NOVEL NEXT Chapter 36: Unconsciousness
"Almost… done…" Nova muttered through bloodied lips, pivoting, striking a wall to redirect a stone shard. He lunged, knee smashing into the bully's chest, elbow driving into the ribs. The bully gasped but absorbed yet another crystal.
"Ahhh… pathetic…" the bully laughed, hands glowing golden, eyes insane. "This is the end for you!"
Nova pivoted, struck, dodged, and countered, but the bully's speed and creative stone manipulation pushed him back. Blood mixed with sweat slightly dripped into Nova's eye, who rubbed it off instantly.
His muscles begged for him to stop, but he didn't want to falter. He had a mission, and that was to meet the bully in the tournament and fight him fair and square. At least on his part.
The bully raised both hands, summoning a collapsing cage of stone around Nova. Rocks crumbled, while the walls slanted, and spikes poised.
Nova gasped, bloodied, bruised, arms trembling. He struck with everything he had, shattering a wall, but the bully lunged, catching him by the collar. Nova dangled, struggling, consciousness fading, blood dripping from his wounds profusely.
"Last thing you'll know," the bully said, the golden energy strongly pulsing, with an insanely wide grin, "my... name... is…"
Nova's vision blurred, the world tilting violently as the bully's golden aura flared like molten sunlight. Pain screamed through his limbs, every muscle torn, every nerve set ablaze. He struggled, fists clenched, but gravity betrayed him; his body swung like a ragdoll in the bully's grip.
Blood dripped from his mouth, running in streaks down his chin and neck, onto his chest, slicking the already rough stone floor.
Then, suddenly, it all stopped. The pain. The movement. The golden light, all disaapeared. Nova's consciousness slipped away completely, tumoring into an abyss of emptiness. The arena, the collapsing stone cage, the bully's manic grin, they were all gone.
He was somewhere else. Somewhere dark, vast, and silent. The air was heavy, thick, almost liquid, as if he was drowning, but not.
He could feel himself, but not his body. He could sense pain, but not in his physical form. It was as if he had become pure awareness, detached from the floor and bruises that had chained him moments ago.
Thoughts flickered in fragmented waves. Images of the fight appeared in flashes: the atone spikes, the crushing walls, the bully's maniacal laughter. He remembered every strike, every impact, every ounce of effort, and blood spilled.
But it was distant, like watching someone else's life through a broken mirror.
And then he felt it, a strange, ominous presence. Vast, black and red, pulsing with raw power. He turned... or perhaps just sensed, for there was no space here, no up or down. And there it was: himself, but not himself.
An overwhelming, almost terrifying version of Nova. Black energy mixed with red light swirled around the figure like molten lava, an aura so thick it warped like a void around it.
"You... who are you?" Nova's mind whispered into the void, even though he had no voice, only thought.
"I am you," the figure responded, voice resonant, layered, echoing in every corner of Nova's consciousness. "The part that never falters. The part that waits. The part that will rise when the body is ready."
Nova trembled, even here, even in unconsciousness. "Wait... what do you mean? I... I don't have an ability. I can't—"
"You do," the shadowed Nova interrupted, aura pulsing with an intensity that shook the void. "It has always been there. Buried. Dormant. Waiting. The crucible of pain, the fight, the fear, they are forging it. Baking it like a perfect crumble cookie. And it is still stirring as we speak."
"I... I don't understand... I can't feel it..." Nova thought, voice trembling in the void.
"It doesn't awaken on command," the black-and-red Nova said. "It cannot be forced. Patience, endurance, survival, these are the keys. You are still trapped in the flesh that bleeds and tires, but the power within is alive. It is preparing itself. Perfecting itself."
Nova's mind shivered. "Patience…? I… I can't wait! He… he'll kill me…"
"Shhh," the other said, calm yet terrifying. "You do not need to fear him. You do not need to fear the fight. You do not need to fear your pain. It is a crucible, and you are the flame that will burn brightest. Every wound, every bruise, every drop of blood is a step toward awakening. Your time is coming."
Nova's mind wavered, caught between despair and hope. "But… I'm unconscious… helpless…"
"Yes," the shadowed Nova said, aura swirling faster, hotter, brighter. "But that is exactly why you are reading. Your body may fail, your flesh may be broken, but the essence within, the innate power, cannot be touched by the bully, by the arena, by anything. It grows. It stirs. It waits for perfection. And it will not wait forever. Patience… patience… patience…"
A warmth began to pulse in Nova's chest, faint at first, then stronger. Something within him was shifting, coalescing, a stirring he had never felt before. Power, heat, energy, awareness, all blending into a small, perfect ember inside his mind.
"You… you're… me?" Nova whispered again, trying to grasp it, trying to hold on.
"I am the part of you that has always existed," the black-and-red Nova said. "The part that waits, watches, learns. The part that will awaken fully when the moment comes. Not yet. You must endure. You must survive. You must wait."
Nova felt the ember pulse again, stronger, hotter. "I… I can feel it… almost…"
"Yes," the shadowed Nova said, smile faint, eyes sharp as blades. "The fire within you is readying. You will awaken stronger than you can imagine. You will endure this, and then the world itself will have to reckon with what rises from your crucible. But now… wait. Patience. The time is not yet. Endure, survive, and the power will come."
The void began to fade. The black-and-red figure receded, leaving a faint warmth and a flicker of hope in Nova's mind. His senses slowly returned: the metallic tang of blood, the sting of bruised muscles, the groaning of collapsing stone. Pain returned, sharp and insistent, but different now, purposeful, meaningful, not just suffering.
Nova's eyes flickered open. Red and black glimmers of aura danced faintly around him, still unconscious in body, but aware now. The bully's laughter echoed somewhere in the distance. The collapsing stone cage. The spikes. The blood. All of it returned.
But so did hope. So did the ember of power within him. And as Nova's fingers twitched, fists clenching, heart racing, he felt it, the stirring within, the promise of something more, something stronger. A new fire, waiting to erupt, readying for the moment it could claim the battlefield and himself.
Nova's eyes glimmered. He wasn't just a fighter anymore. He wasn't just a victim of his own limitations. Something inside him was awakening, something vast, black, and red, waiting to rise.