*
Kaede had never considered. She found that it was a given... But... If the other party was just like her, then she too should have adapted to her surroundings and forged bonds. What if they turned out to be enemies in the end? What then? All her goodwill would have gone to waste? Maybe used against her as a force of evil? After the Demon King is gone, the humans will fight each other for sure. They sure love making enemies.
At that time, it would come as no surprise if they turned out to be enemies. But... Nevertheless, this microcosm of a human relationship... No the friendship born here was genuine enough to not be regarded as a microcosm any longer. She will believe in the other party, if the words of her companions are anything to go by, her choice of friends would be the biggest indicator of her character.
Someone who would put others before themselves, just to fulfill their own fantasy of being some ideal saviour. A childish ambitious dream... But one that nobody could dislike. Because having such a monumental amount of hope in this post Great Disaster world was something precious that couldn't be lost. It was also impressively delusional... But people would prefer not to tell her that.
Kaede was aware of how stupid it sounded too, she thought Kaori wasn't right in the head. But... It's a fine dream. Kaori went out fulfilling it to the very end, then as her successor, is it not natural to fill in for her? To make up for all the time Kaede spent being gloomy and worthless... By becoming Kaori 1000%.
"Here's my answer. I have faith, a magical amount of it. Because for I am here, I am Kaori. It's what she would do." (Kaede)
"Huh. I envy you. But that's all there is. I hate every single one of my subordinates, my citizens. But I don't wish for them to die, to lose their home and way of life. I had enough of this talk. " (Hikari)
She stood back up, despite struggling to lift her limbs, she got herself back on her legs. With clear indication that the fight would continue, their conversation ended on the spot. She's right, this was rest enough. Was he getting his own hopes up high just to crush it down himself later? They were on polar ends of a war, it wouldn't end till one side has been annihilated. Her words resonated for a moment, but... This is not a choice he could make. It was an order.
" Aa~ when you die, you're going to haunt my dreams." (Kaede)
He smirks provocatively, but his eyes show no sign of joking. She stares at him in ridicule, mocking him in her mind with only a malicious smile. Did he really think that it was already a victory for him? Dark purple aura flowed out of her body like a fog that wrapped around her body, it gradually got darker and darker until a brilliant lustre formed over it. The armour solidified.
Faint purple aura flew out of Kaede, dancing in the air like wild ember. Its steps were ferocious and its flickers intense, the faint purple fire collapses onto itself and converges into Kaede, his flesh emanated a blinding light. When the light settled, his stature was smaller, her hair was longer and the pressure of her existence was higher.
Information may have changed. The opponent now knows that Kaede can retain and throw back antimagic should she send some at her. But this could also work towards Kaede's advantage. Compared to when the operation started, Kaede has significantly more information about Hikari's character and skills. A fight was something weaved by one's character, the fact that Hikari hasn't used her second skill until now was a testimony of it.
Would Hikari dare use antimagic anymore, considering the near loss that she received with an ordinary beating?
" [Heavens breach the destiny's core]." (Hikari)
"Refined technique, Magia Retainment: Perpetual." (Kaede)
The Demon King could use a sort of constitution skill that allows her to freely utilise the skills of every monster in existence. It also enhanced the attacks that she wielded and reinforced her body. This skill could be used without absolutely any chanting while losing zero efficiency. In other words, it wasn't necessary to chant it. This should be the second skill.
Kaede had never encountered it, but she used Last Pace to swiftly cut her down. If she simply didn't let it happen, then there wouldn't be any need to worry, but.... Things would never go so smoothly.
"...?!" (Kaede)
An incomprehensible agitation struck at her heart, too occupied with the discomfort, she couldn't find the origin of the agitation. She looked around, Hikari had vanished. Was it an illusion? No, that wasn't necessary. Hikari was faster than her, running would make it impossible for Kaede to track her. It was only when Hikari stands in place that Kaede could pinpoint her location with her passive.
No way around it, a large attack was incoming. Using her abundance of magical particles obtained from her technique, she formed countless layers of barriers as a 2d hemisphere with strange patterns expanded forth and rotated around her. The barrier splits into innumerable layers as if copy and pasting before condensing every layer back into 1, now it was just a dome of jett black. This process occurred a few more times, the black dome multiplies then condenses, followed by subsequent occurrences.
Now, not even air or bacteria could get through. Every form of substance, even something immaterial like magical particles could pass through it. It's only weakness would be... Antimagic.
"... Come out! She's already gone!" (Karell)
"...?" (Kaede)
It hasn't been long since the second skill has been cast. There was no ruling out a skill that erases one's own existence... In other words, a suicide. But... Seeing Hikari's face and resolve in person, it seemed unlikely.
"... Get out! It's over already! Are you napping in there?" (Ruby)
"..." (Kaede)
Rather than holing up in one spot, perhaps it would be better to open up and check around the castle to see where Hikari was hiding. Of course, she traced the entire throne room all the way to the end of the corridor to find any vestiges of the Demon King. She verified that Ruby and Karell really were the ones speaking outside, assuaging her fear of imposters taking their place. Out of everything that she's been through so far, mind controlling an ally or simply mimicking their voice wouldn't be the strangest thing she encountered.
The barrier's magic was absorbed back into her body, the mass of black liquefied and was sucked in through her skin like a powerful vacuum.
"Haah~ one after another. I'm so damn sick of this." (Kaede)
With a single swing, her friends all split in half through an invisible bisection. Her wrist simply moved too fast for anyone to see, she utilised Last Pace. The air itself cracked like glass with black gaps, whether these were gaps in space cause by her or gaps in a softer, weaker reality. It was simple to tell. Kaede's attacks can't cut space, she can imitate its effects by freezing the sides of her rapier in time with her second skill, but that wouldn't achieve much nor did she had the need for such imitation.
Wizard, Sease, the other 2, they all expressed faces of shock as a grotesque pink slipped out of their innards. The black cracks in the air spread even further and covered entire world in darkness. Her radar could keep going on for ages to cover more ground, and it didn't have a limit. But a simple tell for this entire situation was her friends. They were supposed to be knocked out.
She was getting sick of illusions or artificial worlds, it was getting too trouble some to deal with. What if one day, an opponent decides to trap her in another world that was large enough as our own, and one with the exit being in another galaxy cluster? The time wasted would be immense, the outside would have become a completely different place. It proposes that instead of killing, we could just seal our enemies with magic, prolonging th problem for the eventual time when they get free.
A reality and a weaker reality. At this point, it was now obvious where she was, even if the Demon King offered a seductive honeyed dream of a world where everything was fine, it lost all meaning when it was not the original world they all lived in. The world was took weak anyway. A high A grade attack was enough to scratch its walls. Perhaps the walls were not meant to be reached, they weren't physical walls after all.
What she did, was to sever the magic maintaining this mock reality. She used her first skill to gather it up in one spot, then she sliced through it. When the glass of the world broke, all returned as is to their rightful state. Her friends were all still unconscious, and her head was split apart-
Ah... Of course she would try to kill her while her mind was stuck somewhere else. But... Even if her gauntlet has sliced through Kaede's skull with her claws, she was now an A grade. It was preferable if Hikari disintegrated the whole thing. Was Hikari simply being careless? Or... Grail... She used some of her power to repair the damaged parts instantly, like plugging up a dam with a bandage. But it was enough to stop the water from spilling for a second.
Because Hikari stepped onto it, it was now Kaede's turn.
"Oblivion Magia, World of wandering fate." (Kaede)
A dark purple hue spreads from forth from her feet, colouring the throne room in a larger corporeality of an intense colour.
All information in reality is further dissected, using her passive radar that collects information to analyse the gradients of her surroundings, than to analyse the gradients of the analysis, information is stored with greater detail. As if the world itself is now a digital domain under her control, she transfers all damage that she receives over to Hikari, splitting her head in 2 with a claw attack.
Hikari, similarly, survived the attack with a regenerative capability beyond comprehension. Brain cells could never be regenerated no matter what, both were tottering in the boundary of time manipulation as they casually violate preconceived norms. Her [Demon King constitution] skill was able to let her replicate Living Armour and Slime physical eccentricities. If she imitated a slime... Then technically her entire body could function as the brain and freely substitute it.
In the Oblivion Magia, black spears materialised repeatedly, enough to drown out the sky before shooting off at Hikari. When the spears got close, a black ray of light busted through the barrage and disintegrated the spears, while deflecting the rest of the spear's with its surrounding shock waves. This was one of the perks of an Oblivion Magia, any magic that is possessed in the well will be used to maintain this dimension, but otherwise, all other techniques and skills can be used as much as she wanted to.
Through this, Kaede's magic compounded even more. While Magia Retainment:Perpetual already worked at its theoretical limit, meaning stacking it multiple times over itself wouldn't do anything, that wasn't the case for Last Pace. What's more, this space was fully under the dominion of her first skill, using gradient to change the direction of space and gravity, she could technically continue to leap in a 'straight' line with Last Pace but alter the space itself to bend that straight line to reach the desired goal.
It was like a treasure chest of options had begun to open. Her figure instantly vanished, assaulting Hikari from multiple directions. But her rapier passes through the slime like material of her body, dealing absolutely no damage. Dashing from multiple angles, Kaede finally connects one complex attack with Last Pace. Hikari's armour glows a bright pale pink aura, her helmet melts into her body and a heavily plated skirt props up around her hips.
She catches the slash swung by Kaede by using a blade made up of a material similar to her armour. At that moment, this new form... An awakening? No, this was an effect of her second skill. It was not only able to help her create another world, but it also allowed her to easily surpass her previous self. A demon's natural superioty, compounded by the Demon King's Authority over the other demons, followed by a magical girl's resistance against fate...
She reached a god-like state where her augmentations continuously grow above limits, quantity no longer has any meaning.
Name: Hikari vee Lixia
Title: Biodemonic God, Demon King of Lament
Demon King effectiveness level: SS
Perimeters:
- Physical: SS
- endurance: SS
- speed: SS
- will: SS
- well: SS
Of course. There was always this possibility. To wage war against humanity, she had to prepare to go against the God magical girls. They just happened to not be around this time.