*
Kaede was too close to impale with her spear, so Grail threw a big swing, attempting to use the spear's shaft to exert blunt force on the defenceless Kaede. Some damage was better than nothing, and in this case, she could knock her off the platform and win. She was swinging low, there was no dodging this. She wrapped her fingers and body around the spear.
"KGHHH!!!!!!!" (Kaede)
Absorbing the complete force of grail's attack, her plan was to endure the hit and hang onto the spear to avoid getting thrown off the platform. Nevertheless, the impact shook her ribs around and rearranged her lungs. She spat blood out in response to the heavy damage she took, her body was way weaker than she thought. This was the strength disparity between Myuu and Kaori, a half cooked attack managed to injure her this badly.
Since Kaori hung onto the spear, Grail could easily win this by throwing the entire spear into the void. So she does so in an instant, at the same time Kaede let go of it. The resultant force was enough that a mere graze to her waist sent her to the edge of the platform, only to be stopped by her desperate clinging the to that very edge. The one thing they don't have to worry about is the durability of the platform. Grail materialises another spear while Kaede attempts to climb back up.
A barrage of 10 spears flies at high speed from behind Kaede, aiming at her limbs. The spear that grail materialised in her hand was a diversion, one that she deliberately let Kaede see as she was climbing up the platform. Using her passive to sense those attacks, Kaede alters their trajectory to hit the platform instead. By forming a barrier of wind, she uses a huge chunk of magic but manages to save herself from the fate of falling into the void. Using the spear's stuck in the platform as a foothold, she leapt back onto the platform to materialise her void rapier once more.
"... A barrier to deflect instead of taking attacks head on... It costs much lower, at the same time that 'lowered' amount is still within the allowed amount you can spend... On the other hand, a barrier that tries to resist through brute force would be too expensive for you. You're using Kaori's abilities well. " (Grail)
" I have to if I want to beat you. Without any knowledge of my old abilities, what else can I do? It's best to utilise what I'm familiar with. " (Kaede)
It wouldn't be wise to stretch her void rapier any longer, its already low integrity would be even lower. An weapon of 'equal' ability would be able to break it if they are able to resist its 'movement' effect. Where it simply moves the area it is in contact with. In other words, it could slice anything like butter as it isn't cutting but actually displacing. Without this effect, the weapon wouldn't be anything special at all. It was the crystallisation of Kaori's efforts and the highest form of her power.
She grabs her rapier with both hands, pointing the tip straight forward at Grail. With a length of 2 metres, the extremely long black blade not fit for handling by a normal person glimmered with an elegant gem like sheen under what little light was in around them. The ancient spear was 3 metres long and way too heavy for any normal person to use.
But it was nearly as light as a feather in Myuu's hands, it still had some weight to it depending on how much she reinforced its shaft with magical particles. Here, Grail had it enhanced to the maximum in the digital space, though she couldn't use its [Union] to summon the entire tree. That would take up all the space on the platform and they wouldn't be able to find each other.
Before she could read make a move, a spear comes flying close to Kaede's cheek, grazing it with a powerful cut. Tiny particles floated out of the cut, as if her body was vanishing into snow particles that kept flying upwards. An uncharacteristic smile adorns her beautiful face, as if time had stopped to observed her stunning expression.
She grabs ahold of the spear with her left arm, it was not enough to stop the spear's movement, the friction burnt through her skin as it slid through the hole she made with her grip. But it was enough to alter the trajectory, she leapts forward with her rapier in her right hand. Thrusting her blade forward, Grail grabs it with her hand as well. She resists the 'movement' effect with Myuu's second skill [Extreme body governing], to move herself against the blade and reinforce her fingers and palm to resist the sharpness.
Caught in a deadlock, Kaede launches her foot straight forward while Grail goes for a heavy kick from the side. Since Kaede was kicking from the front, the distance she needed to travel was much shorter. Her leg reaches Grail first, who catches her foot and endures the kick to the abdomen. The impact struck the air out of Grail's lungs, leaving her a sharp and painful gasp. Using her full strength grasp on Kaede's foot, she swings her entire body weight and completes her side kick, but this time she aims for her head.
Kaede acknowledges her spirit and takes it head on. This was similar to how she felt before the battle started, to the time she suddenly felt anxious and desperate to run back to civilisation and proposed a full powered sprint to Grail. This disposition of hers... On second though, she really hates it. Yet she can't throw it away. For some reason it feels really important to her, as if she'll lose even more if she ignores it. So she desperate clings to this incomprehensible garbage of an instinct that brings her into harms way. Her spirit wouldn't let her have it any other way.
She slams her head into it while throwing her neck and chest forward to add to the momentum. It was however much she could muster while her leg was being clutched by Grail, only her upper body was free. Her vision blacks out for an instant at the moment of collision, due to shifting her entire body, grail loses to the forces of inertia. It was ironic how a magical girl... How a magical entity like Grail lost to gravity in this imaginary space. She couldn't help but laugh as she fell.
Grail lets go of Kaede's leg as she fell, Kaede takes this moment to recover her posture. She slowly walks up to Grail as she waits for her to recover as well.
"Are you trying to look nice? Or do you secretly want to beat me up even more?" (Grail)
She asked with her back to the ground, her chest heaving up and down as she takes in sharp breaths.
"You are strong. I want to fight you at your full strength. Otherwise... How will I prove my resolve? For what we're gonna do, and for what will be done in the future. I will gain your trust and show you just what I can do. I'll live proudly until the end, after all... You know what happens at the end of this journey right? "(Kaede)
" I see... I... I see what's happening now... I can't believe I didn't see it before... If what I saw is correct... Then I know of what you speak of frighteningly well. It's inevitable. " (Grail)
'it's only been a day, but I feel like if I don't stretch my hand and reach out to her... I'll fade away. We share a very similar fate, I who isn't Kaori but still wants to be acknowledged as Kaori... Its frightening... This fickle and vague existence of mine. It has no solid foundation, only a couple words helps me retain my existence. Foreign ego. ' (Kaede)
Her thoughts trail off into the darkness of this abyss, a wry smile decorates her cheeks and she smiles affectionately at Grail. Grail in turn, returns a similar smile, thought it was more closer to a smirk. Her eyes reflect her true intention, it was something she only spoke about a few seconds ago... She wanted to beat the hell out of Kaede and make her cry, an odd sadistic side of her took root. Mostly out of a grudge for that frontal kick.
She was hoping that Kaede wouldn't notice her intent, but it was plastered all over her face. Kaede, on the other hand, kept her feelings extremely well hidden, as if it was second nature to her. She didn't blatantly try to hide them like how Grail did with her words, but her face didn't betray her feelings either unlike Grail's. She used an expression of mixed feelings, mixing some truth with some lies, creating a complex puzzle of an expression that needs deciphering before someone could read her thoughts.
They form their weapons once more. Kaede swings first this time. Grail thrusts her spear straight forward, wiping the smirk off her face and getting serious. Kaede doesn't stop or try to deflect this time. She spins around as the spear approaches her head, waiting to burst it open like a balloon. Her head dodges the spear with ease, the side of the spear grazes her neck tearing a large chunk of flesh out of the left side of it.
She was approaching Grail on the right side of the spear after spinning around, her arm wraps under the spear and then over from the left side, thrusting into Gail's heart at the very end. Her arm had basically covered 180 degrees of the spear, and the long length of her rapier was used along with her wrist strength to bend it at an angle into Grail's heart.
"TCH! NO!!! [EXTREME BODY GOVERNING]!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! " (Grail)
"GHGG!!! GO DOWN ALREADY! COMPOSITE TECHNIQUE, VOID RAPIERRRR!!!!!!!!!!" (Kaede)
Move and push back, the two commands intertwine in a battle of magic. The rapier had only reached the surface of Grail's chest, it hasn't dug deep into or even reach her heart yet. A sparkling array of magical corollary bursts forth from the point of collision, sparks of purple and green magic arc over the air and dispersed in every direction. Kaede's arm shivers while Grail clutches at the rapier's blade, desperately trying to pull it off her.
"AAAAAHHHHHHH!!!" (Grail)
"AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (Kaede)
By enforcing her body with more magic than the void rapier's attack, [extreme body governing] would be able to form some resistance and repel it for some time. But ultimately, 'commanding' the body to resist is only good enough to deflect hits of this nature. A thrust attack straight at her heart would still easily slice through in the end. She understood she didn't have much time left, perhaps she should settle with a draw. So she stops resisting the blade with her hands and conjures a spear in her now free hands.
Thrusting the spear at Kaede's head, Kaede simply dodges by ducking under. Now, she couldn't even attempt to smash Kaede's head in with the shaft. If she wanted to do that, she had to swing it downwards which wouldn't damage her much considering it didn't have much space to build momentum. It was right above Kaede's head, a small hit wouldn't change the situation. So the rapier slips through her chest like a sewing pin through cloth.
"... Ughh, I wonder why... I couldn't go completely serious against you... Is it because of my mission? Yet I was the one who suggested such a test... How idiotic..." (Grail)
Blood dripped out of the corner of her lips, letting the void rapier dematerialise, Kaede walked up to Grail to wipe the blood off her lips. She raised her right hand to cup Grail's cheek before using her thumb to wipe it off.
"You know, even with this blindfold, I can still feel what you are doing right?" (Grail)
"Ah...! I... I just felt sorry for stabbing you in the heart, even if it's just a digital recreation, we still use our egoes to enter this space and fight. It hurts, right? I can't bear the thought of hurting you, so I ended up like this..." (Kaede)
A faint blush crept onto Kaede's cheeks, but she paid no heed to it as she spoke. She gave off a clumsy smile, deeply contrasting with the serious expression she pulled earlier. Even if for only a tiny moment, she looked like a completely normal girl. For herself, this space was something akin to playing a video game.
She felt disassociated with this digital body, as if she didn't really care if it got destroyed or not. For her, her physical body in the real world was what really 'felt like herself', what felt like her real self. But that wasn't the case for Grail, was it?
'What a waste. If only we weren't in this world', Grail discretely thought. If only... Perhaps in some other world, they lived completely normal lives as the best of friends. They had no one else to rely on except for each other, perhaps these feelings were created by one such suspension bridge effect. But it didn't matter to her. Strangely enough, she was having fun. That was enough.
"Alright! let's rest for a bit, then head out! " (Kaede)