*
He carries his boss while running as fast as he could, Galadyn desperately pressed down a piece of cloth to his face to block out the smoke while Harald held his breath. Distant shrieks and subsequent explosions could be heard reverberating loudly, the ground trembled under their feet from the aftershocks of such destructive forces.
"... Did you plant more bombs while I wasn't looking?" (Harald)
"... No, I was merely the catalyst. It seems that this auction host had more enemies than we were aware of. Tread carefully, we may get mistaken for the host." (Galadynl
" Mhmm." (Harald)
They quickly run out of the smoke filled corridors, but before they could reach the exit, the surrounding walls burst into rubble before them.
"... We might have to part ways here." (Harald)
" Fuck...!? We were so close! I can't do this without you!" (Galadyn)
"Guys like me come a dime a dozen. You'll find a better mercenary in no time. Think I can have this last job?" (Harald)
The surrounding walls, ceiling and supporting pillars were decimated, right in front of their sight was a single individual. A magical girl. No matter who that magical girl was aligned with, she presented the biggest threat to their plans. Galadyn could still run into the smoke, but neither of them were sure if the magical girl perhaps had an ability to see through smoke.
As such, the best way to minimise their losses now... Was to sacrifice Harald. But he wasn't going down without a fight. More like, if he didn't fight then his efforts would become futile.
"So it was you trash who decided to mess with the cult. Be prepared to die an ugly death." (Enemy)
A single flash of a purple light flies through the corridor like a laser pointer tracing the corridor's length. Harald dodges as fast as he could, but it still slices off his left arm.
" GUAAAAGGGGGHHHH!!!!!! " (Harald)
The pain overwhelms his senses, causing him to fire up all his magic at once into enhancing his body. 1x -> 500x, D grade.
His body vanishes, reappearing right next to the opponent magical girl. His knees are bent and he was basically on the ground, but his arm managed to effectively pack all his strength into his blade. It slices through the air with large amounts of force, busting through any resistance as it slides into the opponent's flesh. It tears through her waist fabric, penetrating her skin and then her kidney.
Without a single moment to react, the opponent launches her fist downwards. It impacts his head and smashes his entire body into the ground, forming a large crater with a booming sound rivalling the explosions. Her puffy grey wrist guards and skirt bounce in the air as her twintail dance in the wind with their pale pink ribbon sashes. She wore a dark grey dress with light grey highlights and frills, multiple shapes such as triangles, rhombuses and circles line the lining of her skirt right before her frills.
She looked like something that would have came out of a TV show if not for the blood that drenched her fist. His skull caved in as its fragments embbeded themselves into his spongy grey matter. Normally at this point anybody would have blacked out or outright died from the impact to his cranium, but by some miracle it felt like he was just fainting.
Seeing his twitching eyelids, his opponent brings her other fist up with vicious smile on her face. She likely hasn't killed in a long while, and seeing his pretty much dead body, it was stirring up her bloodlust. His mind felt like it was a distant entity from the world, like a ghost witnessing his final moments. He couldn't feel anything, and that was pretty much a sign that he didn't have long left.
He saw the shape of his head and how there was a large dent in his skull that even a hammer couldn't recreate. He thought back about that time before The Great Disaster, he had seen an elderly relative with a similarly irregular skull shape, just that the injury was on a different spot. How did they survive...? Huh...? They fell down the stairs and landed on that spot, it was extremely painful but they were still conscious and alive?
What the hell, that old man could cheat death and leisurely wait in line at the hospital, but he couldn't... He was weak... Weaker than that old man. It pained him so much that a fragile old man could do better than him, who had even reinforced his body above human limits. Indeed, it was so very irritating.
His endurance stat was high D grade yet he ended up in this state, what kind of joke is this? If he can't beat a magical girl on this level, then isn't the sword useless? Just because he was low energy too... He felt like he was going through hell, the pain shot into his head all at once.
"AAAAAAAAAGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" (Harald)
But his mouth was fractured under his head and his voice couldn't come out. His tears streak his cheeks and his broken right arm holding the sword swung as fast as he could. The opponent strikes the sword, but he manages to roll a few cm away and barely dodge it as it lands into the ground, his shoulder and elbow joints break as they land the wrong way and a smaller crater forms in the ground next to him.
But her fist had landed on his sword. He didn't need a big injury, he just needed a little cut. He ignores the pain with all of his might and places the scabbard over the blood, sucking in magical energy to speed up his regeneration a little. She was about to land the finishing blow, when he bends his body and steels his fuzzy mind, ramming his face into hers.
"AAARGHHH!!!!!!" (Harald)
The pain in his skull wouldn't go away, but he had finally created an opening to slip out of the enemy's grasp and jumped back onto his feet. He wields his sword with a wobbly stance, his other hand grips his scabbard tightly, ready to use it at any moment. There was no need to hold back for an opponent stronger than himself. His head felt light, as if his mind would give out at any time, leaving his body to collapse at a vulnerable spot.
"Fuuh~" (Harald)
Was it because it was his last stand? Or was there some other underlying reason to these feelings? They rise up his body and wrap around his heart, they squeeze it with a suffocating grip yet they also gently enclose it in a warm embrace. Then it flows all over his entire body.
Is this...? Magic. It's like an overflowing pouring of lava into his veins, it feels so hot yet so cold. He couldn't describe it properly it at all, but it felt like something unique that a physical object could never reproduce. I see. His thoughts echoed.
Was he awakening? No. That would be too optimistic, too easy. He was simply getting adapting to his weapon, perhaps it was easier to say that his weapon was awakening. Though really, nothing was actually changing. The magic in his body was just flowing faster giving him a high feeling from battle, it was in response to the nearly dead state of his body. In other words it was ane exceedingly simple phenomenon.
Fight or flight, it kicked in a second time in the form of magic. He has resolved himself, the pain in his creaking limbs support him so. Fight for your body, fight for your friend. You who has inherited Leman's wish will pass it on the Galadyn. As such, your wish will never be vanquished, but only passed on.
"SCREW THAT!!!!" (Harald)
Enough with the self-sacrifice bullshit. He was tired of all that drivel, no amount of pain or suffering could match the mental exhaustion and stress that arises from sacrificing oneself. Through the lens of near death he could finally address what happened with Leman. She had disappeared. He could see... That he couldn't see what she saw at all. To be completely honest, he bears another unbearable grudge. One at the rogue for killing his master, one at Leman for leaving him and finally one last one at himself for submitting to fate.
'Why should common sense dictate my next action?' (Harald)
His muscles, his tendons, down to every cell his body screams at him. He was held back by his humanity, his human body that was so afraid of everything that it pulled him back away from danger. But now he has to dive straight into danger, in order to pierce its heart. That's why his body is crying. He is making use of the enemy breaking down his entire body to reforge it. Not only his body but also his mind.
He has to ignore the pain, if he heeds it for even a single moment he will become completely immobile.
"AAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!" (Harald)
With one final war cry, he moves with all his fight, slashing his blade from middle range. His blade is met with the opponent's fist, both launch a kick right after. The bottom of his heel lands on his opponent's shin as a result, a few more swings and punches collide in quick succession. The shock waves causes hyper pressurised wind to gouge out the ground around them.
Another swing, the opponent blocks with the back of their left hand before inching their entire body lower, they execute the same trick as Harald where they duck below the opponent's line of sight before she swings her fist at close range. He swings his left arm downwards, they strike each other at the same time, but he was pushed back even more so. His knees continue to shake but he balances his weight on his entire trembling body instead of relying on only his legs, causing him to enter a state of incessant dancing.
With a wave of her hand, another purple laser shines down to slice him in half, however he holds up his scabbard and absorbs its magic instead. Pure energy attacks tend to be easier to absorb, though his scabbard also got damaged in the process. With that little bit of energy, he allocates most of it to regeneration of his body.
He thrusts forward with his sword, it's bright glimmer travelling with his body as he grows closer to the opponent.
"Got you. Full area bombardment." (Enemy)
He ignores the opponent's warning, the only thing that currently laid in his mind was his final mission. Take out this opponent, snuff out their lights with your own. WITHOUT AT LEAST THAT MUCH RESOLVE, WAS IT REALLY WORTH IT TO LIVE LIFE?
His grip was secured, his mind cooled, his focus concentrated. Nothing would get in his way anymore. Even if his body perished, his blade will fly straight. The lasers strike into his flesh, narrowly missing his brain but they were successful in searing off his ears and bisecting him vertically from his collarbone to his pelvis. On the other hand, his blade manages to pierce into his opponent's temple. They tried to dodge, but he adjusted his aim accordingly and managed to perforate a good spot.
Similarly to him, it wasn't an instant death for his opponent. But it practically leveled the playing field, as messed up as that playing field is. His body can no longer be moves, the bisection has cut off the magic's access to his arm. Usually when magical girls break tendons or bones, they can still move their body through their magical circuits present. But if that is cut off in itself, then even they cannot do anything.
What's more, he was actually a human. His body wasn't optimised for the conduction of magical particles like a magical girl was. Say a magical girl is C grade, they will have a minimum 800 times the ability of an average girl. On the other hand, if Harald was C grade he would have a minimum of 800 times the ability of 1 Harald, including his muscles which were obviously more built compared to normal magical girls.
In exchange, his magic conductivity was low. That meant his regeneration was lower even if his stats were technically higher despite having the same numerical multiplier of augmentations. It was a failure, he couldn't finish off his opponent while his own body had become useless.
That kind of defeatist attitude was something he would abhor. His left hand was still there even if 3 of his other limbs were useless. It was holding the scabbard which had absorbed some of the laser attacks coming down. It was now incredibly damaged, but it prevented his left hand from getting amputated. He swings the scabbard against the blade stuck in the opponent's temple, smashing it downwards and cleaving further into her head's flesh. Again, and again and again and again, until she finally dropped dead.
He collapsed with his torn up body, at this point he was definitely no longer human. As evidence, his body regenerated with slightly less muscle mass each time. Were the magical particles that regenerated his body slowly turning him into a girl? He shuddered to think about it. For example, a single slice at the right place meant that it wouldn't come back... It confused him so as to why magical particles would act that way, he was horrified so.
His vision was now halfway towards pitch black. He chuckled to himself, for having such lax thoughts on his deathbed.