*
"We had... Planned a big operation and bet on everything to get here. But the enemy got to you and erased your memories."(Myuu)
She calmly cast her eyes down, not daring to meet mine. Her cheeks twitch at such miniscule amount almost unnoticeable to the naked eye. Her chest heaved up and down slowly but visibly, it seemed like she could crack at any moment like a fragile antique vase.
"Huh?"
If my memories were erased... Then... That means-
"I was wrong... The enemy's skill wasn't memory manipulation... We failed a gamble..." (Paridia)
Her words were soft and slow, as if she could pour out her dejectedness and spread it to others around her. For a person who usually isn't as expressive, she had ended up influencing the emotions of others.
"It was information manipulation. Your memories aren't coming back. It's not even something extraordinary... The enemy simply sent an electrical charge that swallowed and removed your memories... It was entirely avoidable..." (Gerald)
She bit a lip as she spoke, the usual laid back and reliable Gerald was not there, only a frustrated and depressed girl was left in her place.
"If it was memory manipulation, I could have fixed it... But if its completely gone, this is your new 'fixed state'... My [Recovery accelerate] didn't have any effect..." (Palmicia)
Even the respectable grade A vice commander of the Rising Knight Order, couldn't bear to make eye contact. It looked like she was facing my gaze, but her what was held in her iris was something entirely different. They were empty but murky like muddy water.
"It's fine."
I realise one person hadn't spoke up at all the entire time And despite know her name, I don't remember having much interactions with her. I must have known her from before I became a magical girl. To be honest, all my memories of these girls were so incredibly vague. Unless I were to relearn how socialising felt, unless I were to feel how spending time with them felt like, I don't think I would be able to remember much of what I did with them either. It was a blurry and chaotic mess in my head, it felt like there were things there and nothing there at the same time.
I retain 4 of my senses, but could I also have lost them? Or did I already lose them only to regain an inferior version from the law of magical girls. From what I know, this tiny record of memories have been recorded externally and safekept by the world itself, before it copied and pasted into my empty mind. Why is the world itself having a hand in preserving magical girls? Shouldn't a weak one like me just die? I don't see any again to keeping someone like me alive.
I was incredibly grateful for having seen these girls one last time. Though my memories of them, while not erased, were an extreme blur, I could still faintly feel copious amounts of gratitude and care towards them. All the specific details of what I've been through has been wiped from my mind, it was as if I was a hollow mannequin. Empty and worthless, all my value sapped out of me along with my memories.
"HOW COULD YOU BE FINE?! YOUR MEMORIES ARE GONE! YOU REMEMBER MY NAME, BUT DID YOU REMEMBER THE FIRST QUESTION YOU ASKED ME?!" (Myuu)
Her face contorted into a rightful rage, her cheeks convulsed and her fingers wrap around the collar of my combat dress pulling me closer to her. Even as she was angry, her fingers was trembling heavily. It was as if her body didn't let her focus on her anger alone, no matter what her sadness will seep through one way or another as her face got uglier and uglier. Her lips stretched wide as she bared her closed teeth, her eyes so water that the water tension could be broken at any time for tears to fall through.
But even if she was sad for my sake, even if she was crying so vigorously for me, I cannot let what she said slide. After all, this concerned me. This centered around me. This... Affects me most of all... Sharp and soft sounding hiccups began to escape my throat as my lips tremble. Warm tears escape my eyelids immediately, dripping down onto my cheeks and then falling to the ground. Damn, maybe I was holding it in the whole time... Because now... I couldn't stop.
"Hugh! .... Hugh! .... Of course I know... W... What it meant. Of course... I... I would realise it first... What most influenced a person's personality... is their environment... and by extension their memories of it... HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL...?!?!
IT'S NOT HARD TO IMAGINE RIGHT?!?? I FEEL UNBEARABLY EMPTY, LIKE SOMETHING WAS TAKEN FROM ME, YET I CAN'T PINPOINT WHAT IT IS!!!! Uuu... UUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!!!!!!!! "
My memories are gone. My personality is like a blank slate. All I remember is everyone's names and how much I adored them. I don't... Remember anything we've been through.... At least not clearly... It's all.... Gone... I can't even feel this warmth that Myuu was trying to give me by hugging my crying face. I lost my sense of touch... Everything, it's all gone. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why... My everything is gone. Why? How am I suppose to repay this gratitude I feel towards them if I cannot successfully emulate my past self? If I cannot act like... Higuresawa Kaoru...
My tears flow with no end, my body quivers as if it's cold but it's actually from the chaos of my mental state. I don't know what to do. What am I suppose to do...? How do I live...? How do I... Make Myuu happy...? It feels like I'm stranded in the middle of an ocean with no hope in sight, the waves arrive at high speeds to crash and capsize my measly raft before I am engulfed by a raging storm. I don't die as my head occasionally pops up over the waves to catch a breath, but no long after I am quickly submerged again for air to be drained out of my lungs. This cycle continues over and over, an incessant sequence of suffering and asphyxiation...
I... Want to be saved... I want my memories back, so I can make Myuu happy. The past me should know how to make her happy right?
After I had calmed down, I brought myself away from Myuu's chest. Looking closer, other than the stain on her top caused by my tears, there were also light scratches here and there. Was she hurt in a recent battle? No... She should be able to heal herself... That meant that the enemy could cause unhealable wounds... Just like my memories...
***
Everyone had retired to their rooms to sleep. Controlling the air with my skill, no sound was able to escape as I sneaked out of the base. Using my passive skill, I quickly located her on the very edge of my range. Over there, it was a barren land that was planned for construction of new buildings. She must have chosen that as her base, since people rarely go there.
I arrived in an instant, my mind got used to a numb body. It was hard to walk since I began wobbling, but using magical particles to control my bones was possible. I couldn't sense magical particles anymore, and therefore couldn't sense the limit of my own well, but that didn't mean I couldn't control them just like how I could still control my body despite the numbness...
Over there, sleeping in the distance was a girl with long dark yellow hair under the moonlight. Her eyes were sharp and she wore a sleeveless long coat with a long glove that stretched from her finger tips to the middle of her back arm. A white shredded blouse covered her chest and blue jeans clung tightly to her legs with black boots. She opened her sharp eyes, her iris glowing a dark emerald like that of a cat's in the dark.
Even though my body felt weak and useless, I still had to do this. It seemed like they all held a long battle, so she escaped with most of her stamina drained. I'll defeat her like this, with her stamina and magical particles drained from her previous intensive battle, I'll take advantage of her fatigue. After all, this was my only lead on my memories. The one who erased them herself. A slight smirk was stifled on her face as I approached her with my unsteady gait. As for myself, I could see nothing but her in my eyes. Nothing but how I'm going to kill her.
"First skill [infectus info] technique, Pseudo Oblivion Magia - Chaos labyrinth. " (?)
The sky transitioned into a light purple as pillars filled with magic ruin carvings rose from the ground in random directions. Some rose to the height of 5 storey buildings, others rose to the height of a coffee table. A cactus like structure feel from the sky next to me as more began to rain around to form a hail of needle filled objects. Arrows and spears fly from multiple directions, zooming past at speeds capable of taking my arm off my body.
I dodge each and every projectile as I make my way closer. Magic use 100%, technique - Magia retainment. Magia retainment status: 80%. The world begins to reach a blur as everything seemed to slow down in my perception. Regardless, I ran at full speed as my trusty vacuum sword materialised in my palm. I swinging it at her face, it extends to a longer length and blows away all incoming projectiles with its pressure along. She dodges it by craning her neck and torso to the left side of my blade as my blade was slashing towards the right.
Pivoting on my foot, I quickly twist my wrist to slash from that position towards the left. It manages to graze its target, leaving a cut on her left cheek. She jumps back to make distance and more projectiles fly towards me from all directions, but a quick swing from my super enhanced body was able to flick all of it away. Using my propulsion technique, I.... Flung my sword at her head as I changed its shape into a spear at the last second. It penetrates a bit of her fore head as she barely survives the attack by erasing the attack. She had turned the vacuum spear into thin air, but she was caught by the surprise so it had been quite close to hitting her brain.
In this state, I was faster than anyone in that base except for Palmicia and the dragonoid. But I was a contender that was able to defeat Alcide and Palmicia was a support type. From what little I knew, Paridia had a plan that used me as bait. As a result, I lost my memories completely... I can't remember experiencing it, so I don't blame my present pain on Paridia. She said it was to avoid anyone else from experiencing the same fate, essentially I carried the most important duty...
Perhaps I was the one most suited to this role. Too bad... Her plan failed when she underestimated the enemy... I hate this pain, this feeling of emptiness. It makes me want to cry my heart out and curse the world. But I wouldn't wish it on anyone else as well, especially not when my body still feels this affectionate for them. It meant that they were important people to me, even if I don't understand why.
I conjured 2 vacuum blades, leaping in for another exchange. I swung the left one at her neck and the right one at her torso as she erased the one heading towards her neck. Then I kicked her face in with my enhanced leg, sending her flying backwards into the green coloured sand. The sky continued to change into various vibrant colours as flowers formed in the sky to shoot laser beams down from their center. They form deep holes in he green sand ground as I used the propulsion technique to escape.
In the confusion, sand had flow into the air lime a sandstorm had erupted out of nothing, while her hand reached out through the eye blocking storm to touch my back. I froze for a second before I grabbed the hand and chopped it off with my vacuum blade. Blood had splurt out from what was no a stub rather than a wrist.
"Kgh?!!! But it was suppose to erase your memories again!" (?)
Her face contorted as she held her rapidly bleeding arm tightly with her remaining fingers. I watched as her flesh slowly grew back to stop the bleeding, but not fast enough to recover her entire arm in an instant. I sent vacuum spears flying at her from different directions, but they seemed to be blocked by a transparent black polygonal barrier. It had many flat surfaces like a smoothen rock or metal bolt, and it quickly dissipated all the spears that I had sent. Her second skill [Locked barrier of the earthen boundary].
"You cannot erase what is no longer there. I'll keep fighting no matter how much you blank out my personality."
Even if I no longer have my memories, I can still fight. If my magic didn't work on her barrier, my fist will do. I punched through the transparent barrier in an instant as I leaped with all the force I could muster in one jump. As a result, the distance closed before she could react and my fist struck through the barrier before impacting her stomach as well. She was an assassin type of magical girl, even her skills were somewhat absurd, it didn't bridge the gap if I use maximum enhancements.
I swing my left hand and the vacuum blade that materialised and extended on it. It's length grew to 3 metres as it sliced through her combat dress but not her skin. She jumped back once more to keep her distance.