*
I swipe a quick glance at my fingers dripping in blood, I haven't stopped trying to remove the anti magic from my body all this while, as such the only magic I had been using was my passive that acted as a radar for enemies. It had been 5 minutes since we entered the corridor of the progenitor's final base, it seems they aren't worried about anything and only continue to send small fries against us.
The first enemy we encountered was a special witch that had a real chance of killing me, but they didn't expect for me to move towards them while being ambushed. My heart beats even louder as my sweat drenches my combat dress in a coating of filth and blood, my magically enhanced nose had long gotten used to the astringent scent of blood that wafted throughout the base. My skin felt clammy and cooling at the same time as it was hard to rid it off the enemy's body fluids.
It was sharp and metallic, yet my olfactory senses adapted to it. My heart continued to beat loudly within my chest, my power had gone up to 1.5% but there was still a significant difference between me and my 2 partners. I had to continuously move at the maximum speed I could pull off while extracting anti magic at the same time, exhausting myself before the final battle was an apt way to showcase my foolishness...
But, this was the optimal action. The weaken one, I myself, will clear the way. So that the other 2 can save up their strength for the final battle. It was a shame that I wouldn't be able to fight alongside them at the end, but if this was the best course of action that we decided on, then there isn't really another choice. All the wishes, expectations and hope that they shoulder will only keep driving them forward. Cross a certain point, there was nothing that could convince us to stop. In other words it was the point of no return, we were in too deep to back out now.
I continue to risk my own life while keeping theirs safe, running forward to drag out every single ambush. Multilayered traps stopped being effective, keeping my movements to a basic few actions I keep my body ready to react to however many layers they set. 3 B grade magical girls rush at me head on from 3 directions, I slide down the middle to get to the one nearest to me, using my skill to push myself over the ground while ignoring the friction.
Grabbing her leg, I continued sliding which pulled her down with me before standing back up to pick her up, blocking the attacks that her comrades fired. Now that they were closer, I plunged my arm through the back of the magical girl I grabbed.
With my wrist and fingers coming out of the other end of her chest, I moved forward even more and plunged those fingers into the next one, thrusting and grabbing at her heart before crushing it. After fighting for enough time, we become accustomed to the enemy's anatomy on an instinctual level, judging the location of their heart or brain had become second nature.
With my right arm skewering the 2 like a kebab, I twisted my hips and legs to carry the both of them as I rotated my body to face the last magical girl, blocking her fire magic from reaching me. Will it was powerful enough to burn through the no longer augmented body of her dead comrade and singe my fingers, she followed up my forming a highly dense blade of fire. Against that, her former comrades bodies would be like paper, so I abandoned them by kicking them off my arm, as if sliding off the meat from a barbecue stick. The bodies were thrown against her, which she swiftly cut in half before resuming her rush.
I was still extracting the anti magic from my body, during that fight my fighting ability had gone up to 2%, but I still couldn't use my vacuum blade. Well, it's no problem. I watched her movements like a hawk, looking for an opening that I could exploit. Running closer to her, we came within breathing distance as she swung her blade, ready to take my head. Her arms and position strike with frightening accuracy, her glare and hot breath brushed past my cheek as I ducked my head under and kicked away at her wrist.
This had knocked the flaming sword away, if she had not let go of it even I would have a lot of trouble. With how my body is right now, I could easily survive any injury from that sword except for one that slcied my head clean off or one thrusted straight into my skull to have my brain barbecued. Otherwise I could tank the hit with my forearm and strangle her neck off with my other hand. I wouldn't die from the hit to my forearm, but the combination of the heat cauterising the wound and the anti magic would mean that I had the deal with hat injury for the rest of the day.
In this lair with countless enemies waiting for me... It would be very undesirable to get damaged even if it was only a little. With that, the enemy's reinforcements had arrived. 7 B grades and an A grade, unless it was a sea of them it was still manageable. I looked to Myuu with an awkward face as I handed my palm out.
"...?" (Myuu)
She returns an empuzzled gaze as she stared at my palm, wondering what I was trying to convey. Her confused eyes was cutely captivating for a moment, but there was no time for that one the battlefield.
"Lend me a spear..."
A weapon with a longer reach would be very convenient, especially since I'm going to dive into a crowd of enemies now. Having no weapon, I wouldn't be able to parry and would keep getting chipped here and there. It was tough being weak... My strength felt similar to that time we fought off an S grade in the labyrinth that we lived in... Man that felt like so long ago, even though its only been around 5 months.
Myuu starts gathering magical particles from her well and into her palms, forging a spear with around A grade performance. In other words, this spear had more output and destructive power than my body right now. Well, that's usually how it goes in stories. The characters use weapons stronger than themselves to reach an opponent that looks Unreachable...
Unfortunately, here the weapons we conjure have power according to how much magical particles we put in them... In other words, they have the same strength as our bodies, the only difference being that they are sharper... It really sucks... But using Myuu's spear essentially meant asking her to fight for me.
We had gone over this plan a lot, and I was always meant to be the one dealing with the small fry. The only thing that went ary was the anti magic... In other words it was important to keep to the plan... Deviating from it to ask for help was admitting that I was weak. I turned around with an agile spin after grabbing the spear from Myuu, hiding my face from the other 2. After holding the spear in my hands and feeling its rough texture, I wondered about how Myuu felt everything she was wielding it. It's outer surface was incredible rough, that it wouldn't be a surprise if it tore my skin in the next moment I wield it.
I got my memories back, but I was still as vulnerable as before. So I ponder about such trivial things as grief settles in my heart. I hid my face as quickly as I could for this one reason, it seemed so incredibly stupid that I wanted to laugh at myself. But it also felt like my tear duct was about to burst, so I rushed to contain it in by clenching my teeth and lips shut as well as my keeping back my tears by glaring at the enemy.
I lowered my stance and centre of gravity to loosen my body, in other words it was the usual. I leaped forward with maximum speed, even if we were around the same speed if I accelerate to reach the max speed first then they would still be left behind in their perception. Count it as them letting their guard down and not being able to react to an otherwise manageable attack. But it was simply the reality that set in, crept to the back of their necks as they realised they stared death straight in the eye.
I arrived a few metres in front of them, ready to exploit the strength that Myuu imparted upon me. Swing the spear at its maximum range with all my strength, taking 3 heads away at once. 4 B grades left and 1 A grade, I've killed them before they could even use a more advanced skill. I've been moving at max speed after all. I could also conclude now... I was only able to manage this much because they were all essentially untrained or novices. The only one I could see posing a threat was the A grade.
But this was my job, even after getting strength from Myuu, I can not lose now. Well, initially they didn't use any advance skills, but since I was preoccupied with the front row, they finally do it for once. There was now a barrier covering the entire cross section of the corridor as if it was a dead end, it was completely opague too...
I wonder if barriers could act like one-sided glass, then I must be wary of surprise attacks right now. As soon as I thought so, I spin the spear around rapidly to deflect the projectiles they shot out of their barrier. Other than light, even magic travels one way, how trouble some.
In the next instant, I grabbed another section of the spear with my left hand. Wielding it with both arms now, I dragged out a wide slash, shattering the barrier like fragmented glass. My fingers quivered under the power exerted by the spear, barely able to contain its power. As it was currently more enhanced and pack with magical energy than my own body, I was careful to contain all its power at the spear tip by only using the tip to attack. Using both arms, I turned around to hold the spear against the empty space... That materialised into the A grade enemy. Her whip slammed into the spear with great force, wrapping around it.
She was simply fast enough that it looked like she was summoned out of thin air, It looked like she would even be trouble for my normal self without Magia retainment. I was still only at 2% output however, it was well above the bottom of the barrel B grades but simply insufficient to deal with her. She would be around a 50 times faster than me right now...
This was a test of skill, before I noticed she had impacted my hip with a powerful kick, sending me flying deep into the corridor. No... I had dodged it, but I was still sent flying by a mere graze. Next, she would catch up to me to deal the finish blow. I swerve at the last moment, predicting her speed. After all, I had been at that speed myself at some point, and I even fought with opponent's faster than myself before.
So I lined up at the last second to hit at least one of the B grades in my trajectory. It was common to kick the opponent after a dead lock after all. Swerving at the last moment caused her whip to burst through the B grades skull as her comrades stared on in horror.
It wasn't anything too new, I trained with Palmicia to take down an S grade with a B grade body. If you wanted to finish me off, you would need to be 500 times faster, and it would have to be 500 times faster than my F.R.M mode. My passive, the one that acted as a radar... It's still operating at 100%, it was the only thing the anti magic couldn't influence. I stand up as she stared at her befuddled face.
"Come, I can still see through you."
To be honest, the radar acting faster than my body was not enough my body was still slow after all. So what if I saw what she did if I can't even intercept it? What would be the point? It was a trick, a trick to tell her I could still be as fast as her even with the anti magic affecting me this bad. As expected, her mind seemed to be undergoing turmoil as cold sweat dripped down her temple. She walked sideways, circling me like prey as she stayed alert.
She didn't seem like a nobody small fry, her auburn cape and orange leather gloves and boots accentuated her short dark scarlet dress and dark forest green hair. Her eyes were sharp and her expression seemed to fit like a beautiful painting together as well as the black embroidery lining her dress making her seem like she came out of a fairytale. Her eyes were trained on to me as she gripped her whip tighter.