*
About a week had passed. The situation at the warfront was still at a standstill. There were some rumours that a subordinate of the demon king had cursed the warlord responsible for combating the clones. Her capabilities had been reduced a little but she's still holding up. It was just the right amount of a morbid omen that signaled the inevitable collapse of the human line. The demon side was able to push it slightly to their advantage after so long, the human side still had not shown any results, leeching onto the achievements of a single person.
It would not be a surprise if that person collapsed under the pressure at any moment, it was destined to happen after carrying the entire weight of humanity for so long. As such, every second began to become more significant for the human race. It took a couple days for the news to reach all the way to the sanctuary, it meant that 2 days of peace had already been bought by blood.
If so, was there any meaning to this charade of an internal conflict? Would winning such a superficial popularity contest really benefit anyone at all? At the end of the day, the governing will be left to the people with actual governing ability, the magical girls under the authority of The Eye God who had been honing their abilities since the start. They had less time to train or fight, even the S grade Arcmaidens had less time than the average magical girl.
They traded their time to fix up some semblance of a government, to eliminate any possible unrest humanity might face. Because at the end of the day, humans were social beings. They congregate in groups for a variety of benefits, but the biggest benefit was the distribution of accountability. They spread out the responsibility by assigning roles and organising structures, so that if anything went wrong there was someone to blame, at the same time it was also more efficient and better to do so.
Then... Who would take responsibility for the advancement of humanity? 80% of the global population was dead, not to mention more will follow suit if nobody took action. Whether out of selfish ambition, selfless Greed or even prideful arrogance, the god magical girls took up the mantle. Nobody could blame them, they had the power to instantly erase their own factions if they so wish. Birthing continental factions, managing swathes of land with sizes previously unimaginable...
But they would also not take part in mortal affairs. They sit in their thrones or wherever they desired, acted as an invincible scapegoat, driving, in fact forcing humanity to act for the sake of humanity, rebuilding civilisation. However they disappeared during this time of great need. This was not the era before The Great Disaster, everyone knew magical girls existed. They form the foundation of humanity now, perhaps this was one of the goals of one of the god magical girls. But this also allowed magical girls to come out without fear, declaring themselves as heroes who would challenge the Demon King.
During that one week of preparation, quite a few heroes had appeared. Needless to say, if there was a real kind of 'hero' reserved for the one destined to kill the Demon King, no one would be able to identify them. It was safe to assume they were all self proclaimed, there was no such thing as a hero of legend with power beyond the norm, but heroes of humanity existed. If it was so easy, why didn't everyone just become a hero? It was questioned then decided that if one was brave enough to declare that they would take the head of the Demon King, they shall join the victorious human king in their quest.
Fantasy blended with reality to the point that there was no longer much distinction. If people would accept it, it might as well be real. It was as if the collective emotions of humanity were reaching a boiling state.
They began their campaigns in earnest, walking through the streets without guards as a show of their power. Of course, the others were there too in the background, ensuring that everything goes smoothly. The crowd parts away as if observing a carnival, Kaede was wearing a new dress. Combined with her looks that exude a cold aura when her eyelids relax and her lips hid her emotions, she truly radiated an air of elegance that engulfed the very ground she walked on.
Her dress revealed her shoulders and collar bones, covering her chest as it sprouts from the centre, it gradually stretches to the sides from there to wrap around her arms. The fabric of her dress flows around her waist, sticking out thickly way more than her combat dress. Below the dress was jet black leggings with white highlights that traced from the sides, converging into the centre on her knee before tracing the centre of her lower leg and into her low heels.
This was the only support she asked of her supporters, Barius and her 8 subordinates. It was received with looks of confusion, but their indecisiveness were immediately swayed by the beauty of her confidence. 'follow my order and we'll win' was what any subordinate of the beautiful tyrannical queen Kaitmei wanted to hear.
The focus was an unreachable cold beauty, an emotionless queen that ruled from above. She relaxed her lips and cheeks and her eyes stared on ahead. Her eyelids partially cover her eyes as if she was looking at the world itself in disdain, some people could swear they saw a fog of condensed air spew out of her breath. It was similar to what Kaori saw in her classmate, Garion back when she first became a magical girl and entered that class. She emulated that and attempted to go beyond it.
Now, whether she was actually able to beat that cold beauty at her own game was another matter. What was actually important was her success here. The plan was to tour around central, then the surrounding cities. She could reach there quick, but touring the cities full of people would take time. She needed as many people as possible to take in the image of her dignified self.
Barius and a few subordinates had gone off to use magic to recreate images of this new self, in other words they set out to make posters of her in a world without printers. They also had to distribute them afterwards while simultaneously creating enormous quantities of them.
"Haa~" (Kaede)
The 4 acted as guards, but their jobs weren't to directly protect Kaede. Instead it was simply to warn her by using a simple magic device. It use a mechanism even more primitive than a phone, instead of using any words a small light bulb in her pocket will turn on. She surrounded herself with crushing wind while walking in the centre of a wide pavement. Most individuals would simply go back home after getting a good look at her, she didn't miss those who were trying to ogle her either.
The wind surrounding her body had the force to basically slap at any who got close to her, there inevitably some idiots who ran directly into it trying to touch her for whatever reason. But they were all sent flying without exception. She didn't even bother to look at them but simply kept moving forward with he remind occupied on how she could tour faster.
Walking on the street to brandish her looks and Authority wasn't exactly entertaining for her, in fact it was dull and time consuming as well. But she had to do it, even if it was boring and straining to maintain her poker face, she needed all th publicity she could get. There was no way for the people to decide so quickly, but a victor had to be decided quickly as the defence line against the demons wouldn't hold in for long.
*ping*
A small device lights up, something was moving at high speeds towards her, but her subordinates who were a mix of B and C grades quickly catch on. It was easy to know who they were. The most obvious motivation to stage such an assassination in broad daylight... It was a competitor aiming to undermine her position in this contest of charisma. Even if she survived, if the people see how weak she was then it was enough to destroy her campaign. News of her struggle will spread far and wide.
This was her plan from the start, her subordinates had dispatched themselves quite far away from her actual position, tasked to only warn her when they notice an enemy. She wasn't even wearing her usual combat dress, but a simple magical dress with defences that were much lower. She controls her magic with her first skill, moving them according to gradients to prevent them from accidentally contact and tearing her dress.
In other words, she was bait. Bait that was made to look as susceptible as possible to sneak attacks, bait that would bite back and make use of her competitors to promote herself. She let the threat get close, her own winds began to pick up on the intruders exact location and movements while her radar identifies a fast moving person.
Each time, the opponent's speed grows faster. This time the enemy begins to reach the limits of what she could perceive. The enemy was at least a B grade, a somewhat dangerous person had come close. Perhaps it was foolish to have asked her subordinates to let the enemy through, such a feeble thought flashed a cross her mind for a moment...
Weak! Weak! Weak! Weak! She shouldn't have her thoughts muddied up like this. At this point, she would take all that she can get to boost her popularity. A strong opponent like this was perfect, maybe even better. She immediately pinpoints the direction of her enemy a few moments before they arrive.
Stopping on the spot, she materialised her long and large rapier into her hands in front of her. Then she waved it into the right direction, inciting a high pitched shrill out of the collision from their weapons. The round cracked slightly under Kaede's feet as the unknown magical girl seemed to have fallen from the sky to launch a heavy strike with all of her body weight put into it.
The civilians gathered further away as they saw what was happening. Consumed by fear, a few of them ran off wildly without tact. Nobody wanted to be caught up in the subsequent shock waves that escape from a fight between magical girls, the aftershocks were enough to completely bisect humans in half.
Her fingers trembled as they gripped onto the handle of her blade, her strength applied evenly into it's edges as it pressed against the intruder's large axe. The bystanders could clearly observe their arms convulsing with ferocity, but... Kaede's arm stopped moving. She began applying all of her strength, stabilising her entire body, resulting in an additional shock wave sent into the opponent's axe.
The opponent was sent flying for a slight moment, her void rapier curves around the giant axe like a snake and penetrates into the intruder's neck while she was in mid-air. Due to the opponent's backwards momentum, she fell away from Kaede and the rapier slices from the impaled hole to the front of her neck, cleaving a chunk of flesh off.
Profuse amounts of blood poured out like a high pressure garden hose, any human would have died instantly so it was a miracle that she could stay conscious. Her body was able to compensate the lack of oxygen with magical particles immediately. And with the body of a magical girl, the threshold for hypovolemic shock had been sent so high that even losing all the blood inside one's body wouldn't trigger it, but it would faint the person.
The intruder wobbled on the ground she landed on, her eyes desperately open as if clawing at her eyelids without her arms. Her palm still held the axe firmly, it was her last line of defence now that she had become so weakened. If Kaede didn't finish it quick, the opponent would swiftly recover. She had only cut the front portion of the neck, she needed to cut the nerves at the back connected to the spine.
So she rushed forward with her rapier in hand. The opponent raises her axe into the air. Before they manage to clash, a ground spike rose from the ground, aiming to stake Kaede. She slices it apart with her rapier, not reducing in speed in the slightest. A few more spikes appeared that she promptly switched direction and simply leaped around before closing in on the enemy.
A final spike appeared dropping from the sky, it wasn't made of ground material but seemed to have a crystallic halation under the morning sun. It was sent at the highest speed while the opponent swung her axe at the same time. Kaede swung her rapier to block both the crystal stake and the axe momentarily, before materialising a second rapier in her other hand to stab through the opponent's head.
She cleanly dealt with the enemy with calculated movements, the purpose of this battle was to show her combat prowess. That even if any assassins or armies were sent at her, she could prove that she would prevail. She dematerialized her second rapier and raised the one held in her hand.
There were no casualties other than the one enemy. Everyone had been kept safe.
"UWOOOHHHHHH!!!! " (Crowd)
They cheered with a fiery fervour. Perhaps she had made some fans who were too intense...