*
I can't. I couldn't. Stop here? In front of That?I hold my hands out in front of me, slowly raising them into the air like an blooming flower. The world slows to a crawl with my single breath, blurring the seams of reality outside my single target. There is no time to think or feel, just act. Your memory will be preserved forever.
At least with this, I can guarantee your name lives on even if humanity goes extinct. There is no hope, with her on the side of the Traces. Or rather The Whole. With each name stepping up to form a bigger piece, from Trace to Remnant to Fragment, it should arrive at a Whole eventually right?
I softly whisper as my attack finished going off. There's no need to say our attack names during battle, those who are less skilled will forgo it entirely to favour speed. Those who take their time end up with magic attacks that conjure up more firepower. It's a matter of preference. In this case, I'm only speaking after I finished casting my attack. Using a different timing to throw people off is something I like to do when facing those unintelligent Traces.
In those days where I was fighting alone. It was a beatiful peace that I cherished. Goodbye.
"Ultra precision pseudo black hole." (Sariel)
"!? Only the gravitational waves..." (Lastia)
She was quick to reveal the trick, gravity was a force, not energy. She couldn't do anything about it, and it was strong enough to absorb anything. Rather than save some kind of secret ultimate attack for last, throwing it out at the start before the opponent could react is way better. It was a difficult move to make, that's why Sariel bothered to distract Lastia with dialogue before hand. If Lastia agreed to back off, she could have disengaged the black hole formation technique just as easily.
Lastia grabbed onto the ground, smashing her leg through the ground to gain a grip against the pulling forces. She swung her left arm in a slicing motion, balls of dark red shot toward Sariel at high speeds, before veering off due to the black hole's proximity. Sariel has to continuously activate her skill to gather the gravitational waves, the earth didn't have enough to truly form a black hole. It was weak, and called a pseudo for a reason.
Another wave of bullets shot as a barrage, crashing into the ground near Sariel with some causing an explosion behind her. Some of the energy was dispersed by the black hole, but these bullets were capable of killing any ordinary magical girl in one shot. I the same manner, the black hole was shrinking as well. The shots are also nearing Sariel, she was using Yggdrasil to track trajectories and calculating the next best spot to shoot her magic bullets.
"...!?" (Sariel)
She hoped high in the air and landed at another spot. A large explosion assaulted the ground where she had been previously standing, leaving a deep crater the height of a few adults. She jumped once more, the gap in time between volleys was decreasing. Her accuracy was also increasing, without Sariel's quick witted evasion she would have been injured. Her hesitation is lessening!
Dodging is fine and all, but it wouldn't change anything. At the very least, she should employ both evasion and advancement. If she got closer to Lastia to throw stronger attacks, it would all be justified.
"Haa~ when did I become such a coward..." (Sariel)
She layed still, her eyes unflinching as another volley of bullets shot forward. The black hole had vanished at this point after the successive dodging done by Sariel. Yggdrasil was always calculating the best spot to attack next, it was up to Sariel to outwit the simple trajectory computing interface. Simply not moving was enough. Did she have to get closer to Lastia?
When she fought Traces, she always brought out her treasured sword made out of Trace materials. Usually Traces and their body parts disappear into dust when they die, this sword... Was forged while they were alive, and given to a magical girl capable of manufacturing weapons. That's why this sword will not break. At the same time, it wasn't necessary.
Creating a couple more black holes on both sides of Lastia, she raises her arms separately, as if to revel in her own strength. She wanted to observe their opponent and learn more information. Lastia fires another volley, the gravity waves weren't really strong enough to tear her apart so she began running inbetween them. Making use of her momentum and the traction of the ground, she kept her body and arrived before Sariel.
A palm faces her right under her chest, Sariel was ready to meet her head on with another pseudo black hole.
"Quantum cascade!!" (Sariel)
"FIRE!!!" (Lastia)
Her bullets concentrate to a point and erupted in less than a second. The resulting force blew her body back like a ragdoll while disrupting the black hole, causing it to dissipate. Even while flying back, Lastia would still conjure more magic bullets to be fired. She had absorbed quite a lot of magical energy from the sun that Sariel summoned. Sariel had caused the sun to collapse to detonate it, she should have known it would be more beneficial to stabilise it and use it as a physical obstacle...
The smoke blows away, revealing the two once more. Sariel was relatively unscathed, what seemed like burnt hair was merely being covered in soot and ash. Lastia faced the brunt of her own explosion more, having parts of her dress burnt and torn. A large hole over her reveals her pristine skin, they gleamed under the stray fires burning over the ground. Miraculously enough, it was only between her chest to her upper ab. The cloth clung to her skin as if it was magic...
Her hair flutters violently in the ambient gale. A soothing temperature cools the skin over her cheeks as she kept her gaze over Sariel. She jumps forward. Sariel shoots a black hole in front of her but she never let up. Concentrating the same amount of magic in her fist, she smashes it into the black hole, causing another eruption. However, her momentum didn't stop. 2nd wave, her power gathers in her left fist as she throws it. Sariel crosses her arms in defence as she jumps back instinctively.
The black hole's destruction caused a obstruction in sight, but she sensed Lastia rapidly approaching without slowing down. She barely managed to defend in time, but was thrown into the ground far away, smashing up chunks of earth. The collision separated them quite a bit, but it still destroyed both of her arms.
"You're still hesitating... But that's good. It means we can still stop." (Lastia)
You're still in front of me, it'd be a waste not to save you.