*
As her fists inched closer to my face, the resulting shock waves begin to graze my cheeks. This time, instead of swerving my neck to the side, I pushed my head down under her next punch, while my own right arm reaches towards her face for an attack. Coating my skin in my first skill, I struck her face while a similar attack-her left hand that I hadn't dodge struck my own face. As such, we both exchanged a strong impact to the face with our respective skills enhancing our attacks.
But she clearly had more leeway than me as her punch struck much harder and on-point than mine. I would say she was much faster and physically stronger than me in her base magical girl form. Alternative or stronger forms of magical girls weren't unheard of after all, so it wouldn't be surprising if she just pulls out another outfit with magic and suddenly become stronger.
Recovering from her brutal hit with the natural magical regeneration, I approached her once more at a leisurely pace. She strolled the same way, this time swinging with an open hand, her fingers were kept together but in a straight line instead of a fist, akin to a hand knife. Aimed at my eyes, I didn't bother to dodge it as my slammed my palm against it from below at the last second and swung my right fist at her torso. She lifted her left leg high enough to block it and protected her leg with her own magic skill, giving off a faint green glow which encapsulated it.
For some odd reason, it felt like I've known her for ages now. It was a strange feeling to for an enemy that might kill me at any moment, but it spurred me on to want to know her better.
"What's your name?"
"Dedrinelese, my friends call me Neli" (Dedrinelese)
Looking surprised for a moment, she shockingly answered promptly as if she had been waiting for it. It felt like my eyes were playing a trick on me, but did she also blush for a moment? Also what was with that style of introduction, her tone was spoken with the manner of a casual picnic, betraying the actuality of the life or death situation.
Before anyone could notice, our left arms had collided as they were sent out at the same time. I had attempted to strike preemptively, while her attacks seemed more akin to a freak of nature, as in she was throwing out attacks instinctively without thinking. After all she had sent it out just before she finished speaking. The collision send a singular and circular shock wave the spread out from in between our fists and into the sky and ground. A clean cut formed in the concrete street just as our relentless natures escalated a single punch into an ear splitting barrage.
As time passed by, our bodies went faster, accelerating the rate at which we landed our fists upon the other's knuckles. Before long, all I could see was her and all she found was my fists, it didn't take long for our fight to become such a childish barrage. At a certain point, I see her speed drop for a moment so I catch the fist she was trying to pull back for the next punch, by the wrist. Naturally she threw her other arm to free up her caught arm which was skillfully caught by my left palm.
When there was a convenient push and pull conflict like this, I was able to use my arms as leverages for each other, pulling her wrist with my right arm and pushing her left fist. Conversely, she would do the opposite to attain her own advantage in this power struggle. When our hands are caught up like this, that was when we used our legs. Our right legs slammed against one another, moving into a deadlock. It was as if every single move we made was the same, resulting in blunt collision and large abrasions.
Breaking off from the stalemate, that was when our moves begin to differ. While we had shown the fundamentals of our own fighting styles which were very similar, the later developments had a high possibility of differing from each other. This was why a few styles of martial arts had almost identical basics, but would come to deviate from the original as people developed what they thought was optimal.
She shot her right arm, punching through the air like a deadly cannon and leaving the excess force to wreck destruction everywhere. Of course if it had impacted me, most of the force would be transferred to me and a meagre amount will go to the environment. But I had crouched to lessen the blow by going off target from her point of attack, and then deflecting it with a bent left elbow, her fist crashed past my left forearm and backarm but ultimately made it nowhere close to my head.
As long as I protect my head and stay calm, there would be a chance to overturn things. Outside of everything else, this was a battle, a rhythmic dance of blades, magic and blood. "fuuh~", I exhaled deeply as I felt for the pace of the battle. It was not something once feels with their senses, but something they estimate with their mind. The pace and follow of it is bent to the will of each fighter, and whichever manipulates it better would grab the upper hand. Right now Neli was having the initiative while I was merely countering.
I lowered my hips by bending my knees, and using the ground as leverage, I push all of my leg strength in the ground to create a springing force with my bent pelvis. Following all of it with a spring like leap, I threw my right arm in a straight punch that couldn't be deflected due to its excessive force. Reading the situation in an instant, she blocked by crossing both her arms and bending her knees to lower her center of gravity.
Taking the full brunt of the force behind my attack, her legs dug into the ground as her entire body was pushed back. She held her ground as much as she could so her posture was maintained though there were now 2 rows of dug out ground in front of her feet.
"Hehe, wasn't that a bit too much?" (Dedrinelese)
Despite smoke coming off the deep purple abrasions swallowing her arms and shattered bones, she bore a cheeky grin with furrowed brows of ridicule and exposed teeth.
"Damn right!"
A similar abrasion had covered the entirety of my right fist and some more above that behind the point where my wrist connects. It was a dark purplish hue like a rotting corpse which disgusted my aesthetic sense. Channeling my magical particles faster in my body, my regeneration sped up and after a flick of my wrist, the fist's original hue had returned.
".... Fast regeneration huh, at least a B grade. A grades have more monstrous regeneration, to the point that one cannot even see the damage if they were too slow. A grade endurance is when they outheal damage." (Dedrinelese)
"Then why did you block my attack? You have an A grade across the status board right?"
After her comment on my recoverability, I had an unresistable urge to mock her with a crooked smile. I squint one eye to made my face as ugly as possible in order to taunt her. In hindsight, it was really childish but it worked.
".... Isn't it obvious? It's because you're strong." (Dedrinelese)
It gave me acknowledgement, a unexpectable trade. She pointed her index finger as she spoke, her eyes narrowed into a potent glare. Similarly to how I did it, she also regenerated back the damaged tissue on both her forearms. In the next second, her body had vanished-and reappeared behind me.
Twisting my hips with all my power, I sent my left elbow back as much as I could and covered my head and lifted bent knee with it. A clean hit, the flat of her fist and knuckles pressed into my left thigh at the point of collision. Her force was skillfully transmitted to my left thigh which I padded with the support of the rest of my body.
Using my entire body to push against this power, my right leg dragged across the ground for a few metres before a second attack, a fist coming down from the sky knocked me straight into the concrete ground with a brutal bash. The concrete split under my skull as she dragged my body across the ground like a child tied to a moving car.
"... You stopped fighting back?" (Dedrinelese)
Oddly enough, a concerned expression had covered her face. Who the hell would be concerned for their enemy you dummy. I only stopped because I don't think you have the ability to kill me. After a while, even someone with as much experience as me could tell.
"What's wrong? You don't want to take this chance to kill me?"
I continue to tease her. Hoping she would give away whatever was happening her. I will be honest, I couldn't trust Barius. So I also wanted to take Neli's account of things and her perspective. In the end, I feel like a complete outsider in some other asshole's quarrel.
"... I'm just a debt collector, not a killer. Now that we're far enough I can tell you. I'm just another magical girl from the sanctuary and Barius is my boss." (Dedrinelese)
" Then why did you attack me? "
"She wants to make me the scapegoat." (Neli)
So this was rigged from the start... I thought something was off by Barius. Even so my opponent was not something impossible for me to defeat. Was she planning on tiring me out with Neli first?
"... Why should I trust you? Will you tell me the details of your skills?"
"... Gravity manipulation and a protection magic. There's no mass limit but there's a size limit and amount of mass depends on how much magical particles I put in. It's very exhaustive but I trained to at least last for a bit during battle." (Neli)
I still needed to be sure, but precaution can never be too much. In fact it paid off with this information. Information was always important, whether it was for sabotaging an enemy or working together with an ally. I needed to know her skills if I wanted to defeat her faster or join forces. And it was the latter that I was thinking of.
".... Let's attack Barius. "
" Isn't she a close friend of yours? "(Neli)
" After all of this... I'd have an easier time trusting you. "
I spoke my mind, throwing away the pretense that I cared what she thought of me. She was standing back the whole time after all, while I fought this dangerous battle. She deserves just a little payback.
"..." (Neli)
"What's the meaning of this?" (Barius)
I turned to look at her, my left hand holding my right wrist as I flexed it to crack my hand joints. Neli had also turned to face her, looks like her jig was up.
"Alright alright.... It was all a test... There was no tax, I sensed your magical signature before you arrived and paid some actors. In the first place this small town is under renovation, nobody lives or shops here." (Barius)
"..."
In response I could only muster a glare of disgust as my mouth was left agape. My aura flared up in response, exposing my intention of hiding my anger. My knuckles tightened and I stared her down.
"What's your objective?"
"Isn't it obvious?" (Barius)
".... Neli, let's give her what she wants then. Are you in?"
"... Yes, I want less hours and less overtime work." (Neli)
2 loud explosions rang out across the town as both our figures vanished, I aimed my fist at the back of her head while Neli attacked from the front since she had faster speed. Barius dodged with a large side step, unable to control the momentum I was sent flying forward through the air.
"[First step to perfection]. "(Barius)
"[Will that soars beyond]!" (Neli)
"[Hollow calamity]!"
She puts up a tough wall of water super reinforced by magical particles, though it took us as much time to break it down with our own skills. Using my propulsion technique, I use the extra burst of speed to flash through a short distance and surprise her, before launching my left leg at her neck. She blocks it with her left arm with ease, showing her wealth of combat experience. She slips under my eyes with her snaky movements before punching my torso. Boosted by her water multifold, the magical particles and water exploded from the pressure at my waist. Using my second skill to form a barrier, I was sent flying back many metres.
"So is there any particular reason you want to test me?"
I got out relatively unharmed, my body was still brimming with energy. I can keep going. I might as well look for her goal, though whether she tells me or not won't change the outcome. I'll defeat her anyway, with my own hands.
"We haven't met in a long while. Wouldn't anyone be curious about how strong their rival got? Compound technique - chains of yggdrasil." (Barius)
Blue aqueous chains jut out of the ground before growing in length and striking at my flesh. Rather than wrap around me like a normal chain, they thrust forward like tiny spears. But the weirdest part wasn't Barius' execution of this technique, but.... The fact that I couldn't move.