*
"Now that we know they reside underground, perhaps we can just use our radars?" (Neli)
"... They are a sizable organisation, wouldn't they have prepared for that?" (Barius) She quipped, pushing down Neli's entire idea as Neli began pouting.
"... Then how should we find where the other bases are at? "(Neli)
" You don't have to worry about that"(?)
As the 3 of us turned around, a familiar hooded figure... No, 10 familiar hooded figures had appeared. Their signature tuff of dark green hair hung loosely out of the front of their hoods as white ruins glowed on their sleeves.
"Figures why our stories don't add up, even their weird fighting style makes sense now. They're suicide fighters."
"How utterly troublesome." (Barius)
"..." (Neli)
I narrowed my eyes at the group of hooded figures as Barius spat out in disgust. It seemed Neli was a little afraid as she went on guard with her entire body. Was she overestimating their threat or were me and Barius the ones who are blind?
"They're a little stronger than that remnant digging through debris for power, maybe they'll talk."
"... Well, it's your fault for testing a technique on them when we could have questioned them." (Neli)
She looked with judging eyes which made a drop of sweat slide down my cheek, phew that battle earlier must have made me exercise a lot!
"You make a good point... But my pride cannot accept it!"
Jumping into the air above in an instant, a large crater was left in the ground where I stood at. The hooded figures were blocking our exit, so we needed to kill them to get through this. From above, I rained down countless wind blades as I activated my Magia retainment and formed a foot hold in mid-air. Jumping against the foot hold with all my strength and speed, it shattered apart as I shot forward faster than any bullet.
Swinging my blade before it reached them, a couple of hooded figures who tried to touch me in mid air with their short distance teleportation got cut down in halves. This was where the true purpose of experimenting my technique came in, I sensed these figures watching us from above the base's entrance right before I killed the summoner. My sword, instead of sucking out their blood, it sucked out their magical particles. All in the process of researching a method, a way to suck out memories.
Memories were patterns, an abstract concept that I cannot physically extract. But I can extract other things for now, so I should work on the method of extraction first. This time rather than a gory red, a pure white light was flowing like a river stream towards the ball gathering at the tip of my blade. Using the extracted magic to sharpen the blade, I watched as 3 of the hooded figures had fused into 1 to block the attack with their bare hand.
"Tch, we're A grade you know? Having to fuse together despite being a grade above you hurts our pride a lot." (?)
"Like I care. "
I summoned a second blade that went straight for her neck while simultaneously firing multiple wind blades at her tendons and eyes. Retreating immediately after, the neck strike had caused her to flinch for a moment which allowed me to escape smoothly before having to dodge 3 others.
"I got 2 of them while they were distracted." (Barius)
Swing away her blade of water, it spread the enemy's blood across the ground in front of Neli as she watched her 2 teamates take out 4 of her enemies in an instant. Compared to before, there were only 4 of them left as 4 had died while 2 fused with a third member.
"Barius, switch!"
My stats were not enough for the large one, but I cut a small one down as she tried to attack me and Neli finally entered the fray by punching one to dust. She avoided direct contact by applying antigravity to her fist, sending them flying away into the distance. 3 left. The last one who was free teleported close to Barius before being frozen right behind her time stop, and severed into pieces by the water strings travelling around in that cramped space. 2 left.
She was using a conjunction of her 2 techniques, time stop to limit the space and water manipulation to cut them down in that small space. That way those of us outside the space did not have to worry about her water strings cutting us down, or getting caught into them like spider webs. While she was busy dealing with the strongest one, there was only one of them left for us to deal with. It looked to be a little one sided, but if one was to be more careful... They would notice all the corpses are gone. This could mean a few things, but the first thing to do was to take her seriously.
"Neli, go at top speed. We'll assault her with Agility. Don't underestimate her, she may have powered up."
"Alright. Composite technique, self propelling differential movement." (Neli)
Without another moment, we vanished from our spots as we tried to rain a barrage of attacks on the remaining hooded figure we were dealing with. I was angling my blade more to the side rather than a straightforward thrust, I noticed that I couldn't even cut through her hoodie so thankfully I wasn't the type to go for killing hits. I knew her defence had increase due to absorbing the dead clones of herself, so I wanted to test it before hand... But I didn't account for her speed.
Unlike Neli who may move randomly and erratically, I wasn't able to pull off the speed at which she was going. She was practically near the speed of light with how much she shifted the gravity around her body and in her body. But me? I... I failed.
My entire field of view became a deep insidious darkness as I noticed my body was very faint. When I look at myself direcrly, I disappear. But when I see from my peripherals, my body was still there though they were as transparent as a ghost. I tried to clap my hands together, but they merely phase through each other. I can't even touch myself... Well, not that I was able to know how that feels...
I continue walking on in this darkness without a thing in sight. I remember everything that happened right before this. The hooded figure had touched me. And as it was trying to tell me what I already know, I was in my mind and it lacked memories. Did I also lack the capability of making new memories? Why was my mind still so empty? I don't know how I got here, but the only explanation was that it was my mind.
An hour passes, and I had time to cool down my head as I walked. I couldn't feel tired even if I wanted to, my body simply stops working when it is tired. Or maybe it was beyond tired, that's why it simply stops moving. My thinking has slowed down in speed, and not so many thoughts were capable of being formed now. It was almost as empty as this space.
Another hour passes, I begin to doubt. Is this place really my mind... Or was I dead? Did that hooded figure fusing with its dead clones also gain a boost in its skill effect? Maybe they filled up my body with so much of her ego that mine simply fizzled out of existence. Like how a big fire swallows a small one.
Despite having been around 2 hours, I don't feel a sense of panic. I can't. It was as if I cannot fulfill things that weren't my purpose. Just what am I doing here? Or what am I suppose to do here... I want to... Save them... But I can't get out of here... I can not comprehend the situation... My mind keeps drawing a blank... Can I even... Think anymore? I've lost my sense of time, soon I'll just stop thinking and cease to exist...
Damn... All because I got careless. I guess this was the fate of a fool, a selfish fool who wanted everything. I wanted... To be my own person. Yet... I feel responsible for the people who Kaori left. It was such a half assed resolution, that I've been pushing through with sheer luck. There were about 5 people's worth of that enemy's ego synchronising in my own mind.
I've been walking endlessly in this black plane looking for another exit when there was one in front of me the whole time. Instead of walking, I could phase out of this dimension. The only thing stopping me was information. What layed outside of here? Would my soul simply leave my body and cause me to die? Or would the enemy's ego be there to consume me?
I don't know what to do... I told Barius that I had the resolve to fight till the end. But isn't this the end already? What more could I do. Now I even know that the enemy was faster and stronger than me, I wouldn't be able to rely on my blade anymore and would be forced to use my fist which I'm more familiar with. I'm not Kaori, I'm not confident with the vacuum blade. In the first place her skill doesn't specifically create a blade, it seems more suited to be a battle mage... Why would she make a sword in the first place?
Why would she be kind enough to spare her enemies, Gerald and Paridia? Why would she be kind enough to spare that dragonoid magical girl? Why would you want her to be back? Myuu, what does she have that I don't?!..... Her memories. I've gone past the stage of wallowing in my self deprecation. I have nothing left, like an empty husk. All I know is that, I couldn't fulfill my mission, my goal. I wanted strength. I wanted what the progenitor had. I thought, perhaps if I killed her I could get Kaori's memories back while remaining myself. So everyone could be happy.
I... I have such contradictory thoughts... Because I'm too greedy... Is this my punishment...? Trapped in an endless... Black space......
***
"You done with your end...?" (Barius)
She finally finished her battle and outside her enclosed space was an eery silence. Fearing the worse, she filled the space with noise... With her voice to assuage her anxiety.
"Yeah... But I was too slow." (Neli)
She grimaced, stretching her cheeks tightly as her teeth grit itself. Her nose ridge furrowed intensely as her grip shook with force beyond her control. She deeply regretted it. Despite being faster than everyone here today, she was still too slow. Right next to her feet was the corpse of the hooded figure that had been reduced to a pink bloody flesh pile.
"What happened..." (Barius)
She asked with an uncharacteristic worried expression, her eyes widened as if trying to examined every inch of Kaori's body for a clue.
"Looks liked she used herself as bait. For some reason she didn't wake up and attack me, it looks like she's dead but she's still breathing. I'm not sure if she'll be herself whne she wakes up." (Neli)
She nearly bit her tongue off from the anger as she spoke, her aura flared around like an uncontrollable fire. She didn't know what was happening, and while she was indifferent at first, she grew to hesitate killing her at the last moment. Barius wasn't doing too well either, but an odd calmness had been in place of her panic the entire time, forming a jarring contrast against Neli.
"... Do you not care? Or are you accepting that your rival may have died?" (Neli)
She couldn't take the ensuing silence from Barius, and decided to incite a response from her. Her anxiousness pushed her to do as such, she clung onto Barius' voice for composure and she was too impatient to talk to her normally.
"You're right, I'm accepting it. But that's only because it's Kaori. I accept... That she'll win. I don't believe it's possible for Kaori to lose. Not even if you p...present to me her d...dead body." (Barius)
Her voice began to shake near the end and her tears streamed down her cheeks in hopes to drown out her stuttering. She said as such but her actions betrayed her so blatantly in front of Neli, instigating a smile to crooked and awkward smile to appear on Neli's face. She was happy that she was not alone, in caring about Kaori. It was such an insignificant criteria and an odd one at that. But it was all her heart could make up on the spot.
***(Kaori)
At this point, I got bored. Way too bored. So I decided, that if I were to spent an eternity here, I might as well vanish in the outside world as a lost soul. I begin to feel the veil between the portion of emptiness and the outside of it. Once I exit, I feel like I would still be in my mind. Though it was only a hunch and a baseless hope that my mind was more complex than this. A familiar hooded figure materialises right in front of me. Unlike before, she didn't seem so hostile as she gave a small wave.