Day nine. I swung my glaive down, killing the grasshopper filled with wriggling worms. It seems I was in a good mood despite all this increase in invasions. That chaotic party was really helpful to me. Anyway, what else do I need to do here? Nothing much it seems. I was certain that was the general. Kinda weak since this was a small scale invasion.
Looking at the remaining wriggling worms I slashed them into bits, until they stopped moving. I wasn't too keen on eating insects and worms so I decided to endure this hunger for now. Hopefully I fight some less disgusting monsters so I can satisfy this hunger of mine.
I whipped my mangled arm and pulled off the bits of hard shell stuck to them. In a matter of seconds, my hand began to heal back to normal. My nerves slowly returned which was both relieving and agonizing. I didn't think healing would be this calming though.
I stabbed my hand into the air and pulled out a phone from out of nowhere. Last night after all the fighting, Nakazawa gave me a phone when she heard I didn't have one. I tried to decline the offer at first since I had no pockets but Mori taught me this trick.
It was pretty useful having a sort of inventory that I can access anywhere. The only downside was that I had no items of my own and the size of the pocket dimension was very small.
I opened my phone and opened the message app. I wasn't used to operating my phone but I was given a pretty simple rundown by Okumura and Adrinia. Apparently I can use this device for cat videos and songs that make me fall asleep. I was still confused as to where I can exactly find these types of videos.
I opened Nakazawa’s icon and began scrolling up to the images. She sent me a bunch of pictures of locations about to be struck by monsters. This was certainly a lot better than just having to return every time to the base to see where other invasions were happening.
I closed my phone and began running to the closest train station. I don't know what their plan is but the invasions have been going overdrive today. So many nonstops attacks in our area specifically, are they planning on taking out our country by aiming at one small area at a time? I don't know if they even have the intelligence for that.
Ahh but I don't need to think about these things. I have game night with Chiasa, Ayaka, and Adriana later. It's been so long since I played with friends. Around a month… not that long actually.
----------------------------------------
Day ten! Two digits. Ain't that wonderful. Today I'm again fighting enemies. A little tiring honestly. Sometimes I get help from random magical girls around the vicinity so that makes it a lot easier but I have been in so many fights today. At least my stomach feels nice after all those treats. It was my first time eating lobster. If I ignore the very weird pieces of metal sticking out of it, I can say it was a pretty good meal.
And the feeling of eating a tough opponent after winning is certainly the best. I wonder if it would have done the same to me? Meh probably.
----------------------------------------
Day eleven. I jumped to the side and swung my weapon down, cutting the third head of the monster I was fighting. It was a hydra octopus, having the mouths of alligators at the end of its legs and spikes all along its otherwise soft body. The heads all seemed to have a mind of their own jumping around and screaming wildly.
I ran fast and slid on the ground, dodging the head being swung as a bar towards me. I pushed myself up and lunged my glaive forward, impaling the neck of a head. Moving with my whole body, I swung it up, slicing half of the neck and launching the glaive away.
I summoned another glaive in my hands and swung it down, cutting the neck of the hydra off. Four heads down, well octopus legs but it's the same so it doesn't matter what I call them.
I began running towards the head of the monster, scraping my weapon against one of the legs. I kept creating weapons, stabbing and slicing the leg before throwing them forward. They stuck onto the head of the octopus, making it look more like a porcupine.
I stopped in front of the octopus body wriggling in pain. I planted my feet onto the ground and summoned a long weapon in my arms. It was a glaive with the blade quadruple the size of my body. My hands began to explode in strength as my muscles and flesh were covered in magic.
I swung the glaive, leaving a trail of destruction in the air and slicing through the octopus. The top part slid off the body, plopping to the side, sending a loud thud towards my eyes as I smiled in delight.
The glaive in my hand broke into sparkles and shards as my stomach began rumbling. I'm not sure if this octopus had any parasites in it but I'm for certain if there was I could just endure and shake it off.
----------------------------------------
After a quick ride towards the base, I took a break at one of the game lounges. I know this building seems very professional at first glance but sometimes there are some areas like this. I guess it made sense, most of the other members of this council are a little childish and have little to none seriousness.
But I don't really mind, places like this really help me get my mind off things. Like this huge number of invasions has taken a toll on my mental health… No my physical health!
I rubbed my arm and felt nothing wrong with it. Huh? This invasion troubles and stopping them doesn't seem hard at all. My body is always at peak performance. My mind is not clouded with sadness or worries. In fact I'm very happy right now. It seems so strange to me.
I pushed the door open and slouched down onto a bean bag next to me. The owner of this wonderful comfortable chair was busy with stopping an invasion somewhere else so I got this baby all to me.
“Hello Shima!” Chiasa entered the room pulling the door shut before pushing it wide open. Ayaka followed after her, whistling as she took long steps towards the middle of the room.
“You seem to have grown stronger.”
“Yeah I guess.” I shrugged and tried to cover up my smug smile. “There had been a massive amount of invasions but nothing to worry about.”
“That's wonderful! We need to protect the citizens from this barrage of monsters. I have had my fair share of fights these past days, whenever I'm not with Ayaka, I'm outside vanquishing evil.”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
I nodded and imagined Chiasa rocketing through monsters, stabbing and piercing her spear, decimating everything to ash. “You're one of the strongest council members, right?.”
“Yes but I can't say I'm the strongest. All of my seniors are leagues ahead of me and even to Ayaka I'm only as strong as a lowly squire.”
“Oh.” She laughed and covered her face with a fan made of water. “Flattery will get you everywhere.”
“It's true. If I were to place all the members in a ranking then you are certainly number four!”
Ayaka's eyes dropped down and she began to pout upon hearing those words.
“Eh! And even if it's not in the top three, this is still a great feat! You can beat any monster you want! You are strong and powerful!” She got on her right knee and placed her hand on her heart. “I swear you are somebody who can mold the very heavens above with your gracious hands.”
“Of course I am.~” She sat on the floor, mixing up a rubix cube randomly. “It's only natural that my first mate is nothing but loyal to me and my ship.”
“You own a ship?” I asked curiously. I have never been on a ship before and if she owned a ship that certainly answers my many questions about her outfit.
“Oh, have you never seen Ayaka when she was still working alone as the magical girl of Abyss?”
“Magical girl of the Abyss? Yeah I remember you calling yourself that. Is that why you're so strong?”
“Hmm… Titles are merely titles.”
“They are?”
“No! A title is very important. I am the magical girl of Protection and that is the reason why I'm as strong as I am. As long as I have someone to protect and the more I want to protect someone, the more strength, the more will, it all increases! The flames inside me burn hotter and hotter the more I represent my title.”
“So the closer I am to my own magical girl symbol, the stronger I become? How does that work for me? I don't have one. Wait, how does that work with Ayaka?”
“That's a secret, if you want to find out how…” She glanced up and placed her finger on her lip. After thinking for a moment she let out a gasp of intelligence. “Bring me a whole plate of the finest cut of steak you can find! And after that a milkshake loaded to the brim with fruits and yogurt. Oh and!” She took a slight pause.
“Get a bowl of seafood ramen for Chiasa over here!”
“On second thought. You can keep that secret to yourself.” I got up and began stretching my body. “I'm gonna go out for a jog and maybe stop any invasions I come across. All that talk about food started to make me feel hungry.”
“Wait for one second! I shall accompany you in this righteous journey of yours!” Chiaka rushed towards me and began pushing me out of the room.
Ayaka looked down at the rubix cube on her hand. It was far from complete and she certainly knew she lacked the skills to finish it. She got up, the chatter of the two noisy friends of hers had disappeared in a flash. She tossed the cube to the side and began to walk out of the room. It has been some time since she stopped an invasion by herself.
----------------------------------------
Titles. Symbols. Do they matter? She stood in the middle of the mall. Watching and looking for anything suspicious as the smiles and chatter of families pass her by. With one final sip, she threw her smoothie into a trash can and stomped her foot into the ground.
A gust of water sprouted from the ground, dousing the floor with water. “EVERYBODY LEAVE NOW!” A pillar of water pushed her up to the second floor and she yelled once more, sending out splashes of water from her hands.
She gracefully landed onto the ground as the people around her began to leave in a sour mood. There was indeed a much better alternative to causing havoc like this but she wasn't used to talking to multiple strangers so this was the best option.
She sat on the ground, as everyone began to evacuate seriously when they noticed she was the Magical Girl of Abyss. A couple minutes later and the ground began to shake as the only person left inside the mall stood up with conviction.
The sky around her began to rip apart as big wide portals teared open. Fireflies covered in seaweed began to pop out from the portals in the sky and mutated crabs covered in eyes and spikes crawled out from the portals on the ground.
“Vortex.” She pulled her fingers far apart and forcefully shut it, crushing one of the many crabs by pulling water from all areas to the center of the crab. She pulled her arm back as the water shot towards her.
She raised her hands and grabbed onto the veil of water and swung it around. Threads of water shot everywhere, cutting and slicing the fireflies in the air as she molded the water into a weapon. She grasped onto the sea of water and pulled out a metallic anchor scattering whatever remained of the blob of water.
Multiple portals continued to appear everywhere despite her efforts in murder. She slid around the room, carried by a tidal wave, crushing any monster near her. A frog fell behind her, croaking and sending her off the tidal wave. She angrily swung her arms down. Gathering the water in the atmosphere into a big ball and transforming it into metal.
She slammed her hands to the ball and launched it forward. However the frog leaped to the side and croaked again, sending a shock wave which further knocked her back. Her body slid on the wet floor as her head spun. Water shot out from under her, pushing her back up. She opened her palm and water gathered around her anchor bringing it back to her hand.
She jabbed her finger forward and shot out a jet of water which curved around the frog in a circle. She clenched the rope of water and the circle closed, wrapping around the frog. She grit her teeth and pulled it back, the end of the rope turning to metal.
The frog was squashed by the metal chains and pulled towards Ayaka in a quick motion. Leaving behind a trail of goo, the frog squirmed as it was dragged through the tiled floor of the mall. She swung her anchor forward, crushing the frog into bits.
She dropped the chain and grabbed hold of her anchor with both of her hands. She swung it around, spinning at the heels of her shoes around before throwing it to the sky. The anchor left a trail of water as it flew into the 2nd floor of the mall.
“Outburst.” The trail of water exploded into small sharp pieces of metal which bounced around the mall hitting any monsters approaching Ayaka.
She closed her eyes and sent a shockwave of water around her. The invaders continued to pour into the mall as the portals spat out the remaining troops inside.
“Emptiness…” Another ripple of water erupted from feet, bouncing across the floor quickly. She closed her eyes.
“Greed. Wrath. Envy. Charity. Patience. Kindness. Sloth. Lust. Gluttony. Pride. Diligence. Chastity. Temperance. Humility. Joy. Gloom. Needs. Wants. Ego. Truth. Begone.”
“...”
Water spun everywhere in the air. Water leaked from the ground. Water dripped from the ceiling. Water flew quickly through the air, leaving not a single instance of destruction. Water danced and peacefully strolled through the mall.
The peaceful sounds of waves hitting each other was the only sound that could be heard in the whole mall. No sounds of monsters, no sounds of electronics, no sounds of breathing. No sound at all.
The water slowly spun around the monsters stuck in motion before squirming inside. The water rapidly changed from metal to water as it began to dig into the flesh of the invaders. Every single one silently sat through the silence as the heavy atmosphere stopped all movement around them.
A single monster yelled out in pain as it crashed through the mall. The rodent covered in fins slammed into a wall of the mall as the water entered its body. The general has fallen and so have all the troops.
----------------------------------------
Ayaka left the mall a little tired, her body slightly aching from her recent fight. She switched off her magical girl transformation to regain her energy faster. It has been a long time since she went and performed an exhausting powerful attack like that, a true example of the overwhelming strength of the abyss.
“Congratulations. Congratulations.”
“Hmmm~?” She turned her head to the sound of clapping. A cute girl wearing vibrant clothes with a big smile greeted her. She seemed a little familiar to Ayaka but she had no clue if she had met this person before.
“I was watching your fight and I must say, congratulations.”
“Thank you…” She kept gazing at the girl, her eyebrow slightly raising itself out of curiosity. “You got a medal for me?” She placed her arms on her hips and nodded proudly. “I did a great job, didn't I?”
“You sure did.” The girl nodded alongside her, the bops of the two girls slowly synchronizing. “But there was one problem.” Her head stopped instantly, her eyes gazing at the sky. “That was far too brutal to be a proper Magical Girl fight! I mean where was the power of friendship! The strength of memories! And the unbending will of morals!”
“Oh? What are those? They sound delicious.”
“Oooooh!” She began walking, her feet moving around Ayaka. “How cute! Now that is a proper good personality! Being hungry and simple minded is cute! Cuteness comes in many forms and that is one of them that I can truly appreciate. Ah! But sadly there's a problem.”
She stopped in her tracks, “that title!” She raised her hand, a pink wand appearing out of nowhere. “The abyss has no place in being a Magical Girl title!”
Ayaka brows furrowed angrily and she stomped her foot to the ground, cracking the cemented floor. “Now how rude! Titles aren't everyt-
A loud and defeating sound of air slicing broke her words. She glanced down, her eyebrows twitching in confusion. A hot sensation slowly crept up her throat and an overwhelming flow of life crawled out of her mouth. She lifted her shaking hands and pressed them against her throat. She winced in pain and raised her hands out of reflex. Red wet blood stuck to her fingers.
“Hohohoho~hoho! Looks like my maid got you good with her splendid skills! She was always someone I could rely on to land a hit! A true expert in all fields?”
“Oh you look a little confused? Let me just say I think a proper replacement of a Magical Girl is needed. You and that hotheaded knight of stupidne-
An extremely powerful current of water exploded from the ground launching the girl into the air. Ayaka stood there with an emotionless face and her magical girl outfit, a sailor’s uniform.