*
"... How did you get hurt this bad?"
Her rose pink hair fluttered in the wind as if following the rhythm of her rainbow layered cloak, below her cloak was a white mini skirt and sports shoes. Her legs were layed bare compared to the others who usually had stockings or socks, looking at her bare legs reminded me that my own combat dress had dark grey thigh highs.
I felt my own hot breath blow against my face as my body continued to move forward into the dark veil of the night. I had stayed calm before since my comrades were flying with me to our destination, but now that I was practically alone with someone who had fainted, it felt chillingly lonely.
"Hnnn.... Mama... Wel... Ack..." (Paridia)
"..."
How worrisome. Does she have a troubled past of some sort too? She told us about how the disaster made her an orphan and how she had an unexplainable drive for hope, but if there were more things that occurred before that I'm not sure if I could look at her the same way. Well, everyone had something they wouldn't want to talk about one way or another, I'll just pretend I didn't hear it at all. Since it was too dangerous to rest in the dark, with who knows what lurking under the darkness, I traveled until the first rays of dawn came.
We had travelled quite a few kilometres, about an entire small country's worth of distance. This was area was the transition between the very centre and the outskirts, showing truly how enormous central was. It was reported to be a utopia of sorts even if it wasn't anything like how one would imagine a utopia looks like, but an exaggeration or 2 was natural when one could instantly find a shelter and home without having to worry about anything.
The Eye God took care of food supplies for the first month, garnering immense amounts of worship as she had quite clearly saved their lives. These supplies would also be sent to the other regions, causing a large land mass to be considered The Sanctuary Of The Eye God. Needless to say, her influence spread far and wide. There was no defined border, rather it was a spectrum of belief in the Eye God that gradually declines until a complete lack of belief. That was the area between The Sanctuary and the Grundo alliance.
The Grundo alliance was a rough patchwork of countries that ruled the area around North Africa and the Middle East. That was, until a demon kingdom had emerged. Some monsters had apparently gained intelligence and formed unfathomable large armies, the local magical girls resisted them and though unsuccessful had reduced their size by more than 60%.
Though on the advantageous side, the demon kingdom had initiated a treaty with the Grundo alliance and remained to passively gather influence and military strength. It was an ugly mixing pot where even if the monsters living around there were mostly peaceful and normal citizens, they had blended in with the countries of the Grundo alliance and integrated themselves to be the ruling class. Some have gossiped that they have already taken a leadership role behind the government's of the Grundo alliance, controlling them as vassal states since they could do nothing against them.
Fortunately enough, I found a park for us to rest at. There were benches and some fauna grown with a small pond, it was a rather surreal sight in this day and age post disaster. While there were some areas that had plenty of fauna growing around that they had been flooded with green, the sanctuary was mostly barren with dry land. I suppose this would be yet another one the miracles attributed to the Eye God.
At this rate, bringing back people's daily lives from back then, supplying people with food, water and shelter, and finally bringing back a semblance of modern life... The people's faith in the Eye God would be very strong even if she was doing some shady projects in the background. Even though Gerald and Paridia were from the facilities of the progenitor, there were some others who had artificially awakened as magical girls in the facilities of the Eye God.
They were possibly working together since the descriptions of the facilities I heard were very similar. Laying Paridia's head on my thigh, I relaxed on the bench as I tried to take in the sight before me. Even if it was artificially created, there was still beauty in the sight of the park. Perhaps I was admiring it because I hadn't seen such a sight in a very long time. It felt like 10 years even though it must be less than 5 since I went to a park. There were very common back then before everything was destroyed, there were a couple on the way back from school alone so it was easy to find a comfortable and quiet place.
Every time I was so exhausted from socialising, I would come to a park to look at the greenery. I stare at the lone young tree fondly, it's trunk barely the size of my arm as it stood clinging onto its supports. I stroke the sleeping Paridia's hair, as if she was a pet and relaxed my softened my expression in the process. I hope there would be more moments like this, where everything could stay quiet and peaceful. Would I really see such a scene again if I were to pursue my ideals?
The ideal magical girl. Was simply an existence that could solve any problem. Something to look up to or look forward to, someone that brought warmth to everyone's hearts even in dark times. Perhaps I was just projecting, and then I wanted someone to save me. I wanted someone to take me far far away from this horrible world, one that had lost all meaning for me. I mourn and grief, and it would never bring back my parents nor my past hobbies. My previous hobby wasn't exactly a secret, in fact it was quite normal back then.
Even if it wasn't exactly normal to say anime was a hobby, everyone consumed their favourite media in one way or another. Whether it was the toned down diluted kid friendly stuff like m**vel or media from other countries like Korea. Entertainment had so finely intertwined with our lives that forcefully ripping them apart caused a lot of damage to the hearts of many. Oh no, I wouldn't be able to enjoy this ever again. Oh no, I couldn't do this before everything disappeared. Regrets and frustration pile up, the fact was that the modern human's fragile mentality couldn't survive this world.
It took immense hard work in the form of labour and a lot of time to heal one's heart. Not to mention, most people were way more concerned about their family members than their hobbies. They grief even more for the loss of loved ones, even if we were to lose luxury and material goods to the disaster, at least everyone is alive.... They couldn't even say that.
That was why Paridia must be a very strong child. No matter how weird her reasoning was, even if her supernatural seeming coping mechanism wasn't real, it worked. She thought she saw a vague obtrusive light telling her to stay hopeful. But I can't tell her otherwise, there would be no point to it. Saying that light was just her imagination or that it made no sense for lights to tell you something, it would take nothing away from it.
"nnn... Nnn... Why... Are you stroking my hair... I can feel that in my sleep you know?" (Paridia)
"Ah."
I froze up. I was reminiscing about other things and treated her like a cat in the process, rubbing her chin and stroking her back and hair. She raised her body as she got up into a sitting position, rubbing her eyes groggily she looked around to check her surroundings. She didn't find it strange to see a park, she must really be accustomed to living on the surface compared to a labyrinth dweller like me. Finally her eyes landed of my frozen self, I didn't know how to react whether it was out of embarrassment or shame.
Her lips twisted into a crescent moon as she shot a smug look at me. As if having found blackmail material, she went closer to me, bringing her face into my personal space. I couldn't help but sweat bullets while confused as to what she was doing. She whispered.
"You forgot to conceal your magical signature you dolt. Now act embarrassed and throw off our observers." (Paridia)
"Huh?!"
My cheeks flushed red like ripe tomatoes, it was like the heat was rushing into them while I was off guard. From the distance it must look like events of youth are taking place, but I was more so in shame due to my carelessness. I forgot that we had to conceal ourselves and released my aura like an amateur. She was right, there could be enemies nearby right now.
In the end, I hate myself for being this weak. For never being able to match up to my ideals, for being weaker than the person I wanted to protect. But I also love myself, a little narcissistic I suppose, but I love every bit about myself. Even my imperfections, I hold dear my own worth for what it's worth. Even if someone were to call me worthless, I wouldn't mind. I would accept it and love this worthless self. After all, there was no longer anyone else to do it for me. A pair of people that would love my worthless self even if I will never amount to much, 2 lovely people called my parents. They're gone. So I have accepted it. And accepted myself.
Come. Even if you boast yourself as a powerful magical girl, I won't back down. I pride myself as myself, and as a magical girl. I will never let go of this disposition of mind, no matter how horrible it is. I'm done changing for the sake of others, for the sake of attaining other people's good will and staying in their good graces.
I let off my aura even more now. I'll accept it, I'll accept your challenge.
*Ping*
Found you.
An arrow packed densely with magic, it got caught by my barrier before it hit me so it was left floating in mid air. It had enough energy to destroy an entire building. Magical girls usually only fight with a sliver of their well, this is so that they can last longer in fights as they don't expend all their magical particles at once. This one was a first sniper type I fought, another sniper type that I know of would be Kanou. Her instant movement makes it easy for her to assassinate. Not only that, but her other skills synergies incredibly well with her role.
If this concealed magical girl were to use her entire well, it could erase a small country. Well, I raised my defense to a high level, so if such a case happen I should be able to make it out alive. Judging from that one arrow alone, maybe a high B-grade like me. Even though it was only in the theoretical phase, perhaps I should try out this new technique. If she's using magic to enhance her sight to see this far, it should get tricked.
Standing up, I turned off my barrier before executing the technique.
"First skill [Hollow calamity] - refined technique, Synchronised calamity"
By copying my magic signature and reproducing all my features with magical particles, I could make body doubles of sorts. In other words, I multiplied in the eyes of my opponent's. When I replicate my silhouette with magical particles, I recreate the exact same shape of my body along with my magical signature present in it as it is part of my magic.
In order to make it the exact same shape, it had to be constantly flowing along a fixed route. That was why it was 'synchronised' as I made a body double with constantly flowing barrier, I made my own barrier flow at the same rate. As long as the enemies were using magic instead of their eyes to physically see, there would be no difference between the body doubles and myself. I could create more once I improve my skill with this technique, but for now 5 would do.
Another thing was that I noticed an even more subtle difference between my first 2 skills. As the first skill manipulated 'gradients' of sorts, once its applied the substance will keep moving on its own until the magical particles run out. In other words it had the additional capability of autonomy. While the other skill, [The gap of impermanence is a cage] manipulates substances on a finer level, it activates on a conscious level that requires manual thinking, so it couldn't be automated.
By natural instincts, magical girls can calculate the coordinates of their body outline and build barriers instantly, so it wasn't a problem that the second skill couldn't be automated when making a barrier. Anyway this was why my Stick was special, it used the first skill automatically to activate the second skill automatically. The second skill with more potent power and finer manipulation can forcefully rip off the defenses and augmentation of other magical girls, making them as vulnerable as humans.
With this many body doubles, now they are hesitating. I wonder what they would do next, it seemed they are cautious enough not to shoot anymore arrows. I've caught on to their general direction, but not their precise location. Maybe they're relocating.