Hope born of solitus

*

It couldn't feel pain nor fatigue, it could copy the enemy's way of using their magic. Even now Lastia could feel it using {Feed} in a way similar to herself. It has almost perfect fighting instincts, able to competently pick up any weapon handling skills or fighting styles.

{Mockery} has 2 parts to it, first it needs a target to {mock}, this part is observation. It instantly absorbs visual information and replicates it to the best of its ability, hence it needs to copy the opponent's body shape to replicate it more accurately. The second part is simple, it's the obscuring. It obscures its own values, lying to reality and mimicking as best as it could. One could say it was simply delusional, because there was nothing more beyond its talent to copy.

Weakness number 2,beyond being barely intelligent, it doesn't know how to use a magical girl's signature magic as well as they do. It waves its hand in front of itself, its body still embedded in the wall. Grey tendrils of {Feed} spread across the ground, stiffening into stalagmites that pierce the air. They form a growing trail that rushed towards Lastia.

Even if she didn't have any combat experience to speak off, at least not a history as colourful as these Traces, she was still the most familiar with her own magic. Weak. This was her own evaluation of her enemy and herself. She gathered the dark scarlet light into her right palm, forming a vibrant orb. It was dark enough that staring at it felt like it was about to suck you in. Closing her fingers into it, the orb explodes and shapes itself into a scythe. 1.5 metre handle, 0.5 metre blade.

Not that the dimensions mattered much. She swung lightly with her right arm, turning the scythe into a heavy wave of energy that rushed towards the growing stalagmites. The wave slices through the air, colliding into the rushing trail, knocking up debris into the air with a small explosion. She could sense it through [Ingestion], the wave was still going. It stopped the momentum of the sprite's attack and continued rushing against it. The sprite jumped against the wall, throwing a enhanced punch towards it.

Securing its balance, she destroys the wave attack, the shock waves pushed away the smoke. Revealing Lastia hidden beneath, she crouched low with her fist at the ready, similarly enhanced by {Feed}. She lands her fist against its torso, the power crushed through the surface and eviscerated its insides, causing her arm to impale the sprite. Residual shockwaves radiate outwards, melting its body into goop before it fades into particles of light, signifying the defeat of a Trace.

She began feeling movement in the distance, releasing her transformation immediately. Everyone was back to normal. It looks like there was an isolating force, a law of this world that would protect people, at least for the duration of the battle. If she were to lose, she wouldn't want to imagine what might happen to those passerbies. This law wasn't around when she fought The Remnant, though The Remnant erected her own magic territory which had a similar effect.

'... This place should be cleared already. Any deeper and I wouldn't get home on time.' (Lastia)

There was some sweat dripping down her neck, slipping into her pale blue dress. Patches of cloth stuck to her skin as she wade her way through the train station, finally settling down on a seat under its cool interior. She let out a sigh of relaxation, meekly inhaling the cold air as she looked around. After this station, the railways will surface and she'd be able to observe the surroundings while on the train. It was past 3 am so there wasn't a lot of people, the people that worked night shifts and were going home now were sparse. There was a single passenger for every few carriages.

*Ping*

She gets off the seat, notified by the rain's jingle. Her steps carry her body forward, it didn't take long until she exited out of the train station. Unlike Manukia and Erupi which were commercial zones, this was a residential zone. The train station was a few times smaller to accommodate the lighter burden on congestion. The aim was to defeat a different Trace at every station. She couldn't possibly cure the entire zones of their Trace infestation, it also wouldn't be easy locating many Traces due to their tendency to hide for most of the weak.

Traces rarely show up to prey on humans, most of the time was spent hibernating or recovering from a tough battle. Not that Lastia would be aware of such limits, she simply wanted a combat tour. Due to its small size, she had long reached the outer entrance of this train station and left in one direction.

'This one is quite far in, is it at their school?' (Lastia)

Residential zone 27B, Caladonia high institution. She transformed into a magical girl and rushed through the air, travelling faster than a car. Passing by, she saw many citizens standing still, not moving an inch. This was similar to the 'event' she saw in Manukia with the Black sprites. A Trace must be going wild at this moment. She hastened her steps, following her senses to track where magic was the densest.

The magic in the air was quite light, standing in deep contrast to magical girls or Traces which were so concentrated, tracking them down was akin to finding the direction in which a strong gust was blowing at you. Reaching a certain distance, she stopped.

... The stinging smell of iron, she wouldn't be familiar with it if not for The Remnant beating the hell out of her. Why? Wasn't the force that kept humans from moving, to keep magic in the dark from them... Also supposed to be protecting them? She found no other way to describe it, these weren't magical girls... These were the corpses of painfully mundane people.

Her heart felt like it sank, at the same time it was beating faster. It beat more frequently, repeatedly, it felt like it would explode soon out of the pressure caging her lungs.

"Haa~ haa~" (Lastia)

She gripped the front of her dress with one hand, pressing her knuckles hard into her chest.

"Khagh!? Hagh!!" (Lastia)

Why? Why did seeing a dead person bring this severe of a reaction? She didn't even know them, she assumed she didn't care because her curse was a bigger thing to worry about. Unfortunately thinking and seeing was too different of an experience, that disparity crashed onto her like a plane crash.