*
In light of everything, I never put much thought into it. Definitely not as much as Amony who likely agonised over it for 3 days just to arrive at this kind of answer. To sacrifice herself, and leave the burden of taking life to someone like me. A person who doesn't see the inherent value of life, at least not as much as her... I wonder how much she saw ahead... Or if she simply bet on me being this ruthless...
I wonder if my actions were truly right.... No, not really, I didn't. It's in fact because I don't think much about it that she could leave this burden to me. I am not the old Kaori who would value her life. I am not the fake Kaori with odd priorities that she fabricated in her utopia. An amalgamation and awareness of how insignificant all these memories are, I wish to at least carry this burden and learn what it is. So my journey cannot end now.
They've been standing behind me while leaking their murderous auras this entire while. It was mutual as I was also discretely trying to recover my strength, so none of us moved a single bit.
"I won't apologise and I won't run. If you want to defeat me, go ahead. Try it."
I turned around to face them, pointing straight a newly materialised sword of vacuum. My fingers gripped tightly onto my trusty weapon while my heart began to beat into a faster rhythm. I have little to no experience with swordsmanship, but if I allow them to trade hits with me I can at least deal a simple heavy swing or block with it as a shield.
"... There's no more point. I simply request that the winner of this battle help me defeat the progenitor." (Gerald)
Looking like she bit on something bitter, she stepped off to the side where she was out of harms way and folded her arms in a waiting pose. The other 2 didn't seem to agree with her, so they stepped forward while materialising their weapons.
"I'll beat some sense into you. All while avoiding a fatal blow, how is that handicap?" (Paridia)
She punched her palm in a threatening manner, though her small stature betrayed her intent as she seemed cute instead of menacing.
"I can't accept your current way of thinking. I'll punch you back to the right path. That would be what Kaori would want." (Myuu)
She picked up her vine spear, pumping it full of magical particles causing the air around it to begin to vibrate from her miniscule handling. It would not be an exaggeration to say that her wind could cut through sound and air before the environment could react. Most importantly, her last line...
It felt like the last bit of rope grounding my sanity had snapped, yet I could still think with clarity and in a composed manner. I was seeing red, yet I was not without reason and strategy. Nevertheless, this was second angriest I ever got. I wasn't so kind to offer the same handicap.
In an instant, I left a crater in the ground and reached their side. Swinging a wide and heavy arc, Myuu blocks with her vine spear by using both her arms as leverage against my attack. Her legs dug into the ground damaging its smoothen concrete texture, her body unable to bear the weight of my attack. The labyrinth had already begun to dissipate back into magical particles, reverting the ground back into concrete.
Numerous vines materialised from the ground, pointing into the sky like a field of spikes. They glisten with a metallic hue, a property gained from the excess magical particles leaking out. Since she had summoned so many spears, she couldn't manage the magic investment properly and let the particles leaked out. This also meant that each individual projectile was weaker than normal, a wide ranging attack like this was usually meant to control the enemy's movements rather than harm them.
She wasn't wrong to initiate the battle with such a method, as she had the upper hand in the form of a teamate. She could leave the actual damaging or harming of the enemy to Paridia while being a nuisance like this. Unfortunately for her, it also meant that it was easier to destroy her magic if she were to spread it out like this. I gave a single large swing to send out an ever-expanding gale which mowed down everything in sight. Similar to her spears, it got weaker as it expanded to cover more length as it flew, making it easy to disperse once it actually reached them.
Takind advantage of this move, I ran closer to them right as I unleashed the wind attack. Even if for just a moment, their attention had been caught by the relatively slower moving wind attack instead of focusing their eyes onto me. Since it moved slower, their attention was also stuck onto it longer as they waited for it to arrive near them, so that it was easier to defend against it. After destroying the feeble attack that I launched, I had already closed the distance between us by more than half.
White light enters my vision from multiple angles as I gauged the optimal dodging position that used the least energy. Rather than consciously evading their attacks, my body was actually moving around them with its instincts or muscle memory. It had been thoroughly trained by the previous Kaori, so I was able to dodge subconsciously without much effort. My eyes estimate the distance between me, the attack and the optimal position naturally, and I proceed to step into that position. Maybe it was also helped by my passive and first skill, it was able to determine a position where wind pressure was lowest.
Bursts of white light flood the entire field, there was no longer a house nearby as everything had become disintegrated. Sorry, Amony. I materialised my trusty blade and thrusted it forward with all my strength, it struck a hard material at first but then that material caved in and the blade penetrated something softer. When the light subsided, Myuu was there with a blade in her left lung.
With such a flashy flood of lights, there was no way they weren't aware of my dodging capabilities, so it was a distraction that forced me into this position. But it also hindered their side from attacking freely, if Myuu wanted to ambush me she was also forced into a nearby position. I simply struck first as soon as I got here, and it seemed she didn't expect it... I was wrong.
Countless spears formed around us like a fortress, it was as if she anticipated my anticipation. A bloody smile flashed itself as fluid spilled out if her throat and through the gaps in her teeth.
"I got you now." (Myuu)
She spoke calmly with a sword up her torso. Her chest began to convulsed from the shock but she was rapidly healing it away with her skill while her ambush initiated. The fortress of spears turned inwards and fired from all directions, completely blocking out any light from reach an inch of my skin. I dispersed the sword to form a shield, but it was way too slow.
"Kagh!"
I barely muster a haggard cough as the pointed ends plunge deeper into my throat. There was no other way to describe it, I had been pierced into a state more perforated than a sponge. Unlike her, my endurance stat wasn't S grade. She had gained a sturdy body adapted to physical and magical trauma through enduring countless attacks, at this point if slicing her brain doesn't kill her I wouldn't be surprised.
Unfortunately the same couldnt be said of me. I survived by the skin of my teeth but I'm not exactly in a good state here. By moving and twisting a little while using my limbs as cover, I used the body as a meat shield to deflect the lethal attacks by a few degrees. There are still many spears embedded in even my bones.
How do I get out of it this time? I don't see any solution in sight. Nothing other than going all out with Magia retainment, the sudden burst and steep gradient should push all of it out. But this would be the same as using my trump card at the very start, it would be a strategical suicide. Battles were suppose to be the act gauging the enemy's abilities before using the necessary amount of force to defeat them. Both parties slowly test each other with stronger attacks until one crumbles under the weight of another.
Think it this way. If she was able to deal with Magia retainment as well, what else do I have left... I'll make a bet then. I'll make a new original technique. One not formed by the previous Kaori. One that reflects my disposition and will.
"Magia retainment, 90%"
An abrupt flood of magical particles fills the place to the brim, it was my leaking aura. Due to my magical signature, my body can assimilate to this environment naturally and endure its suffocating pressure. The same could not be said of others who experience my aura. Generic technique, partial aura suppression. By compressing my leaking magical particles closer together, the range suffers but the pressure becomes higher in the small area it occupies.
"Refined technique, fortress of solitude." (Myuu)
Once more, Paridia shoots off her beams of light that force me into a certain position, while Myuu not attempting to hide it anymore was going to ambush me again. Jumping up high into the air, I use the propulsion technique to shoot my body forward in a direction I want. Usually one wouldn't be able to control the trajectory of their fall in mid air, but with a manual propulsion I can get the results I need.
Naturally, I shot forward at Paridia. Her role was simple but effective. Rain a large array attack to immobilise or control the enemy's movements, the attacking can be left to Myuu so she can put her all into controlling the field. The only downside is that her super dense light disintegrates Myuu's plants as well, so she fires her barrages at long intervals. It was like a cooldown of sorts that really helped when she's not firing, but Myuu didn't need much support to match up to me in the first place. It was a deadly combo that infuriated me.
She quickly fires off smaller but more potent shots as she jumps back to create distance, in the meantime Myuu was hot on my back. Extend! I materialise my blade and it flew forward at blinding speeds... No, it was expanding forward, but the speed at which it was expanding at made it seem like it was flying. It pierced a bit of her collar between her neck and shoulder, she had avoided heavy damage by promptly evading it with a twist of her hips.
To make such a fast attack, I had to concentrate fully on inputing magical particles into my sword, so a spear had quickly pierced my waste while I faced the front.
"Turning your back on an enemy? How much are you underestimating me?!" (Myuu)
I twist my waist against the wound and pierced her nose with an elbow strike. I jumped back right away and pulled out the spear. It dissipated right after as if taunting my attempt to reduce the number of present injuries. Damn, right now I was between the 2. As she said, turning my back would be a dangerous move no matter which side I faced. It was a troublesome situation that stirred my stomach. But now I could move faster with Magia retainment so I should concentrate on evasion.
I'll take out Paridia first since her periodic crowd control attacks are irritating and detrimental to the flow of my movements. Combining my maximum speed with my propulsion technique, I flashed past in an instant to arrive behind her.
"Oblivion Magia." (Paridia)
A world of light pink sky and white tiled ground expanded from her feet as the technique manifested. In another instant, the sky was blocked out by blinding white.
I send a roundhouse kick to her neck, knocking her out in an instant and sending her limp body crashing into the tiles. Cracks formed in the tiles where she landed as the whites of her eyes showed. It had seemed like a bad situation when she trapped me in her Oblivion Magia, but likewise I had already gotten close enough to her for it to make her panic and initiate one. In the end it all worked out, knocking her out had caused the Oblivion Magia to begin crumbling into nothing. Leaving me back at where I was at before I was taken into it. It was a different time and space after all, it should seem like an instant in the normal world.
Myuu was standing there with a single spear drawn. The battleground had become even more silent, but this time it had an unexplainable eeriness to it.