Endless Path : Infinite Cosmos

With most power grids being taken down due to their influence on the environment and the waste they produced, the evening brought with it a veil of darkness, illuminated by nothing but the ocean of stars and the brilliance of the moon. As a result, it was a lot harder to get around late at night as, without anything to light your path, finding your way through the darkness was very difficult.

As could be expected, there were some who thrived in this new environment as, with police and military forces being stretched thin, public order was at an all-time low. Though some regions had been less affected, such as areas where a large number of Magi congregated, the number of crimes taking place at night had skyrocketed. In some areas, humans, due to the circumstances and an ever-increasing amount of mana in the atmosphere, had even developed night vision as a result. This was just one of many adaptations that had started to proliferate around the world as, following Da Vinci’s predictions, humanity was capable of rapid evolution when provided with adequate stimulus.

This evening, the night was even darker than usual as, while the endless sea of stars slowly spun overhead, the moon was nowhere to be seen. While moonlight nights weren’t particularly rare, as it was simply the phenomenon where the earth casts its shadow over the moon’s surface, the fact it had been visible the previous night was a tell-tale sign that something was amiss. Though many overlooked this fact, entirely, there were some who noticed this incongruity almost immediately...

Staring up at the endless sea of stars above, a man with pale white hair and tanned skin, attired in a casual outfit consisting of a black hoodie and grey slacks, pulled out a device similar in design and function to a cellphone. The primary difference was, instead of using satellites to transfer the signal, it sent messages through Imaginary Number Space, using a series of small waypoints to establish communication. Though it was several times less effective than the system developed by Da Vinci, it still allowed almost instantaneous communication, regardless of distance.

With a deeply fatigued voice, the man held the ’Communicator’ up to his ear, saying, "I’m calling off the operation. The enemy seems to have seen through our plan..."

Normally, when a Communicator was used, it compiled a message into a single sound bite before sending it through to the receiver on the other side. This was generally denoted by a soft bell-like chime, often immediately after a message was sent. Though it was possible for various factors to delay the process, there were very few that could actually block the signal without cutting off the connection to Imaginary Number Space.

For these reasons, the man released a tired sigh as, even after more than thirty seconds had gone by, the expected ping never came. This wasn’t the first time he had tried, either, so he was close to pulling his hair out in frustration. With the exception of their so-called leader, his companions weren’t exactly the brightest bunch. Some of them were outright idiotic and, rather than run from a fight, they were the types that threw themselves into the unknown with confidence...

After running his hand through his hair in an effort to remain calm, the man released a tired sigh before jumping off from his perch, landing on the ground more than eight meters below. Even on contact, his movements didn’t make a single sound and, after rising to his feet, his figure seemed to blur into the surroundings before completely disappearing moments later. It was obvious they had already triggered the enemy’s trap but, as this was one of the few chances they had to strike a blow against the Emperor so, while his instincts were screaming at him to flee, he could only do so after confirming his allies had already withdrawn...

Without noticing the discrepancy with the moon, a trio of women, each wearing outfits that didn’t match the time period, directly approached the front gate of the Edelfelt Mansion. One wore an ornate purple kimono, covered in an artistic pattern consisting of various flowers. As for her other two companions, one wore what could only be described as gladiatorial armor while the other, standing out in more ways than one, wore a skin-tight bodysuit, reminiscent of a scuba suit but covered in pale blue lines that gently pulsed in the darkness.

As all three women were armed, the Edelfelt Security Forces immediately alerted the Command Center while simultaneously activating an extremely powerful barrier. This caused the woman at the front of the group, the kimono-clad Musashi, to shoulder her katana with a smile on her face as she mused, "You guys are pretty quick to respond. Nice and decisive. It’s a shame you chose to serve an evil tyrant..."

Since Musashi had been walking forward casually, the fact she already had her sword drawn and resting on her shoulder caused the scalps of every man and woman manning the gate to tingle. It had happened without a single one of them noticing and, though the barrier seemed to activate without issue, the edges seemed to be flickering unnaturally. Normally, it would cast a visible blue light that pulsed with vitality but, a stark contrast to what they were used to, it now seemed like an old lightbulb on the verge of flickering out the moment something touched it.

As if to complete this illusion, the woman standing to Musashi’s left, wearing extremely revealing white armor, reminiscent of an ancient gladiator, hefted her spear like a javelin, arching her body like a bow before loosing her spear like a beam of light. The Edelfelt Security Forces didn’t even have time to move out of the way before the spear slammed into the barrier, shattering it without any suspense. It then contacted an area behind the gate, erupting into a plume of dust and debris as a shockwave akin to a truck of dynamite exploding shook the air and quaked the ground.

Despite having tossed what appeared to be her only weapon, the bronze-skinned woman held out her hand and, after a flash of blue light, her spear returned to her side. Then, with her bunny-like ears flickering agitatedly, she asked, "What are we waiting for? Our enemies are going to run away if we just stand around doing nothing...!"

Hearing her companion’s shout, Musashi dug into her ear with her pinky, a lazy expression on her face as she answered, "You really need to stop stressing out over every little thing, Caenis. We’re supposed to be luring our enemies out, not attacking them directly. There are over a thousand of those magic bastards inside. Do you really think they don’t have the ability to defend themselves? Besides, that crazy Emperor went out of his way to personally assault our K2 base. You really think he is the type to just run away when we appear at his doorstep?"

In timing with her words, a pillar of reddish-black light emerged from within the Edelfelt Mansion, destroying the front door and carving a channel through the ground. Despite this, Musashi made no effort to dodge as, while the beam of light seemed relatively powerful, most forms of Magic were completely useless against her. The moment the beam of light angled upward, seemingly intent on cutting through them, it split apart into hundreds of smaller destructive rays after hitting the invisible barrier that represented her [Magic Resistance].

From within the destroyed section of the mansion, what appeared to be a very young woman emerged, her golden hair set into an ornate hairstyle that caused Musashi’s brows to raise as she asked, "Wow, how much time does it take to style your hair like that?"

With a smile on her face, the ’young’ woman lifted her hand, creating a vortex of reddish-black energy more than a meter across as she answered, "I have a very capable hairdresser who is able to fix it in under two hours with advance notice~"

To punctuate her words, the golden-haired woman released a much larger beam of magical energy, this time aiming it at the ground beneath Musashi’s feet. Since her [Magic Resistance] had little effect on her surroundings, this forced the pale-haired samurai to release a small sigh, the hand gripping her katana tightening slightly as she prepared to cut it, and the woman, down.

Truthfully, Musashi didn’t like bullying the weak so, unless the opponent was near her level, it was difficult for her to get serious. Fortunately, she had a hyperaggressive, spartan-like, woman at her side so, without having to raise another finger, Musashi watched with a lazy expression as Caenis jumped in front of her, hoplite shield raised at chest level. Unfortunately, while she was able to easily intercept the beam of light, the golden-haired woman seemed proficient in the use of her Magic, changing the trajectory in an instant to forcibly redirect Caenis’ shield.

Moving with surprising swiftness, the golden-haired woman neared Caenis while the latter was still off-balance, several smaller orbs of magical energy dancing around her body in controlled orbits. This was enough to genuinely surprise Caenis as, due to her Lancer classification, she had A-Rank Agility. It was a nigh-impossible feat for a normal human to catch her by surprise but, lo and behold, she found herself at the mercy of a small and seemingly fragile maiden without even a shadow of fear visible in her flawless countenance...

Despite having been caught completely off guard, Caenis managed to kick off the ground with her right foot, twisting her body in a whip-like fashion without trying to defend herself. This was enough to cause the golden-haired woman to try and open up a distance but, as she had already prepared her magical attack, Caenis found herself being impacted by several beams of reddish-black energy, about a finger’s thickness in diameter.

Though she was pushed back slightly, causing her kick to miss its mark by a few centimeters, Caenis was completely undamaged by the woman’s attack. She also managed to recover almost instantly, jamming the tip of her spear into the ground to control her pivot and find her footing. In the next moment, she charged at the retreating figure of the golden-haired woman, spear angled low as she held her hoplite shield to cover her chest and the lower half of her face.

With her attack impacting harmlessly against the bronze-skinned woman’s exposed body, the golden-haired woman, Olivia, silently cursed in the back of her mind. She was forced to perform short-range teleportation just to avoid being skewered, a spell that took a considerable amount of her Magical Energy to perform. At most, she could use it up to five times before her reserves were completely drained, but, as it had been a long time since her last real battle, she still had a smile on her face.

Tearing away the gown she had been wearing, Olivia revealed a dark-blue leotard that left very little to the imagination. Immediately afterward, a mana shroud covered her body and, while it wasn’t too noticeable, all of her muscles became more defined. Then, without any fear at all, she charged toward Caenis, shouting, "Let’s see what you’re made of, girlie...!"

Never expecting her opponent to suddenly charge after fleeing to safety, Caenis showed had a slightly incredulous look before immediately adopting a serious expression as she shouted, "Nice spirit! Come at me...!"

At the end of her outburst, Caenis smacked against her shield with the side of her spear, creating a loud ’chnk’ and, for a brief moment, drastically increasing her aura. The red tattoos covering her body began to glow and, despite the evening being pretty temperate, steam began to rise from her body as she released a loud war cry and moved to meet Olivia head-on, discarding her spear and shield in the process.

As a Greek warrior, Caenis believed wholeheartedly in honor and the sacred rite of dueling. She was well versed in all Grecian combat arts so, seeing Olivia wearing attire befitting a wrestler, she had every intention of demonstrating her own prowess in the ancient art. Wrestling was, after all, the purest form of combat and, in her times, relying on weapons to strike down a much weaker, unarmed opponent, was heavily frowned upon.

Though she didn’t particularly care why her opponent had discarded her weapons, Olivia wasn’t the type to back down from a challenge. Caenis was demonstrably taller than her but, as this was often the case, it ultimately didn’t matter. Olivia was well versed in taking advantage of larger and less nimble opponents and, despite her diminutive size, she was supremely confident in her raw power.

With neither woman making any effort to dodge, Caenis and Olivia slammed into each other, the latter using her shoulder to strike at the former’s diaphragm. This would be a crippling blow for most people but, much like how her [Gandr] had struck harmlessly moments prior, Olivia felt like she impacted a solid wall, her shoulder screaming in protest. At the same time, Caenis attempted to grapple her but, having anticipated her attack doing little to no damage, Olivia headbutted the former’s chin while doubling the side of her mana shroud in an instant.

Caenis’ head was knocked back by the sudden blow but, at the same time, she managed to wrap her arms around Olivia’s body. Just as she was about to squeeze, however, Olivia seemed to ’slip’ out of her grasp, almost as if she were covered in oil. She even managed to slide between Caenis’ legs, striking at the backs of her knees but, in much the same way as her previous attacks, there were no visible indicators of damage.

Undaunted by her failures, Olivia attempted to wrap her arms around Caenis’ waist, intending to suplex her head into the marble pathway. This was where her luck ran out, unfortunately, as the larger woman leaned forward while striking backward with her butt. While this might have been a rather ’silly’ attack, the strength of a Heroic Spirit couldn’t be overlooked. Olivia ended up having the wind knocked out of her and, in the next moment, an elbow crashed down from above, hitting the crown of her head with enough force to dissipate her aura and rob away her consciousness in a single blow.

Though Caenis hadn’t put all of her strength into the attack, it was still enough to send Olivia’s body crashing into the ground below, cratering it slightly. Then, after rolling her right shoulder and shaking out her wrist, she remarked, "You were very skilled. This match was determined by an absolute difference in strength and the blessing I received from that fishy bastard. I would have liked to fight you on even footing but, unfortunately, you are my enemy..."

With her words trailing off, Caenis opened her right palm, her spear reappearing in a flash of light as she aimed it toward Olivia’s back. The duel had already come to an end so Olivia’s life or death was her sacred right to decide. Had she not been on the side of an evil tyrant, Caenis would have had no qualms about sparing her but, given the circumstances, she was compelled to eliminate any and all enemies in her path...

(A/N: Alternate Titles: ’Piccollo lost his temper...’,’Musashi too imba’,’This was not a fair fight! How can it be an honorable battle when one side is resistant to magic and has impenetrable skin!? I’m calling hax...!’)