Chapter 46: 46 - Gauntlet 4
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She continued to breath with heavy labour, chasing her breathe with every moment. Her back hunched, gasping and shoving her arms into her chest, as if hugging herself.
"Kgh!!" (Lastia)
She squeezed her left arm and struck her chest with her wrist. Her throat squeezed and spat out air as her legs fell to one knee. She finally caught her breathe, an air composure returned to her eyes. She didn't want to end up like these people, that fear engulfed her because she was easy to overwhelm mentally.
As a transient existence, the other Lastias took it upon themselves to be honest and make the best with what little time they had. She didn't feel this need to be honest, for this one instance she prioritised getting stronger even more. Pushing herself up with her palm, she stood back up and resumed her pursuit. The school came into view, it was naturally large so as to accommodate as much of the residential zone as possible. There were many properties that were being rented out, she naturally saw the steady increase in prices. The homes nearest to the school were the most costly to obtain, there might even be some prestige to it.
Whatever the case, it was all irrelevant under the prominence of the school, it roughly layed in the centre of the residential zone, this was as deep into an unfamiliar environment as Lastia could get. On the other side, if she kept moving in one direction she would reach closer to the border of this zone instead, and reach the neighbouring zone or some related train tracks. It was almost the centre of civilisation, containing all educational curriculums, housing the youths of the world from a rudimentary age all the way to adulthood.
Many facilities and amenities orbit around the school as a result, public services such as law and order, healthcare, retail, almost anything can be found nearest to the school. Simply observing was enough to tell Lastia this much, a lot of such services and sale of goods are also within the confines of the school itself. She headed through the entrance of the nearest building, running up the stairs and through the hallways, gradually approaching where she felt magic was the densest.
Heavy... The air was heavy, her breathe was heavy, her dress felt like it was being pulled towards the ground... That classroom over there, what's going on...? Just in case, she drew even more magic into her body, bracing herself for what's about to come. She opens the door.
A quivering blade full of cuts and dark stains, a full suit of dark grey steel like armour. Rather than metal that was dyed black, it had varying hues as if it filled a gradient of colours. The metal was aged, it was so old Lastia couldn't estimate near how long it has existed. It all came crashing at once, a force pushing her head and shoulders into the ground, a constant downward momentum that acted from above if she slipped a little bit, her body would collapse over the floor.
The creaking of metal against the ceramic floor tiles crunched and clicked closer, her mind was filled with dread as the Trace continued to shorten the distance between them. If it could, it would have jumped and killed her. Right, it must also be wary. After all, she still came all the way up here and entered the classroom, where its influence was the strongest. Her presence alone was already an indication of strength, not to mention... There were other magical girls here, all similarly resisting the pressure.
Rust blooded despair, Destitute knight. It's power shall be named {Regret}, it has no effect on material objects... Meaning this pressure they feel wasn't really gravitational manipulation. It was just the knight sharing its own mental burdens. Did it move slow, because it was subjected to the same sensation? Or did it get so used to the heavy mental burden, that it was sluggish by default?
Lastia craned her head up, with laborious effort she stared straight through the visor of its helmet. The other magical girls were all crouching down, on a similar situation. It's as if someone was pressing down on everyone here, there was a magical girl in a pink dress on the other side, her brunette bobbed hair creased under her squeezing palms. She pressed against her head, in an attempt to alleviate the pressure... And she stood up. She let go of her hands and lifted them into the air, baring her gritted teeth for all to see.
A bow materialised in her hand, and her other hand pulled the string back.
"Thanks... Whoever you are, I needed more time to gather up magic. Wait promptly, I'll kill it and make sure you're safe." (?)
There were two other magical girls behind her, one was in a blue and white robe shielding the other. The final girl was dressed in a red shrine maiden outfit, her white inner wear was stained vigorously with blood. She must have gotten injured when facing the opponent. However, Lastia could tell. While those arrows that the pink dressed magical girl just nocked onto her bow could deal damage to the destitute knight... It wouldn't finish the knight off. It was... Almost unharmed.
Did they not deal damage to it before Lastia arrived? She was deeply puzzled to why this foe had little injuries... There was no time, this gravitational effect... Even if it was just a mental attack...
The knight leaped without warning, its blade stopped short of the pink magic girl's neck, poking her skin intrusively. Looking closer, the girl could see dark scarlet threads all over the blade, pulling it from behind... She copied The Remnant and condensed {Feed} into string shaped constructs, then she raised their physicality so it could interact with other material objects. It creaked vigorously, relentlessly emanating the crackling and screeching between its metal joints.
Conclusion, they must have been exhausted by their fight before I came here. The magic density that I sensed... It was from this A grade Trace. The magical girls were nearly out of magic, barely staying in transformation to heal off their wounds. I see. I just made it in time, I could save someone else for once.