Tiffany's laughter bubbled up from deep within her chest, pure excitement flowing through her. With a twirl of her body, she spun gracefully through the air, her greatsword repeatedly slashing against the armored daemon’s fist. As she spun, she felt the rush of air against her skin, the sensation exhilarating as it whipped around her in a whirlwind of motion. With each rotation, she pushed the iron daemon back, her strength and agility proving to be more than a match for its brute force. It stumbled backward, its massive fists swinging wildly as it struggled to maintain its footing against Tiffany's spinning assault.
But even as she focused on the iron daemon, Tiffany remained keenly aware of the other threats closing in around her. The claw daemon lunged forward, its razor-sharp claws gleaming in the dim light of the lobby as it sought to tear into her flesh. With a quick change of direction, Tiffany narrowly avoided its vicious swipe, the claws grazing harmlessly against the air as she spun out of harm's way. Behind her, the lightning daemon finally finished charging up, its crackling electrical energy pulsating with deadly zaps. Without even turning around to face it, Tiffany anticipated its lightning bolt attack and ducked out of the way, narrowly avoiding a potentially lethal blow.
She laughed as the lightning bolt struck the daemon covered in armor as she planned before turning and rushing toward the lightning daemon. Tiffany noticed the lightning that was surrounding it from before had now vanished. “Opportunity!” She happily exclaimed. Behind her, the other two daemons were chasing her. Unfortunately for them, they weren’t nearly fast enough to keep up with Tiffany despite the large sword she was holding in her hand.
Tiffany’s greatsword slashed straight through the lightning daemon’s torso. It vanished in a black cloud of smoke. But there was a strange look on her face. Her smile vanished as she realized that she didn’t feel her sword tearing through the daemon’s body. “I didn’t kill it!” She understood.
The polar bear mask-wearing girl backflipped out of the way of the combined attack of the two daemons who were intending to skewer her from behind. She then turned her attention to the Summoner. Dashing toward her without hesitation. In front of Amelia was the lightning daemon charging up with an aura of electricity zapping around its body.
Tiffany heard the same sound she did when she sliced through the lightning daemon. The iron daemon and the claw daemon soon appeared in front of her as well. However, Tiffany did not slow down in the slightest. She may have been outnumbered 1 to 4, but did that really mean anything? Apparently not because as she appeared in front of the four, she crouched, preparing to unleash a wide-arcing slash with her sword. “Taste my Super-Duper Mega Slash!” Tiffany excitedly called out.
Zoey watched closely. She’s been carefully watching since the beginning of the fight. It would be interesting to see if this lady had what it took to pull something new out of Tiffany that Zoey hadn’t seen before. Zoey knew for a fact that Tiffany was hiding many many things about herself. But she didn’t really care all too much about Tiffany’s background. What she cared about was how strong Tiffany was.
A small smile began to form on Zoey’s face as she saw something new being pulled out from Tiffany. It didn’t sound like a regular spell, but it definitely felt and functioned like a normal spell would. Like Zoey would say, “Combo Volume I: Combo Time!” for her magji. But it seems that step can be skipped or changed? Because Tiffany just unleashed a spell with only the words Super-Duper Mega Slash.
A spell that greatly expanded the size of her sword. As it grew, the sword sliced a small chunk of the building. Tiffany then caught all four of her opponents in the cleave. Using the back side of her sword, she slammed it into Amelia and her summons before smashing them through multiple floors below them.
‘Expansion magji…’ Inner Zoey noted.
‘I wonder if she can make herself grow.’ Zoey questioned.
‘Or if it's only objects.’
‘What about magji tools and daemonic objects?’
‘That’d be good to know too.’
‘We’d have a lot to look out for if we fought with her.’
‘But who knows if this is the only thing she has up her sleeve?’
‘We’re getting excited. Wipe that drool from our face.’
“Right!” Inner Zoey focused up. “Let’s go.” Zoey hopped down the hole leading to Amelia Patil.
“Okay!” Tiffany returned her sword back to its original size as she followed behind Zoey.
Behind Polar and Panda, Sammy Heights recorded down the shattered floors they were traveling down. She managed to record that entire battle. Adjusting her grip on her magji camera, Sammy paused, her mind buzzing with a whirlwind of thoughts and questions. "The battle that unfolded here..." she began, her voice steady yet tinged with a hint of disbelief. "It was unlike anything i’ve ever seen. Two criminal magjistars pitted against the Chief Peacekeeper herself."
As she spoke, Sammy's fingers danced across the interface of her magji tool, capturing the remnants of the skirmish with meticulous precision. Sammy carefully documented each flicker of movement, immortalizing every detail in video form. "And astonishingly," she continued, her words punctuated by the rapid clicks of her recording device, "it only took one of them to subdue her." Sammy's mind raced with questions, her thoughts racing like wildfire as she grappled with the implications of what she had just witnessed. "What does this mean for the people of Dhara?" she mused aloud, her voice echoing against the backdrop of destruction. "If one of these criminals is capable of defeating Chief Patil, what hope do we have of stopping them both?"
Her brow furrowed in thought as she considered the possibilities, her mind whirling with the magnitude of the challenge ahead. "Will Dhara need to seek assistance from other OM branches?" she pondered, her voice laced with uncertainty. "To stop this emergency threat?" Sammy's gaze drifted across the rubble-strewn floor, her expression grave as she contemplated the potential consequences of inaction. "If we can't find a way to stop them," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper, "could Dhara fall under the control of these powerful criminal magjistars?" The weight of her words hung heavy in the air, the silence that followed filled with a sense of foreboding.
Sammy Heights, a magjistar by technicality rather than renown, possessed neither the prodigious talent nor the innate gift of connate magji that distinguished the elite of magjistars. Her mahna reserves were meager, her abilities modest compared to the magjistars who commanded daemons and wielded mahna with effortless finesse. Yet, despite her limitations, Sammy refused to be confined by the constraints of her lesser talents.
With a determined spirit and a resolve forged in the fires of perseverance, Sammy embraced her role as a magjistar in her own right. Though her mahna was a flickering flame compared to the blazing infernos of her more gifted peers, she wielded it well enough to do things better than average non-magji. As she descended the same path that Panda and Polar had traversed, Sammy felt the strain on her mahna reserves intensify with each step. The effort required to maintain her footing was considerable, but she pressed on, driven by an insatiable thirst for the truth that pulsed within her veins like a raging river.
"What exactly did these two have planned for Chief Patil?" Sammy's voice echoed softly in the ruined office building, the weight of her question hanging heavy in the air. With each passing moment, her determination grew stronger, fueled by the burning desire to uncover the secrets that lay hidden beneath the surface.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity of painstaking progress, Sammy reached a safe distance from which to observe the enigmatic magjistars as they nabbed Amelia Patil's limp form and carried her over Panda’s shoulder like a sack of potatoes. There was a brazenness to their actions, a flagrant disregard for convention that sent a chill down Sammy's spine. "They didn’t even bother being discreet," she observed quietly, her eyes narrowed in contemplation as she watched them vanish into the bustling streets beyond. The audacity of their actions was staggering, leaving Sammy to wonder just who could wield such power with such impunity.
"Just who could be behind them to have so much confidence to do something like this in broad daylight…?" The question lingered in the air, unanswered yet pregnant with possibility. For Sammy Heights, it was a mystery begging to be solved, a puzzle whose pieces lay scattered in the shadows, waiting to be brought into the light. And as she turned her gaze back toward the scene before her, she knew that her journey was far from over.
If it was the last thing she did, Sammy Heights promised to find out the identities of these magjistars and who was backing them. The truth will be revealed, no matter what.
Patreon
