72 - Sentinels

*

It was past 9 when another individual showed up. Neither the party that attended the school in this zone, nor the stray magical living at the fringes, Evaria. A third party had appeared.

"...?!" (Evaria)

This was one of the reasons why she hid in the dark for most of her activities, at night there wasn't much for a magical girl to do, so this served as a camouflage too by lowering the frequency of her appearances. A Sentinel, if Evaria was a vigilante working in the gray areas of the law, then Sentinels are those that are completely white, just like Lastia and the rest.

Normally the residing magical girls of a given zone are not meant to meet the government appointed magical girl of the zone, a sentinel, but their activities are considered standard and will not be interfered with unless it was as drastic as this tree. Exposing magic to the public could be said to be violating one of those unsaid laws.

The vigilante and the Sentinel faced off against each other. The very reason Evaria became a vigilante stands right behind her, she sensed with instinct that Lastia would bring about an unpredictable change to the world, there was no choice but to stand her ground. If she were to run away... Would that not be abandoning herself?

She had released her transformation to blend into the crowd, intending to hide from those who were in the 'white' zone of the law. Mainly the 2 companions of Lastia. She knew they existed and had seen them in action a couple times, but never got close or watched them much in particular. There was a chance the sentinel was watching them to potentially enforce any laws, so it would be a mistake to throw herself into the open like that. Back then and now, she hadn't transformed and the best way to escape would be to simply walk away.

Being aware of the sentinel's existence is itself a giveaway. But unlike then, she can't walk away today. The sentinel would definitely want to take the tree down. For exposing magic to the populace, for disrupting the public peace, the laws are rigid and absolute in this manner. As for the punishment... Likely inprisonment, at worse it would be execution.

"Step away." (Taneda Vila)

Her white hood obscured her face, but the traces of her brown ponytail peaking out could never escape the notice of Evaria. They should know each other, in other words it was a declaration that Evaria wasn't worth her time.

"Haven't you noticed? She hasn't killed much less lift a finger on anyone." (Evaria)

Sariel teleported directly into the core of the tree, they couldn't have known with how Lastia's magic is so concentrated it became opague. Most of the magic used by magical girls reside in their body, it wasn't normal for this much to leak out and become visible to normal people. Usually even a transformation might be concealable by the law of magic from the normal citizens, the tree was bending and rebelling against this law with its size.

Transforming in the middle of public and slipping into the crowd could be excusable in fringe cases, but this massive tree isn't even human and it's solid enough to block traffic. It was a burden to be cut down, that's what those at the top had deemed.

"That's right, so her sentence will be light. You have no reason to get in my way now." (Taneda)

"Reason? I see... Reason... Of all times you look for a reason in me now.

I'll give you one, she's important to me." (Evaria)

For her desires at least. If pushed further, she might not even be able to explain it. Irrational at its core, her gut instinct told her that Lastia was what she was looking for all this time. A reason... Evaria was likely also looking for one. Need there be deeper reason than compassion? Ignoring her ulterior motives that she didn't understand herself, it was enough justification to help another magical girl from being persecuted.

Right, this obstruction was also linked to her past experiences. Rather than prevent Lastia from being persecuted, it was more accurate to say her motive was to prevent Taneda from persecuting. The hooded figure visibly frowns, her body enraped in that very white texture, looking closer it wasn't really the colour of the hood. It was the lack thereof, as if the world was a painting and the hood was the one spot on the canvas devoid of paint or texture.

"It looks like words won't convince you... Then I'm taking back 2 perpetrators today, instead of 1." (Taneda)

She lunged forward at superhuman speeds, leaving a burnt mark from where she leapt. Her sword drawn into a thrust, she aimed for a limb as it wasn't fatal for magical girls and would even incapacitate some with pain. At worse, it would serve as physical obstruction to her nerves, causing her movements to lag in the fight.

Taneda arrives behind Evaria in a white flash, her sword drawn with a vibrant blue lustre and black handle, it's slim and sharp edge had already torn through the air with vigorous howls.

"!?" (Taneda)

Her opponent hadn't moved, but it still felt like she was sliding her sword across some rocks, her wrist faced maximum resistance and heat was wafting off of the edge of her blade.

"Come on, don't act so surprised. If you took your time like this, reinforcements will arrive." (Evaria)

How would they like to gamble? If Lastia's friends would side with or against the tree? As a sentinel, Taneda was expected to be overwhelmingly powerful and capable of anything within the boundaries of zone 2A. Right now... Right, she definitely hadn't used all of her power. She did use a hint of her true strength, using brute force to slide her blade across Evaria and arrive at a spot behind her.

If her strength was truly lacking, she would have been caught with her blade clashing whatever mysterious method Evaria used.

"... It's fine. Reinforcements or not, it's my duty to take on all of you." (Taneda)

"{Calamity}." (Evaria)

Horror beyond human understanding, indecipherable force of nature, embodiment of magic. Obscured beyond definitions, yet unable to attain victory against Taneda immediately. Taneda would liken it to the dexterous tricks of a magician at a party. Evaria isn't powerful enough, so it couldn't have been a mental illusion. The trick used to block Taneda's attack, it might have been a physical illusion. Yet... That sense of resistance...

Even if Taneda was holding back, it was still a large amount of power... It was unsettling.