***(Myuu)
We were all locked in to our respective battles, despite the clear difference in themes, the Arachne and I had quite the similar fighting style. We threw everything familiar to us at each other and swung against one another. If not for the fact that my stats are a little higher, I would be having a little trouble. But despite having slightly slower speed, she had immense experience and maneuverability as she weaved through my attacks and feints like they were nothing.
I swung my trusty vine spear at her throat, 4 of her legs use their endo skeleton to parry against it while the other 8 strike at my abdomen. Summoning vine spears from the ground, I shot them at the legs to deflect them before jumping back. Her legs have always been an issue, they were far longer and outnumbered my own arms. It was like having an opponent wield 14 spears at all times, it was so irritating! I have to expend far more magical particles just to summon my own spears to deflect her arms, it was extremely cost ineffective, but I couldn't think of any other way to deal with her legs.
Second skill [Extreme body governing], moving my body to its fullest extent, it felt like I was pilotting an intricate meat vessel instead. The controls have become much more complicated but also increasingly precise, I didn't need moves that were too flashy anyway. What I needed was minimal movement for dodging and applying as much force as my body can exert.
Her legs strike at me one after the another, I weave in between her legs as she struck blindly. Though, she was able to avoid entanglement of her legs, it was my only plan left... Extending my spear while I was between a few of her legs, I summoned 9 more spears to force open some space before jabbing some of them into her body.
"..... Kagh!?... I got... Careless..." (Seretizia)
Despite her loud soliloquy, I didn't let my guard down. By summoning spears in convenient places, they locked down multiple of her legs at once, so even if she had 12 of these monster legs there would still be enough to attack her with. A single slash attack and a impaling attack, that was how much it cost her to underestimate me. By using less of my strength at the start, I was able to lure her in while making her believe I couldn't do anything when she got closer. I acted as someone who was slightly weaker than her and managed to carve out her exoskeleton.
At least now I know, my strength works. With this much power, the threads are easily cut up into pieces. The Arachne pulls all her legs back, ready to strike with all of them simultaneously. I also begin to make preparations, to resummon the spears I've been using. My power is the ability to revive ancient plants no matter the location, they are much more durable than modern plants as they are packed with magical particles. They are also 'resurrecting' the dead, so no matter how many times they get broken they can be resummoned again.
I'm sorry to use you elders like this, but you have been with me for a long time... That's why I'm familiar with you guys, that's why I trust you. I slash at a low angle, severing a leg before either of us could blink, then switched directions and swung it again. The enemy's legs swung at full power, tightening a parry around my dependable weapon, a lone thread rises from the ground to strike at my abdomen at a slanted angle, before deflection by a newly revived ancient bush.
I side jumped to the right before summoning 2 sets of crawling vines that tried to grip at her legs to restrain her. She severs them with her high speed moving threads before settling back into her own fighting stance. In order to counteract her 12 legs and 2 arms holding long thread spears while not wasting my magical particles too much, I didn't dematerialise any of the existing spears that I've already summoned.
Rather than conjuring the entire structure each time I bring in a new spear, maintaining their existence was much more cost effective. I could even harden some while softening others with magic to mess with her. Swinging my spear from the left, my sweating palms gripped tighter as they reach closer to her head. My spears had always been roughly drill shaped, so slashes would still deal damage with the amount of natural sharpness enchantments the spear had. She blocks it with 3 of her legs, their exoskeleton jagged and chipped from all the previous exchanges.
Lifting all the existing spears from the ground, there were roughly 10 of them as most of them handled multiple legs at once. Unlike her legs, the spears weren't attached to my body, her legs would get tangled due to the intricacies of her muscle movements. But my spears were free to be handled as I pleased. My very own muscles gradually got used to her movements as I leaped around to avoid her attacks, swung my arm to parry her attacks at the best angle and thrust forward to apply pressure on her.
"....?!" (Seretizia)
A brief glance of surprise wrapped around her face before her composure returned. As expected of an elite warrior, she must be fairly high ranked as a A grade monster. Unlike magical girls, monsters usually don't have a normal human form where they become as weak as a human. Instead monsters are always at a single level of power unless they had additional battle forms. They can grow stronger with exp system by hunting prey, or grow smarter and move even more efficiently or effectively, but otherwise they wouldn't grow tougher in the middle of battle.
There was also the fact that they didn't have many S grades, these kinds of observations were tracked by measuring how much land they are able to expand or retreat from their monster kingdom. With the fault of engaging in a war with humanity that vastly outnumbered them, there was extensive observation over the monsters due to the advance array of reconnaissance tools invented by humanity.
In any case, I faked a smirk just after her look of surprise. I had no idea what she saw, but I would bring anything to my advantage so I could survive for another day. I won't be a push over any longer, a support class that heals and shoots from the back? No, I'll have to fulfill Kaori's wish for her if I want her to be safe. It's the only way.
My spears contain the flow of my magical particles, a continuous circulation between my body and weapon. At this point it was closer to being an extra appendage than a weapon, as I was using it to enhance my natural magical particle circulation. It cause the distribution of energy to be more effective, think of it as electrical conductivity, the better the conductivity the higher the amp.
It was improving everytime my spear clashed against her legs, the other 8 spears begin working in tandem with my breath as well, forming a beautiful dance as each and every spear saw it use in battle. Bit by bit, even if insignificant, I began to push her back. From a full on block, to a deflection, to a parry, to an assault. I was turning over the fight to suit my own pace and rhythm.
Hot air escaped my breath as I swung with more force than before. Even if magical girls don't get tired, that's because our natural biological energy, ATP is replaced by magical particles. It meant that no matter what, energy would be used and that we shouldn't be wasteful with our movements like Kaori. She took the surface level of common observation, that we wouldn't ever get tired and abused it blue and black. It was inefficient for the conservation of magical particles. Perhaps that's why she hit a bottleneck in training... Not that it was my problem any longer.
My mind was stirred like a pot as it reminisced of Kaori, exploiting the momentary gap in concentration, Seretizia launch 6 legs at the same time. Combining her arms like that made her power much higher than mine, since I didn't have the control to block with 6 spears at a time. She had been waiting for a gap like this the whole time... Perhaps she even faked weakness.
At that moment I couldn't dodge, I could only give it everything I have in order not to die. If she severed my lower body off it won't be immediate death, but it'll affect my mobility so much that I would be a sitting duck. I sent all my spears at the large attack coming my way, hoping that even if it slowed it down a little I would survive. The combined force of her legs bore the pressure of a mountain's weight as it smashed through the first few spears and knock the rest away to a substantial distance.
With no time to dodge nor any free spears to parry, it struck deep into my... Forearms. I hopped a small bit so that there is less resistance when I get hit, allowing it to send me flying instead of destroying my body severely. I had also bent in my legs and arms to cover my torso and head.
*BOOOM!!!!*
As the blow made contact, I could feel a deep reverberating impact travel through my body, shattering every bone and sending destructive quakes to every bit of flesh I had. My bones scream, my ears deafen. The only thing that presently worked was my eyes, I stare deep into her iris as she approached my wounded vessel. I did black out for a moment, presumably from the damage to my brain, but the alpha armour had done its job of immediately reviving my conscious after the attack.
I barely survived, and a large amount of magical particles have been expended just to survive this battle. Hopefully the others are doing better than me, my opponent has the leeway to fight me and assist her allies at the same time. Thankfully Gerald had noticed it, but it didn't mean I should slack alone when facing against her. Immediately I summoned 2 vine spears to lock onto her thread attack and cleaved it apart while surrounding her with vine spear attacks. Her diverted attention caused her reaction to lag a bit, making it easier for the strain on my own body.
I finish the healing of the rest of my body as I stood up, I had roughly 50% of my well left, Seretizia should have around the same. At this rate, I see no other way the battle would progress other than resuming our current pace, where we carefully nicked small bits of each other's hp until we both run out magical particles. Well, running out of magical particles meant having not enough to augment our bodies or my magical girl transformation, so it would be worst off for me. Before that happens, I'll change strategy.
It was not long after, the lizard man made an unfamiliar chant and transformed into a large monster. To be exact, it was a giant lizard with magic canceling scales and unrivaled physical power. It resisted both physical and magical attacks with relative ease no matter how much we tried to fire at it, So I reconvened with Gerald to make a plan. Despite being knocked out, Paridia was relatively unhurt. Perhaps the monster sympathised with its ally and decided to defend it in that moment.
After all, if things had continued this way, I would have killed Seretizia with my new strategy. Perhaps it was Gerald instead who held that initiative. In the end what Aubrey saw was of no matter to me. Paridia barely had enough to sustain her magical girl transformation, she won't be of any help soon. All that's left was for me and Gerald to take care of the rest.
[Extreme body governing] derivative technique - extreme well rationing, extreme precise strikes. Dematerialising all the spears, I reabsorb the residue magical particles that they left as they fades in the sparkling particles.
"...? What are you doing?" (Gerald)
She turned her head around in surprise as concern welled up in her gaze, but her face was too stiff to have much change in expression. Her brows were furrowed from the pressure plaguing her mind, the pressure of being outnumbered.
"How did you think I fought before, without my spears becoming my main focus? All I had was my healing powers."
She turned her head back around, a small smile pasted itself onto her face.
"Are you confident?" (Gerald)
"Yeah."
"Then that's good enough. Would you mind deploying your own first? I'd like to use mine for sneak attacks." (Gerald)
"Fine. Oblivion Magia, advent of the fallen."