***(Kyou Jinmei, PoV)
A battle of life and death, I've never felt my heart beat and blood get pumped so hard before. The steady drum-like beating, ignoring the sweat dripping down my temply, this regular beating sound resounded in my mind. A clear smooth consistent beat, as if lining up with reality, the ground under gave way to reveal light so bright it could blind.
Kaoru's not here, hasn't been for a couple of weeks. He doesn't visit my workplace anyway, so of course he wouldn't be nearby during working hours. Perhaps he's having his shift at a important location to make him move places. In any case, I can only count on myself right now. This shelter was annihilated, I don't know where's the magical girl in charge of protecting this region... But I had awakened and my only choice now is to fight if I don't want there to be any more casualties.
Bending my knees, I exerted force into my feet to dodge the attack as I steadied my breathing. Picking up my balance, I had a weird feeling like a 6th sense telling me what exactly I should do. It felt more like an urge or a 'need' than a sense though as my body uncontrollably fell under the sense's influence.
"huuuu... Fuuuuu~"
Taking a deep breath, I narrowed my eyes and concentrated my sight onto my hands. In this hyper calm state of mind where my stature was almost completely still and the wind could be clearly felt by my skin, I could predict the monster's next attack.
Rather than a 6th sense, once again it felt more like a thirst for something, a condition I had to fulfill no matter what. The feeling whereby you had to breath no matter what if you were holding your breath before for too much time. My fingers inched forward into an empty space in front me. And I chanted.
"Combat dress activate, [Equip Armament]. First skill activate, [Enhance dream]. "
Holding my waist for stability, I lowered my centre of gravity while waiting for my power to work. Like a bubbling geiser, a small pole of the ground material started rise up, its size was on such that it could perfectly fit into my palms. Looking down to observe the pole changing shape and colour into a metallic gleam, it seemed my chest had grown as well as it blocked my view of a portion of the ground. That was if I looked straight down though, there would probably be plenty of magical girls that could compare better against me.
The shifting materials of the pole flowed and juggled around in the air like slime before abruptly sharpening into a point at the bottom. Choosing the colour of matte black metal in my mind, the hues and tones of the shifting slime started floating into the air, waiting for me to pull it out like King Arthur did. The gauntlets on my arm clattered against my arm, my whole body was trembling and shivering. Why now? Did my body finally catch up to my mind and became scared? Tch! I can't falter before the battle even started.
Changing my pose into an upright position, I swiped the air with my new sword horizontally, putting as much of my tension and frustration into it as possible. This will be the first time my nerves became this chilled and uncooperative. Kaoru's dream, it was something along the lines of a hero. So perhaps he would know what to do under this circumstances. A destroyed shelter, a bunch of dead friends in the background. I could feel my blood pumping harder and harder, as if my heart had finally accepted my resolve. I must move forward.
Lets' try enhance dream one more time, but instead of my sword, I'll try it on my own body. An immediate effect, a warmth like no other, sometimes searing even, is coursing through my entire body. Bending my knees once more, I lifted off. Shooting forward like a rocket, I avoid another attack of the monster's which was coming out of the ground. My mana seems to be quite low at the moment, maybe my ability [enhance dream] is consuming it at a constant rate. The topic of mana usually comes up in otome games, so magic isn't exactly a foreign topic.
As always, the monster would drill back into the ground after each attack. The ground rumbles occasionally, exposing the timing of the monster's attacks. I must watch out for it, any unnatural shaking that is not due to my uneasy body balance.
... THERE!!!
Leaping off my original position, I made use of the landing recoil and pounced back at my original spot. The monster was always aiming under my feet, so if I attack the air where it was about to appear-....
Exploiting its large build and unique spherical body structure-a worm made of many attached metal beads-it turned in a way no other creature could. Bending into a C shape at the point of impact, it bent its body to the maximum and force the top and bottom parts of the 'C'-shape to collide, so the point where it was bent was shot forward with more force. And it was shot right at me who jumped directly at it, my sword moved too fast and it came out of the ground after I swung.
It was exactly like I was hit by a car, as if I could hear a few cracks, the air was knocked out of me before a searing hot sensation welled up in my throat-
"..... PUHAAAA~!?!!! "
And exploded out of it, lot's of it, my blood was practically pouring out like a leaking tank.
"KAgH! kAGh! HaRGH!?"
Practically all my body fluids were spilling forth into an ugly stream. It was evening, yet the sun had never glared so brightly before. My stomach felt empty, my lungs in harrowing pain. Each breath made the sensation of bone shards poking into my intercostal muscles, my lung flesh, into a more pronounced pain and agony dug deep into the soul whenever this happens. Not that it's suppose to happen at all. The pain itself drove my conscious crazy, my sight couldn't even focus properly on the enemy. Squinting desperately, I try to get 1 look in to assess my situation.
Ah, it's gone.
It'll perforate the ground at any moment and seize my life. I'll aim the sword at the ground, it's chipped like hell just from the shockwaves made by the monster, but it'll have to do. Anything would do at this point if it saved my life. I can't fight anymore. A sudden tremor strikes the area around me, the trembling of the earth too excessive for me to keep conscious. I'm going to lose out to the pain, the blood isn't flowing to my head at all. Kugh! I... Need to... Survive!
As if a drug took hold of my body, all feeling left the tips of my fingers, followed by limbs and then spine. Dust and sand flowed into my eyes irritating it, yet none of it was on my mind at the moment. The monster had ravaged this shelter, and now even me. Nothing would be left alive from this carnage...
Lifting my half-dead corpse of a body, I gave the surroundings a quick look. Flames as far as my groggy sight could take me. Well, it was a wall of it. So I wasn't looking quite far at all, I was surrounded by a dome of orange fury. Only a magical girl could do this, did reinforcements arrive? Ughh the heat is unbearable and everywhere hurts, it's no so much that it would drive me insane now, but this position is too uncomfortable. My lips feel dry and the ground I was on heated to a warm temperature, slowly increasing. I don't want to imagine what happens after a while. I'm going to die from the discomfort first before getting fried, and this small gnawing pain at my chest... Gughhhh!!
Looking down, a large puddle of dark crimson covered the ground with the reflection of the fire slowly growing brighter. My skirt and stuck with viscous blood, my chest doesn't seem to be getting well anytime soon. It felt like an eternity, a pain not so much that it would drive me crazy but not so little that I could ignore it. My breathing all the more laboured and increasing in intensity at every passing moment. Is this asphyxiation? The blood is even clogging my lungs and leaking out of orifices while my limbs were too weak to even lift myself out of this damp hell. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. IT HURTS. IT HURTS. IT HURTS. IT HURTS. IT HURTS. IT HURTS. IT HURTS. IT HURTS. IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS! IT HURTS!
.... When will it end...
***
".... Palmicia, heal her. We could use a vanguard like her on the front lines." (?)
A slightly coarse voice boasting some Authority gave off some simple orders. Under her luscious locks of jet black hair was a fiery pinkish tint that shone vibrantly under the blazing light. She wore a large black coat to hide her figure, but it could not conceal her shapely armour and fit stature. Thin iron strands chained together into a quadrilateral and layered upon a similarly thin plate of steel to be donned upon her shoulder.
Different allows of metal accompany various cloth cloaks that wrapped fittingly to her figure, so she was somewhat resemblant of a ninja with her dark palette theme, yet she had the pauldron, gauntlets and skirt armour. The pauldron or Sode were somewhat downsized and perked up horizontally like small wings, while the skirt armour or kusazuri only covered her sides and her back like a reinforced waist cape.
"Alright, captain..... [Recovery accelerate] "
A more soothing voice that gave the impression of an elegant demeanor replied to the somewhat coarse voice. Her actions were swift and decisive, as if having done these for thousands of times before. Her finger tips move fast and quick while circles of a pale minty green expand and collapse in the air above the body, detecting for the points where the injuries were before sending in a black light into the dying girl's body. A few of her fingers twitch, showing a sign of life. In actuality, Jinmei had been staring at the ground in agony the whole time. His disheveled and sweaty state made for a dangerous sight. Nevertheless, he was thankful for the rescue.
***
"... Thank you... Is there any chance I can go home?" (Kyou Jinmei)
".... Your friends at the shelter are all dead aren't they, do you still have a reason to gow back?"(?)
The jet black haired girl spoke with a rough tone, in any case she didn't have a problem with Jinmei at all, she just didn't bother to soften her words before speaking what was on her mind.
".... I still have a friend whom has disappeared for a week, well he said he was going for work but never came back...." (Kyou Jinmei)
As if getting a little irritated, her expression shifted wildly in the span of a second before full composure was gained. It all happened so fast that no one caught a glimpse of it, but it happened regardless. Usually Jinmei would have been flung out of the room for pissing her off, but for the sake of willful cooperation, she had to gain his trust and negotiate in terms beneficial for both parties to get his allegiance.
In the first place, she would use the bargaining chip of having saved his life to get a massive advantage, unfortunately Jinmei was too dense for that. He simply forgot about his near-death experience and was happily chatting with the girl in front of him, despite making it slightly awkward with his none thought out responses. In this occasion, both were speaking their minds, yet one of them didn't have their mind with them at the moment. Fortunately though, Jinmei didn't seem too against it either, in fact it was looking well for the girl's faction.
"We'll provide all the basic essentials you need to live, some days off on a week, join our Rising Knight Order." (?)
"Deal!" (Jinmei)
He could have refused or ran away on sight. Maybe he feared that he would be hunted down and simply valued his life enough to know the implications of this choice. Under the cheery exterior of a sword making magical girl was a fearful and daunted guy, he saw the difference in power and simply chose survival. After all he wanted to survive most of all to repay back his benefactor, and things weren't really all bad. In this place, he would likely gained the independence he seeked. He had to attain it or he would not survive the harsh environment of war.