***
"And then, and then...!" (Tifanny)
Just as promised, Tifanny really gushed her heart out about her favourite game and spoke about finally attaining what she wanted with a look of ecstasy.
All *** could do was to sit there with an awkward smile. She had dabbled in it for what it was worth, but she wasn't really deep enough to understand everything Tifanny spoke about.
"Ah! I may have gone overboard. Anyway, is there anything you want to share with me? Such things like hobbies and stuff!" (Tifanny)
"Hmm... Hobbies? One thing that comes to mind is books I guess. The ones I really like make it so that it feels like they're sucking you into another world, it feels amazing." (***)
She spoke with a slight flush to her cheeks, there might have been a little embarrassment revealing such a thing. What if her senior thought of her as a boring person as a result? What if she gets turned off from the conversation? There were a lot of gloomy things that wandered through her mind, including coping statements such as disregarding their relationship, saying it was distant in the first place so she shouldn't care about the her senior's reception.
Everything coalesced into a depressing ball that gripped at her heart a muscular, strong grip threatening to burst it open. Her chest hurt just thinking about it, but she didn't want to lie or anything. In the end, the outcome was dependent on fate. Before she noticed, she was already looking down at her own crossed legs. She carefully craned her eyes up to check Tifanny's expression. But before she could fully see her face.
"Hahah! That's amazing! Do you have any recommendations?" (Tifanny)
Her eyes were closed with a grin stretching across cheek from cheek, a refreshing expression like the sun had just dawned upon the land, showering its gold dewy grace across the textures of every building and concrete. Usually the sun would change the world from darkness into land under a blue sky, but Tifanny was much like golden light, a brightness that couldn't be contained, yet it wasn't blinding it was actually refreshing.
It felt like something clicked within her body, *** could never tell what it was at the time, but it changed her life. Gradually they met each other more often, though it was under the guise of magical girl training sessions.
When she transformed, she had a large black robe and a large cone like hat akin to a traditional witch's. In both looks and skills, she was a support type. It was incredibly odd to only realise it now, but the monster attacks were actually quite common. The law of magical girls not only protect the identities of the magical girls and the existence of magic, part of these endeavours include repairing all environmental damage incurred. As long as it was within the confines of this school, such a thing was possible.
Tifanny explained that the school had something rich in magical particles hidden under, an ancient Stick, a unique magic item that was irreplaceable by anyone except for the creator. This Stick was a defence type, particularly it enhanced the law of magical girls' effects and even added some that would never normally apply. This advance recognition inhibition and everything about this item was pretty much unknown.
But the baseline was that this item was both attracting the monsters and protecting the school at the same time. It was doing both harm and good, but both sides had no idea where the item was so they couldn't do anything about it. Perhaps part of the defence mechanism was blocking the location of itself, preventing anyone from finding it.
"Say, we're magical girls and all, but what is this thing about stats and skills?" (***)
"Oh that... It's provided by the sanctuary, the item somewhere underground that's the cause of all of this trouble. It's amazing how it's been here for countless years, yet this school is still standing..." (Tifanny)
She treated it as if it was normal. Coincidentally the item was named "the sanctuary". Its powerful recognition inhibition has even affected magical girls with presumably higher magic resistance than normal people, preventing them from thinking much about the circumstances surrounding the item and the school, leaving the entire case in the dark for who knows how long. The school was quite old, dating back to the end of world war 2.
Ah. This must be it. ***'s analysis skill was the exact opposite of the recognition inhibition magic. It tore apart reality to reach deeper into its essence, the truth while the sanctuary obscures layers of reality over more reality like a stack of towels to hide itself. Thinking about it causes the mind to magically become foggy and lose the ability to think. However... ***'s skill was also a loophole and an antithesis.
First, it did all the necessary thinking for her, so even her mind becomes to foggy to get to the bottom of things, her skill processes the answer and straight out gives it to her along with the steps it used to deduce the answer. Secondly, her passive had the effect of 'degrading' reality or the concealment of 'truth', it used magic to peel away at any obstacles such as the recognition inhibition.
All off that was to say that in the multiple decades since world war 2, she would be the first to coincidentally be born with the perfect counter skill to unravel everything. But... Even without all of that, she could already see past most of the circumstances surrounding the item. It was built at the end of world war 2, perhaps as a bunker of sorts. It was likely meant to be a bunker in the not unlikely case of nuclear fallout, which had been hinted during those tumultuous times.
But why would it attract monsters? As a source of food? To be serious about it... She wouldn't necessarily trust the answers given by her skill. It was convenient, sometimes it even helped her find her lost socks or a missing pen that slipped through the cracks somewhere, but this sanctuary thing had already proven to be able to do things like adding rules to laws and manipulating reality. Who was to say it wouldn't alter the answer given to her by her skill? There was too much uncertainty that she became hesitant.
Another deduction that didn't need her skill. Was she perhaps gifted even without her skill? The sanctuary was attracting magical girls to it just like it did with monsters. It was an entirely cyclised process, it brought the magical girls and it brought the monsters. Then it could only mean one thing, something you wouldn't think an object would do... But if it was a living thing it would be quite easy to arrive at.
Self preservation. The sanctuary was harvesting magical particles from the battles between the monsters and magical girls, they were pretty much like nuclear reactors for magical particles anyway. What better way than to use the guise of a school? It provided an environment the magical girl would want to stay at, a reason for them to defend it and a suitable battlefield.
She immediately shared her clues with Tifanny, this was a situation that transcended beyond her usual antisocial complex. She spoke with a serious expression and felt as if she was stepping outside her usual bubble into a foreign land, it was her first steps and it dragged her into something that felt bigger than anything else in her life. As if she was saving the world, that kind of feeling that would cause one to throw away any weaknesses.
"Still, that's amazing your skill could bring so much information that no one has had for numerous decades... No, the predecessors might have known and simply couldn't do anything about it..." (Tifanny)
"... It wasn't with my skill... I... Did all of that without it... " (***)
Tifanny's expression froze, she practically exuded the fact that she was in awe before she quickly recovered.
" Then... What if you used your skill?" (Tifanny)
She grimaced in response to Tifanny's question, as if she just tasted something bitter. This was a risk that she wasn't willing to take, it might end up implicating them. But when she thought about it safely, her skill activating would be an act of transgression against the managers of the reactors. With no information, this was incredibly dangerous.
Lastly, what were these reactors used for? The managers would be in possession of these large reserves of magic.
"... That's what I'm concerned about. There's no telling if I'm the only magical girl with such a skill, that would be too convenient. In other words..." (***)
"The sanctuary might have countermeasures... It also wouldn't make sense to only have 1 energy reactor, there might be more across the country. The ones managing them might be deceiving other magical girls into producing energy for them..." (Tifanny)
They arrived at the same conclusion. Tifanny had deviated from thinking about 'this facility' and was thinking about 'other facilities' instead. This made the recognition inhibition magic much less effective as other reactors weren't under its protection. An age old enemy, for those born in the 21st century, the 20th century could be considered ancient. Nevertheless, their job was the same. This magic harvester was interfering with their otherwise peaceful lives.
Every once in a while a monster would come to attack the school, only to be quickly subjugated by one of the 2. If the enemy was too tough, the other would come in to help out. They were so effective at defending the school that the number of monsters coming was actually decreasing... As if the nearby monster nests were decreasing in population so much they began to coop up inside for the safety of their species.
The item was like a prized golden egg for the monsters, an extremely delicious lump of energy, a luxurious food item. But otherwise, the monsters could subsist solely on magical particles if they wanted to, it would simply be inefficient but they would still stay alive. A couple months had past since they discussed about the sanctuary. It was about 3 months since she had become a disciple, she was now a fully fledged magical girl. Some of the monsters dropped weapons which *** picked up to use.
***
The ground under her feet cracked as light wrapped around Tifanny's body.
"Azure protector of sky, land and sea, martial conqueror." (Tifanny)
The white light surrounding her body snaps like glass and dissipates instantly, revealing her combat dress and a sword that she held against the enemy. A high mimic type monsters, the monster looked like Tifanny but was coloured in complete silver. It was easy to differentiate the 2, because this wasn't the type of deceitful mimicry. It was a mimicry of Tiffany's abilities.
Tifanny seeped her own feet to the side, brushing over the crack as she mustered the strength to throw off the mimic. The mimic flies off a few metres into the air before receiving a slam into its torso by a wooden club looking staff that *** held. With the second blow sending even more momentum to the first, she took the opportunity to unleash [Pierce apart the revelation and fantasy].
There was no sound, no impact, no kind of any indication. This was a skill that evolved to be as useful as possible, only Tifanny would know if it bore results. The mimic did as she wanted and copied her analysis skill, but Tifanny and her dodged it leading to the skill to enter into the ground instead. She didn't want to ever use her skill on the sanctuary in case there were it retaliated against her, then they decided if they ever encountered an enemy that could do it for her, they would take advantage of it.
Tifanny ran in to restrain it by holding against its neck as it landed on the ground. *** followed up by using [Pierce apart the revelation and fantasy] towards the sanctuary, aiming at the analysis magic that the mimic sent. Using analysis on analysis, turning it into a vector of information should make it safe for her right? The mimic bent its bones unnaturally, swinging violently at Tifanny who let go and retreated out of safety.
It then jumped toward *** in the form of a grey Tifanny, wielding her usual azure blade in a tone of grey. How many times did it think *** had trained with Tifanny? She could easily track even the movements of the real deal. She parried the blade with her staff stepped closer and brandished her fist. Then it did the most eery thing it could ever do. In the middle of getting parried, it gave a crooked smile right before ***'s fist reached its face.
*BOOOM*
An ear piercing tremor. Her vision trembles as her ears rang out any noise in the surroundings.
Her eyes watered, right in front of her was Tifanny who took the brunt of the explosion before her head was cleanly severed by the mimic. What the hell happened? Why did it explode? Why? Why was it that the analysis only brought back a single word? 'Die.' Ah... Ahhh.... "AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" (***)
As if the world was cruel, as if it wanted to inflict the maximum amount of pain.... It rewarded her suffering. Second skill unlock,
"[Just wait here and break down]." (***)
All she could muster with her strained vocal chords was a low growl full of grief. The monster was sent to another space where the explosion could no longer hurt anyone.