*
My small chest heaved in an effort to catch my breath, eyes locked onto Brish as I raised my arms once more. It was an odd observation, but chest sizes can also change after magical girl transformation and vary greatly. The reason for transforming into a girl was that the body became more compatible and adept at handling magical particles, there is definitely more research put into this but I am barely a student with surface level knowledge. So, what did changing the chest size have to do with this? There was no clear objective with it possibly going both ways, becoming bigger or smaller.
Personally, I think the transfiguration of a person into a magical girl adapted some of that person's ideals into the form. In other words, their taste may inadvertently manifest in their transformed selves.... Knowing that, I'll leave it up to other people's imagination to guess which part of myself is actually just from a fetish.
"... Why do you fight. You've stolen rations and likely have your own supply of food developed some where, so why are you still raiding this labyrinth.
This force can barely hold an assault, just what is the point in this foolishness..."
"... People gather under the banner of rebellion for a reason. Be it for a valid or invalid reason, unrest and displeasure is rampant enough to gather a ridiculously large force of this size. Smoke doesn't exist without cinders.
You are but a mere child, I can tell by your complete lack of battle experience. I don't know what the future holds or whether you would come to regret this alignment with the Eye god. But I will not let anyone stand in the way of our leader. "(Brish)
"... I can't be left alive now huh. Otherwise you wouldn't attack in the first place. "
Her golden locks flowed in the wind, as if glowing in this half-lit labyrinth. Eyes trained to see through the enemy's movements and body trained to the limit, her cheeks tensed as she readies her will to fight. It was horrible, we could have been good friends under normal circumstances. But here, everyone had to fight for something, whether it was to protect something or to spread their a great cause, there is no backing down from this conflict. My life is in danger, my fingers are quivering under the pressure of her experience.
Even with 98% of my stats recovered temporarily, even with 100% or 110%, fighting her would be the same as a child fighting an adult. There was simply too large of a difference. Even now, she has hit me in a lot of spots, and those parts of my body are still crying in pain. Her strength is no joke, with more consecutive hits, she would easily destroy my muscles and bones.
I can't mess around, I would definitely lose even in peak condition... There is no choice, Myuu is busy with her own fight. The only option left... Is to improve now and evolve mid-fight. Exerting strength into my feet, I enhanced my jump with my first skill as I twisted my leg joints to get the most force I could possible muster. The surroundings whizz by as the sound barrier was broken and left behind. I cannot let go of this fear, I cannot let go of my regrets. All I can do, is move forward. Not because I should and need to, but because it is all I can do.
Briskly making contact with the ground under my feet, I swung my right fist straight forward packed with as much power as possible. [Hollow calamity], please grant me strength. I beg of you, bestow upon mine enemy... With FIST.
Clattering against an invisible wall, the sound of metal clicking and clanging resounds around the area. Brish's left hand had been extended and raised to activate the air barrier blocking my fist, small sparks of white light fly off as my elbow shook violently.
"Nghhhhhhaaaaaaaah!! "
A growl packed full of my frustrations escapes my lips, my legs buckle under the weight as I inch my fist closer through her air barrier. Slowly but surely, I could see my fist coming closer to her face. Though deep down I knew, it was pointless. A skill wouldn't be so specific as to say "1 air barrier". She can summon more and my efforts would all be gone.
Twisting my ankles and making full use of my legs, I jumped back to take some distance. Both her defenses and attacks are superior to mine. If I attack, she'll just block it with ease. If I defend, she'll obliterate my my defences and take me out. If I do nothing, the battle won't progress and she could find a potential opening.
Forming a finger gun, I pointed the 'muzzle' at her. Rings began to glow around my index finger at varying angles, ring after ring, soon most of my hand above the wrist was glowing brightly with illumination.
"Is this your last trick? It won't work." (Brish)
"... I won't know if I don't try!!"
A rattling sound, though much higher in pitch began echoing around my hand. My fingers gripping tightly to themselves squeezed in tension as sweat began to pour from my palms.
First skill activate, technique-machine gun. Firing at 8 rounds of air bullets per second, going up to 480 per minute. I initially meant to harness up to 10 bullets and shoot them in a second, but it's unfortunately too much for my untrained mind to concentrate on. Slowly, the bullets start to form and fire subconsciously without reliance on the caster.
If I can't use the same magic circle to produce more bullets per second, I'll just create another. It forms twice the strain on my supply of magical particles, which comes from a rather inconvenient limitation that magical circles, as the 'trigger and circuits' of skills, can only be activated within the body. Raising my left arm and forming another finger gun, I activate it once more. All the bullets focus on the chest region of Brish's shield. If they ever break through the wall, her chest or torso would be the largest target, so aiming there reduces the chance of missing.
Sure enough, cracks started to form as the air bullets began pushing her back.
"Ghhh! Raise the pressure, HIGHER!!"
A migraine surfaced from my mental strain to assault my psyche. My concentration slightly waning from the laborious feat. My chest started to heave in more and more short breaths, gradually starting to resemble hyperventilation. At the same time, the air wall surrounding Brish itself was finally starting to get pushed back. By extension, Brish was also getting pushed back by that air wall as she tries to use her own physical strength to reinforce it.
"Tear! Technique-blade of torrent!" (Brish) A sharp sickle-shaped vacuum materialised in the air before shooting oof and tearing through most of the bullets.
To be honest, they look like giant flying toenails. I also wonder if announcing the skill name is really necessary for casting. The teachers said it was, but time and time again have been proven wrong. The person right in front of me just did it! Maybe it was some technique. Or I could just be overthinking this and it turns out she was reciting it in her mind or whispering it skillfully. Well, I'll still continue to say it out loud because I think it's cool.
Resetting the magic circles by deactivation and reactivation, I gather more power into my fist as I jumped to the side with massive force. Landing, the ground cracked and powderised under my feet as I launch a flurry of punches from another angle. Don't want to get hit by the air bullets now, I've mastered my concentration to the absolute limit and have gained the ability to shoot these bullets subconsciously. That means the aiming and hitting of the target is no longer in my control.
Taking advantage of it as cover fire, I decided to launch attacks from another direction with my fists. If I go on the offensive and keep the pressure up high enough, she'll be cornered instead. Detecting wind blades coming into my direction, I lifted my feet and zipped around the target and launched a powerful kick. Her own wind blades are powerful enough to chip her defense. Maybe I could make use of it. The pattern continued, rinse and repeat.
There was now a miniature moat around her position from all of her own attacks causing damage to the surroundings. I made sure to attack from the top too, so she extends her wind wall there. In the end her robustness led to her own folly. The wind wall not only served as a bastion of safety, but also a limit in her movements. Her endurance stat must be low if she depended on her wind wall that much. It was beginning to get harder to breathe, but just a little more was going to-
A loud explosion like sound blasted through the surroundings. My ears have begun to ring obnoxiously and my vision darkening like the sky of dusk. Just... What happened... She could keep the defensiveness and expand the wall at will? The shock of that must have led to this. My air bullets have stopped firing and she was walking leisurely out of the moat, towards me. I see, of course she wouldn't let me move around and harrass her air wall for no reason.
This time, I was the one who was arrogant. Come on, Kaorin. Think, think out of this dire situation. My body is laid on the body disheveled and full of deep scratches. Even with all of these injuries, my will to live cannot be quenched. It burns ever more brightly, engulfing both my conscious and the pain spreading throughout my torso. I still have quite a bit of magical particles, even if I've spent roughly 60-70%. As long as I have some of my strength, I have hope. Hope in myself!! Nothing else would respond to my dire situation, be it gods or demons. Only the magical particles flowing in my blood, makes me feel alive and like I have a chance of survival! Heh, it's kind of like a drug now that I think about it.
If I can't move with these broken bones, then I'll just have to burn through my magical particle supply to support myself with the wind. It can't be help, RIGHT? Moving too much and thinking is a pain, I'll ration my remaining magical particles. 10% to movement, 10% to vacuum blade , 10% to regeneration. It's getting harder and harder to breathe, as if I'm on the verge of fainting. I see, maybe using all this wind to attack is thinning out the oxygen. What a reckless and self-destructive battle style. This Brish girl is either trained against that, or her power creates wind instead using the existing air. How envious I am. Who wouldn't want more power?
Copying her wind wall on my back, I propelled myself into the air before unleashing a small explosion of air on my back for further propulsion. I need to get faster and faster, burn more magical particles to unleash more boosts deflect the air in front to make the trip smoother. Magical particle supply reaching around 3%,maybe lesser. Who knows, but this level is what I felt. I've got to defeat her before it runs out.
Reaching 5 metres close, I spent the largest propulsion into curving my trajectory to land behind her back. Final 1%,inject into the vacuum blade. In the shape of a blade, the inside is a complete vacuum while the extremely thin layer outside is condensed winds at speeds high enough to tear through steel like butter. Adjusting its positioning, I aimed to skewer through Brish's back.
"PENETRATE!!, VACUUM BLADE!!"
Brish was on the defensive due to her careful nature, she gambled on her nigh impenetrable wind wall to see her opponent's cards. Magical particles that could be saved by simple evading attacks were wasted on the air wall bearing the brunt of my attacks. She had 40% of her magic supply left, but not all of it was used to maintain her defences, nor was her defence particularly concentrated around her back. Paired with how magical particles could be spent in different levels of efficiency, not equating to the same amount of strength, if all my strength was put into this one attack, surely...
Piercing a small bit of her air wall, the vacuum blade was also being disintegrated as the attack progressed. Continuing to press on, sparks flew off as solidified air cuts into solidified air. Of course the temperature wasn't actually lowered for the air to turn solid, it was given the properties of a solid by magical particles. It didn't take soon for half the sword to have been shredded out of existence, the wall was also around halfway penetrated. My arm muscles tense under the strain and pressure, it felt like my veins could surface and pop out of my skin at any time. My bones vibrated and creaked like badly oiled cogs, it seemed like they would break at any time.
A sharp noise akin to the ringing of a bell is emitted. The blade was moving at high speeds whereby if she moved away and loss concentration, the wall would be penetrated in an instant and the attack would go through. Again, she was restrained by the positioning of her own wall. Concentrating her defences and adding more walls proved fruitless, the vacuum blade cut through those easier than paper since they were moving unlike the still air wall.