Day seven. My time here at the magical girl council is slowly getting better and better. Chiasa, the magical girl of Protection, decided to bring me out to an invasion as practice. She was gonna mentor me and help me get stronger like the other members.

Reminds me a lot of her…

I swung my glaive down at the monster approaching me. It was a combination of an ant and a crab. “I think?” My blade passed through, slamming and breaking the shell into pieces.

I never really noticed it until now, but I'm quite strong. My arms are extremely powerful and my body doesn't feel tired after hours of fighting. Last night I stayed up all night fighting with Chiasa, my body was repeatedly pierced and beaten up by a mixture of experience and brute strength.

She was fast and punishing, taking any small movement I made and opening up a window to decimate me with precise swings. She was like a character straight out of a fighting game in the arcades, being able to kick and throw me into combos and special moves.

But her rampage right now could not be any farther than from last night’s spar. She ran across the battlefield, slashing and dicing hundreds of ants with her spear as a massive aura of flames radiated off her body. Wherever she jumped or charged, a barrage of fire reduced every ant to ash.

I wonder if she fought me seriously last night would I still be standing here. “Probably.” I slashed my glaive against another ants. My job was to take care of the scattered ants as Chiasa killed the ones swarming out of the portals. Speaking of portals, from time to time, a massive queen ant was spat out.

Their sizes were 10 times the size of the ants which were already around the same height as me… which was a little annoying. They looked funny as they pushed themselves out of the portal, barely passing through because of their fat bodies.

Anyway their sizes were nothing to be worried about. With just one massive pillar thrown at them or a vertical slice that cleaves them into two, they quickly died off.

I stood firmly on the pathway, waiting and observing any ants that Chiasa did not end. “Greetings!” She slid across the floor, leaving behind a trail of sparks and flames. “Hello.”

“Shima, it seems the ants are almost gone. We just need to wait for the general to appear and then you have finished your first invasion!” She said wiping her gauntlet across her helm, burning any sweat that would have been there if metal had pores.

“General? They have a boss?”

“Every invasion consists of multiple warriors led by a commander, in this case the general of whatever group attacking this place. To truly end an invasion, you have to take down the general. The portal may close without killing the general but generals attract more portals so we kill them.”

“They do?”

“Yes!” She said, the smile under her helmet giving me a sense of relief. “I got a lot of kills under my belt so I'm gonna give you this one. Think of it as your first proper fight.”

On cue, an anteater the size of a big sumo wrestler fell onto the ground. They had long bending claws that curved sharply and a glowing bulb attached to a string on their head.

The bulb glowed brightly, sending out waves through the air. Chiasa began walking towards the monster, her body moving slowly. I pulled her shoulder back, forcing a soft yell from her mouth.

“Hey?”

“Huh? Sorry. That was, weird… Go for it, just don't look at the bulb.” She turned around and planted her spear into the ground.

“Okay, sounds easy enough.” With wind behind my legs, I dash through the city and launch my glaive at the beast. It swung its claws, deflecting my weapon and sending it off to the side. I jumped into the air and formed another one and dropped onto the beast, my blade falling like an anvil.

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The beast caught the blade with its claws and flung me back, throwing me rolling to the ground. The beast then quickly got on all fours and ran towards me, its bulb glowing slightly.

I manifested a glaive and took a fortified stance. The beast jumped and clawed the air before me, trying to tackle and mar my face. I got down and stabbed my weapon up, piercing the flesh of the beast while it flew past me.

The beast landed and pulled the barely sticking glaive out of its body. It didn't even flinch, what a tanky enemy. I took a couple steps forwards and dashed towards the beast jumping to the side and slashing my glaive at it.

The beast caught it with its claws, leaving nothing to defend his head. I reached forward and grabbed onto the dangling bulb. If you want to kill a boss you have to hit its weak points. The beast swung at me, crushing my ribs with its brute strength and stabbing my sides with its talons.

The bulb glowed brightly, sending out waves into my eyes and into my brain. It sent a message, a convincing and intriguing feeling, a forceful command that dug deep into my brain and flew out of my ears, not leaving a single influence behind. Pesky orders failed to leave any mark in my conscious.

I ripped the bulb off, making the beast reel in pain, giving me ample time to free myself by pushing the hands away with my equally brutish strength. Pieces of my flesh and dress were ripped off as the claws were pushed off. I backed off, catching my breath as the pain surrounded my body.

It's so hot. I'm nauseous and I feel weak. The beast charged at me, swinging recklessly. I slowly summoned a glaive and jammed it at the chest of the beast. Pushing it with my aching hands, it's blood spurting and coating me. The beast slammed its claw at my right hand and head, disarming me and ripping the skin off my face. I pushed down at the glaive, leaving a line of pain and terror as the inside of the monster spilled out.

I kicked with immense strength and knocked the monster away. I pulled my glaive back and stabbed it into the ground. I leaned on it and glared at the monster as my body began to heal. My flesh grew and my blood dried up. My clothes expanded and stuck together on their own.

So this is my true strength. I grabbed my glaive and charged forward at the panicking anteater. “Raagggggghh!” I swung my glaive up and then back down, leaving more cuts at the chest of the beast. It struck back, jamming its hand into my hips and stomach, breaking my bones and ripping my flesh.

I continued to slash, an unimaginable hunger fueling my wrath. My stomach felt empty as the contents inside began spilling out. I slammed my glaive at the side of the beast and turned my whole body.

The general was sliced in half.

I fell down, my body fatigue and spasming. I crawled towards the monster as an overwhelming urge filled my head. I pulled the beast towards me. My flesh began to slowly grow and return to normal but my mind did not. My mouth began watering as I ripped the anteater and dug into its flesh. I clamped down, munching and biting off the red tough meat.

“Shima!!”

My body was pulled up into the air, a hard gauntlet lifted me by the back of my neck like how a cat owner would do it. “Have some manners!”

I shook my head, my vision returning instantly, the feeling akin to getting a concussion. The anteater’s remains were merely a puddle of blood. My body was dropped slowly onto the ground, my arms weakly stopping my face from hitting the floor.

I bit my lip and glanced at the person behind me, she looked at me with a blank metallic stare. “Damn. Are you good?” I shook my head and stood up, my body seemed to have already healed to normal, even my clothes were as tidy as ever.

“Is the invasion over?”

“Yeah!” She shoved her first forward and posed with a thumbs up. “I'm proud of you, that particular general had a powerful hypnosis. Well, sadly because of that said hypnosis I wasn't able to watch you. I trusted you could kill it without me watching and you did!”

She slapped me in the back, her warm gauntlets slightly toasting my back. “How about a treat? You seem a little hungry so let's go to a restaurant. Do you have any in mind?”

“What city is this again?”

“Sunflower city.”

“Sorry I don't.”

“Well that's fine, thanks to a special somebody, I have a great memory and list of wonderful places to dine at in all of the cities. Let's eat some seafood!”

She took a victorious march out of the battlefield. Her shining figure lacked any care for the ash filled invasion she just finished, all she had was a big hidden smile under her helm.

After half an hour of walking, we arrived and settled down at a small comfy shop. Chiasa clapped her hands and undid her transformation. She blended in perfectly, if I was at school I would have just thought of her as a random senior. Never in my mind would I think of her as a magical girl of this strength.

There was an old woman at the counter who greeted us like we were old acquaintances. And I guess she and Chiasa were. They talked so joyfully, joking and laughing.

“Two bowls of the sea parties please!”

“Coming right up, oh? She's not here?”

“Yeah, she's doing something else right now.”

“Well since that bottomless abyss is not here, this is in the house, think of it as hospitality for all the times you two dined here.”

“Thank you!” She said, her smile piercing the heavens.

I sat down next to her, since this was a small restaurant, the only seats available were right by the counter. This smallness, I kinda liked it, the atmosphere was very calming to me.

Chiasa hummed happily as she tapped the table. “Hey, I have a question.”

“Yeah?”

“Why did you get out of your transformation? You normally don't when you eat at restaurants.”

“How do you know that?”

“Oh, umm.. with videos and stuff… I see a lot of you on the internet.”

“Is that so? Okay, to answer you, it's because this place is special to me.”

“Special?”

“Yeah, special. I have some very good memories tied to this place.” Her eyes wandered in the air, her mind drifting to somewhere else before suddenly darting back to me.

“You know? I barely know anything about you?” Do you have anything special to you?

“I'm not sure… my strength?”

“That's not it. Well it could be it but I don't think it should be your special little something. For me I have a special somebody who I do everything to protect. And that feeling, that selfish desire is what gives me strength. I hope one day you also have somebody you want to protect with all your might.”

Somebody I want to protect? My friends? No, do they even know if I'm still alive? Are they even alive? My mother? No… myself? That's too depressing. Somebody? Do I really need somebody I need to protect?

“Here you go.” Two massive bowls filled to the brim with seafood, and noodles were slammed in front of us. I grabbed a soup spoon and took a gulp of the hot broth. The seafood and the wheat noodles all entered my stomach. A warm feeling of rejuvenation… and a feeling of disgust.

“This kinda tastes bad.”

“Yeah hahaha! It sure does.”