*
Chains, chains, and more chains. Linked via black threaded tension, they sprawl across the air, dot the sky. They rustle with soft metallic links, letting known their presence. Their colour, pitch black, was never meant to hide in the day anyway.
"Your efforts, your resolve. No one will know they existed, no one will acknowledge your contributions." (Aster/Remnant of {Anxiety})
"... {Fated ones evanescent dream}. I will determine that myself. " (Sentinel, Taneda Vila)
She props up he double sided steel broad blade, her magic giving it a faint purplish grey lustre as it gleams in the air in front of her. The chains swing down one after the other, like violent thrown whips severing chunks of air. One collision, then two, numerous chains slam into her sword, numbing her arms.
She slams a foot into the ground and pivots, sensing the presence behind her. Her blade meets a black blade with intense ferocity. A concussion assaults her mind, causing an incessant ringing to irritate her ear drums.
" Did you think I was a long range type because of these chains? That numbing you feel... It's enough for me to push through." (Aster)
Taneda falls unconscious, her feet slid on the ground and her body fell softly over a pair of arms.
"... These memories were a curse. After their arrival... I can't help but recall. If I had known... No, I didn't want to know. I shouldn't have remembered, but it's too late..." (Aster)
Lost in a string of incoherent murmurs, she stumbled a few steps before subconsciously placing her right hand on her head. Bits and pieces of experiences bind to her mind, infiltrating her memories. She could not discern if they were her own, once suspecting that someone implanted memories into her head with magic, as a way of harassment. Her nerves were taut, carefully preparing her next move, while battling her inner turmoil. She could temporarily forget about it during battle, likely the gift of being a Remnant.
"Which life should be prioritised?" (Aster)
Taneda had just resolved the artillery attack at one of the residential zones. She cleared away all the cannons, they packed enough power to plow through large buildings, there was no way for these instruments to remain exclusively as magic circles and not have physical apparatus supporting their function. Visually, they looked like mortars with an ancient design philosophy, a column with the width of two palms. However, geometrically they resemble a cuboid with a square facing chamber that touched the sides of the mortar with its corners.
Leaving the body behind, she began running. Faster, faster. Her thoughts echoed until her surroundings were a blur.
***
"... Intelligence. This is the sole difference between the current enemies and the old, unlike primitive Traces or ancient monsters, these beings can plan ahead and prepare.
Preparation, expectation, reaction. We can't solve this with brawns alone, I'm not saying that the key is the sole utilisation of intellect... We need both brains and brawn, and we have to exploit the nature of intelligence. " (Yggdrasil)
" A simple concept that comes to mind is deception. Execution is another matter. However the rudimentary essence is that we have to conceal, deceive, and capitalise on that difference in information. " (Sariel)
"If I help too much, they might recognise me. I believe the two of you are capable of defeating them. Please just count me as added muscle. I'll make it count. " (Arin)
Silence fills the room. They had known that Arin had unknown history to some extent. A past that stared back like the abyss, hiding mountains and hordes of secrets. A shared past to heavenly kings and potentially the origin of all Traces...
"Somehow... I think I'm jealous..." (Yggdrasil)
Arin stared at her, red faced with a gaping maw. Sariel resorted to covering her face with her palms. Such a straight forward show of envy... Even these two got their heart strings tugged a little.
" Ahem! So, what difference is there? How do we determine what each party knows?" (Sariel)
"... The radio, you busted it up back then. Once it loses its signal, that's how they know the places where there are strong magical girls.
The other zones will be written off as too weak to matter. We don't know when they'll attack us in person, but we can assume they know our approximate location. Not to mention the spacial ambush before then... " (Arin)
She wouldn't formulate plans, but she can still offer insights. Or at least it's what she's claiming. They were threading on new territory, other than the Remnant, Aster, this was the first time they fought a group of intelligent beings. Was it a group? If it was all done by a single individual, that would be all the more terrifying. Artillery, ambushes, they were careful not to reveal the abilities of their skills. So a safe assumption is that the enemy might have some knowledge on their skills, but they won't have any of them. This changes the urgency of battle, the longer it went the more risk it stood for them as their skills get analysed and prepared against.
"Alright, here's what we'll do..." (Yggdrasil)
***
There's only so much an inferior group can do. There's no way to contact the sentinels, and the sentinels were likely the main focus in the first place. The spacial ambush at the classroom, it's ridiculous to think they were the only recipient now. They could only hope the magical girls in other zones made it out safe. This was an enemy that could prepare ambushes undetected, with traps that are lethal to C grades. It might seem like an insignificant level of power, but that's the peak of the current era's magical girls.
Lastia who grew abnormally from the defeat of heavenly kings via {Feed}, and Arin who likely had origins beyond this era were anomalies. The sentinels were warriors collected throughout history that were cultivated to reach A grade, each with talents and hard efforts of their own that span countless years. They broke through by utilising time beyond a human's life span. Usually magical girls would retire after some time, and a new generation would pick up their mantle. Likely, the factor that stops one from retiring was Eterna herself, picking and choosing those suitable to continue protecting humanity. A selection of sorts that also went unseen throughout the millenia. These forces would eventually converge in a violent storm, sparing none.