3 Chapter One - 2 || Magic Within (2/2)

'Just like a video game…?' She wondered. 'Would it be the same for me?'

She lightly shook her head. Now was not the time to think about this. She had a monster to beat.

Usually, she hated hurting any kind of creature—except some certain, previously named bugs—but this beast was the exception. It was no animal; more than a monster, it was a demon. This, she was sure.

Flexing her wrist, she forcefully waved her hand several times, creating waves of arcs directed at the demon. It tried to dodge them, but even with its incredible speed, the large beast wasn't agile enough to escape every one.

In every direction it dodged, the girl sent another curve of magic careening towards the demon. But despite the obstruction and pain, the demon kept racing towards her.

Determining that this method of attack wasn't going to beat the beast in the few seconds she had left before it reached her, the girl stopped her onslaught.

Focusing her mind, she gathered power in her hand. She could just shove some massive amount of magical energy at the demon while covering herself with a barrier, but she wondered if she could shape the magic into another form.

With her eyes focused on the demon, she readied her body and felt the magic take form in her palm. Just before the demon reached a few meters away, the magic form finalized.

She leapt forward, a sword of lavender light firmly grasped in her right hand, the point extended at the demon's heart.

The force of the sword splitting into the demon almost unbalanced her. Instead of cutting hard flesh as expected, the blade sunk easily into the body, causing black mass to come hurtling at her face.

She dug her boots into the ground, dragging the sword leftward and up across the body before leaping backwards to avoid collision. She wasn't ready to know firsthand just what made up a demon body.

But as soon as the sword left the demon's upper chest, the beast froze in position, its teeth still bared, a wide diagonal red gash across its underbelly.

Confused, the girl watched its body disperse into drifting black billows. As the smoky clouds began dissipating into the air, a low voice rumbled from the receding demon.

”Sal myo.”

The girl wrinkled her face in perplexity. This was a different language, even from Earth. Perhaps it was one of the demons. She hoped it wasn't the language of this world for that would be rather vexing while exploring it. Even so, she wondered what the demon had said.

As the black masses finally disappeared, something which was also black caught her eye in the grass. It was a large claw, possibly leftover from the beast demon.

She picked it up and rotated it with her fingers; it was nearly the size of her palm. She was puzzled why it hadn't dissipated like the rest of the body.

Regardless, she decided to keep it and put it in her back pocket. The event had happened so suddenly and finished so quickly that she felt she had imagined it. But this claw was physical proof that it had indeed occurred.

But surely even then, everything here must still be her imagination.

She took a sharp breath and gripped her hand in resolution, staring at her fist. No. This wasn't her imagination.

She opened her fist, releasing a ball of magic whirring in the air above her palm. She tossed it lightly in the air, passed it between her hands, encircled and rubbed it in her palms like a fortune teller's magic ball. It was as light as air and shouldn't have been slung around so casually and easily as a ball with weight.

Some form of gravity existed here, that was apparent by her as well as the fauna and flora remaining firmly on the ground.

But, the magic ball deceived all laws of physics. Surely, this world was governed by some natural law or order. Or was magic simply an exception? Or perhaps it was the law…

As she mused upon this, she was suddenly struck by a crazy scheme. If the magic ball she created could defy physics, couldn't she?

Grinning giddily to herself, she ceased the magic flow from her hands. The ball disappeared, and locating the closest tree, she sprinted towards it.

When she reached a few paces from the tree's base, she shifted as much power into her legs as possible and leapt into the air.

Half in disbelief and wonderment, she was vaulted into the air at an inhuman height. The bark of the tree came within arms distance, and extending a foot out out, she sprung off the trunk, flying… backwards?!