*
As I move through the world, more and more colour enters this rather destitute life to give it meaning. Did it hold this much happiness before? How did it compare to what I previously thought was the happiest moment in my life? The time where I was having the greatest joy in the world. Though the surroundings were dark, a flat screen of light had painted my thoughts and feelings more vividly than anything else.
How did that compare to now? I could never tell. I wouldn't ever wish for one over the other, the only objective difference was the presence of these new companions. As such, the happiness of now was not only mine to have, but one shared and created upon the existence and presence of others. Whereas the previous joy that I had experienced was solely mine to indulge and satiate myself in.
I can not decide. I am indecisive. My will drifts idly and barely afloat in this ocean of time. I can not return to my previous position, so what choice do I have but to move forward? Such is a form of beauty itself. Such inherently ugly beauty reared its ugly head to only find value in itself. I can only hope that I continue to enjoy the beautiful aspects only, is it selfish to think so?
Black paints the sky from start to end, a never ending darkness that ate the world around us. This manner of engulfment was similar to The Great Disaster, it was common among trauma survivors to retain a fear of the dark or the colour black from it. Needless to say, some of them went insane from how severe it was. A soft humming prods my ears, stimulating them to tell me I retained my sense of hearing and the company of my comrades.
We had all transformed in an instant, leaving 4 flashes of bright light at the start location and heavy traces of magic signatures there. It was under the assumption that the enemy had no awareness about our current transgression or that there weren't anymore enemies nearby. A quick and swift departure was the most convenient course of action, put into use with the night as cover, we travelled in a square formation. Leaping off the ground every once in a while to continue the glide-like journey.
Every leap uses absurd super human strength to bring about velocity that keep us in the air for long periods of time, it was akin to flying with the exception of having to leap everytime we reach close to the ground or have obstacles in the way. That was why it was similar to gliding as we approach closer to the ground as the singular leap continues on, requiring the need to reset with another leap to gain altitude.
"... ?! Split!" (Paridia)
As per agreed instructions, we had made up some short signals for things we need to say in a hurry. One of those was 'split', it was as simple as it suggested. Each of us was to not only temporarily change directions, but also change altitudes to shake off any pursuers. Paridia had noticed them earlier, our route had been predicted and intercepted. Down to our every action, tch! How did they know we would speed up now?!
4 individual bursts of magic energy radiated off into the surroundings as wind currents had been guided into a chaotic arrangement. Speeding up the winds we left in our wake with my first skill, it should at least cut up anyone who tried to follow after us. Surely enough, there was a subtle splatter of blood that echoed behind my ears, it must have been a shallow cut since there was no more sound after that.
As it was an ambush from the front, they hadn't entered our range of detection until we drew close to them ourselves. If they had been chasing us from behind, our superior speed would have allowed us to maintain our distance and determine their positions, but since they had come from the opposite direction it worked against our favour instead. Our faster speed brought us to them instead, Paridia who had taken the lead cautiously watched the front for us. Fortunately we had made such arrangements before hand in the case of any unforeseen circumstances.
If it was a single weakling, we could have ran them over like a vehicle over a person and be off with it. But it was an entire group, a magical girl battalion size of 9 with low B and high C grades in effectiveness. While the others were chased by 2 of them, I had 3 high up on my tail. With my proficiency and the type of skills I had, I was designated to fly at the highest altitude.
It was a risky yet reward position as a defeat would sent me tumbling straight down towards the ground, but a victory would assure air superiority. If I were to defeat the ones after me, striking the the rest from a high altitude would surprise them. Humans werent generally built to look up, even magical girls. It was a common blind spot, but one hard to exploit until we were able to go increase in altitude.
Slowing my speed in an instant, I swung my foot midair which struck one of them in the torso. Due to my sudden deceleration, they had caught up to me in an instant, to their surprise. In the instant that we lined up horizontally, I took advantage of my higher reaction speed to kick one of them down before drifting off to the right. Making sure to shield my back with a barrier when I kicked one of them, it was a countermeasure that bore fruit as crackles of electricity resounded over my back. They barely bounced off the barrier which was set up in a rush at the last second.
The magical girl who got kicked grits her teeth as the force sent her flying towards inertia. She wore a yellow dress with black bracelets and padded plate armour around her limbs. She had grey thigh-highs and a blue undershirt that peaked out from the edge of the flat collar. Her hair was black with tints of green. The one that threw a lightning bolt at my back had a light blue top with a deep sea blue pleated skirt and black stockings. She had a light grey hue to her hair, and she formed a sword with her lightning. The last one had light brown hair with a tradition white dress matched with a brown corsette and black straps. The ribbons on her corset and dress were black with the occasional red highlights that streak down her dress. Her shoes were also high heels, a rare existence but it made sense to suit the rest of her combat dress aesthetically.
Swing her blade of lightning, I formed my own vacuum blade in return to meet hers in a clash. I poured sufficient amounts of magical particles and strength into that one slash, expecting to at least break through her sword or bisect her entirely in half. Unexpectedly, she held on with a little grunt, her arms trembled and her cheeks contorted as her teeth grit so hard I could see it. All the while, her eyes had been open to observe my movements. She must have poured a disproportionately large amount of magical particles to forge that sword, if it's density was even able to meet mine without snapping in an instant.
"Your sword is unusually dense, how are you so ready to take such a gamble?"
I loosen my grip, relieving some pressure from her to speak. Information gathering was key as well, it was so fortunate that we get to meet magical girls weaker than ourselves so we can extract information from them with ease.
" I have... Comrades... And I have... Things I need to protect as well... Why do you fight?" ( Blue dress)
I could sense both her teamates about to launched a synchronise attack, the third one was waiting for the one who got kicked so they could combine their skills. Likely, the first thunderbolt shot at me was a durability test. It gave them a rough sense of how powerful an attack needed to be before actually being able to hurt me.
"Same as you."
Her eyes widen in shock a little. But at this point, it shouldn't be such a surprise. We're being pit against one another, possibly by others in the shadows. To beat them, we have to join them. Not literally join forces with them, but to imitate and become strong enough to fight them in the shadows. For that, we can't be struggling at the weaklings here.
Kicking her in the torso, it blew her away as all her strength had been concentrated into her sword, ultimately taking her by surprise. I expanded the barrier right after to cover me in the shape of a sphere, sure enough a hard blow the entire sphere flying with me taken along the ride. The yellow dress magical girl had done something to 'dislocate' my barrier from space, while her more physically inclined teamate helped to punch the entire thing away, creating distance for her to stay safe.
She had either wanted to create distance, so they could fire long ranged attacks in peace or that she only meant to 'dislocate' a portion of the barrier, so it shatters like glass. Unfortunately my barrier wasn't so simple, if it had only been formed by my second skill which stopped particles and energy in place to form the barrier, it would have worked.
But it was a combination with my first skill that made it multilayer, the first layer being a rapidly gyrating layer of wind that never stopped. She had 'dislocated' the wind, only for it to be pushed by the wind behind it in its usual cycle around me. In a sense, since it was moving all the time it was already 'dislocated' from space. Releasing the barrier, I solidified the air under me before using it as a foothold, leaping across the distance between us in an instant.
The one in the corset summoned her gauntlets that were a mix of tanned brown leather and dark crimson crystal, predicting my movements with maximum accuracy, she launched her fist into the space where my face would go next. I clad my own knuckles in a layer of violent wind before launching the classic reigning drill cross punch. I flicked my wrist while expanding all my muscles to reach towards her. In the small time period where I got caught in surprise and realised she could predict my movements, I chose to launch my own attack instead of dodging into a futile exchange.
My speed worked against me, a cracking sound resounded as our fists did the talking. The only difference was my higher endurance parameter. She became unconscious and flew towards the ground at astounding speed, her teamates running to catch her. I suppose this was enough. While they were distracted, I made a run for it and reoriented my direction. If we couldnt reconvene immediately, we were to meet up on site instead. Seeing how they were, we were close to their base, or at least one of their branch bases.
We could begin by destroying the bases one by one, though there should be at least one or two magical girls on the level of Gerald acting as the boss. How many bases there were depended on the size of central, it had greatly expanded this past year into something unrecognisable. I had a few jobs here and there a year ago, back then it looked to be just another village that had grown more than it could handle. Thousands of tents with entire families within them were spread there, the territory boasted to be the safest region in the Sanctuary.
Along the way, I detected Paridia flying parallel to myself and met up with her. The usual procedure was to reconvene immediately so we could assist one another if anything were to happen. When I got close enough to see her under the darkness of the night, she seemed to have sustained a fatal injury.
"I'm okay... I can't consent to who gets to rescue me, but I'll be in your care." (Paridia)
Saying as such, her stern expression had softened into a more carefree one, along with her movements. I was forced to carry her entire body weight at a moments notice, regardless she would be safe now. She had simply lost too much blood, but what looked fatal to humans might not be too much of a deal for magical girls.