*
"..." (Kaede)
She had ignored her own internal identity crisis. She was not Kaori, she gave herself the name 'Kaede'. Then she moved on, just like that. Truth be told, she didn't care at all. If grail wasn't there to tell her, she would have continued on living as Kaori, with no one else none the wiser. Unlike an independant ego like Grail, who else would have even identified that she wasn't Kaori? If the memories build up most of one's mentality and personality, who could say she who had inherited Kaori's memories isn't Kaori?
She wouldn't have noticed that her memories stop at where The Great Disaster left off. That must be a stopgap measure meant to remind herself of her true nature. It was common sense after all... Someone of her age wouldn't lose such a large chunk of memories like that. It was too strange of a phenomena, akin to magic, and if she didn't know any better she would have assumed someone erased her memories with a skill rather than switch bodies with her.
A life threatening battle where she just lost two of her closest friends and an ally, and she discovers that she wasn't actually their friend at all. Her life had fell apart within a minute, how was anyone suppose to deal with it? It was too much for her, that was what she concluded immediately. So she left it for later, focusing her mind onto the present instead, the present of fighting for her survival.
In other words, she was running. She ran from all of her own problems. Now that she encountered the problems of someone else, Grail's, it was hard to react. How was she suppose to reply here? It concerned the existence of Grail after she finished her mission.... After all, her nature was fleeting like magic. An ego born of magic for the sake of accomplishing a goal, once magic finishes its business the phenomena disperses back into magical particles, usually leaving no traces of its existence. A big example is the void rapier, it cause voids to occur in reality but reality will patch itself up and fill in these voids to remove them.
Was she suppose to assure her that she would live on afterwards? Or was she suppose to crack a joke and lighten the mood regarding her final fate... It was more likely for her to vanish afterwards than not, shortlived and tragic. Kaede's heart couldn't bear the pressure just imagining a world without Grail. She was her saviour, and first friend since she discovered her own lack of identity. Whatever the case, Kaede was too awkward to do anything about the current situation.
Grail had an inkling of what's going on, but she didn't care too much about it. She asked the question out of a cold rational curiosity and didn't really expect an answer. Perhaps she was waiting to hear 'How would I know?!' and move on. In this case, Kaede's concern for her feelings were glaringly obvious. She giggles internally, noting how Kaede's clumsy transparency was endearing in a way.
"Hey... Just how far is central... At this rate your recovery will be too slow...! You might die from that leakage...! " (Grail)
"... About the size of a big city... So 100km in all directions?" (Kaede)
"... You guys sure were monsters before this battle huh? " (Grail)
She winced at that number, their survival still hasn't been guaranteed, it remains as a probability that's too low. But they had no choice, all they could do was pick up the pace and hope the transformation lasts by then.
" I don't recommend running with your full speed, walking is fine even if it takes a couple weeks." (Grail)
"... I disagree, this seems to be my last chance. It doesn't look like it'll get any better than here, like the end stage of a cancer.
More importantly, I have this minor gut feeling. It's coming from the West, do you think you can somehow plug up the leak? For as long as you can... If you want to save Kaori... you have to do it. " (Kaede)
A dreadful silence cloaks itself in the tranquility of the barren land, the only source of noise was the rhythmic tapping of Kaede's gait and her heartbeat. This heighten awareness of her own respiration subconsciously caused her to halt her breath.
"... I've thought about it too. But if we do so, I can't have you quitting on me halfway. This is an endeavour on the level of life and death, if I were to agree to fulfill myy end of the deal, you have to resolve yourself to keep running without stopping even if you were seconds away from crashing into your new tomb.
For that... Let's fight. "(Grail)
Her voice deepens, baring all of her feelings in the open. She wouldn't agree unless Kaede was willing to die with her. One has to stake their own life if they want the other to risk their life for them. There was absolutely no romantic element around, only a crude and simple give and take. Anyway, they would die if they did nothing, or if they refuse to cooperate.
The problem was the trust they have in each other. From each other's perspective, they were complete strangers. Kaede may be a fill in for Kaori and Grail for Myuu. But they are not those people. All Kaede has -to deal her decisions on- were Kaori's memories, as such whether she likes it or not, she will subconsciously rely on Kaori's experiences to make a judgement. She carried over her suberb fighting instincts and had realised she wouldn't make it without relying on grail.
" How do we fight? You don't have a body, do you? "(Kaede)
She agreed immediately, there was no room for her to challenge Gail's decisions. She understood and ceased any control of the situation, it would be best to cooperate after all.
" We fight in your mind. You're a foreign ego inhabiting kaori's soul, what is normally impossible is now possible because we're both egoes not meant to be here.
We can create an additional plane inside her mind. By using her brain cells to hold, transmit and maintain magical signals instead of electrical signals, we can create a digital space. And as an ego, it'll be a piece of cake to simply enter it like how you enter a room. " (Grail)
As if she was dropped into an abyss, Kaede fixated her eyes on the small white platform into the middle of deep darkness. The ground was roughly 25 metres by 25 metres, forming square tiles of 1 metre square each. The quartz white flooring kept her heart grounded, calmed her down in the middle of this terrifying void that has swallowed her. It felt like the digital space swallowed her all at once and painted over her sight in an instant.
Pass the white platform was an unending drop, it was so dark that every direction looked the same, like an infinite void that cannot be traversed no matter how much time it took. Just staring at it would leave one feeling with existential dread, she wasn't a digital avatar created by a magical girl's magic like a game player chracter, she was a through and through ego.
This feeling wasn't caused by magic. Dying here would kill her in the real world as well, as what currently lay here was the fundamental core of her being, unprotected by mortal flesh. Reincarnation would become impossible if one dies here.
On the other side of the platform was grail. She looked just like Myuu, only that her hair was a lighter shade of golden brown, yellowish even like the arrival of autumn. She also had a dark green blindfold on that hid her eyes and ears. Her face fit perfectly well, and that very composition exuded exceeding amounts of elegance. Every little movement she made seemed to be filled with intent, like a hardened warrior. She summons her spear and twirls it around before locking it in her armpit, while the spear faces frontwards and diagonally downwards at a 60 degree angle .
"... I can't see the appearance of your ego, but information in this digital space gets sent to me instantly due to being its owner, so I have an image of what you look like...
Kaede, only a small vestige of your previous self can be seen in this digital appearance. It looks like an unidentifiable grey mosaic... All I can make out is ur eyes glowing in a sea of muddy grey, hair that reaches your legs... And... The silhouette of your dress. " (Grail)
'Something odd looks like it's growing on her head too... Are those horns?' (Grail)
"... Then, shall we start? "(Kaede)
If one were to describe the place they were in, they would say it was a suffocating lt small battle ground. With how fast magical girls can move, they could slip off the 25 metre length of it in an instant. The simple act of fighting here would take precise power distribution in all their actions.
Otherwise the both of them would be flung off the stage from the resultant directional forces. Like that of a polar molecule, both would end up losing the match by default. Falling into the void wouldn't kill them, as a free fall wouldn't damage their egoes. Instead they would be ejected back into the real world or wherever they entered the realm from. Like leaving a room through the door they used to come in.
'... Weird, I can't exert Kaori's influence in here. It may be a digital space created inside my body, but the space itself is under Grail's control. But she wouldn't cheat, in the first place she proposed this battle to gauge my willpower.
... Most importantly, this body feels odd. She said I took on the appearance of my original body... So it stands to reason that my abilities here would be the same as my old body... But, I have no comprehension of them. I could use them intuitively, but without deep understanding of their effects, the situational application would deteriorate. I wouldn't know when to use what, in simple terms.
I wonder if... I could just change them to Kaori's skills. With her memories, but not experience... At least I can understand them more and know what she can and can not do. " (Kaede)
'... Her appearance changed to that of Kaori's...' (Grail)
They summoned their respective weapons, a void rapier and an ancient vine spear. The spear was from a time long before dinosaurs, when biodiversity was low but absurdly mutated by magical particles. The environment had suited its needs and allowed it to thrive, but it was also far harsher than anything in the modern world.
By virtue of being ancient, a time where life had so much magical particles its aura would kill any modern life form, the spear was currently far more durable than anything in the world. It was solely due to this digital space that allowed the egoes to project their full power. In other words, it was an illusion formed from the magic signals in Kaede's brain, but it was real enough to affect them.
They instantly recognised the troubles brought by this kind of tiny platform, adjusting their gait and battle style. Their attacks become more intricate as every moment passes by, improving as they moved closer to each other like a fire constantly refining and tempering a blade. They haven't even clashed yet, but they recognised the increasing danger posed by each other.
Kaede makes the first move, she initiates a long thrust with her void rapier, taking full advantage of its tiny surface area and exceedingly long range. But Grail doesn't let up, she was using her spear which was naturally long. Controlling their distance becomes a league harder when both use similarly long weapons. Pushing or pulling at the exact right time, a tiny lag in movement becomes fatal.
'...?! Her spear is longer than mine... No wonder she was relaxed enough let me do the first move! ' (Kaede)
As she took the form of Kaori and her capabilities, she retained her high kinetic vision and passive processing power. A battle type that makes it a necessity to be able to observe high speed attacks. But it wasn't as simple as it looked, she may have these capabilities but she has to put in her all to put them into use. It was akin to holding one's breath with all their strength.
The only way to advance in this battle was to retreat. She slammed her rapier into the spear and ducked while advancing. Grail slams the spear with a greater force, pushing it down onto her rapier before launching a kick. The spear locked the rapier behind Kaede since she pushed forward blindly while crouching, bending her hand backwards as the rapier slides against the spear, sending sparks flying at the point of collision. Somehow all their strength had been channeled and retained by their weapons, the remaining force from the collision of their weapons wasnt enough to send either of them flying.
Kaede then rolled onto the ground to dodge the kick. In this case, the length of her rapier worked to her disadvantage as it was stuck under the spear, so she had to let go and dematerialise it leaving her defenceless after the roll.