Hope born of solitus

*

She was too absorbed in fighting and almost forgot. There were 3 other magical girls here, one was healing an injured, another was observing while shooting an arrow every now and then. So far the number of attacks that the knight threw was less than 20. Not much time has passed, yet it felt like an hour.

A couple of arrows fly through the air, causing an explosion on the walls it landed on. Kinetic bombs, it was the pink dressed brunette magical girl, she was the one helping Lastia out so the fight wouldn't be one sided. Thankfully, Lastia realised the assistance she was receiving before getting too carried ahead. She dived forward, the Destitute knight similarly vanished from the spot.

A blade appears in Lastia's hand, intercepting the knight's blade. The same trick wouldn't work twice, but she had to try. The metal blade got petrified and shattered at the point of contact. The knight swung down with its broken blade and slid closer smoothly. It didn't resist, in fact it shattered it's blade on purpose to create this opening. The broken blade approaches Lastia's neck, at this point Lastia's blade was behind her opponent's shoulder and too useless.

She punched the approaching blade with her other arm, her right arm was tangled under the other while holding the blade, so she spun on a single leg and swung the other at the knight, knocking the blade off trajectory slightly. Pushing with its entire body weight, the blade cut through a small chunk of her neck, stabbing firmly into her flesh.

"Kgh?!" (Lastia)

At this point she retracted her right arm and sent an uppercut with her remaining strength. Arrows exploded on its back. She couldn't speak or see right with the explosive pain, moreover a frigid sensation spread across her back and limbs. {Feed}... As long as her spine was connected and her brain was working fine, she can regenerate no matter what... Her body wasn't completely eradicated by some energy beam, it was just a stab to the neck... At least she wished it was that trivial.

The knight was concentrated on regenerating its wounded back... It was only for a short moment after the arrows exploded but it was distracted... Right, she had to stop it from regenerating.

'You will be consumed. I will {Feed} on your vitality while your magic can't resist... ' (Lastia)

A dark scarlet light flooded from her fists, they were no longer concentrated nor did they reinforce her fists much. She was now as fragile as any other girl.

"...!?" (?)

The light flooded at every bit of the classroom like a dying beast. She stepped forward like a drunk, a single step and her torso was hunched and leaning forward, another and she was even closer to the ground. She couldn't breath nor feel her limbs, but {Feed}'s pull on the knight only got stronger. More arrows exploded on its back repeatedly, giving it the last push. She stretched her fingers forward, gripping its metallic chest. More scarlet light flooded into its body, it lost the energy to stand and fell to the ground. The light used its wounds to fester, multiplying like a virus.

Lastia could no longer stand up, so this was all she could do. Her vision was dark and obscured, like a layer of black fog covered her iris. Even so, she could see the brilliant light splashing behind the knight, arrow after arrow it could no longer deflect them like before. Their roles switched, Lastia was sapping it's vitality while the other magical girl deals damage. The healer magical girl comes close, Lastia's consciousness was about to give out when a subtle sense of strength engulfs her mind. It wasn't much, but it gave her a little more stamina, it felt like she could at least stay awake.

She layed flat on the ground, with no energy to lift a finger, but she signalled to the healer with her eyes.

'Thank you.' (Lastia)

She continued pouring {Feed} into the Destitute Knight, desperately stealing its magic to boost her own regeneration. The single stab to her neck had caused massive blood lost even if it didn't hit her spinal chord, it might have severed a major artery. She was no longer breathing, but her brain was still functioning, her body was somehow getting oxygen. She lost a lot of blood but was able to survive through the hypovolemic shock. Were magical girls less reliant on blood and oxygen to survive?

She was learning how tough her own body was, unfortunately it involves an immense amount of pain and almost dying. Her head laid on its side, her vision flitted between unconsciousness and consciousness, akin to the buzzing of television static. Her mind was light headed, the thoughts that formed seemed to slip through the cracks, as if they could no longer be retained to form a coherent chain.

Even with an ally's healing, she couldn't hold on any longer. Her eyelids slid to a close, feeling the monumental pressure of drowsiness. The next moment she opened her eyes, the battle was already over.

"...!? She's awake! Guys!" (?)

"mhmm..." (Lastia)

Her body was exhausted, it felt like it didn't want to obey her commands as it stuck to the floor like a sack of potatoes. Fortunately her eyes were plenty expressive. She looked to the unfamiliar girl with a pleading look, her lips barely lift a centimetre. She couldn't utter even a bit of sound, her lips rested in that position in resignation.

She really was lucky this time, the girl who was attending to her had jett black hair and a large pair of round glasses. She was quite understanding and promptly laid Lastia onto a sitting position, giving her core a sense of security and comfort.

Her hair reached halfway down her neck, with two long braid locks swaying behind her back with every movement. She was wearing their school uniform along with the other two, one had exceedingly brown and short hair like leaves of chocolate, she laid in the back in a reserved manner and nodded lightly. Another who seemed to be the leader and was guarding from the door had dark brown bangs and a ponytail. She showed a peace sign, ensuring Lastia knew of the battle's outcome.