*
"I've likely already alerted the sentinels all over the earth. You-" (Sariel)
"And leave you alone? Give up. That's the last thing I'll ever do. {Feed} maximum output... No, 100+ percent, theoretical limit reacher sustained with yggdrasil's main terminal privileges.
Changing my decision at the last moment might seem completely strange or cowardly, but I don't regret it even if someone was brainwashing me to do this. It's in line with what I would do if I wasn't such a coward, because it's what I need to protect what I love! It's what I need to keep you from being alone! " (Lastia)
"... Then prove me wrong. I'm sorry to say you weren't needed, I probably need you more than I think...
But that's also why I won't let you face danger again. " (Sariel)
A white pillar dives from the night sky, so brilliant that it casts even the plastering moonlight in darkness, as if to rebel against the skies.
" {Swap} - Refined ultimate technique, beyond asynchronous! Anachronistic veil of the artificial end. Sub-application, Selene's tear." (Sariel)
The light strikes Lastia in an instant, but she makes no show of blocking it. Endless scarlet light pours out of her body like a broken faucet, deflecting the light.
" Theoretically all you have to do is output more energy than {Feed} can convert. I would be a sitting duck with no choice but to die." (Lastia)
"You had time to dodge, I made a show of the moon itself." (Sariel)
"It's nice to see that you still have faith in me. I won't be revealing my cards here, but I'm sure you can easily guess how I survive." (Lastia)
"You mentioned it on your own. You broke your limits with a tool, with yggdrasil. Using {Feed} to enhance {Feed}." (Sariel)
If she didn't put in at least this much effort, she would never convince Sariel. She needed more cards, she needed concrete strength to show Sariel that she wasn't in any danger. Only by relieving her heart of this burden could she convince Sariel to allow her to be keep being a magical girl. Yggdrasil is a entity of computation, a theoretical result of information that is able to create or hold more information.
The simulation wielded by Lastia allows the usage of energy beyond her natural limits, this is what gave her the ability to breach the natural barrier between B ranks and A ranks. Then what of the limit at A rank? That was yggdrasil's own limit. The only way to get past that was to allocate some computation to handling the magic without overloading the body. Imagine, there was now more than 1 yggdrasil's simulation, and more importantly more than 1 Lastia. The complex circulation in a magical girl's body was recreated outside her body, forming multiple storage units, overlayed and placed within her own body.
With this discovery, she can distribute the burden of handling excess energy to other rudimentary units called burden units. Her magic was massively directed to powering the simulation, while the simulation did all the computing and sustaining of auxiliary units.
"123... 123 Lastias worth of power is needed to convert all this energy without any energy." (Lastia)
" That's an insane leap..." (Sariel)
"... It is primitive, the only thing that could be enhanced with this tech, is the output of {Feed}. My physical abilities remain at A rank, maybe worse. For example, I am completely immobile right now. " (Lastia)
"...!" (Sariel)
A dark scarlet laser shot through the white pillar showering Lastia and hit Sariel's waist, burning her flesh. Sariel's {Swap} functions as the numerous fresnel lenses concentrating the moonlight into a laser, using her delayed synchronicity to swap multiple regions of light into the same spot and retaining their momentum with delicacy. It was converted into excess energy by {Feed} and stored by {Feed}, now a small portion of it shot at Sariel.
In this battle they do little to any physical movements, mostly playing mind games and staring at each other. Whether it was due to hesitation, fear of hurting each other, or something else entirely they didn't know. To Lastia, it feels like she's stuck in a nightmare. To Sariel, it feels like she's hurting her own heart. The wound in her waist stings before closing rapidly. Attacks at this level would only leave a lasting impact if it ruptured their brain.
"...! The way you're using magic, it's-" (Lastia)
"The same as you. Yggdrasil's simulation, peripheral terminal connection established." (Sariel)
It brings anyone up a rank as long as they could establish a connection, that was how she fought off Taneda without losing instantly. S rank, it was enough magic to completely wipe off a residential zone from the map.
" You lied. You didn't {Swap} the moon's position, it made little sense to use the moon's light compared to the sun's since distance is an irrelevant factor...
The power too, it might have been less concentrated..." (Lastia)
The sky had been darkening since the beginning, if something as massive as the moon had changed places, there would be planetary devastation wreaking havoc all over the world. In other words everything she had seen was localised to a small region, the sky was likely the correct colour in the neighbouring regions, let alone having an early night in other parts of the world. She used {Swap} to concentrate the afternoon light together, the full moon Lastia saw was the concentration of light that Sariel stored high in the sky.
"... Damn, it's quite a waste to lose a trick this quickly. That's right, the light has not enough momentum, I am merely placing it in the shape of a pillar." (Sariel)
The pillar vanishes, Lastia was surrounded in a ball of white light and intense heat. Magic energy may be easier to absorb, but this was physical heat that was bound to disintegrate everything around her. The ground melted, swallowing a portion of her feet. The concentration was not only pressing down on her, now even the ground was entrapping her.
"Tch! Yggdrasil's simulation needs a concrete frame of reference to compute its targets, it can't go beyond the energy output of this ball of light, only just enough.
I have to defeat her while immobilised... Not exactly my forte with how I like to get close and personal... " (Lastia)
One scarlet laser shot after another, blasting at high speeds like a machine gun. Sariel runs around the ball of light, hopping occasionally to dodge each bullet. She slides over the ground, diving under the next few shots before jumping onto the roof of another building. The ball of light, all of her fire power was already concentrated, what would she do next? Wait it out?