*
"... Are you done? You even expelled that Ray's attack. Were you saving it up for an attack, yet cleansing it in your daily life?
.... Do you finally realise how pointless all of that was before?" (Frena)
It was odd. Even though we had launched so many attacks, the ground around her should have at least suffered more damage. The shockwaves, and at least Izumi's attack should have melted Frena's surroundings. Yet there was no trace of any of it. Other than some shifting around due to the air pressure, the ground was practically the same as any other landscape with soil in it. She wasn't blocking the attacks... They can't have gone anywhere else. So she has either absorbed them or transported them away. Converting the attacks into another medium should be considered as absorption.
In any case, we need to work around it. Skills have their distinct magic signature just as magical girls do. It is detected by this 6th sense we gain when awakening as magical girls, the ability to sense magic. It also covered magic signatures and vaguely being able to tell them apart. When some of us used our second skill, it was easy to tell they were using a different skill. It was like something was slightly off with the way magic moved around them.
In other words, general Frena had only been using her first skill. It formed that weird darkness thing that chuunibyous dream of, and that black substance absorbed all our attacks. It either absorbed and stored energy, explaining her near infinite or rather just absurdly large storage of magical energy, or it's a portal that sent all our attacks somewhere else.
.... Magic attacks have no effect on her then... And even then her defenses are too high for us to use physical attacks. Kenzi's second skill is going to be released soon, I could feel the buff fading out.
"... Do you have a way to attack her?" (Myuu)
"Yeah, most of us saw that. Kaorin, don't skip out on us when you have an awesome ability." (Izumi)
" Sorry for being useless this time, she just absorbs all the ice I launch at her." (Garion)
"Same here, I haven't unlocked my second skill like the rest. So I can't do too much." (Barius)
"... Most of us being long range doesn't help. Even if I'm a short range fighter like you.... Yeah, I made the right choice to use my second skill on you. Go beat her up! "(Kenzi)
This was a battle between me and Frena, so I suppose all the Illnoians ran away from fear. We're back to just the 8 of us. 7 Illnoians ran, 5 Sanctuarians retreated back to the Sanctuary.
"... Looks like making her vision and sense of balance dizzy didn't do much. I'll be leaving this up to you." (Kreumier Fiel)
"Hahah... I was useless to the end. I tried launching some projectiles but they got vaporised by everyone else's attacks. And my dagger may as well be a toothpick, she didn't even look me in the face and kicked my body like a ragdoll.
It's all up to you. (Izumi)
Everyone.... I'm really thankful but what broke through Frena's defense was Ray's attack. My body is technically less injured than before, but the exhaustion is building up. Guess I have no choice. With this speed, I'll make one last exchange. It's going to run out soon. Less than a minute left...
'Fu~' I exhaled once more, desperate to clear my mind of distractions. My body felt light after expelling the anti-magic. I never realised I could do that, I feel stupid. At the same time, it managed distracted Frena. Forget about the past, at least I made it to this point. I have nothing but my first skill [Hollow calamity]. It manipulates gradients to move Substances. There was actually some recoil to it, as the magic is not a natural phenomenon but an artificial one, the world itself will correct the magic and send back the substance from where it came from.
In other words if I shot her with the air in front of me, it will return back to hit me just as hard. That's why I don't attempt long range attacks much to avoid an accident like that, I cover my fist with dense air and shoot that at the opponent as I punch. Moving physically allows me to get out of the way faster, escaping the range of the recoil.
My left leg shifts across the ground to find a comfortable footing. My right leg acts in tandem, they kick off once more with all the force I could muster. In an instant that Frena couldn't react to, I launched my fist at her face. As usual, her seemingly invincible barrier was guarding her. No, I've already figured it out. It also acts as a portal that sucks of attacks to another location. Maybe another dimension. So there is 0 trace of it left in this world.
My fist sinks deeper, nearly reaching her skin on the other side of the defensive coating made by her first skill.
"?!..." (Frena)
A mere coincidence. It was just a one in a million, maybe even rarer probability, that I acquired this ability. It's not anything new. It's [hollow calamity]. Her ability absorbs attacks, and mine can pull it right out. But that's not all, after strengthening myself with the energy I stole, the true way to bypass her defense. To recognise her ability as a substance and open it up with my first skill.
Usually my fist coated in a super dense layer of [Hollow calamity] would be enough to have residual amounts drop off and open the materials it hit. Like a leaking sponge that cannot absorb anymore water, droplets of water will fall out and hit whatever is below it. That is my fist when I punch something with it, the residual amount would act on the target I punched and the original amount would reinforce my fist or attack the target with air.
At first her defense was simply too high, it was layered over and over with her own magic. Even 80% my capacity could not do anything. But now, I've found a new source of energy, inside her barrier itself. I stole it and use it to attack. More like attacking wouldn't do anything, I was forcefully prying it open. An attribute unique to my magic. At first I was only manipulating gradients, therefore I couldn't actually stop any particles in place as there will always be net movement of particles.
It was my second skill, [The gap of impermanence is a cage]. You could say it boosted my first skill, or not at all. It allowed me to control the entire flow and movement of substances, allowing me to stop them in place and form a defensive barrier. I can't create deadly fire, fearsome stone rain, lethal ice or ruthless nature. At least in this small ragtag group of individuals, I finally found something unique to me.
The sound is deafening, excess energy is running off in every direction and causing destruction. I'm absorbing energy from her skill, using it to divert the destructive excess energy from myself, and using the rest to pry open her defense. This simultaneous control over my first skill was not possible months ago. I guess I've gone a bit of a long way. My conscious is fading from all this exhaustion and pressure acting on my body, it's also getting hard to breath with how all the oxygen is getting burned up and combusted.
"Haa~! haa~! ..."
I learnt from those anime I've watched, to take small breaths when there is a lack of oxygen. But my lungs are in too much of a deprived state to calm down and do that. They make it seem so easy when it's so hard to do! I can't help but take deep breaths, it feels like it bounces up and down from oxygen deprived to non-oxygen deprived.
This is probably very dumb, but I'll consume all the oxygen at once and make one last effort. I've made it this far on gambles, what's one more?
"... Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh
hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The ground gave in under my feet, giving a sense of weightlessness for a split second. I focused all of my energy on pulling open her thick defenses, stealing everything I can from her barrier. At last, it sunk in the deepest it ever went.... And made contact! The speed and energy enhancing my punch even more, I shot everything I had into her left cheek. She vanished, her body flung like ragdoll across a long distance in an instant before bouncing on the ground from the momentum.
With our enhanced physical abilities as magical girls, it was trivially easy to close the distance rather than defeat her. She was surrounded immediately. A red bruise showing up on her left cheek. Other than that, she was completely unharmed.
"Oww! I think you broke a bone or two, can't you go easy on a lady's face?" (Frena)
"Lady? You look younger than u-" (Izumi)
Vibell covers her mouth, determined not to release that landmine.
"Tch, fine you win. Go do whatever you want. Wasting my time on you youngsters isn't worth it anyway. I have more important stuff to complete at work." (Frena)
How absurd, we threw everything we had to only deal a single punch. Then we were written off as too insignificant to kill... At least we got out alive and got what we want. Back to that labyrinth I suppose, perhaps the other 5 have finally gained information on who sold us. The Illnoians ran the moment they saw Frena, I don't think there'd be any worth in recruiting them.
***
... To think that one of them would actually land a hit on my flesh... I could have layered my defenses slightly more and it wouldn't have gone through. Perhaps I have gone senile? I truly believed that I was combining the wisdom of my age and the power of my abilities to achieve a perfect state of battle prowess... But I missed out on something absurdly fundamental to a fight... Preparation. I've used my magic for months on end before, exhausting my well and improving my defenses. It also had the effect of increasing my well capacity for magical particles, since I was using it so much. It's similar to something like muscle training.
Maybe I've even done it for years or decades without realising it. There wasn't much room for rest back then, and it was reliable since it protected me from every magic imaginable. Magic that would bypass barriers also get absorbed, magic that affects their target mentally will have their effects severely reduced and even dissipate with time. Magic that attacks me from the inside will be dealt with by my second skill. If my endurance stat wasn't so high, that punch would have went through my brain and finished me.
Most of her power was used to open my defense itself, so her power was severely reduced. To the point that I would easily recover from this after a day or two. Well, when I saw how they battled, it was easy to judge their character. A lot of information can be acquired from the details of their movements and plans. That girl... Kaorin was it? She didn't have a plan at all, even an amateur could see from her plain as day expressions. Her eyes and mouth are rather expressive and give everything away.
She was only working with trust in her and her friend's powers. Someone unintelligent like that could never start a war. Even if she did, violence wasn't the only way one fights. Information gathering, deceit, planning, resource management which includes food, water and oxygen. There are many ways to intercept this small group of kids by merely thrusting my authority around, let alone use any actual tactics on them. Perhaps I'll continue to watch.
***
She walked up closer to me from the other side, her expression slightly dignified with a crooked smile on her face. It looked mischievous like her usual carefree expression, but what can I say about it? I have the exact same expression right now. Though only in minute amounts, I have attained satisfaction from our victory. Even if it was all just luck and coincidence, I would still be elated about it. We won, I've finally won. I finally reached my goal.
Myuu's fingers bunched up into a right fist, she holds it up at me with expectation gleaming in her eyes. I return it. It was night time, and the battle with Frena destroyed our lodgings, so we had no choice but to ask Frena for help. Reluctantly, she led us to the next station and granted us permission to stay for a day before we went back home. It was odd, but I suppose she saw us as troublemaking children now.