*
She felt Karell's soft breath creeping up behind her neck, her supple fingers trace her back with practiced motion. Her palms rub softly over her skin as Kaede suppressed her voice inside her throat, occasionally leaking out sporadic groans.
"Haa~ I've never done this before... It's making me nervous..." (Karell)
Kaede pulled her arms in front of her face, half in an attempt to hide her expression and half to make her body more comfortable. Barius sat at the side, observing them intently. If her gaze could bore a hole through anything, Kaede would be full of holes by now. She stared suspiciously at the fair, particularly more so at Kaede... After all... Karell was currently giving Kaede a massage.
How did they get here in the first place? It was deep into the evening right after they were done with the baths, they had stayed in there for a little too long so they might have been a little mentally exhausted from feeling the heat for so long. It wasn't the high magnitude of the water's temperature but simply the long exposure had gotten mundane after a while. As magical girls they wouldn't get light headed from something like that, so they stayed as long as their boredom waned.
Kaede felt like she need a good stretch as her muscles might have gotten numb from the inactivity... Truly a battle maniac, was Karell's impression of her. As a result... Karell suggested a massage that she wanted to try giving, after all now that the villagers in her village are dead she had no one else to give them to.
"Fuagh! Are you... Done...?" (Kaede)
Was she unable to endure anymore? Barius had assumed that it was supposed to feel refreshing and relaxing, but Kaede's persistent breaths spoke otherwise. Maybe it was one of those massages where the effects are indirect... With magic, it was easy for Kaede to instantly put on her combat dress again, she materialised the cloth like garb that has always wrapped around her skin during battle and rolled off the bed swiftly.
With her initial client gone, Karell turned to Barius with a glint in her eyes and her palms raised in the air. A crazed smile was drawn on her lips, but Barius remained unfazed. Inside, Karell wondered what could have gone on in someone's life to make them so boring. But her thoughts were pulled back out into the real world upon Barius pursing her lips. Sometimes her speech was like thorns that cut deeply while somehow remaining beautiful, other times they were like a smooth bell.
This time, it wasn't anything special. Just a casual remark.
"Sorry, I do my own stretches so I'll have to turn down your offer..." (Barius)
Even with her skills... Well, Karell couldn't exactly give herself a massage on the back but she wasn't interested to either. She was enamored with how prepared Barius was, to dedicate one's own body to combat down to the nitty gritty details like how best to treat her own muscles after a long day. Anything that was required, Barius would have it covered. It was as if she was the perfect being, a perfect soldier that the Sanctuary would covet for....
I see... Maybe that's why she was made the commander of the South labyrinth. Commanders were of any rank, they were more like henchmen for the ArcMaidens who had a requirement of being S grade. As long as they were useful even as a secretary, well, it was more of an office job. The only requirement was being a magical girl, but they tend to be B grade or A grade as well to secure their job of being the commander.
There were... Certain incidents over in the West side where a lower ranked magical girl killed their commander to wrestle their position. It was a mess to deal with, on one hand the highest authorities overseeing all of these wanted strength the most, so as to gather a formidable magical force for the Santuary to boast and protect itself. On the other... There was a layer of morality that they would find ugly to confront. Someone had died over their job, there was nothing that could deny that. Word spread instantly in the labyrinth and even reach some of the other labyrinths, there was no suppressing this.
The easy way out... Was to execute the perpetrator and raise the requirements to be a commander. To accept what the perpetrator did was to set a dangerous precedent. At the same time, they still needed to fulfill their original goal of accruing strength. So they officiated it through duels. But other than that, there were still many who would rather attempt to take the life of the commander.
Navigating through a den of snakes that could attack you at any time would produce an extremely stressful environment for commanders to live in, but it is also those that have survived this system that have proven their strength with their own existence. One of those existences was right here, Barius. Why was she following a random magical girl called Kaori?
At a glance there was nothing special about her, other than her ability to fight A grades while remaining a B grade. This was mostly helped by the fact that she was a self enhancing type of magical girl that could use magic as steroids to increase her own prowess. Her stats were actually quite close to A grade as well, just not enough to pass the threshold.
A grade is a representation of 100 000 times the strength of an average human, or 100 000 times the strength of her unaugmented or untransformed form. To attain this grade is to pass that threshold. For the sake of comparison, Kaede was around 90 000 in all stats, with her strength and speed being slightly higher at maybe 95 000. She could enhance herself to be 'temporarily A grade', but the measuring tool that was given by the government strictly measured natural augmentations without the enhancements by her skills, so it would all show up as B grade.
Now, that would mean that she could contend with those one grade above herself... As long as they were close to the bottom or around the middle of the range like Karell. Someone at the other end, who was close to the the S grade threshold like Barius would still be able to eliminate Kaede with ease if she had dealt with her physically and used all her strength. To clarify, S grade is 1 000 000 times average human ability, the range for A grades was simply far greater than all the previous grades combined. That was why it wasn't really so clear cut... Unless Kaede had something else up her sleeve.
She pulled her thoughts together and returned back to reality. Barius had already gone back to her room while Kaede was laying defenceless on the ground... She had fallen asleep. With a soft sigh to avoid waking Kaede up, she shifted her arms under and carried Kaede's body up. It would be inconvenient for a night's sleep on the floor to undo her massage. Anyway, magical girls were resilient beings that could practically go sleepless for years, what made Kaori so exhausted?
Weirdly enough... Karell began to feel tired herself. Was it because she had come into contact with these 2? Their relationship was still not clear, but oddly enough... She would like for this kind of peaceful day to continue on in the future. After all, there was no one who hadn't tasted the allure of tranquility before. Even she had led a rather normal village life up until then. Without much else to do, she went back to her own room to rest up.
The night went by in a blink, mostly because Barius had woken them up early in the dawn.
"Fuah~" (Kaede)
She woke up with a yawn, she felt like she had a good long sleep despite the early awakening hours, her body felt properly rested as she pulled her torso up from bed. The sound of knocking on her room's door and Barius' calls from behind it were enough to nudge her awake. This body was really easy to wake up, was Kaori a light sleeper? There wasn't much of a morning routine for her, she simply untransformed then transformed again to fix her hair. She then proceeded by walking towards her door and opening it.
"... That was quick... Well, we'll still have to wait for Karell before going." (Barius)
She still remembered the information that Barius told her. On this day, there was a meeting in a few hours at 10 am with many important individuals on the human side of the war. They were planning on a decisive assault since the balance between the Demon King and the Warlord could tip over at any moment. It was like a ticking time bomb but no one knew how much time they had left. Every second was a blessing, the fact they would all gather in the same place would allow them to reassure each other... Temporarily.
But the issue of the war would remain until they did something about it. About 20 minutes had passed before Karell exited her room, perhaps Kaede was the odd one for taking a single minute to get ready. Did they have to manually brush their hair and remove their bedhead? Though she kept her words to herself, she knew better than to provoke a bee's nest.
After all... She could see things from their perspective... At least much easier than a guy could. It was like a social aid reserved just for her... Nevermind the fact that she needs such an aid, she would continue on with her life while leaving behind such troublesome thoughts in the dust.
Before she realised, she had already arrived at the destined location when Barius called out to her. It wasn't nearby by any means, but magical girls moved so quickly that it might as well have been next door. It was also around the time when Neli would arrive as the other Karell candidate. The other Kaitmei candidate would also come, no one else in that meeting room might have met her before, she would be a new face.
When she entered the building, she instantly felt numerous faces staring straight at her, as if examining every minute detail of her skin's texture. It felt like someone was licking her face, she suppressed her shiver deep inside her heart as she kept walking forward with a dignity that hadn't existed just now. Her combat dress changed to the queen-like dress that was made for the human king selection process. It was to boost her image.
As she got closer to what seemed to be the seats for the human king candidates, she gazed back at everyone else, observing all of the details she could catch. Their mannerisms, their expressions, their general dispositions and attitude towards her arrival. Most could put on a poker face, but there were a nasty few that didn't bother hiding their disdain upon seeing how weak she was. No good. This was no time to show any weakness, as the Kaitmei candidate, she had to show a certain amount of ruthlessness and power fitting of the tyrant's dignity.
The fact was that if there were multiple Karell candidates and Kaitmei candidates, there is absolutely no way to tell who is the true kind ruler and who is the true tyrant. Anyone could claim that they were the real deal but there was no method to prove such a thing. It wasn't falsifiable until fate begins to move. The king will eventually be chosen by the destiny to kill the Demon King, the duty of the heroes who have gathered here from all the continental factions was to eliminate the 16 heavenly king's that guard him.
But there weren't 16 heroes... There were also 16 A grade demon commanders who were a step above the rest and an elite force of 1000 A grade demons. On the human side... 8 S grade Arc maidens, 8 A grade commanders, 4 Heroes, 4 King candidates. This was only the Sanctuary sight, there were other concentrations of other mighty forces having their own meetings elsewhere.
The kingdom of Blumford that governs the americas with their 6 S grade Holy knights, the Illnoia federation that governs the Europic and rushic region with their 7 great generals. Then there is the Grundo alliance with their 11 warlords that rule the Africas and central Asia. These were just the publicly known S grade forces, it was far likely for each faction to have hidden more up their sleeves just to protect themselves.
Throughout the 1.5 years after The Great Disaster, there has still been no news of Australia. There was nothing but sea over there even if magical girls were sent on a flying expedition. The entire landmass of Oceania region had vanished. For now, these faces will do... Also... The other king candidates also have commander allies, it seemed that factions within this elite force have already begun to form.