[Raina]

Reagan stared straight at the flame without saying anything.

『That's Nova...』[Reagan]

『What?! There's no way that could be-!』[Raina]

Reagan cut into her sentence and shouted with some anger in his voice.

『IT IS! IF HE'S USING THAT MUCH MANA, HE'S IN SERIOUS TROUBLE! LET'S HURRY!』[Reagan]

Raina was shut up by Reagan's sudden aggressiveness, causing her to just nod and follow his lead.

…..

Nova's body pulsed with pain in every one of his waking moments.

『My… mana...』[Nezha]

Nova's body had absorbed almost all of the mana in the surroundings, causing him to feel as if he was going to explode.

The sensation of pulsing in his body raged and sped up faster and faster.

With Nova's haphazard burning of the area, every last bit of mana was sucked into his body...

...including the chains that bound Nezha.

Nezha pulled himself off of the floor, but looked slightly intimidated by Nova now.

He stared directly above Nova's eyes, as if concerned about something.

「Now… all I have to do is beat him… But.. Why… Why is he staring above me?」[Nova]

Nova raised his fingers at him, as if he was about to let an Etoile fire straight at Nezha, but found his fingers pointing straight at the sky instead.

「Oh… I'm out of juice… A...Ah… That's all I had… I guess...」[Nova]

Nova's eyes slowly closed, filling his world with black once more.

…..

As he sunk deeper into his sleep, the sound of footsteps on a hard floor rang out in his head.

A familiar yet unknown voice filled his head.

「...I suppose it's time that I take over…?」

Nova felt too tired to even reply back to the voice.

「...Well, it would have been foolish to expect much more.」

Nova was a little angered by the voice, but didn't have the energy to reply.

「...Then… sit back, my...」

Nova couldn't make out the last part of the voice's words, only slowly drifting deeper into his sleep.