It seemed that they were in quite a bind here, primarily because of how useless Charlotte was when it came down to direct combat. She was excellent when it came down to supporting others or healing the wounded who just returned from the battlefield, but this? Both her offensive and defense were at a zero, more or less.
But at the same time, it seemed that Katsumi was not doing the best either. Looking at her, it felt like she was geared towards dealing with one stronger opponent rather than a group of them. If that were indeed the case, then they were completely outmatched here. And yet, the other girl seemed to depend on the white witch.
Even as she coughed out more of the black ink, her clothes and face stained with it, she felt a strange strength from inside of her body. It has been a while… since someone actually relied on her. Far too long, one could say. And although it felt like every bone in her body was about to shatter under the pressure from her own magic backlash, the grip on her staff tightened.
To keep that strange scarecrow creature at bay… that was her task. Putting the staff upright, she used it as a support to help herself get back up and then stared it down with her hollow white eyes. These spells were nothing short of experimental, probably not fully safe for her to use just yet. But they were necessary if they wanted to get out of here alive.
Taking a deep breath, she suppressed the urge to cough again, taking the staff into both of her hands and wielding it horizontally against her body. While she focused, the enemy approached, still flailing its somewhat rusted scythe relentlessly. But just as it was about to cut the girl, its entire form was suddenly pulled back.
A ball of pure white magical energy appearing several meters behind it, quickly sucking everything in range toward it like a vortex. It didn’t take much to pin the creature down with the spell, but it wasn’t one to last very long. Thankfully it seemed that Katsumi was done with the strange crow beast. But she looked considerably worse for wear.
Gulping out loud, Charlotte tried to sort everything in her head, looking a bit ragged herself with the inky substance covering her entire chin, hands, and the uniform. “
Understood… please, give it your all!” Switching the staff’s position to be vertical, she slammed it into the ground, creating a large magical circle behind the both of them.
It was as if time itself flowed backward, the entirety of Katsumi’s body regenerating. All of her exerted stamina immediately returning, fatigue fading away. Soon enough, she would be returned into a state nearly identical to the one she was in when the fight started. And once that spell ended, another began.
Creating several white fissures in the ground that emanated pleasant energy, it would keep on regenerating the girl as long as she remained in the area. So even if she were to go all out and get injured by the enemy, she should remain safe and out of the threat of losing her actual life. Charlotte, on the other hand, wasn’t able to cast much more. Her legs and hands were visibly shaking, but she was doing her best to keep the rejuvenation spell going for as long as was necessary.
Post length: 575
Word Count: 1,918 / 1,500
