*
"..." (Himei)
It was dazzling, like witnessing the arc of a passing comet or the blooming of a flower, when the light faded away it fragmented into countless particles that showered the area like snowflakes. Like tasting a new colour, Himei's heart saw a new world.
It was just like magic, she began to believe it was possible. Threshold for trust has been breached, Himei's unconditional support unlocked.
"What does your second skill do?" (Himei)
Talking had already cost them 30 minutes, they have 30 left to prepare for the next battle. She felt torn up inside about leaving it to Ledia, she felt like an irredeemable coward. But Ledia's eyes spoke different. She accepted her weakness and Kaori's ineptitude. She was seriously fighting for their sakes, even if all her efforts could be excused as saving the world from the destroyers.
The destroyers exist outside of time, they likely came from many parallel dimensions and conjugated together to form a high authority of time manipulators. Then...
"... That'll be a surprise for later, this time we'll show them." (Ledia)
They decided to train in her magic control. She remembered the techniques employed last time, but it still took a few tries to gain the same proficiency and augment herself to S grade with her first skill. Thankfully, magic had more to do with the mind than the body, so remembering how her techniques work will carry over between loops and get easier to reach the required proficiency each time.
***(1 pm)
This time, they didn't start off with sending in a bomb. Likely...
"A border of darkness... And an unobservable space... The easiest explanation is that they can localised their time and space magic around them and turn it into masking magic...
They basically camouflage themselves with a barrier than messes with time and space, that's why light cannot pass through and I cannot observe them...
My eyes cover the entire universe, even if space was magically isolated my vision can still past through... It's not a lack of time and space at all, it's the opposite. They didn't cut a border between time and space, they gathered it to form an incoherent wall. It's information overload, like a television's static... I can't see past that pitch black static. " (Himei)
Usually no amount of masking could block Himei's eyes, but this masking was of the infinite order. It was concealed an infinite amount of times, akin to compressing countless parallel dimensions into a wall. Her eyes observe the universe, not multiple universes. This was outside of her capabilities. But it was also perfect for Ledia. She entered the dark crack and arrived in the same dark space.
The destroyers are definitely watching her intently, but the fact that they don't immediately attack her is sign that they underestimated her. A mere S grade, they must believe she was acting like an arrogant big fish in a small pond who had never seen the ocean before. To be fair, she does not pose an immediate threat. But this will change their minds.
"Second skill [Human ingenuity surpasses the secret of the stars]." (Ledia)
She points forwards and in a single blink... The realm of darkness lights up into a realm of white. Overcoming the concept of 'limits', she nullifies the dimensional masking and illuminates the enemy's headquarters, finally revealing the identity of the destroyers.
Himei was right, they were all magical girls. Her inbuilt magic chip allows her to analyse their names and stats. Naturally all of their stats were SS grade. There was no such thing as an SSS grade.
It finally made sense why they were called the destroyers.
Kaori: God of Calamity and Allflow
Hikari: Demon God of Disaster and Creation
Arasovi: God of indiscriminate Destruction
Feillongyi: God of absolute Catastrophe
Yumi: God of destined Extermination
Demorami: Exstinctio laboris
Now it made a little more sense why Kaori couldn't defeat them. There was an alternate version of her here along with Hikari... She couldn't handle all of them at once, it was impossible. But then, why was Ledia chosen? If Ledia was destined to be powerful, then wouldn't there be an alternate version of Ledia here to stop her? Unless...
It simply meant that Ledia was meant to be ordinary in every universe. Then what was this reality before her eyes?
"Haa~ haa~" (Ledia)
It's not the time to get caught up in your own breath... Relax and regain composure, the enemies are observing like hawks. It's been a second since she first arrived and used her magic, both parties seemed to be silently observing each other. And while she's at it, there are some notable differences between the Kaori she knew and the Kaori here...
The Kaori here dresses in all black, a one piece dress that reaches her knees and was decorated in layers of frills. It wasn't like the other Kaori's wedding dress of pure white that fit her chest like a bunny suit... This Kaori's dress had straps leading from the chest fabric to the neck and was backless. Below her one piece dress was a pair of black tights.
But their face and aura were undoubtedly... Completely the same. A God magical girl could design their combat dress however they wanted, so the white dress of the Kaori she knew might have been the base form instead.
"...? You know me?" (Kaori Alternative)
In a flash, she closed the distance to within Ledia's breath. She saw Ledia's staring and came closer without hesitation, was she provoked? Ledia felt like she was in a den of beasts here, as if she was treading on thin ice with each and every movement she made. There's no reason to communicate, but she didn't know the enemy's capabilities too well, so she couldn't exactly head straight into battle without information.
She was sure, the enemies must have already known her skills. The first was an augmentation type that powered her up from C to S grade. The second was a conceptual type that dispelled their barrier... But that was it. They were like lions staring down their prey, only wasting time and hesitating because they were afraid to clash with each other rather than any plausible reason that considered Ledia. For all intents and purposes, Ledia was not a threat to them at all.
Using 'staring' as an excuse, Kaori Alternative made the first move and got near. The prey was Kaori's now, no doubt. If they fought each other, the results would be catastrophic. Not to mention... Kaori's magic was one of the largest proponents of their barrier, she was undoubtedly one of the strongest in this group itself. Her presence itself was enough to perpetuate a pecking order, even if she wasn't the de facto leader, Arasovi of destruction.
This pressure... Like a planet crushing down on her scalp, Ledia was struggling to stay afloat in the empty expanse of this space, she was struggling with all of her might but she couldn't even lift her face to look at Kaori's face anymore. But...! This is not the place to die...! Just a bit more...!
She puts all of her strength into her neck and magic, rapidly draining her well to augment her body further as a last ditch effort. With great difficulty, she craned her neck up with an ugly expression and finally... Looked up. Kaori alternative met her efforts with a smile, but that was it. It was a smile that one would give when they saw something slightly interesting, a perfunctory show of amusement that someone would give at something like a circus show.
Ledia was the exhibit, and Kaori alternative was the audience, that much was clear. Her existence was looked down upon that much, like watching an ant crawl around the obstacles that one haphazardly set up for some entertainment. She bore her fist, tighten her wrist and raised it ready for a punch, but...
"Alright, that's enough... You were interesting, but not interesting enough." (Kaori alternative)
With a swift little flick to the forehead, faster than Ledia could see, her body flew into the distance... In countless pieces. Her body was turned into ash and scattered into the void behind her.
***
" Haa~?!" (Ledia)
"...?!" (Himei)
Usually the destroyers will kill you so fast, you wouldn't even be able to feel any pain as your nerves will be too slow to pick up any stimuli. Then, Ledia's pained groan was abnormal. Could it be? Their attacks were starting to surpass the time loop?
"That.... That was insane..." (Ledia)
She turned her gaze to Himei, eyes widened in disbelief and fingers thrust into her chest to feel her accelerated heartbeat, Himei merely looked in confuzzlement. Her breath stopped in anticipation of what Ledia was about to say next. She must have gained more information.
"... First... There were 6 of them. Each of them were a God magical girl with their own theme pertaining to destroying.
Kaori of calamity.
Hikari of disaster.
Arasovi of destruction.
FeiLongYi of Catastrophe.
Yumi of extermination.
And lastly, Demorami of extinction.
The difference was too large, I was struggling just to look them in the eye, and... I was done in by Kaori. A single touch and she surpassed my magical girl transformation's augmentation to my magic defence, and separated me into dust. " (Ledia)
"... Looks like we have a long way to go... I see, it's more serious than I thought... 6 God magical girls... I was hoping there was only 1...
Anyway, it looks like I have to step in further by training you myself. " (Himei)
They had never sparred before, but it seems more necessary now then ever before. After how Ledia described her experience, there seemed to be no other way around it. She needed to overcome the world bearing pressure that Kaori alternative exerted on her.
"We have less than an hour but, how about it? Unseal vision, [Akashic editor: 'Cursed maiden of the all-seeing sight: Amon Mei']." (Himei)
"Kuhagh?!" (Ledia)
Her lungs collapsed as air, spittle and blood was ejected out of her throat. A gold aura expanded with Himei at its core, replacing the gentle blue sky with gold. This was her unsealed state, when Ledia was in the other realm, she couldn't observe any of their auras due to how white the space was. But here, the difference in status was clear as day. This was the unadulterated strength of her aura alone, what about her strength? An infinite well would certainly change the colour of the sky, though it was too dark to see when Kaori and Hikari arrived.
But this was good... She can stand on her two legs. Ledia can still improve, she can still fight! She gazed straight at Himei who had begun floating into the air, forcing her to turn her gaze upwards. Her magic wells up in her fists, gathering and swirling to augment further. She had just returned from the previous loop, so it was about time she returned to S grade and to match up her strength against Himei.
She leaped from the ground, it felt like she was pushing through lava with how viscous the air was under Himei's pressure. Her simply unleashing all her observation power on the world around her was enough to make this drastic of a change, it meant that she was always concealing her vision... Even if her eyes were open and her gold iris peaked out... She must have been blind without her magic... Magical girls always have colourful eyes, no one suspected it.
"Hmm...? Ah, if you're concerned, don't be. The Eye God is similar to the Demon King in that our powers are passed down to our descendants and evolved in the process.
An effect of being born with an especially powerful magic gene is our blindness, it's something we all live with and take in stride. Don't mind it too much, or it will cost you. " (Himei)
A pure white ball of energy materialises in front of Himei, but she wouldn't shoot it at Ledia. Thrusting her fist through the ball, her fist became coated in an iridiscent white with various colourful hues sprinkled across it. She stopped her fist mid air, and a never ending wind pressure rushes over Ledia's head, since Himei's fist was also thrown above.
"You see this? This is what infinite power looks like... You'll have to face this in my place. You ready? " (Himei)
"Yeah!" (Ledia)