*
'Optimising body control.' (Grail)
'Synchronising analysis.' (Kaede)
Her rapier splits into multiple versions of itself before fusing back together, as if nothing had happened. Kaede was getting a feel for the gradients, there is no time to crunch the numbers mid fight, only enough to intuitively feel which gradient was higher and to manipulate that feeling by making it go away.
She spends more of her magical particles to enhance her specs.
'It's time to bring out that technique, Kaori's final gift. I'm counting on you to deal with the leaks.' (Kaede)
'Yeah. I'm tired of watching you lose too. '
(Grail)
"It's fine to stop holding back. Sorry for underestimating you, I'll take you seriously now." (Kaede)
The cheery expression that she possessed earlier in the day has been completely ripped off her face now. There is not even a bit of its vestiges, only a solemn seriousness carved out through pain and understanding.
"Hahah! No worries, I simply thought of it as a warm up." (Barius)
She smiles, but her amicability does not reach her cold eyes. Her aura swells up even further, but an observable constrictive force holds it together, causing it to flare like a sea blue pillar of light restricted to her immediate surroundings only. The pillar shrinks until only she is left in it, extending into the sky like an endlessly growing tree or an upside down stream of water that throbbed and thrashed.
In return.
"Magia retainment, 10%" (Kaede)
Barius was still around 5+ times her speed. She would work with it. She had to. She forms only a single dense rapier and covers her body with it using a backhanded grip. In a flash, Barius's silhouette showed up with her sword already swung and a fresh smile bloomed on her face. Then she invokes time stop, impaling at the immobile Kaede multiple times with her water blade.
When time resumes...
".....!?" (Barius)
"Heh." (Kaede)
It was nothing too fancy, it wasn't an illusion or a body double or anything really. She took those hits head on with her barrier, using her second skill to stop anything that comes towards her within a certain distance. In a way, it was akin to Barius's time stop. It seemed like she had stabbed Kaede multiple times, but the water bunched up and stopped moving when it got close, then it reextended back into the shape of a blade by Barius's own power when she pulls it back.
Taking advantage of her shock, Kaede bends lower and swings her rapier, aiming to hit with the tip and make full use of her range. It was obvious that it would get blocked, Barius was 5 times faster and it was a frontal assault. She slid her foot forward, attempting to swipe Barius but Barius noticed it at once and stomped on it, just as she stomped on it Kaede swung her rapier at her chest. The only rule was that they weren't allowed to go for the head or neck, as that was a killing blow.
Barius blocks the rapier by holding her blade close to her own chest, the angle was tight and awkward for her. Kaede swings her free leg, aiming to knee her while Barius goes for a wide swing while falling back, aiming for a far kick with the side of her shin. Their legs clashed and the force reverberates into her Kaede's bunched up leg, her pelvis creaked in agony.
"Kagh?!" (Barius)
Grail was in charge of some of these movements and to execute them as quickly as possible, her extremely close combat martial expertise was from her own experience of using [Extreme body governing] and Myuu's knowledge of spear handling to control space. While Kaede was focused on identifying the openings, this time she managed to bend Barius into her own flow.
The pain in her right foot creeps up on her ever more like a searing flame torching her foot off into a burnt mess, but she has managed to keep both their legs busy and forced Barius's right hand into a tight position. Their blades clashed and Barius's left hand had become useless from its own positioning while Kaede had a left hand that was free from everything. She materialises a second blade and puts all her magic into it, the first blade dematerialises and refunnels her magic into it as it thrusts into Barius's heart.
A nonstop flow of blood flows out of her lips, she really looks like she's dying. But she's an A grade not a C grade, a strike to the heart shouldn't be fatal. For a C grade, any conventional wound could heal in 30 minutes. For an A grade that has long surpassed that by a few digits, they only take 15 seconds and a B grade takes 6 minutes. As such even the loss of a heart isn't fatal for A grades and B grades have a small chance of surviving.
"Do you want to end it? I... Might not be strong enough to continue, I might not be able to resist swinging at your head either..." (Kaede)
She asks with a smile, her eyes narrow in self ridicule to soften the blow.
"Yeah, could you take this thing out already? It was hard not to use brute force to rip your head off..." (Barius)
If it ends on this note, it would be Barius's lost after all. Kaede was glad to that she had some humility. After all, if this had continued there was no way Kaede would win. She had used up all her strength, her mind might come up with a few more strategies but it would all be useless if she couldn't them put them into use. What's more, her strategies rely on surprise as Barius would easily be able to deal with her attacks otherwise with her superior stats.
Coming up with strategies in the middle of battle was insane, and only possible because Grail was practically the one moving her body... Kaori, how did she do it? What the hell is she?
While it was indeed strange to view her memories in third person perspective, as if a camera had been following Kaori for all of her life, there was something else to it that unsettled Kaede. The more she looks at it, the more... Discrepancies occur. It wasn't anything to do with the memories themselves, but what was inside these memories. Things happen that didn't seem to connect coherently at times, at other times it was Kaori's actions themselves that made little sense to Kaede.
She wondered if she was simply too lacking of common sense to comprehend what she's remembering, or maybe she actually had common sense that was why the memories seemed so strange to her.
'Kaede, there isn't much left to be found in your memories. I think it's more important for you to focus on the present.' (Grail)
'... You're right... Sorry, did my anxiousness spread to you?' (Kaede)
'Unfortunately, yes. Emotionally, I can somewhat feel how you are feeling. It's like a sixth sense.' (Grail)
She hugs Barius right after dematerialising her rapier.
"Uhh...??" (Barius)
Barius shook a little, recoiling from her own surprise. She wasn't sure what prompted it, but at the same time she did. She put a single hand on Kaede's back. Kaede proceeded to jump a little as well upon being touched. Sending Barius's puzzlement into a further spiral of confusion.
"Ah!! I didn't mean to! I mean I did intend to, but I didn't mean anything with it!!" (Kaede)
Her face was flushed like refined rubies, mouth agaped like a fish as she panicked while flustered and scared. Her words soon devolved into primitive noises as her hands flailed about.
"Hoho~ enjoying some bonding time without me? Mind if I join in? " (Neli)
"I-if your fine with me!" (Kaede)
"Haa~" (Barius)
She exhaled a deep exasperated sigh, but she still extended her hands, waiting to welcome Neli.
"Heheh~ so what's the occasion, boss?" (Neli)
She had strangely become casual with us, and an unseen grin was peaking through the cactus green locks over her face.
"Kaori's just being weird as usual." (Barius)
Sometimes she seemed to have some shame built on the fact that she was a guy inside, but other times she would throw away that hesitation and did whatever she wanted. If it was just a mere hug, they didn't mind so it was tolerated.
"As usual?" (Neli)
"Yep, as usual." (Barius)
She leaks a gentle smile, her eyelids and cheeks relaxed as her gaze wandered into the past and back.
Her heart beat crazy fast and an oddly nice smell wafted into her nostrils. On the inside, Kaede was going nuts. During the Demon King fight, she had reliable allies that gave her heart a sense of security and unity, it felt like they wouldn't lose no matter what. But it also meant that she hadn't faced such a battle so close to the boundary of life and death before, her spar with Barius would be her first time coming across such a thing.
Even if she had Kaede's memories of nearly dying numerous times, she would live in the present as herself. As such, this was her first and it physically sent her body into a frantic shiver. Her chest trembled with trepidation and her shoulders convulsed with nervousness. She was so scared of dying, at the same time she was also completely afraid of accidentally killing Barius.
She wanted to avoid it at all cost. She didn't know where to put these feelings into, so she simply hugged Barius out of panicked reflex. Barius could easily infer that much, after all... Kaori loves-
Neli, perhaps sensing the mood wanted to lighten the atmosphere in her own way. In the end they huddled up into an awkward position, and it would be too rude to ask them to get off at this point. So Kaede held her breath and stayed as still as possible. But she quickly gave up and took a deep breath over Barius's stomach. She was hugging low after all, while Neli wrapped the both of them up in her arms.
Lukewarm sweat formed tiny reflective beads over Kaede's forehead before it fell into the all encompassing force of inertia, it dripped and slid over Kaede's skin and made a trail from her forehead to her nose. At this point, the ridge of Kaede's nose was getting irritated, she had an urge to wipe it away with her hand but she was still stuck under that human pile.
Giving up, she felt Barius's waist and searched her way up for her shoulder before frantically tapping at it.
"Mmmm!!!! Mmmmm!!!!!" (Kaede)
She wailed in desperation, but it was as if there was a cage of iron keeping her trapped there. Though magical girls can easily bent iron, so this was much worse. Kaede could feel Barius in front of her and Neli behind her. So she searched behind too to look for Neli's arms to tap out.
"Mmm!!! Mmm!!!" (Kaede)
Again, no response. At this point she had long exhausted her energy during battle, and what little she recovered during that brief moment of rest was expended on trying to get out. Her breathing was haggard and her chest heaved up and down heavily.
"Haa~ haa~ haa~ haa~ ughhh" (Kaede)
She collapsed onto the ground and was finally released from the 2. Rolling into her back, she prys her own eyelids open to see a ridiculing smirk and an abashed smile. Was this Barius's revenge for losing the spar? Kaede didn't know and wouldn't want to know what caused that transgression. As the saying goes, ignorance is bliss. She would rather not poke the beehive.
Ignoring them, she closed her eyes and calmed her breath. Basking in the serenity of her mind. There was no more battle, no more injury, no more awful things. It had been a year since 90% of carbon emissions stopped, the air was already vastly different, at least distinctly so from an urban environment before The Great Disaster. Though it was akin to being built on the corpses of 80% of humanity.
Kaede was once again reminded... That she didn't know what modern humanity looked like. She had no memories from before The Great Disaster, only after. It was a gaping hole pulling and gouging at her mind. To her, this was the only air she knew and so it wasn't that special. It wasn't much different from the wilderness, and she didn't expect it to be.
Her thoughts, muddy and blur, they slip into the night sky.
"Hey, I know magical girls can't get sick, but you should retain some common sense instead of sleeping here." (Barius)
"Ah." (Kaede)