75 - Painted

*

Burning all of her magic for a single moment to scare Taneda, as soon as Taneda sees through it it would all be for naught. No, it is quite likely Taneda knew it was also an illusion from the start. The mechanism doesn't have to be deciphered, and the facade did not need unfurling for Evaria to be defanged.

Taneda had the strength to face all of it head on. That was enough. Brute force, sheer durability. If the goal was to kill Taneda, Evaria lost from the start by engaging her. Fortunately that was not the goal. Time reverts back to the late evening, her illusion is wearing off, eroded by true reality like paint over more paint.

"What's going on here?" (Sariel)

Taneda's eyes widened upon hearing her voice, her iris turned and glanced at the speaker in question. She was at the top of a roof, staring down at the wreckages of battle. There was no 'Event', this property damage was permanent and could not be undone like a Trace attack. So far they had been fighting within the quarantined area where the tree was. The civil police force likely have seen the via surveillance, thankfully it was only those who were vaguely aware that magic existed thanks to being informed.

Taneda took a single step back, her mind racing. Why was Sariel here? Wasn't she distracted with her fight with Arin? Didn't they have a deal? Unless?!

She looked over to Arin who stood next to Sariel, Arin discreetly stuck her tongue out while abashed. She was defeated... That much was clear, Sariel was stronger than she thought... Or was it simply because Arin held back? They wouldn't fight each other seriously after all.

Then it all depended on Sariel's stance. Everything came down to the tree. Would it be kept or destroyed?

Sariel had an unnatural amount of optimism, she believed that if Lastia was composed, she wouldn't wish to destroy the world. She was simply broken down by the despair that reality crushed her with. All her inherent good will and hope was ruthlessly eroded. If someone was to blame, it would have to be... Sariel who didn't stop her. She gave her hope, fed some facts about the culture mini zone. Even if Lastia was the one to have picked up an interest, everything was done with no consequences kept in mind.

If only she was more careful. If only she stopped Lastia and convinced her it would be futile... Feeding her hope and tearing it away from her with her own hands... That was how Sariel saw it. That was how much she regretted it, like a large odd lump was stuck in her stomach and tearing out her organs. Everything should return to the way it was, no, they must! The answer of what to do in regards to the tree, it wasn't hard to determine when she realised this. She'll use all of her power to bring back Lastia, and back to the status quo.

Sariel teleported onto the street with {Swap}, strands of her hair flew into the air before settling as if they returned from a long fall. Without hesitation, she released her aura. She might have been exhausted from fighting with Arin, but it seemed that she still had plenty of magical energy go burn.

Evaria and Taneda were clearly hesitant to interact with her, deepening her suspicions.

"Not speaking? Even though I'm ready to fight all of you...

Well, fine. I'll declare it here, I will be the one to save Lastia. If either of you plan to get in the way, just tell me now so we can get it over with." (Sariel)

If Lastia loses her memories again, if she didn't get the chance to apologise... She would definitely regret it for the rest of her life... That was reason enough to bear her hostility so openly.

"... Don't believe you've won yet, Sentinel.

You guys want to save your friends, don't you? Go ahead, I won't stop you. She might." (Evaria)

It wasn't wise to fight all 3 of them at once, considering Taneda alone was enough to corner her. Just in time too, she was almost dry on magical energy and needed time to recover or at least hide. Just the fact that Lastia won't die here, meant that there was still the potential for her to become a tree once again in the future. So she didn't mind if her friends somehow saved her from her own despair.

Leave it to her close friends to tackle matters regarding her emotional turmoil, she's done her part by distracting Taneda long enough. Sariel is A rank too, she wouldn't be defeated instantly. With her {Swap} she might even have a better chance at contending with Taneda. Just in case, she'll hide out somewhere nearby. She's reluctant to jump in considering how much she has weakened, but she needed to be careful in case Sariel would be defeated.

"There's no rule regarding obstructing law enforcement, make use of the fact that both of you are on the white side." (Evaria)

Her voice travelled to Sariel's side even though her body was far away, before both vanished into thin air.

With her abilities, Sariel sensed that Evaria might have been incredibly strong. Even so, for some reason she felt that if she simply teleported far enough, even if Evaria can project her voice at an unnatural distance she wouldn't be able to reach Sariel. Lastly, if Taneda could make Evaria so on edge, then she must be even stronger. Sariel was the bait to draw Taneda's attention away from Evaria. That much she understood, rather than passing the baton, Evaria passed a burden.

Paying no more heed to Evaria, Sariel turned her gaze to the sentinel in question. It looks like the government has some form of arbiter managing things in the shadows, were they never meant to meet? She couldn't think of any other reason why Taneda would be so nervous meeting her. So she dispatches those who break the law, a form of regulation against magical girls that naturally occur like us. She gleaned that much from Evaria's words, assuming the law she mentioned was synonymous with the government's.

Then, if they were on the same side... Perhaps she could still be convinced. She won't lose her job if she gives in, right...?

"She hasn't done anything wrong yet. If we extract her, could we put all of this under the bridge?

You can claim credit to your boss or whatever. We just need Lastia." (Sariel)

Rather than a request, her cold calculating tone suggested that it was a threat.