*
[Idealism of a magical maiden's transient heroism: panta rhei], turn the flow of time back to when you have not activated your last skill, then freeze. Since time has frozen for her, light is no longer being reflected by her... No, since light cannot enter or pass through her, it's completely dispersing around her. All I see right now is an amorphous white mass from all the reflecting.
But I can definitely detect such a stiff mass with my passive. A super dense mass of gradient:0, and a sparkling object radiating illumination in a shower of black energy, which was the rapier beam attack that I sent.
[Idealism of a magical maiden's transient heroism: panta rhei], new technique, cut the flow. 'Cut the flow' removes all intermediate action by compressing time to an instant, resulting in the arrival of the end of a sequence. With this technique, the results of my actions would arrive. It is my own version of action priority, by manipulating time.
Not that it was necessary against Hikari, but such things have to be developed just in case... My chest heats up, was my excitement resurging? No matter how much I go through.... Regardless of any emotional baggage that comes before or after... It looks like I still enjoy the battle, an indispensable sentiment of Kaoru from before awakening as a magical girl.
My surroundings change without any pause or indication, I was already behind Hikari after 'cut the flow' activated. A massive well of energy arose and imploded at where Hikari was... As more time passed, she was even resisting the hyper compression of my first skill, and was growing beyond her constraints...
No way... If my first skill unleashed an infinite output of magical energy, then she was growing beyond an infinite rate... The explosion should finish her off, but a bad feeling gnaws at my heart like a swarm of locuses. Looking into the future in this Oblivion Magia... She's still alive and pulsating. A disgusting flesh growth that would fill the universe...
"... Watch out. Himei or Kaori, Hikari gets used to any phenomena you throw at it. Even my... End world environment... As long as it exists... And as long as humanity exists... She will develop resistance.
This isn't like the progenitor who had an innate resistance to skills. This is an anti-humanity attribute. I would love to converse over what happened, but we'd only be dragging you down here. Please take care of it. And if you're Kaori, I'm sorry for being harsh earlier. The one job I should be doing, I failed. " (HuoLi)
Hikari had already gained resistance to end world environment... She will likely gain resistance to my first skill too at the rate things are going. I halt the rapier beam, unleashing a wave of smoke. I also let the others out, they've likely tried all of their skills already, to no avail. I wonder, just how do you kill something that's anti-humanity. Even a god magical girl like me counts as part of humanity, so anything I conjure into existence will be resisted.
Hikari will exist for the rest of time, even after time or the universe ends. It's absurd to think about or even fight. This time, I don't think I can do anything fancy like stopping from being part of humanity. And it seems like anything I do will be thwarted as well. For a God magical girl... I seem pretty useless even now. Anything I gain in my repertoire will also get resisted. I'm only left to deal with it, because all the others are reasonably afraid. She is a wave that will eradicate humanity but not the universe. The earth will be completely fine, she doesn't consume inorganic matter, just crushes it into bits and spits it out.
Then... What can I do?
'Fufufu, isn't the answer obvious at this point?' (Himei)
Nevermind whether you're real or not, how would you know? You're me now!
'That just means you know too. The answer has always been there hasn't it? Even if it's vague and shapeless, but only an answer so bizarre could help us at this point.' (Himei)
... You're right. Thanks me. In other words, it's not that I don't know the answer, but I just doubt the answer I already have. It's obvious now, what else is there to do but to fight? Thinking won't help any longer.
'Cut the flow', once again this is a phenomenon that replicates the environment of the edge of the universe by using time manipulation to shape the environment. It exist in an instant and grants a pseudo attack priority to the user. A real attack priority does not rely on time manipulation or speed, so something like HuoLi's is real and would triumph this technique. But Kanou, I should be able to parry at least.
I arrive behind Hikari once more, my right arm outstretched and a fiery explosion erupts behind me to engulf Hikari. Resist it. I don't care. Then I will brute force it. If you are anti-humanity, then ON THE SPOT, I WILL SPONTANEOUSLY BECOME ANTI-ANTI-HUMANITY!!!!!
Another attack after another, I repeated slash an infinite amount of attacks in one moment. There is no need to pause, only the need to overpower. I don't need magic to assign attributes to my existence, nor to deliver incomprehensible phenomena through incomprehensible formulas of magical particle manipulation. The secret of how skills are formulated and Akasha? You can keep it.
"I HAVEN'T BEEN FIGHTING THIS LONG JUST TO KEEL OVER NOW!"
I roared at the top of my voice, because I've always sought for spontaneous growth during battle in times of need. It is the only thing that will help me, since teachers aren't too reliable when superior stats heavily outclass martial arts or that there will always be someone more skilled in martial arts. But what is unique about magical girls? Magic! Training? Fighting? These are all enticing ways to improve yourself, but they are an insignificant subset of what makes magical girls stronger. Magic, and spontaneous evolution!
Resist all you want, fight back, become immune and shake off my attacks all you want. I will kill you. In an instant, lacerations appear all over its body, it's escaping the restrictive hold that [hollow calamity] has over it. Then I will physically shove it back in. Lacerate, tear, disintegrate! I slash over and over with the rapier in my hand and let my strength disintegrate Hikari's existence. Over and over, strike, pull back, strike. I shave off the wriggling grotesque flesh mass that is Hikari until it was bite sized, then I slice at it again.
Under my utter superiority, it will not even be able to escape the small space that I set for it. I will see to it that this continues. No matter how much it attempts to grow and regenerate, I simply cut it down faster and faster. My fingers grip my blade tightly, my wrist numbs but then rejuvenates due to my regenerative ability as I push it to the maximum. My blade tears through the flesh, popping and scattering every cell. My palm feels the sensation of resistance caused by my blade plunging into flesh.
Heavy. It's only getting heavier. Even physical thrusts, it's growing resistant to that. My strength stat is infinite you know? It means... I can increase my output even more. I'll deal with you for an eternity if I have to, because I've already set out to subjugate you. Thrust harder, put your back into it, shove my strength into your fists and down your sword. Pierce! Advance! Grow beyond the you of just now! Reach it, grasp at the infinite beyond the infinity, the promised land beyond the unseen veil.
Hikari's flesh burst open as my blade ran through its body repeatedly. No, I have to be stronger. I have to be able to eliminate her with one strike, not take multiple strikes just to destroy a small region of flesh. Faster harder, my arm swings my rapier beyond its usual limits. More, I need to thrust more and with more strength. Swing, swing, swing, swi-
Before I noticed, I had entered a trance like state, not dissimilar to the slumbering deities. In this state, she was pretty much an evil god anyway. My thoughts gradually began to decrease, my body forges itself into a more combat oriented stated, gradually my attacks become more effective and my magic became more robust. My rapier slices through the enemy's resistance, effortlessly shredding through it and shaving her body mass thoroughly.
For a while now, I've been standing in the same spot, rigorously swinging at the spot if flesh in front of me. No matter how much I destroy her, she will never stop regenerating. I'm sure I've already exhausted all the matter she absorbed in the real world to increase her size, all of it has been converted into energy and is now gone. What is left is a mere speck of flesh, undying, unchanging, impermanent.
Push even more, not a bit more, a lot more. Utterly destroy her... I've been referring to the flesh monster as it the whole time, but I guess I still see Hikari as a girl. I... I really want to save her. Someone who is a girl and has 3 skills and augmentations, they're basically a magical girl... I really do, but... This hesitation was what led to my first defeat. I gave her just enough time to activate her final skill. And... I won't repeat that mistake again. Humanity is not so cheap as to save a single magical girl...
'... But Kaede, you can't.' (Himei)
There's negotiation, only a resolute rejection. Rather, I knew it was impossible. Disregarding that she's not really a magical girl or a human, hence not under my jurisdiction to save, but she will end the human race if I don't kill her. It is not resentment, killing intent or anything terrible that drives her to do this. It's responsibility as the monarch of demons. She hated the demons for their savagery and bloodthirst, but she also loved them like a monarch would.
This is not merely a physical battle, but a battle of ideals and wishes. I can not let her destroy humanity, which she will attempt at all cost. So I will have to make her incur that cost, her life. There was no other way, I dream that if we met some other way, if there wasn't a war between demons and humans, we would be friends. Goodbye.
An infinite amount of attacks were unleashed in one moment, nothing can withstand it. I scatter all cells after dissecting them into their bare organelles and molecules, blending them and scattering them into the wind. There is no recovering, she magically creates more cells, but I have won. I have caught up and surpassed her resistance. She cannot built immunity to my attacks if I smash that immunity into pieces. Nothing can interfere with these absolute attacks.
"Fuh~ Begone. For your own sake and for the world's sake."
I thrust through the last cell in existence, scattering the magic's hold over any organic matter by scattering the magic itself. Her spiritual and physical body has been completely obliterated. Now the world is finally free from her grasp, at the same time she annihilated the demon race by absorbing them up.
As long as magic exists, monsters will inevitably return. They are a product of natural phenomena, if one considers magical particles to be as natural as every other element in the universe. Another Demon King may be born then. One who will shoulder the lives of the next era of demons. Getting rid of monsters is like getting rid of earthquakes, volcanoes and floods. We can only do so much in our little power.
At once, all of the magic begins to flow towards a point in front of me. All the disrupted cells, ruptured organelles, DNA and molecules flow towards that point. Like a storm that flew sideways, everything was blown into one point in space, moulding together as a swell of energy bursts. It rapidly gathered more materials. What was once destroyed was repairing itself again... From a state of complete destruction where not even organelles or soul remain, she should have been a corpse.
"..." (?)
What was that...?
"..... At.... Ist...." (?)
Huhhh???? Could you please speak up?!!!
". ..Id if humanity exists .... It exists..." (?)
... That's right...
It took a while to realise... Maybe because it was only that this process was only happening now... As long as humanity exists, Hikari will come back. I assumed this was as far as the battle would go, but... It looks like it wasn't over yet.
A bright white light sparks, blending in with the pure driven snow white texture of this Oblivion Magia of mine.