*
In the time that it took Ledia to defeat the destroyers... No time had passed at all. To the rest of the world, it might have been a short instance. A sudden increase in atmospheric pressure killed every living being in the vicinity, none to witness the events that had unfolded. As if... Nothing had happened.
Ledia can create universes from scratch... But she cannot bring back individual life. The lost of their gods... Might take a while to hit the news. The god magical girls were capricious, disappearing often. It might take years or centuries before people give up on their return. There was still some time left. In other words, nobody will mourn them.
"Where... Where are they. Are they hiding? Why can't I feel their presence?" (Zedicia)
Her straight white hair was as long as she was tall, spilling onto the very ground. Her entire body, including her hair us coated in a deep layer of magic, preventing dust and dirt from accumulating in between her hair strands. She wore a black suit over her dark grey button shirt. From every angle, she looked like the average saleswoman.
However that impression was completely void. Her expression was blank, Ledia couldn't tell what she was feeling at first. But after a few words, even a child would understand. Anyone could understand grief.
"... I see. The library has access to every skill, so if it was recorded in the world, I might be able to..." (Zedicia)
"It'll take a long time to master, right? You can't just take another God magical girl's magic and replicate it instantly.
There's the question of proficiency. You wouldn't want it to come out wrong..." (Ledia)
Zedicia's face shifted a bit under the glaring afternoon sun and hot desert gale. The sand flew around her as if there was an invisible wall, keeping her eyes clear and her gaze sharp. Her grey iris shone like pearls, they seem to convey her resolve to Ledia. A faint and unlikely promise, but it was the least she could do if she wanted to see her friends again.
"By the way, who is she?" (Zedicia)
She pointed at a single out of place individual. The third last God magical girl, her hair was as black as the deep starless sky, Vegaltari.
"... Well, this one surrendered so... I took responsibility and took her in." (Ledia)
"..." (Zedicia)
"You're not mad?" (Ledia)
"... No... I'm just wondering how stupid you are...
Hey, you. How do I know you aren't going to turn traitor and back stab us? " (Zedicia)
Cold sweat ran down Vegaltari's back. After everything that went down, fighting might have been the last thing she wanted to do. Truth be told...
" I'm retired... No more magical girl activities, I'll... I'll work for you. You can keep an eye over me and I can live out the rest of my life..." (Vegaltari)
As proof of this, she had been untransformed the whole time. Her life hangs on a thread here, if she misspoke she could be reduced into the dust before she even knew it. Every second she stared at Zedicia felt like her neck was under a hanging guillotine.
"Haa~ fine. I was thinking of having you do some dirty work, but I can find a normal job for you too. Just be ready, if the world is going to end again you'll be thrown in first." (Zedicia)
"Yes, ma'am!" (Vegaltari)
A week passed, then a month. The news has been passed down to those closest to them. Gerald and Paridia continued to challenge S grades and gradually got strong enough to beat some of the warlords of the Grundo Alliance. With all the heads gone, their governance remain in perpetual stagnancy, at least while people kept up their rationality and strayed away from temptation. With the threat that the God magical girls are simply watching from elsewhere, the political ambitions of any opportunist were quelled for now.
When they get bolder and realised they could go unchallenged, the current climate would only exacerbate. Human ambition is natural, people will test the waters, embolden themselves and take it further. That's why the time has to be used to prepare countermeasures. The current S grade governors were unmatched, especially after their experience with the demon war. At least this was in regards to battle, as they were thrown into this situation and appointment right after The Great Disaster, their political prowess might not be as impregnable.
Save for the older ones like Triney, the rest might encounter some issues. For the common folk, they do not even get the chance to interact with these S grade governors, the ArcMaidens, anyway. Much less The Eye God that they worship. Since their exposure to their ruler was not changed in any way, their lives remained the same and not one bit were they aware of the circumstances. The pope saintess who makes public appearances regularly might have more trouble, her kingdom is left in the hands of her people.
Myuu made a comfortable living for her mother as a government hire. Even A grades become renown in their hometown after a while, like local superheroes of old. Living a relatively peaceful life, easily subjugating monsters below A rank, she had regained some of the bubbly cheer that she had in her youth. After Ledia returned, the research for a fear of dark skies and tremors had reached a break through. For those living in the unending trauma of The Great Disaster, therapeutic processes had evolved to be much more sophisticated, sparking hope for many families.
The world was gradually shifting towards a different form of governance, the remnants of South America and Europe were broken into numerous little factions with Magical girls at the top. The surrounding continental factions send their aid despite being a year and 7 months into the post Great Disaster era. Their attempts at stabilising the surrounding locals remain meagre, but those who remain in their homeland might raise up and take better initiative.
For The Sanctuary, they've shifted to a form of bureaucracy where the frontal administration was mostly normal humans, while the S grade magical girls mostly work in the background now. They offer advice and pass the final decision, but the happenings on the ground and daily life were now manned by ordinary individuals. After the demon war, warfare between factions might take a while before ramping up tensions again.
"How many times will you step outside my office?" (Zedicia)
Nevermind how Ledia came to find this place, she had consistently found Zedicia's location for the past month and awaited near her... As for her motivations, it was rather obvious.
"... Do I need to say it? At this point..." (Ledia)
"... You've been through a lot, yes? It is not my place to dictate how you act, but at least treat this meeting like official business.
You barged into my work place, even if you remain outside my office... You could afford this much, couldn't you? " (Zedicia)
Ledicia paces her breath, pondering on her next works with caution. She places a few of her fingers over the closed door in front of her, as if feeling for the presence sitting on the other side. She tastes her own saliva, biting softly into her own lips. A whiff of the musty stale air seeps into her olfactory senses. This place was desolate, a lone office in a stranded location. A make shift work environment, a deliberate attempt to avoid Ledia.
An unsuccessful mercy.
"I... I want to bring them back to life. The world might not need them any longer, just like how humans lived and grew to be independent from the gods of old...
But... I... I need them. Their friends and family do too. Please." (Ledia)
She pursed her lips inside the office, frustration spreading over her cheeks and narrowed eyes. Her furrowed eyebrows betray her inner despair, her discomfort, her misgivings could no longer be summed up as simple frustration. There was a reason Zedicia kept avoiding Ledia as well.
"... Ledia. I'm sure you felt it somewhere deep inside you. There is no such hope...
The library has everything, yet nothing in there was useful. No one could revive the dead with great certainty. No magic could bring back who they once were. " (Zedicia)
She couldn't ignore the reality trusted towards her. Ledia wasn't so far gone that she would start deny what was in front of her. It came without saying, the only reason zedicia would ignore her was because Zedicia wasn't capable of fulfilling her wish...
Rather, they shared the same wishes and frustrations. They met the same people in different circumstances, acquired deep impressions of their likeness and thoughts. There was no way Zedicia wouldn't give her best...
"What about Vegaltari, surely you would know where she is having employed her?" (Ledia)
"... If you could find me, you could find her yourself. I'm supposed to be hidden from you, remember?" (Zedicia)
There were only a few God magical girl's left in this world. It wouldn't be hard to pinpoint where they went with the massive magic signature they emitted, in other words it was a consequence of having an infinite well. It caused their aura to stretched into sky without end, spilling into the vacuum of space like a solar flare. To other magical girls, it is an ominous beacon that no one could decipher. Was it an alien? Or did it originate from earth?
A pillar so massive... How did...
"Don't feign ignorance, I perfectly hid my magic signature. I'm adept at hiding my tracks, not even other God magical girls could find me without taking a long time." (Zedicia)
Ledia had also been concealing her methods, keeping her cards close to herself. Perhaps she was finally desperate, or perhaps she had lost all hope and was ready to give it all up. She divulged.
" Energy, you can not hide energy. Your pillar is massive, hiding it means you would need an equally large blanket to cover all of it. When you can sense all the energy on earth at once, you can see a massive hole wherever you go." (Ledia)
"... I see... Come in. " (Zedicia)
With bated breath, Ledia twisted the knob on the door. This office was in the middle of a desolate location, a place far underground with no entrances whatsoever. A place made solely for Zedicia and by Zedicia. In other words, there was only one room here. Ledia had been standing in the pits of a dark cave, awaiting to be let into an out of place office in the cave. The light peaks out of the room, blowing away the darkness effortlessly. She trudges in with heavy steps and a heavy heart.
Her thoughts converged and diverge constantly, revolving around her worries without an end in sight. What would she say? Why would she let me in now? What did she have to achieve by getting me in here? Was she killing me?
That's right, Zedicia sidetracked the conversation away from Vegaltari, was there something to be hidden there?
"Where is Vegaltari? I didn't want to find her the same way I found you..." (Ledia)
"... Haa~I wish you would afford me that courtesy as well. Whatever. Vegaltari... Is retired from this side of life. She will not wield magic again. I've been monitoring her in case anything went wrong, but...
Nothing happened. She's been remaining untransformed ever since the battle with Hikari ended. She's even started going on dates... " (Zedicia)
She sighed heavily with an exhausted expression, making her fatigue rather blatant to Ledia. Did she expect this question and found it meaningless? Silly even? Maybe, it just wasn't anything important to her. It had nothing to do with their current predicament. The only person who could revive the dead so easily would be the other God magical girls, but they were the ones this endeavour was intended for. It was the cart before the horse, a dead end that normal people faced when attempting this journey.
Even then, it was up to the whims of that god magical girl. Who decides if a person gets to live again or remain dead? No one should be deciding. A life is too precious with too much capricious potential that it cannot be related to any value. In other words, whatever god decides has to be right. The burden completely falls onto the god magical girl performing the resurrection. There is no '3 day time limit to revive the dead body' to justify not reviving every individual that has died in the past. There is no such saving grace that could serve as a convenient excuse, to have such an arbitrary criteria that justifies any decision. Every decision is flawed and has no equal.
"... Our skills are geared towards battle. My second skill might have a chance, but it needed any trace of their bodies to begin with, and that's all gone." (Zedicia)
They were the two remaining God Magical girls, yet it happens that neither could revive their fallen comrades. Ledia's final skill was highly specific, the others were summoned or revived to help her fight a battle. Without that condition of having the world in mortal danger, her skill would do absolutely nothing.
"If I hadn't brought them there..." (Ledia)
"... You secured the rest of our futures in exchange for theirs. Would they really continue to enjoy life in such a cruel world anyway?" (Zedicia)
They secured our tomorrow, so where is theirs?