"Get up," Nova whispered to himself. "Get the fuck up, Nova. For Lunaris, get up."

Nova pushed himself up, summoning his daggers and his special collapse glaive. He clenched the glaive through his teeth and used the daggers to crisscross slash at the GrimeFlayer's foot.

The GrimeFlayer screeched in agony as Nova finally found his footing. Nova was composed but slightly irate. He despawned his daggers, then used the collapse glaive to finish off the GrimeFlayer, killing it in a single hit.

Then, as the GrimeFlayer turned to ashes, the others, in unison, attacked him. He sheathed his glaive and summoned his daggers once again, ducking and dodging all the incoming GrimeFlayers.

He didn't blink, he didn't twitch nervously, he was fully in the zone, ready to turn the GrimeFlayer into mince meat, which he probably would eat and finish in a week.

He saw Lunaris in the sky, falling uncontrollably, but he was being blocked by the GrimFlayers, unable to get to the Harlequin Cat. He rushed towards them, darting faster than them, slicing through his five-ton worth of weight, as if it was nothing, and even cut the heads off some of them.

But more of them were there, and he was being surrounded. One of them unleashed their hidden ability: Darkness Jolt. The Darkness Jolt was an ability, very rare, not even Marcus had mastered it fully yet, which would destroy anything in its path in a matter of nanoseconds.

The Darkness Jolt was a dark-lightning attack that summoned a thunderous black bolt of lightning, coating an extremely dense layer of darkness, and condensing it into a single bolt of lightning.

And depending on the person using the ability, the Darkness Jolt can destroy planets with relative ease, and for someone like the Absyalling, destroying the solar system with an ability like that wasn't that far off.

"Oh fuck," Nova said, as the condensed bolt of lightning came towards him, not having enough time to dodge.

He crisscrossed his daggers as the bolt of lightning hit him, searing his skin alive, frying his nervous system, shutting down his body, paralyzing him as the smoke cleared.

He was barely alive, and there were still more than ten GrimeFlayers in front of him, standing between him and Lunaris, who was going to fall to his death in a matter of sixty seconds.

"Get up," Nova whispered, voice ragged. "Get the fuck up, Nova. For Lunaris… get up."

His body trembled. Every nerve screamed rebellion. Smoke rose from his scorched armor, skin blistered and torn. The air around him shimmered with the residual charge of the Darkness Jolt, black lightning crackling faintly across the battlefield like dying serpents.

He forced his knees beneath him. His fingers, half-numb, clawed the dirt. "Up…" he hissed again, blood bubbling between his teeth. "UP!"

With a guttural roar, Nova pushed himself upright. His daggers materialized in his hands, spectral edges dripping with energy. His glaive, dented and faintly glowing, hovered near him like a wounded spirit.

The GrimeFlayers circled closer, a wall of shadow and teeth. Their eyes burned with sick delight. Above them, the heavens groaned. Lunaris was falling, his body tumbling through the night like a star that had lost its way.

Sixty seconds.

Nova's vision blurred. His heart pounded erratically, every beat echoing through his skull like war drums. He couldn't move fast enough. He couldn't breathe.

Fifty seconds.

He spat blood. "No. Not like this."

His knees buckled again, the pain clawing up his spine, dragging him down. He saw flashes, Lunaris smiling, the Harlequin Cat resting on his shoulder, the promise they made under the moonlight.

Forty seconds.

He screamed, no words, just pure defiance. His aura ignited in a blaze of crimson and violet, his daggers dissolving into molten light that fused into his glaive. It pulsed, collapsing and expanding in his hands, a weapon forged out of his very will to live.

Thirty seconds.

The GrimeFlayers lunged. Nova spun, carving through them like a phantom. Each strike was faster than thought, raw instinct guiding every motion. Black ichor sprayed across his face. He didn't stop. He couldn't stop.

Twenty seconds.

He was running out of ground, his legs shaking violently, lungs clawing for air. He could see Lunaris now, closer, falling faster, eyes shut, completely limp.

Ten seconds.

The last GrimeFlayer blocked his path, mouth opening in a shriek of shadow. Nova didn't hesitate. He hurled his glaive, the weapon spinning into a blinding arc that split the creature clean in half. The explosion threw him backward, but he refused to fall.

Five seconds.

He bent his knees, every muscle screaming, and looked up at the sky one last time. "Don't you dare die on me, Lunaris!"

Four. Three. Two-

He screamed, launching himself upward. The shockwave flattened the field below. Flames trailed behind him as he soared past the collapsing air, past the GrimeFlayers' fading forms, through the storm of darkness.

One.

Nova's hand broke through the void, fingers brushing fur, then gripping tightly. He caught Lunaris, clutching the falling Harlequin Cat against his chest as the two of them crashed through the last veil of light.

Impact never came. Instead, Nova landed hard on one knee, holding Lunaris close. The world around them was silent, save for the soft hum of his fading glaive and the whisper of the moonlight.

Nova looked down, bloodied and barely conscious. "Told you… I'd catch you…"

And then, finally, he let himself collapse. Lunaris licked him as the GrimeFlayer surrounded him, screeching in their loony tone, guttural voice that sounded melodic. Lunaris stopped licking Nova and hissed at the GrimeFlayer, who only laughed.

They hissed back at him, snarling raggedly. Lunaris stepped back, close to Nova, who twitched slightly, his eyes opening slightly, from all the licks. His eyes were very blurry as he slowly, but fully, opened them.

He sat up, Lunaris licking him, as he rubbed his eyes and stretched out his arms. He had no idea where he was, narrowing his eyes as he realized the situation he was in.

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