*
The sky was completely pitch-black, not even the stars or their halations were left to let any tone of grey exist and colour the horizon. Sound, sound was also the opposite of abundant, there was minimal stimuli. The lone girl felt like if she stopped thinking right now, she would stop forever. Feeling the meagre quantity of warmth out of her own breath, she scrambled to curl up as much as possible. Her long black hair was frazzled and in curls, covering all the way to her back. Each strand seemed to be covered in dust, giving it a dark greyish tint that attested its age.
Of course, people don't usually gather dust on their hair as they grew old, it was the time she spent staying still. 'I want to live, I want to see the light. ' Her throat was parched to the extreme, lips crusting from the dryness. Her arms thinner than tree branches continued to lay lifelessly next to her. Sight and hearing had been so under stimulated that they stopped functioning.
This was way before the Great Disaster, back when society was functioning normally. 2032, there was an unexpected spurt in research and advancements of A.I technology, it was to the point that they could accurately resemble actual human beings. This was naturally limited to the rich, but that didn't stop anyone from stealing. Particularly other researchers or individuals capable of recreating the technology. This should be enough right?
The lone girl's place in society had been replaced by a similar being, though not biological. It performed daily life activities just fine. It behaved just as the original did after scanning her behavioural patterns and replicating it. Only someone like her parents would notice uncanny differences, but what if they were in on it? She no longer had a place in society. Her captors had gained an enormous boon from their own perspective. There were many others like her, she was not special in any way.
In fact this current predicament was a result of that. A mere experiment to a test, if the bare minimal sustenance was provided, would one awaken as a magical girl or not? She was one of so many, that they could not sustain some, and they were unfortunately disposed of by the culprits. A method had been discovered, to artificially accelerate the awakening of magical girls, all that comes after is exploring the conditions in which it would most likely happen in.
An unfortunate victim, the experiment had started now for a few years ever since the A.Is were developed.
***
"What's wrong? You need to listen to this report properly or we can't go anywhere!" (Chisaki)
"... Oh! It's nothing, just a daydream. I can't even remember what it's about... Teehee~" (Kanou)
Knocking her head with a bang, Chisaki's shoulder-length blond hair bounced as her hand collided with Kanou's head. A small pink lum swelled over Kanou's dark greyish tint that was tied into a ponytail at the moment. Kanou donned a formal black suit reminiscent of a business suit that was opened at the inner side of her collar bones to the top of her chest, revealing a white button shirt with a dark contrasting collar. What set it apart was the strange emblem that held her black collar together, it was an oval pendant with a flat surface resting on her chest and a red convex side that contained a bright and vibrant purple jagged shape in the middle, like a cat's iris.
In a building deep into the earth, way deeper than even the underground labyrinth, it was submerged in the upper mantle of the earth and had the ability to withstand the pressure and temperature. Kanou was receiving the summary of damages and casualties of the most recent conflict, her attendant being Chisaki who had beautifully cut blonde hair that seemed to end in a straight line that decorates her neck.
Chisaki wore a white button up shirt without a vest, a mostly white palette in contrast to Kanou's attire. Below that button shirt was a deep grey mini skirt accompanied by dark grey thigh highs and black high heels. No matter how one looks at it, this scene was completely normal save for the vibrant pendant on Kanou's neck.
"I'll go over it once more. The damage to buildings were minimal save for the ones right below your battle, a single proffesor and a couple soldiers were lost in the fire with a burned corpse confirmed to be the proffesor and a single soldier. There were no traces of the other soldier, but witnesses of the battle, mainly their colleagues reported that the enemy disintegrated her, leaving not a single trace of their existence.
Multiple tests were done, and we see no anomalies within the space axis and the memories of people living here. So it is highly unlikely for memory or spacial manipulation to have occurred. Their retreat was a clean teleportation that only left behind residual magical particles and heat in the surroundings. As for enemy forces, there were around 6 bodies identified to have come from the rising knight order, a small rebel faction coming from the South West of our territory. "(Chisaki)
".... 2 mid-ranking guards and 1 researcher for 6 soldiers huh. That's 3 whole companies in their system, must be devastating when your military is so small. What worries me is that Sun magical girl, numbers are meaningless when you have Strength like hers. The Sanctuary of the Eye God has split into so many smaller factions that it's frankly tiring to count our forces. Just when will they learn that the Eye God is invincible. Staying in such a high position isn't easy you know? "(Kanou)
" Oh and apparently a Sentinel from the Union, Crone meurs has been defeated in battle. We have good diplomatic ties with the Illnoia Administration, so they offered this information of their own accord. Apparently the draconic deity was made to move, but the sentinel had been disposed off in an instant. "(Chisaki)
".... Was that person insane? An S-tier fighting an SS-tier is like a fish fighting the heavens. Those monsters are called God magical girls for a reason, being an S-tier should have kept them content with the highest salary range in their job, even I who started with nothing got to became a governor, an Arc-Maiden in the Eye God's territory... "(Kanou)
Unable to accept those words, Kanou widened her eyes as if to ridicule the report. Her tone laced with a little agitation as she resumed looking through the documents on her desk. True to her words, she was living a comfortable life with a leather chair on her back and a wrist accustomed to prolonged periods of movement. It was hard work, but in exchange there was also great comfort compared to those who lived in apartments in the labyrinth.
Chisaki could only slightly nod in agreement, though a small bit skeptical about Kanou's comments. If an S-tier fighting an SS-tier god magical girl was like a fish fighting the heavens, what would an A-tier like her feel like if she ever encountered the Eye God? In the first place these classifications were based on the measurement of a magical girl's capabilities. Within the latest grading and tiring system, S-tier kept its specifications of being 1 million times the ability of an average human, and subsequently, SS-tier was immeasurable.
In that case, only the title of God or deity would fit such a being who had immeasurable prowess in combat. If we go back a few steps, S-tier would then be the ones right under God, they would be rulers and governors. They are those that actually manage the country while the one above watches over their safety. And for a good reason too. Just the fact that there were multiple SS-class end-of-the-world harbingers made sense that the almighty, controlling the vast territory of a continent would be one as well, in order to defend their own peers against another.
"By the way I'm not gonna fight any of them even if you asked me to. I'd rather continue to enjoy this peaceful life. I've send a request out already, once an attack type Arc-maiden comes and help me wipe out the rising knight order, we would finally have peace. "(Kanou)
***
Another girl, one that wasn't so alone like the other one. Luscious locks of golden blond rests on her back, swaying along with her movements like the days that went by. She obediently did as she was told, never missing bed time, never wasting food, never forgetting to brush her teeth, never trying to avoid study. Except for things involving capabilities out of her control, like shooting basketball hoops and scoring football goals, everything seemed to be going perfect.
Anything involving her went so well, it was because of this uncanny perfection that something seemed amiss in the first place. What was the source of her strength? How was she able to muster this much skill at such a young age? At times, her hair ostensibly shined like the sun under the facility lighting. As far as she could remember, she woke up here. In this large box spanning 100 metres by 100 metres. If questioned, she would honestly answer that nothing came to mind.
What happened before she woke up there? What was outside the box like? How had she been living life until then? Nothing but an empty husk of a person, a 12 year old layed on the pure snowy white marble. The floor was made of white square marble tiling, the walls were made of white square marble tiling, the ceiling was filled with the same save for the ceiling lights that span the width of 1 tile and the length of 3. A sea of white, perhaps that was the only thing that filled her mind. What of it then? Nothing.
Occasionally, an odd humming sound would be emitted from a vague direction, followed by a 'plop' sound. Following that sound was her immediate reaction, she held her head in a surprise and crouched down, body and legs trembling vigorously. The floor was hard, so falling would still be dangerous. She understood that and decided crouching would be the safest action, after all if something dangerous had come, there was no way to run. Her palms, fingers and toes desperately grip the marble tiling, as if able to slip at any time. Her assumption wasn't unfounded, the smooth supple skin of her youthful fingers met with the tiling and slid a little.
A small yelp leaked out of her feeble lips, in the end her curiosity was too much for her to ensure, she looked into the direction of the where the 'plop' sound was emitted. A small aluminium foil package, one shaped similarly to a cylinder but deformed had laid there. Her small fingers peeled it off, a warm smell waft of from its core. Instinctively, she could understand, she knew. It was sustenance. That was how her first day went. As the days went by, she would discover the source of the humming noise too.
Akin to a soft car engine, a mechanism was opening a ceiling tile to drop the food in, and educational books with it. She learned language and common sense from the ground up. There was nothing else to do in that empty room after all. Roughly a year had passed, a door had quietly formed overnight as she rested from the previous day's learnings. The door accompanied a button that seemed to poke out of the wall, it was an odd thing for her to see. With what she could grasp from the books she read, everything supposedly had a purpose.
Maybe the button's job was to widen the vertical line in the middle of the door. Both the door and the button were of a metallic tint, reflecting off the ceiling light. Finally, she could leave this white prison------ and enter a bigger one. She entered what seemed to be a small cubicle on the other side of the door, a big red arrow pointed to the button labeled 'C', while many other buttons of various numbers showed up. It seemed there were others like her in their own large white prisons as well, incidentally her floor was 2002. It was easy to remember with how it started and ended on the same number. She remembered it from her books as well, what was it called? A palindrome?
In any case, she had to explore the outside. The elevator, faithfully as she instructed with a button, brought her to her destination. A weightless experience like no other, her ears rung as the generic bell sounds resound when opening the door. For the first time she saw others like her, and unfortunately for the managers of the facility, she also saw those unlike her in the absence of their awareness. That was when she vowed, she would free everyone of this horrible place.