『Zousa… If you could, please distract the blood giant!』[Nova]
Zousa nodded and formed shuriken to throw into it, only aggravating it.
It began to chase after him, allowing Nova to concentrate solely on Yudola.
He would exclusively strike at her knife, only trying to knock it out of her hand.
Yudola got paler over time, noticeably each and every time Nova clashed with her.
『...Heh… What a waste…!』[Yudola]
Her fingers and arm shook along with the rest of her body.
Nova realized that she was close to bleeding out.
「I have a chance to heal her once she goes unconscious from blood loss, but… that's a little too risky!」[Nova]
「...Nova.」[Reischneid]
「What is it?!」[Nova]
「I'll load a sleeping spell into the Guardian weapon. If she's without mana shield, then it should knock her out.」[Reischneid]
「Load? What do I..?」[Nova]
「Just concentrate on the sensation of expelling mana out of the blade! If what you do right now is make it grow forward, imagine a fireball!」[Reischneid]
At this point, Yudola was slowly stumbling toward Nova.
He just went ahead with what Reischneid had told him.
After he got close enough, she went for one last stab at him.
「...Just like I saw Mune do… Just as Reagan has taught me!」[Nova]
He swung his sword up at an angle, hoping to not hit her.
「Please… let this work!」[Nova]
His sword hit her dagger up, causing her arm to fly up along with it.
『NOW! TAKE THIS!』[Nova]
He broke off the blade of his sword and pressed it against her stomach.
『GO!』[Nova]
He felt a cool sensation exit the hilt, but it wasn't anything different from the normal blade forming.
That was when he felt a freezing cold object press against his back.
『...Huh…? I'm… not… even strong… enough to…. stab… him..?』[Yudola]
He realized what was happening to her.
『Sleep!』[Nova]
He continued to pour mana through the sword, but nothing came to be.
Yudola spoke in a tone that made her sound as if she was tired, and nothing more.
『Hmm…. Sleep…?』[Yudola]
She leaned backwards and smiled innocently.
『...That sounds… wonderful. I wonder if… I'll see you… in my dreams?』[Yudola]
She fell backwards, roughly landing on the floor.
『You… Yudola?!』[Nova]
He stared at her arm and found that the blood had been much more than he was expecting.
『...I have to be quick… Macro Spell: Starflash!』[Nova]
The blue flash filled Nova's eyes, and he felt a smile crawl onto his face after he managed to cast it on her.
The wound that she had sealed up, but she didn't move at all.
『...Haah… I managed to do it…』[Nova]
「...Alright! ..But… How are everyone else right now…?」[Nova]
Nova heard a light whimper from somewhere close.
「Sir Fluffles?」[Nova]
He felt a huge mental strain suddenly, along with a headache.
「He… returned to his space?! But that only happens… when he takes extensive damage!」[Nova]
He turned around to find that everyone was passed out on the floor, cold.
『...The blood giant… is gone?』[Nova]
A blaring alarm began to ring in his mind.
Out of the blue, Asmodasiah actually raised her voice at him.
「NOVA! TAKE EVERYONE AND LEAVE!」[Asmodasiah]
He felt a chill run down his spine as he suddenly reflexively hit the ground, like the time with the Brownlings.
No sooner, he saw a low crouching jet-black creature suddenly appear several feet in front of him staring at its own hand, as if it was confused.
A huge amount of wind passed by, enough to uproot some of the trees it was standing next to.
The more he looked at it, the more grotesque it became.
It was an extremely skinny black skeleton with glowing white eyes.
Though it stood on two legs, it wasn't anything even remotely similar to a humanoid.
Black and gray raged in its bones, and it became blurry the more he looked at it.
He closed his eyes, in an attempt to not look at it.
「...Stay still, Nova.」[Asmodasiah]
He felt an uncomfortable warm breath breathing on his face.
「...That creature is from the place I governed over.」[Asmodasiah]
「...Purgatory?!」[Nova]
「Correct. Thankfully… this one lacks sentience. It only clings to the primal instincts that it may have held once before.」[Asmodasiah]
「What… is that?! I hate this! Why do all these crazy things come out when I'm fighting?!」[Nova]
「It is a Remnant, if you wish to have a name to call it.」[Asmodasiah]
She calmed down in her tone of voice.
「...When a creature dies, some get sent to Purgatory… To be reforged into another existence. This fate belongs to creatures of weak sentience and other creatures with strange criteria. If they don't get sent away by me… They form into a Remnant- something that consumes other Remnants ceaselessly. However...」[Asmodasiah]
The breath in front of Nova disappeared.
「...If they make it to this world, even the weakest Remnant can kill hundreds of people.」[Asmodasiah]
「And what is it doing here?!」[Nova]
「Simply put, the rift between worlds is damaged.」[Asmodasiah]
Nova slowly opened his eyes as she spoke.
「The god forsaken human who summoned me ended up clumsily ripping it apart. I can't return back to Purgatory because of a binding that he put on me to stay in this plane of existence. My power is almost non-existent without a host or contract, or else I would have never needed to meddle with the affairs of a human like you.」[Asmodasiah]
He saw the skeleton dumbly scratching itself.
「OKAY! Enough with the speech, please! Just tell me how to get rid of that thing!」[Nova]
「It came from the blood giant you were fighting, as you called it. It defeated all of your allies while defeating all of the girl's allies, but it seems to be too confused to worry about killing them. Haven't you felt the dog return to your mind yet?」[Asmodasiah]
「...So he did..!」[Nova]
「Yes. Now do as I say- form a portal under everyone in this area, back to the location you were previously at.」[Asmodasiah]
「...But, wouldn't the Remnant follow us as well?!」[Nova]
「Typically, yes… however-」[Asmodasiah]
A bright blur of yellow flash by Nova's vision, before crashing into the Remnant.
『The Brown is no longer capable of turning a blind eye!』[The Brown]
The skeleton was grabbed by its skull before The Brown crashed it into the floor, dragging it through the forest.
「The Brown?!」[Nova]
He quickly got off the ground and stared at the direction they went toward.
The skeleton's skull exploded with spikes, impaling The Brown's hand.
『Sir! I-』[Nova]
The Brown quickly grabbed the Remnant's arm before flailing its body around.
『Nova! Just take your people and go! I haven't had a fight like this in ages! GAHAHA!』[The Brown]
Nova hesitated for a moment, but decided that he shouldn't question the creature that birthed an entire species of monsters.
He focused a large amount of mana into his hand.
『Area!』[Nova]
The moment he touched the floor with his hand, a massive Area portal appeared, dropping everyone into it.