*
"Kaori... You're pushing yourself too hard. In the first place, we should preserve our magical particles..." (Paridia)
The ridge of my nose reflexively raised itself up, forming wrinkles on my forehead with sweat dripped down. How could she be so calm in a situation like this? There was a sniper type magical girl, one that could kill from outside another's detection range. It means that they were either overwhelmingly powerful, or that their skills allowed them to kill from afar. Distance was key in battles, and in the sniper's comfortable distance where we can't reach them but they can reach us, we were in a disadvantageous position.
"Look." (Paridia)
She spread open her palm in the general direction where the arrow had been shot from, a thin blue light stretches forth from her skin and around us then into the sky. It kept flying forward like a shooting star into the opposite direction of where the arrow came from until it could no longer be seen.
"My lights track automatically. It was how I found your exact location, so I can also find theirs. And even now, I could sense what's happening on the other side.
It turns out that even though they had strong magic that could travel a ridiculous amounts of distance while retaining so much power, their will stat was low and their mind was weak so the blue light easily made their entire body numb.
Anti-sniping measure. Second skill, [noble vapour beam] - concentrated white death. " (Paridia)
"... It's probably weird to ask, but why didn't you use that on me? "
"... I did... It was just wider and more destructive. It would have killed you had you not dodge it with Myuu's support. " (Paridia)
Now that I remembered it, that was always been the case. Myuu had always been supporting me, no matter how much I was jealous of her superior strength or hated her because of it. It was a given that I treasured her as my best friend before all of that, one that I would give my life for. But there were certain things, certain trivialities that one just can not get rid of. Things that get stuck in my head and ring ceaselessly like the evening bell. Sounds and thoughts that would make me go mad. Like an inferiority complex.
My envy rises as high as my gratitude, and my gratitude as high as the stars. She was like a gift from the heavens, her sliver of common sense and wonder kept me mostly sane. A good friend like her was invaluable. I can't stand the thought of her dying, so she was the one exception I would sacrifice my life for if it came down to it.
"Anyway, we should move. Lest you want this park to get destroyed in the crossfire. The sniper's allies should have found their corpse by now." (Paridia)
Compared to the outskirts, there were way more concrete buildings now, some even painted like pre-disaster architecture. About 70% of the buildings here were made of concrete instead of the 40% near the outskirts. I would expect it to be around 100% near the centre. Dashing forth as my technique dissipated back into magical particles, we ran in a single direction until we were a few kilometres away.
"... Hmpf, who knew you would run straight. I was sure that you would be harder to find than waiting here. Now my comrades are not with me..." (?)
She had bright orange hair with 2 spiraling horns rising from behind her ears. They pointed at the sky as her sharp eyes like that of a beast's landed on us. She wore a white suit with only a single button tied to the other side under her voluptuous chest that was in a black top that covered her like a swimsuit. Her black top was normal once it reached below her chest, but the upper part was revealing of a well defined valley and a similarly dark grey pleated skirt hung below her top. She had semi transparent black stockings that seemed to reflect the noon sunlight and black heels that clack loudly as she took her steps.
She sure has a large che- I mean she sure was calm facing us. Judging from the horns, one of her skills turns her into a non-human. There were many magical girls, some that could transform into anything they want with a short time limit, others that could only transform into one thing but with a very long time limit. One of those was the Dragon God of the Illnoia Administration. As her name implies, she could turned into a dragon that fires breaths large enough to raze entire countries in an instant.
"... You must be the dragonoid. You can't fully turn into a dragon, but you can exhibit characteristics of one while looking human... Careful Kaori, she's at least A rank. We can't fight blindly here." (Paridia)
I see, so she was the boss that this area's local jurisdiction was under. Another one of the progenitor's lookouts. With so many of them, you would think the progenitor was planning to wage war against the Eye God.
Keeping my eyes on her... Was useless. She vanished before my eyes, trusting my alarming instincts I dodged to my right by making a large swerve. She reappears behind me and in front of Paridia, I turn around to fight her so Paridia could make some distance, but...
"HAGHH?!?!!"
Even though I thought I had dodged her, an enormous gash appears in my left hip and waist, leaving a puddle of blood on the ground and a crimson stain over half my top. I grab my waist with my left arm in a hurry out of reflex, and leaped in to attack with my right fist. She retains her smile while palm blocking my punch, before shooting off a teal beam from her mouth in the direction of Paridia. Paridia who was secretly gathering light to fire off a powerful white beam got intercepted by the teal light, causing an explosion in the air around it. Thick grey smoke engulfed the entire area, I strain my eyes to look at them through it.
Tch... The stronger 2 of our team aren't here. Paridia and I were merely high B grades, we lack the strength that the 2 A grades had. How frustrating. I wonder, even if they were here would they help much? Out of desperation, I would believe they did. But their Oblivion Magia had drained most of their well, so I'm not so sure. We'll, they would at least be able to apply pressure this dragonoid magical girl. As the smoke cleared up, a gasping sound resounded on the other end.
"HUGHHH!!!" (Paridia)
We were outmatched by only her dragonoid traits. The energy beam attack from her mouth and her physical strengthening. If one were to describe strength enhancing skills, there would be some ratio as to convert how many magical particles into how much strength. And that dragonoid strengthening was ridiculously high compared to my own, which was really enhancing the air around my fist instead of my strength, so the conversion was ridiculously low.
An opponent that beats us in our respective fields, even with our slight number advantage we were pretty much useless against her. It's too dire at this point, I need to make up a new technique to counter her. For now, I've already thought about this for a very long long time... But how about evasion? If I used the wind to propel myself forward, surely I would temporarily surpass the limit of my speed stat. After all if a faster opponent can grab me and drag me at the speed that they move at, that meant that external force could allow me to breach the limit.
It was a little more straight forward than strengthening. While I tend to think about how to both deal more damage and protect my knuckles in strengthening my attacks, evasion only needs me to be concern about the directions I'll be moving at. Something like a combination of leaping, flight and vectors. I may need to mind about air resistance in the future to make it more efficient, but this is all I could deal with for now.
Since I had expended some magical particles in the fight with that sniper, my well wasn't 100% full. But I thought about this as well. Usually an amateur magical girl uses up the rest of their well as a last resort, that is because expending a large chunk of the well at once is physically taxing, and more importantly magical particles are lost to the surroundings once expended. While our Wells would recharge passively when we rest, it may take a while depending on the size of the well and the intake speed of the individual magical girl.
What if I reduce this lost? Magical particles, they contain boundless amounts of energy unimaginable to man, they are taken in when full of energy and released after use. To put it simply, magical particles are usually stable sources of energy for magic, they never run out of energy but they go super unstable when used to fuel magic. That's when the unstable ones are released, even though they still contain energy. And they are released for good reason, unstable magical particles would keep releasing energy, destroying the body on the inside.
"Stick activation, [The gap of impermanence is a cage] 80%."
A burst of light swallows my field of vision along with everything else around us. I feel the magical particles going into my veins and cells, causing my blood stream to convulse a little as strength filled my body. It was warm and burning at the same time, yet the pain only felt natural. It was as if my muscles were being flexed constantly, making my mind constantly exhausted. Using my second skill, my strength and speed enhancements would no longer be automatic, they would have to be conscious adjustments with every punch. That was where the Stick came in, it helped to automate as I passed the instructions to it.
I used the second skill since the conversion was far higher. There is no comparing to if I had to use all my magical particles on my first skill.
"Keh!, 50%" (?)
Another bright glow flooded the surroundings, and once it has dissipated she had a real aura emanating off of her skin. On another note, I had a faint purple aura as well.
She was still a margin above me in terms of speed and strength, and she even has more magical particles to tap into in case the fight dragged on. I didn't.
Second skill, [The gap of impermanence is a cage] prototype technique, magia retainment. By forcing my body to keep the unstable expended magical particles, I can continue to harness the energy through the spells. I could feel my power fluctuating before gradually settling down, keeping it caged in my body reduces the unstableness but there would definitely be damage to my body later. Retainment status:10%.
She walks closer towards me, though still stronger it's not to the point where I can't follow her movements anymore.
Retainment status:20%
I do my part and begin to close the distance, she narrows her eyes as she inspects the surroundings with her peripheral vision. We were in the middle of a back alley that we had ran into, so there wasn't anyone else around.
Retainment status:30%
I leap forward to deal my classic attack. But this time I aim it at her neck. Reigning drill cross punch, twisting my wrist and the rest of my body, I lock my left arm as I lodged my right into her body.
Retainment status:40%
Limit hit.
She blocks my fist with ease. This was the second time I felt so powerless. Just why the hell do the opponent's I need to beat the most have to be stronger than I am? Was it experience? Training? Willpower? I... Have all of those, yet... My opponent's have more. Sheer and unbridgeable, a blatant brute gap in combat ability. No matter how many new techniques I make, no matter how much I rely on my fist or my skills, neither would manage to help bridge that gap.
It was simple. The opponent was stronger and I was weaker. Nothing else to it. Nothing I can do about it. My Stick doesn't have enough power to rip open her magical augmentation and make her as weak as a human. My fist and my magic does not match up to her knuckles and her strength. My skills were not meant to enhance my body, I wasn't meant to be a short range fighter. That was just it, that was why my conversion rate from magical particles to strength was so poor. On the other hand, she was meant for such things. Her skills were meant to enhance her, her conversion rate would be flawless compared to mine.
"... Kaori, I'll have to go on ahead." (Paridia)
"Huh?"
I turn around to see a melancholic smile. But more than anything, it was melancholy for her, it was pity for me.
"I'll take care of this. Oblivion Magia." (Paridia)