A Magical Anomaly

Chapter 5

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Choice Made:

[X] Perhaps it's time to make an exit… The floor and ceiling look a little brittle from your fight, and you've got a few charges left. You're definitely going to be sore after this… But a good villain knows when to pull out.

-[X] Do it in style. You can't monologue, but something like a curtsy should work?

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The two of you rest for a tense moment, the brief lull in the battle letting you get a better look at your Magical Girl enemy.

The dull lighting doesn’t exactly help that, but the occasional spark from the slashed up lights above does give you a momentary view.

Note to self, find some form of night vision or something…

A deep breath of air soothes your lungs ever so slightly, your throat is sore despite not having said a word.

Your muscles burn from inhuman amounts of exertion.

You shake your head and push the tiredness away for now. You can last a little longer if you need to.

You can only see her front as she watches you. Eyes narrowed and glaring at your form as though you were her eternal enemy.

Honestly… it’s kind of flattering.

And several shades of terrifying in this moment.

Damn it, heart! Stop beating so fast! We’re not a senpai obsessed yandere!

Her dress is ruffled, small tears here and there, but looking mostly fine.

Her coat/cape thing seems to have taken the most damage other then her sword. Covered in dust and debris from smashing through the wall.

She’s not even sweating…

God that’s not fair.

You shake that weird airheaded feeling away. Focus reasserting itself in your mind as your eyes watch her every move.

Something seems to change, her posture straightens, and you get the feeling that she's stopped waiting for something.

You slowly pull yourself back into a more defensive stance as her eyes narrow.

She draws her shattered blade out of its scabbard. Only half as long as it was before, but still giving her more reach then you.

And then she starts to glow in blue light.

“Ugh, can’t believe I’m wasting this on someone like you.”

A surge of something rockets across the hall. Dust being picked up from a wave of force as it slams into your braced figure.

It locks you in place for the briefest moment.

An overwhelming force holding every inch of your body from shifting in the slightest.

But then it’s gone. Your [Angel Halo] casting a deep purple glow as a soothing warmth fills your mind.

The fear you felt is gone.

A gentle reassurance filling your limbs as you tilt your head in thought.

Her stance shifts. Lowering down as she sheaths her sword again.

You glance at the floor and nod to yourself.

Your grin fading into as nice a smile as your face can manage at the moment.

You loosen your stance, grabbing your skirt and giving her a curtsey as her eyes widen and she growls.

Her form blurs.

Heat blossoms.

Time slows ever so slightly as your body burns.

You only get a moment. Her instant movement looking more like she's sprinting towards you as her blade slashes out.

The shattered portion is replaced with an ethereal blue section, ice or crystal hardened and shining faintly in the dark hallway.

You don’t bother blocking, leaping over the blow as your bring your fist back.

You time it right.

Perfectly.

…Well, close enough to perfectly.

Two charges slam into the floor under you.

Steam explodes.

Twin gunshots overlap each other.

Tile shatters.

And a cloud of dust swirls around you as the floor under her shatters like glass.

She cries out in surprise, her footing lost as she tumbles down. You hear something large slam into her. And you hope that she's out for the count. Or at least for a moment.

The recoil of your blow sends you up into the air.

And then through the ceiling.

Ow.

You bounce off the ceiling of the floor above you, head smacking into it a little too hard for your liking as you tumble across the wooden floor.

No time to waste.

You book it like the Villain you are, dashing across the floor in search of a directory.

A sign greets you, and rush towards the stairs. Elevators are probably down or something.

You make it to the door without interruption.

… Its surprisingly quiet now that you think about it… you doubt you knocked the girl out with that, she could do that circle hopping thing too…

A paranoid thought has you look back.

A cheery smile and red form greets you.

“Hi there!”

The chirpy voice doesn’t interrupt your instinctual punch to the face. Your final charge detonating as you ram your entire bodyweight into the desperate blow.

You gauntlet meets something hard, metal thumping into metal and charge making you skid back.

There’s a brief flourish and then the dust in front of the new Magical Girl is whirled away.

She looks undamaged. Hell, you don’t think she even moved from that.

“Oooh that might have hurt… Wait wait wait! Don’t run! I’m not meanie like Azure!”

You switch to a guard stance, but something tells you to listen for a moment. So you watch her warily as she twirls her battle axe. Embedding the blade into the ground behind her and then sitting on its shaft… Somehow not sliding down it despite its rather diagonal angle.

She… reminds you of the girl in your vision.

Deep red hair, equally red eyes. A confident yet cheery smile. A dress thats mainly red, covered in gold and cream frills and ribbons. Theres only one heart you notice. A large crystal one near her right breast.

Surprisingly large breasts, well proportioned hips… long legs…

Thank you hormones. Is now really the best time for this?

Though her axe has one on its head… now that you see it… the axe is massive… How’s she even lifting it?

“Ah… well… this is pretty awkward huh?”

You nod at her after a moment, watching her stance and the weird tilted angle she's sitting at.

There's… no hostility to her… at least you don’t feel any. There's a little wariness. A hand on her axe, but she smiles at you and hums.

“Well, I might as well go with Mum’s advice. Hey! I’m Argent Red! Friends call me Argent! Uh, you probably already met Azure right? Blue hair, blue dress. Heart as cold as ice yet super cute!”

You’re pretty sure her heart was boiling over with rage and fury. But you just nod again at her.

“Right right! She's adorable! Ah, but don’t tell her I said so! She’d make me run laps or something! Who are you eh? What's your name?”

You point at your throat, and then make a small x with two fingers. She makes a sound you think means realization as she smiles back at you.

“Ah damn~ That's gotta suck! Would hate not being able to talk. Eh all good, I can talk for the both of us! Azure says I talk too much, but I think she's just more of a quiet type person you know? Uh… mum calls them introverts or something. Dunno, I focus on smashing things more than details.”

Your stance relaxes a bit, and you notice how despite her cheery demeanor, her own eyes watch your movements, her hand slightly relaxes on the axe as well.

“So you’re new right?” You nod “Ah that makes sense! Explains the weird feeling I had when I found you. Man, Azures gonna be pissed when she gets up here, knowing she got bested by a newbie” She laughs loudly, hand stroking the handle on her axe as her eyes positively glow with amusement.

You tense a little at the mention of the Blue getting up here, but Argent waves you down.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry. I kinda had to knock her out when she fell down. Good idea with the floor by the way~ [Blossom Cut]’s a really powerful move, but it sucks when you get interrupted in the middle of it. She’ll be out for another half hour or so. Maybe a bit longer.”

You idly wonder just how hard she hit her to knock her out that long… or how many times shes had to do this to know how long Azure would be out for…

She stands up, hand gripping her axe and giving it a twirl before resting it on her shoulder.

“Well, I’m off then, if Azure went after you, that means the rifts closed. Good work on that hey!”

She turns around and starts walking down the hallway you’d just come down before stopping.

“That whole thing about being Nulls or whatever, can’t say I think it’s all good to be hating them, but Azure’s had… well I think she’s had some bad stuff happen to her with them, so don’t hold this little meeting against her hey? I’ll do some proper introductions or something next time! Argent away!”

And then she slams her axe into the floor, cratering it and vanishing from view…

You blink…

And just shrug.

You wait a few moments more.

Senses sharp and weapons ready.

But nothing chases you…

Elly appears and cheers happily, fist raised into the air.

‘Finally! I can tell you what you are! Stupid system bull-’

Your form slumps against the wall.

And you let the overwhelming amounts of exhaustion claim your body as you pass out.

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