*
"How long do you have left?" (Myuu)
"About an hour, probably less. That's the time I'm able to stay conscious, if you ask me how long I can actually move my body it'll be around 10 minutes."
Another girl walks up to us, in a uniform much like ours. Though her facial features had slightly changed, her hair style was pretty much the same. The back of her hair has a few strands of braids followed by luscious locks of grey hair, her eyes conveyed a determined will that would try her best in whatever predicament she would be found in. Barius Kleine, she had decent control over manipulation of water, enough to shoot out high pressure that can tear through steel.
She was one of the girls complaining about the slow nature of our curriculum, though I wouldn't say we are good friends, I would admit that we may have warmed up a little to each other over that volley ball game. At least, there should be just enough of humility to support efficient communication with one another. She reminds me of one of those student council type students that work super hard in studies, and she simply found people who work less hard repulsive.
I'm not narcissistic enough to say I worked the hardest, but I think my few encounters should at least yielded something. Especially the part where I'm under a life and death situation, I think I've been through my fair share of hard work. Even as I speak, my regeneration stopped working and even breathing was starting to get difficult. Yeah... 10 minutes should be the maximum...
"Alright, we only have a few options here. One, sacrifice someone and use witch arts. Witch arts can use body fluids, mainly blood as substitute for magical particles. And witch arts are also more traditional in the sense that they cause curses instead of shoot lazer beams
Two, we use anti-magic. There's no more magical particles in this room except for the meagre amount bound to our blood and nerves. We can sacrifice someone for that, but anti-magic would be way easier. We can either get Kaorin here to cough blood at the door and let the anti-magic do it's job, or we splatter him onto the door, not that we could pull that off without magic. "(Myuu)
".... That's... Quite barbaric... "(Garion) A black haired beauty gave her thoughts, her skill was the manipulation of ice. Unlike some others, she looked exactly the same as when she was a magical girl, minus the magical makeup. Her skin was less fair and glistening, but her eyes retained the same sharpness as before. They narrow and become pointer when she's mad, and unlike the cool atmosphere she seems to give off, her temper isn't really that great. Her voice was clear like a bell, and it held a different power to it, the way her tone fluctuated gave a crump of life to her otherwise monotonous words.
"... Yoo if someone punched me, maybe I could actually spit the anti-magic out. I doubt it would be as effective as dissecting my torso and spreading my ribs over the door though."
Her eyebrows furrowed and eyelids drew closer, mouth agape like an upside down crescent moon. Barius and Garion shared similar reactions, mostly a few jaws dropped from that announcement. Of course I had meant it as a joke, were they perhaps worried about me?
"... You have some morbid taste over jokes. Pressing your body over the door won't work, but we could probably punch it out." (Garion)
"Yeah... Maybe we should wait until he passes out first?" (Myuu)
"A quick fall to the ground should do the trick. I'm feeling quite sleepy anyway, this pain would do me in eventually anyway."
"... Hey, you want to make a deal?" (?)
An unfamiliar voice, for some reason it held considerable strength to it. Usually these incidents happen to weak people, I would say individuals like me with a 'Well' stat of B-grade or lower are easily susceptible to it. Perhaps this person was above that and kept some of their magic, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say she was the most confident person in this room right now. She wore a boring blue cap that obscured her facial features even under the bright light.
Her silky white blouse was accompanied by a denim jacket with a plain logo on its upper left pocket, she wore short jeans that fit tightly to her skin. Her shoes were just as plain and her jeans seemed to look uncomfortably tight , though the person herself didn't seem to mind. Long brown hear flowed out from under her cap, her fringe covering the right portion of her face while the rest was let down to reach her waist.
"... A deal huh. Wouldn't it be more polite to introduce yourself first?"
" Oh, sorry about that. Name's Kris fanel. Here's the deal, you guys guard my escape, and in exchange I break down that door. Simple right? I just need some of your blood since I'm not using mine. " (Kris)
".... Tch, can't you see I'm half dead already? I released a puddle over there, you can use that. Anymore and I will die. "
Pointing in the direction of my original spot, a dreary atmosphere surrounded the area as a miniature pool of deep dark red laid still over the ground. The smell of iron and haemoglobin drifted into the air like a fast flowing stream, a noticeable open space surrounded it as nobody wanted to stay near it.
"WAIT?!!!, how are we going to guard you if we don't possess any magic, are you sending us to our deaths? Kaorin here could barely stand." (Myuu)
"... Do I have any other options? We're all out of it here. The enemy has meticulously rid us of magical particles and kidnapped us. We have nothing left but things besides magic. " (Kris)
"... That doesn't mean you can jus-" (Myuu)
Grabbing Myuu's shoulder, I took a step in to deescalate the situation. Well, not like there was much to do, I'm sure Myuu kept calm but anymore and they may have blinded themselves. Kris had more to it than what she's letting.
" It's fine, we'll just have to go through with it. Not like she could seal a contract for the bodyguard duty, we could disobey and run right after. Trust is a two way street."
After all, she would have opened the door anyway. She would have to if she wanted to escape, that deal was a pretense. To lower our guard? To gain our security? Meat shields? In any case, I should make use of her to open the door anyway. Pretending to be tricked would put me in a far more convenient position.
"You're right! That's why I'll trust you guys to protect me after I bust through the door!" (Kris)
Saying so, she made a quick turn to face the puddle of blood and made her way towards it. Perhaps her thoughts were a little in the clouds, her strides were taken clumsily and her walk seemed to be lacking a sense of balance. Her body could be seen swaying a little to the left and right like a drunken trudging.
Arriving right in front of the puddle of blood, she seemed to have caught a lot of attention though not as much as I did. Her relaxed demeanour seemed to caught on to others as there were less people looking warily at her than they were at me. A few whispers under her breath and the blood had started to float into the air, coagulation into a single simple form that stretched to a pointed front.
A spear, if malice was tangible, repulsive and visible, that would be what seems to be emanating from the spear. It wasn't magic of any sort, in fact it seemed like a twig that could snap under my usual power, it was simply the sight itself. What was supposed to remain inside the body, blood is often portrayed as something that invokes revulsion. However with how the world was, whether it would be through real life or movies, people often got used to the sight of blood as they drove it off as 'just red liquid'.
What they didn't expect was actually encountering it in real life, just the smell alone could cause one to gag and subconsciously draw away from it. Now, it was right in front of our sight. Not as an ordinary pile of vomited bodily fluids, but as a weapon to kill, a spear with far too much precision in how it was built and resembled the actual article. The edges at the tip were a blend of blunt and sharp edges that shaped the spear to a terrifying degree, giving off the air that it could carve out flesh with ease. Lastly, it had turned considerably darker in its tone of red.
As seconds pass by, it started to rotate and pick up speed to a considerable extent, the tip had started to look like a drill in fast motion. A soft hissing sound that would usually come off a piston started being emitted from the spear, the whole thing had entered a rotating velocity so high that it looked like a blur to our naked eyes. Without magical girl stat augmentations, this attack had easily surpassed our perception and left it behind in the dust.
"I can keep it in the air a little longer. Quickly decide who will go out first. They'll be attacked the first, but they'll be the only one to be able to transform instantly.
The magical particle amount outside is plenty, but the concentration is extremely low. Others will be able to transform into magical girls, but will take a longer time. " (Kris)
Turning to the rest, it was obvious that we needed to choose someone who could withstand at least a few attacks. By that consideration, we have to pick out someone with high endurance stats or someone with a solid defensive skill to protect themselves. The question was who fit the bill the best?
"I'll go. I can handle every direction at once and do area of effect attacks. Any objections? " (Myuu)
"... Yeah. I'll go, my ability is more suited to defense. Even if it fails, it won't do them good to take out someone who was half dead." Of course a large part of the reason why was that I was worried about Myuu. I understood most of all, she probably had the same anxious feelings when I suggested to volunteer myself. I'm sorry Myuu, But I'll be selfish once again.
Another reason was that after that battle with the wind wielding magical girl, I haven't particularly pushed my powers to the limit. Now that I somewhat have a sensing of its actual function, it's starting to gain clarity. The vague blurriness of its image, the foggy nature of it was slowly clearing up. Just a small streak, a tiny insignificant streak of light had finally peaked through the dark fog that is this predicament.
There was obviously no way... That I can just forget about how my parents, my collections, my belongings, my house, my everything was taken. I can't let go no matter how much time passes. It's okay if people call me childish or immature for it, but I simply cannot part with it. Before searching for the reason behind the Great Disaster though, I think I needed to find myself first. It was quite hard to see it you know? But after almost dying just now, I think I can finally see a little of what I have to do.
Yeah, I know what I have to do now. It sounds so stupidly simple, yet it bears the highest hurdle in this world. I need to get stronger, strong enough to protect my friends, strong enough to protect Myuu. Perhaps given enough time, I'll finally move on. I'll finally stop being so unsure. And I'll finally live freely.
***
.... Just what do you see, Kaorin? What do those eyes observe that I don't? Swinging from one atmosphere to another... Shifting gears as if it's natural in this situation... What the hell is up with this...