A Pinch

Mune pulled his katana up and rushed at the new opponent.

『...Grynzael of the shield meets your resolve with the intent to kill.』[Grynzael]

Mune slashed at Grynzael, but the moment he was about to make contact, the attack seemed to miss.

『Spective.』[Grynzael]

Grynzael instantly shifted to the side, as if he was naturally there the entire time.

『What?!』[Mune]

He punched Mune, sending him into the crowd of bloody puppets.

The moment he made contact with them, he started to get enveloped in them.

『Nova!』[Mune]

When he turned to look at Nova, he saw Nova was mumbling something under his breath so that the others couldn't hear him.

『Birthed from the stars, burnt to ashes, burn my enemies into nothingness. From ashes to ashes, to stardust and nothing, incinerate the enemy into eternal night.』[Nova]

The followers didn't hear Nova at all.

『Be cleansed within the great Purity.』[Grynzael]

He turned his right hand into a fist and grabbed his wrist, as if some strange type of prayer.

The other followers also copied this.

『Inferno Purgatory!』[Nova]

An explosion of blue flames engulfed the entirety of the battlefield, causing all of the blood puppets to melt and let go of Mune.

He immediately jumped out of the flood of blood before he saw it start to react strangely.

Grynzael returned to a normal stance before he clicked his tongue.

『...Stay away from the blood, Nova!』[Mune]

In a blink of an eye, a shadow completely overshadowed Mune.

『...Worry about yourself.』[Grynzael]

He punched Mune to the ground, causing him to land in the blood again.

『...Tch! Bias Flame!』[Mune]

A black flame covered all of the blood, causing it to almost instantly evaporate into the air.

Grynzael continued to rush toward Mune, exchanging blows with him.

Nova positioned his finger with his thumb pointed to the side and only the index finger out, aiming toward Grynzael, who moved extremely fast.

『Etoile!』[Nova]

A fast shot of bright white light suddenly struck Grynzael in the arm, making him lose his balance and even wounding him slightly.

Mune took this chance to try and land a good slash on him.

『It's over!』[Mune]

...Or it would have been in normal circumstances, but Grynzael grabbed Mune's sword by the hilt before turning to Nova.

『...Kid. Don't get into fights with people in a stronger league than you.』[Grynzael]

He proceeded to kick Mune away, gaining a grasp of his blade.

『Kgh!』[Mune]

Mune hit the ground next to Nova, but he managed to get himself up quickly.

『...Is this a materialized weapon? Not bad...』[Grynzael]

It suddenly vanished into black and red particles and reappeared into Mune's hand.

『...Oh?』[Grynzael]

Yudola had more blood puppets getting ready to attack them.

『...Man. This really is the worst, isn't it?』[Mune]

Nova looked around to find that they were basically surrounded.

『...Can we run?』[Nova]

Mune murmured quietly.

『...We don't need to. I've just been gauging their strength for information. It seems that they aren't nobles, and the leader is just a civilian who trained their seed in a strange way. In fact, they're all civilians.』[Mune]

『...Then, leave it to me for the weak ones. I can subjugate them.』[Nova]

『...Okay. Then, I'll leave Kitsu to help you. He can put an illusion under them with his flames. 』[Mune]

Nova nodded.

『Sir Fluffles can hold off the guy's torrent of blows for a bit as well...』[Nova]

Suddenly, a purple light began to shine on them.

『...What the hell is that?!』[Nova]

A giant glowing purple eye symbol showed up in the sky.

『Medulla's Eye!』[Yudola]

A matching purple symbol appeared on Yudola's eye.

They both tried to dodge out of the way, but the spell seemed to keep them still.

『...Goodbye, sickening humans.』[Yudola]

Her smile crept up at an unnaturally high angle.

『HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!』[Yudola]

The purple eye in the sky became brighter and brighter.

『...Blessed Flame Rebirth!』[Nova]

The flames appeared at his hand and the flame travelled up the both of them, but the petrification constantly got reapplied to them, so they only jittered around.

『B..Burn! Tch..!』[Nova]

The mana in Nova's body itself started to freeze up.

Yudola's smile froze for some reason.

『...His blue flames...』[Yudola]

Mune also struggled to move.

『...Her level is… much higher than the martial arts guy! God damn it!』[Mune]

He raised his katana in preparation for attacks.

However… the crowd of people that surrounded them only did one thing.

They put their right hand up and grabbed their wrist with their left hand.

Grynzael stood at the forefront of all of this.

Nova could vaguely see some other uniquely dressed people closer to Yudola, but the purple light blinded him.

『...1...2….3.』[Nova]

『Nova. We won't die here, for sure. This might hurt… like a bitch, but we won't die.』[Mune]

Nova gritted his teeth before he suddenly heard a female whisper in his ear.

『...Do you need my help? Just sign a contract with me...』

Nova's heart began to pound in fear.

It was voice of the entity from before.

『...You don't have any more time...』

『I...』[Nova]

Nova grit his teeth.

The light flashed and came down on Nova and Mune...

A loud explosion came from around them.

A man in front of them began to speak.

『...Annoying.』

『Hey there, you alright, you two?』

Standing in front of them were two men holding the weapon of the two boys.

Reischneid stood in front of him with a flowing white ponytail and a white suit with orange tie whereas the other one looked aloof with short dirty red-brown hair, auburn eyes, and a black and red suit.