*
I'll show you. I'll show that your trust wasn't unwarranted. If you believed that the surpasser of this era, Sariel, yourself didn't have what it took, and that someone like me did... I will honour that faith. I wish I could say it was because of some higher cause, for a noble purpose like bringing world peace... But really, it's just because I'm pissed at Eterna. For one sidedly deciding we didn't get to live, for concluding such a heinous line of thought as fact because she was a superior being.
A piece of fractured tales, a mass of disheveled fiction, a reflection that's out of place. That's my existence, cobbled up by 5 spells from 5 magical girls. I don't think this could have been pulled off by anyone else. As someone reincarnated from the era of mystery, the previous era, I am an incomplete being. Just like the Yggdrasil from before. A strange existence that was never here or there, old humanity or new humanity? For a while now, some strange knowledge has mixed in with the rest of my memories, memories from Giselle and Sariel.
That's why, as such an odd existence in the first place, that was the only reason I could endure being revived without losing my sanity. When a soul loses its sanity, it'll likely tear itself apart. Not me. I'm a magical girl, the one Sariel placed her beliefs in. I stretch out my hand, and call out to my skill. I've always called it out, like a special move in those shows Arin talks about. There's something indispensable about a name, like you're acknowledging magic exists. It always stood out to me, my own idiosyncracy.
"Traces of the mystery era, {Envy}." (Lastia)
So I call it out with all of my being. My trusted partner second to Yggdrasil, its name has changed but its nature merely unfurled into something whole. {Feed} has always sucked at absorbing energy and firing it back, I always had to close the gap with a sheer difference in stats. Though this didn't apply to Giselle's {Feed}. It was good at energy conversion before, but now it's also good at information manipulation as {Yggdrasil}. It was truly unfair. But I'm sure {Yggdrasil} hadn't done this.
"Data assimilation." (Lastia)
The Oblivion Magia initially allowed me to predict Eterna's moves and dodge beforehand. However if Eterna merely did 2 actions instead of 1, my body wouldn't keep up. That's why... I will assimilate that data, reinforcing my body.
"One will acknowledge their destiny, and the other becomes falsehood... If you assimilate my parameters, you'll just become another Eterna. As a deity, we have that much conceptual foundation, no different from coming back from the dead..." (Eterna)
" It's assimilation, not absorption. A wholly distinct and unique flavour of {Envy}. " (Lastia)
As if making a demonstration, she closes the distance between them, her speed far faster than ever before. Her body even felt adjusted to the increased pressures, withstanding it perfectly... Eterna raises her fist, winding it up before it blurred into a flash. The fact that Lastia could see the wind up was already progress. The moment it blurred, she threw her own fist. They meet closer to Lastia's body, sending fissure throughout her body that shattered every muscle and bone.
Her eyes grew red with burst blood vessels, but this was the first time she didn't die instantly. The previous attacks have all been killing her before she gets revived by the sentinel's magic. Was this Sariel's plan from the start? An endlessly reviving magical girl, it made a lot more sense than throwing a C grade into the mess and hoping she could fix it. Sariel remaining on the other side of the mirror could also keep casting {Swap}, powering the 5 magic array. Lastly, Lastia seemed like she would go stronger with each death. Was this knowledge she inherited from Yggdrasil?
Was she alive? Was she dead? Reverting from fiction to reality and vice on versa, her existence was such a mess that it could never be expressed as any one thing. If forced to describe, perhaps she was a magic spell, drawing inspiration from the sentinel magic array. The effect of this magic, is to fight and defeat Eterna.
As she flew into the air, her lips slide into a smile. A grin undeniably aimed at Eterna.
"{Envy}, assimilation!!" (Lastia)
A burst of blackish red light explodes out of her body, flashing the world for a moment. Slowly, gradually, one or two stars appeared in the sunless sky. Then another, it increased at a sluggish pace, but it showed she was catching up to Eterna's authority, a display of threat. A fight that mirrors Yggdrasil's with The Invader, two twin authorities vying for supremacy.
Arms pulled back, their arms clashed violently, tearing through the surroundings without mercy. Deep ravines are driven into residential zone A2 and the sky, splitting clouds and concrete alike. Lastia materialised her great sword, manifesting the same sheen as her greaves and boots. Swinging with both arms, she brought the sword down with all her strength. Eterna swerved and extends her arm, delivering a hook before the Lastia could finish the swing.
The impacts blows apart flesh, ripping a chunk out of half of Lastia's torso, revealing shattered rib cage and spine. With her remaining arm, Lastia pushes ahead with the swing... But the great spew sparks and bounced off of Eterna's body. Ever since Eterna noticed the Oblivion Magia, she's been halting its expansion, but it hasn't ever disappeared. Moreover the magic coursing through Lastia's body from Eterna's attacks would definitely be analysed.
Continual assimilation. Lastia wouldn't stop no matter how many times she died. If one didn't account for her past, she was definitely still an ordinary girl. Or she would have been, if not for the curse. That strength that Eterna wields, she wants it. If she had it, could she have protected everyone? Arin, Giselle, all the other sentinels. She wouldn't ever stop pondering about this for the rest of her life. 'If I had what they have...'
That's why she's {Envy}'s wilder. That's why she was most suited... No, that's why it was born for her.
Her body had regenerated by the time her thoughts end, flung from a distance, Eterna gazed resolutely at her.
"Each time, I suppressed its deployment. Each time you use its power, that's an opening. Your Oblivion Magia is running out, all that's left can only cover your own body." (Eterna)
Absolute authority over all 3 eras, Superiority born from rule and right afforded by the universe... No, Eterna Is the universe's representative due to being the last god. She can't back out now, not with her pride on the line. It's so easy for her to run away, to never lay a hand on anyone ever again. To declare defeat and hide in the far reaches of the universe, why would anyone care to pursue her if she wasn't harming anyone?
To cower now... What made that any different from 11509 years ago?
'If I can't even defeat the one before me, then I won't be able to defeat The Primordial one.' (Eterna)
Her soul burned with determination.