Since the incident involving the 'Good Devils' that David and Rayleigh had hidden 3 day's had passed, so now it's a Tuesday after school, Nothing has happened yet but I did get to visit David yesterday to talk a bit about his situation, I went without Vera since I was pretty confident in my abilities to defend myself in case it was a rouse, it wasn't so I went ahead and got some information.
David told me that he was in a group of 'magic users' after he explained what that meant, it just means 'contracted individuals' that didn't like being called Magical girls, unsurprisingly it was composed mostly of boys and he was the right-hand man of the leader of the group, he is only known as the 'Black Sparrow', apparently, David can't hold a candle to the massive strength of his leader, and he warned me to not mess with him since I would 'probably end up beat up bloody'.
[This Black Sparrow guy sounds familiar, but I don't seem to remember].
This leader found out that David and Rayleigh were beaten up by someone, got excited, and started a search for this individual, David and Rayleigh refused to give our information so they got expelled from the group via 'getting pummeled through a wall by their boss who had his dominant arm tied to his back', David said he didn't make that up, but I doubted him since he only really had light injuries
[Either he exaggerated or he has extreme self-healing capabilities].
Either way, they didn't have anything to lose anymore so they holed up in that Mall parking lot permanently and now I can visit them, I don't have any more favors to ask from them since they did get beat up for my safety, apart from that, Sauriel nor Aqua seemed to mind my decision since I 'resolved a conflict via words'.
[I did omit the part of the devil so I don't know how they will react to that].
Anyway, school was over so I was playing on my phone to kill some time since I already was on the final week of school, so there was no Homework, which was a miracle in my eyes, I thanked God personally and just relaxed through the day, I haven't trained recently because neither Vera, Aqua, or Akari had free time for a magical reason, Vera was occupied cleaning previous fight places, Aqua was coming close in her investigation of Magda and her group, and Akari didn't tell me, she said it was a 'surprise for Amy'.
[I wonder what will she do???].
I thought suddenly crossed my mind, I was getting to know a lot of people with this magical girl stuff, I no longer escape from the reality of I'm not being a 'true Magical Girl' since I saw Vera, Akari, and David, since those 3 are my superiors.
[Wait superiors???].
I get up from bed and see the magical girl document since something from there actually grabbed my attention, it was the 'Magical girl ranking', is still had my doubts about its legitimacy since it did 2 things, one it was a power ranking, the more stars you get the more powerful you are, it was weird since at 3 and 6 stars the power spiked a lot, so it wasn't linear from some reason.
[What a stupid reason, if aether is gonna hell-bent itself into 8 pointed stars, at least make the spike point divisible by 2!!!].
I was a bit dumb for my reason but it still seemed suspicious, the second thing the ranking did was to directly give power, so if you get upgraded from 1 to 2 stars, you would get stronger in return, I guessed that it was either an 'aether container expansion' or 'aether pool expansion', the first one really doesn't make a difference for me since my ocean container is still millenniums away from being filled, so I hoped for the second option since my aether pool was now the size of a swimming pool.
"Hey Sauriel, How do you get more stars?" Since the document focused on terms and conditions, I didn't have any information on this subject.
"Oh that, well..." Sauriel seem hesitant to answer, but eventually got to it.
"You need to accomplish a 'feat, don't ask me what constitutes a 'feat' since it can be from beating a certain number of devils, live through a difficult situation or beat an equally or stronger enemy, those are only examples" Sauriel explained, he seems like he wanted to give a good answer but that was it all he could get.
"Okay, that makes sense, How many stars do I have?" I genuinely didn't have the slightest idea of how I was classified.
"1 star" Sauriel replied instantly.
"Ohh..." I said, after the brief interview with Sauriel, I put on my pajamas and went to bed.
[Of course, I had the lowest rank, I already say the Military girl and got scared to the bone!!!].
*****
I woke up the next day, My mom was cooking breakfast and got my morning routine done, when I was about to leave so I opened the door and saw Akari, she was just standing there, in her school uniform, I take a step back since she was close to me.
"Hi, Amy" Akari looked at me, her eyes were a bit serious.
"Hi, Class rep..." I have no idea why would Akari show up at my door, she seemed to want to tell me something.
"You're going with one of your friends?" My Mom asked, she always waves goodbye at me so she got to see Akari.
"Good day Ms. Rochelle, it's a pleasure to meet you" Akari bowed her head to my mom.
"Oh my~ What a lovely girl, The purple hair suits you well" My Mom answered back, she was extremely interested in Akari's purple hair as she was staring so hard it was almost burning.
Akari smiled at her, "Thank you, I came here to accompany Amy to school".
[Oh god, Akari's smile is almost as good as Aqua's].
My Mom was mesmerized by her smile, it was captivating, "I see, you don't have to be formal, you can call me Sarah!!!"
"It's not like that mom!!!" I screamed at my mom, I'm only good friends with her so dropping formalities is not necessary.
"Not yet!!!" she counter me, Akari was surprised, in that she moment understood why did I always answer in weird ways since my mom was similar.
"Anyway, have a safe trip you two!!" My Mom waved at us in the distance as we began walking to school, once we were far enough I turned to Akari, her face returned to her emotionless face.
"So why did you get me?" I asked her, it was a weird morning so I had nothing to do with her today.
"Maria is not going to get you today so she asked me to escort you to school" Akari explained.
"If you're lying you're the one who's gonna be beaten up, okay?" I said, Mary never really leaves me planted on the crossing, so if she was lying I would make Mary a bit sad, so I had to stand my ground.
"I know that better than anyone" Akari spoke from the heart, in our magic training she notice my physique, generally she would just use magic but since I could reach her with my magic accurately she tried to fight me at melee, she lost since I was better in that regard.
"But there's another reason, we need you today in a specific place to guard something" Akari explained in a serious tone, the air around her got a bit cold.
"Why exactly I'm I need it?" I always ask this since Aqua is supposed to be my master, but never really explains the first time she exposes her plans, Akari also had that trait.
"My sister has a theory about some individuals that you encountered earlier, the Magda girl and her group seem to plan something, but because one of them can teleport, she needs to test something" Akari gave a teasing look.
[Is her plan to bait me into accepting by talking about my grudge against them??? because it's working].
"I see, then I will accept!! anything that I need to know?" I asked since there was a tendency for things to go badly when it involved that particular group.
"Big sister will test her theories, if it goes wrong then you and I will have to battle an unknown number of enemies, A magical girl named Vera will be in the area so if it comes to worst, she can lend us a hand" Akari ended her speech.
[What??? Vera will be backup?].
There were some apparent holes in that plan, but I trusted Aqua's judgment since it was generally good, When we ended our conversation we already had arrived at school, Mary appeared in the 3rd period.
"Hey, Mary~" I greeted Mary since I kinda missed her, unlike Mary, neither Akari nor I indicated conversation, so it was kinda awkward it was a weird feeling but not too unpleasant.
"Hi Amy, you had a good day" Mary answered, she had a small smile on her face.
"It would have been better if you didn't disappear for 4 hours!!" I replied it was a long 4 hours since I didn't have anyone to talk to about the usual topics.
"Sorry, sorry, I had something come up" Mary's answer was a bit dubious, it was 'normal' but didn't irradiate the same confidence that she always had while talking.
"May ask what it is?" I questioned her, [Maybe if I pushed a bit I'll get a decent answer].
"..." Mary didn't say anything.
"We...ll you se-"
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, I was making sure you were alright" I was worried that maybe her family made her do or told her something, but it seems to be a little more personal.
"Tell me when you're ready or not at all" I raised my thumb in approval, Mary understood and sat beside me, So now I knew Akari did not lie, so I didn't have to 'train' with her extra roughly that day, the rest of the school day went without a hitch.
After school, I went with my normal routine until 5:00 pm, at that time I started making my way into the location that We were supposed to guard, It was a beside the 'crystalline road', the road was ubicated beside a large lake with crystalline water in the edges of the urban area, so it was kinda close to my home, the concrete sidewalk was enormous so tourist could take photos of the lake without obstructing it.
We were in obscured areas since our Magical girl states can attract attention, we waited for a few minutes for Aqua to initiate her experiment, whatever it was it could go wrong so we need it to be here, suddenly Akari and then I felt something akin to being blasted with a heat gun, a dark portal opened in the middle of the sidewalk and from there 2 figures emerged.
The first one I could recognize, Hui Kaku, she was wearing her usual clothes consisting of a lab coat and casual clothes in everything else, her hair was still messy but in a different way, her clothes, in general, were a bit dirty, they were covered in dust and she seemed to be coughing, I focused on her and noticed that her body emitted a little bit of aether.
[What a shocker, so the 5th breeze I felt while fighting the Paper devil was her?].
The other figure was of another girl, She had beautiful blonde hair that almost seemed golden, it was arranged in a ponytail sustained with an orange scrunchie with a lock of hair hanging from her left side of her face, her hair got to her lower back, she was wearing a silver chest plate with some blue looking pants, she was wearing some light leather's boots, Her eyes were colored a deep blue, she also had a sword that was sheathed in ht left side of her hips.
[2 Enemies, that would make this a 1 v 1].
I looked at Akari, we nodded to each other and began transforming, we exited the shadows, the bystanders were already running off so we had a clear to fight on, but as always we announce our arrival.
"I see that the plan kinda worked" Hui said she was looking around to see where she was.
"Ow, Portals are too confusing for me" The blonde girl said while scratching her head, she tried the moment she exited the portal.
I took a deep breath, since there were some eyes on us I needed to have the courage to say anything.
"Identify yourselves" I exclaimed in the most imposing tone I could muster, the both of them look at me and Akari in our outfits, I see hui startled at seeing me.
"Bellatrix Earl" the blonde girl immediately answered without hesitation, she then stood up and looked at her surroundings, she has an extremely curious look, even worse than the one Akari gave.
[What that worked???].
"You idiot!! you shouldn't give to the enemy's orders" Hui slapped the blonde girl, she didn't seem to even notice that she was hit, instead of looking at us and started examining us.
"Well, I already know your name... Hui Kaku" I said to them, Everyone looked at me, hui0s face was in disbelief, she forgot that she gave me her name in our last encounter.
"Godammit, Do I really have to fight her!!" Hui seemed worried about me, I guessed it was because she saw me fight before.
"Don't worry miss doctor I will protect you" Bellatrix unsheathed her sword, it was a classical European two-edged sword, it had a golden crossguard and the hilt had weird inscriptions, she was holding the sword in front of her while seeing us.
[So that's her weapon, a common sword, wait she looks like a knight from an RPG, another one of my kin].
"We got no alternative, we must fight Bellatrix" Hui instead position herself behind Bellatrix, she had her hands in a fighting position
"Alright, I will do if that good" Bellatrix said, it appears that her intelligence is even lower than Mary's, being unaware of most things.
"Okay then let's do it" I clashed my fist together since we were gonna fight some bad guys, I still felt a bit sad since hui seems like a good person, but well, she will be toasted in that untransformed state.
"I see, then I must be fated to fight you" Bellatrix pointed her sword at me, she started running at me while looking eye contact, her demeanor changed completely, she didn't do anything unnecessary nor did she waver when she saw me rush at her at maximum speed, once I was near she did a horizontal swing.
"Roundhouse Kick" I do the kick at an incredible speed, the tip of my boot directly collides with the blade, a loud metal scraping sound is heard while I try to push the sword away but I fail, we both are pushed back from the impact, Bellatrix is surprised that I was able to repel her swing with the same force.
[Thank god my I have Steel toe boots].
Akari is fighting Hui by shooting pebbles at high speed, Hui is just blocking with her arms, her aether coating is not working perfectly since she is receiving a lot of damage.
"I'll help you, Miss Hui!!" Bellatrix said at Hui, I throw a rock with my magic and impacts Bellatrix who was too focused on trying to get to Hui.
"Bella, Just focus on Amy at the moment I will de-" Hui was interrupted by Akari landing a punch on her guard, she is thrown even farther away and slams into the railings.
I'm observing Bellatrix, she seems a bit conflicted but she chooses to listen to Hui, she is now only looking at me with an intimidating gaze.
[Jeez, she almost transform into another person when she takes the sword].
"Lancelot Cut" Bellatrix swings her sword sending an air blade right at us, I raise a wall to block it, the wall gets cut in half and collapses.
[She can cut from that distance???].
Bellatrix charges at me with her sword sliding in the ground, I throw a rock at her but she slices it in two without stopping, she jumps above me and slices vertically, I dodge by moving the ground beneath me to the side, the sword passes by my right side, it misses completely and leaves her exposed.
"Aether Uppercut" Bellatrix tries to dodge, but only manages to make my punch land on her chest plate, she goes flying again but lands on her 2 feet, the punch didn't do anything to her, I make a spike try to pierce Bellatrix from her surroundings, she reacts by cutting it diagonally from the base.
The battle continues on a stalemate, Bellatrix is skilled with her sword making rapid approaches that tend to graze me, but her moves are extremely telegraph so I can either dodge them or counter attack, even then she is stupid tough so even my best moves, my kicks, they don't seem to hurt her.
"You're a tough one Bellatrix" I say to her as I'm catching my breath, is been only a few minutes but I already feel fatigued from how many slices I had to defend against.
"I wonder how should I take a compliment from evil-doers" Bellatrix seemed genuinely confused as to how to take a compliment from the enemy, but once she swung at me she focused again.
[Evil doers???].
"I think you need to think about your surroundings, we are Magical Girls, not some evil-doers" I block an air blade with a rock wall, and then throw the remains of it to Bellatrix.
"What? No, you're not fooling me, Miss Hui told me to not listen to the enemy" She proclaimed as she cut my barrier that I the at her into little cubes that collapsed into the ground.
"Think about it, you just popped out of nowhere and started attacking us when we only wanted for you to identify yourselves," I say as Bellatrix swing at me, I retaliate with a back kick to clash, but Bellatrix didn't finish her swing, so I ended kicking her straight into a wall.
"No~ we only were escaping with the help of Ophelia, right Hui?" Bellatrix was shaken from the mere possibility that she could be wrong, she tried to look at Hui but her battle with Akari had let them too far away for Hui to hear her.
[Ophelia??? Just how many people do they have].
While Bellatrix and I were looking at the other fight, another black portal appeared in between Akari and Hui, this time from them 1 Ted Devil appeared, it has 6 feet tall and it was carrying around a box, I ran towards Akari to see what was going on, Bellatrix follows closely.
Hui was disheveled since she was not much of a fighter herself, and fighting Akari she barely touched her once, but once the portal appeared, she approached the Ted devil, running at it with all she's got.
"Diffraction" Suddenly the Teddy bear was multiplied with another 7 copies, each copy was a different bright color in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and purple respectively.
[Well that's definitely a problem].