Pythie Frederica
Fighting with her newfound powers was only fun for a brief while, and she quickly grew tired of it. She had no love for bullying the weak. And now was not the moment to be wasting time on such things. So Frederica changed how she operated. She stopped using her power as an incarnation to its fullest, shaking off the same-faced group that gathered around her, and changed course to moving covertly.
She slipped under the floorboards, covering herself in dust as she crawled along at a frightening pace. No spiderwebs caught on her face. Looking at the marks on the ground, more than one magical girl was already on the move here. When she twitched her nose, she caught the smells of multiple magical girls, and one of them was the scent of the white flower that decorated Snow White’s head.
It had been so long since she’d smelled this fragrance, it made a smile come to her face. If time had allowed it, she would have liked to enjoy the scent here until she was satisfied, but unfortunately, it was just about the arranged time. But still, it seemed that Snow White had stayed safe so far. Frederica silently praised her: Just what I expected from Snow White.
From what she could see of the activity of the Lightnings outside, it seemed they were trying to focus their forces in the courtyard. Despite how unexpected this raid had to be for them, the school was still holding out. Either the students or the teachers, or both, were truly capable.
Quietly while also quite rapidly, Frederica rushed right under the hallways and the classrooms. More precisely, she was crawling through.
On the way, there was a violent tremor. An activation was occurring. Perfect timing—but on the other hand, that meant she couldn’t afford to be late. She would hurry. She would not be impatient. Haste makes waste. She would keep her priorities flexible.
The Lightnings probably planned to muster their forces, reorganize themselves, and attack again. That would be giving Frederica’s happy friends a little bit of leeway. She didn’t know how many of them remained, but so long as they threw things into chaos for her, things were sure to be more interesting.
Frederica thought she must have looked like a cockroach—in other words, she was being logical. She passed under the rubble.
She didn’t know where Kana, Snow White, and Old Blue were—so this was a bit of a fumble, but she could make some guesses. Either they were in the courtyard, or they were heading there—one or the other.
Although a little uncomfortable at the moment, Frederica was able to think. Her dark gray brain hadn’t declined at all—in fact, it was working even better ever since she became Kashiki-akarukushi-hime.
First, they would know already that Frederica was here. After fighting that much with the Lightnings, there was no way reports hadn’t reached them. So then Old Blue would be operating on the assumption that Frederica was Frederica.
And if they were gathering their forces in order to launch a major offensive on the courtyard, then what would happen in the case that they were attacked by Frederica and her mercenaries from behind while they were right in the middle of their assault? That wouldn’t be very good for them.
Was Old Blue still not worried, even understanding that? If she was fully prepared to strike back even if Frederica attacked her from behind, then wouldn’t she have conquered the courtyard to begin with? Frederica could not let herself be confused by the impact of the massive force of Lightnings. No matter how they whittled down Frederica’s minions, Old Blue was not at all the superior force.
As for my next move… All right.
In addition to the information from sounds, she inhaled plenty of air through her nose to acquire scent information. Frederica’s body right now not only had stronger limbs and more resilience; her senses were far sharper than before. When enjoying a magical girl’s hair or the flavor of coffee, she had been aware of her excellent sense of smell, but compared to now, that was equivalent to trying to see through muddy water.
Now then, this is it.
She came to a stop. Raising her body, she destroyed the floorboards with the top of her head and leaped outside.
✦ ✦ ✦
Old Blue
The shaking made it difficult for even a magical girl to stay on her feet, and it went on and on, with cracks protruding from the already completely destroyed earth of the courtyard. But the Lightnings were still trying to fight, while Mephis and Tetty looked confused as they fought back. Old Blue concealed herself from them, swiftly moving from one stack of rubble to another, then behind one Lightning to the next, safely passing through the door of the courtyard to come outside.
The activation was beginning. It wasn’t because she had destroyed the end of the root. That had just coincidentally happened at the same time.
Old Blue ran through the hallway, selecting a few of the Lightnings that had been standing by outside to order them to be her guards. From her headset, she gave orders to all Lightnings to get away from the courtyard. Right now, it would be dangerous to fixate on the ruins and continue to stay in the courtyard. It was difficult to predict what would happen with the ruins now that they had been activated, and if they were foolish enough to get involved, they were bound to get hurt.
She would reorganize the Lightnings and rally her forces, and then she would launch an assault. This time for sure, she would take the courtyard. The activation would be sustained for a fairly long time, but it wouldn’t be moving this violently forever. Right when it paused would be her chance.
Old Blue changed the channel on her headset, giving particular instructions to each team of Lightnings as she continued to run. She should not stay in one place. This was not the time to be relieved that it was over. Things were still in motion.
The activation was not the end of it. It was ultimately just part of the process. Things started now. She couldn’t say she had gotten a complete grasp of the root just from seeing it, but even so, she could assemble something based on guesswork. This was an area Old Blue was good at.
She turned a corner in the hallway, going ahead, then next taking a right, and there, she came to a sudden stop. Giving instructions to the Lightnings following her, she had them remain on guard while she took a step forward.
What barely remained of the floor broke open, and a magical girl leaped out.
“Oh my… You look quite different now,” said Old Blue.
“They say the wise are the most adaptable.”
Pythie Frederica. Now she was Kashiki-akarukushi-hime. She had changed her body, and was enhanced.
What an aggravating magical girl to run into. Frederica must have been aiming for this, as her smile was sincere, and that was even more aggravating. But this encounter was not entirely a bad thing for her. Old Blue came forward, aiming for Frederica’s jaw with the palm of her hand, and Frederica dodged with a smile. Frederica countered with a punch thrust toward her.