Homura placed Miyu on the ground. When she realized that Sakuya wasn't continuing the pursuit, she finally let out a small breath of relief.
"Does it hurt?"
"I've long since grown used to it."
Homura blinked at Miyu's soft, concerned inquiry before offering a serious, honest reply.
Pain and injury were things she had discarded along her countless loops of time. They were secondary to her mission.
'Indifference.'
Miyu could clearly feel the disconnect in Homura's attitude toward her own body. She understood the source of that confidence.
As long as the [Soul Gem] that defined her as a Magical Girl remained intact, Homura was effectively "Immortal."
No matter how catastrophic the physical damage, she could always be restored.
But that realization didn't make Miyu feel any better.
In fact, it had the opposite effect.
Just like her brother Shirou, who had come to save her in their previous world... humans always had a limit.
Whether it was the body or the mind, everyone had a threshold they couldn't cross without suffering a permanent change.
"Is the only way to achieve your wish through the power of a miracle?"
Miyu spoke while recalling the fragments of a dream she had seen.
"I don't know..."
"Even with the others beside me, I don't Have enough confidence to overcome that final trial."
"Because there is always the possibility of failure... I have to seize every single advantage I can find."
Homura knew exactly what Miyu was referring to. She began to draw upon her magical reserves to repair the damage to her body as she spoke.
The Walpurgisnacht.
It was a nightmare she had never once been able to perfectly defeat.
Every single time, Madoka would end up "Sacrificing" herself. There were no exceptions.
Even if Kyoko and Sayaka were still alive, Homura didn't have 100% confidence that their combined strength would be enough to slay the Witch of the Night.
That was why she hungered for the power of the [Dragon Ball].
It was the only sure way to guarantee a future.
That had been her plan entering the war. But now that the struggle had truly begun, she realized she had significantly underestimated the other Heroic Spirits and Masters.
A single maid in the Caster class was enough to suppress her and leave her struggling to even land a hit.
The Berserker she had observed earlier possessed a mysterious and absolute "Reflection" capability.
She still couldn't grasp the logic behind his power.
Assassin, Saber, Rider, Lancer...
Among those classes, there were bound to be other Masters of time.
"Oh! Found them!"
"Goku, your senses are really on point today."
The sound of a strange, boyish voice cut through the air, and both Homura and Miyu immediately dropped into a defensive posture.
A teenager and a young boy walked out from the intersection ahead of them.
'Master and Servant!'
Recognizing their identities instantly, Homura didn't hesitate to take the initiative.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
She drew her handgun and pulled the trigger, a series of bullets whistling through the air.
Snap!
In the wide eyed shock of both Homura and Miyu, the small boy with the tail reached out and plucked the bullets from the air with his bare hand.
'How is this possible? I applied temporal acceleration to those shots! Even for a regular Heroic Spirit, the reaction window should be too small to perceive.'
And yet, her desperate opening strike had been intercepted as if it were nothing but a slow moving insect.
Even Caster, with her mastery over the stilled world, had been forced to use a time-stop to neutralize the accelerated rounds.
To see a child track and catch such projectiles was more than just impressive; it was terrifying.
"You're... Homura Akemi!"
"I see now. I was wondering why the time-stops were lasting so long occasionally."
"And the other one is... hmm..."
The teenager spoke her true name the moment their eyes met.
This revelation made Homura and Miyu feel as though they were facing an even greater threat than the maid.
"What was her name again?"
Subaru scratched his head in embarrassment, unable to recall the name of the girl from the Fate/kaleid series.
"They should have a Dragon Ball on them, right?"
Goku's question made Subaru discard his attempt at identification.
Confirming Homura's identity was enough to give him plenty of fresh ideas for how to move forward.
"Goku, don't let them get away."
"You got it!"
Seeing the way Homura was already preparing to hoist Miyu up and flee, Subaru gave the command.
WHOOSH!
Ignoring the teenage boy's words, Homura activated her temporal acceleration and blurred toward the city streets.
The copied power of Sakuya was already beginning to fade from her system. If she were forced into another direct confrontation now, the outcome would be a disaster.
"!"
However, she gasped in shock as she realized a shadow was running right beside her.
"Whoa! You're really fast, aren't you?"
Kid Goku was easily keeping pace with her magically enhanced speed. He eventually pulled ahead of her, skidding to a halt and blocking her path entirely.
Homura was forced to stop, her mind spinning with a sudden, overwhelming sense of powerlessness.
'How...?'
Miyu stared at the child, her heart hammering in her chest.
She understood better than anyone how potent the level of temporal manipulation Homura was using truly was.
The acceleration should have put them beyond the reach of any human or physical response.
Yet this Servant was keeping up with them as if they were merely taking a casual stroll.
CLATTER!
Homura reached into her reserves and tossed a bundle of pipe bombs onto the ground between them.
"Whoa, what are these?"
BOOM!
The youngster stood there, choosing to investigate the "Cans" rather than retreating.
A blinding flash of white and a massive explosion erupted, filling the alley with a thick, choking veil of smoke.
Homura took advantage of the cover to grab Miyu's hand and turn to run once more.
"Whoa, that gave me a real startle! What was that thing? It just went 'BANG' and blew up."
The sound of his voice behind her made Homura spin around in disbelief.
Through the thinning smoke, Kid Goku emerged, looking completely unbothered and without a single scratch on his skin.
'He didn't dodge!'
Homura's eyes trembled. She didn't know how to process the scene before her.
She had thrown a lethal amount of explosives, and the boy had taken the full brunt of the blast as if it were nothing but a light dusting of powder.
"I know! They're toys, right?!"
"Master Roshi told me that people in the big city sometimes use weird things just to scare each other."
"That was really fun! Show me another one!"
Goku clapped his hands together, his face full of an innocent, child-like wonder.
His complete lack of malice only made the situation feel more chilling to Homura.
While she was no stranger to being told her "Firepower" was insufficient, she had used those very same weapons to slay Nightmarish Witches.
To have her entire arsenal dismissed as "Toys" by a small child was... a crushing blow.
'Can I really win this?'
Miyu had finally awakened her Stand and they had successfully executed a plan to mirror Caster's power.
Yet after a desperate retreat, they had encountered a Servant whose physical capacity made her feel completely utterly useless.
The gap in their levels was a void she couldn't fill.
Without the ability to stop time, she was once again back to the problem of a "Lack of Strength."
Fate appeared to be far more cruel than she had imagined.
"Miyu... listen to me. I'm going to draw their attention. When I do, you have to run as fast as you can."
"Archer..."
Miyu's voice was small, but she understood the determination in Homura's eyes.
The magical girl didn't want to leave the war, so she was prepared to offer herself as a sacrifice to ensure Miyu's escape.
However, the sounds of approaching footsteps and a mocking voice cut through their desperation.
Subaru Natsuki arrived at the other end of the intersection, effectively boxing them in.
"Seriously... you guys ran a long way in just a few seconds."
"Wait, I thought you could only stop time?"
"Do you have some kind of secret setting that I don't know about?"
[Translated and Rewritten by Shika_Kagura]