141 - Glittering race 2

*

She calmed her heart, the rabid sensation squeezing her heart was no longer present. She got tired in the race with Corrine... But now was not the time to simulate motor movements on a dead body.

"...!?" (Trace)

Her presence spread over a wide area, like a ferocious beast baring its fangs. Releasing one's aura was something any magical girl could do, but releasing one's magical energy in front of the enemy like this was an arrogant waste. Naturally, this meant that if anyone was willing to do it... It would be the excess energy that was already expended. Used magical energy, useless residue painted in one's colour. For Lastia, it was reddish black. The denser the darker.

"I see..." (Lastia)

After being hit and releasing her aura on reflex, she jumped away. Thankfully unlike other magical girls... Her aura was opague. Visually, it could give away the position of invisible opponent. The nature of the enemy's invisibility too... It had never destroyed the random house's wall, that was it launching its gas like a projectile hallucinogen. Its ability is to manipulate what that hallucinogen shows, but in the end it's still gas. My aura was denser, it dissolved into the gas via brownian motion and revealed a vague blurry outline.

I landed in a crouch with one knee on the ground. The Trace punched the ground of my previous position, leaving a small crater. It was quite strong, at grade B or C. It was impressive that it could damage my body... Did it think destroying my stomach was enough to incapacitated me? Maybe if I was a lower grade magical girl, my regeneration would having trouble with such a tremendous loss of flesh and blood. In other words, it was a new born Trace that doesn't have much knowledge. Or... Traces are engineered to hunt C grade and below magical girls...

Rank system that Lastia came up with... From A to C matching grades C to E respectively... It wasn't too far off the mark for what the people of this era adhere to. That's it. Sensing that I was stronger... The hole in my stomach... It was another illusion. The pain signals that I received is real, but my regeneration was so powerful it overpowered the illusion... I'm not proud of brute forcing it, but... It was definitely targeting Corrine just now until I transformed.

Spreading my aura further, I quickly spot it and rushed up to it. My left fist connects, blowing it's upper half clean off. Colour returns to the world and I promptly release the transformation, my body drops to the ground feeling the brunt of the regeneration. My throat wheezes subconsciously, huffing against the putrid dust on the pavement. Hearing the strange lack of response, Corrine turns around.

There was always soft breathing right behind her, no matter how long she kept the lead, Lastia never gave up trying to chase after her. Even though it was obvious that she wasn't too healthy. She was pushing through the pain, a vain attempt but not one done in bad taste... Even back then, Corrine felt like she was running at a comfortable pace, she could sprint at any moment. Could Lastia say the same?

***

She rushed to the collapsed girl's side. While Lastia's body was initially a cold corpse, there was roughly more than a month of assimilation by Yggdrasil to possess the body fully. She moves it like it's a puppet, but the strings controlling the body are also inside the body. She hasn't been able to simulate most of the processes in a human body, such as the rigorous respiration needed to compete in that run.

However, she could still pretend with some cheap imitation. Magical energy was used to move the body, at the same time it produced heat that imitated human body temperature. Naturally this wasn't just body temperature, the body was overworked... Producing excessive heat. Conveniently, it convinced Corrine that she had a fever. The library club member wasn't evil, she just wanted to prove herself with her diligence, so she promptly evacuated the body.

Lastia provoked her into having that race, in retrospect it was such an inconsequential matter that Corrine wondered why she got provoked in the first place.

"Wa... It, put me down... I'm okay..." (Lastia)

Her body is not alive, it wouldn't give off the normal signs that a person would. If any medical instrument was used to scan her, it could be big trouble. Without having much time passed, an ambulance arrived and sent her straight to the emergency ward in the school. Her vision was groggy, growing dark while inside the vehicle despite the radiant lights. She waned in and out of consciousness, finding difficulty in processing stimuli. At this rate they'll find out, it's better if she transformed now and ran away, but... They'll see, and Lastia's school life will be over.

With how Trace occurrences are contained in 'Event's, magical girls had presumed that supernatural phenomenon should have a tight lid of confidentiality kept over them. The government might know about the supernatural, and that would be because their leadership is at least under the name of Eterna. How about the normal people? Lastia didn't have time to accurately judge these matters, but it didn't seem like they did. Otherwise, she wouldn't have had to hide during that time she was attacked in the underground train system.

"Worry not." (Arin)

For some reason, they ended up in front of Lastia's house. What awaited her there was Arin's figure overlapping the front door...

Why was she here? She arranged this. Why?

"How long have you known?" (Yggdrasil)

She stepped closer as the ambulance left, clearly under Arin's control or in collusion. Every step caused a dull thud against the cracked marble tiles protruding into her home. Click, clack, with exceeding clarity it felt like Arin could feel her approach even if she was blind.

All the way until she reached into breathing distance. Lastia's physical body was weak after running... But she could just transform and the magic would override its condition. She was grateful for Arin's help, but... How...?

"You sure realised quick... Yggdrasil. I'm the only one who knew Lastia before the curse's existence, your 'perfect' simulation was too 'perfect'.

It felt very incongruous, like an alarm blasting in my ear. It did take a while to understand if you were Yggdrasil... Or the curse. " (Arin)

To be frank, her first hypothesis was that Arin was the entity possessing the curse. The individual that dragged her into Lastia's memories on the super satellite's corpse. Could this be misdirection? Lastia concluded a long while ago that Arin had something to hide, but prioritised her friendship over secrets. It was rational, who didn't keep secrets? Yggdrasil's sentience was a secret.

"Have you told anyone?" (Yggdrasil)

"... What if I told you I did... ?" (Arin)

"... Haa~~, come in." (Yggdrasil)

It was too tedious to deal with Arin's mischief. She firmly believed Arin did no such thing.