*(Barius vs Vegaltari)
Summoned from where she stood, she arrives in a blank grey space. Instinctively, she felt her lungs being caged in and her body stretched without end. Her final skill had activated on its own, granting her invulnerability... Yet the pain never subsided. All of this collapsed in an instant, from the summoning to the acceptance of an entire dimension's worth of pain. Infinite pain had seeped and intoxicated her senses for an infinitely short moment, inflicting indescribable pain unto her soul. Yet her final skill, upon granting her invulnerability, stretched her spirit endlessly, enough to barely outlast the pain.
Her body collapsed and died... Correction, it was brought to the absolute brink of death indistinguishable from someone who truly died, and then brought back to life from that state. The concept of 'perfection' granted by her final skill was that fickle, all these moments of weakness would never be observed by the enemy, but for Barius she had practically lived through her entire lifetime countless more times enduring the pain, before arriving at the present.
Her eyes gradually grew open, as if waking up from a deep slumber. Her iris were trained onto Vegaltari so fast that nobody noticed it had shifted. She shifted her body, her white hair swaying effortlessly under the foreign environment of the edge of the world. As a 'perfect' existence, even surpassing all laws of time and space at the edge of the world... It is unable to handle the paradox of 'perfection' at the boundary, causing the grey realm to shatter into inconceivably many fragments.
This had never happened in normal reality, one could say that 'perfection' had elevated its own value so much that it violated and postponed the law of correction indefinitely. It overwrote time and space and walked over it like paint over a canvas. The universe's processing power was too low to register the error. However now that they were at the edge of the world, a nonexistent void hanging at the edge of the canvas, there was no such limit in processing power. In other words, everything occurring here was a natural consequence of existence.
Just by existing, Barius had turned into a God magical girl. Her body boundlessly grew stronger and had no problem catching up to any other God magical girl in battle. Vegaltari had jett black hair and pitch dark clothes. They wove a comfortable cloak around her torso followed by long pants that reach the tall boots sported by her feet. A belt with a black hook was fashioned on her hip and 2 more in close proximity on each of her limbs. If the sky were to be slightly dark, she would be completely concealed without much difficulty. Her hair was long and reached her knees, and were as straight and velvety as they were dark.
But a feature stood out amongst the mass of darkness that her silhouette cut, her piercing purple eyes. Like amethyst illuminating a small portion of the night, they gaze directly into Barius' stature without flinching.
"Every God magical girl has their own way of keeping their place inside this hodgepodge team of destroyers.
Some are undying, some would spell the end of others with sheer strength. Whatever it was, it made it hard to tell who would come out on top. Do we test it? The very limits of our immortality. " (Vegaltari, God of endless cataclysm)
" Immortality shouldn't have a limit. Then again, I wouldn't trust the word of a flawed. " (Barius, achiever of perfection)
Her luscious white hair swam through the hair as viciously as it did gently. A few observers would likely give different accounts of what they witnessed, on the basis of what they thought was perfect. Her face flared with a pristine glow, not too chiseled nor too undefined, it was impossible to paint into a picture. Her white coat quietly fluttered near her knees, a black shirt and grey pleated skirt rustled above the bottom of her coat. Her arms hid into the long sleeves of her coat and its pockets. A pair of sharp looking spectacles lay across the ridge of her nose without tension, as if she was born just to fit this pair of specs.
White and black oppose one another, there was no time for the air to get heavy with tension. Within one moment, Barius had gotten close and swung her left leg wide, striking at the side of Vegaltari. As 'perfection', her attacks would always be life threatening.
" [Mourning blessed the undue, Cataclysm]. Your simulation of divinity is pathetic. That's what 'perfection' is, a mimicry of true gods like us." (Vegaltari)
In other words if all 'perfection' did was to up Barius' stats to infinite, was there really any significant difference between them? Swinging her left wrist forward, Vegaltari completely neutralised Barius' kick. In an instant, Barius felt like countless eyes were peering into her... This seemed a little excessive to be her own mental illness, yet too weak to be a skill of God magical girl's caliber. That left one thing, Vegaltari was either using blood magic or a passive skill granted by her combat dress.
A trauma unleashed to its fullest conclusion, an end brought from the beginning.
Who are you?
You are me...
Why are you here?
Because of her.
Her, who?
Who else?
She throws her left fist backwards, a loud static sound buzzed violently before the sound of glass creaking echoed. Then the glass shattered, as if Barius had broken through a television and crushed its screen. What was happening? Vegaltari couldn't comprehend it, but it felt like she woke up from a nap with a fist implanted into her face. Barius had gone from being trapped in an illusion to having her back hand smash into Vegaltari. Vegaltari who hadn't seen it coming, flew vigorously off into the distance. Akin to a ragdoll thrown by a child, her body crushed itself against the reeds of reality.
In an instant, her body had changed orientation. It went from flying head first off into the distance into standing upright, as if nothing had ever happened. With another movement, she closed the distance, standing a short distance away from Barius. Barius had broken through an illusion and damaged Vegaltari while she was at it, in a sort of literal way, she had drawn Vegaltari into the illusion as well like a fish hooked onto bait and smashed it with her backhand. An aspect of 'perfection', unlimited perception of higher dimensions. Even if she was to be placed into a lower dimension, or forced to fight an opponent who resided in a higher dimensional plane... She would be able to easily perceive them and break past the barrier between them like crushing a piece of paper.
Because of her,
She fights.
Because of who?
Did it matter?
No it didn't. She was here of her own accord and sake. She no longer fought to surpass any imaginary figures that no longer existed, she was no longer trapped by her own past. She had been independent from such inhibitions for a long while now, she simply didn't know it until right before she unlocked her final skill.
For other individuals, they question the change and attainment they acquired at the very end. For her, she wondered if she had ever changed from the start. If she was perfect, then wouldn't change make her imperfect? If she didn't change, did she really attain perfection? Just what could really give her the validation that she needed?
... Obviously, herself. No one else has the right to this judgement but herself. Only she can decide-
Barius raised her hand up into the air, facing the ground beneath her with a stoic expression. She wouldn't claim that she had no emotions, in fact she was quite excited and passionate right now, she simply sucked at expressing it. Her scenery changed, her body changed location in an instant. She swung her raised palm down and the scenery changes once more, her palm slams into Vegaltari's face, then it molded into a fist and smashed into the other direction, hammering Vegaltari with the back of her fist and knuckles.
"Perfection... Paradox, reconciliation of contradictions allow my existence. In other words, I exist but I also break rules.
That is your magic correct? Cataclysm establishes rules, a natural force of disaster with emphasis on the natural. A norm picked and chosen to make the fight easier for you, unfortunate but your rules will be challenged. " (Barius)
[Cataclysm] is the propagation of a 'mechanism' of the user's own choosing. It stands to see that 'perfection's paradoxical nature would inherently violate such mechanisms. Without effort, without difficulty, her being bypasses [Cataclysm], that is why she had been chosen. Barius throws a high kick, to which Vegaltari dodges with ease. Barius swings the other leg, sweeping the area horizontally as if her legs were scissors. Her legs close in on Vegaltari's neck, threatening to snap it off.
Vegaltari's method of ascension into godhood was similar to Barius. It was by the activation of [Cataclysm], a rule was set up in the universe. 'Magical particles obey her will without any prerequisite.', and so they endless enhance her body into something beyond normal human comprehension. The magical. Particles tore at her body at once, filling and replacing her flesh with non-matter, killing her.
Another rule was set, 'she was unable to die'. Just like with some of the other destroyers, she lived on the edge of existence and non-existence, a precarious boundary to which she was only anchored to the world by her name. Like a true God from myths... She only existed because people knew her name. Once nobody knew her name, she would dip further into the side of non-existence and nil verification.
She had many misgivings, many sources of hesitation. But ultimately everything broke down against her favour, leading to this. In a fit of grief and anger she abandoned her humanity and ascended into a God magical girl. There was nothing else left to hold her back. What she had built up, what she had cherished, what she had promised to protect, everything was no longer around. Where was there worth in protecting such a world?
She didn't like the idea of destroying other worlds. She was unexpectedly sincere in this regard, she only hated her own world for taking away what she loved. Unlike some of the other destroyers, she didn't believe every world deserved the same fate. In her world humanity had already died anyway, her opponent had eliminated it with her as the sole survivor. It was a world that no longer had any hope, so she deleted it along with the enemy that existed there.
It was unfortunate. If only she could stand up against Arasovi. During their travels, they hadn't met this many God magical girls at once who could put up a resistance against the destroyers. But against Arasovi, was there really any hope? She was consigned to an oblivion of being her slave... There is no hope for the other worlds as well. So why? Why is the girl in front of her fighting so desperately? Why is she glowing so valiantly? Her passion itself was radiant, almost as if it could illuminate the hole inside Vegaltari's heart.
A girl of long white hair fights a girl of long black hair. And unfortunately, their hair colour betrayed a little of their dispositions. Barius hated such irony, she wanted to blame her opponent but this was simply the fault of circumstances beyond their control. The only thing she could do was to end the fight quicker. Vegaltari moves her arms up and stops the scissoring action of Barius' legs. Vegaltari would be the first to rebel against stereotype.
"...!!! YOU'RE MISTAKEN IF YOU THINK I'VE GIVEN UP HOPE!" (Vegaltari)
She was not an irredeemable evil unlike some of the other destroyers, that is, if speaking from the perspective of those who hadn't gotten their worlds destroyed by her. It was her responsibility to see her actions through, to get stronger through this fight and eliminate Arasovi while the others aren't looking. The destroyers are not a unified entity, everyone had their own thoughts being in the same shoes as Vegaltari. If possible, she was sure most of the destroyers wished they didn't destroy their own worlds.
It was a mistake that nobody could go back on and redeem their character, a sin. 'If only things were better.... ', 'if only things had gone differently...'. In her endless days of pondering ifs, of swallowing her regrets and adding to them, she dreams of a tomorrow without such tragedy.
"Did you think I would back if you stopped being gloomy!?
Unfortunate for you, but with Kaori around, your leader is doom! That is simply the way she is! An existence who defies such expectations! " (Barius)
The opposite of her faith in Arasovi, a burning hope so bright it could eclipse the sun and burn the universe. An absolute belief that her ally will make it through and bring the head of the enemy leader. Against such passion, she-