*
"?!?!!" (Myuu)
Feeling a tense pressure from the attacks, I leaped forward in a hurry. It wasn't as if I could tell where the attacks were coming from like Myuu, so the pressure I felt was solely from my own stress. A sharp pain pierces my back, I turn around to observe a ridiculously large stalagmite that had barely reached to pierce my flesh. It had grown out of where I was previously standing. But more than that, what shocked me the most was what stood next to it.
It cut my breath in one go, as if it had stopped my heart and didn't want to let go. My eyes widened subconsciously as I lose any coordination or idea on how to react. Myuu was there staring at me. She had a blood dripping smile on her face with countless black spikes piercing her throat. They weren't connected to the ground at all.
I leaped to her side in an instant to punch out the spikes. A soft forest green aura began to enter the gaping hole in her neck. Her colourless iris had regained its hue in an instant. A sharp and painful breath rushed into her lungs, the gaping hole in her windpipe amplifying her pain. Her eyes covered with tears trained their gaze onto me, signalling while her voice was not available at the moment.
"Mhmm, do it."
'Oblivion Magia' (Myuu)
She mouths out of the most advanced technique in her arsenal. Something that could never be taken lightly, a last resort for one who does not possess their final skill. This was the strongest technique that either of us could deploy. An empty white space extends outwards with Myuu as the origin. Blank white space, beyond the brightness of light and darkness of voice, it's as if reality had become a blank texture of an empty canvas. To put it simply, Myuu had 'placed her own canvas' over reality. This was the very first step before the next, colouring that very canvas with her own colours.
A patch of grass blossomed forth with fields of lilies taking every inch of the ground like a flood. The sky was painted with a faint light blue while a figure in all black had appeared. She wore a skin fitting suit of black with accents of dark crimson red and white. Her outfit could be vaguely made out as a jett black top and bottom and shoes. Above her top was even an additional article of clothing, a jacket. Her hair was a brilliant red like a shining ruby, and her features seemed way more mature than other magical girls as they emanate an aura of a grown up. One could even say that she was the complete opposite of the other magical girl whose body had appeared among the lilies some distance way.
A black space begins to extend from that new figure as if consuming Myuu's Oblivion Magia. Needless to say it was her own Oblivion Magia, she was painting her territory over Myuu's. It was similar to the urban buildings outside.
I bring my palm up near my lips. 'hagh', warm mist escapes to make contact with my skin. Good my sense of touch is still here. Fighting 2 magical girls in a row is simply exponentially more dangerous than just fighting 1. For one major factor, a portion of our Wells have been used in the previous battle. For number 2, fatigue can also build up from overusing our bodies.
Making sure my body was still behaving normally like that, I used it to refresh my mind. Even from this distance I could tell. She was way more dangerous than the previous one. Her Oblivion Magia allowed her to use her attacks inside our body. Materialising a giant stake in someone else's body would usually kill them, but we barely made it out with Myuu's healing and a lot of magical particles spent. This weakened our odds greatly, but since her partner is still incapacitated, we still have some chance.
The fact that her location has been revealed was proof of that. Boosting my movement speed and strength with my first skill, I leaped forth while mustering all my strength. She followed up by coating her knuckles in a black goo that solidified in an instant, matching up with my fist, a large ground splitting shock wave was released from the clash. I followed up with my left fist and she matches that too, continuing into a rain of clashes that caused a crater to surround us. Even in another dimension, our physical attacks were affecting the surroundings.
Changing the focus from punching each other to dealing with attacks, I locked my elbow at a 90 degree angle after I struck her right hand, this left the both of us with massive openings on my right side and her left. Pivoting on my right foot, I slid my left foot forward while launching my left fist into her torso from below while her left fist impacts my face. Twisting my hips, I force all my strength into my right leg to carry my body weight while I launched a long kick from the side with my left.
She blocks with her right arm that was already in position from our arm clash while I control my body balance with both arms. A creaking sound escapes as her dark crimson eyes sharpen with a reveal of her chattering teeth. "Khhh...!" (?) Taking advantage, I leaped backwards to make some distance, using the newly acquired breathing space to rest. Doing consecutive attacks like that drain my stamina and Well very quick.
Rays of black began to converge at a point on the magical girl's palm. It looked like the charging of a blue energy beam attack from a certain show, but what took place could only be described as offputting and impossible in reality. With a stretch, black light seemed to be coming from nowhere and gathering at her palm to form a small ping pong ball sized orb. There were such things as black light in actuality, but they weren't actually devices that projected darkness like light bulbs project light. It was something else entirely.
That was why it was so discomforting to watch this magical girl's darkness based attack. It defied reality, forcibly introduces us to a new element and agitate our minds. It goes against common sense, tugging at the edge of my conscious like a pesky and annoying little child. But I had something similar up my sleeve.
Setting a coordinate space that moves together with my body, a black outline of a sword appears in my right hand's grip, before the rest of the empty space was filled with a deep black. It starts in the middle before filling the rest of the sword with darkness, in other words I wielded another form of the absence of light. My first and second skill is used to remove all matter including light from that set space. This removal of matter creates an intangible but infinitely sharp pressure on anything it comes into contact with.
It is only blocked by things with a similar nature. In other words, other magic based items with enough output to withstand it. It swiftly cut through the massive black beam shot by that magical girl. Splitting it into 2 directions, I launch a second swing splitting it further into 4. The severed beams of energy began to dissipate as I rush in to close the distance. She swings her arm, presumably to launch a punch, before opening her palm.
"!?"
Grabbing onto her right arm at the last second, I pushed it away as a flood of jett black floors forth from it with more intensity than the converging beam attack. Looks like it had been a feint, no wonder it was so easy to slice through it. As my right arm was free while my left had skillfully blocked her surprise attack, stunning her with surprise, I brought my blade to her neck in an instant. Immediately, it had struck something hard even though I went as fast as possible. It seemed she wasn't in a daze as much as I thought, a brick coloured in a patch of black was completely blocking the my sword. She launched her right fist through my torso.
"Hagh?!?!!!!"
After all, there was no need to charge up her attack, nor be surprised and stop fighting just from that. She was full of tricks herself, and she used them as she saw fit to the situation. At present, we were all exhausted but we barely managed to defend against her attacks. Now that I think about it, Frena also had darkness related attacks. That fearsome S-grade general's skill was more related to an existing abyss, an entire different dimension of darkness. While this magical girl's power fully existed in our present dimension.
Thinking in such a way, she suddenly seemed way less oppressive. After all, we fought someone who was stronger than her while we were weaker than this. She may not be as merciful as Frena, so we have to be more cautious.
"nee~ who are you guys, and why have you attacked us. Depending on your answer, I just might kill you now."
I began with a question, a simple yet crucial one. The tone in my voice jumping at points only to end on a monotonous note. Myuu watched for her movements meticulously while I engaged in the conversation.
"Oh ho~? Getting cocky after a small exchange? You haven't seen much of my arsenal while you have revealed all of yours. I basically beat the information out of you, if I return now they'll form a team that will counter your skills. Or, I could kill you here myself. " (?)
A ferocious grin like a proper main character manifested on her face, her offers turned to deaf ears as we trained our gazes onto her with poker faces.
" Heh. Didn't work out so well for your friend there. She got knocked out so easily. " (Myuu)
A little chuckle slips out of Myuu, her expression loosen for a second to express her ridicule.
" She was the solution to your easy death. Well, the owner should have told you. We're linked to the progenitor. You think you can beat an ancient cult? "(?)
A cold voice returned a reply. Her last sentence explored her curiosity. The tension hit a final high point, everyone was out for blood, but no one was saying it. In such a world of magical girls, solving problems with violence was the most commonly used solution. Generally people reside within the law and don't attempt to murder each other at the drop of a hat, but magical girls were above the law. After all, who was going to stop us?
" Your makeup won't be the last thing staining this ground. "
I convey my intentions clearly. Our eyes sharpened, even blinking now would be a fatal mistake. If a single instance of blinking could lead to them launching a surprise attack and keeping up the momentum, the rhythm of the battle would be disadvantageous for us.
"..." (?)
She was at least fast enough to do that. It was simple to counteract such a scenario though. We attack first. An absurd pressure presses down on us, at a glance it was obvious. Gravity magic. It was ridiculous for both of her skills to be offensive. Usually the second skill would complement the first by having a completely opposite skill effect or having a supportive effect. I increase my magical particle output to twice what I was using to match up. My Well wasn't looking too good, but I needed to be able to move.
The increase was at the very last second where her long range attacks were coming in at fast speed. I kicked them away with enough force to leave a huge canal in the ground. Only to use the canal as a cover like a trench to close the distance and jump through the ground to reach her. She moved towards to her left a little, just in time to dodge my attack from popping out of the ground. Twisting my hips and bending my left leg, I swung my right fist with all the force I could muster while stretching towards her.
A wall of sharp vines grew behind her as the air pressure from the punch punch her into it, embedding her into the wall while blowing all the surrounding vines off. The ground has also been blown off with a cone shaped indent starting from my fist. It reached 50 metres long and 30 metres deep.
My skills had enhanced my A-grade strength long past a normal enhancement. Looking at my Well now, it looked like a gamble more than anything. I immediately released the enhancements to preserve my Well. I look over to Myuu, giving a little nod to her. She didn't understand since we didn't actually agree on a signal earlier or what a silent nod meant. But it was enough to convey that I had the situation under control.
I walked closer to the half dead body I shot all my strength at. Her bones seemed to be too broken for her to move, so all she could do was crane her head slightly forward to look at me. I extend a palm to her.
"No... Even if you extend your hand like that, my arms are too broken to grab onto them..." (?)