—“It’s pretty funny to be honest… The developers of this game asked some of us for permission to use us in their game. I mean, it’s pretty cool, like cool as hell. I’m in an anime game; isn’t this like, one of those dream come true moments.”
‘Not the time other me; say something useful, please!’ Natasha grumbled, her lips firmly placed together and her originally pink lips were already blue. She could sense it, she was beginning to lose her strength and the inevitability of death was slowly getting to her.
She wouldn’t die for real, right? Would she be safe if she died before the next time loop? Would death before the time loop count for real, or could she still be saved? The owner of the time loop should be quite inexperienced, judging by how she still had her memories after time literally reversed, so maybe it can’t save her from death?
There were many questions, and of course, like all questions, these needed answers, but Natasha couldn’t receive any answers she wanted anywhere.
‘This sucks,’ Feeling the increasing amount of stiffness in her right arm, Natasha couldn’t resist pouting like a child. ‘Ahhh. Unfair, so unfair! The world is against me!’
Just as she was thinking this, she unconsciously moved to the side; a beam of light that wasn’t really lightspeed, but rather a flaming flare or blast, cruised near her head. It was a close call, but it had thankfully not touched her silver hair. If that thing had messed up her hair, she would have tried to kill it.
‘I went through many pains to comb these pesky silver locks into something with personality and shine. it takes effort for a girl to get a guy, you know?’ Natasha lectured the tactless and dumb Flame Monkey in her mind, using her right foot to kick off of a wall to assist her turn, going a bit on the left before swinging back on the right again to turn another corner.
Her bike hung low, near parallel to the ground, but she held and then came back up. Momentarily, she had lost the Flame Monkey. Just as she thought that she could catch a break from the situation and reorganize her thoughts...
The ground started trembling slightly, dust and such falling off of the newer buildings in the Northern School District where she was. Normally, with tremors passing through regularly like in the last few minutes, Natasha wouldn’t have paid this any mind, thinking it would be over in the next few moments.
But no. This one seemed, continuous.
‘A continuous tremor...' Natasha hummed, recalling past education, ‘If I remember what they taught me correctly during that summer camp, it should be at the level of a Magnitude 4 earthquake or below.’
It wasn't a piece of common history, but in the past Natasha had attended the camp hosted by the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS). This was around the time that her parents were still around and wanted her to learn all sorts of things...
Natasha started pedaling again, hearing the sound of the Flame Monkey. Till this very minute, she had yet to see it;s full appearance, only knowing it was a Monkey that Wielded Flames.
During the time when the tremors were still happening, Natasha rode high and low, her face showing signs of fatigue no matter where she went. She had only seen a few students through the windows, and she had a wry smile every time she spotted one.
‘Honestly, being magical would have been so much more fun if I could actually control my powers and just one shot this flame monkey that just keeps chasing me all around the place. But no, I just had to not be able to use my powers, and now I have to ride a bike while being chased around like some kind of circus performance. There is a Monkey right behind me that can use fire! Why am I the one doing the performances, huh? Why am I the protagonist of this clownery!? All the while some of my fellow students, which I am pretty sure do not know me, watch me through the windows in leisure. Isn't this a humiliation? This is humiliating.’
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Natasha wrote for her life and complained extensively along the way. She didn't think she was being bitchy in any way.
Speaking from an outside perspective, it was normal to complain while being chased around for your life. Meanwhile, a part of your right side was... quite frankly, useless, more of a burden or liability than anything else. It gave up on helping you in any way.
Except for her right leg. Her right arm was directly incapacitated.
Needless to say, it hurt like hell. It was also a pain in the ass because it continuously didn't respond to her commands. Nowadays, she used only her left hand to turn the bike handle and used her right leg to turn around tight corners. She had lost about 10–20% of her overall mobility on the bike. Though it was much better than running because she would be even worse off.
Although she had begun to notice that the regenerative, or rather the endurance, capabilities of what they call Magical Girls were quite extensive. Even now, she had barely begun to feel fatigue, although she was indeed tired. Perhaps she hadn’t needed to get a bike in the first place? She couldn’t help but have such thoughts.
Natasha quickly shook her head, chuckling at her own thoughts: ‘If I had ever decided to run from the beginning, I still wouldn't have made it to the others, and I would be much more tired than I am now, even with the enhancement, or likely enhancement, of my physique due to the Corastrum. Being a magical girl also comes with dangers. Right now I'm being chased by a Flame Monkey that I’m 90% sure wants to eat me. Maybe that wouldn’t have happened if I ran from the beginning. Or maybe if I did run and if I didn't have my bike, I would have been chased by something else. Ultimately, having a vehicle is much more reliable than having your own body, especially if that body is still human, in terms of speed.’
At least for now.
Natasha knew that her speed and the speed of everything else would only continue to increase, as would their strength and abilities over the elements or whatever concept they were connected to. She didn't know her own powers, but she knew that the magical girl that was likely in the southern area of campus controlled time to a certain extent.
That was immensely powerful.
So she knew that magical girls were not weak and they could have strong powers, so what about their enemies? What about the meta-beasts that chase after them and likely want to consume them? Shouldn't they be strong also?
A predator couldn’t really hunt if it was weaker than it’s prey.
The flame monkey was only a 1 star, and yet it was capable of destroying multiple buildings, making several dozen meters long and several meters deep craters, and has flames that ionize the air to a height that was similar to the Tokyo Tower. She couldn't even imagine what something like a 2 star, a 3 star, or even a 4 star could do. She couldn't imagine it at all.
While this made her terrified, it also made her equally excited. This was because she had a 4-star Corastrum, meaning that she was of the highest level of potential that one could get. She just needed to awaken her abilities, and this dreadful situation would come to a halt; at least she believed so. She and Leon and all the others in the school, which she may or may not intend to save, would be fine as long as she got an awakening, possibly...
‘I wonder what rank or star level that other magical girl is. Are there other magical girls around her, or is it just her, Leon and another ordinary girl?’ Natasha thought for a while, before the ground, which was continuously rumbling, began to shake even more intensely.
Natasha’s face became slightly bad. ‘It seems that the Magnitude is increasing...’
As for the Flame Monkey? It seemed to grow agitated, and Natasha knew that her train of continuous thought was going to be halted.
‘Back to intensely peddling for my life,’ Natasha could no longer feel much in her right arm.
She was very much doomed.
The Corastrum on her neck glowed quietly, seemingly observing the situation.
