*
The Ash grey dimness of the room reflected the beauty of the black crystals particularly brilliantly, giving a vague sense of another world. I had never seen anything like it before, not to mention the mind numbing colours of her magical girl costume... No, the colours wafted off into the air like a visible odour, a visible gas. Perhaps it would be better to call it a magical aura that flickered like faint embers over its fuel source, her body.
He threatening aura was just that, despite looking almost like still and clear glass, a sense of danger engulfs my conscious mind whenever it felt like it getting closer to me. Simply staring at her sent my body into high alert mode, I don't know how Gerald was doing... But it was really hard for me to move...
Despite all that, she picked herself back up and began exerting her own aura. In order to resist a superior aura, one can wrap themselves in their own aura as a protective layer... But due to the difference in power, the weaker one will have to burn through more magic to keep up... It becomes a timer leading to one's doom, as when their aura runs out and they became pressured under the opponent's aura, they lose mobility and likely their life.
My limbs felt like they were being constricted right now and my eyes and throat burned in resistance. I push all my strength into my body, but making a physical effort against magic was difficult and usually fruitless. It was simply too weak of an effort, there weren't any additional rules to it, plain and simple. I was weak. My pupils constructed in horror as death edged ever closer, Vehegian made a move and it was rapidly approaching the area inbetween my eyes.
*Pshhhk*
In an instant... Gerald moved faster than anything I've seen before. As evidence, the sound came very late after the actual attack took place, the black crystal that Vehegian shot was way faster than sound. Even faster than even that was Gerald, it meant that she had already shattered the realm of humanity, she was faster than a bullet. But...
That sloppy but heavy ripping sound that rang out... When the attack hit Gerald's outstretched palm, I saw a mysterious black silhouette fly off into the side of the room. Craning my head over, I widened my eyelids. It was way worse than anything I saw today, my composure crumpled in an instant. It was Gerald's severed arm. Without it... Rather than not being able to fight, won't she die from induced shock due to blood loss?
Despite losing half her forearm, she didn't budge from the spot. Make no mistake, the opponent's attack was that much superior. Yet Gerald had chosen to sacrifice an arm to deflect the crystal bullet. She didn't risk trying to block it as it could penetrate through her flesh and hit me, she had time to think of the optimal action...
I can't become a burden to her now...! I've only met her for a few days... But this few days were the most fun I've had in months. My adaptation to this environment had always been tearing at my heart, wrenching it apart and suffocating me. It was her who presented hope, it was her who represented my wish. As if an angel had been sent from heaven, though she was overly serious and commanding....
With a hint taken from my observations, I try to exert my own magic. A warm feeling begins to circulate in my body, at first it followed the veins in my body, then it went beyond... Forming new... Magical veins. They seem to work as circuits for my magic, so I'll call them magical circuits. Tracing this path that the circuits showed, a faint grey aura that was thinner than even fog had begun to rise from the pores in my skin. I raised my arm a high as possible. It was my fault that Gerald had to lose an arm, I still can't understand how she isn't panicking or spasming from the pain, but I'll be her arm now.
First skill [Bountiful treasure trove]
The light gradually grows stronger into a blinding white that swallows my entire body, my stomach felt searing hot and my sweat began to run down profusely. It was as if every inch of my body began to use energy and pass it round, generating friction, fatigue and pressure on body. But unlike the pressure of the enemy's oppressive aura... This one emanating from my body was warm and easy to get used to...
When the light died down, strands of faint pink flowed over my fringe, the wind pressure from everyone's aura blew it around violently like a tumble weed. My torso donned 2 layers of cloaks, the first was a plane tanned brown, the second was a rainbow cloak that had the optical illusion of looking like countless layers of cloaks.
It wasn't a purposefully created illusion, but rather a feature of my magical combat dress as inspired by Vehegian's own costume. It defied regular physics and held its own law oh phenomena applied through magic. It may be faint, but staring at it a little would cause a normal person to get disorientated.
I clenched my right fist, striking it into the air as I shoved all my magic into it. A brilliant explosion of light swallows the room, as according to plan Gerald made the correct preparation, a face shield and visor formed out of the darkness controlled by her. She takes advantage of the gap I created, by using myself as the bait, Vehegian would ignore Gerald and go straight for me. She would aim to eliminate the uncertainties first, but get stunned by my flash bang. At the same time she would be in the ideal solution for Gerald to attack, facing her back.
Gerald struck with a blade formed out of material darkness. Just in time, Vehegian took advantage of her superior reflexes to materialise a sword of black crystals and block Gerald's attack. Through this exchange, she realised. As expected, Gerald was still a kid who had just awakened as a magical girl. Even if she had superior regenerative ability than the average magical girl just after awakening, it was only on the level of regenerating limbs and it still took a long while for it to complete. In that case, she just needed to strike at the heart or the brain by piercing or decapitation.
Meanwhile, at the back I had already calmed down quite a bit. At first Gerald's severed arm gave me quite a shock, but if she was energetic enough to parry Vehegian's attack, then I think she's find. It took quite a while to process, so I had practically wasted our numbers advantage by being useless, but now I know what to do. Despite know they have no offensive power, I threw balls of light at Vehegian.
"Heh, what was that suppose to do? Were they suppose to hurt me?" (Vehegian)
... Did she revel in the notion of looking down on us just because we are kids? She purposefully took what I knew was a futile action and mocked it... I can't tell if she was aware and wanted to incite me, or if she just wanted to insult my intelligence. I threw more tiny light orbs at her to lower her guard while Gerald kept struggling, she was also confused why I continued to pour harmless light orbs on the enemy.
Until I detonated them. Sparking off in front of her eyes, she jumped back with superhuman Agility and took a defensive position. I had caught her by surprise, but due to the speed difference, there was no point to surprise attacks. It seriously demoralised me... If even that couldn't help with anything, I would be useless.
"..." (Gerald)
"..."
Gerald leaves her gaze on me for a moment, as if expecting something. That's it... But then...
"Use it. Use both of it in tandem. I don't know how you've awaken with 2 skills, but I'm counting on you to bring me victory." (Gerald)
She was right. [Bountiful treasure trove] was more related to using the greed of others to immobilise them. [Noble Vapour beam] was the light wielding skill. I think i understand what Gerald wants now. It was similar to the time we were in the lift.
"Leave your back to me."
"Mhmm." (Gerald)
The darkness wraps around her body like a bodysuit, making her already black magical girl combat dress even darker, it looked like a black hole that sucked all light into it. Her movements seemed a tad more elegant than before though I may have just imagined it. Her elbows bent and her wrists twist in anticipation, she leaped at a speed several magnitudes faster than before, her black jacket turning her zooming silhouette into a black flash of light.
Reinforcing her fist with her dark magic, she pulled off a simple punch focusing on form and driving in speed and power at the last second. A shock wave rings out like a drumming explosion, a web of cracks formed on the ground with the 2 in the centre. I was unharmed because I stood directly behind Gerald. It was my time to start helping Gerald, even if they were moving faster than I can follow, I must force myself to keep up and help in order to not be a burden.
The flash bang was useless, so I'll use my most basic move. [Bountiful treasure trove], it seizes her greed, forcing the enemy to freeze up. A fundamental part of their mind turns against them as it's manipulated by their enemy, it went beyond a mental attack and was actually a conceptual attack.
While conceptual attacks were usually converting abstract concepts into magical energy to fight with, a way of application of concepts similar to my skill does it isn't really an attack, so it can bypass most barriers, including a magical girl's innate magic resistance. In this case, it was more closer to manipulating a concept rather than harvesting it into magic.
Rather than creating water out of thin air, it's like moving water that is already there. Their body can't resist the move when it's their body that is voluntarily rebelling against their mind. In that case, they can still overpower it with their willpower. The willpower cannot be measured into a stat, so it is usually the factor of uncertainty in fights. Rather, there is almost no certainties in magic.
Vehegian began covering her body in a thin layer of black crystals, but her body remained flexible, contrasting the rigid look she gave off. Her skin shone under the meagre luster of light left in the room. Although Gerald had the power of forming darkness to use as a weapon... The room only got darker even though her magic disappeared. It was really odd at first, but then I realised her outfit that 'looked so black it was absorbing light' May really be absorbing light to use as attacks.
She uses her first skill to seperate the light and dark in a given set of spatial coordinates, but what really is dark? We know that light is a form of energy or radiation given off by substances, but isn't darkness just a lack of light? Gerald expend energy to remove the light and make it dark, so she can use that darkness to attack. But where does the light go if all she uses is darkness?
But there was no need to ponder too far. I could use light, why couldn't she? Perhaps her attacks are absorbing both the light and the darkness of the room. That's why her claws were so strong... She turned out to be an amazing person... She continued her pursuit of the enemy, waving her claw blade wildly, catching her opponent at the sharp ends of her claws. As they weren't used to fighting an enemy with claws, Vehegian wasn't able to accurately judge the distance to dodge and ended up cut by the tips. Her black crystals were easily repelled by Gerald as she deflected everything.
It was as if she was currently facing an actual monster, emulating such a wild approach was the crux of Gerald's fighting style as she incorporated more and more violent movement into the dynamic. Each new movement brought her more results as Vehegian began faltering. Vehegian was just that type of person, she would normally brute force a magical girl fight with speed alone. But this time... I was helping Gerald.
Vehegian's movements stop short of the optimal ways she could take action, [Bountiful treasure trove] can be used all at once and stop her movement completely at random times during the battle, adding to her frustration and stress. I also used light to build an illusion of Gerald that seemed closer than where she actually was, invading Vehegian's sense of comfort. At the same time, the illusion dodges less and absorbs her hit, showing that she was hitting nothing by sensation.
These various attacks were only possible because I knew she was about to make them. Although I was 'seizing their greed' to stop their movements, the effects are only realised when I know she was going to attack. If she launches a surprise attack, I wouldn't be able to stop it. At those times, it was up to Gerald's own discretion on the approach.
Vehegian's aura flies through the roof, a last ditch effort. She puts all her power into her yet unseen second skill. Gerald's eyes widen as her gaze shifted to me.