"That didn't explain anything," Aurora said.

"Really now?" Nova replied. "What's so hard to understand? Casper killed me, of course, I want to pay him back."

"What?" Casper said, confused.

Aurora blinked.

That... actually makes sense, Aurora thought. It's more logical than Nova's hatred toward her, at least. After all, Aurora only indirectly caused Nova's death. Casper was actually the one who stabbed her with a sword.

Yet, for some reason, Aurora didn't really believe her. Something is off about this situation.

"What do you mean I killed you?" Casper said, desperately trying to understand. "What actually happened here...?"

Nova sighed. "You came as I asked, so I guess I owe you an explanation at the very least," she said. "As you heard, in a previous life, in another timeline, you killed me. But instead of dying, I actually regressed to my younger self. I'm well and alive now, but the fact that you killed me won't change."

Casper looked at Nova in disbelief, obviously not sure how to take all of that.

"Is this a joke...?" he said. "It must be, right? This just doesn't make sense!"

Aurora could feel the frustration in every word Casper said. She felt bad for him; out of everyone there, he was the only one in the dark about this. It made sense for him to have a hard time accepting it. Even Ruby, who had fewer connections to this, knew about it.

As Aurora thought about Ruby, she glanced at her. Ruby was nervously holding onto Aurora's clothes. that's normal. Aurora herself felt a bit nervous too. The sound of destruction could still be heard not far from them. Things could get really bad really fast.

"I don't care if you don't believe me," Nova continued, starting to stand up. "I will end everything today anyway."

Aurora carefully watched Nova's every move. A fight with her might be inevitable, but she needed to figure out what Nova was actually thinking.

"I thought you were working with James and the second prince," Aurora said, trying to stall. "But why are you here alone?"

Aurora looked around, half-expecting that they would get ambushed, but nobody came.

"Ah, about them? On the way here, Finnick got in my way," Nova said, glancing at Ruby. "So James is not here because he is dealing with him somewhere. And the second prince, he was a little busy at the palace. You know the plan, right? He will try to kill his own father."

That explains it, Aurora thought, or at least some of it.

"But don't worry," Nova said, smiling devilishly. "Even if it's three versus one, I will still win."

Nova immediately summoned her darkness magic, making Aurora and Ruby react in defense.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"Is this it?" Aurora thought. "Nova's plan is just to kill us all? That's it?"

Aurora still couldn't accept it. Nova had been working hard to gain favor from all the capture targets for years. Why would she throw all that away just for this simple plan of murder?

It felt like something had happened to Nova halfway through. A trigger, something that had changed her mind. Was it because the second prince had threatened her?

"No," Aurora thought, "it's Nova Wilder we're talking about. There's no way she can be controlled simply by a threat. Then why? Not to mention, what's the point of working with the second prince if this is the plan all along?"

Does that mean Nova just wants the second prince to become king? So much that she's willing to throw away all her hard work? But why?

In the game, there shouldn't be any connection between Nova and the second prince to begin with. This just confused Aurora even more.

"This is all wrong!" Casper yelled. "Is my brother doing something to you? Is he forcing you to do this?"

"I'm done talking," Nova said.

"No! I'm not done talking!" Casper said. "I believe in you! There must be something--"

Nova threw a ball of darkness at Casper. The moment it touched him, it exploded, making the prince scream in pain.

"Did you get it yet?" Nova asked.

Casper stared at her. "This doesn't mean anything to me!"

"Have it your way," Nova said, throwing several darkness balls at him.

As the darkness balls exploded, Casper screamed again in pain. His body was full of wounds and blood, but he was still standing.

"Wha-what should we do?" Ruby said, panicked. "Should we attack her together?"

Aurora stared at Nova without blinking. As she thought, something was off. If Nova was planning to kill Casper as revenge, as she told them, then why didn't she use a deadly attack? She didn't look like she was enjoying torturing him either.

"Aurora!" Ruby grabbed her hand, making Aurora look at her.

"Ah, sorry--let's go," Aurora said.

Aurora immediately ran towards the prince and started to heal him, while Ruby created a wall with her earth magic, protecting them from the explosions.

"Get a grip, Prince!" Ruby said, creating another wall. "Nova is your enemy!"

"NO!" Casper yelled, gritting his teeth. "She was lying!"

"She isn't!" Ruby said. "It might be hard to believe, but what Nova said was true!"

"Shut up! I don't believe it!" Casper said as he pushed Aurora, who was trying to heal him, aside.

"Prince!" Ruby yelled.

But he didn't listen. He rushed toward Nova, but another explosion threw him back.

"That idiot!" Ruby said.

"It's no use," Aurora said, peeking from the wall Ruby created. "He just won't accept the truth. Not that I don't get it, but if we keep covering for him, we will run out of mana sooner or later."

"What should we do then?" Ruby asked.

Aurora thought for a moment. She got an idea but didn't really want to do it. Things could be problematic if people found out what she was going to do. But Casper was a burden right now, and there was no way she could deal with Nova while covering for him. Besides, she could probably force Ruby to go somewhere safer at the same time. Considering the situation, it was a relatively good plan.

So, as she saw Casper stumbling and trying to stand after receiving Nova's attack, Aurora quickly ran toward him. Before he could react, Aurora hit him on the neck with her spear of light, causing him to fall and lose consciousness.

"Wha-What are you doing, Aurora?" Ruby said in panic as she ran toward them. She immediately created another wall to cover them.

"He is being stubborn," Aurora said calmly, as if she hadn't just done something crazy. "There's no other choice."

"I know, but still..." Ruby's voice trailed off.

"Don't worry, I'm going to heal him," Aurora said as she used her light magic.

"That's not the problem!" Ruby said. "You're attacking a prince!"

"We will deal with that later," Aurora said. "So can I leave the rest to you?"

Ruby blinked in confusion. "What?"

"Please take him back to safety for me," Aurora asked.

"Wait--you don't mean..."

Aurora smiled. "Sorry, but please do it for me."

"No!" Ruby yelled. "I want to help you! I want to stay with you!"

"Ruby..."

"What are you guys doing there?" Nova said as she hurled another darkness ball, creating an explosion that was enough to make the wall Ruby created crack and start to crumble.

"There's no time," Aurora said. "Go!"

It's clear that Ruby hates this idea, so much that she started to cry. But she quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks and said, "You better win, you hear me?"

Aurora nodded. "Of course."

She watched as Ruby awkwardly picked up the unconscious Casper, who was much bigger than her, and started to run away from the battle.

The wall behind Aurora crumbled completely, and Nova spoke up. "Ah, I see what happened. So you decided to get rid of that annoying guy? Good plan. But what now? You don't seriously think that you can win against me alone, right?"

Aurora gulped as she saw Nova begin her preparations. Nova created a bunch of floating black daggers for long-range attacks, and then black balls that would explode upon contact. She spread them around the area, limiting Aurora's movement. A tentacle-like thing appeared below Nova, acting as an extension of her hand, ready to grab Aurora at any time.

That's already hard enough to deal with, but it's not that surprising because Nova already showed it back then when they dueled. But now, she has more precise control. And she have a few other forms of her darkness magic that she is still keeping hidden.

What an unfair advantage, Aurora thought. Nova's power was truly suited for fighting, especially compared to Aurora's light magic that mostly good for healing.

But despite all of this, Aurora smiled confidently as she pulled out the knife that was gifted to her by Sera.

"I won before," Aurora said. "And I will win again this time."

Nova grinned and created a sharp, ominous sword made of darkness in her right hand.

"We'll see," she said.

***