Chapter 5

"NO," Lewis yelled at Alder and immediately turned around toward his daughter.

"Stay here," Alder tapped his staff again sending condensed water arrows toward Lewis.

Lewis tried to deflect half-heartedly, but he was punctured by multiple arrows. There was no way he could reach his daughter with Alder on his back.

Lewis took a deep breath to calm himself.

"Nova"

His voice was soft, yet strong and resolute. He didn't turn around once. He feared he would jump to his daughter if he looked at her.

"Beat them all up"

He knew his daughter was the strongest of them all.

***

Nova sat in the corner frozen. The presence of around a dozen people awoke her.

She took one last glance at her bleeding father. His back was always straight and broad. She trusted him completely. Now it was her turn not to disappoint him.

She jumped away from her father. "I definitely shouldn't get in the crossfire between those two". As she jumped from tree to tree, she suddenly felt a large projectile approach her.

Unable to keep her footing, she fell, landing on her back. When she looked back up at the tree, the entire top was blown apart.

"Great luck I guess," she chuckled in desperation. A figure landed in front of her. His face was partially covered by a large white eye mask. He was dressed in an entirely black suit.

"Miss Nova, please accompany me back to Sir Alden." His voice was gentle and sweet. Nova glanced toward his hands where he held twin daggers.

"Do you seriously think I'll just follow a stranger with weapons in his hands?" Nova was bewildered by his facade. She got up and dusted herself off.

'I have to finish this quickly. The others are closing in on me,' Nova constantly monitored the other people.

Without waiting for a response, she readied herself into position with her training wood sword.

The man sighed in defeat. He knew she was determined to force her way out. "I'll try to be gentle Sir Alden," he smiled menacingly.

***

*A couple of months ago*

The father-daughter duo stood outside as usual, each with a wooden sword.

"Today we will have a very special lesson!" Lewis exclaimed "I hope you read the books I assigned you carefully because we are going to learn some Arts," he created popping sounds in excitement.

Nova looked at him straight faced unamused by his antics.

Embarrassed, Lewis asked, "Give me a little summary of what you learned."

Nova took a deep breath. "Arts are formulas of a specific combination of Est that can be executed repeatedly and much more frequently. They are commonly used for their wide variety and practicalness."

"Exactly! We use Arts to perform detailed magic easily. It's fairly easy and helpful during battle."

Nova nodded her head while diligently listening. She was always great at studying and learning.

"Today, basic Arts are much more accessible to the public. However, strong Arts are much harder to come by as they are tightly kept by organizations. So what should you do if bad organizations are being unfair?" He looked toward Nova with a grin.

She smiled "Screw them and make your own!" she responded passionately. It seems her father's charms rubbed off on her subconsciously.

***

*present time*

Since Nova's Circuit was premature, she couldn't manifest a specific element yet. Instead, she absorbed as much Est as she could and applied it as a whole physical boost. She could handle much more since she developed her Est Carriers.

Most Arts are designed for one specific element. It was unheard of to use an Art for pure Est because it was inefficient.

"Pure Clones," Nova whispered.

White smoke erupted from her body, and dozens of identical clones remained. The man was surprised to see so many functioning copies. Suddenly, he laughed. Clones are a great optical illusion, but their fighting ability is very poor. Even though the man could not immediately tell which Clone was real, he had great confidence he could plow his way through in seconds.

In unison, the clones yelled, "Disperse". Around half of the clones stayed behind while the rest split off in each direction. The man clicked his teeth in annoyance. While he was staring at the ones that ran away, one clone jumped at him. He angrily swiped his dagger and cut into the stomach. The clone was thrown back into a tree, but the body didn't disappear.

The man's eyes widen in shock. He knew the girl didn't have an Affinity, so she created these clones out of pure Est. Even a strong breeze should be enough to destroy one. However, her clones were able to take a significantly stronger hit.

The clone got back up wobbling and readied itself. The man clenched his teeth in annoyance.

***

SLAM

Lewis's body folded as he shot back into the half-destroyed house.

"You are far too naive to think you can beat me," Alder walked forward unscathed. Lewis sat in the wreckage still, his body bleeding profusely. He turned his head and spat a mouth full of blood. He got up, albeit slowly.

"I think you are the naive one Alder," he pushed back his now messy and dirty golden hair. The various small cuts in his shirt revealed extremely toned muscles and abs.

"Did you forget who I am?" Lewis's voice was cold. His eyes were painted in madness.

Crimson Est coated his body wildly, threatening to burn anything that got close. He slowly walked toward Alder.

"Fire Sovereignty," he quietly whispered.

His Est trembled and exploded outward. The air heated by thousands of degrees within seconds. The ground was chalked and lit on fire. Lewis walked forward confident and unaffected. It was his domain.

Alder squinted his eyes again. If Lewis was going all out, he had to match him. He tossed his long white robe aside. Underneath he had a compressed white shirt that outlined a surprisingly muscular body.

"Water Solider"

A giant 10-meter-tall blue solider fully dressed in full ancient armor hovered over Alder. The monstrosity had a katana over 3 meters long pointed toward Lewis.

The two stared at each other. Violent winds twirled around them.