White.
An endless rain of white and gold light explodes out of the darkness, and illuminates the now decimated field of battle.
Like fireworks exploding amongst the stars, those myriad lights dance across the heavens as a sign that the unexpected battle has finally come to a sort of end.
But it is their first time on the side of defeat.
The first time that their journey threatens to come to an absolute stop. Of course such things are obvious, when one deals in battle and death one's journey is one that will inevitably come to a crashing halt eventually; there is no one who is truly invincible, one way or another, there will always come a time when your strength comes up short, and it seemed that they had all finally hit that last wall together.
---This had been a mission of rescue, but it had quickly become a battle that couldn't be avoided... Those they had expected to find had been bound in something much tighter than chains, and for the sake of freeing their souls, the only thing they could do was pick up their weapons and face the enemy head-on.
There are some battles that must be fought, and this had simply become one of them. An ideal of peace and hope has it's place, but this opponent is one that will never come to terms with the definition of another's peace; it is concerned only with it's own terms and sense of self, and the light that rains down from the core of an infinite expanse threatens to wash away those that had finally found a wall they could not find a way to overcome.
---In the depths of space it should not be possible to burn, and yet her body has certainly been set aflame.
"..."
That too is only natural, the paths those lights draw are paths that combust with soundless energy. As an older model -the oldest model- it is perhaps only natural that her power will eventually fail her, and yet when it comes down to it, she is one of two that remain conscious until the end, eyes locked on the back of one to whom she was little more than a tool...
---In reality, her current condition exists because she had taken the burning light in his place.
However, this should not be confused with that emotion called love. While she was the first, she is not like the last; she is but a spare unit, a prototype that had existed to refine the process for what he would consider a much more 'noble' soul, and to that end, she held no special feelings towards her summoner, if she was a 'doll' to him than he was simply a 'Summoner' to her.
It was not for his sake that she had thrown her body in the way.
No.
It had merely been a calculated move for humanity's sake. Her condition had already been poor, and so to maintain their sides fighting power for even a few extra moments, she had simply decided adding more damage onto her already astounding wounds would be better than allowing that man to be wounded as well, keeping the healthy healthy and simply stacking damage onto the already wounded and useless.
It was just logic.
If one ran the numbers, it was the plan with the best chance of success.
It was logic that that man would approve of as well, the enemy needed time to gather power in-between its strikes, so the man should have time to escape, thus-
"...Hey. You're still alive, right? Hold on just a bit longer, I'm going to send you back home."
-These words come as a surprise.
Already half-consumed by flame, the woman he speaks to cannot truly understand his words... But at the same time, he makes no effort to truly explain himself either.
In terms of remaining power, it is idiotic to waste parts of it on her, nevertheless, the man sees it as the only possible course of action now.
Perhaps he understands that they have lost.
Perhaps he wishes for her to return to warn the others?
Her mind races to find answers even as her body attempts to rise of it's own accord, but it would perhaps be surprising if his motives were truly that thought out in this moment.
---It's not complicated.
---Out of all possible answers, it is not one that is difficult to understand.
He simply wishes to save someone, that is all; having lead a number of others to their ends of his own arrogance, the desire to ensure at least one person survives this encounter overrides whatever sense of tactics he still managed to possess before such an impossible opponent. He himself is not allowed to run, he will fight until the very end with the belief that he will win etched into his heart... For the sake of those that had followed him here he must do that much at least, but...
Just in case.
He will indulge this single wasteful whim of his and toss aside his broken 'sword.'
Now that it has come to this, if he must lose, he will be the last victim this entity ever manages to reach.
That sentiment becomes power.
He would not call himself a mage, but to say that 'magic' was beyond him would also be a mistake...
He simply preferred the use of a blade. Call it a swordsman's heart, but to defeat his opponent's through methods available to all mortals had always seemed more fitting for him, to keep him in touch with the original self that had started this journey.
But now, his magic sends someone away from their death and completely alters their fate. It lacks both grace and finesse, and is akin to someone desperately throwing another person out into the depths of space in order to ensure they avoid an explosion, but in this moment...
It is the best he can do.
---Soon enough, that light comes looking for him.
It is in it's nature to ensure the absolute obliteration of all opponents.
Or rather, because it has a habit of overlooking the things it once considered small, it no longer takes chances; thus, it comes to him as light, burning and searing, glowing like a malevolent sun, the man greets the potential end of his story in the same way that he greeted every other obstacle in his life.
The others have already been swallowed up, but he stands with their hopes on his back.
It speaks it's name.
He swings his fist.
---
Like a shooting star, she streaks across the night sky.
For a human, it would be an impossible to endure entrance in her state, but the cold air that rips at her body means little for one who had been born to be a weapon.
---Even so, the swirling snow obfuscates all view of her descent.
It is not like the world she had been born in would truly understand such things either... Time had moved ahead, those that had left had known it would not be the same when they had returned, but to return like this and be lost amongst snow and ice for eternity...?
It is a cruel sort of irony.
All non-essential functions were already shutting down to ensure her survival, but...
The time it would take to heal enough to move...
Would be more than enough time to bury her in the forgotten lands of the planet.
Amidst the start of a certain global conflict, a body fall into the depths of a world that has long forgotten their existence.
Spirit Pulse
-Mugen no Sekai-
--Prologue//New World--
"The Empty City"
Blaise Pendragon
Neo Aoyama, Alleyways
Monday - Morning
"We're sorry, we're sorry! We'll never do it again, we swear!"
Some people have next to no shame, and this particular band of delinquents was quickly proving themselves to be amongst the worst of the gangs you had been forced to give a somewhat painful lesson about showing general respect and decency towards their fellows. Most of the time the things you got yourself involved in were disputes amongst different gangs, or chasing down petty thieves who had at least had the 'strength' to try and take from someone who was actually conscious and capable of fighting back, but in this case...
The situation was none of these things.
The usual walk had led to you noticing a group huddling together in an alley, and further inspection had shown a group of three going through the pockets of two male high school students that had been lying unconscious on the ground, and pocketing the money they had found inside of their wallets, throwing shades of doubt on what could have perhaps been a misjudged act of good will...
Needless to say, things had escalated somewhat from there; the 'bravery' they had shown in robbing an unconscious person had done little to stop the ensuing fight that had lasted all of a handful of seconds, as a single punch had thrown two of them back into the trashcans (where they were now groveling), and had the apparent leader pleading in a shaky voice that this wasn't quite as bad as it had looked-!
"We didn't knock em out, and we were gonna call an ambulance we swear! But the money was like... A finder's fee, you know?"
Needless to say, it is not a logic that is really working out in their favor.
Still, the claim that they hadn't been the ones to knock out the students had Kaguya checking things out in the background after calling for an ambulance herself; of course she wasn't exactly specialized for medical diagnosis, but most COMPs could do general medical checks easily enough, and as she had found out, it was actually sort of true?
As far as she could tell, they had no real signs of physical or general magical injury. That didn't rule out curses mind you (the worst of those were apparently rather difficult to detect), but it did seem to hint that they were telling some form of the truth, after all, punks like them probably couldn't get their hands on any spells of that caliber, but...
A finder's fee? Taking someone's money as 'payment' for calling in emergency services for them?
It's the sort of twisted thing that makes it more or less impossible for you to just let them go even if they were technically telling the truth, and indeed, you don't really have any plans of doing so, but, if some small form of mercy had continued to persist even up till now...
"Hey you crazy, punk?! Got a death-wish?! Put down the boss!"
The baseball bat that cracks against your back (harmlessly and also literally, the bat snaps in half from the blow), is probably enough to obliterate the very concept of not beating up every member of this gang-!
Yes.
Turning your head to face your somewhat horrified attacker, a group of about eight other guys is standing on the other side of the alleyway. If you had to think of a reason, the pompadour sporting 'leader' you were still holding up by the collar, had probably sent an 'alert' out over his COMP, but...
"He didn't even flinch?! What the hell?!"
"Then use the one with the spikes, moron!"
...It didn't really matter.
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Originally Posted by Airen
