*
There was no longer anyone else around. In particular, this street that was lined with shops and apartments had gone deafeningly quiet. Even if the roof was gone, I was surrounded by some moderately tall buildings. The architectural layout of this labyrinth was like a checker board. So it echoed. 'Drip drip drip'. Soft and fickle, the quiet leaking of blood impacts the ground and echoes around.
My legs collapsed and I stare up into the sky with my legs sprawled on the ground. My thoughts fade out like a distant dream, incorporeal and vague in form. I always wondered why I was not the same. Why no one else had strived to make the path of least regrets. Why I didn't dare to tell anyone else about how I felt. I think subconsciously, even I was aware that I would feel shame if I told someone. 'The path of no regrets' can only be two things, it is either the naive aspirations of a child, or it is the childish escapism of a grown person. I was running. Running from responsibility.
The responsibility of leading? The responsible of guiding people to where they were. Back when we were stuck in an Illnoia border station. Perhaps the general that kept us there, Frena let us live due to some other reason. It was not her laziness but her thoughtfulness. Thoughtfulness not to us, but to her country. We were treated the same as her own soldiers that were born and raised there. Perhaps she was giving us the choice to join her. It was both her mercy to our lives and a ploy to gain a tiny bit more power for her country.
Perhaps she saw this war coming, and thought that she'd kill us anyway when this war inevitably breaks out. But if we were to join her, we wouldn't have had to face the hardship of fighting two continental superpowers. Did she see so far ahead? Or was I just blind.... We were kidnapped in the middle of our curriculum, I don't think we'd have any awareness of the ensuing war at that time. Was that why she only kidnapped us? Because she knew we weren't aware of anything yet?
.... I'll do it. I'll become a general by climbing my way up. I'll reach her level, maybe even higher. And at that time, I'll get the answers I want out of her. Even if I have to beat them out of her. My path is like a muddy and fuzzy debris covered track. It's so incredibly hard to trudge through. I feel like stopping at anytime to breakdown and cry. Let out all my tears before continuing. But I'm also afraid. That if I stop just once... I wouldn't move again.
I drag my exhausted body to a nearby shelter. Any old random building nearby would do. I simply needed to be out of sight and hiding away from out in the open for a bit. I feel... Tired. It's as if my heels were filled with molten metal and weights were tied to my wrists. With every small step, my breath escapes my lip. Warm and wispy, it fades into the air as fast as it came out of my mouth. I could feel my cheeks and limbs warming up.
*Shhhf shhhhhfff shhhhhhhhf*
How long has it been going on? How long have I walked? When did my right leg lose the ability walk? It was being dragged across the ground at this point. Inertia pulls my body towards the ground like an invisible weight pressing across my body. It takes all my strength to continue standing and limping. I need to get away from here, that's definitely not all of them. There's probably more enemies in that direction. I can still hear destruction in multiple directions. Would staying in a building be safer? What if it collapses?
I use the last bit of my magic power to make a hole in the wall I could crawl through. My arms press against the ground, drawing strength from my elbows and shoulder to carry my body's entire weight. Grab, lift, pull, grab, lift, pull, grab, lift, pull.
"Haa~ haa~ haa~ shit."
What a pain. What a tiring pain. It's just awful. My fingers are still trembling... When will it stop? Regardless of the state of my body, my mind fell to exhaustion all the same, so I slept on the cold hard floor. I hope Myuu's doing okay.
***
"Tch, what is this strength?!" (Myuu)
Her tattered body lightly swayed as she regained her sense of balance. Her body had taken a few powerful hits, sending her flying. She could have been knocked out multiple times but she barely hanged onto the edge of her consciousness. Her vision had already began to darken.
".... I could say the same for you. I could have sworn that I've pierced your heart multiple times... How are you still alive?" (?)
It was obviously a magical girl from the other side. Her blond hair had been neatly tied into 2 long braids that extended to her left and right. She wore a white hooded jacket with orange highlights, black shortpants and tight grey knee-high stockings. Her wrists were covered by jett black spiked bracelets as her jacket sleeve only reached her elbows to reveal her forearm. Her body was completely free of dust let alone a single scratch or injury. Unlike everyone else including her comrades, she was the only one free of any injury.
Just what was she thinking at this point in time? Was she any different from us? Or did she hold her own unique mindset by being so strong?
".... You're thinking something rude aren't you? Well, it wouldn't be the first time a person thought I was a monster. Not that it matters to a person about to die." (Sariel)
Vanishing from her spot, another wave of her assault begins. It was similar to the previous few times, but Sariel would obviously vary her attacking angles to make it unpredictable. [Thus begins the light]. She was a B grade magical girl, just like Myuu. There were many others before her, the Grundo alliance's army was one of quality instead of quantity after all. The only reason even their quantity has exceeded that of the defending force, was because their numbers were supplemented by the extra large Illnoia Administration army.
'Just what were they fighting for? Why did they come here to kill us off too? Didn't they already purged the Gangrea Monarchy? Surely they should have enough resources from their land alone, even if they greedily went after that which was in Europe... The europic region where the Gangrea Monarchy previously was... Before they got eradicated, they surely had plenty of resources there...' (Myuu)
"KUGHHHH!!!" (Myuu)
There was a fist lodged into Myuu's chest as her back instantly went limp, her spine had also been destroyed by the fist. This was a problem, if Sariel kept her fist inside of Myuu then she wouldn't have enough space to regenerate her organs. This time she'll really die, unless... Myuu struggles to lift her right hand up, attempting to reach contact with Sariel. Her entire arm trembles under the pain of her injuries and blood spurting out of her throat. It would obviously be bad if her hand made contact with her, Sariel could at least tell that much if Myuu was attempting to touch her. But she couldn't see her power.
Just as Sariel couldn't see the green aura wrapping around Myuu's body, she couldn't tell that Myuu had a regenerative power nor that her arm was covered in it at the same moment. [Collapse visage stride], she was wrapped in her own magical particles the entire time. When her skill activates, the magical particles causes her to disappear form her enemies' sight by blocking her appearance from their minds. They would usually feel like something is off as their minds become temporarily altered by magic, but it would only serve to distract them from her attacks.
As she was wrapped in these magical particles of her own, it makes it difficult for her to see any auras. As they alter her opponent's mind to not see her, it alter's her own to always be able to see her opponent, therefore it only gave her the bare minimum amount of vision. In her sight it was as dark as a cave with no ligjt, but she could still see her body and her enemy in a small boundary. She could barely sense her soundings by using her magical particles in a similar way to echolocation, basically it was magical particle tracking. But it was employed in an even more precise level of technique and speed. In any case, she was only allowed the bare minimum, her opponent's aura couldn't be seen directly with her eyes and her magic sense can barely pick up on it if it covers tightly around Myuu.
She used her skill to knock away Myuu's hand before it reached her. Instead their hands made contact. [Vigour of damned nature] - Refined technique, alpha clad. Myuu's very first skill, and still the only skill she has. Unlike Kaorin, she had what was called, talent. Unlike Kaorin, she didn't struggle her way up to this level of strength.
She simply made use of her talent in magic to grow stronger. It was not that she didn't face any struggles at all. It was simply that her struggle was in another form. One that could arguably be worse than Kaorin's. So she kept it to herself. Who wouldn't? If one could make the choice of keeping everything in and pretend to be okay, or let your friends worry, usually we would take the first choice.
No matter how much it was emphasised in stories or other mediums, that holding it in too long is ultimately harmful, who wouldn't hesitate to let it all out? Who would be able to casually dig out their darkest secrets and bare it under the sun? Who would be so brave as to rely on their friends for something they many not be able to help with? Even if she knew it was foolish, all she could do was what was easiest at that point in time. Pretend everything was alright. Pretend to be fine. Pretend that everything was going well, that nothing was wrong.
In that deep dark sludge of play pretend, Kaorin's naivety was like a light. It was such a dumb unintelligent light. For some incomprehensible reason, Kaorin looked like she was completely fine. Even though she had sustained that anti magic injury for quite a while, even though she went through so much pain, she never stopped smiling in front of me. She looked stupid, like a clown with mental difficulty. Someone who couldn't understand how screwed up the situation actually is, being cheerful and happy all the time.
That was why I was jealous of her. How could she behave like that? Unlike myself, both her parents had died, so why was she more happier than me? Why was she able to smile more brightly than someone called "Playful Myuu"? I played the part. The cheerful little girl character? I knew I was getting old and that the title wouldn't last long. Even if my body stopped aging when I transformed into a magical girl, my mind was aging. I was getting sick of this facade that I portrayed. It was so sickening that I wanted to puke when I told Kaorin my title.
But what can I say? The thing I've struggle most with is trying to live a normal life. How can one just ignore the death of one parent, let alone two? That was why I couldn't understand her. The source of her strength. The tenacity of her will. Well maybe there's not much tenacity there, but she acts like she's living a normal life. Irrationally, I got angry at her out of jealousy, even gave her a verbal jab. Even if I was irrational once, I'm not completely stupid like her. Once my anger faded away, I instantly recognised it as my own jealousy. From there, admiration was born.
"?!?!!" (Sariel)
Our hands made contact. [Vigour of damned nature], this final technique wrapped my body in such a dense layer of it. It was practically packed to the brim with magic. This skill, it brings back things from the dead. When used on myself and anyone else, it brings back their dead cells into living cells and transitions them back into a functioning state. It was always risky and dangerous to do this, but by concentrating I had immediately removed the risk through sheer skill. This time I won't hold back, I'll also revive all the dead bacteria killed in the past. In an instant, Sariel's arm had been covered in grotesque mold-like textures and a multitude of nauseating colours.
She'll die from numerous bacterial and viral infections.
"...." (Myuu)
"Did you think I have only one skill?" (Sariel)
The bacterial mold fell off, as if it had been sloppily placed on top of her like a foreign object. There was no struggle, no sign of difficulty. It simple fell off like a pancake. The only change was Sariel had to pull out her arm from Myuu's body to direct her second skill towards the infection. It was now very slow due to the excessive damage, but Myuu's regeneration was slowly kicking in. It felt like her body was burning up.