***(Heavenly king?)
A soft fist, too soft. What was this sensation? It was not just one, but numerous. With the enemy blind, the first energy clone makes contact. Close enough, she threw her fist. It was so weak, that the heavenly king nearly did not feel it. Swiping her hand once, it severed the lot of them that got close.
No hard sensations? The sentinel with the great sword is hiding within the mass that is her brethren. Disgusting. This sacrilegious violation of life's principles,a complete inversion of what we call living. No more material body, no more soul. An artificial entity created by that one's death, the non-sentinel proved to be the most obstructive. I could blow them up, but they're next to my core. Thankfully, they don't even begin to consider that I have a core, not that they could even come close to it with me here.
Despicable, I will tie their civilisation to destruction. At its core, radio waves represent modernity, the transition from primitivity to sophistication. Without it, culture wouldn't spread as fast, and a global society would be unsustainable. Regions would break up into their own independent pockets, growing isolated and fighting their own issues. In other words, the more advanced civilisation and culture is, the stronger this heavenly king becomes. Even down to the event where she faces death, civilisation's fate is tied to the hero's.
It was a losing game from the start. The connection between the heavenly king and human civilisation is nothing ordinary, it was infinitely closer to being a law of the universe. As humanity grew, this one is revered more as the cause of growth... It isn't one that's meant to be defeated normally. An equally absurd magical girl is needed to output enough magic to take it on...
***
Because of Arin, Lastia knew what living was like. Even if she was just a clone. The trickle of memory she has left... It was enough. Arin and Sariel... They treated her like a person. They way she wanted to be. The biggest gripe that she would have with her curse, was the possibility of being infantilised. She didn't want to be pitied completely. Yet she also wanted to receive assistance in life. She wanted some help, but not have her hand held completely.
No flashbacks, no power of friendship. Her life was too shallow for such things. Her feelings never dug much depths for itself. It's as if she laid over her own grave, ready to accept it all... She was weak, never really going to accomplish much. What did she think she would have done if she arrived here? Lastia defeated Sariel, came here and got herself killed. She brought Sariel's fears into reality, she was a horrible person through and through. She ignored that lone girl's cries, decided on a whim that it wouldn't come true...
As a clone, what should she even tell her? 'I'm sorry, the real one is dead'? Of all news to bring, that must have been the worse. For her dearest friend to be replaced by this artificial being posing as her, with her memories. Unable to hide its own melancholy. What would Sariel have wanted to be told? What was the idea outcome? Obviously, it would have been for Lastia to return alive... Now everyone is going to die... It all happened in an instant, within a single minute, it was simply to tell that the heavenly king was toying with them while expecting more... Yet one of them was already dead, she was the vestiges of Lastia's magic. Nothing more.
Yggdrasil is handling the verification of her existence, keeping her in reality. Would it be over once it reaches its goal of defeating Yggdrasil? She has no future, it's dark and scary here. She wanted to cry out. She wanted to wail at the world's unfairness. For life that was just born, it sure knew how to feel a lot of things. The gift of sentience from a single day of Lastia's memories... It was because everyone allowed her to feel.
These energy clones are newborns. They don't have muscle memory like the original, they're not even organic. How many Lastias have already died? Unknown, Yggdrasil's simulation was born after the curse was already in effect. How many energy clones were killed?
1117435.
Yggdrasil, how much energy was in reserve? Roughly 474 893 210 units equivalent to an average human being... Ever since Lastia died, it has lost restrictions and begun collecting and storing en masses. Even sapping a lot from the enemy...
'I see...' (Lastia)
The clones relentlessly attacked. 2 minutes left until Eterna's suppression is lifted. This being could counter something as strong as a universal law, akin to when humanity defied the laws of gravity to reach space. It didn't have to be as strong as the goddess, but the resistance it could muster after was enough to destroy the world. Taneda went for one last desperate push, Christine collapses as her magic triggers a backlash.
Targeting an opponent stronger than her and disabling its magic sensory... No, she merely caused it to go into disarray like a person going drunk losing their ability to observe with clarity. It was enough. Her body collapsed softly into the ground, held and evacuated by an energy clone. Taneda was evidently exhausted as well, shielded by any clones in the way. The first clone makes contact, vision obscured by false flesh, the heavenly king releases her aura for an all around attack to annihilate the clones. But it is replaced faster than they are killed, she was going all out too.
0 damage, the relentlessly bashed the heavenly king over its head, but they couldn't inflict even a scratch. Taneda sneaks in and slices her great sword through a clone, to stab the heavenly king from behind cover. The great sword cracks before snapping into numerous fragments. Even when brought this far by Christine, they couldn't accomplish much.
"Yggdrasil, I propose a gamble. Your mission, does it have to do with defeat or victory?
Denying her victory or... Avoiding my personal defeat. ' (Lastia)
'... Unable to compute, module aid is needed. Directive is for Lastia's continued existence, the subconscious will to live was etched onto this module right before death. ' (Yggdrasil)
' The way I see it... There's no way we can win unscathed. The only path forward is to let the enemy win, or take her out with us. Surely you know better with your computation power. ' (Lastia)
'... There was no command input to reevaluate the situation or doubt the host's intentions. Directive remains, keep memories alive. ' (Yggdrasil)
The stark difference between an energy clone and the real deal... The clone wasn't able to use more magic than it was allocated... Right now she was like a C rank magical girl, the lowest possible power a magical girl could have.
'You failed in your Directive already. Did you think Sariel would accept an energy clone over the organic original? Even if you made me to be organic, which you can't... She would still lament the one that had passed...
Pass the reigns to me. You've failed. ' (Lastia)
'... Understood. ' (Yggdrasil)
Was it trying to calculate something? For a moment it looked like it hesitated... I won't let Yggdrasil take the blame for defeat or death.
After all, even if I'm not the real deal, it's my child.