Chapter 403: 403 - 2 stars burning brighter than the world 2
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Kaori steps in front of Hikari, her fist landing on her cheek. A single punch slams into her flesh, powderising the teeth underneath and unleashing a wave of internal bleeding that swept her entire body.
"...?! Your... Your attack landed... It landed?" (Hikari)
Kaori's head was blown away, leaving a decapitated corpse. At least it would have been a corpse if not for her head regenerating instantly. At this level, it was child's play. Irrationality... No, it was a concept above that. Hikari had strayed so far from logic and common sense that Irrationality could no longer contain her nature. Its true nature, the reason for her being...
[Idealism of a magical maiden's transient heroism: panta rhei].
"Flow, impermanence. At its core, everything remains different yet originated from the same. In other words, there is inherent connection that cannot be denied." (Kaori)
Connection, logic, relevance, it was forced upon Hikari by Kaori's final skill. Almost as if she jammed two building blocks together and forced them to adhere with ehr strength.
"!? Tch!!! [Heavens breach the destiny's core(Inherent order violation super phenomenon)]!!" (Hikari)
She clasped her hand together with a loud clap, Kaori was supposed to be crushed, she was supposed to pull Hikari down at all cost so the others could finish her off.... But instead, nothing had happened. Kaori took a couple steps forward and swung her fist down. Her knuckles crash into Hikari's cheek bones, shattering them and rending her flesh apart like soft paper. It sent her staggering backwards, her face healed up before she took another step.
Flow... Though it imposes a strict connection between 2 events, it is a form of logic. Transitioning from point A to point B, the Declaration that all things are one and the same as aether, as information bundles that could be freely edited. Hikari existed outside of that flow before, and she could slip out again. Like a continuous push and pull, something else needed to have helped Kaori tip the balance. The 2 destroyers that were instantly killed by Ledia's final skill, a smidgen of titles absorbed by Ledia was passed onto Kaori.
An insignificant boost that barely tide things over only after the defeat of the destroyers. Flow, aether, the imposition of flow by Kaori's final skill is also now the imposition of logic. Existing outside the framework of logos is no longer a way to reliably be safe. Barius swings her leg, thrusting it through Hikari's torso. Himei lands from the air with a bent knee, she swung Hikari's head to her knee, caving it in. Amelia sends a few spears of light into Hikari's body, anchoring her soul.
Geravinne bore dragon claws that tore down Hikari's defences from a distance. HuoLi's end world environment was channeled into a sword that eroded at any form of time manipulation. Ledia... Ledia's final skill was used to boost Kaori's final skill, to impart the shackles of logic onto Hikari. Swinging a right and left hook, Hikari's body sways under the impact of Kaori's knuckles before receiving one final devastating blow to the face, sending her body flying.
Kaori conjures her rapier and her first Stick, the empty horns that emanate from the back of her neck and rise above her head. The horns poke into her bridal veil, lifting it slightly to reveal a smidgen of her chin in an alluring manner. Her lips barely hang below in what would usually be a devilish smile, however, her teeth are bared and clenched so tightly that her gums might fall out. Her arm burns brightly with a white light that coalesces into her black rapier, coating it with her final skill, 'flow'.
This was the pinnacle of her abilities, putting everything she learned on the line, yet it had been meticulously forged and chiseled into a better attack by the countless battles she's been through. Her dress hovered into the air and stayed still under the unending pressure, yet her hair remained firm and effortlessly withstood the deadly environment caused by her magic. The space around her grew exponentially more dangerous, her eyes listlessly trained onto Hikari as if no other sound, sight or feeling could ever move her any longer.
One target for one attack, a single flawless motion to end it all. The end had already concluded, she was simply speeding it up. To 'connect' to the future that is the complete impalement and eradication of Hikari, as if that future was already done and confirm. The assumption of that future and the actualisation of it through manipulating the 'flow' of fate. As if carried by an otherworldy force, Kaori flew straightforward with her rapier.
"Enough. Final skill, [The Great Disaster(Exceed Magia unlimited)]. " (Hikari)
The crystallisation of her. The embodiment of her wishes evolved from the enhancement of the very ego and soul, everything. Everything was so thoroughly transcending that it bore a new possibility. A miracle beyond the reaches of determinism, result and chance. A new peak, a foreign summit. Unknown to any but herself, a place she carved with her own strength. The other titles she collected were but a tool, but it was only under her own will that anyone could achieve such a feat.
Usually, people wouldn't even be able to upgrade their skills, even if they were to gain the titles of others. This is a system unique to Hikari and her alone, even Kaori's newly gained boosts were nothing but just that. They were boosts to the potency and mystic of her power, they didn't completely changed its nature into something new. Her rapier slices her body in half, unleashing a bright light that consumed the universe permanently. Within that space... Everyone knew Kaori was gone. She's dead. Under the effect of Hikari's new final skill, Kaori was wiped out without lifting a finger.
Even with all the conditions being in their favour, Kaori lost. As if it was a chain reaction, the others also began to vanish into puffs of smoke. Not a trace was left... Except Ledia. She was the only one remaining.
[Endlessly, a blooming shattering guiding light] .
Nothing happened. Her allies have not returned.
[Endlessly, a blooming shattering guiding light].
Nothing happened. The concept of hope brought about by her final skill, it was extinguished like a candle light. Fragile, fleeting. Insignificant.
"Ah... I see..." (Ledia)
I was caught in her trap. The others who were summoned here were easy to get rid off...
Was what she thought. An inkling to Hikari's machinations flashed in Ledia's mind. Her own skill was counteracted, desummoning or killing her allies by virtue of being her help... Then Ledia was clearly the target. At this stage, there was no sense in Hikari underestimating her. So there must have been a reason, a mechanism keeping herself safe... Akin to wrapping oneself in a protective barrier...
The artificial world that she built. It crumbles, but she rebuilds. Creation and destruction, an infinite cycle. It will never end, she doesn't expect it to end. It's taking all she has to stay alive. It's only because the destroyers have been eliminating worlds for time immemorial, their titles, their very existences now without an ego, they react on instinct. To the familiar, to what was mundane to them, to what was an endless future that seemed to never change. How long more would this continue? How many more worlds must she destroy before feeling satisfied?
Despite the amalgamation of resentment that is Hikari, the massive hatred that seemed to monumentally overflow the world and more, Ledia felt like she was fighting Arasovi once again. Despite taking in all of their powers and being the dominant personality, perhaps Hikari was losing herself too. She was no longer the original after all. The Hikari of Ledia's world is gone, this Hikari however is an alternate version of herself, one subsumed by the personality of Ledia's Hikari.
A world constructs itself, it is effortless. Yet it felt so heavy, Ledia was constructing universe after universe. In the infinite expanse of what she had made, there was a possibility that an alternate world resided in it, was born, and ended in the same instant. Her heart felt heavy, her mind felt heavy, her everything was heavy. Her hands were held in front of herself the whole time, how long has it been? She hadn't even noticed her palms spread in front of herself, as if to catch the vehement outrage of Hikari's magic.
Her hair was flung behind, violent lashing out like whips, like a frail flag on the edge of a vicious storm. Pressure continue to pour onto her, barely deflected by the worlds she create. She had long lost count of how many universes she deployed, how many had been destroyed. She has infinite magical energy as a god magical girl, this shouldn't have taken a toll on her at all... Yet it feels like a heavy burden. The burden of numerous worlds, the guilt constructing her heart cannot be described.
Tears poured down her cheeks, as opposed to the violent scourge of magical brutality in front of her, her tears crawled down slowly like a snail. Her teeth grit in bitter pain, as if she was swallowing the worst food in the world and was so stuck in the repulsive sensation that she couldn't even spit it out. Why? Why. Why. Why. Why. Why... Why must it be her? Would it have been better if she had died? Would it have been better if Kaori was the one to survive instead? Couldn't she have protected everyone else? Why was she the only one left...
Unfair. Disgusting. Awful. Troublesome. An utterly despicable situation. She had become strong enough that her technique to deploy a virtual world consisting only of senses... Had birthed the possibility of creating life, creating a universe like any other. Her energy manipulation became energy conversion due to her final skill, her ability to not only create sensations but reinforce them with every value, making them indistinguishable from her original world...
Like a burning knife stuck in her gut. Yet she cannot stop here. Still, rather than being immobilised by the enemy, she was immobilised by her own indecisiveness. Her own regret, her own despair. Everything was her own, her own fault, her own weakness, her own burden. This must have been how Arasovi felt...
Being trapped in a mire so deep that one could never escape. For Arasovi, she likely couldn't even see the opening. Driven by her hatred, she made herself blind to it all. The beauty of living, just the fundamental of enjoying life and idleness. It was long abandon due to the environment Arasovi grew up in. Arasovi couldn't destroy what she couldn't perceive, that's why it required for other worlds to have a magical girl manipulate time, that distortion in time acts as a signal for her destroy the barrier between the worlds.
Destroying the concept of hindrance and distance, she instantly arrived in her second victim. Ledia's thoughts burned rapidly, it felt like her head was on fire, one that couldn't be put out. But she continued on, she never once let go. She kept up the stalemate as long as she could, creating world after world. Even as she created an infinite amount of worlds, they would all subsequently be destroyed. She barely leads in the battle by an edge that was incredibly thin, thin enough to keep herself.
She doesn't need her final skill. She doesn't need much. Before anyone noticed, she had stepped within breathing distance from Hikari. They were both too preoccupied with creating and destroying worlds that they fail to notice, fail to have any semblance of foresight. Ledia leans in, her chin laying on Hikari's shoulder.
"...?!" (Hikari)
A copious amount of blood seeps from Hikari's cherry lips, unable to contain it, it spouts from her throat like a geyser. A single hand was on Hikari's back, and another on Hikari' s abdomen. A palm firmly facing Hikari's belly button, a warm magic fills her up, before what felt like a hundred knives ravages her inside. Her soul, her ego, all of her existence was irreversible damaged.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't save anyone. Not even you." (Ledia)
"...!! C... Cut the... Pleasantries... She said that... Too...
How... Insufferable... If you win.. You should own it..." (Hikari)
Hikari's final skill went beyond the end of all things, perfection, flow, godhood, the sole observer, the yearning of Gaia's enemy. Essentially, it was Hikari's wish forced into reality, it was victory via supremacy. Conjuring supremacy over all things into reality, she caused Kaori's rapier to deflect and shoot into everyone but herself, killing everyone but Ledia. Naturally, this time she would use it to deflect whatever was Ledia's attack.
Ledia created a world, she turned Hikari into a world. Hikari's magic targeted herself and erased her own existence at once. A mere vestige of herself is left, a phantom sustained by Ledia's magic. A hallucination of Ledia's for Ledia, but one that carried Hikari's final will. A fragment of her ego, fleeting and about to vanish. What was left was Ledia's creation, she could no longer do anything, she had lost.
"Then... I won't apologise. Thank you. For being there. For defeating the other Hikari. Without you, our world would be gone..." (Ledia)
"Good... Riddance..." (Hikari)
Her body turns to ash, flying into the vaccum that was the edge of the world.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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