*
The wind rushes by in a roar as the barren land vanishes into a distant blur. Kaede leapt forth with a large amount of magical particles expended. As the previous battle was fought in a digital space, that battle was actually really cost effective due to the small size of its data.
At present, Grail's job was to deal with the leakage in Kaede's well somehow. She did so by providing magical particles to Kaede as much as she could, as such she couldn't speak right now. However, her words still echoed in Kaede's thoughts.
'Don't even think of stopping until you see civilisation. Even then, continue until you at least reach the wall.' (Grail)
Step after step, her foot pressed against the ground to cover as much distance as possible, every instance gave her a little more propulsion. It wouldn't do to spend all her magical particles at once, so she's spending them in small amounts at a time, while trying to enhance every step she took. If the next step was too fast or too slow, it could cause her to trip on her own foot and get injured. That would only make their situation worse, so it was best to head in with a calm and concentrated mind.
She could feel her body gradually accelerating, the rhythmic movement or her feet blended into a natural repetitive routine. The faster she went, the stronger the air resistance. But due to her skill, she could completely negate such a thing by running in areas with the least amount of wind, and even manipulate the wind to pave a way for her.
But that would be too much work and magic wastage, rather than using magic on a specific space of coordinates, it was more efficient to form a shield out of wind that tears through air resistance for her, and have it travel together with her. It would act like an air plane's turbine as she dashed across the barren land.
Soon, she could no longer hear the surrounding gale as she escaped the sound barrier. Her performance broke past D grade and the speed of sound, she wouldn't be able to reach C grade but if she could maintain this speed for around 6 minutes, she could cross the entire 100 km. Ignoring the amount of time needed to follow the right direction and examine her surroundings.
She couldn't talk to anyone in that span of time, all of her energy went to her legs and body. Her mind on the other hand... Naturally began to wander. After such a long amount of silence, her concentration began to waver. Was what she was doing really the right way? Was there any other way that wouldn't have put her and Grail at risk? If one of them dies here from a single misstep, what would become of them? Grail would have to operate a dead body, or I would stop having a partner to converse with...
Her body adapts to the routine and her mind eases itself off the pressure. She kept her face towards the front, not intending to tear her gaze off her destination in the least. What lies at the end of this dangerous journey for them? That... Stopped nattering when she quickly understood her current situation.
There is no need to care about the future, after all the present was more important. If she faltered her, their journey will end prematurely. But if she doesn't risk their lives with a mistake, and instead puts her entire heart into their decisions, she was sure that they would succeed. After all, there was so much more waiting for them, it was impossible to stop now. She bends her legs towards her knees in mid-air, and right before landing on the ground from her leapt, she launches her legs towards the ground with all of her strength.
This was similar to that constant 'instinct' that she has kept feeling recently. It was like an ever present anxiety that urged her to move forward if she didn't want to fall. As if she could sense danger before it remotely even happened. She left a large crater in the ground as she burst forth through the threshold for C grade in an instant.
'...?!' (Grail)
Her body was poised like an arrow, her figure swam through the air like a streamlined aerodynamic fish, her arms laid against her waist and her fingers bunched up into a fist. She could feel her bones creak under the pressure as she put her all into accelerating. If I don't at least do this much, then how will I face myself? It's my duty to get us out of here.
Grail couldn't help but interject with her own thoughts at how absurd the situation.
"You're going all out already?!!!" (Grail)
Kaede's own mind wandered quite easily, it was because her perception was different. What seemed like a few seconds from a normal person's perspective, felt hundreds of times longer as Kaede's thoughts also sped up as much as her velocity. She was putting her all into this after all, so ever her kinetic vision and thought processing is at maximum. The scenery that she observes moves at a far slower speed than how it normally is.
"..." (Kaede)
Even her expression had changed to a rather serious tone as she dedicated her concentration on moving forward. Just a little bit more, just need to move forward a bit more... Squeezing every bit of power she held in her body, she pushed her own body to its current limits. At the moment, she could only muster this many magical particles from Grail, so the limit of her performance was C grade.
After 2 minutes, the outskirts of town was finally in sight. In an instant, she reached the first building- And she couldn't stop in time.
"Aghhh!!! How do I slow down!!! On the other hand, Grail, you're very capable at providing fuel! Perhaps if you start fueling less, my speed would naturally slow down?" (Kaede)
She spoke in a panic-stricken fervour as she used a single foot to propel herself into the air. She was ready to cannon ball into the middle of town as if she went for a casual swim at the local pool. She released the magic that was acting on the air resistance and made use of inertia force her speed down. She pulled her limbs close as she felt the amount of access she had to magical particles drop.
If she doesn't slow down properly, she would die upon crashing into something at high speed. It would be akin to a car crash, she had distributed all her magical particles to enhancing her speed, so her physical defence was very fragile. It was the cost of moving as fast as possible, her body was now a large and lethal paintball that would splatter on a wall.
700 metre per second... I have to get slower... I can't die here, now that I made it...
"... Don't worry, leave it to me. Now that you've fulfilled your end, your job is done." (Grail)
600..... 500.... 400...
She had made significant progress since entering the outskirts of Central. There wasn't a wall or any sort of border. Central was simply the biggest settlement in the faction, as such the older renovated buildings are near the centre while the newer ones are freshly built at the outskirts. If the local magical girls perceive it as an attack, she would be killed in an instant. In fact, a stationary object would be able to do a job. Simply building a wall right in front of her would end the journey right here...
300... It's getting harder to slow down... Grail had already finish removing any access to magical particles, as such Kaede was simply moving from the momentum she had currently gathered. The mere remnants of what she recently held was enough to push her to move at the speed of sound.
"Brace yourself, we're breaking in back through the sound barrier. I'll reinforce you, so you'll survive. But you have to finish the rest on your own... This will take way more magic out of me than simply funneling my magic into you." (Grail)
"Kghh.... Leave it to me... I'll make sure to survive no matter what." (Kaede)
*DON*
Usually no magical girl above D grade would ever pay this much attention to the sound barrier. Once their endurance grade reached C grade, their body was reinforced enough to pass through it as much as they pleased.
"Ugh... 260... If it's this much... Then my reinforcement should be able to handle a bit..." (Kaede)
She struck her leg against a roof, apologising to the owner of the property in her mind as she causes it to collapse onto the floor below.
" AGGGGHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!! " (Kaede)
Her foot was torn off from the ankle, leaving the bone exposed as her pain filled shriek filled in the usual tranquility of the morning dew. Her tears filled her vision, but she still tried to avoid as many obstacles as possible. She bit her lips through the indescribable pain assaulting her foot and nerves. Most of the momentum had exit through her foot as she wasn't able to muster enough force for this final leap. This ended up turning it into a bloodied mess.
130... 90... 70... 50... 30...
She had travelled an absurd distance since she first crossed over the nonexistent border of Central, she was now in the inner region of it as she crashed onto a concrete wall.
"HAGHH!!!!" (Kaede)
I... I survived..., Kaede thought ecstatically. The crash had caused some internal bleeding and forced her to spit out a large puddle of blood, but her magical girl constitution was barely able to keep her alive. Her vision began to darken quickly, as if black mud was overflowing over the sky and soon covered even her eyes. The commotion brought a lot of attention in the usually peaceful morning of Central, as did the two conspicuous puddles of blood, one around her chest and one around her obliterated foot.
***
"... Kaori? Did... Did she defeat the progenitor...?" (?)
" Whether she accomplished it or not, perhaps we should first bring her to get some help... She... Has way too much of an aura while being so injured...
Usually an injured magical girl would have her magical particles directed towards recovery, leaving no excess to form an aura with.
There's something more to her condition. " (?2)
" Thankfully we found her quick then. I guess this was why our leader thought a morning patrol was necessary... " (?)
The 2 magical girls observed her quietly sleeping face. It was quite a surreal sight to see a person who lost their foot sleep so soundly. There were traces left by dried tears on her cheeks as her lips visibly part faintly to match with the rhythm of her respiration. But this wasn't the most alarming observation.
"The state of her body... While in a weird condition, isn't too badly damaged. The worst part is..." (Jiyu)
"Yeah... The worst part... Myuu and the rest isn't with her." (Willen)
***
She lifted up her heavy eyelids, her body felt powerless as she woke up. She couldn't lift her body much less a finger. Her eyelids were the limit, an ugly grey expanse reveals itself under her sight. The patches of dark grey on it indicated its nature to her clearly. It was a crude concrete ceiling, contrasting to the softness of the bed that she felt under her back. If she could feel the fabric this well, then her body must have recovered a lot from last time.
That was great. It meant that she was only feeling lethargic, instead of having her body get stolen. One never knew if there was a witch lurking by where she crashed, she had fortunately encountered altruistic people. If it had been a witch who found her... Well, the result would be what anyone would expect. While witches were fundamentally different beings from what is shown in popular fairytales, there was still some credibility to those tales.
Witches were actually normal humans who couldn't awaken as magical girls, so they opted to learn blood magic which used blood and life force as fuel for magical phenomena. Since they are unable to tap into magical particles which were a more efficient form of fuel for magic, they are often weaker than magical girls and on the brink of extinction.
But it's not their circumstances that brought the stereotypes seen in modern portrayals of witches, it's exactly because they are human that they are portrayed as such. Some covet the blood of others to fuel their magic, others would dissect people to study blood magic by using organs or other living beings as catalyst. A highly sought after catalyst for blood magic... Would obviously be the object of their envy, a magical girl's body. That was why despite being weaker, these people who pose a danger to magical girls who usually work for the good of humanity are portrayed as such.
It's because they can exhibit such cruelty that is characteristic of human beings, that they are shown as such. Some even go as far as cannibalism in order to surpass their natural limits and gain a long lifespan. That was Kaede's number 1 concern when crashing into the city in the early morning. That some witch would come and dissect her while she passed out, and she would wake up as a floating head.
"Ah! It looks like you're awake... I'm sure you have a lot to ask, so I'll sum it up.
You've been asleep for 3 and a half days, so we've called for Kyou and Palmicia to come look after you. We were tasked to inform the main leading body of The Rising Knight order...
A-Ah! I almost forgot. I'm Jiyu, a member of patrol squad B of this town's Rising Knight order corps. Me and Willen here found you and brought you to our infirmary. Please continue to rest here until Kyou gets here. " (Jiyu)
" Mhmm... " (Kaede)