Magical Girl City: Empire of Ice

The sudden burst of smoke did more than obscure vision. Rather, it was something I should have done from the start. The shimmering rime was connected to me, and it had another effect, an effect that let it suppress magic.

The moment the smoke covered the horde, coordination fell away. All at once, they began to bump into each other, get in each other’s way, and soon enough they couldn’t even properly move or swing a weapon. It happened quickly, the entire group stuttered, and at that moment, Orion bolted.

Was it instinct? Or had he been watching, waiting for the right moment? The smoke alone made a difference, yes, but it didn’t change the fact that they were still being bolstered. Even suppressed, it wouldn’t take long for them to start working together again. But the shock of it, the suddenness of it created an opportunity.

Using his body, Orion smashed through a weak point. Like the tip of the spear, he threw himself into the teeming body of workers. I had barely enough presence of mind myself, bolstered with ice to follow, but even then, I was a tad late. The opening he made was rapidly closing. I’d barely thrown myself into the group before they began to press in, barring my way forward, and eventually engulfing me.

That was when Shi stepped in. Sensing the shift, she followed. Spears burst out, creating a path just wide enough to shove myself forward. Arms grasped out, tools and makeshift weapons beat against the spears barring their way.

Just before the spears faltered, I’d broken through. The moment I did, I saw Orion chuck his spear at the silver rank, only to be blocked by a bronze rank standing guard, the technician. Still, that didn’t deter Orion as he continued forward, a stream of rivets cracked into the ground, trailing behind him, some finding their mark, driving right into his body.

I moved to assist, but the whine of a saw warned of imminent danger, with a shout, my bayonet formed into being, and I threw it up. Bayonet met saw blade. It whined, screeched, before slicing right through the silver bayonet, but not without cost. Some of the teeth had been worn down, not that it would make a difference. I quickly kicked him, creating distance between us before he could carve into frozen flesh.

As I faced off with the tool user, I saw a blur sprint past as Shi made for the other tool user standing on the scaffolding, using their rivet gun to provide cover. The moment he noticed Shi’s approach, he changed targets, shifting from Orion to her.

Not that she cared. She didn’t even bother to block the coming rivets as a spear sprouted from the ground, launching her to where the tool user was. The rivets lacked the power needed to break through Shi’s uniform empowered defense. Breaking or bouncing off her skin and uniform with dull cracks.

It wasn’t until she closed the distance that they did any real damage, until she was right before the bronze rank. Even then, the tips just barely managed to break her skin before shattering on impact. However, with her so close, the bronze rank couldn’t calmly just shoot at her.

Every swing of her spear pushed the bronze rank further back. With a flourish and tap of her spear against the wall or about any surface, new spears burst forth, cutting off avenues of escape, impaling other workers attempting to bar her way, and some even managed to score blows against the bronze rank.

It was clear that Shi was getting stronger, especially after eating all the blood pills. However, she still wasn’t quite at where she’d been when she was among the living. Given time, she’d be able to handle the bronze rank well enough without exerting herself, but time was not something we had.

Taking one look around us, I understood all too well. we needed to pare down the numbers, now. Lest we be overwhelmed. Orion’s gambit had worked, but it was reckless. Which is why…

“SHI!” I cried out, my intent clear. She didn’t even glance at me, but I felt over our link that she understood. And like that, she stopped holding back, stopped pacing herself.

With a wave of her weapon, new spears burst forth at shocking speeds, and at the same time, she threw herself forward. Without having to care for cost she charged the bronze rank, all the while rivets were driven into her iron-like flesh. In a rapid blitz of action, spears impaled the bronze rank, and Shi followed through batting aside their rivet gun before lunging forward with a final thrust of her spear. The combined spear strikes, and her final blow all simultaneously punctured the bronze rank, and the tank on their back, resulting in a calamitous explosion that shook and tore apart the scaffolding.

Shi came tumbling out of the cloud of debris injured, her uniform tattered, and rivets sticking out of her body. Essentially knocking her out of the fight.

With that done, it was now my turn. Facing the saw wielding bronze rank, my options weren’t exactly limited. I immediately fired a round aimed center mass, only for him to block it with his saw and press forward. I didn’t back off, raising my rifle and meeting the blade head on, only to feel pain lance through my being as I felt the teeth dig into my rifle.

I didn’t idle, I twisted and diverted the swing and followed up by shoulder checking the saw wielder. It didn’t throw them off balance, but it bought me the time I needed to quickly eject the spent casing and load in a new round, my mind churning as I calculated my chances.

Orion was busy dealing with the technician playing defense for the silver rank. The silver rank was constantly speaking into the with a newfound urgency while keeping distance from Orion’s pursuit, and on top of that, the cloud of rime was rapidly dispersing.

Decision made, I took in a breath as the saw wielder regained their balance and flinched as I aimed my rifle. Only, the world slowed to a crawl as I shifted my aim towards the silver rank.

Orion moved at the same time, blocking the technician from interfering. Still, they tried as I fried my first round. Managing to throw a screwdriver to intercept the first shot, only to receive a spear to the gut for their trouble.

He didn’t have the chance to block the rest of the shots as I emptied my rifle. Firing what I had left. The second shot missed as the silver rank stumbled and threw themselves aside to avoid the bullet. The third hit center mess, with the final shot scoring a finishing blow, right in the forehead. The shrill bullet easily slid through their helmet and carved through with a high-pitched whine.

The silver rank immediately fell over, dead. And immediately I felt the change in the air. As all coordination amongst the workers fled away, like an open dam. I had a moment to react before the recovering horde washed over me like the tide, but with a snap of my fingers, the remaining rime hanging in the air exploded, covering the teeming mass of workers in a layer of ice, with some being stuck to the ground as the water on the ground stuck fast to their boots. Buying us much needed seconds to control the flow.

For my efforts, a saw tore through my side, leaving a bloody, ruined gash as jagged teeth tore through my frozen flesh. Frosted blood oozed from the wound as he revved and prepared for a second pass.

I didn’t have time, nor the space to kick him back, but a bolt from afar forced him back enough for me to reload and reset. I slipped a prepared clip into my rifle’s internal magazine and readied my rifle. He made to rush me down, but my first shot sang a discordant cry, exploding into a burst of shrapnel that ripped and tore into his leg, forcing him to stumble. The second trigger pull loosed a shrill whine that slipped through his elbow, rendering the limb useless as the saw fell to his side. The third round’s crystal song cracked into his chest, and the fourth round sang high, before exploding, blowing him off his feet, and nearly throwing me back, but the ice covering my boots helped me stick fast and keep my ground.

As I ejected the casing, I ran forward. My foot kicked into the saw and sent it flying. It landed, skittering and leaving lines on the brick floor as it went. With the fourth trigger pull, a crystal song marked the end of the fight as the bullet went into the bronze rank’s face.

I took steady breaths and took in my surroundings, taking the chance to eject the spent casing. The horde, now no longer being bolstered, found themselves being reaped like wheat during harvest season. Orion, despite being unranked, was able to hold his own against the technician quickly finished him after I fired my last round his way. As for Shi, she managed to collect herself and went to help clear the chaff with a notable limp.

The cleanup that followed was quick and brutal. And the moment the last worker fell, we collected the coins, though…

“Loot!” Talia announced, to my shock. Yet, we didn’t idle about and look it over, not yet. Instead, we made our way towards the rest area, the entrance was surrounded by glowing magic words etched into the stone, and a wall of water flowed over the entrance, partially obscuring the interior.

We passed through the barrier of water and immediately, the air changed. The tension, that spark I’d felt since coming down here was gone. Replaced instead with an odd sense of comfort and safety. The space was oddly large compared to the last rest area I’d visited. With a main area and a separate room with simple stone beds.

Once everyone was inside and secure, we finally fell to our knees, exhausted and looked over out loot. The coins were, well, coins. It was quite a haul, but I didn’t think it was worth the exertion. We’d accumulated quite a few coins since arriving on this floor, mainly bronze coins, but now we actually had a silver rank coin. Whether a singular silver coin made up for the rise in difficulty, I couldn’t say.

Other than the coins, some of their items had persisted. A yellow safety vest. It didn’t seem all too valuable, but after a few checks it had some kind of effect to attract attention to itself. In a way, it felt familiar to my own growing and improving senses, only, artificial in a way.

On top of that was the silver ranks megaphone. It… well… when spoken into and fed magic, it gave a wide ranging of beneficial effects, though, the actual result was minimal. Yet, it could stack with our current magics. An oddly valuable item. That and, no matter what was spoken into it, the words always came out garbling and crackled.

“Can you use it?” I asked, not to Ophelia or Talia, but… the silver captain.

They took it from my hands, gave it a look over before pressing the trigger on it. At first nothing came out, but after some work, the same odd, muffled voice barked out of the speaker, and immediately I felt the effect. Though minor, it was something, and it also further improved the worth of the silver captain.

Satisfied, we looked over the last piece of loot. And of all things…

“Duct tape?” Talia said, looking at what clearly was, magical duct tape. More specifically, a half-finished duct tape.

Was it valuable? We had no idea. We knew it was limited and didn’t restock; it was literally just magically enhanced duct tape.

Confused at the well, oddity, we set it aside and took stock of our resources and the time. One look at my watch had me grimacing. We’d spent all day trudging through the depths. And now, night had arrived. Outside the rest area, I could almost feel the depths shifting, changing, as the density of magic rose.

I had no desire to step out, and Talia concurred on that. So, like that, the first day of our delve came to an end.

We took our time to rest. On the way we’d paused here and there to snack and rest, especially between larger fights. Now though, we were taking the time to eat a proper meal. Or what passed for one. All the while licking at our accumulated wounds.

Shi drank some of my blood, topping up her dwindling reserves and proceeded to munch on a snack we’d brought for her. Meanwhile we took stock of our resources and looked ourselves over.

My knights were fine. Sure, they were injured, but after a good rest, they’d be back to their prime condition. Despite being made of superior material, their healing speed hadn’t reduced, if anything, it had grown. Perhaps it was due to affinity, or perhaps our link. Either way, unlike the regular soldiers, I didn’t need to worry after them.

For the regular soldiers, they’d more or less avoided serious damage. What damage they took to their body varied in severity, depending on where they were struck. Their metal outer-layer, enhanced as it was, didn’t like to heal. Many of them still bore scratches and dents from back during the third and final tutorial event. As for their exposed ice body parts, those healed without much issue.

It was a bit of a mixed bag, but it was what it was, though…

“Ophelia, since you have metal magic do you think you could repair my soldiers?” I asked, more out of curiosity. I didn’t really expect much, but to my surprise Ophelia actually had a thoughtful look on her face.

“I can try?” She sounded hesitant, but as she said, she did try. Shockingly, she could. “It’s a bit costly… I also need to be in direct contact, so it’s not something I can do in the heat of the moment.” Were Ophelia’s observations, but it changed everything.

It meant it was actually viable to continue using doll soldiers, even if I went ahead and enhanced them. My earlier conjectures had been correct, to a point.

“I understand, whenever we take a break, think you could work over any injuries they may accrue?”

“I can do that, yeah. Shouldn’t be a problem. It would be a good chance for me to practice with my new magic.” Ophelia said, accepting the new task with gusto.

As for Talia? When I glanced over, she looked at me, and sensing my thoughts, she threw her own hat in the ring, proving that she too could do it. Unlike Ophelia though, it was less efficient, but in exchange Talia could use her magic from afar due to her totem acting as a foci.

It wasn’t something I’d considered in the moment, but it was definitely something to plan for in the future.

With all that done, we settled in to sleep. None of us dropped out of uniform, choosing to stay transformed. We didn’t feel any change in the air, as the wall of water that flowed over the entrance insulated us from the changes within the depths while we slept. When we woke up, and stepped outside, however, we felt it.

“The magic density has increased…” Talia observed.

“I suppose the blood moon is approaching, but I didn’t think the effect would be so dramatic.” I muttered, checking the time. It was early morning. We could feel the magic density decreasing, but it was like the rising and falling of the tide. Only, with each cycle, the water stopped receding at a higher level.

Which meant, as the blood moon approached, the density, and the difficulty of our delve would increase by the day. Meaning, this wasn’t just a death march, but a timed one. After all, I wasn’t sure we could survive down here during the blood moon. Not with how dense the magic was getting.

With that in mind, we picked up the pace. Ophelia proved instrumental, guiding us through complex mechanisms and paths. Talia assisted too with more magical puzzles that made themselves known, utilizing different magic types to brute force our way through.

By noon, the magic density had hit its lowest point, and as time continued to pass it increased, which resulted in larger patrols and groups. By the end of the second day, we’d nearly reached the end of the waterworks, but before we could enter the rest area, we had another difficult fight, only, with something entirely new.

The area before the rest area had been bare, yet, it sported multiple large pools of water. We’d thought nothing of it until creatures, fish-type monsters came bursting out of the water and surged for us. They surrounded us in an instant, attacking us with weapons made of bone and jagged bits of rusted metal.

The fight was quick and brutal. With Talia being the MVP, as she launched bolts of lightning, frying the fishmen alive. After the fight, we collected the loot. A few bronze coins from the bigger specimens, and a few weapons that had stuck behind after claiming their coins.

As we examined them, I couldn’t help but ask. “I heard that these water channels connected down to the levels. Think they may have come from there?”

“I don’t know…” Ophelia was the one to answer, Talia shrugged. “Not many groups go that low. I heard the tunnels can be reached through the Lower Quarter, after all, there are some areas that directly connect to that area of the depths. As for the caverns, I can’t say…”

“If they are from down there, they are rather weak…” Talia adds her own input after a moment of thought.

“Maybe they aren’t technically from the caverns? Maybe the pipe network is a pseudo level of its own?” I offer up.

“Maybe…” Ophelia says, “Yeah, that could be the case, but if its own level, what else do you think lies in there?” Talia follows up and looks into the large pool of water.

We all do the same, until we all realize how dumb that is, and… also how terrifying that is. Overlooking a pool of water with strange fishmen that can leap out? That was just asking to get dragged into the depths. Especially when we could see little to nothing from our current vantage point.

Hurriedly we collected ourselves and settled in, ending our second day of exploration.

On the third day, we finally reached the catacombs.