*
"... Did you mean what you said? I... I don't know the limit of your powers but your base strength is also A rank, isn't it?" (Lastia)
"... You're right. The only way I could fight was to borrow power from myself." (Arin)
"What did you mean by that?" (Lastia)
Without Sariel's cooperation, they had to travel towards residential zone 2B by foot. As magical girls, they had comparable speed to fighter jets, beating the speed of light by a few folds. This was when they had already left the vicinity of their school and were in a random segment of a neighbouring zone.
Lastia had always thirsted for knowledge, it didn't change back then and it won't change now. Her priority might have been to preserve a brighter future for the next 'Lastia', but it also didn't stop her from branching out with curiosity. Like a newborn exploring their home to acclimatised to their motor movements, her inquisitive nature naturally seeped out.
"In other words, this is not your only 'self'. It's hard to conceptualise, but it wouldn't be the strangest thing for a magical girl.
Do you function like an insect colony?" (Lastia)
Half out of curiosity, and half out of spite, she laid out her conjecture packed with venom. Even Arin had to process her words twice while writhing in her own clothes to regain her composure. Observing her partner's silence, Lastia was hardly surprised, so she continued.
"Arin. Patience can only bring one so far. The only reason I can tolerate you handling such important secrets... Secrets related to the arcane, is because I have patience in spades due to my curse.
Eventually, if something bad happens and it becomes too late to salvage anything. Even that will run out. " (Lastia)
Arin keeps her eyes forward as she traveled, there were hopping along the roofs of buildings at high speeds. Their body tore through the wind effortlessly, like fish swimming through water or bullets plunging into flesh.
"I... There aren't multiple of me. What I meant by borrowing power from myself... Is that the current me will use a channel to extract energy from my past self. Because it is from myself, it is a {Barter} of minimal cost. " (Arin)
"Really? Violating temporality induces a minimal cost?" (Lastia)
She didn't understand why she was ruthless in her own questioning. This wasn't a normal disposition for Lastia, as if she had been possessed. But the stranger truth was that this was herself. Despite her lack of memories, she retained... Her feelings in regards to Arin and Sariel... Her resistance to the curse has grown stronger to the point where she can infer about her own memories from her interactions and emotions regarding the two...
'I see... Soon, I won't even forget these 2 anymore. The Lastias from now on might be linked as a single being now... I might be the last to die.' (Lastia)
It fills her with a sense of drowning loneliness, yet oddly enough... She felt hopeful. No one else, it might simply end with her. The influence of her curse will take a drastic reduction. For now, she still had to suppress her smile at this deduction, at her hope for the future.
"It doesn't count as a normal trade, in fact the value of it is lower than usual. It still costs a monumental quantity of my magical energy, but this decrease in cost makes it possible to make it a reality." (Arin)
'She was borrowing power from her past self, is she currently weakened?' (Lastia)
Past and future self... It's a lot like how Lastia regards her 'selves'...
" We're here. " (Arin)
They arrive at the edge, true to her words, thus place was a desolate wasteland. There was nothing beyond the imaginary border marking this territory, the numerous rows of train tracks that carry people around the world. There weren't any vehicles capable of air travel, at least not in the residential zone. That's why those who work in the commercial zone often live in hostels or apartments in those zones. Lastia's parents share such a circumstance, she wasn't sure about Arin and Sariel's situation, but she couldn't imagine it to be a rare situation.
Lastia looked to the ground beyond the zone... Her footsteps weighing heavy on the train track as she licked the sight with her eyes. There's no mistaking it, the soot covered ashen ground stops right at the tracks... This was no coincidence...
The tracks were completely unharmed. Even this level of destruction was completely within the bounds of the enemy's control.
"Why... Why do you know so much about the heavenly kings? You've never really hidden your expertise, while you refuse from divulging the core information...
It's like you're begging for your secrets to be discovered. I kept quiet out of respect for that, but if we're fighting a heavenly king, I don't think I could continue on with such a passive stance. " (Lastia)
"... You might just find out... That I'm a ~~~~~ ~~~~. " (Arin)
"... " (Lastia)
She stares off into Arin's gaze with a profound bewilderment, her thoughts frozen and attempting to break free from the chains of incomprehension. At that moment, it sounded like the air itself was distorting around her to prevent Arin's words from leaking. But she knew for a fact that there was no such magical phenomena around, she was already transformed and her senses for magic energy were sharpened even beyond the average magical girl.
Then that distortion? It's not in the air, it was in her mind. It's way more minute, way harder to track, way harder to explain. Something similar to a physical law took place, a rule of this work prevented the transmission of that specific bit of information. Otherwise an enemy would have to specifically hack or obliterate her magic defence to activate such a magic inside her head.
Arin's eyes glistened under the setting sun, painting a side of her cheek gold. So full of hope and anticipation they were, almost as if they were to pop out at any moment. Her lips parted in expectation, unable to close in the suspense. Even though their conversation from this point was wordless, it was nonetheless devastating.
What was she hoping for? Why was she so focused on this matter when there was a powerful enemy right around the corner? Naturally, it meant that this was to most important thing to Arin's life, at least in the current moment. Then it stands to reason that Arin... Desired for Lastia to hear to contents of her words. So she grimaced in a an ugly manner and looked down. She shut her eyes unable to bear Arin's expectations.
"Sorry... But I'm not your knight in shining armour." (Lastia)
"It's... It's okay." (Arin)
Even without looking, she could sense the choking in Arin's intonation.