Hope born of solitus

*

Right, everyone has a different degree of adaptation to magical energy, how much magic their body could handle and use... It varies so drastically that it must make a big difference depending on who ends up as a magical girl.

I turn my waist and face my back, my left arm pulled back and trusted forward like a catapult, obliterating the gazing corpse that had come close. That adaptation will also be the exact reason why I cannot grow stronger indefinitely, even if I kept using {Feed} and endure the mental strain. Eventually my body will reach a limit in how much magic it could contain. At this point I'm already excessively over the normal limit.

If we can define a quantitative limit to magical energy, then the amount that I naturally store up without using {Feed} is the normal limit. Using {Feed} to suck up energy and power myself up pushes myself beyond that limit, yet challenging it will also lead to growth in my natural capacity and adaptation. That meant that the moment I used {Feed} without an injuries, my body was already working in a manner akin to overclocking. Now, if it was pushed even further... I might just physically break down and die. I wouldn't be able to regenerate, as the energy fueling my regeneration would be the culprit that decompose my body.

I will keep to absorbing the gravitational energy pulling me down, as the amount of magic I'm carrying grows larger, the fixed amount that I'm absorbing from gravity becomes relatively smaller compared to how much I'm carrying. As long as I don't go crazy, I shouldn't break down yet. At the same time I must keep outputting this energy, channeling it into my fist, I swung horizontally. The gazing corpse in front of me splits into two and flies backwards into another of its kind, puncturing it to the point of falling apart.

They're taking too long... Even if the opponent was difficult to beat, taking this long meant that they're in trouble aren't they?

"... Arin, could you take care of this place?" (Lastia)

I looked to her and spoke. Of course I was at an unreasonable distance away, there was no chance that she could hear me. However, she nodded. I couldn't see the intricacies of her magical girl outfit from here, only that she was roughly wearing a large black coat. Her hair had also changed a shade more vibrant. It was no longer blackish navy but now it seemed to match the dark ocean depths, shining more vibrant under the gold evening dew.

"Alright, I'll be heading off now." (Lastia)

I regretted it.

I flew towards the crack in the sky, I had no idea where the main subjugation party was situated, so this foreign intrusion into the earth was my only lead. Rather than fly, it was more like I was jumping on thin air. It felt like I was no closer than I was at the start, it was an unimaginable distance away. It was easier to suspect that the crack is outside of the earth and the sky had opened up to reveal it instead. Tch! No matter how much I jumped, it just wasn't realistic to get there physically. I need something like Sariel's magic...

Right... The signal I used earlier. 30 minutes was a rough estimate, but my perception might have been exaggerated due to how many gazing corpses I pounded into dust. If it was lesser time, that would be great, I would have a lower chance of being too late. However, Sariel... I don't know where she is, or if she'll even be seeking the signal again from where she is.

There's no choice. With this B grade quantity of magic, I will force {Feed} myself into growing exponentially. This crack threatens the earth anyway, no one would mind if I absorb all magic on earth, right? I got down to work at once, endlessly, instantly, a nearly transparent scarlet light spreads over the surrounding air. The light continues to expand until it reaches a certain distance, this was the maximum range I could reach before hitting my limit...

Limits... Are for losers. Even if my body breaks down, I have to {Feed} more, I can't stop here. The light recedes back into my body, collecting the newly absorbed magic.

"Kghhh!!! Agh!!" (Lastia)

Searing, my insides were being cooked alive and torn apart at the same time. As if it was being pulled in all directions, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts... I don't know I could continue, but it hurts... My body wouldn't listen to me, I wouldn't listen to me...! Before I noticed, my tears had obscured my vision and I was free falling from the sky.

"No. No...! I can't stop here!" (Lastia)

Even if I plummet to my death, I have to keep trying. I can't give up or there would be no meaning! Again, I spread my magic out to absorb as much as possible, much to the dismay of my screaming flesh. Then I force the light to recede back into my body again. Again! Again! Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again. Again!

I repeated the cycle over and over, closing my eyes and shutting the suffering out. When I lifted my weary eyelids, there was nothing but a blinding light. I must look like a shooting star right now... Now matter where and how far I saw into the distance, there was only white. It's my body, it's glowing from all the magical energy leaking out. I also... Can no longer feel my own body. It has already begun breaking down. My nerves are gone, naturally my eyes should have evaporated as well. Perhaps I wasn't as bright as a star, and that this was just the scene of the afterlife.

If there was a heaven, I don't believe I would be sent there. This hollow shell of a human life has nowhere to go. Then maybe... This is purgatory. I used {Feed} to the theoretical limit, there is nothing beyond this point. If I was alive, then the magical energy must be sustaining my conscious, but my conscious would also follow suit after my body breaks down. There was a limit to everything, this was the simple consequence of crossing it.

The world loses its light, everything dims at once as if the lights illuminating the universe had been turned off.