*
27th August, Wednesday
It felt like colour was drained from the world, though the only thing that's been put into stasis was the humans. The mathematics teacher had abruptly stopped moving when Lastia felt something was off. She, like the others, had read her diary in the morning. Vaguely, she wanted to believe in what it said, but the past few days had nothing of note. With the cryptic hint left last Friday, it's been almost a week since anything happened.
She turned her gaze on impulse, meeting the eyes of Arin and Sariel. They nodded lightly, confirming her suspicions. It was an 'event', the world's first layer of protection against Trace attacks. Normal people were frozen without their knowledge, even casualties would be brought back to normal much less property damage.
The traces of destruction from last Friday only lingered, because no 'event' would occur in the fallout between magical girls. That's why the sentinel exists, even a minor conflict between magical girls could cause copious amounts of damage.
"Should we do it now...?" (Lastia)
She looked to her seniors for advice.
"Henshin!" (Arin)
"Henshin." (Sariel/Lastia)
Arin went ahead on her own, leaving the other 2 to follow up. Their bodies glowed with an untraceable light, before the fragmented like a coating of glass that encapsulated their silhouette. Their combat dresses peaked out from underneath the fragments of fading light.
Together, they headed towards the centre of the school where a large clearing resided. It was a much more open space that was decorated with robust greenery and miniature ponds, it was the garden. The stone tiles underneath were oddly sturdy the grass took a lot of force to be stamped out of their roots. Countless years of fights with Traces must have taken place here.
Today was no different. Staying in this park like ecosystem, the Trace must have been too large to enter the classrooms. With a larger size, it could also cause destruction and feed from a further distance. It didn't take long for them to spot it. A hulking figure with a presence that crushed the sky above, it was difficult to describe without combining other words.
A giant, spectral ape. No, it was closer to a gorilla with how meaty and toned its shoulders were, the size of its biceps could fit a few floors of classrooms. The length of it was also unnaturally long, that its arms were longer than its crouching height. The legs were even larger to support its weight, and perpetually bent in a crouching manner. A gorilla was a fitting way to describe its silhouette, save for the massive wings on its back. Transparent membrane wings, with membrane as thick as an adult human's height.
With a gorilla's monkey face, it opened its jaw... Splitting it into 4. Both a horizontal and a vertical slit exposed itself before separating, endless rows of teeth and 2 tongues were revealed under the dim sky light. The world looked more desaturated than usual, what was supposed to be clear sunny skies provided a dull backdrop of greyish pale blue. It seemed as if the Trace's vibrant brown fur sapped the vitality out of the sky.
A powerful breeze brushed by as it inhaled, mixed with a deep stench and hoarse groan, the roar it produced was naturally loud. It looked between the three, as if choosing its prey, before screaming once more. Lastia advanced without fear, her figure vanished with the other 2. A dark scarlet hue wraps around her fist in multi layered light, about to pierce the Trace's chest. It was strangely undefended, its arms were nowhere near its chest...
It was going for an overhead swing! But going for Lastia alone would be a mistake. She brought her arms to her head at the last moment, blocking the swing. Naturally the Trace's attack slammed her body into the ground and began to crush it by pressing down on her. With both legs bent into a kneel, she pushes against the entire weight of those arms. A scarlet light wrapped around her entire body, resisting with all of its will.
"... Kurgh!! Yggdrasil's... Simulation... Host terminal established." (Lastia)
She spread the roots over its body, stopping magic energy from passively entering its body and absorbing them for herself. She was greedy, like a massive leech. The roots slip in between the fur, crawling over its massive stature. Meanwhile, Arin and Sariel weren't idle.
"... FIREEE!!!!" (Arin)
She summoned a sky full of magic pistols, concentrated their beams into one and aimed it at the Trace's head. The beams flew at blinding speeds and... Past through its body. Lastia used that corporeal nature and phased through the arms restricting her movement to escape. The Trace returned to attacking, swinging its fist forward. Its entire body became solid again, allowing Sariel to ambush it with her sword.
A 2 sided knight's blade crafted from the remains of Traces that persist, only a skilled crafter could have casted magic that allowed the materials to persist or that the materials itself were special, likely from A rank Traces and above. It had a blue hilt and a dull gray blade that never gleamed, but its edges remained unnaturally sharp and the steel cold handle calms her nerves. With 2 Swift motions, she sliced off the Trace's membrane like wings.
Likely its weak spot, the nerves connecting to its wings burned out in sheer agony, causing its body to recoil and halt its attack. With a leap, Lastia crushed its heart and lungs, and in another instant Arin shot a beam of magic so thick that it drilled a hole through the Trace's skull. When all 3 safely landed on the ground, colour returned and the 'Event' was over.
Even the cracks and destruction ravaging the garden had vanished, the only conceivable difference was that they were now in the garden instead of the classroom. There will be a gap in the memories of those in the same room, in other words their classmates and teacher wouldn't be able to explain away their disappearance. The world will fill in those gaps, the corrective forces behind the world will always maintain the secrecy of magical girls as long as they work to finish 'events'.