*
"Please let me be selfish for a little longer."
"I can't turn you down now, can I?" (Myuu)
"Hahah... I won't let you die."
Leaping in once more, I raised my focus to the very max. It could be said that my mind itself was acting as a haze for my movements. Self-doubt, frustration, jealousy, helplessness, self-scorn. All of it blended into a invisible corrupted mess that plagued my mind. I want to continue this fight, to purify myself, to purify that mess. To work on a fresh start, to sharpen my will and begin a new journey from this point on. To let my old will be reborn into a newer, deadlier and improved self.
Myuu's movements begin to blur, she was accelerating in speed leaving only the general silhouette of her movements for me to observe. What I could see now was where she was at, not where she could go to. I twist my wrist at the last second and used my skills to twist the air around it in the same direction.
"First skill [Hollow calamity] - Composite technique! Reigning drill cross punch!"
I have come a long way from before, the air I spin into a drill is no longer a light breeze but a deadly storm now. As expected, she managed to dodge it at the last second by bending back, but the drill extends forward and outwards like a tornado. It tears through the air and ground in the vicinity like a giant cleaver in all directions. A large cut shows up on the right side of Myuu's waist but she quickly heals it up as if nothing had happened. Her dark forest green aura continues to permeate through her body. She was somehow still going faster, as if she was a mirror of my future self.
That was probably it. Her new skill, [Extreme governing] must be a body strengthening skill. Now I have to figure out, to what extent is she strengthened? I must concentrate, or I will be consumed by this adrenaline. This is an addicting feeling, it sparks life into my blood. It gives me the urge to move, to punch, to kick, to go wild.
"First skill [Hollow calamity] - technique air hold."
By forming footholds in the air, or sheer explosive force that acts against my foot, I become able to pivot and turn sharp angles at unexpected places. My skill was only boosting the movement of matter, so it uses Newton's 3rd law. For every action force, there is an equal and opposite force. By pushing the air towards my feet with enough force, it acts similarly to the ground with an opposite force coming from my feet to cause a propulsion in the desired direction.
By spamming this skill, I can stay in the air for longer periods of time. Constantly moving about at an extremely fast pace to confuse the enemy. By adding a third dimension in my movement instead of doing my usual straight rush, it adds more positions for the opponent to watch out.
Landing on my palms, I swung my legs with full force while causing the air around them to rotate further. First skill [Hollow calamity] - technique, gyro drill kick. As I had landed in my palms, she was able to easily predict the trajectory of my attacks and dodge them. While it would be convenient if these kicks did hit her, they were more for whipping up a storm of dust to block her sight. I make more air holds right next to the ground to propel myself forward, I leap past her this time and began to turn drastic angles to confuse her.
The dust storm may not be effective in inhibiting her sight since my movements made a lot of noise. Still, I have to do my best. Try everything I can think of, and get better at it. Once I've made it to a favourable position, I stopped some of my momentum, causing my feet to drag on the ground with a rough sound. *shffff*, the soil gives way underneath. Turning 90 degrees in mid air, it was as if I was running on a wall that wasn't there, before I made one more leap at Myuu to throw a punch.
She dodges once more by bending forward, and this time I was too fixated on ambushing her to surround my attacks with wind. She twists her waist around in an instant to launch a counter attack at my torso, her fist impacted it directly causing a creaking sound to escape. Uncontrollably, blood had rose up my throat and was about to escape my lips. My vision turned completely dark for a second before I threw up the blood clogging my windpipe. Dark crimson liquid slips through my lips and down my nostrils as colour returned into my sight.
The impact of her punch had sent me flying, only to tumble and roll many times as I land. Hopping back up into a squatting pose before standing back up, I wiped the blood off of my face as I began to approach her. She was likely probing for a signal to stop, but my silence was a clear enough affirmation. My serious expression like a superior in the military looking at their subordinates continued to convey my thoughts soundly. Continue the fight.
Even though I had lost consciousness for a second, I wasn't going to back down. I leaped once more with all my strength and my maximum speed. This was my usual and predictable approach. A mundane method to close the distance between the opponent and myself, after all I was a close ranged fighter. Myuu on the other hand, began to raise vines and sharp branches straight from the ground in front of me, forcing me to dodge and lose speed.
To combat this, I made more use of my skill. I begin to use 'air hold' and make use of all 3 dimensions. If I ran at her on the ground, she simply had to shift the trajectory of her attacks from left to right. Integrating the possibility of attacks from above and below made it much harder for her. When she summons plants to aid her, she technically wasn't summoning them.
She was reviving them from the dead, and their shape and movement was for her own choosing. If she had used this skill on her mother, in which this skill showed no sign of being able to revive other human beings and animals, she would have become a zombie instead. In a sense, her powers that work on herself and her allies have become partially zombie, though there is no obvious physical difference.
Zombies are the reanimation of dead corpses with the use of magic to fuel their muscle contractions and movement. The stronger the magic, the stronger the zombie. In a sense, a magical girl that does not eat to survive but mainly relies on magic to move and replenish their nutrients is closer to a zombie than human. In this case the skill may only work on magical girls then, instead of all humans.
Once I had covered enough distance, I sent the maximum propulsion towards my feet as I launch more attacks with my fist. A shock wave flies out to cause a deep and enormous slit in the ground. She had caught my fist, albeit her arm was shaking heavily while doing so. I continue to push my arm as I walked closer to her, using even my leg muscles to push on the ground for extra force.
Pulling back my elbow, I threw my left fist from below expecting it to get blocked, so I kicked her abdomen right after to her surprise. Catching herself with vines, she fearlessly approached me to send her own attacks out. Though fast enough to slightly blur in my vision, I could roughly predict the trajectories of all her attacks as I met her fist straight on with my own. Shock waves rained from our sides, cleaving and ripping apart the ground as countless deep slits are formed. The ground cries out in agony as if it was being sliced like Swiss cheese.
Sending out a kick for a change, she sends out her own kick before punching me immediately on the chest. A sense of weightlessness took over my whole body before I took back control of it. My shift my body around to regain my sense of balance and centre of gravity, before jumping into the air with 'air hold'. This time I had aimed for her face with a kick while boosting my movement speed with my skills.
Myuu attempts to deflect it by punching it straight on, her elbow creaks under the pressure violently as she tries her best to push it away. I continue to add more propulsion behind me as our attacks had locked each other in place. This bent the clash slightly towards in my favour.
"HAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!"
"AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!" (Myuu)
'New composite technique, vine x 10 000' (Myuu)
A single vine spear rose out of the ground. It seemed to be radiating massive quantities of magical particles, so it was likely one large attack that I couldn't underestimate. But I was trapped in the battle with Myuu as she was still pushing even though she was about to lose out on our connected punch. I was trapped like a mouse in a cage, the upperhand that I had worked hard to gain was useless now as it pushed me toward Myuu.
As such, her vine attacked the most logical spot. I couldn't move front or back, so it struck from my side where I was too pressured to dodge. I squeak out a tiny bit of movements, press one foot into the ground while raising the other to remove my balance on purpose. The sense and destructive vine barely grazed past me, it's shock wave twisting everything in its surroundings like a straight forward drill. Naturally my skin and flesh suffered some losses, the skin on my neck was torn and pulled towards my face, since my head had bent towards the right where the spear was shooting towards.
She didn't fail to take advantage of this massive opening, since I had abandoned my balance and sent my body into a very low position, I was open to hard kicks and my arms wouldn't help much. As I had no balance, it was far easier to send me flying even if I block the kick with my arms. I wasn't 'firmly rooted to the ground', so with a combination of her strength and my average mass I was shot away like a cannon.
I attempt to recover by lending on my ankles, I feel like it had shattered some bones but they make a quick recovery as I hoped to continue reveling in the adrenaline.
"Fuh~"
It was foolish to open myself to attacks like this, but it was also necessary to regain my composure by taking a deep breath. Rushing in in an adrenaline filled frenzy didn't work, so now I have to be calculating and patient. But this wasn't a battle to the death, it was just a mock battle. So wasn't it fine to end it here now? A serious battle would have seen us sacrificing some bones to get an advantage. They heal quick and the sound they make stuns the enemy sometimes from their sheer surprise.
"Hahah... I still can't match up to you..."
She returns a smile in response to my sheepish laughter. A wry smile escaping her lips as she objects to my statement. A slight tinge of blush had permeated through her cheeks as droplets of sparkly perspiration beads could be seen dripping down her temples.
"Hah? You haven't used your Stick to tear through my defenses." (Myuu)
"They would have the same effect as my punches from just now. You still haven't used your Oblivion Magia, miss A-grade magical girl."
"?! You caught on? Well of course you did, you had the sharpest senses and the weakest body among the close range fighters... "(Myuu)
".... It was only conjecture. I have nearly reached there and I gave up since there was no sign of me improving in battle. My battle style had grown stale and my motivation buried underground.
So, how was it? The entire point of this battle. To see if I can improve. "
"... You.... Maybe? " (Myuu)
" Urgh?!?!!! "
It felt like I fell over in shock just now as my expectation and anxiety came out in my puke.
".... What would you do if I say you couldn't? What would you do if I told you that you have hit the wall in your life. A wall that isn't tangible nor is it metaphysical. It isn't a wall but your own limit, your own body limiting anymore growth.
If it has already reached Maximum Combat State. The final point in a battle magical girl's life. What would you do? " (Myuu)
".... I think that battle with you had already woken me up.
I faced fear for the first time ever in that battle against that S-grade. I've always been able to squeak out a tiny sliver of victory by doing my best. So when an opponent showed that all my possible moves were completely futile, I lost it. There was nothing for me left to squeeze out a lucky victory nor was there any hole in her armour. She kept her distance properly while pummelling me with attacks. Even if I did get close, she secretly had a skill that granted her armour, armour that made my attacks feel like a tiny scratch in comparison.
What else could I do but despair at the difference? My patience was wearing thin... Strong enemies keep appearing while my growth rate was slowing to a halt. I don't think my stats has reached Maximum Combat State yet. But they are near. My end is near. Even so, I can't believe I was this in love with fighting even if I was so weak compared to everyone else.
Can you believe it? I fell in love with something that made me despaired... "
" That sounds like an abusive relationship... "(Myuu)
" Hahah... Yeah... Well, this was suppose to be a fresh start. I'm going to become the ideal magical girl. "
" Mhmm" (Myuu)
"As such, I will turn over and destroy anymore adversity. Even if it costs my life. I think I have the resolve to do that now. Or the foolishness to throw away my life."
"Mhmm." (Myuu)