***(in some previous loop)
She stood up from her bed. She had returned so many times that she had gotten used to rising from her back without feeling drowsy.
When it hits 12 pm... It takes but a few seconds for Kaori to arrive... There was only so much time she could use from 7am, considering the vast depth of the labyrinth and how populated it is. Not to mention central... Most of central burns down, she wonders why The Eye God does not step in to intervene... But there's no use...
What should she do? The first step was to enlist the help of Marie and the others...
*knock knock knock!*
She arrives at the sight of a Marie in casual pyjamas, she hadn't met her this early in the day before, so this was a fresh sight for sore eyes.
"Hmmm...? What's... Up...?" (Marie)
"Uh... Ah... I had something I wanted to tell you..." (Ledia)
She caught herself staring at Marie in time, reigning in her derailing thoughts and getting back to what she came here to do.
"Ahem!..." (Ledia)
Her words froze in her throat, what was she doing? Why is she here now? What has she set out to accomplish through this...? She ponders over the futility of getting Marie and the others to evacuate.
For the first few loops when all of this chaos started, Ledia had no grasp on the enemy's strength. So she tried... Over and over and over... She fought and fought, she waited until 12 pm when Kaori would arrive and fought her. But everytime... The fight always ended in an instant, before she even realised she died and was sent to the next loop. It was impossible to grasp Kaori's power, but... At least she didn't have to watch everyone die in front of her during those times.
Since it was impossible for her to kill Kaori, she had now decided to evacuate everyone instead.
".... Run... Please run from central... A great calamity is coming..." (Ledia)
"Hu-huh...? Ledia, what are you talking about?" (Marie)
Her drowsy eyes widened in visible concern, her voice promptly moving past its lax tone into a louder and more serious modulation.
"I... There's... There will be mass destruction of central... An unknown God is coming at 12 pm to destroy everything... Everyone...
So please... I need your help to evacuate everyone, if not... At least run away with me..." (Ledia)
"... Alright... I'll see what I can do. But how do you know all of this? How do you have certainty that it will happen? I can't exactly give zero basis when I get others to run, they won't persist on trust like I could for you... " (Marie)
"I... I've experienced it! I felt death, I saw destruction... And I saw your death..." (Ledia)
Her voice fades off near the end, it was early in the morning and her throat was losing strength. Marie couldn't tell if it was the strain on her voice or the sheer weight of her experience that's taking away her willpower. But 12pm? It's already 7 20, there isn't much time left if one were to properly factor how long it would take to evacuate the citizens. Ledia found it surprisingly easy to convince Marie, she was initially put off by this approach as it was clear that anyone would take her words as crazy rambling. She assumed that it was only the sheer trust that Marie had in her and the desperation left inside her body that conveyed that it wasn't a prank...
She can't depend on what happened here to convince anyone else, Marie was just a special existence like that. Well, her and Ledia's father. The 2 quickly got Temue and Asha up to speed on the situation and split off on their ways. Ledia went straight to her father's bedroom to get him to evacuate... It didn't take much to convince him... He was understanding and he didn't question anything his daughter said.
"Bad news..." (Marie)
"... Marie?" (Ledia)
Before she knew it, Marie had arrived behind her. She had just finished talking to her father and was about to leave. To be honest, she had no obligation to this place. Her original home with both her mom and dad was already lone gone in The Great Disaster. Her new home was also destroyed by the cultists, losing her mother alongside it. Her only home now, is wherever her father is.
Her main priority was the safety of those she knew and her family. Other than that, she didn't really care about what happened to the others, but... Naturally she still had some sensibility and didn't wish for the death of others. She was hoping Marie could evacuate everyone else while she ran first, because... Kaori was after her. For some odd reason, she was always alone when she died. When there were others around, they would be killed first...
To her, Kaori killing her last, was like an animal toying with its prey. There was no shred of reason, only absolute malice. Especially the way she would collect the heads of her victims and wrangle them around with her wind magic...
At present, she would give anything for her and her father to run away right now, perhaps to the Illnoia Administration, maybe the Dragon God would be concerned enough to protect them... It was on the level of a miracle, but she needed hope to survive. It took a few times of dying to even realise Kaori comes to attack at 12pm, then a few more to learn how it was futile to fight her.
"Usually each region is governed by an ArcMaiden, we could easily disseminate information if we told them it was an emergency, and they could spread the word from the top down...
The thing is that... For central, the main governed is The Eye God, and no one knows where she went... " (Marie)
" She's....missing...?!" (Ledia)
It explained the utter lack of aid in one's own domain... But why...? Why was The Eye God missing? Where did she go? Her thoughts spiralled deeper and deeper into a never ending whirlpool of denial.
" But I also have good news... " (Marie)
Ah... Maybe it is so... The most plausible explanation... They were abandoned. The Eye God either ran away or died at 12 pm trying to protect the Sanctuary against the Unknown God. Then... If their grand ruler couldn't go toe to toe with her... how could Ledia? How could she ever conceive the idea that she stood a chance against Kaori?
Kaori was practically a natural disaster, a destructive force of nature that cannot be curb. Part of the reason why the phenomenon that destroyed 80% of humanity was dubbed The Great Disaster was because of the despair that it induced and how futile everyone's actions seemed at the time. Only the magical girls had any ability to survive, yet they squander that away and put themselves in danger to save as many ordinary people as they could... The result? An unnaturally large ratio of magical girls to normal people in the post disaster era.
What good news could there possibly be?
"...? " (Ledia)
Her confusion was blatant, she could never expect good news or a poorly timed joke in a situation like this. Marie saw it and could barely contain herself.
"So, to convince the others I had to say that you had prophetic powers, since you've 'experienced it' right? That meant your skill is about precognition...
And it was enough. The magical girls of the labyrinth are all ready to help evacuate the citizens! We don't have to rely on The Eye God or anyone! " (Marie)
There was nothing better she wanted. They were treating Kaori like The Great Disaster, but since the area of her rampage is localised to central, if they could get everyone to run away it would finally be over.... Finally... She hugged Marie, this long dream could finally end...
*BOOOOOOM!!!!!!!!*
"...?! I thought you said it happened at 12pm?!now it's only 8 30 am!" (Marie)
"I...! I don't know what's happening?!!" (Ledia)
A loud sonorous echo sweeped across the land. Despite being underground, she could tell that the labyrinth was affected by the explosions that took place on the surface... It sent shock waves throughout the land, causing everything to tremble and rattle under the excess energy. It can't be... It's not 12... Kaori can't be here yet...
She transforms into a magical girl, her body glows a blinding light for a moment, which fades away to reveal her blackish azure hair and ash pink dress. The desaturated dark tone of pink on her dress directly contrasted her jacket of pure white and vibrant sea blue highlights. She exit her apartment as quickly as possible, her curiosity no longer containable. She had to sate her suspicions or it will only drive her mad. Why? Why was there such a seismic commotion so early on?! Things weren't supposed to end up like this...
She could hear screams in this distant... But... This isn't her.
"This is different, this is someone else." (Ledia)
"Huh?" (Marie)
"The unknown god wouldn't play with her victims, she can silence central in less than a minute. The fact that there are still screams out there... Means that they are weaker than her, but also pose a threat... But who are they...?
I have to find out. " (Ledia)
If this was to all end in failure, she would rather die. Whether her memories were to enter the next time loop or not didn't really matter, this was no desirable future, and.... She must have been desensitised to her own death if she's throwing her life away for information...
No! There's still hope! In the first place, she had no obligation to the people! She's no hero! She's just an ordinary girl... So as long as her father and her friends are safe... Then it's mission accomplished.
"While I check out what's going on, please evacuate my dad and everyone else. Please." (Ledia)
"Alright. I'll handle things here, so don't worry. I don't know what's going on, but I'm sure you'll handle it. If you don't have this much blind faith, then becoming friends was worthless from the start, right?" (Marie)
A cheeky smirk surfaces on Marie's face, she held her right wrist up in front of her. Ledia reciprocrated, locking their wrists and holding each other's hands with force. This was a gamble. They only met a few days prior, but put this much faith into each other.
With power in her steps, Ledia propels herself forward with each leap. She flies off the ground, as a magical girl she was able to jump to extreme heights. She then uses the falling debris as footholds in mid air, as a magical girl she was able to manuevre herself at extreme speeds. Lastly, she smashes through some rubble with her fist to physically get onto the surface of the labyrinth. As a magical girl, her strength was magically augmented to transcendental levels.
For all the supernatural human capability afforded by being a magical girl... None of it could prepare her for what she was to witness. Fleeing humans, dead corpses, widespread fires, cyclones of deep red and monsters roaming amongst a cacophony of screams and deathly wails. Fire as far as the eye could see, but it was not white like Kaori's fire... It was normal fire... Low magical particle density, these were caused by explosives... Not magic...
Just like.... Just like the terrorists that attacked her home. Without hesitation, she plunged into the chaos... But not to save, only to kill. Numerous Hooded figures donned some glowing necklaces protecting themselves from the fire. Commanding the flames wreaking havoc, she concentrated them towards the figures, forming fiery cyclones. Their necklaces, unable to bear the load, shatter apart and leave their wearers unprotected, leaving them in crisps.
Other than them, there was a figure without a necklace, yet they were perfectly fine in the fire. A magical girl? A witch? Anyone who had to hide their face... Was an enemy. She arrives behind the figure, erupting a large explosion that echoed throughout the streets. Without missing another step, she punched through the smoke arising from her explosion attack.
She threw her left fist, and it was stopped. It had collided with another left arm, the shock wave was enough to blow the hood off the individual.
A familiar lab coat peaks out of her robe.
"Vamaly...?" (Ledia)
The terrorist attack has never happened in any other loop, the news of Kaori has never reached any other loop... Then... Information must have leaked from somewhere. And these explosives... Were planted ahead of time, they were part of a planned attack.