*
Arin transformed as well, a black coat with layers of fur stretched towards the ground with a regal aura. Her white collar shirt gave an ounce of professionalism to her atmosphere, couple with a thick black belt full of black metal engravings and a short beige mini skirt. In her palm laid her favourite magic pistol, it featured a chamber made of an unknown crystalline material and a simple automatic trigger.
Pressing the trigger wasn't necessary to fire, but having more options to control her firing rate was good to have.
"It's good that you got serious." (Lastia)
A wide smile was worn between her cheeks, a little maniacal. Lastia had a little guilty enjoyment of battle, a battle maniac if you will. Though otherwise, she was mostly composed. Not to be mistakened, this was a mostly rare occurrence...
It was at a time like this... That Arin had to bare her fangs.
"If I didn't, then what?! Let you step over me?
Let's be clear, I do everything of my own accord out of kindness for you. Since you stepped on my tail, even I have to be angry sometimes." (Arin)
Dignity, though varying in volume, it exists in all things living. They moved to the streets outside, readily desolate and lacking in witnesses for their minor disagreement. The sky was way past gold and had a mellow dark azure hue, like the last scene of a drowning victim. Devoid of stars or anything pretty dazzling, such as the moon.
Dark scarlet light congealed over her dress, flowing between the gaps in the fabric and around her, transitioning into her enhanced form.
"Yggdrasil simulation, source loop double circulation, main terminal {Feed}." (Lastia)
The chaotic dark scarlet light gains an air of order, flowing smoothly around her body in perpetual rhythm. Not a single bit discarded or underutilised. Her traits rise up a rank from B rank to A rank, looking at it now if she had remembered the sensations from before, the gap would seem smaller. Was it always this easy to cross ranks? Then again, she had no idea how 'A rank' felt for her body, mere empty words on a piece of paper wouldn't help her win this battle.
She gets into a battle stance, her arms at the ready and her back bent. The magic coating her body gets denser, the scarlet darker. Conversely, a white aura wraps around Arin, contrasting with her black coat. These greyish wisp float passively around her, before Lastia noticed, a gun had already settled between Arin's fingers. The familiar sensation of the cold metal and magic composite caresses her skin, as if slipping right into her grip. Her knuckles tensed and gripped around the trigger without a second thought, almost like it was hypnotised.
Her black coat floats into the air as if it was natural, a white button shirt with a fluffy collar is wrapped snuggly around her waist, her large belt and short beige skirt gives off the impression of an office lady or researcher. She jumps back and fires shots, taking advantage of the distance between them to pull off free attacks with no chance of retaliation. Lastia hops forward, as if anticipating it. Really, what else would she do with the gun in her hand? Lastia swings at blinding speeds, smashing apart the magic bullets mid air.
The gun was first crafted with various Trace parts she preserved, the handle and chamber is there for aesthetics, truthfully she can fire with her thoughts alone and the bullets manifest outside the chamber as an act of {Barter} generates them. She fires another volley, her heel expertly threads the concrete road outside Lastia's home and launches her further back. It's risky not looking behind, but there wasn't time to adjust.
Lastia runs forward, gradually closing the distance. She crossed her arms and bears the impact of the bullets, this time they were too numerous to individually deflect with her fists. When...? When did Arin reach A rank? Her aura... The impression that her magic gave off initially, wasn't that threatening to begin with. If we go by the ranking definitions stated in the diary, the primary basis for gauging someone's 'rank' was by sheer instinct in how 'life threatening' Lastia felt they were.
...! That's it, those grey orbs floating around Arin, she's enhanced herself with some unknown method. It doesn't matter the efficiency, cost or whatever flaws it has, the facts are that right now Arin is fully capable of keeping up with her speed. At the same time, Arin's travel speed was noticeably lacking compared to her reaction speed, the distance between them was rapidly closing. It's because she was running backwards while firing her guns, so it was reasonably slower than running forwards.
Throwing herself into the ground, Lastia slammed her arms into the road and spun. Fractures spread outwards from the point of impact in the concrete, her fingers claw downwards like an animal, throwing her legs over from behind her, pulling off a somersault. Her slender body cuts across the remaining gap between them, slamming her legs into Arin like a heavy ram. Arin blocks with her twin pistols, their flat blocky textures bear the brunt of the impact without breaking.
Gritting her teeth and straining her wrists, Arin pushes against her pistols, throwing Lastia off while releasing her weapons from her hand. She hopped upwards, over the rooftop of a nearby building, regenerating a new set of pistols in her hands. After a short moment, Lastia landed on a few roof tiles at a quick distance away from Arin. This particular building's roof was angled like a triangle, fully kitted with layers of porcelain tiles. Lastia's footing wasn't quite secure here, so Arin will be taking advantage of that.
Running towards her, Arin fired a other wave of bullets with her pistols. Unfamiliar with how she could maintain her balance on this slanted ground, she hops to the centre row of the roof which layed at its highest, carefully deflecting a few bullets with some punches. They quickly caught up to each other within an arm's length, Arin pounced into the air, firing her right pistol at point blank.
Lastia shields her face with her left arm, her torso draws closer to Arin, throwing her right arm with sizable strength. Arin catches her right hook into the handle of her left pistol, before firing at close range at that angle.