*
Nothing was left, not even ashes. It wasn't a heat high enough for combustion, it was a heat high enough to melt everything into the ground and leave no trace after cooling. Who was going to dig up thousands of rooms melted at the bottom of the earth's crust? Naturally, she escaped. There was nothing left in the facility, all of Furei's friends, they vanished along with her grief.
All she understood was herself, but it was because of that she saw herself in others. So she thought it was fine to eliminate any obstacles, and she could just continue on. Kanui was quiet and didn't particularly stood out in the cafeteria. Even so, that was enough. Anyone not against her must be on her side right? Any complex thought past that was impossible, she hadn't developed that much understanding of people yet. It led her to think 'Ah, how cruel. No one should experience this' when she saw the impoverished existence that was Kanui in the box.
Crawling out of the rubble that was the facility, her flames had lead to a chain explosion and continued destruction of facilities around the area. A meagre chunk of the city had been reduced to melted rubble. Regardless, even that meagre chunk was proportional to the city, so in Furei's perspective it was much larger than that. A sea of flames, unexpectedly, she didn't feel any danger. She felt right at home in the heat radiating from the fire. Before noticing, her white robe had changed to a skin fitting suit of all black, covered by pauldron, reinforced waist-cape and simple black boots.
Her hair had changed from a golden blond to jet black with a pinkish tint on the inside. They reached her back, fluttering under the wind flowing from the dense flames, the hot pink gleaming as if it was one with the flames. From the distance, she could see a few shadows move. She was no longer afraid of the dark, no longer afraid of the abyss. She would simply light it up when she cannot see. Discovering her own path, she found stragglers near by.
It was fortunate, she was running out of magical particles and would simply collapse from overwork. These stragglers on the other hand, though they were originally part of the organisation, had other plans. It was terrifying, a fearsome and unimaginably large organisation that withstood time for a couple centuries. With its immense wealth also came an immense number of enemies. Now these small group finally had the necessary firepower to take it down. They've amassed information for a decade, worked their way up as much as they could and identified the key bases.
Some had their child taken, some had other things taken. Jobs, lives, family members, friends. Even defects from the original organisation joined with them. Now it was finally time to strike.
***
"In the end that memory manipulator was nothing, they would be strong in a solo fight. But I had a lot of comrades, more than I thought... So even when one of them sacrificed their memories... I got the job done..." (Frey)
"We'll, it's okay. You've got us now. We even grew in organizational size and infrastructure. You should have more than ever before. If it's for our cause, I don't think anyone cares how we're put to use. Everyone has faith in your character." (Palmicia)
" Haha... I hope to meet all your expectations then. "(Frey)
" You've finally unlocked your final skill right? We've prepared all the necessary supplies, we'll go to war. Surely it would draw out the eye god, I'm afraid to impose but you're the only one capable of defeating the Arc-maidens and subsequently fight the Eye God. "(Palmicia)
" It's okay. I've got you and a skill to rejuvenate myself back to top shape for consecutive fights. I've been training for this anyway, not to fight just 1 S-class but a group of them. I'll show my resolve with results"(Frey)
"... Mhmm! I believe in you" (Palmicia)
Secretly, Frey thought 'when did she get so expressive?', but she didn't want to ruin the mood.
***(Kaorin)
3 days after the 2nd raid by the rising knight order. There was no opportunity to mount a defence, the effects of the previous raid still utterly evident. On the other hand, an army of a couple hundred magical girls have shown up on the edge of the large hole. The hole was formed by the heat of the miniature sun, a devastating attack by Celistane Frey, their commander.
After a small bit of talking they've taken action, jumping into the hole in groups, the Zenith commander Celistane Frey sits atop the large hole watching. If she stays up there and doesn't launch any long range attacks, even I'll be able to fight the low rankers. I haven't been doing nothing for the last 2 days.
The day right after the 2nd attack, I headed straight to the hospital to check on my body. Mostly, I held a small expectation that they had a cure for the anti-magic eating away at my wounds.
There was a theory I read long ago, at the start there was nothingness. But with time, nothingness could also split into a positive and negative force. When these forces collide, they would return to a state of nothingness. Like how 0 can split into 1 and -1,perhaps this anti-magic could be overpowered by magic too. The first advantage of anti-magic was surprise, it could neutralise magic and break through barriers with ease.
Instead of trying to shatter whole defenses to get through like normal attacks, anti-magic can melt through defences and only need enough power to melt away the point of contact. It's spread throughout my body right now, but if I shower in magical particles it may work. The opponent's skill was an S-grade level skill that could reverse magical particles into anti-magical particles. Their stats were S grade all around, so the only reason for their demise was arrogance.
"... So you come here thinking a cure would magically fall out of the sky? And right after the raid yesterday, no less?" (Dr. Hedroi malfz)
"... Magic exists, that phrase doesn't hold up anymore..."
".... Listen here, we only term them magic because we cannot understand the intricacy of skills. Everyone is born with different skills like how their thumbprint are different, as such effects good or bad are unknown until use.
Anyway, even then it doesn't come from nowhere. Skills are mainly fueled by magical particles, which are basically free fuel flowing all over planets, attracted and affected by gravity. "(Dr. Hedroi Malfz)
"... You should at least have some tool that could disrupt the flow of magical particles right? Maybe something with the opposite effect for the anti-magic residing in my internal wounds? It feels weird to have certain parts of your body to be hollow you know? "
Heaving an exhausted sigh, she stretches her shoulders before she traipse to the nearby closet. Opening the metallic door of the closet with a soft screeching at the hinges, a small cube similar to the analysis cube was taken out.
"Here, this would be what your asking for. It's not complete and was not intended to be complete, anyone with the ability to do it is busy with some other project.
Those researchers are rather inhumane, they worked on their experiments in the middle of those previous attacks. I doubt anyone can convince one of them to work on this. "(Dr. Hedroi Malfz)
"... Is it safe? And does it work? "
Staring intently at the cube of mint green, she thought long and hard before answering the question.
" Probably. I doubt even if it explodes that it would breach your natural barrier. You've been in this condition for quite a while, naturally your magical particle stock and magic resistance should have grown immensely by now. A risky but rewarding existence.
There's a battery attached, it's usually for warfare outside of the labyrinth so it came with one. You can change the setting to only disrupt anti-magic. You could say this was for dealing with Ray Ijiri, the S-class you defeated. "(Dr. Hedroi Malfz)
With a shady smile, her eyes made contact with mine as she handed the cube. Her spectacles shone under the hospital light as her white coat flapped from her movements. For some odd reason, I felt like I could see the mirage of a proud old man with a skin head and accomplished smile in her. Must be my imagination.
Placing my palm on the cube, her smile widened into one that exposed her teeth.
"Give them a good beating for me, my office wasn't impacted directly but the earthquake-like shaking still ruined some of my equipment. I can't imagine the grief others are going through, so give them a good smack for all of us!" (Dr. Hedroi Malfz)
Returning home, I activated the cube at once with the shifting of one of its 6 surfaces. The mint green cube glowed brilliantly into a pure white before extending another barrier over my body, a pale blue light akin to an aura of sorts you see in fighting anime engulfed my body. Too bad it was just some shoddy device, I didn't actually acquire a new form or power or anything. Just my original power.
It temporarily rendered the anti-magic useless by disrupting its activity, I don't know the specifics but the efficacy is around 70-75%. That much my stats had returned, so it was all I could estimate. With my own stock of magical particles back, I simply ran it through myself. I circulated it through my body vigorously. Whenever I was conscious, my magical particles were circulating. It broke the magical particle regulator attached to my body as a sling bag, but I survived the explosion and learned to regulate without it.
***(2 days later, the present)
I took a few extra batteries with me, in case the weird cube ran out of energy. The past 2 days of circulating magic particles in my body had removed half the anti-magic. I couldn't circulate before since it was the opposite situation then, the anti-magic Al particles were disrupting the normal ones. Now recovery had been sped up to a little more than 1 and a half months, and I had regained half my stats back.
Some of our soldiers had been positioned above ground and went successfully unnoticed. As a student, I was told not to waste my life and fight. However that went against my wish, my one and only goal. Under this post apocalyptic nightmare, what was the one shining Ray of hope? That was the aspect of being a magical girl, a hero of justice. But most important of all, a person sporting both a gallant and cute figure.
In any case, it's safe to assume Kanou-san who is really more than what she seems is going to preserve her strength to fight the enemy general, the sun wielder. Reinforcements from another region had arrived to aid the battle and preparations on both sides must have completed.
"FIREEEE!!!!" (?)
Unlike the burning hot flames of the previous attacks, this exclamation was a command. An ally commander had been preparing the formation of our soldiers who outnumbered the enemy 2.5 to 1. An array of colours flew towards the edges of the big hole that the enemy soldiers perimetered. Clouds of puffy smoke expanded as the magic attacks made contact, leaving behind a rain of lethal debris. Jumping in in small groups, the conflict had begun. The surface team had also started their assault. It was time to put my new technique to the test.
Having recovered 50% of my ability, if I turn on the anti-magical particle destabiliser, I'll be able to go back to my top form. Well unfortunately, reality didn't work that way. The device only brought me back to 85%. In any case, it was much better than being useless. Passing through the dark alleys of the labyrinth in haste, I attempt to locate the enemy leader. The skirmish on top seems to be going badly, while the one at the bottom is proceeding well. It looks like the enemy forces are still concentrated on top.
Working around the natural environment was a given, taking advantage of the desert like area above ground, the soldiers could dive into the sand and use a device to aid their mobility. It was the opponent's that were in enemy turf currently, if everyone kept their composure it should go fine. It should...
.... So why... How did they defeat Kanou and that other S-class magical girl already... Didn't they have trouble previously?