*
"... So your skill has something to do with life. This time I can confirm it, I lodged my arm inside you and you're still alive....." (Sariel)
Flicking her wrist, a loud boom resounded across the street. Smoke and debris flew rapidly like a tsunami to consume the entire street, it felt like a miniature explosion had ignited right in front of Myuu as she was blown away.
"Aagh?!" (Myuu)
Her anguished grown slipped out with her saliva, her body was still busy healing from the lethal damage that Sariel had done. Without the help of her first skill, she would have died. Unlike A-grade magical girls, she could not regenerate back her body if she was dealt a lethal attack. Her body would be far too damage to recover for it and stop functioning, like how a heart stops pumping when it has no more energy, their body will stop functioning with no more magic.
As a magical girl, their existence was inherently tied to the concept of magic. When they run out of magical particles, they cease to exist and turn back into their normal selves. But what if their magic well dried out too fast? Would they instantly release their transformation and go back to normal?
Well, the answer is no. When a magical girl uses magic, it naturally drains their well of magical particles, as resources or in other words fuel for their magic. But if they somehow ran out of magical particles artificially and rapidly, the body would be able to recognise its abberant nature. It will then go into a state of shock.
Naturally, all of this assumed that they lacked Myuu's first skill. Perfect revival of the dead, perfect to the point that if she kept using her magic, she could exist in any environment. It would just be unimaginably painful in certain places, like space or a volcano.
[Reigning authority's will], the power of repulsion. When combined with her first skill it looked like this. Coating her fist in her second skill, while going invisible with the first, this was the fighting style of Sariel. Jumping in, she reached for a low hit by lowering her entire centre of gravity. Landing next to Myuu, her torso and shoulders twisted for the maximum momentum and... Strike. Myuu flew far, the ground caved under the attack and a portion of a buildings ground floor had been blown apart. She crashed through a few buildings, while unable to react.
Her vision had begun to black out since a bit ago, and now it was only catching up to her due to the additional impacts to her body. Her heart was beating and her body retained warmth, but she had lost the energy to breath or move. Her eyes stare emptily at the ceiling, she saw nothing there. Just nothingness and emptiness, it was an unused building. The architectural layout of this labyrinth was a disaster, it was so easy for invaders to start a large scale domino and destroy it. One could only guess that it was built with space in mind instead of functionality. It was built a long time ago, perhaps technology was not advanced enough back then.
'Perhaps I was too reckless. This fighting stuff was way out my league. Even if we won one or two fights, it wouldn't surmount the mountain of experience these people have...
I haven't killed anyone yet. I couldn't do it. As expected, even if I was so angry that I could kill, I still couldn't. I guess I stayed as a kid to the very end. Ah... I see, Kaorin you were the one who was more mature in the end. Now I know why I was jealous too. I wanted to be cool like you and move on from the past. But I only clung to it... Is this my end? ' (Myuu)
"... What are you doing here?" (?)
"Eh?!" (Myuu)
"Aren't you suppose to be out there avenging your mother? The mother that can't be brought back again or she wouldn't be the same?" (?)
She could tell the voice was familiar. But her mind was too foggy to make out who it was. Unexpectedly, it was a source of warmth that permeated through her ruptured heart. She'd sooner believe that it was a hallucination than that a friend had actually found her. Her thoughts were mostly in fragmented shambles, no matter what she felt like she had not enough energy to form coherent thoughts.
Her temples felt a searing pain as she continued to stare at the ceiling. Her facial features began to distort... Into a frown. Tears had begun to flow. She's cried so much the in the past she assumed her tear ducts would be too dry now. She's always been crying everytime, every night. She clung to the past because that was all she knew to do. There was nothing left to look forward to in the future. Why look at such a dark and bleak thing, when you can indulge in the bright and happy past?
"So you're starting to cry huh. You had such an angry look while you fought and charged at me. Where did all that spirit go?" (Sariel)
Another familiar voice, this time it came from the hole in the wall that Myuu created with her body. She definitely recognised this one, after she's been hearing her pretentious voice since the start of the battle.
" And how does that matter to you?" (?)
The familiar voice she heard spoke once more. This time to a third party. Now she at least knew, it was definitely real... But her opponent was too much. Sariel had rather simple abilities, but her usage of her skills and her fighting prowess was simply too much this time. She believed that even Kaorin wouldn't be able to handle Sariel.
".... Please... Run. Leave me here... It's okay." (Myuu)
She was barely hanging on, her consciousness would black out in a couple seconds.
"... It... Me...." (?)
***(Kaorin)
"Leave it to me."
"...." (Sariel)
"Tch! I thought I could rest for a bit. But I can't overlook this and let her die."
To be honest I was in the middle of resting when Myuu burst in through the wall. I thought she was messing with me until she started crying. Well, at least it made the situation straight forward. Someone broke her will to fight. And it was my job. To follow that will even if it's original owner had lost it. It was my duty as her friend to carry it to its conclusion. It felt like something was way off, and that it was too weird for them to invade the Sanctuary. But now that no longer mattered. I'll throw everything on my mind away for now and focus on this fight.
"[Reigning authority's will] technique, Sheer sanctity." (Sariel)
An invisible pressure assaulted my entire body, as if wrapping me with mountain, it attempts to crush me under its weight. It is however unfortunate for her. The ground still cracked under my feet, as if I had been pushed roughly into the ground I stood on.
".....?!" (Sariel)
I felt that pressure... Minimally. I can roughly gauge the amount of force its using on me, and how much my barrier was holding up against it. This mysterious pressure of hers... Part of it is not from her skill... There's a different feeling to it... Like it's forcing me to perspire cold sweat. Unlike with Myuu, she only beared a lot more of this ferocity for me. I could perhaps guess what she was currently thinking.
"You can see it huh. The amount of blood on these hands of mine. It's only something similar people can observe. So it seems you dip your feet into it a lot too."
"... Do not compare me to you! I fight with a reason in mind, with an objective. But you... You're a monster that takes pleasure in killing! I'll put you in your place! "(Sariel)
Hearing what she said, I mistakenly frowned by reflex. My brow slightly furrowed on the ridge of my nose and before I knew it, I was looking at her like I was looking at an insect.... I should stop that kind of thing. One day I'll make a mistake and treat a stronger magical girl horribly. Well, all's fair and well in a war. She was not wrong with her observations.
It felt like I was experiencing an explosive growth. It was not a growth in raw power, but one in skill and technique. As I fought more and more before this happened, I slowly learned more and more ways to kill others. She was not wrong when she said I had some enjoyment in it. Though I doubt I had enjoyed killing people, I feel like what I was enjoying was actually becoming stronger and more experienced in battle, in other words my own growth.
I recognise that it was messed up to find such a perverse way of enjoyment in the middle of life or death battles. I can't excuse it nor can I redeem myself above it. I'll answer it with what I chose and found in the journey of killing. When one kills, they must be prepared to be killed. So once again, I'll answer this sin with my life. Whether I win or not in this fight only changes when I actually pay up. I'm sure now, about this road I'm walking on. At the end of it, I'm going to die in a fight.
What do people usually see at the end of their journey. Is it satisfaction? Unadulterated happiness? A pride filled boastful achievement? I think I caught a glimpse of the end when I was fighting before. A 'near-death experience' as one may call it. Does that mean death is all that awaited at the end of the journey? Well, not necessarily so. At the end, the journey ceases to exist. Accomplishment, meaning, desire, all of it fades away at the end. There is nothing more at the end or after the end. Everything that was important resides in the middle, in the present.
... In the present... She turned invisible and sent a bunch of attacks. It's whittling away at my barrier, but none of it is getting through to affect me. She's boosting her punches with some kind of power, but it's not effective on my barrier. It seems like they have a similar nature to each other if that was the case. It was like trying to light a campfire in burning magma.
My magical particle manipulation has grown better and more efficient. Even if my body has grown weary and my well is low at the moment, I can keep the barrier on me while punching!
She couldn't follow the punch in time and received a hard hit to the shoulder. A small creaking resounded before she disappeared once more.
"I don't have a reason? I enjoy killing others? Please, you guys are the invaders here!!! What more reason do I need, other than to live in my own home!!!!!"
I strike the ground, easily causing it to crumble with my fist. The surrounding flooring shatters and begin to rise up, Sariel temporarily becoming visible as she lost her concentration on the skill to keep her footing. I can read the material and composition of things with my passive skill, so it inadvertently became a radar when something unnatural has been detected by it. Passive skill - refined technique! Ray network! Rays, or in other words, lines of air begin to move in a straight forward manner at extremely slow speeds, while I scan the composition of these lines as time goes on.
I can't see that magical girl when her skill is activated, so I need other kinds of senses to deal with her. When the composition of a ray becomes an empty void, that would be where her locations is as she can't be detected. Suspicious empty spaces would be where she is located. It moves extremely slowly in order to not get noticed,and it functions as a cheap Intel gathering magic due to the minimal volume of these rays that are deployed.
I don't see myself winning so easily in this battle though. Even if I have a vague idea of where she is, she could easily move faster than I can detect and confuse my senses. She is also close combat oriented, so getting close is a no go. Firing at long range would also basically be firing at air...
There! Twisting my entire body, I struck downwards at where I had detected her presence. She was vaguely aware of it and decided to go lower, but I struck her all the same. Blood shot out of my nose as a large swelling showed up over my left cheek. I can still trade blows.