Crimson Dusk
A shrill shrieking noise descended from all around the two boys, creating a constant vibration on their mana shields.
Mune shouted as loud as he could to Nova.
『...Convert as much as possible to your mana stores, while maintaining your shield! The moment your shield drops around these guys, you're in danger! Don't worry about mine!』[Mune]
『Blessed Flame Rebirth!』[Nova]
The blue flames enveloped him, dispelling some of the vibrations on his shield.
Mune nodded, before charging forward through the trees with his blade.
『We're heading into the lion's den! Let's do this!』[Mune]
The vibrations got more and more violent as they got closer.
『Reischneid!』[Nova]
He materialized his hilt and chased after Mune while carefully looking around.
The trees started to become more and more sparse until he could see a wide-open area with crude earthen walls scattered around the area.
『What is this?!』[Nova]
『The Etrudi's purpose in life is just to eat and sing! The walls echo the noise in a way that make it more appealing to them… and more deadly to us!』[Mune]
Mune quickly gripped his blade in a sword drawing stance before jumping high into the air.
『Watch this, Nova! Here is my variant!』[Mune]
He concentrated somewhere in front of him.
『Wave, Burst Variant… and Falling Sun Style, Fourth Form: Rising Ray!』[Mune]
A Wave magical symbol appeared in front of Mune before he swung at it.
『A… Wave?』[Nova]
Sparks began to appear the moment he made contact with the circle, with an almost endless amount of rose petals flowing all around Mune.
『...Crimson Dusk.』[Mune]
He completely cut through the circle, rotating around once more before he gathered all of the surrounding rose petals and blasted them through the remnants of the circle.
『...Crimson… Dusk?』[Nova]
Nova looked at Mune as he slowly floated downwards.
Seconds later, a huge storm of red rose petals exploded forth from far ahead of them.
『...Wh..WHAT?!』[Nova]
Mune floated downwards and stood by Nova.
『...Might want to up the power on your flames real quick.』[Mune]
Nova instantly increased his flame's intensity in response.
『...Right.』[Nova]
A flood of petals mowed down the walls, making the melange of noises emitted by the Etrudi much louder.
The wall next to both of them then suddenly collapsed, flooding both of them with a huge wave of noise and petals.
『H…Holy sh-!』[Nova]
『Here it comes!』[Mune]
Out of reflex, Nova suddenly threw his hand back and readied some mana.
『Stellaris.』[Nova]
A small orb appeared a little in front of his hand.
He moved the orb in front of him, absorbing the petals and noise attacks' mana before burning it with his flame.
『...A new ability?』[Mune]
He stared at Nova's Stellaris for a moment.
『Storage, absorption… Good versatility… Nice!』[Mune]
Nova expanded it as much as he could, catching as many of the petals as possible.
After a couple seconds, the petals stopped coming out, allowing Nova to condense the orb.
『...A flame that turns mana into healing or more mana… a hole that leads to where the user wishes… and an orb that can take misfortune and keep it contained...』[Mune]
Mune smiled as if something amusing had occured.
『Nova, have you tried to use that orb as an offensive attack?』[Mune]
Nova let the orb float above his hand gently.
『Huh? No.』[Nova]
Mune pointed at the cloud of dust, trying to hold back his laughter.
『Look at that! Looks like a good opportunity to try, right?』[Mune]
Nova raised an eyebrow before turning to where Mune had pointed.
A huge roar enveloped the both of them as the dust suddenly flew away.
Standing where Mune had pointed was a large creature with huge tusks, countless tattoos, and gray skin.
『It's the Etrudi chief. Go ahead and try to blast him with the ball.』[Mune]
『...Blast?』[Nova]
He raised the orb and aimed it toward the creature, but nothing happened.
『...Imagine it blasting forward?』[Mune]
「...Blasting…! Like when I use Wave to propel myself!」[Nova]
Nova remembered the sensation of his leg getting broken by the impact of his own Wave and imagined it onto the orb.
『FIRE!』[Nova]
A massive explosion burst forth and blew the orb into the Etrudi, blasting it back a bit, but not doing much otherwise.
『...Oh, I guess it didn't work…』[Mune]
Nova's eyes suddenly widened a bit as he flexed his fingers outward and whispered under his breath.
『...Envelop it.』[Nova]
The orb expanded in no time, completely covering the Etrudi in red rose petals and blue flames that raged inside of it.
Mune's eyes shot open as he began to shout.
『...Not bad! Not bad at all!』[Mune]
After a couple of seconds, the orb began to crack, before blowing up and flooding the area with red petals that slowly burnt to nothing.
The Etrudi that was previously standing there was no longer there, leaving only a pulverized hole.
『...I'm liking this new ability of yours more and more, Nova!』[Mune]