*
"..... You were tricked. There was no inn or Inn owner. Ever since you stepped into that building, you were caught in my Oblivion Magia. After all you guys didn't bother to hide your magic signatures, it was easy to identify you even from a distance." (Gerald)
The girl that we were previously fighting to the death with, she told us to call her Gerald even if it seemed ill fitting. Yet it felt unique, something only an existence like her could decide on such a name. She had back length smooth ruby hair that was velvety like expensive curtains, and it's deep crimson hue reflected light well as if it had been thoroughly polished. It gave the rest of her looks a reputation of a cold beauty, her reddish cheeks contrasted with her pale porcelain skin. Most of all, her shark dark crimson eyes that seemed like they saw through everything, they blinked viciously like a shark eating up prey.
She wore an almost completely black magical girl combat dress, her top was a black shirt with white and red highlights while her bottom was a long black pants that covered to her shoes, there were some patterns of red triangles and circles on her pants. Her jacket had a collar that stuck up to her ears and also shared the overall theme of full black with some red and white highlights.
Her friend, Paridia who had a pink hair and a multi-layered rainbow cloak was still knocked out on the ground nearby. It seems like my strength had gone up slightly since that Duel with Myuu. Maybe it had something to do with my mood. I suppose being depressed would affect your performance in anything, including battle. Wait...
"So you heard everything?"
"..." (Gerald)
"Ah... AaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAHHH!?"
"I assumed asking you to leave through" Owner"'s mouth would get you to actually leave. That was an actual warning from me so you wouldn't enter the territory under our jurisdiction. There are spies in other places so now you have to be careful.
In any case, lying to my boss that you are dead won't work. The boss has more skills than you can count the stars... It'd take an S-grade to bring her down, and by luck. " (Gerald)
Her expression seemed grim, as if she spoke from an awful experience that she wouldn't want anyone to go through. Perhaps she managed to hang on thus far due to her strength.
" I'm not stupid... They've most likely killed my father already, since keeping hostages are too much of a bother." (Gerald)
"Then why are you still working for her?" (Myuu)
"There are some things worse than death. The progenitor of magical girls is one of them. You would wish you went mad or died if you experienced it." (Gerald)
She held her left arm with her right, scratching uncomfortably as her face expressed visible disgust by puckering it up and distorting her wrinkles. She looked straight into my eyes, no longer a warning but a pleading. She was simply another individual who got caught in the web inconveniently. She spoke not as a victim but as another human being.
"Please run away. I can tell her a half lie like 'they escaped'. Please. Don't waste your life." (Gerald)
"Then you already know my response. After all I replied the same way to Owner. Or in other words, I've given you the answer already."
"The ideal magical girl..... You are insane." (Gerald)
Hearing a different opinion for once, I couldn't help but stifle a chuckle, precipitating into a little snort. 'Pff!' It was so odd, so unusual. Yet so endearing. It was fine for people to hold their own opinions, whether it supported or went against my ideal. It is a cherished perspective unique to everyone, something to be held dear. For all those that supported or didn't find fault with my ideal, I couldn't help but gather the paranoia that they were lying just to be nice.
So for something so blunt and opposing as 'You are insane' to be spoken to me, it amused me, and it also touched me. It really took strength for someone to be this confident, to speak their mind to someone who nearly killed them and were recently in a death battle against.
It was for such a type of beauty in this world that I find it increasingly more worthwhile to value my own life. I want to see more of such beauty. It may not be a unique or special life as plenty of magical girls out there are far stronger than I am, but I still valued my own life, even if it was selfish to do so in the current circumstances. It was not something the ideal magical girl would do, but I still desperately cling on to it. That is because I'm selfish.
"... Tch, I suppose you don't value your own life then. You're approaching closer to certain death. I won't stop you, but I disapprove. After all I said, I find it disgusting how you can continue to ignore my warnings." (Gerald)
For an individual like Gerald, one who is not similar to me in background but similar in disposition, it was natural to be disgusted or saddened at those who wish to throw away their lives. That was why it only felt more special to have disgusted Gerald. It meant that my facade of an ideal magical girl work, my facade of a selfless magical girl in pursuit of justice had fooled her. It meant that even if for a tiny moment, I held the image of the ideal magical girl to her.
A blooming smile like a flower in spring, an indescribable brilliance that emanated outwards all around. An expression that conveyed all the happiness in the world with a gentle sparkling grin. At least that was what Myuu told me about the face I was making, later on. It was only for a sliver of my dream, yet I made such an embarrassing face.
"Geh! Why are you smiling all of a sudden? You're creeping me out... Wait, it's not because you've decided I was a liability and want to kill me right?" (Gerald)
The top ridge of her nose has wrinkled along with her forehead as she looks warily looking for an explanation to something she deemed unexplainable. It felt like she was looking at a grotesque alien which hurt me a little. It could be seen that I spat a little blood from that realisation.
"... Perhaps she's thinking of something else right now.... Anyway, what should we do now, Kaorin? We need to locate the progenitor first then devise a way to defeat her. "(Myuu)
Looking absolutely exasperated, Myuu attempts to explain to Gerald before noticing herself that she also didn't believe it was normal.
"... Anyway, Gerald, do you know where we're at right now? Since we've apparently been caught in your Oblivion Magia for a few days."
"Only your sense of distance has been distorted, we're still fairly near the outskirts. You want to kill the progenitor right? , I'll come along with you then. I have my own score to settle." (Gerald)
A sliver of pride could be observed in her tone as she spoke about her own achievement, it was truly impressive how one could us an Oblivion Magia from a distance like her while keeping it nearly undetectable. It must be due to a passive skills, generally thought to reside in our magical girl combat dresses. It granted her precision in reading magical signatures, further range in perceiving where magical particles are and the ability to use her skills at further ranges than normal.
"From how you describe her and the legends written about her, we'd need all the help we could get. Wouldn't this be the same as attempting to kill a god?" (Myuu)
She makes a difficult face, expressing the doubts that we all secretly held in our hearts. Would we really be able to kill something like that? Some of us here have barely hit the minimum requirement for Grade A magical girl effectiveness. That is, a grade A well and 2 more A Graded stats. Is something like the bottom of the Grade A bracket really enough for someone who's power we couldn't even imagine?
"She was written off as a myth in our 'history of magic' lessons and even appeared in general history as a side note. Her existence is a rumour at best, but if something that absurd exists, how do we take her down?"
"... Hell if we know!" (Both)
" Weren't you the one who wanted to take her down?! "(Gerald)
" I thought you had that much confidence because you had a plan to kill a god... " (Myuu)
Unexpectedly, I had soured their moods by being an oblivious idiot. It took me a second to realise what they meant by my confidence... Though I wasn't really trying to act like that...
" Uhhh... I was driven by sheer ideals?"
"... Ahh... What the heck, we have a lot to do in terms of teamwork and combat dynamics, not to mention your callousness..." (Gerald)
"I've gotten used to it at this point..." (Myuu)
After being berated for being a fool, we rested around for another hour, with Paridia waking up 10 minutes after we decided to rest up. Her power was more specific than we though, where her skill flashes specific colours in an absurd area of effect, with each colour having a different effect on the opponent's mind. Red was confusion and hesitation, while blue was numbness and lethargy. White was an energy beam of destruction, the one that nearly annihilated us. They were the main ones that she used on her enemies before firing off a deadly laser summoned by her passive skill that converged light at one point.
It was specifically due to this passive that she was paired up with Gerald who used darkness to surround light like a container and passed it off to her. That was why it was difficult for them to fight simultaneously, rather Gerald was fueling all she had into Paridia's deadly lasers that we were dodging. When this conceptual light ran out, all that was left was conceptual darkness ready to be solidified and used by Gerald. In other words, Gerald was able to seperate light from a fixed coordinate, turning it into conceptual light and conceptual darkness. Things that were creations of magical particles, and not the actual light and dark that humans know of.
This seperation of conceptual elements was more of a byproduct of Gerald's skill, which Paridia just happen to be able to use the light aspect as fuel for her attacks. That was how she could fuel such large and deadly attacks that vaporised even our magically augmented defenses. A simple graze was able to instantly tear our skin, even more would have done us in.
Paridia was an orphan who looked for a better future. Despite the glaring despair of the situation in the entire world, and the death of her parents, this anomalous hope she held was described to us as a 'distant light' that called out to her. Before she noticed, she woke up in the same facility as Gerald. Was artificially awakened as a magical girl by the progenitor and put into the same territorial jurisdiction.
"Are you really going to fight her? Someone like the boss, she is infinitely more scarier than you. She's more terrifying and more horrible than death." (Paridia)
The moment we mentioned about our goal, her expression became a far cry from her previous smug arrogance. She prided herself in her versatile ability, matched with how her teamate was incredibly capable and even helped her attacks become stronger, she had the opinion that they were the strongest together. It was evident in her joy and laughter during our battle together, making the contrast with her current expression all the more distempering.
"I ask you once more, are you ready to risk more than life or death for your ideals." (Paridia)
Unlike Gerald who tiptoed around it a little, Paridia was somehow more blunt by a large margin. She cut to the chase, no matter how ugly it sounded or would make her to be. Yes, this was essentially the core idea in my decision making aptly put together by her in a single sentence.
"Yes."