*
Small flashes of dark crimson whizz past the chaotic debris before booming sound envelop the environment. It was an unrelentless barrage, igniting a chain of explosions as if there were explosives secretly planted far away, waiting to be detonated. But there wasn't any, it was sheer destructive force born from the source shooting them at hyper fast speeds.
Palmicia's second skill, [Grim drop dew]. Able to regenerate universal type-o blood and oxygen attached to it with magical particles, so that anyone suffering from blood lost won't risk hypovolemic shock or the draining fatigue that comes with excessive blood lost. It meant that Palmicia could not only heal a lot of people at once, she could now heal the same people over and over.
Usually there was a limit to healing, even though magical girl's could survive without a lot of blood as they can substitute their nervous system with magical particles, it comes with a clear limit. The blood loss limit and the oxygen limit. Limits negated by her second skill, so her first healing skill could be combined with it for 'complete' healing. Her first skill, [Recovery accelerate] forces the target to regenerate quickly with magical particles. But it does not replenish blood or oxygen.
And just like with the respiratory system. Magical girls could survive a while without oxygen. Both nervous system and respiratory system magical particle substitution comes with a pretty simple limit. Magical particles. Once those run out, one can die in an instant.
If a more realistic scenario was taken into consideration, why would a magical girl have no oxygen or lose a lot of blood for no reason? It would usually occur during battle with another magical girl or a hyper evolved demonic beast. This meant that they could be fueling many other skills or magical techniques with magical particles during that time, instantly their time limit becomes much much shorter when they run out of oxygen or blood.
Fueling magical particles into their systems to keep them alive in turn reduces the fuelling to their magical defenses, weakening them and in turn causing a higher strain on their body which requires more magical particles to keep alive. It becomes a highly consuming cycle that leads them to death faster than normal. But that was all negated with Palmicia's second skill.
Well... On the surface that was what it looked like. She worked as a healing magical girl in the hospital, so she had particularly higher pay than the rest of the Rising Knight Order. With the lack of equipment due to The Great Disaster, she was valued very highly by the heath department of the government. That was all nice and all...
....But she's using magical particles to forcibly accelerate the blood at absurd speeds, like a machine gun. The oxygen binded to the blood combusts when they hit their target, causing those explosions. Usually she can control the speed of the blood flow so it wouldn't cripple the patient when she is restoring their blood, but now she was presently speeding them up so much that she can't react to them herself. It was in all senses like a machine gun for her.
We were in the underground base that I raided with Kyou and Paridia, she was presently obliterating all the debris around me trying to find me. I managed to force a a new magical particle technique, in order to hide my presence. I call it 'Magia concealment'.
It sounds really cool, but it was making the magical particles around me blend into the natural flow of the environment. She could still physically see me, she just can't sense me with the simple radar technique anyone could use. She would need the radar I have as my passive skill to actually find my hiding spot. I even held my breath and tried not to make any sounds in hopes that she would stop firing those bullets. They were way too fast for me to react, I would die out there if not for the first bullet missing, causing a dust explosion which I used to hide.
A distant cackle filled the air before it calmed down, giving way to a familiar and beautiful, mature voice.
"Hey! If you keep hiding, you'll never get anywhere! You should at least try to dodge these bullets so you can react to opponent's faster than you!" (Palmicia)
Despite the terror instilled in my heart by that heavy ear splitting barrage she shot around me, she did make a point. If I kept this up, I would never improve... Not! What the hell! Is she expecting me to dodge bullets? If I were to equate this to a scenario unrelated to magic and magical girls, it would be like asking a normal person to dodge a pistol! What is this hellll!!!?!!!
It felt like my ears were ringing, but not only my ears, my entire spine and the rest of my hair was convulsing. So I dodged instinctively by jumping laterally to the left, when I looked back at my previous position, a loud booming sound filled my ears. Ah... There goes my safe spot...
What do I do? What do I do! "Super hollow propulsion."
Before I could readjust and collect myself, a burst of wind and magical particles had sent me flying to the far right of the underground, successfully dodging the bullets. It seemed like some hope had fallen from the sky, I had tested the technique on her, hoping that she would think it was a sign of growth and alleviate the pressure sent by her machine gun. But it did nothing at all...
Well, now I at least know that the propulsion technique could sent me flying faster than those bullets. All that's left is to train it into precise manipulation so that I could go where I want, then the reaction time to make full use of it and then more. The propulsion made use of causing sudden explosions of air and magical particles, magical particles aside, the air component had a limit so after a certain point it stops being so effective.
Even after pumping in more magical particles, it won't increase anymore unlike other magical techniques or skills. I would need to revise a new technique to break through this limit, but for now it was all I had. I should train with what I could reach for now, instead of biting off more than I could chew with another prototype technique. I should at least master movement and functionality with this first.
At this point, she was clearly going easy on me. The fact that Super hollow propulsion worked was proof enough that she adjusted the blood bullets to shoot at a speed I couldn't follow but she could. This was so that she could block the bullets if they were to hit any of my vitals, yet she was also checking for any cards up my sleeve should I encounter a similar situation. I continuously used this propulsion technique to navigate around Palmicia in a circular movement, she was also relaxedly shooting her machine gun of blood bullets.
Looking closely now, I was steadily getting used to the additional speed gained from the propulsion technique. My kinetic vision was slowly but surely rising in aptitude and the bullets were no longer projectiles that were impossible to follow with one's eyes, but a long blurry stream of red. It was simple enough to avoid these long streams of red, they were like absurdly long bamboo sticks that shifted in trajectory after my trail. Dealing with them was gradually becoming less brutal and more possible.
It was still absolutely terrifying. Even if my kinetic vision was improving, that didn't fix the fact that the bullets were still moving faster than myself, crashing near my head caused reverberations into my body and loud ear splitting impacts to resound. It felt like if one were to hit my head, it would puncture my skull and vibrate it so hard my brain falls out. That was the vigorisity of the vibrations reaching my head from the close hits alone. They haven't as much as grazed me since I've been doing my best to avoid the red streams, and Palmicia decided not to chase me with the trajectories too much.
I was still presently managing my stamina, how much I could run in an instant, how far I could move with the small amount of energy I had. Battle management was another important skill, I had steadily gained this ability over all the battles I had, to think about a few things at once was the basic component of battle management. Managing multiple factors of the fight and manipulating them. As such, even the trajectories of blood bullets were to approach from an unexpected angle, I would be aware to it and would be able to respond to it.
Slowly.... Slightly... Even if by a negligible amount... Change the angle of propulsion! Shooting myself into a free space, there were little to no bullets flying around there. And then another propulsion! At an unexpected angle that would allow me to duck the bullets, with that I was even able to start evading at tighter angles. Silently, surreptitiously, I closed the distance between us, getting to the centre of the dense mass of flying bullets. The rain of bullets was so thick, it was nearly impossible to see her, but it was reasonable to use it as a reference for her location. So I aim... At the centre!
Refined technique, Drill cross impact! Having used reigning drill cross punch so many times, my mind and will had gotten used to the drilling motion of air and magical particles I apply around my fist. Perfect the spinning motion, accelerate it even further, inject more magical particles and hence power into it!
This was the refined technique, no longer a punch but a smashing impact. It's name has gotten shorter by one word and its attack power increased by a couple magnitudes. Unlike before where I had to consciously imagine the drilling motion in my mind and force all my concentration on creating that effect, I had gotten used to the direction and motion of the manipulation so now I can focus on refining it to become sharper, stronger and more efficient.
It instantly blew through the giant mass of blood bullets flying at high velocities.... And into dark crimson blade splitting my fist into two. Before I could gain awareness, the sword had already shifted from impaling my fist head on the a deep thrust into my chest. My heart was slightly to the left of where it impaled and had suffered a small cut, but that was enough... To send all of it flying out.
"Kuhagh?!"
I silently spat out the blood gathered in my throat. Why... Was she waiting for this moment? To put her kindness under a guise of helping me to train? I look at her face with bloodshot eyes. Her blood blade had contained so much magical particles that it spilled into my wound, from there she was able to easily stop the flow of blood... And the flow of magical particles...
What the hell, she's even able to stop the flow of magical particles with her blood skill? It's... Preventing my regeneration... From working... I could feel my consciousness Slipping away like it had fell down an ice slope. I had just renewed my resolve. I had finally decided to stop wallowing in my shame and deal with things as they come... I... Cannot stop here. Palmicia, I'll kill you.
She pulls out her blade, letting blood fly all over the ground. The puddle on the ground was no longer a puddle, more like a flood. My body begins to shiver as if it was cold, but my mind continued to move. Stick activation, unique auto magic, turn-
She faces me with her palm, and in an instant my body had returned back to normal. The numbness permeated my spine and I fell onto the ground gasping for air. It felt like my lungs were burning and getting impaled by spikes... I stare at her in confusion, as if reading my mind she took my infuriated gaze as the cue to start explaining.
"Usually when a stronger magical girl finishes you off like that, one would lose despair and stop being able to move. Have you noticed? You didn't move for quite a while from the surprise alone. Burn that feeling into your mind, so you are better prepared next time. " (Palmicia)
" Are you serious? I'm going to strangle your neck! There won't be a next time! "
Giving a playful smirk, she spoke in a delightful tone. Her heart beat faster as if in anticipation and her eyebrows rose to give a face worthy to get punched.
" You can try. " (Palmicia)
She was able to pack as much ridicule and provocation in 3 words as possible.