*
"... Nothing, I don't sense any magic around for the next few kilometres. It will take a wild but I might be able to scan the whole city with {Feed} ." (Yggdrasil)
"... Dangerous... I can work on some measures against ambushes, but it won't be fast. It's frustrating...! " (Sariel)
She spoke as she examined the floor behind the abandoned desk. There was no layer of thick dust and the table top was relatively clean even if the floor was untouched for years. There were skid marks made by the chair, showing signs of very recent movement. It couldn't have been long enough that even the wind hasn't distributed the dust equally. The tracks were bare for all to see.
"... This is the worst..." (Arin)
Arin always had an unusual amount of Intel on Traces, Remnants, history and now even the heavenly kings. The names were derived by her, as if they had names all these time, and that they weren't named when they just appeared. Right now information, reconnaissance is what they needed the most. This enemy is intelligent, far more cunning than the previous 2 heavenly kings that simply boasted incomprehensible power.
"... At minimum, A grade. There's no magic residual here, they were careful enough to clean all their tracks. Anyone can learn this skill but low grade magical girls only fight Traces, they have no need for such petty tricks..." (Yggdrasil)
She looked towards Arin for affirmation, her eyes prodding for details. A slight hint of suspicion quickly dissipated, this was no time to fight amongst themselves. If she convinced herself that Arin simply had the most amount of knowledge, rather than her being a spy of some sort, it becomes barely tolerable.
"... I have a hunch, but... Arin, you're not involve in this, are you? We need to discuss this seriously." (Sariel)
She too made the same call. There's no point ignoring the elephant in the room, Arin had always been the most suspicious. Who knows if what she says is the truth, and what she says is a lie. For all they knew, she could have been deceiving them all this time. They gaze at her expectantly, a tinge of malice lingers in the air, creeping down Arin's spine. She was visibly uncomfortable under the pressure, but they wouldn't relent.
"N... No. I have nothing to do with this. I simply know slightly more than the average person." (Arin)
She stares back at them, resolute. Why should she give in to fear? If she was the culprit, it meant that she had befriended them for the better part of a couple months. Her acting would have been master class and her composure nigh limitless. Just what secrets were she hiding? Should her word be taken? Despite such turmoil, Yggdrasil didn't seem to care much. Almost indifferently, she replied.
"... Really? Alright. Guess we can't rely on her about this time's enemies. For starters, they use a chair and desk so they should at least be humanoid or capable of shifting to such. And more importantly they can mask or clean their traces of magic usage. " (Yggdrasil)
"... They might be pros then. Even I couldn't tell at first glance that something was wrong. The lack of magic usage here is like anywhere else on the streets or between buildings, the presence of magic usage is easy to sense but the absence of it..." (Arin)
" Intelligence, preparation, and anti tracking... There's nothing around here, not even some traps. Magic traps would easily be detected unless they activate the moment we arrive, which would be dangerous. Normal traps like claymores wouldn't be able to pierce our skin.
Lastly, this place was abandoned instantly. They have a grasp of our location and movements. Since it isn't rigged, this hideout was a disposable one. Meant for collecting intel on us without losing much of anything. " (Sariel)
Like a lizard shedding its tail. Though this time they lost absolutely nothing.
" Let's discuss measures somewhere else. This place might be taped. " (Yggdrasil)
" Mhmm... I'll prepare a place. Hold onto my hands." (Sariel)
Following her instructions, they each grasped at one palm. Yggdrasil kept her gaze on the palm while Arin nodded at Sariel's inquisitive look.
"{Swap}." (Sariel)
" This... It's the Manukia commercial zone." (Yggdrasil)
"There aren't any shopping malls back home after all." (Arin)
Sent to the roof top, they peaked over the edge of the building to observe clusters of tall scrapers and wide roads. In an instant the hustle and bustle of daily life flooded their ears. Cars, trains, wheels, various sources of sound join together to paint a fuller picture of life.
"Good thinking. A different zone makes it hard for them to keep track, this works unless we encounter the worse case scenario where they're omniscient." (Yggdrasil)
" Sariel, keep your senses sharp on the surroundings. I'll deploy anti-scrying and anti-clairvoyance barriers. {Barter}. " (Arin)
{Barter} was such an absurd skill. It could grant Arin anything with the limit being her imagination. Other than that, there's also the limit of her magical energy's capacity. For example, she can't use {Barter} to recreate magic at an intensity beyond her natural limit, such as reproducing S grade mystical attacks. However it was perfect for a situation like this, where as long as an A grade and below magical girl can execute it with their skill, she can recreate it at the cost of something small like her nails or hair.
In other words, Arin was like a jack of all trades.
"... My passive sends localised information straight to me. It isn't hard to deduce, but it's scary how you know about something I've never talked about." (Sariel)
"You're right, it wasn't hard to deduce... If you don't have information of your destination, you might encounter an accident where your mass overlaps with a floor or wall... It would be a very gruesome death..." (Arin)
"... Right? Thankfully such things are balanced out by passive skills... " (Sariel)
" Alright, since we're ready, we can begin discussing countermeasures. I believe the first thing we need is an alarm capitalising on Sariel's passive. As long as we can act, at least we won't instantly die in our sleep. " (Yggdrasil)
"I can handle the alarm's manufacture with some help from Sariel. It'll be makeshift and hard to configure, but we have more pressing issues, right?" (Arin)
"That's... It's difficult to address. The enemy specialises in playing with information. They can conceal the magic signature of their ambush, so even the alarm will find it hard to differentiate someone opening the door or a bladed chain shot at mach speed... " (Yggdrasil)
" How about we add in {Swap} to physically impede the ambushes. I'm expecting that Arin will require a lot of time to prepare the protective structures for daily life. So how about this? We-" (Sariel)