Nova flew into the cafeteria, bouncing off of the floor, tables, and walls before his mana shield broke and he only had his flesh to ease the impact against the wall.
『GUHCK!』[Nova]
The rest of the group ran over to help him up.
『Nova! Are you alright?! What happened?! We were only a few seconds apart?!』[Alex]
Despite Alex's question, Nova wasn't able to respond naturally.
『Haaah… Gahaah… Zou-HACK!』[Nova]
Nova coughed out some blood that was filling his mouth.
『Nova! What happened to you?!』[Kikhia]
Freyana placed her hands on Nova's chest, green mana forming on her hands, and her wings appearing on her back.
『Fairy Tale!』[Freyana]
Green butterflies began to float around, as well as rest on top of Nova, easing his pain and healing him in a more natural way than how he'd heal himself.
『Haah… Gaaaaah…. I… got hit once...』[Nova]
『He looked like he was almost dead! How could he have hit you that hard?!』[Alex]
Kikhia looked like her world was being shaken.
『No...』[Kikhia]
Alex looked over to her while Freyana concentrated on healing Nova.
『My brother… Zousa... is inhabited by a demon. It wouldn't be strange for him to be that strong at all!』[Kikhia]
『That guy was your brother that you used to talk about?!』[Alex]
Kikhia nodded, still shaking.
『...Alex. Is there any way for you to alert the guards or anyone? Kikhia just saw her brother try to murder her friends. I don't think she's in the state to try and look for help.』[Freyana]
『The student ID is disabled during Drasil week… Local law enforcement wouldn't be able to do anything, and the guards are all being used as backup for rowdy individuals.』[Kikhia]
『So there's no way for us to call for help?!』[Freyana]
『...I don't think we can, but I'm the target...』[Alex]
She remembered what Zousa called him when he was attacking.
『You...You're one of the princes?』[Freyana]
『...I am. If I hide elsewhere, I won't implicate you all.』[Alex]
『Sir... 』[Kikhia]
『You too, Kikhia.』[Alex]
The look on her face drastically changed.
『Sir! It's my duty to protect you!』[Kikhia]
『...Kikhia. I can't have you go against the brother that you love so much.』[Alex]
Her eyes were moist with emotion.
『S..Sir. P..Please don't...』[Kikhia]
He had a bittersweet smile on his face.
『If we make it through tonight… will you call me Alex from now on?』[Alex]
He looked up at the skylight of the cafeteria, looking at the stars.
『...Tonight was really fun. I wish we could have had more nights like this...』[Alex]
He turned around and was about to run off, when Nova grabbed him by the sleeve.
『...Ngh..』[Nova]
He supported himself up against the wall behind him before Freyana lent him her shoulder.
『...Hey. Where are you going, without me?』[Nova]
.
『...Nova. You're in no condition to fight him again. This isn't your issue to deal with...』[Alex]
He looked down at the floor, with a sad look on his face.
『It was my issue ever since he tried to hurt one of my friends.』[Nova]
Freyana nodded, looking at him with her bright green eyes that were illuminated by the moonlight.
『Nova's a stubborn and stupid person sometimes, but he's right! We'll stand by your side!』[Freyana]
『...Guys… Please don't...』[Alex]
His bright blue eyes were filled with tears, with some streaming down his face.
『...After I thought I was being cool, too...』[Alex]
He wiped his tears away, before looking around the cafeteria.
『...As long as we stay in the academy, we should be safe, right?』[Alex]
『...It's possible that he knows where we are, but only if he used one of our House's signature spells.』[Kikhia]
『How can we tell if he used it?』[Nova]
『There should be a mark left on something, but none of you got hit by him directly, right?』[Kikhia]
Nova looked around, but all he could find were the many remnants of his blade after he got hit by the attack along with no such mark on himself.
『The force transferred from him breaking my sword and sending it flying toward me. It's possible there may be a mark on one of those tiny pieces of my sword. 』[Nova]
They looked over to the pieces of Nova's sword that were slowly dissipating.
『It's possible that he left something on one of those, but by the time we check, he'd have arrived.』[Kikhia]
『Nova, can you use your ability to get us somewhere safe?』[Alex]
『...Essence City?』[Nova]
『No. If I go there, it's possible there are other assassins searching in conjunction with Zousa.』[Alex]
Nova thought of going to the Eternea Plains- Freyana's home.
『...Freyana, can we go there?』[Nova]
『...I don't want to get the people there to get implicated in this matter… I'm sorry.』[Freyana]
『Alright… Then if this is his only method of tracking us, I have a few things I can rely on.』[Nova]
His injuries had completely disappeared over the last few minutes of talking with them.
『Blessed Flame Rebirth.』[Nova]
The flames consumed Nova's blade, restoring his mana and revealing something.
Upon one of the blades was half of a black mark with a slash and circle.
The blue flames slowly burnt the symbol and blade up.
『That's it. We have to run.』[Kikhia]
『Area!』[Nova]
They all ran inside, leaving their next destination all in Nova's hands.
As they left, a shadow suddenly appeared on the floor, being illuminated from the skylight down.