*
"Oblivion Magia, Dawn of the universe" (Barius)
"....?!"
"Man I had to save up a day for this, but with this, we can finally get down to business." (Barius)
"..."
I see, my mind was calming down because all external stimuli had been cut off. Now I don't even have my sight nor sound. The distance between the edge of this dimension and my exact location is kept constant, was because I couldn't move the whole time...
I thought I was running and exerting my strength, but I'm frozen here. I was able to verify that, because now I finally had a point of reference, Barius. She stood right in front of me, my passive tells me that. Her light grey hair and pure white armour emphasises the dark black leather underneath. Her armour was light and not too overbearing and it had a skirt section with white velvety clothe draped around each of her hips. Black opague tights lay underneath and the same material wrapped around the rest of her torso like a long sleeved shirt. Her white heels also stood out in contrast with her black tights.
Anyway, why was light and air not travelling at all? The concentration gradients.... 0. There was no movement at all in the space around me, only magical particles move about in the small hemispherical radius around us. Outside that, even magical particles can not move a single bit. They were frozen still... As if time has completely stopped. There was nothing solid there, there even plenty of energy in those magical particles. There was nothing stopping their movements. They simply stood still.
Does Barius have a time stopping skill? It was similar to my second skill, but my second skill was more specific with its use on movements. It wasn't able to conjure a scale of this degree, it was meant for precision. Even then, Barius also had precision. She froze the movements of the magical particles outside this dome. The pure density of magical particles was enough that no external technique can get in unless they tore through space or was very obvious about it. Even then, Barius may even be able to stop such things. If she locked the space here then a hole can't be made.
"Anyway we don't have much time, I'm not your enemy. Kaori, I'm trusting you. Please don't let me down." (Barius)
A threat above even her? Why does she think I would be able to do anything about it?
"That makes no sense.... Why would you trust me..."
I looked straight into her eyes, feeling something warm submerge my entire body. This time my expression easily crumbled like soft clay. It felt like pieces of myself were rotting off and dropping onto the ground like litter. My cheeks mold around my cheek bones and my eyes unresistably narrowed as my lower eyelid pulled up. My clenched teeth bared in the confusion, my heart vigorously beating faster.
"... You're finally being truthful huh? We hung out for more than a year, of course I could tell you were hiding something. But I also entrust that to you, that if you hid something from me then it must be important to you. So I won't pry, but just as I want to be reliable but stronger than you, I also wish for you to reciprocate this rivalry.
It won't work if I'm single sidedly forcing it. I would understand that most of all... But not once did you ignore me or belittled me. Maybe I was taking advantage of the fact that you had less talent than me, motivating you to be my rival despite being weaker than me, so you would keep working hard to overtake me. But I truly treasured it, your kindness. "(Barius)
"..."
She had looked perplexed for a moment, but she quickly followed it up with this long and embarrassing speech. What are you on about rivalry and stuff, when I don't even know you? Tears inevitably rolled down my cheeks. Not because I was particularly touched by her feelings or anything. But because once more, as the new Kaori, I can't reciprocate whatever she wanted anymore. It would be unnatural and easily noticed. It would be... Failing her....
A complex look draped over my face as I wiped off my tears. My brows furrowed deeply at the ridge of my nose out of frustration. Just what was I doing? Why was I crying in front of this person I didn't know...? All of this uncertainty and anxiousness continue to sink my heart down.
It feels heavy, and it hurts even more since I don't know how 'heavy' feels like on physical objects. Only emotions. So this was my only experience with it. I've always felt justified in my own actions, ever since I awakened. I looked at myself as a victim of circumstance, then I see the others the old Kaori knew as a victim of the old Kaori.
To be honest, though irrational, it felt like I would regain the old Kaori's memories at any time. After all my existence is just this clean slate of Kaori without her memories. It is a template, a fickle thing that could easily be tainted back into her at any time. Then I suppose I've been running in fear this whole time? I've been running from her memories. Whenever Myuu talks about her, I try my best to forget it right after. I do everything in my power to preserve my own existence. Something like my existence is so vague, in becoming obsessive with self preservation, am I still truly myself?
".... Is this something only you can deal with? Because I won't be so merciful you know? I'm your rival, if you wallow in your own weakness I'll overtake you and assert my dominance." (Barius)
I look up at her, this unknown person standing in the sea of darkness surrounding us. I can barely picture how she looks like in my mind with my passive, but for some reason she seemed so bright in this dark world. I wish... To relieve all of Kaori's victims of their duty... Of being her friend, rival, someone she rescued, boss, teacher and anyone else. Despite my odd fear, realistically she won't ever come back. I have to balance my paranoia with reality somehow. By helping others, I reaffirm the fact that she won't ever come back, assuaging my fear.
Just what the hell am I trying to accomplish like this? I'm lost in my own polarising feelings, it's tearing myself apart the more I think about it. It was ruthless, and though I don't know how it feels to be cold, I think it was cold and emotionless too. This deep seated agony just won't go away. I do nothing but run away. I live with it, I pretend it doesn't exist. How will I live normally?
"... The Oblivion Magia is lifted off, don't do anything suspicious. Just come with me." (Barius)
I do as she says and the dark veil over my entire line of sight lifts off like a large blanket, revealing a beautiful brazen sky. It gives off a peach hue, colouring the surroundings of the clouds vibrantly. Looking at such a pretty thing, I wonder who wouldn't be awed. I bask in the view around me as I follow closely behind Barius' back. She too, walked briskly as if to let me observe my surroundings longer. Her subordinates walk from a distance away, concern adorned their expressions.
"Man, your subordinates are really cute. Are you sure you don't want them to walk closer to us?"
"And overhear the confidential information we're about to discuss?" (Barius)
"Ah... You have a point. But will we really be discussing such important information in the open?"
"Of course...!" (Barius)
She turned to me and stared at my eyes for an odd second before shifting her head back to facing her front. Our casual stroll in the middle of the street brings about an unsurprising amount of attention. Filling the air with idle chatter and about what we went through when we haven't seen each other for a while. I spoke about how I barely made it out of a memory wiping enemy, an illusion user and how I was sent back to find something here.
Of course it was all a pretense to fool of her, but by mixing in some truth into it, it was made much harder to tell apart. As the South area of the Sanctuary of the Eye God faction was actually an extremely vast swathe of land, the war with the Middle Eastern Grundo alliance and Illnoia Administration had spread far and wide.
While the other places were barely hanging on, the arrival of a single A grade magical girl had destroyed the balance around here. It was somehow localised to this small town, in other words Barius and her subordinates were taken as hostages by the enemy magical girl. The others were off fighting near the labyrinth.
As magical girls were extremely durable beings, with some not having even reached a suitable age, most magical girls refrained from fighting in the war or simply survived their destructive injuries. As such, the casualty rate was abysmal and the progress on the front was worse than watching paint dry. But occasionally there would be cases like this where a variable exceeds expectations.
Speaking of which, she reappeared right in front of me. She had cactus green hair the draped off the left side of her face like a worn out curtain. On her torso she wore a forest green corset with plenty of black lace tying the sides and the center, her top was further decorated by an inner velvety layer of light pink. While her clothes were generally dark green on the outside, the inner side of her clothes had a light pink hue. Her top was followed by a large spread of luxurious white cloth that concealed her legs and thighs with an amazing and elegant looking dress. Her beauty seemed as if it had come out of a painting.
Her black heels clacked across the ground as she made her way closer to us. A silent pressure engulfs the entire street, causing a few of the pedestrians around to lose their consciousness. Her deep glare was fixed onto me as she cracked the floor with every step. Reaching a certain point, she stopped right in front of me.
"Who are you? You're powerful, I can tell. What's your business?" (Dedrinelese)
"What's our stance on this person?"
I twisted my neck towards Barius, just to make sure I had the right person. This person was the one holding someone as powerful as you hostage? What an absurdity, if it was truly like that then what would that make me compared to her?
"Since you, a key to a new door is finally here, of course we'll fight. Do I even need to tell you?" (Barius)
"Yeah, in case I got the wrong person."
"Are you done...?!... Dedrinelese, high commander of the 47th Station. You look familiar, were you a high commander in the past? " (Dedrinelese)
"..."
I stayed silent, my eyes hungrily sized her up as if trying to look through her. I had no idea what this high commander thing was, maybe Barius would know about it. But I couldn't afford to get distracted right now. It felt like if I peel my eyes off her for even a second, my head would come off. I raised my elbows and arms into my usual bare-handed stance.
Jumping as high as possible, in the eyes of everyone I had vanished from the face of the earth while leaving behind an enormous crater in the ground I was standing on. I had used the propulsion technique to launch myself as fast I could. Controlling my body to spin it a little, I swung down a powerful right kick that smashed my heel against their shoulder. In return, she crossed her arm as she anticipated the attack the moment I vanished. My attack managed to smash her arms against her collar bone though her strength was beyond what I expected as she easily flung me far away the moment she made contact.
Nullfying the force on my body, I recovered into a fighting stance as she stepped into a similar bare handed stance. She launched her right fist then her left, each driving up enough power to decimate the street with shock waves alone. Barely dodging them, I knocked away some of her attacks with a side elbow hit. Deflecting other hits along the way, more shock waves were generated, shredding the cloth banners of the nearby shops.