*
Another week had past, the anti-magic injury is showing little to no progress of recovering. Training is going by smoothly. As magical girl transformation could grant a human up to thousands of times their original strength, it was more likely to be a multiplicative power that enhances existing strength. This lead to making it more effective to train while untransformed.
It's one thing for others to put this theory into practice, but too bad for me I'll die if I untransform. Well, having to work harder this way was already something I became used to. The secret was to control my magical particle manipulation, to the point I could use as little of the augmentations as possible, all while keeping the regeneration on. This way, I wouldn't destroy training equipment and my hard work would still have a somewhat slow but normal rate of improvement for my stats.
"Hey, stop daydreaming." (Garion Freu)
Similar to how I was, she had pitch black hair, although her locks had a certain glow to them that shone under the light. They neatly parted in the middle and gather into a ponytail at the back. She used to let her hair hang freely to the height of her back, but nowadays they were held up to her shoulders by a ribbon folded multiple times.
"... Sorry. Would a Duel satisfy you then?"
A slight scoffing sound escapes her throat, her head turned to the side to ponder for a moment before replying right after. Her thoughts seemed to be quite organised, because she sure made that decision really fast.
" Fine. Also don't call it a Duel. During training it's sparring, a Duel would entail one of us has to die. And Myuu would be quite sad if you were to die." (Garion)
"You serious? My control isn't as horrible as when I first entered the labyrinth. I haven't mastered and it doesn't seem like there is an end to mastering my first skill, but the progress is nothing to scoff at you know?"
We were in what could be described as school gym clothes, though they aren't like the old school spats or briefs. Trousers of pure white and grey patterns adorn our outfits, along with a similarly coloured sweater and a black shirt. Even though winter had not arrived, a somewhat warm eternal winter takes place in this region. Asking about it seemed pointless, the people seemed to be using the snow as resource anyway. If someone could make it rain winter in such a large region, they would probably be too powerful for me to fight off and there would be no point to it.
'Passive 1- rise, passive 2 - refraction correction' "[Indifference engulfs the coin] (Garion)
A pure white mist begins to pour out of thin air around her, gathering like a fog and reducing my visibility in an instant. The most quickly swallow the entirety of the courtyard that was a kilometre away from our bunker where we sleep. This border watching station was quite large with a region of 60 km by 60 km. Well, our new place of residence was quite small compared to it, but this awful terrain is officially under the territory that we are watching over.
At the furthermost border of the Illnoia federation, there is roughly a single station that covers 60 km by 60 km, alternating with a 60 km length of empty space. So for every 120 km, the 60 km on the ride is watched over while the left side is not. The left is covered by a second layer of border patrol stations. And behind that is the innermost third layer, which we are positioned at. The third layer has no gaps and covers the entire border with stations. Each station in the first and second layer has around 30 magical girls, and the third has around 25.
'passive 1 - Flow proof' "Did you forget what my skill is? [Hollow calamity] '
A radius of 3 metres without the mist begins to open up with me at the centre, this should be when they ambush me as I get occupied with clearing the area of mist.
' Whoosh! ' Sharp whistling noise whizzed past my ears as the sound of glass shattering rang outwards from behind. Turning around, there were sharp chunks of ice on the ground as soft steps entered the 3 meter radius at an absurd pace. Before, I had immediately pushed away the fog with my skill so there was no way to attack me while I couldn't see then. Now the last way to ambush me is to rush in unexpectedly, she's a long range fighter so going into melee herself should have sent me into confusion.
Sliding my feet into a 180,I used my skill to create a vacuum blade in my right hand, clutched it tightly with my left to secure my grasp and swung it around where I was previously facing. A soft clashing sound resounded while a strip of sharp ice, a long icicle akin to a sword slides down my vacuum blade entirely while getting chipped.
"?!"
In a panic due to the strange sound the contact made, I dropped to the ground from my left and rolled along the ground a couple metres, before getting back up immediately with my legs. Looking back, she had already slipped back into the mist. It wasn't the classic attack from behind ambush strategy, Garion had stuck from my left and my 180 turn to swing at my back preemptively had failed. I was right handed, and thus more used to swinging towards the right when trying to cover a larger range, such as 180 degrees. She had taken advantage of that and came from my left, which would require a 270 degree turn.
It was odd, my power allowed me to manipulate the concentration gradient and hence movement of many Substances. Right now, I'm just having a spar with a trusted friend, not a fight to death, so removing the oxygen around her or cramming oxygen into her wouldn't be a great idea.
In any case, it allowed me to manipulate such gradients, her stepping into my 3 metre radius where my skill was constantly in activation, would affect such gradients and give away her position away where the gradient had changed due to her mass and volume.
What was strange was that the gradient had changed right behind me, so I was sure she would attack from behind me. Instead she must have side stepped while I was too anxious to notice and swung from my initial left, that was why a small clash managed to make it through and deflect her attack somewhat. It had a meagre effect on her attack but it still manage to make contact with her ice sword since her side step didn't completely bring her to my left. If she did put that much of her energy into side stepping, her attack would hit less harder, and she was right to have done what she did instead.
It was strange for that sound to have been emitted from our swords clashing, but because it was strange that I noticed something was wrong in the first place and retreated away. Now she's back in the mist. When you can't see the enemy, it's natural to become anxious and scared as you aren't in control of the situation. I was nervous just now, possibly due to this, so I didn't notice when she side stepped with all her might and Agility. The nervousness took hold and thinking far ahead becomes a chore.
I refer to myself as more of a instinctual type. Having lived a normal life up until a few months ago, I had received no training at all until I got kidnapped here, I guess. With that, it was much easier to analyse the situation at hand and react accordingly instead of predicting the opponent's next move. Since I am in this awful fogged up position right now, I manage with a defensive stance, or at least attempt to. If I ran into the fog, I'd just get hit and wouldn't know from where.
It showed exactly the difference between predicting accurately with experience and reacting. Reacting is slower. Reacting gives far less information, I'm only getting visual information. My hearing, smell and touch aren't any better than the enemy's. Especially if it's a magical girl like Garion.
Anyway, the icy mist is not only decreasing my visibility, but also clogging up the air with magical particles due to its conposition. It's magic, it's made out of magical particles. Rather than 'seeing' magical particles, it's closer to say magical girls grow a 6th sense to detect it instead, we feel it nearby, and thus a super dense cloud of it masks her presence completely. That nature even makes it harder for me to use my own magic.
What an awful match up... I thought it'd be easier to blow away the mist with wind. But I can easily tell just from moving away 3 metres of it around me, it's way too much for my capabilities. What's worse is that I'm stuck with the limited amount of magical particles inside me, and it's ridiculously low due to the anti-magic injuries.
To counter something like this, I should shift the objective in perspective. If I changed my goal from finding and beating Garion down to defending myself from her assaults, that way it wouldn't seem so hard. It's quite simple but it's all I have at the moment. I relaxed my breath and heaved out a deep breath.
"Fuuh~"
Come on Kaorin, keep yourself calm! [The gap of impermanence is a cage], deploy a barrier where the gradient of anything is stopped in place. In a sense, it's like a wall of solidified space. But if it's in a vacuum, it would do nothing. Thanks to Garion though, there's plenty of water and air to work with here. A thin glass like wall forms before my awareness even kicks in, and the sound of glass shattering surrounds me.
That was why there was a gap of time before her attack. From every conceivable direction, up down left right back front, enormous chunks of ice and icicles crash mercilessly into the thin barrier. Crashing and shattering repeatedly, the crisp sounds rang out like clear bells in chaos. As if it could draw you in, its melodious cries of destruction edges out a harmony in the air. Clattering and even digging into the ground, the ground looked like a graveyard for mirrors.
After a couple minutes of that ear splitting cacophony, one final enormous icicle struck from the sky. It's notable weight revealed by the zipping sound its descend had caused. The diamond shape gleened under the sunlight, refracting its brightness into my eyes before I covered my eyes with my hand. Though it was large and annoying, it shattered and burst into shards as it collided with the barrier. Dispersing the barrier with a large amount of magic energy, it flew into the mist and carved streaks of empty space in a large area. For a moment, a much bigger radius of a empty air had been created before the rest of the mist rushed back in.
I see, it felt incredibly stupid to only realise it now. But I could simple walk and move my protective radius of visibility with me. But with this, the battle would go nowhere. Only a moment of skill and wit could turn the tables in what would otherwise last for a few days, ending in my defeat. A battle of attrition is disadvantageous on my side since I'm just that weak, my stats are reduced to around C and D rank.
I'll keep a tiny portion of magical particles on me and release the rest out as [Hollow calamity] to push away the fog. The training ground clears up in an instant, and for the first time I could see the other trainees. What was out of place was Garion's absence. Looking up immediately, a chunk of ice several times larger than the previous one floated atop a few storeys of height. It was also a couple storeys in height as it ominously blocked out some sunlight, providing darkness to most of the training ground.
It couldn't pass through my barrier, but If I made one now I wouldn't be able to attack, I have little to no magical particles left. The last attempt to attack, I'll be taking a page from your book. There should be healing items nearby, hopefully neither of us gets too messed up.
Lowering my posture, I held empty air with both my palms, imagining the shape most of my remaining magical particles were put into the weapon I formed in my hands.
"[Hollow calamity] Vacuum spear"
The weapon begun to feel heavy, at least in my arms. It barely stuck out in appearance, but the spear felt solid like an actual weapon. To combine both offense and defense. I raised my spear to face the bottom tip of the giant icicle. Placing tension into my thighs, my legs lifted with all the force they could muster and leaped with an amazing burst of wind accompanying It.
Swinging it as I barrelled into the air, it struck the tip of the icicle. A monotone chain of a single glass shattering noise unfurled into the surroundings. My mind was in its most tense state, it felt like such a long time yet short, quiet yet noisy. The ice shattered before it could reach me, the influence of my spear twisting what is suppose to be stiff and fragile into countless small shards, shards that flew and stuck the ground with enough force to emb into tree trunks.
The rain of ice fragments block out the dewy lit sky, a huge shadow covered my presence as I let the force carry my body and the spear through to its destination. As light finally entered from the other side, Garion without so much as a little flinch, shifted her head to her left by turning her neck and body a little, completely dodged the spear.