*
I defend against the rain of sludge that fall from the sky, crossing my arms I thicken the barrier over my arms to form an umbrella.
"OOFGH!"
An impact akin to a sledge hammer struck my abdominal area, around my solar plexus. I fight off the urge to shut my eyes and collapse on the ground, keeping a grip on my leg muscles as the tremble to keep my balance. Expanding my barrier, I launched my fist into the side of the giant's fist, it was an unnaturally large target after all. Following it up with a kick by my left leg, I left the bottom half folded to hammer my knee into its target, the fist. It's durability was around the same as my offensive capability, so glass like cracks had begun to form on the giant's arm.
Taking a step back, I had to watch the ground for sludge before getting into a comfortable stance. Even if I had wrap my whole body in a barrier, I could never be 100% sure about it. If I had subconsciously allowed some holes in my magic coating, that would be really bad. For example, the are holes right over my eyes. If I completely stop the movement of the air around me, it turns into a theoretical frozen state that didn't allow light nor magic to get in. If I covered my eyes, I would be blind. That was why I always cover my body with my arms instead of taking enemy attacks head on with my face.
If I needed to, I could cover my eyes too, but it wouldn't be good for battle. As much as I had trained, it was only normal training to raise my stats. My control over my skills had only improved slightly, and I still relied on sight to detect my enemies during combat. Of course it would be fascinating to develop other senses for combat, but as it is now I can only rely on my vision. It was what I was most comfortable with, and a span of a few months was impossible for learning how to fight while blind.
Well, one thing I had a lot of practiced with was mid-air maneuvers. As my own fighting style involved a lot of leaping and kicking, I thought it would be best to have some moves since I stay in the air a lot. I could attack while staying away from the sludge at the same time. In the end I was still a physical type of magical girl, at least I was more suited to close quarters combat compared to those 2.
A metallic fist comes flying from my left, caught at the very edge of my peripheral vision as a sharp grey object. I duck as a cracked giant fist proceeded to assault me from the back, followed by a wide area rain of sludge. Twisting my body, I launched my own punch back with all my strength at the giant's attack, the shock wave knocking all the sludge away. As I was knelt on the ground with my arm outstretched, it became difficult to defend in this position. Just as I expected, a heavy impact struck the shoulder of my right arm that I tried to pull back.
"GUGHHAAAAAGHHH!!!"
It hurts, no matter how many times I fight I could never get used to it. I imagined if anyone could endure so much damage to their body, that meant they weren't human anymore. Pain was a vital part of your nervous system, it told me I was still alive and that I could continue no matter how sharp and scary it was. If I was knocked out, I wouldn't feel anything but it would be my end in a battle. I don't welcome it and I don't hate it, it was an odd thing to live with but I have to take advantage of anything within my grasp.
I would do anything to keep living, I'm not sure about any noble cause or honorable feelings, but I found worth in my desperation to live. My life was the value itself, so I must keep fighting no matter what. Even if I have to kill, or run, but run to where? When attacked in my own home, I suppose fighting is the only choice left. From the hard kick I received from the summoner's metal greaves, I rolled over the ground quite a few metres.
In this world, I'll acknowledge it. I'll have to acknowledge it in order to move on, I have to move or I'll die. And at the very end of that movement I'll die too. There was no difference to an end result washed away by time, but there is a difference in the present. There is inherent value and worth in the present, so I have to acknowledge my weakness, my greed, my selfishness. I can't get everything I want, it's so frustrating that I could cry. It's so painful to fight that I want to cry. I truly want to breakdown on the spot and blackout, and wake up to see that it was all a dream.
No matter how long I trudge along this path, no matter how much I make decisions on the basis of 'not regretting it', I'm bound to encounter obstacles like this. Frustrations, agitations, things that make me want to run away. I don't want to face such things head on, it hurts too much to think about doing so, but I have to. There's no more choice.
I stand back up from the kick, strangely enough my breath was not as heavy as I thought. Hahahah....I see. So there was a point to all my training. Even if it was a slight bit, I wasn't as weak as before. I can fight, even if I hate the pain, even if I was just a normal girl when our stats are the same.
I put my strength into my feet once more, reinforcing my entire body with magic. Launching myself, the ground caved in under my jumping spot and I spun violently. With the lateral rotation, I swung my kick with all I had at the black cloaked lavender dress girl's neck. To end it as fast as possible, I'll take your neck. She reacted in time by bending her left arm in a V-shape and covering her head with it. However the impact caused her to close her eyes, giving me an opportunity for a followup attack.
Using my right leg as a pivot, I lifted my left leg up before swinging it down on her head. A crips collision resounded as her entire body shifted down into the ground stiff as a totem. Her body didn't seem to be harmed at all, but her legs were now embedded into the ground, showing that the attack had succeed and wasn't an illusion.
" Did you watch your surroundings?" (Robed girl)
Even though the shock wave blew the ones nearby, there was now an absurd amount of sludge floating around to surround us.
"She couldn't die since her endurance stat was high enough, but an impact to the head like that still knocked her conscious out. You wouldn't put your friend in danger, would you? My conscious barrier or her unconscious barrier, which do you think will hold out longer?"
If I was right about her sludge attack, it mainly killed living things by melting them in an instant. But then what would you count as a living thing? Surely the opponent's barrier is counted as part of their body and therefore also a living thing. It will melt through and destroy the both of us. In that case, I'll use her friend a meat shield. It should give me at least one more second to knock away all the sludge. She must also have a passive that allows her to be immune from her own sludge.
At this point, I was standing next to the cloak girl's collapsed body. Her punches were strong, they really hurt. She wasn't a long range fighter at all, I thought she would depend on her summons too much, and thus have a weaker physical ability. It wasn't the case at all, it was just what I wanted to be the case since it would be easier then. If they were both long range fighters, I could end it quickly by closing the gap. But if it was balanced like this, I would have a lot of trouble. None of us have used all our power yet, merely giving some small exchanges that essentially meant nothing.
They may have hurt a bit, but if it wasn't a lethal attack it was essentially nothing, since such small attacks can be healed away. So far I've been using a mix of my 2 skills as my first skill was rather limited in functionality, it could speed up water, wind or magical particles in an instant to create an impact, or it could form a double layered barrier that moved in opposite directions to form a vaccum layer. I've used my second skill a few times, it allows the control and movement of any substance, it was used to form that rock wall that blocked the very first sludge attack.
"Who said I was unconscious?!" (Cloaked girl)
She spun laterally from her collapsed spot to make some distance, before catching herself back up by knocking the ground. It seemed that she was using the pain to stimulate the rest of her consciousness awake. It seemed she even knew how to recover quickly from such a state. For a moment I looked into another direction. There were vines and greenery everywhere, as if we had walked into a forest. But I knew for certain that we had fought around the same spot the whole time.
Wow, I didn't know Myuu's abilities grew that much. On the other hand, all the A-grade magical girls have vanished. I couldn't sense them anywhere nearby, with so much power they should be very easy to detect. It would look like a giant dense cloud of magical particles packed into a tiny body with my detection method. They must have moved far away. It wouldn't be a surprise with their insane speed.
"This time, I won't run. Just you wait, you'll wish you didn't wake up."
"..." (Both)
It seemed they were in the mood to talk, their eyes were trained onto me like eagles looking at prey. The giant had vanished when I landed that kick on the summoner, but now that she woke up it was back. It's arms were slightly less cracked than when I left them, or at least that was how I remembered them. It was odd, but I suppose a little rest helped her to recover it. Now I will be applying more power. Using my second skill, I let loose a little by spending more magical particles. I pried open a gap and moved under ground, closing the whole to cover my tracks.
Opening up a long and large tunnel, I leaped forward to gain some speed. I could sense their locations with my passive skill, so I was able to stop at certain points to attack at them from below. Using my heel, I grinded one foot into ground to shoot myself upwards with all my momentum. Rising out of the crumbling ground, I raised my fist toward the cloaked girl's leg. Due to the cloak and her frilly dress, it was hard to locate in an instant, and that small amount of time was enough for her to launch a counter attack.
At the spot where I was about to hit her leg, there was another first bunched tightly from the opposite direction, her fist. My knuckles made impact first, but since she was in a stance where she was more at ease than I was, her strength was a lot higher when it impacted my wrist. I opened up the ground under myself and fell into it before closing the ground back up.
*Crack! *
Tch, she completely snapped it with that punch even though she didn't drive it into the ground. There would have been more damage otherwise, if she had punched my wrist into the ground, thankfully I made it open up instead. But the initial impact of her punch was already enough to shatter my wrist. It hurt as if my palm had suddenly gone on fire, and that there was no way to put it out.
"ARGHHGHHHH!!!"
Tears had begun to stream out of my eyes and flow down my cheeks, it was too painful not to cry, and the tears were only annoying me even more. I quickly wipe off the tears and launched a kick into the air. For some reason they didn't bother to come down themselves, and decided to wait for me on top. Rising up above the ground, I could see the afternoon sun lighting up everything around me as my right foot gradually drew closer to the robed girl's face.
Making the ground above my foot solid, I pivot in mid-air upside down, and swung my left arm into the robed girl's torso. A visible crunch resounded as her body flew more than 20 metres away. I see why they waited on top now, they had covered the ground completely with sludge and were preparing to flood my tunnels... No wonder the robed girl was too busy to defender herself. It was smart of her to attempt to drown me, but it only helped me.