Death Prediction: Hikaru Shidou vs Sayaka Miki

Warning: MASSIVE spoilers for Magic Knight Rayearth and Puella Magi Madoka Magicka 

The Sword, the true weapon of the hero, at least if you ask these two young girls. These two young magical girls are true masters of the blade, and defy even the power of the gods in the pursuit for justice. Which raises the obvious question, if these two crossed blades....who would come out on top.

Quick Note: For this fight, due to Death Battle's rule against outside help, Hikaru will not be able to summon Rayearth and Sayaka will not be able to summon Oktavia, even though both can do so normally. Judging based on the conditions set in Link vs Cloud it seems Death Battle does not allow for conventional summons.

Hikaru Shidou:      

One day a little 5-year old girl challenged her kendo master father to a Kendo match. Amused, he agreed.

She beat him so bad he had to go back to training to improve himself. 

Hikaru has always been a genius with a blade, with a natural passion for justice and heroism. So when the Princess of another world needed 3 young Girls to come and save her, Hikaru was an obvious choice. It was in this world Cephiro that Hikaru would become the Magic Knight of Fire and reach her peak and save the world. 

Physical Stats:

The world of Cephiro is different to the world of Earth. On Cephiro all things are controlled by will, which allows the Magic Knights to enhance their stats to superhuman levels by their great will. Hikaru's will by the end of the series had grown so great that she could use her powers even on Earth. Hikaru's will is her greatest strength, allowing her to power through all levels of pain and magic. It more directly also gives her superhuman stats. 

Hikaru's strength is so great that she can slice apart a monster with a lesser sword, leaving only smoke. Her strength was so great that she matched even Lafarga in combat who is strong enough to vaporize stone with his sword without even touching it. Both of these feats are vastly superior to vaporizing a normal human opponent , a feat which takes 3 gigajoules of energy, well into the building level range. 

Hikaru is so durable that she is easily able to take blows from opponents of her level of strength. When under brain control Hikaru nearly tanked a sword blow from Magic Knight Fuu to her face and throat.  She fought through being bloodied and beaten by Larfarga. And after her final upgrade, she was even able to survive the energy of Emeraude's transformation which destroyed her entire castle.

Hikaru is a naturally agile and quick figher able to avoid the attacks of far more experienced mages. Even greater then her speed is her reflexes. She is able to successfully pilot the Mecha Rayearth, which requires speed to direct it's immense speed, especially in the melee combat that it engages in. Rayearth's speed is great enough to easily fly all around Cephiro, enter and leave it's orbit and match inter-stellar starships.  

Weapons and Armor:

Hikaru's weapon and armor is made of Escudo, a mystical mineral that makes them evolving. They grow stronger alongside their user, allowing them to perfectly compliment their user's physical power as determined by the strength of their soul and their will. 

Hikaru is completely decked out in armor made from Escudo which is far more resistant to damage then even Hikaru's body is. 

Hikaru also uses her broadsword of Escudo. It is stored inside the jewel in her glove and if anyone but her tries to use it, then it turns into flame. 

Magic:

As a Magic Knight, Hikaru doesn't just rely on her physical capacity but also has magic. In particular Hikaru is an expert in fire magic. If angry or passionate enough she can erupt into flames. She can channel her fire magic through her spell "Flame Arrow". Flame Arrows fire numerous bolts of magic fire capable of bombarding the ground, destroying large chunks of it. It can overwhelm even far more experienced magic-users like the Ice Mage Alcione and it's easily able to tear through a monster.

Hikaru is also proficient in lightning magic, able to cast the spell "Red Lightning" which summons a storm cloud between Hikaru's hands that shoots out lightning bolts. A Heavily Injured Hikaru used Red Lightning to destroy a monster.

Additionally while it's never explicitly said to be magic, Hikaru has the ability to breath underwater and her purity allows her to communicate with animals. Also by End of Series All the Magic Knights have the ability to create inter-dimensional portals through their will. 

Feats:

• Defeated Larfarga, the greatest swordsman in all of Cephiro, in a sword duel without using her magic.
• Destroyed part of the planetary dome surrounding Cephiro put there by a planteary reality-warper to keep out inter-dimensional space armies. 
• Defeated all competitors in the contest of the Pillar and proved her will to be superior to all in Cephiro and any other nearby world.
•  When the Godlike entity Mokona who created multiple universes deemed that Eagle Vision would be erased after losing the Contest of the Pillar, Hikaru resisted his will, managing to hold her own in a battle of will and with her friends managed to overpower even Mokona's will

Weaknesses:

While Hikaru's not an idiot, she is rather impulsive and direct in her thinking. She's also got very strong ethical restraints in combat, such as when she refused to use magic against the swordsman Lafarga since it wouldn't be fair as he didn't have magic.

She's also short and looks young. Please don't bring it up.

Personality: 

Unlike her friends Umi and Fuu, Hikaru was ecstatic to become a magic knight. She is a noble leader and always optimistic about her situations. She is a proud warrior and enjoys the thrill of fighting. She strives for justice and desires to be a hero. 

Sayaka Miki:

Sayaka with once just an ordinary schoolgirl, going to school, two best friends, her most usual trait being her crush's unfortunate health, leading him down the path of a crippled life. Then one day she and Madoka found out the local Magical Girl Mami, protector of the area from the witches, and her pet alien Kyubey. Kyubey offered the two girls one wish in exchange for becoming Magical Girls and hunting the witches. Before agreeing the two accompanied Mami on her witch-hunting missions. 

Then tragedy stuck when Mami was killed in action against one of the witches. Sayaka realizing there was no one to protect the city without Mami made a contract with Kyubey becoming a Magical Girl, wishing for her crush to be restored to full health. She then dedicated herself to living up the ideals of her idol Mami, and protecting everyone from the Witches.  

Physical Stats:

(if doesn't upload properly, you can click here to see it)

Being a Magical Girl came with it's own perks. Being a Magical Girl gave Sayaka much enhanced strength, durability and speed.

Sayaka is strong enough in civilian form to leap from building to building. Sayaka was able to physically block strikes from Kyoko, a much more experienced Magical Girl, and can cut powerful witches capable of maintaing their own pocket dimensions in half. She is even able to strike with enough force to break her own blades. 

Sayaka is durable enough to easily withstand strikes from more experienced Magical Girls like Kyoko and Homura. She, along with the other Puella Magi were able to withstand an attack from a Nightmare that caused an entire large building to shake and fall apart and official PMMM stats put Sayaka as nearly as durable as Homura, who was able to survive Walpurgisnacht hitting her with a building.

Sayaka is also quite fast. During her first battle as a Magical Girl, Sayaka moved faster then the eye can see. Later on she was able to evade even the Time Stop of Homura, by blitzing and putting her sword in the time lock manuever and leaving Homura's range of vision by the time it went off. She has managed to move comparable to the stronger Magical Girls Kyoko, Mami, and Homura all of whom are able to outpace real bullets.  She was also able to keep pace with a Nightmare who was able to dodge Madoka's arrows, and Madoka's Arrows can travel to other countries in at most seconds. 

Weapons and Armor:

Sayaka doesn't wear much armor, relying on almost entirely on her natural durability and the protective magic of her soul gem (more on that later). 

For her weapon, Sayaka uses her signature weapon, her cutlasses. She is able to conjure cutlasses out of nothing for either physical striking or throwing.  As Thrown weapons, Sayaka can control the trajectory of them mid-air using her special attack "The Five Lillians". These cutlasses are even sharp enough to piece Mami's ribbons.

Magic:

Sayaka also has several unique magic powers as a Magical Girl. As her wish was for healing, Sayaka especially has magical powers related to healing. Even in her second battle she was able to quickly patch up small wounds on her body and this only use this to grew in intensity. And with more effort her body is able to regenerate larger amounts fast. In her second battle as a Magical Girl, she regenerated from a strike that was supposed to put her in the hospital for 3 months, and by Rebellion she was able to regenerate stabbing out her own heart to summon Octavia. As long as her soul gem is intact, Sayaka's regeneration can restore her from any manner of injury. 

Sayaka also has several other magical powers. She can summon magical platforms to carry her around quickly, or give her a physical area to stand or leap from, Using the spirit of her witch, Sayaka is able to teleport through water. And her soul gem, the container for her soul, gives her more abilities as well. The Soul Gem can detect residual magic, and can turn off all pain, though this Sayaka takes away from her humanity.

Feats:

• In her second fight as a Magical Girl, held her own against Kyoko, a much more experienced Magical Girl
• Contributed to breaking the barrier the Incubators trapped Homura in, which was creating a false world that contained an exact copy of Mitakihara City.
• Was chosen by The Goddess Madoka to be one of her Guardians, who were sent to free Homura's soul from the prison of the Incubators, a Super-Advanced Type IV Civilization
• Even when Homura stole Madoka's power and became Akuma Homura, warping the entire universe so the Puella Magi were all normal schoolgirls, Sayaka retained her memory, at least partially, even against Homura's will and was still willing to fight on for Madoka. 

Weaknesses:

Sayaka is relatively the most inexperienced and least innately powerful Puella Magi. She had a strict form of morality from Idolizing Mami and was too restrictive as in the original series she wouldn't accept help from Kyoko and Mami and wouldn't even use grief seed to purify her Soul Gem, though by Rebellion she has developed enough to accept help and even tell Homura that she can't fight alone.

Also like all Puella Magi, her soul is located inside her soul gem and if that is destroyed, Sayaka will instantly die. 

Personality:

Sayaka is confident, tomboyish, and idealistic with romantic black and white notions of romance, justice, and life. She's a loyal friend and always fights to protect or help others. She strives to live up to the ideals of Mami, and later to uphold the benevolent will of Kami Madoka. 

Alright, the combatants are set. It's time....for a DEATH PREDICTION!!!

Outside the shifting ocean of universes, a light emanates her own heaven. The Goddess Madoka, looks down into the world. Near her the souls of her loyal Guardians orbit, ever devoted. From the shifting ocean came a tiny white orb, moving closer at great speed. Nearby it can be made out to be a small white furry white creature with a red gem in it's head, clearly frantic and worried. Madoka brought the scared little creature to her, petting it gently. She always had a soft spot for the small helpless creatures of the world. 

"What is it little friend....why are you frightened? A swordwarrior has emerged, who overpowered you? Who scared you from your universe?" Madoka confirmed, trying to make sense of the small things, terrified speech. 

The Spirit of Sayaka appeared before her. "A Sword-warrior? Allow me to go and investigate, perhaps see if this person is really that tough!"

Madoka nodded her agreement but added "Please be careful Sayaka, Mokona here is of great power, to defy it, this person must be very strong."

......

Hikaru left her school happily, eager to be out of classes. She waved to her friends Umi and Fuu and hurried off. As she ran off, she suddenly stopped. She could feel the presence of hostile eyes.

Sayaka saw Hikaru stop and emerged from the shadows near her, smiling a big grin. Internally Sayaka was surprised that the danger was so.....nonthreatening looking. 

They looked on each other. 

Hikaru spoke guardedly "You are here to fight?"

Sayaka responded "I was told to investigate the source of a danger to the multiverse...though you seem very child-looking to be such a threat."

Hikaru bristled at this. "Well....how about a friendly duel to see if I am capable of such danger?"

Sayaka nodded in agreement.

Wordlessly Hikaru was engulged in flame, as her armor materialized all along her and her eyes burned with the fire of her passion. From the jewel on her hand came her sword which she gripped with readiness. At the exact same time, Sayaka's became a blue silhoutte, duplicating out and out then merging back together to reveal her Magical Girl Form, a sword coming into being in her hand at the ready.

The Two Swordswomen stood at the ready, prepared for the duel of their lives. 

FIGHT!

Sayaka charged forth with a upward lunge towards Hikaru's head. Hikaru brought her blade down to deflect the blade, driving Sayaka's body down. 

Sayaka using the momentum, used her legs to knock at Hikaru's legs. Hikaru felt her legs give way under her, and fell upon her knees. Sayaka leaped upwards with a quick downward slash. Hikaru quickly slashed first, clashing against Sayaka's breastplate, sending her flying. 

Hikaru charged at Sayaka, but Sayaka saw this coming and ducked behind a nearby car. sliced her broadsword through the window of the car. Sayaka heard the glass of the first window break and thinking quick brought her sword down over the area of the second window so that as Hikaru's blade emerged from the other side, Sayaka's blade brought Hikaru's arm downwards, slamming Hikaru's body into the other side of the car. 

Sayaka took advantage of the momentary momentum and leaped upwards cartwheeling with a mighty sword swing. Hikaru darted quickly away from the car as Sayaka's blade came down slicing the car in two as Hikaru cleared the area just in time. 

"You're impressive" said Hikaru "There are few who can fight such a hero of justice! But I will prevail"

"Hero of Justice!" proclaimed Sayaka, "You think someone of your....stature....is worthy of such a title."

Angered Hikaru charged Sayaka's position again but in a blue blur Sayaka was gone. Hikaru looked around and say a brief blue burst on a nearby building which rapidly left field of sight. Where could she have gone? Wait....

Sayaka blitzed behind Hikaru, having circled the angered and distracted Magic Knight. Sayaka quickly brought her blade up to stab Hikaru but found it blocked by a blade having been brought behind Hikaru, realizing Sayaka's strategy. 

Their blades entangled Hikaru pulled with her strength and thrust Sayaka over her head onto the ground in front of her. Hikaru plunged her blade downwards but Sayaka rolled to the side and Hikaru's blade became entrenched in the cement below. Sayaka jumped to her feet, quickly bounding upright on the other side of the street. 

Sayaka threw her blade at Hikaru while her sword was stuck in the ground. Hikaru saw the incoming threat and heaved hard, flinging a huge amount of earth outwards as her sword was free, the ground being split and falling harmlessly to Sayaka's sides by Sayaka's sword. 

Hikaru beamed, bringing her blade up and pointing the tip at Sayaka. "You are disarmed! Victory is mine! Surrender!"

Sayaka grimaced for a second and raised her hands in seeming surrender, before grinning with smugness and with a flick of her cape revealing that she was surrounded by blades. 

Hikaru laughed "Well...look this will be more entertaining then I thought"

Sayaka  leaped in the air, a mystic circle forming behind her. "Let's see how you do against this. THE FIVE LILLIANS!"

Sayaka spoke as she launched 5 swords in sequence. Hikaru jolted from side to side, batting at these blades . But they returned to her as if possessed by a will of their own. Hikaru ran behind a nearby building and found she had run into town center, with the buildings forming a ring around the fountain. Hikaru continued to try to evade the 5 blades, glanced them off her blade and gauntlets. But she found herself quickly backed against the fountain wall. Sayaka emerged at the edge of the circle with a bemused expression. But Hikaru suddenly smiled.  

"What's so funny?" Sayaka asked.

"So you're a fellow magic-user? You probably shouldn't have revealed that to me." Hikaru raised her hand "FLAME ARROW!" 

From Hikaru's hands came numerous bolts of inferno which streaked outwards like missiles. These fires repealed from her all of Sayaka's blades and came at Sayaka's position. 

"Woah!" Sayaka exclaimed, quickly  creating a platform in mid-air and leaping off it away from the fire arrows just in time, as the flame arrows burned through all nearby cement and other materials, the ground and whole sections of building burning away in a fraction of a second. It looked like a small meteor had struck had there. 

Sayaka's jump had pushed her above the fountain and Hikaru quickly leaped upwards angling her blade upwards.

Sayaka felt the blade pierce her, and the sudden jolt as Hikaru flung Sayaka downwards onto the top of the fountain. Sayaka threw her blade up at Hikaru but Hikaru blocked it off her gauntlet before throwing her own blade downwards, snagging Sayaka's cape. Sayaka pulled, but found herself pinned to the fountain. Hikaru hit the ground nearby. Sayaka tried grabbing Hikaru's sword but it burned her hand.

Thinking quick Sayaka, conjured another sword and slashed at the water. Hikaru grabbed at the blade but the cape dropped with Sayaka nowhere to be seen. 

"Wha?!" Hikaru exclaimed looking around before being slammed into in the back. Hikaru fell down into the watery fountain, still red with Sayaka's blood. Hikaru's blood mixed with hers as Sayaka slashed her quickly before disappearing. Hikaru jumped up, her sword poised. 

Hikaru saw in the corner of her eye the movement of the blue streak. She pushed her will outwards, feeling the presence of the distant land of Cephiro. Sayaka charged forth and found herself sucked suddenly into a gaping dimensional doorway, as Hikaru and Sayaka entered a different realm all-together.

A doorway opened above one of Cephiro's forests far away from any large body of water. From it fell Hikaru and Sayaka, who both quickly bounded upright, prepared to continue their fight.

"W...Where are we?!" Sayaka demanded

"This...is Cephiro!" Hikaru proudly declared. "The land where one's will decides all. Here I am the strongest of all!"

Sayaka regained her composure and winked "Eh...you think merely a change in scenery is gonna be enough to beat me? I have seen plenty of strange and distorted lands, this is nothing!"

Hikaru responded "Think you're quick enough eh? Let's see if you are quick as lightning.....RED LIGHTNING!" and saying this a storm cloud appeared in her hands from which came crackling lightning. Sayaka leaped from tree to tree, trying to avoid the quick attack which ripped the trees from ground behind her. 

Sayaka moved in an arc, before throwing a blade and catapulting herself back towards Hikaru. Hikaru quickly blocked the blade coming with a downwards arc strike, but before she could regain default position Sayaka got in with a slash to Hikaru's top. Sayaka brought her blade back, but to her surprise Hikaru's bleeding from the face and throat simply stood upright and slashed back. 

Sayaka gripped her hand to her side, stumbling back in shock. Hikaru raised her hand. "FLAME ARROW!" Sayaka quickly ducked behind a tree, but the flames of the arrows spread intensely, burning all the nearby wood. Soon Sayaka found herself surrounded by flame and smoke.

From the flame and smoke was the figure of Hikaru. Sayaka slashed at it but in the smoke it was gone. 

Sayaka felt her soul gem, and in it she felt Hikaru's magic concentration all around but there was a slight increase to her left. Quickly Sayaka lunged, and felt her body connect with Hikaru's. 

Hikaru yelped in surprise and the two launched forwards, they both yelled in anger and then in surprise as they were launched through a tree entirely into a part of the forest as of yet unclaimed by the fire. They slammed into another tree. Hikaru moved her sword downwards, connecting with Sayaka's back. Sayaka pushed on Hikaru throwing herself away and quickly started healing herself. 

However, Hikaru had other plans. Sword in Hand, Hikaru with the full force of her will burst into flame, the flames leaping from her sword and her armor and back. Hikaru raised her sword in challenge and threw herself into the assault. Sayaka recognized the assault and summoned a new sword and met the challenge flying towards Hikaru, cutting off all sensations of pain.

Hikaru and Sayaka's sabres clashed and their heads hit each other with the intensity of their charge. So close, both of them grinned menacingly. Their blood was pumping, their swords tingled in their hands, the fullness of battle was about to reach it's zenith. 

Hikaru and Sayaka raised their blades and began almost mechanically knocking them against each other and slashing at each other ruthlessly. Slashed appeared, as if by invisible mischievous faerie appeared on their bodies. The nearby trees were ripped in pieces, the nearby dirt was upheaval and flew airborne to fill the air with obscuring smoke, the very air alighted from the energy of their blades meeting, and winds so great as to throw uplift stone and flame threw them forth.

"I won't lose! I am the hero!" Both thought, clashing endlessly like an immovable object and an unstoppable force. 

Hikaru's fist not on her blade landed a hit on Sayaka's stomach. Sayaka recoiled, realizing how close the strike came to her soul gem. Hikaru feeling the enemy position changed, pressed the advantage, her fist aflame still, threw her force into her first sending Sayaka flying. 

Sayaka quickly conjured her swords and telekinetically threw them at Hikaru, approaching Hikaru from all angles. As they approached the heat of Hikaru's flame melted the blades. 

Sayaka was surprised by this but before she could escape, Hikaru was upon her, sending her to the ground with one strike. Hikaru readied the coup de grace but Sayaka slashed at the back of Hikaru's leg, less protected. Hikaru fell and Sayaka quickly pushed on the ground bringing her upwards. A blade appeared in her blade to end the battle.

Hikaru saw the incoming threat and put all her force into one final thrust at the enemy.

A scraping sound was heard as two blades simultaneously pieced into the most vulnerable part of the human body-the heart.

Hikaru tried to stand, but fell entirely. Sayaka felt the non-beat of her own heart, and knew it matched her opponent's.     

KO

This match probably had the highest proportion of indecision on my part relative to it's simplicity. It was really hard to pick a winner but in the end I came to the decision that Sayaka was more likely to win given the conditions. 

See Hikaru vs. Sayaka depends to me almost entirely on the starting conditions and the Death Battle default assumptions all favor Sayaka. They don't have prior knowledge, so Hikaru doesn't know anything about Sayaka or her soul gem. They are in-character and Hikaru is more hampered by her moral code then Sayaka is by EoS. And biggest of all, they don't have outside help. 

If Hikaru has Rayearth, she's legit one of the most powerful Magical Girls protagonists of all time, able to give a decent challenge to Kami Madoka, just as she did to Mokona. But without it, Hikaru is a lot weaker, and very little actual experience fighting superhuman battles without either Rayearth or her friends who balance her weaknesses. 

Hikaru and Sayaka were matched in a lot of areas. Sayaka's superior speed gave her a better long-range game, while Hikaru's better reflexes gave her a better close-range game. However while both are very hard to even damage, Hikaru because of her armor and Sayaka because most of her body is really just armor for her soul gem really, Hikaru's weak points are more evident then Sayaka's.

This also led to a point about dueling. In dueling lunges for the stomach are almost NEVER done. This is because in a duel, it's very easy to protect the lower half of your body with a backstep, and you can even use that to arcsweep their blade bringing their blade to the side and giving you the change to get them. 

Hikaru is highly talented and skilled swordswoman and so naturally she wouldn't go for the stomach, which would be her downfall since her strikes elsewhere wouldn't be damaging. This may seem fantastical but actually reflects a fascinating trend in real dueling where complete amateurs tend to do better then people with only some training, since their strikes tend to be more random and less telegraphed. 

But there is one little thing super easy to overlook that really made me give it to Sayaka. Sayaka can create more swords at will. Hikaru and Sayaka would both be incredibly touch to take down for each other, and so this battle would likely go on for quite the while. Except with swordswomen of this caliber, it's far more likely that instead of wearing each other down, it's more likely one of them would get disarmed. 

Now I actually think Hikaru is more likely to disarm Sayaka then the inverse. But it doesn't matter how if that happens or even if Hikaru disarms or even destroys Sayaka's swords. Sayaka can just make more. Meanwhile if Sayaka disarms Hikaru, she wouldn't be able to use Hikaru's sword cause it would burst into flame, but she wouldn't need to, she could just rush Hikaru and defeat her when she loses her blade.

The Winner is Sayaka Miki

Next Time....

Once again, thanks so much to my friend Thor for the amazing trailer!