*
White ashes fly off her body like supernatural haze, an ominous premonition Wells up in Ledaine's eyes. Why? Preparations should have been perfect.
Yggdrasil peeks at his visage silently. He is physically in another dimension, in the comforts of absolute safety. He was in no negotiable terms, here to mock his enemy while she was knocked down a peg. He could cast his magic from afar, he couldn't be attacked, he figured her weakness and could directly conjure it with his skill. So what was making his skin crawl?
In a state between life and death, computing and not computing, her existence blurs. Slipping into the deluge of the natural universe, becoming one with nature or in the process of doing so... She was on the verge of dying, what was he so afraid about? Why had she stopped struggling to breath? It was terrifying to directly witness something he could not understand.
"So that's the state you're in." (Yggdrasil)
Overlapping voices, the one directly before him, and one that appeared behind him unexpectedly. Existence and non-existence, that was the state that {Nerve} put the whole space in. It does not reside in this universe, it is essentially its own independent pocket dimension. In other words, she could no longer be treated like a magical girl. She is a semi divine being, having discarded her mortal coil. As such death is no longer the same as being unable to interact with the world.
She can exist as a soul life form, and even without the soul she can persist in nonexistence. For souls in mythology, people would refer to this process as 'passing on'. Going to another world, an underworld, a paradise, any other place of sorts. She 'passed on', the underworld is the enemy's hideout. Painting over reality with myth, rather than creating a pocket space to hide from her, the user of {Nerve} used the underworld as their secret bunker.
History retroactively changed, they were always in the underworld. The universe sees no wrong with this definition she gave to what was once lacking in definition. From imaginary to reality, her opponent's state was reversed. They never realised they were in the underworld, {Nerve} opened its gates and they operated as per normal. There are no contradictions with the world's laws, so it was accepted. Magic values the result rather than the process, if the result fits in line then consider the process the same thing as what was assumed.
This was only possible with multiple factors combining in these circumstances. The most important of all being to possess a sliver of Eterna's authority. The universe is her appendage and we are her cells, that is what this transaction entailed. Smoke flooded the bunker, with everything nearby vaporised. All that's left is Ledaine's and whoever he tried to shield. He still has more authority, he won't die. But she sure as hell will make a mess before her body's completely taken over. She understood, he was using his magic to take over her being. Like sending in a computer virus.
The effect of being weakened was a collateral effect from being taken over. He was seizing control of her existence, to use as the most powerful pawn. She can't let that come to pass. The smoke clears, a clear barrier flickers in and out of existence, outlining a spherical environment around Ledaine. This is a terminal, a split off clone that manifested inside the bunker. She was in the process of dying or being possessed by the enemy. This was her last moments.
Her being whisks past space, leaving behind the concept of speed. An infinite number of mirage spread out, filling the bunker with terror inducing pressure. Like a zombie film where an outbreak occurs within a safe zone. No escape. Her body floats in the space before Ledaine, a single outstretched palm rubs across the clear barrier, causing it to melt. It turns into a viscous transparent gel as flames erupt into his body, burning his ears and windpipe. His eyeballs melt as he conjures another barrier, warding off the attack.
"Do you need me to repeat?" (Yggdrasil)
His thoroughly burnt body gazes at her from its blackened charred state. A single eyeball observing her intently for her thoughts. In an instant, he regenerates to a fully unaffected state, but his burnt clothes leave a lasting reminder. She swings her foot for a high kick, busting the second barrier, only to collide head on with a third. He ducks under before the third gives way under pressure and rushes forward at a low angle. Her being, her attacks are very inefficient, very energy intensive. She puts a lot of magic energy just to output little in terms of force.
But it's also the inefficiencies that define her threat. She's spreading out the energy on purpose, she isn't prioritising his death. She understands it might be too late to take him down, so she's busting up the underworld bunker and his reserve forces. A single punch on his barrier sent waves of intense heat and radiation to wash down the corridor. She's painting this place in blood. {Nerve} and a few executives were sent out just moments prior for a separate mission, in no doubt it was due to a little foresight.
Her focus was painted completely on him the moment he attacked the core of her existence. He set off for the next step of the plan, the executives were sent out along with the reserve armies. This was a nearly barren land and she failed to notice. Her senses from the real world have already been cut off since her authority was attacked, in other words this dying ember is all that was left.
***
"The tree's gone...!" (Faramicia)
A boy with dirty blond hair remarks. With him were Hengji, Jianmi, Eichirou, close classmates that came over amidst this disaster. Thoughts dishevelled, swimming in a sea of chaos. The sky had suddenly turned red when they arrived, and the ominous looming pitch black tree vanished. Nasty premonitions from all around, no ordinary person could make sense of any of it. First, that tree was irremovable. Wouldn't it Vanishing be more concerning? When the threat is directly in front of you, it's less scary than if you didn't know where it went. Naturally expecting a tree to function like an ambush predator wasn't particularly normal, but neither was its appearance.
Other than Hengji who sported tan brown hair, the rest were blond. Not that he found himself out of place in particular. His fingers lightly brushed the window as his breath resumed.
"What's going on?" (Hengji)
He couldn't help but choke out, even if he knew no one here had the answer. An effort in vain, but the terror seizing his heart would not let his cry remain in his mind.