*
Surprisingly, the elevator still worked perfectly fine. If referenced on a map, it was situated somewhere between the centre and the edge of the labyrinth, so perhaps it just had a good location. The lift off was silent as a slight sense of zero inertia took hold. It sure has been a long time since I rode one of these. Would it be riding? Or taking? Well, whatever it was, it's no longer important. I have something far more important right in front of me now.
With a look of puzzlement, she noticed and decided not to think too much about it. That was why, she got caught off guard.
"Hmm? Why are you staring? The lift's about to open, let's get off. " (Myuu)
"... Ah! Mhmm. I was just thinking how fun it was to be with you." Personally, I was basking in elation, strangely, her voice calms me down.
On the other hand, a slight blush dyed her cheeks pink. She quickly retorted, ending that topic there.
" Wha? Are you setting a death flag?" (Myuu)
" Hahah. Let's go find what we're looking for. Miss Assistant, could you lead us to the swimsuit section?"
Aisles spread out throughout the floor, brandishing all kinds of clothing from the intimately used to the non-intimate. As if skillfully mastering the art of the guide, Sales assistant-san kept a respectful distance and headed towards the swimsuit section at the same time. She skillfully ensured that we were at arms length, in case a customer was rather shy and could only whisper about their requests, at the same time she stepped at a fast yet comfortable pace, managing to shorten or lengthen each stride to match us.
The aisles were arranged rather chaotically, like a board of checkers they simply fill up the entire floor by rows and columns. The problem was that without a clear main pathway, the aisles were too tall and the signs at their widths were hard to see, making this place a rather tedious territory to navigate. This was rather reminiscent of the labyrinth, both sporting an incredibly monotonous yet troubling layout for both inhabitants and intruders.
"Wow, do you perhaps have a magic navigation skill? You seem very accustomed to where things are. Nevermind one floor, you would need to use it for the whole building... The range itself is already impressive."
Considering that each floor could hold an entire category of goods, magical products or clothing, both have an extremely wide variety and needed a lot of space. Naturally, the building was built large enough to accommodate, and every building was the same size. This labyrinth was filled with such cuboid towers, they rose up like spikes to pierce the air in their 20 by 20 arrangement, each building itself had a square base with 250 metres length.
Only the height varied, a modicum of variation for people living here like us to tell which building is which. After all, they were all grey on the outside. Oh, and I guess some buildings didn't have windows,commercial buildings such as this and research buildings don't have windows. Though the institution buildings do have some on the higher floors.
Reaching the swimsuit section , the sales assistant went back in the direction of the elevator. This section spanned quite a few aisles, though variety was quite limited compared to a clothing store in the past. They were mostly simple designs colour wise, but had arrived in a variety of designs.
"Hey Kaorin! I'm sure this would absolutely suit you~" (Myuu)
A pair of brown pigtails dance around as a pair of bikini bottoms was held in a small pair of hands. Raised towards the ceiling like a certain lion cub from a movie.
".... That.... That's just string!!.. I can't wear something like that..."
This time, my face had turned bright red like a traffic light. I was rather thankful the assistant had already gone back downstairs, having screamed unnecessarily loud at the string-like bikini.
" Stop holding it so high into the air... Are you insane?..."
" Hehe... It's rare for you to get this embarrassed. Usually I'm the one blushing, but not this time!" (Myuu)
"Uwah~. For now let's continue looking at other designs. We still have a few days until this week's break is over."
"Muuh~ You killed the mood. Well then, do you prefer something more plain? Something like that iconic white and light blue stripes?" (Myuu)
Taking a few steps, she reached into a lower shelf to take it out, showing it to me.
"It's an iconic for panties under a school uniform... Well, I wouldn't know. It's a colour scheme from anime, so I'm not sure if people still wear this design in real life. Nowadays a single should be more common, no?"
"mmmmm... That'll be a secret you unlock when you finish building your wardrobe. Someday you'll find out. You only have school uniforms right? " (Myuu)
"Ehh... Sometimes I try out some on my own on the weekends. Ultimately just the normal stuff I wore before, comfy baggy shirts. I can't say the same for shorts though, so I simply don't wear those at home."
" Wow, I was expecting you to be the inactive stay at home type... "(Myuu)
" When there's no more Internet...? Nahhh~ I've been visiting random shops far away from my apartment. "
" Why far away? "(Myuu)
"So walking there would spend more time. It's very boring after all, looking at changing scenery, well, at least in the interiors of buildings, is rather refreshing compared to coping up... I've become the opposite of an otaku..."
"Hahah! That reminds of the first time we met. Your social skills were so awkward!" (Myuu)
"... Don't remind me. Anyway, let's get back to choosing our swim suits. I think I prefer plain black after all... What about yours?"
"mmmm... Guess I'll take this one then. " (Myuu)
***(Kyou)
"... Nyeh!" (Opponent)
The sound of metals clashing against one another rang our as a sea of chaos spread out. Well, instead of full blown chaos it was more like a disorganised mess, just one tier above. The reason for that was this.
As far as the eye could see, Magical girls were ducking it out in a conflict. The leader, Frey had summoned a giant sun and busted a hole in the enemy's base, some of the troops went in, and some of the enemy's forces came out. Large shockwaves from the leader's battle flew out of the whole and hit through some of the ground, vibrations and aftershocks spreading out like an earthquake had hit. Living in an earthquake prone country, Kyou was used to it though. Such small turbulence couldn't even made him bat an eye.
In any case, he used his magical combat dress's passive to summon material, in this case a mix of sand and soil, and garden it into a sword with metal-like properties. Even the sound it made was like a metal's.
"Nyeh!" (Kyou)
Well, it wasn't like a normal war either. Kyou swung his blade half heartedly, using half his strength while his opponent did the same. It was still dangerous, if one let their guard down while the other exploits that opening, it could be a swift decisive victory. However, it was more likely that they simply didn't take the war too seriously.
Having broken off from the eye-god's faction and forming their own country, the magical girl's fighting here still had some sense of identity as having lived in Asia before the Great Disaster. As modern humans that weren't exactly accustomed to war. As such, both sides did not truly wish for the destruction of the other.
It may have looked like Frey's oversight to raid what was basically once their homeland, but in actuality she was using them as a meat shield. If a hundred or 2 magical girls ganged up on her, she would rather not leave a field of blood behind. Her cause after all, was only revenge against the Eye god, not the people. She had precisely recruited these people into her army for this fact, so casualties would be minimised and she could avoid getting teamed on at the same time.
In other words,... It was to make her army look big... Solely for intimidation purposes. The leader of the other side, Kanou didn't seem to catch on though. At this point, Kyou and his respective opponent were flailing their blades like little kids.
"Wooh! I am drained of energy. Oh nooooooo~~~, maybe we should both take a break before continuing later. In the meantime let's watch the others." (Kyou)
"Agreed! It's better to face each other at our fullest, so a rest is completely necessary! For honour, am I right?" (Opponent)
"Yes! Look there's a spot over there at those rocks. I think they rolled over when my commander sent those earthquakes!" (Kyou)
Like this, they watched the others play fight as more and more of their friends had started to rest as well. For Kyou who was just recruited first by the smaller faction and dragged into the war, he couldn't care less about the outcome. The only thing he feared was his commander's wrath. If anything could be used to go by, the loud sounds emanating from the hole were quite ominous. Maybe she wasn't insane and could actually fight with the Eye God, who was more like a mythical being at this point. What a terrifying superior...
"Nee... Why are you guys attacking? This is where my home is you know?" (Opponent)
It had none of the monotonous or ridiculing tone behind it like during the battle before they sat down. It was a heartfelt question, out of curiosity, and maybe depending on the answer, out of the sake of judgement. It wasn't as if Kyou was an amateur to fighting anymore. He had trained for around a month, and his sparring sessions allowed him to develop his kinetic vision and magic skills. Something like a surprise attack, he would look out for itno matter what.
The earlier skirmish may look like playing, but the 2 were actually testing. Testing if the other party had a decent control of their magical particles and magical girl augmentation. A small slip up would result in unleashing more power than necessary. The magical girl's here were typically pacifist who did the very same, but if they saw their comrade get injured, hesitation would be thrown out the window. An actual war situation would happen.
Fighting here was more like a dance in the middle of a sea of sharks. In its own way, it was also quite dangerous. There just wasn't as much carnage compared to a real all out fight. Using their full power at the start and being in an army of a few hundred could cause an impact on the continental scale. Whether it'd be actual destruction or dangerous runaways.
"... You should know. Well, maybe you don't since you're asking this question." (Kyou)
His voice rang like a clear bell, he forgot that he had turned into a she from the frenzy of the war. The noise shut out everything else, and the sand flew high into the sky.
" The Eye God, your elusive supreme ruler of sorts. She made a lot of enemies you know? Nobody knows where she is, only that a few hundred lives have been ruined. That few hundred still spread their ideology, our leader, the one throwing those miniature suns was one of them I suppose. It's the only explanation I could think of, frankly I thought that you asking a low ranking rabble like me was pointless since we don't usually have much information. "(Kyou)
".... You're saying there's a few hundred dreadful armies like the one are in, roaming out there? "(Opponent)
" Probably. This may be common sense by now, but the Illnoa administration of the rushiic region, grundo alliance of the
Chuvatre region in the centre of the continent, and the Haradell Union of the Englandic region has pretty much cornered the Gangrea Monarchy and its sub factions in the europic region.
The tides are changing, mercenary armies with a similar size to ours may start becoming the norm and civilisation start to dissolve before the people abusing their magical girl powers.
Still, no one knows what caused the Great Disaster. If it came back humanity may definitely perish. That kind of gut feeling. "(Kyou)
" I think the concept of conflict will just be overturned on its head. Instead of numbers, it'll become a contest of strength instead. A monstrous being capable of demolishing the weaker armies, I wouldn't be surprised if there was already one out there." (Opponent)