Moving away from the battle, the trio that consisted of Utopia, Gaia, and Nell were heading towards the edge of this Shadow world when Sora stopped. Approximately 6 minutes into the battle between Lucy and the flying serpent.
"Are we really just gonna leave Lucille?"
"Do we have another choice? We'll all die if we don't!"
"YES! WE DO! Those things killed all my friends! Am I supposed to just leave and let it take more lives?"
"So let's go alert the church! We can mobilize a force!"
Gaia gritted her teeth and clenched her fist to the point where blood was drawn.
"Gaia... If you die then the other Agents will as well. We can always rebuild the team."
"What's the point? I failed them as their supporter, as their senior! What makes you think I can succeed as a leader? She had the courage to sacrifice herself to protect us... She's more fit for the title of magical sentinel than I..."
"Gaia... You don't mean..."
Going quiet for a short while after Nell spoke, Sora nodded.
"Yeah. Utopia, I'll make a small hole in the Shadow world so escape without me. I'm going back."
"What?! Why?"
"Magical Sentinels are considerably weaker without a team, this is common knowledge. What isn't is that newly appointed Sentinels aren't like this. They can exert the same power as if they had a small team for the duration of their first transformation. If I transfer my powers to her we'll be able to win!"
Gaia began running back towards the battle before Utopia could have the chance to try and convince her otherwise. This was the best option for her.
"Gaia... Are you really going to do this?"
"This is the only way to assure you and the others' survival. I'm an empath, I know she'll be a good fit for you."
'That isn't the issue you stupid girl.' Nell sighed inwardly.
This was the problem with competent magical sentinels. Once they're set on something they'll either get it done or die trying. Such 1 track determination was as much of a curse as it was a boon.
Dashing back at her top speed, she saw the ending of the battle between Lucy and the Invader with Lucy on the ground, about to be eaten by the half-dead snake.
"No!" She called out, picking up her pace further
"Frenzied Growth α! Emergence!"
CRUNCH!
RATTLE!
Slashing her sword in the air, a wall of vines grew from the ground, buying her enough time to protect Lucy at the cost of her own body.
A few seconds later, Lucy opened her eyes.
"W-why?"
What Lucy opened her eyes to see was the one remaining fang of the snake impaled into the chest of Operator Gaia.
"You... Silly, silly girl. Thinking this failure would be more useful than you when you managed to fight a Commander on equal terms... Nell..."
Sora coughed up blood that scattered across the face of Lucy which was filled with countless different emotions.
Fear, Guilt, Anger, Annoyance... This sucked for her. The fact that Gaia smiled as she did made it worse.
It sucked for Nell even more though.
With several tears falling down her face she jumped off of Gaia and onto the damaged Lucy.
"Lucy Elliot. Are you willing..."
Shaking the tears away before she continued, Nell took a deep breath.
"To become my Contractor and become the next leader of the Operators?"
For Lucy, she saw several pop-ups of sorts in her peripheral vision.
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| Rewards: Candies, becoming a magical girl!, A magical affinity, several Magical sentinel related skills, Survival!>| | Rewards: Candies, +10 stat points>| She didn't really understand any of what it was saying at the moment nor did she know how Nell knew her last name despite it never being mentioned but she knew she needed to accept if she wanted to survive. "Y...Yes!" A magic circle formed underneath Lucy as Mana flooded into her body. "Now! Imagine the form your foci and vest will take!" 'A foci and vest?' She wondered. Not that it mattered as the transformation began anyway. If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it. In a flash of light, she began to change. Everything from her height to her eye and hair color shifted. Her waist-length dark brown hair elongated until it reached her thigh, turning a deep amethyst color while it extended. Her eyes followed suit, becoming a lighter shade of purple. Her already fairly well-developed body developed further, increasing her height, and even her muscle mass. The rags she wore vanished as glittery and splendorous light covered her body and began changing. A black dress with gold accents that revealed amounts of her cleavage and ended just under her thighs, Boots that stopped right before her knees, and a Witch’s hat that had a ribbon and stopwatch, all of which matched her dress. Coming out of the light nearly instantly after entering despite her going through a whole transformation sequence, she immediately grabbed Sora & Nell before she vanished from her spot. Placing them on the ground, one final tear fell from Lucy's eyes. "Operator Gaia... You better not die!" Lucy cried out, revealing 3 more talismans. "Cure Wound!" The pieces of paper disintegrated into a green light and covered the now untransformed Sora's body. Luckily, the amount of blood she lost was minimal. At this rate, she might just have a chance to survive. Only time would tell, however. "I'm not sure if I'll be able to return this power to you but in the case I cannot I shall carry on your legacy, Operator Gaia... As Operator Chronos!" | | | | | | | | | HP: 9077/9077 MP: 17000/17000 Candies: 2000 Fame: 0 Race: Witch Specialization: N/A STR: 24 (+12) VIT: 30 (+15) DEX: 30 (+15) RES: 16 (+8) MAG: 10 (+5) DEF: 16 (+8) Sentinel Skills: Sentinel's Source lv 1 | Third Eye lv 1 | Regeneration lv 1 Personal Skills: Martial Arts lv 1 | Silver Veins lv 1 | Tenacity lv 1 | Demonize Magic: Manamancy | Chronomancy | Electromancy | Demonic = Chronomancy. An element fitting for the one with the task of inheriting the Grand Witch. So you'd think, at least. In reality, it made it nigh impossible for Lucy to use her magic due to the nature of Witches infusing their elemental affinity into all their spells. Even with her Mana pool being well above average, she couldn't use her Chronomancy at all without her Silver Veins making her mana several times more efficient hence why she considered her mana reserve small. It didn't help that Lucy couldn't activate her Silver Veins Ignoring the information displayed in front of her, an item began to manifest in her hands. A sleek black broomstick with two handles on it that was just under 2 meters in length. Twirling it around, the brush vanished, leaving only what would be considered a Bo staff by today's standards. The snake seemed... Terrified... Terrified and in agony. Just looking at it almost made Lucy's heart sink. Almost... | Once again, the Silver Circuits appeared and covered her. "I can see it. Your death." Only now did Operator Chronos see it. The snake was rapidly regenerating. It seemed the closer it was to death, the quicker it recovered from injuries. What an annoying ability. “Luci… No, Chronos! There’s a core somewhere in it’s body! It won’t fall until it’s destroyed!” Nell shouted. 'No matter.' Operator Chronos stated inwardly while nodding. At once, the snake and Lucy... Operator Chronos' clash continued. This time, however, the snake couldn't keep up with the newly transformed Chronos. If it was in its best condition perhaps but with how injured it already was, it was a futile struggle in the opposite direction now. He kept trying to bite Lucy and attack with his tail but every attempt was simply blocked with her Bo staff. Even if she never used one before, the basic information she had on its usage from becoming a magical sentinel on top of her knowledge of martial arts was more than enough. "Infusion; Lightning." Sparks began jumping all across her weapon and every single time she attacked or blocked, the damage racked up further on the snake. While the hole in its head was all but closed already, Operator Chronos merely kept adding damage slightly faster than the snake could regenerate. Unfortunately, her fighting wasn't perfect. Taking an overhead swing that was slightly too wide, the serpent saw an opening and took a bite into her arm. Or, it attempted to. It was too slow, only managing to graze her, albeit quite well. She could feel it. She was using Chronomancy! The world around her was so slow. Even in this form though... She could feel massive amounts of mana leaving her body. She could hold this for at most 10 seconds without casting any other spells. So realistically it was only 3 or 4 more. Through the pain, she slammed her leg into his side only for the snake to use his tail to grab her and not let go. "Fine." Chronos scoffed. "Discharge." The lightning went from her staff to her arm before bursting outwards into the mouth of the beast. Despite the pain, he must be in, he refused to let go! "Let go of her!" Shouted Utopia, stabbing his saber into a point that was weakened further by the snake's newest clash, only then did it decide to finally let go. Her outfit was torn and her arm bleeding but the wound was quickly closed as her uniform, her vest repaired itself. The Magical Vest of a magical sentinel wasn't something easy to pierce through and even if you did, it would infinitely regenerate and grant the user protection as long as they had Mana. "Utopia? You came back?" "Obviously I'm not gonna run off on my own. Even I have my own pride." Rolling her eyes, it was time to end this. Holding her staff like a javelin, it returned to its original state as a broom. "You might wanna back up. This next part will be mildly... Explosive." For some reason, Utopia felt a certain amount of oppression from Lucy causing him to step back as per her request. The serpent tried one final time to catch Lucy in its big maw. This was his final mistake. Feeling saliva drip on her, she closed her eyes and mass amounts of Mana converged around her broom. “The Lance of Judgement.” | "Keravnós"