*
Countless appendages grew seemingly out of nowhere, their tips as sharp as her rapier and slightly wider, as if imitating a blade. They coursed through the space above the ground faster than birds, swam through the vacuum like a newly formed lifeforms adapted to outerspace.
In Kaede's fingers grasped a weapon so brilliant it could rival stars, its black tree branch like handle was grasped tightly under her fingers. A blade formed solely out of her power to induce physical phenomena, its handle was only safe to use because of her passive that protects her from her own powers. Its guard was twirly, elegant and decorative, curving into a lop sided semi circle twice, first a horizontally tall and vertically short one followed by a horizontally tall but vertically long one that ended at the tip of the handle.
It was roughly 2 metres in length, though it varied a lot. It would lengthen or shrink according to the circumstances of battle, controlling lengths as numerous as the stars. But this once, not even its length could be discerned. A glowing white light enveloped the balde thickly enough to obscure the fine rapier that had the width of a single line.
She swung once more, no longer inducing the concept of 'move' or 'serrate'. Only a poorly formed concept of 'destroy', in other words it was the usual brute force. The energy that had been accumulated shot out of her rapier like a baseball bat that encompassed the entire room. In the vacuum, the energy spread to every corner, eradicating all. A wave of warmth engulfs everything like a never ending deluge, burning everything away with a never ending fire.
"Simple technique - fire of denaturation" (Kaede)
The moment the attack's energy remotely dissipated, a new white glow began to replace it, causing a fiery heat to blanket everything around the throne. It was a fire that didn't need air or organic fuel to keep burning, that's because its source was magical particles. Magical particles were controlled by Kaede's skills to imitate combustion and release heat continuously. There is no limit to the quantity of magical particles or the energy produced.
The white storm of fires began to use up the ambient aura released by the two to grow in size, chaining a few subsequent explosions. This area was now the very picture of hell, with a few subsequent attacks, Kaede had repeatedly filled the space with white light and now even white fire. It is a never ending fire that fed on magic, finding use as a unconventional type of antimagic. It swallowed magic defences and digested them as fuel while burning away anything that was corporeal into ashes.
Among all of these blooming advancements of power or techniques, nothing mattered. The fire on the ground began to move, after that was the fire in the air. Well there was no more air, but you get what I mean. The fire initiated odd movements such as wriggling and spinning. It hit her immediately, what she was actually witnessing. Hikari was still alive. In fact, she was even adapting to the fire. Akin to bacteria, she was evolving rapidly.
That brought to question, was this the same Hikari as when Kaede first encountered her? Evolution has to take place over multiple generations as only the mutations that happen during reproduction mattered. Then... Is this Hikari and the Hikari she encountered in the throne room the same? She has evolved not only into the perfect organism... But also into an entire species or population.
Despite the blazing flame coating the throne room and her passive blocking off the heat that she created from her own body, she felt cold sweat drip down her neck, causing an agitated frown to crown her face. One of her legs moved back as she kept her focus on each and every individual part of Hikari. Her breathe became hotter as it condensed against her own cheeks, balancing her composure with the droplet of sweat that slid down her temple.
Was she hoping that the fire would destroy Hikari once and for all? Or was she just afraid? This was her newest technique, she had never been this strong before in her life... Yet she was still feeling fear... For the first time. Her memories flashed by, back to when she first gained awareness as herself, as Kaede. Everything before that had long become a mosaic during this journey.
She traced Kaori, yet she couldn't find her answer. The unicorn's wish granting ability was paltry at best. What exactly had all of these been for? She hadn't felt this much fear until now, so she was indifferent to her own feelings about all of it, desperately burying her own ego in this facade of Kaori. Then... What now? She had never wanted to run away more at any one time in her life than now. Her spirit was shaking, trembling vigorously in fact. Her thoughts felt like they were swallowed into a typhoon, dredging up the past in a futile effort to ensure her survival.
What was wrong with her? At times she would be so worked up that she wouldn't mind dying, but at now of all times suddenly she was afraid... Was she really that conceited? Did she believed she could topple the entire world all the way up until now? That was ridiculous...! Her thoughts get caught up in her throat, she felt like crying at these unforgivable circumstances, but quickly holds herself together. She was a little too embarrassed to let Hikari or anyone else see her cry. A little too composed as well...
Yeah. Despite how everything went through, she was still calmly analysing the situation. A second passed as her thoughts flew by, a few appendages were thrown recklessly across the room, a single one pierce her body through her chest.
"Guhagh?!!" (Kaede)
The pain jolted her awake. Was this what she was truly searching for? Pain?
"Fuhaha?!" (Kaede)
A drop of tear escaped her eyelids as she couldn't control the rumbling that formed in her chest and throat. Even though she spat her vital fluids over the ground and a nightmarish appendage has now perforated her heart, she still found the energy to laugh. What a joke! Me? Scared? She might have felt what was reasonable instinctive fear, Hikari had ascended into a congregation of generations, an entire species. It might get worse as time went on. No, it definitely will, but what was so different compared to last time?
'Oh no, I might just become a masochist' (Kaede)
She was grateful for that single appendage that didn't miss its mark, its sharp tip stabbed through her heart literally and metaphorically. It might have rekindled her determination. But throw away all of that, and there is left a single simply wish.
"I WANT TO WIN!" (Kaede)
In fact, she acknowledged it herself that it was quite primitive. Nevertheless, she infused this mantra into her soul. Her body stops shivering, the white fire spreads to her body, as if warming it up like a mother embracing her child. A mirage of her crazed smile leaks through the blinding embers, her mood swung from one pole of the earth to another. It was so ridiculous it even amused herself. But more importantly, this reinvigorating of her will to fight burns hotter than the surrounding white fire.
A temperature rivalling the stars lay in every ember in this room, she could easily contend with Frey who casually threw around miniature suns with these white flames. Yet they pale in comparison to her bubbling emotions. Her feelings were nothing so lofty, they were merely 'I want to win' and 'I will win'. Her hubris rivals the gods, but to be fair, she did ascend into magical girl godhood.
A divine smile adorns her face, radiating a forlorn sense of condescension and apathy. She was considered qualified to be Kaori by the others. Perhaps it was time that she accepted herself. Not as Kaori or Kaede. She doesn't need to be either, she can be herself. Kaede Kaitmei, Kaorin, God of allflow and calamity... These titles are no longer useful to describe her. She will punch through this impossible reality, crush this perseverance of her enemies and demolish her impediments.
Her wedding dress like combat dress swayed under the chaotic pressure swirling around the room. Hikari had finally adapted to the fire, Kaede adapted to herself. Wholeheartedly facing the enemy, giving her all to murder her for the sake of everyone's happiness, what is that if not love? But do not mistake this exchange. Love does not give her power, she gives power and meaning to love. A lofty label at best, but apt to humour her own hubris.
Her smile is cold and lifeless, her eyes see nothing but herself and insects under her suffocating grasp. Die. Countless rapiers materialised with an ethereal white glow in the air before shooting down faster than any bullet. They pierce Hikari's appendages and pin it to the ground, her gaping maw opens in the centre of her stick like body's torso, releasing a disorienting wild cry. Hikari was crying. Roaring even.
"Insect, if you can't die, just stop existing." (Kaede)
The rapier's began flaring up as they gathered energy. They had now all achieved the status of Stick, unique magic items that are irreproducible by anyone else other than her, as they use her skills. The white light covers every bit of Hikari's body at once and seperate her body to the individual cell. She was no longer a complex multicellular organism, so there was no blood.
She then used the rapiers as a medium to activate her skills remotely, conjugating every single spell into a single mass. She was cruel, she thought so as she gazed at the wriggling ball of 'perfect' cells. She hopes Barius doesn't end up like this. She compressed the cells into a single mass, crushing it into single dense point that contained all of Hikari, a miniature blackhole. But it wasn't as if Hikari was completely gone yet, Kaede had only forced her to shrunk to a size that was as small as reality could allow it.
A spike flies out of the black hole... No, it was a miniature appendage. In one fell swoop, it adapted to the absolute gravitational force that Kaede exerted on it to compress it, the act of evolution itself was enough for it to burst out of containment and drew blood by slicing her cheek. She condensed all the white fire and rapiers in the room into a small white fire that laid over her palm, burning the spike and breaking down each individual cell. It was enough to disintegrate the spike, so she brought it nearer to the micro black hole to have the remaining cell get burnt.
The white embers were sucked into it, causing a thundering sound to assault her eardrums as light flashed across the room. The last thing she saw was the entire fire flying into the micro black hole, heat and all.
When the light subsided, a giant grotesque mass sporting white flames and white appendages crawled all over the ground, with some of the appendages growing larger into the width of trees with gaping maws like dragons.
"Ah..." (Kaede)
She realised her stupidity too late. She really wanted to blame it on Hikari brain washing her in some way to make suggestions such as 'bring the flame closer to the black hole', but she couldn't. She simply forgot, a black hole's absolute pull would first isolate every atom from one another before gathering them at the centre, the inside where Hikari was, was absolutely cool. It's as if she was living in a separate dimension... Well to stretch the definition of living.
Strictly speaking, Kaede was not sure if Hikari was even capable of thoughts at the moment. Sometimes she would pity her, sometimes she would feel agitated enough to try to destroy her at all cost. No more time to dally, Hikari broke free.
Her heart, her personality, her all, Kaede was shoddily built from the ground up. But if she felt complete, where was there to find blame? If she acknowledges herself, who is anyone to tell her she wasn't perfect? Her heart synchronised with her body, her breathing with the rhythm of her magic.
Her dress looked restrictive, but it moved in tandem with her limbs, as if it was a part of her body. She soared through the non existent air, carried solely by her own momentum and will. A barrage of appendages penetrate her sacred flesh, tearing through her wedding dress like combat dress as they perforate her pristine pale skin.
How could she let her guard down?