*
The world turns silent, still as clear water under the moonlight, a transient illumination radiating softly.
An abrupt cacophony of chaos scatters as loud obtrusive noise fills the world. A sun exploding or an imitation of it was unprecedented to the earth's biosphere, noise that perpetuates more noise, a never ending string of destruction. Even with that continent sized bomb shot into the hole, costing 30% of Ledia's well... There was no response.
Her well can recover rapidly, but if an attack of this level bore no response, then things might be difficult. In the first place... These were opponents that Kaori couldn't see herself defeat. Then if she didn't surpass Kaori, there was no foreseeable future where she defeated the destroyers. She jumps into the cracked space, entering a realm of pitch black darkness.
It was a space devoid of light and matter, were the destroyers some species of bat? It was odd to... Live here no matter how she thought about it. But Gods do not need sustenance to continue existing, and since they have an infinite amount of magical particles, they don't need that either.
Ledia let out her aura, painting the world in a new dark azure blue, the same colour as her hair. It was not much better than the darkness, but it was better than nothing. Her aura expands and fills the space like spilt paint growing on a canvas, seeping and stretching into the infinite void... Before stopping abruptly as if it had hit a wall. That was no wall, only a large expanse of darkness lay beyond in every direction. She couldn't even see her enemies...
She looked down at her body to check her own well being, it was steadily turning into ash and floating away. Ah... I didn't even get to see them. Her body vanishes, ending the first encounter with the destroyers. It seemed nearly impossible to gain any information, but... This time she had an ally.
"..." (Ledia)
She opened her eyelids, the familiar sight and scent of the world reaches her senses like an oasis. Being inside that black realm was akin to sensory deprivation, it won't drive a magical girl insane but they could still feel anxious. This time, Himei was here. She was The Eye God, surely she could tell her what she wanted to know.
"... Eye God sama..." (Ledia)
"... Himei is fine, this is gonna be a long afternoon for you. Seems like it's the second loop, you have something to ask, yes?" (Himei)
"Yeah... I couldn't even see their faces at all, but... The destroyers, what are they...? Surely you know something..." (Ledia)
"..... They are a response. A response to a violation of time. My powers superimpose a different world over the previous, rewriting the scenario. So I am not strictly under their surveillance.
But someone like Kaori messed with the concept of time itself, so she got under their radar. Just from that alone, I believe they are higher beings with authority over time, and are at least on the level of God magical girls. Presume that they are at minimum SS grade.
There is no known existence or myth of SSS grade, since anything that reaches infinite stats is already classified SS. But if there is an absolute difference between these beings and God magical girls that always end in their superiority, than we might have to create this classification for them... " (Himei)
" SSS grade... How do I... " (Kaori)
" but that's all speculation. My money is on the theory that they're just some God magical girls who could control time and got high on their superiority.
They exist outside this dimension, so their origins might be from alternate timelines or alternate dimensions, making their abode the best way to hide from my eyes.... But there's a good reason they cannot detect my universal superimposition. They might observe it from the outside sure, but they wouldn't be able to narrow down my location.
Or... they might exist in a timeless external dimension, forcing themselves to cross space and time to wherever they see fit to arrive in this world, but they aren't observing this world at any one time or at all.
So my superimposition wouldn't be detected in the first place, and only when the concept of time is interfered with they can detect it. This supports that there's no bullshit known as SSS grade... And that they are fallible like the rest of us God magical girls. " (Himei)
Ledia sat in silence, taking in her words. Himei was clearly more used to this situation than she was, it was a blessing that she could have Himei as an ally. She might have had all these suspicions and theories herself already, but it was extremely helpful to have an expert support it, flesh it out with reasoning and organise it for her. These beings can defeat Kaori, in other words they have clear superiority over Kaori's control of time. But what was it like? How could she picture these transcendantal beings and a way to defeat them?
"... What is the concept of time?" (Ledia)
"Hmm... It's just a way of description. You see, I can superimpose a previous state of the universe over the present. But strictly speaking, I am not touching time at all despite bringing the world to its previous state, my magic is like copy and pasting over the present.
On the other hand, I use 'concept of time' to refer to time itself. Say, if the universe existed as a video, then time might be the progress bar. Affecting the concept of time means affecting this progress bar, because ultimately time is a concept made by humans.
Due to the varied nature of magic, there are many ways to achieve the given effect... To reverse time without touching time at all. But Kaori's does just the opposite, she directly affects the concept of time by recognising it as a gradient. Her final skill essentially allows her to observe and move the progress bar, bringing her under the radar of the destroyers. A small change such as seeing the future or the past, reviving a dead person or 2 might be hard for the destroyers to detect. But Kaori revived too many people... " (Himei)
It was as if a chord struck within her, like lightning struck her on the head as she took in all of this information. It was simply semantics with the definition, but she was curious after all. What she didn't expect to learn was how Kaori came under the eyes of the destroyers.
"She... She revived too many people...?" (Ledia)
Her eyes widened in disbelief, lips agitated in an involuntary tremble, throat parched to the point it felt like it was burning. How could she? She was a cruel goddess who collected heads for fun, she killed and killed countless individuals. The information was not matching up.
"Ah... You might be confuse given that look on your face.
It might not be believable for you, but Kaori was a hero right before all of this went down. She promised her friends to save them no matter what and to save one of their dead relatives, in the end she had to revive both of them and a few other individuals.
She found it troublesome to play god, and determine whether an individual decides to live past their death or not... So she wanted to abandon it all together and live a normal life of retirement. This fiasco with the destroyers... Might have been the last straw... " (Himei)
"... Haa~ how depressing. But, everyone has their own story. I am an ordinary person at heart, I can not spare anymore empathy than what I could afford.
So I can't say I care about her situation or reasons. " (Ledia)
She gauged Himei's reaction, Kaori and her seemed to be friends. She wonders how this blatant lack of respect will incite a response from her. But even without that inquisitiveness, she simply told her truth. She lived as a normal person up until recently, it was typical to only care about your own situation since it is all one could afford. Many people go by struggling in their own lives, they have the inability to care about everyone in the world. As a modern kid, she was used to keeping her head down and only minding her own business.
"... It's fine. You do have that right, and... I can't say anything since I haven't informed any other acquiantance about this. She's dead on the noon of the Live Festival and no one knows, you know?" (Himei)
She didn't fly into a rage, she didn't glare at Ledia, she didn't do much. She simply looked at the ground with a self depreciating smile and reassured Ledia that her response was reasonable. But something wasn't adding up.
"... Why were you gone during the previous time loop... And why didn't you fight the destroyers together with Kaori?" (Ledia)
"... For the first question, Kaori simply asked me not to interfere, so I respected her wishes...
For the second... That's hard to answer... It might have been out of fear, anxiety. I couldn't ever step into that darkness to fight an unobservable opponent that my mother would use as a bedtime story to scare me. The future where I step into there, I can't see any of it. I cannot assure that I will live...
So... I suppose it was out of cowardice... " (Himei)
It hard to believe that the Eye God everyone respected in the Sanctuary would... Be open about her fears like this. It was also unexpected that she could be afraid of anything. Perhaps, she was always assured of her own survival by simply observing her state in the future. So if there come a time when her observation and assured survival is not guaranteed.... She reverted into a vulnerable and cowardly girl.
The silence was deafening. In one moment, she was thankful that she had such a reliable ally, in the other, that confidence and hope was dashed into oblivion. What should she do now? Can she still count on Himei...? She inadvertently let Kaori die... By placing the burden of the destroyers on Kaori until she couldn't handle it anymore. Ledia presumed that Himei would try to justify her lack of presence by saying it was better for the country if she stays behind, or that the threat is isolated to Kaori or something else! But...
"Aren't the destroyers targeting this entire world? It won't just end with Kaori's death right? She has already killed herself, yet the destroyers are still coming here soon at 1pm..." (Ledia)
"Y-" (Himei)
She could no longer even muster an affirmative reply. Her words were caught in her throat and her shame greatly exceeded her ability to reciprocate to the conversation. She wasn't the all powerful, all knowing being anymore now that she found out the destroyers exist... Does it...
"Did being blind to the future destroy your reason of being?" (Ledia)
No longer the all knowing God that the Sanctuarians could rely on, she finally gave a meek nod. That's why she was so willing to be an ally, it was why she didn't care in the slightest that Ledia's actions led to Kaori's death. She blamed herself for it. How could she blame others? It might be convenient, but she faced her feelings head on and this was the result, throwing the blame on Ledia would remind her how she threw the burden on Kaori, she didn't like it one bit.
"Haa~ I can't spare my empathy to strangers like you guys, because frankly you guys are strangers that I would likely never care about.
But look. You are aware, you have observed your own faults and acknowledged them. There's still a chance for you to redeem yourself, Himei. Help me win, I'll fight for you as long as you maintain the loop so I can return safely each time. Deal? " (Ledia)
Her shoulder lengthed sharp bob cut traced the air with its blackish azure hue like a pen writing on clear paper, it seemed to draw Himei's eyes like a magnet and traced destiny like a torch illuminating the dark cave. A clear and intended revealing of a path of hope. Her pure white jacket with vibrant blue highlights contrasted her comfy ash pink dress with frills at the end. Her eyes were full of black with vibrant blue pupils in the centre of her black iris. Like her burning blue flames that converge into that false sun attack.
With plenty of oxygen, incompletely combusted orange flames can become fully combusted blue. With enough hope, she can trace the destiny that Kaori foresaw that would save all of them. Just then, her aura had burst explosively and radiated in every direction, in front of Himei. On her dress, a glow of light wrapped around her waist before disappearing, as well as around her wrist and ankles. Collars appeared around her wrist and ankles, while a smooth black leathered belt wrapped itself snuggly around her waist, propping up some of the fabric of her dress.
Her second skill was awakened, along with its respective changes to her combat dress. Her usage of the first skill has reached the threshold required to unlock her second skill. Like a flashing miracle, a growth in power just in time to give Himei hope that her actions weren't in vain. They could still fix the situation.