*
"..." (Sariel)
"..." (Lastia and Arin)
Lastia shifts over to cover her mouth, whispering sweetly into Yggdrasil's ear.
"Hey hey... Is she your stalker?" (Lastia)
"Haah!? No way... I mean I do like beautiful girls, but just because I swing some way it doesn't mean I put my hands on everything!" (Arin)
"...!? I can hear you!" (Sariel)
Visibly flustered with a flush face, Sariel huffed in protest. Though Lastia wasn't completely unreasonable. It was lunch break, the cooling high altitude breeze brushed past their faces as they gazed sluggishly at the vibrant blue sky. Clouds are minimal and the hue above felt so full of vitality that they couldn't help but gazed a bit longer as they ate.
The rooftop wasn't exactly a secret reserved spot or anything, as evident by the plentiful infrastructure lacing the perimeter. A decently tall 2 meter glass fence keeps the students from harm, after all they were very high up at the top of a skyscraper like building. It was one of the numerous classroom buildings lining the district, beyond the walls of bushes and benches on this rooftop, one can see the roofs of other buildings as well. It was much like a park up here, creating an idyllic atmosphere.
Sariel who wasn't one to come up here certainly stood out within their group of 2, now 3. She usually ate in the classroom or canteen below. Some students ate there, or they went to other food centres outside the building, the extensive one hour break was accommodating of travel time.
"... Did you still have other things to ask?" (Arin)
Yggdrasil probed. This was suppose to be a peaceful world. Why get involved with her and Lastia? Lastia propped her chin onto her clenched knuckles lazily, staring closely at her food as if she lost interest.
"... Yeah, I was curious what you guys do during your free time..." (Sariel)
Did she not have any friends? Rather the Sariel in the actual world seemed to have much more than the actual Lastia did. This one shouldn't be an exception, it's likely that she's lying in some way. She gets along well with our classmates, then...
"... We do much of the same thing you do. Times are peaceful and other than the other day, we don't do much..." (Arin)
Her words were strange, sending a ripple of unsettling resonance into Sariel. Times are peaceful? Is she more accustomed to chaotic times, that she had to point it out? Arin didn't seem to be aware if it, or more likely she didn't care enough to notice. Sariel saw it that day, she was strong and unflinching under the hail of bullets. Lastia was the one who dealt with the enemies, but Arin... Barely reacted.
"... Careful, or you might accidentally create the devil." (Lastia)
She smiled softly, holding a finger up to her lips in a hush gesture. Cryptic as always. At the very least, Sariel wouldn't be the devil. Would she? What the Primordial Shadow meant by the devil was obvious. Unlike demon kings, gods or other mythical beings featured in countless fiction, the devil was always just the one. The being that opposes god, someone with a skill that goes against my established existence as this world's creator. Eterna had enemies, no matter where you go you would get them. Interests collide, circumstances evolve, conflict is inevitable. To be in conflict is to live.
"Aren't you the closest to what a devil is? As long as I don't die instantly I'm not afraid." (Arin)
"Hey... What are you guys going on about?" (Sariel)
Naturally, she was clueless. In the first place, it's a bad idea to speak about such things in front of others. Unlike a few hours before when they were on a public bus, there's one person here intently listening in. She's participating in the conversation after all...
"Nothing. I'm just dissing her because she has no tact and likes to play pranks." (Arin)
"Why you! Who has no tact!" (Lastia)
She pounces on Arin, skillfully slipping her hands around Arin's waist and...
"Puhah! Haha! Stop it!" (Arin)
Her body was deliberately weakened to imitate a human's, more accurately a high school girl's physique. Lastia's body wasn't this ticklish, since Yggdrasil was possessing Lastia's corpse it was almost numb in every way. A novel feeling unfamiliar to her touch. She collapsed laying on the ground, heaving deeply to catch her breath. She was behaving like any other kid here. Did Sariel saw wrong after all? She began to doubt.
They were just highschoolers, how could they have killed without blinking?
*BOOOOM!!!*
A deep rumble coalesces in the school districts as heat licked and ebbed over their faces. Turning their heads slightly, anyone on the roof could see it. One of the other school buildings, a skyscraper similar to this classroom building, had begun to collapse. The explosion orcurred near the ground, blowing away the supports through a few storeys. Like a controlled demolition, it began to slide down and crushed anything in its way. Sariel couldn't see any of the people inside the building, she couldn't haphazardly swap out the space inside or she might bisect someone in half.
At the same time, she couldn't do nothing either. She transformed and flew down, pressing her feet against the wall of the building she just jumped off of, and propelled herself to the collapsing scraper. Making a rough impact, she stopped the building from collapsing for a second before it resumed due to hold of inertia. Then she busted into the higher floors, rushing through to find survivors near her to evacuate. She swapped a few people onto the roof of her classroom building.
Sweat dripped down her temple as she sped up in her search. She's not strong. She understands, despite being a magical girl. It was hard to make much of an impact. This was Sariel in her first year, much more youthful and hopeful looking compared to the weary Sariel that Yggdrasil was familiar with. Just then, the downwards momentum on the building stopped. Red threads held each floor at their current altitude and secured them to the other buildings. {Feed} was pouring out of Lastia to secure the hold on each floor. It took her a moment, but she managed to eke out a large chunk of magic that was believable for a C grade.
"... Were you taking time to reduce the output?" (Arin)
"Would you rather I disintegrate the entire building and some of the ground?" (Lastia)
She snapped back while the two carefully observe the building for survivors. They could see Sariel running about and evacuating people now, but all those who were crushed below aren't ever coming back.