Team Trial: The Magic Knights

 

Three Girls from different schools were on a normal trip to Tokyo Tower when suddenly they were drawn into another world called Cephiro by that world's princess, Emeraude to stop her abductor, the dark wizard Zagato. There they would learn that they were the legendary "Magic Knights", a legendary trio of girls from another world that would save Cephiro twice over, once from Zagato and once from an invasion from other worlds. And while they gained powerful weapons and armor and magic on their trips to Cephiro, their true strongest asset was the unbreakable friendship they forged with each other.

Physically the Magic Knights differ somewhat in their physical power but even just in the manga, Umi and Fuu both withstand the air pressure of the swordsman Lafarga's blows, the mere air pressure of his sword swings vaporizing a portion of the ground, calced at 9.8 tons of tnt. Hikaru does even better, taking many direct blows from Lafarga. This is consistent with them later surviving shockwaves that brought down a castle. The anime makes this more consistent with the Magic Knights fighting building sized monsters and creating large building size attacks with their magic before the fight with Lafarga. It also has them confronting Zagato in their base form near the end of the first half of the series with all three them surviving attacks from him, Zagato having likely surpassed their master Guru Clef who created a massive explosion calced at taking millions of tons of TNT to perform. The anime is written directly by CLAMP, the team that made the original manga, and so has a very good claim to being canon. In terms of speed, in the anime the Magic Knights are comparable to characters like Ascot who could make a mach cone with his flight and in terms of reaction speed the Magic Knights have numerous feats of reacting to lightning and light, including sending lightning attacks back with their blades, as well as piloting their Mechs at full speed in close combat, the Mechs Full Speed being comparable to starships that can quickly travel between planets. 

Oh yeah about that, each of the Magic Knights has a Rune God, which turns out to be a Mecha. These Mecha are powerful enough to rival the Pillar of Cephiro in power, a specially chosen person whose will maintains the world of Cephiro, with it literally crumbling to bits without her will holding the planet together. Obviously the Magic Knights with their Rune Gods is a wholly different matchup than on foot. They're even stronger when combined, to the point of rivaling a Universal God. 

The Magic Knights have unique powers but they also have some powers and equipment in common. Most notably is their will. Cephiro is unlike Earth as on Cephiro one's will determines all things, with reality being imposed from the inwards out rather than from the outwards in. All Three Magic Knights develop in will over the series to the point that by the end of the series they can use their magic on Earth and resist the reality-warping of a universal reality-warping deity. They can also use it to create inter-dimensional portals to go between Earth and Cephiro at will, and amplify their stats through sheer willpower. The end of the anime also implies that the Magic Knights can see between dimensions. It's possible they could use their will for more general abilities as well. Zagato created his own Rune God out of pure willpower and Guru Clef maintained a portion of Cephiro with his will, two characters that the Magic Knights surpassed in will. 

The Magic Knights wield armor and weapons made of a special magical mineral called Escudo. Escudo doesn't have a set strength, but is determined by the willpower of the user, being made into "evolving armor" and "evolving weapons" that get stronger alongside the user like an RPG. Their blades are huge and stored inside the jewels on their gloves for when they need them. Their armor also covers almost their whole body which they can switch back and forth with their civilian clothing at will. Their escudo blades have the unique property that they can't be used by anyone but the wielder with Hikaru's blade turning to flame, Umi's turning to water, and Fuu's becoming so heavy it embeds itself in the ground. These blades in the anime are also shown to be able to physically interact with intangible things like light and reflect attacks like Hikaru did to Inouva's lightning blasts. 

Hikaru Shidou is the defacto leader of the Magic Knights despite technically being the least intelligent of them. This is due to her valor and charisma. She is the tank of the Magic Knights, weathering blows the best, and leading them from the front. Hikaru has the simplest and most direct magic, fire magic, reflecting the burning heroic passion of her heart. She can channel this into her flame arrows spell, shooting out numerous arrows of flame and Crimson Lightning spell, which shoots out balls of lightning at her enemy. Hikaru is a skilled enough swordswoman that she was able to outduel Lafarga, greatest swordsman of the world of Cephiro and defeated her father, a master swordsman as a little girl. Hikaru has a level of natural purity that lets her communicate to a limited extent with animals as well as the ability to break the fourth wall. However her strongest asset is her pure willpower, confirmed to be the greatest in the entire series, allowing her to temporarily resist the reality-warping of a universal deity by herself. 

Hikaru defeated the greatest swordsman in Cephiro in a sword duel while holding back, defeated the powerful mage Alcyione with her first spell, figured out and defeated a monster made of light that kidnapped Umi and Fuu, defeated the embodiment of her guilt Nova in her mind, had more will than worlds of people who think they are fighting for their survival of their worlds, and dragged Eagle Vision back across dimensions despite a universal reality-warping god trying to stop that very thing with her will

Umi Ryuuzaki is the DPS of the Magic Knights with the most powerful attack spells, given control of water magic due to her emotional nature, prone to fluctuations like the tide, and her nurturing compassionate nature. Umi's water magic is elegant and precise, The first of this is her Water Dragon spell which summons a dragon made of water that can attack her opponents or can bring about the rain powerful enough to put out a forest fire. Her second is her Sapphire Whirlwind which summons a blue localized cyclone she can use to push around her opponents or transport people. Finally her strongest spell is the Icicle Blades, which shoots out jagged ice shards to slash at her opponents, capable of one-shotting monsters her other spells struggled to harm. Umi can also breath underwater. Umi is fairly intelligent, having gone to an elite school for wealthy girls and is a champion fencer, arguably near Hikaru in skill able to beat the warrior princess Tarta and even her older sister Tatra, supposedly a feat no one in the world of Chizeta could perform. She has mild gag powers when enraged able to pull a hammer out of nowhere and start moving so fast it appeared she was teleporting to chase Mokona around. 

Umi stomped monster after monster to get to the monster summoner Ascot to make him apologize for insulting her friends and helped redeem him, broke through her own mental insecurities when she returned to Earth so she could go back to Cephiro to save Hikaru and Fuu from Alcyone, broke through the will of Tarta and Tatra (the strong-willed princesses of Chizeta) and won them to Cephiro's side, and was the one who best understood the intent of Guru Clef, the greatest magician of Cephiro who guided them.

Fuu Houoji is the support of the Magic Knights, with the most versatile skillset and magic. Fuu's magic is that of the wind reflecting her easy-going fun nature and her desire to explore and learn. Fuu's magic is mostly supportive in nature with spells like Winds of Healing which can heal people from the brink of death, even their clothes, with such potency that she could use it to beat an identical copy of herself where every injury on her copy also applied to her, Winds of Protection which creates a shield of wind around her and her allies, and Winds of Admonishment which binds opponents in wind in midair, keeping them from moving. She also has the attack spells Emerald Typhoon which summons a powerful gust of wind strong enough to create a localized tornado and Emerald Cyclone which shoots out many wind blades powerful enough to kill a monster that could endure the Emerald Typhoon without difficulty. Fuu can also use her magic to fly and levitate in the air. Beyond this Fuu is the smartest of the Magic Knights having gone to a prestigious school for the academically gifted and often seeing through tricks the others can't, and beating opponents through deception or figuring out their abilities. She's not as skilled as the other Magic Knights but even without her weapon was able to defeat a large group of Ninjas sent by the child princess of Fahren, Aska. Fuu can also resist the bodily control of Caldina that neither of the other Magic Knights could resist. 

In the battle with Caldina, both Hikaru and Umi were hypnotized against Fuu and she was able to bind both and defeat Caldina. In the battle against Ascot, she was able, even while heavily damaged, use a new spell on the spot to protect her friends, was able to shoot targets at vast distances with her bow. And when she was abducted by the child princess Aska of Fahren, she remained entirely calm and easily beat all of Aska's challenges including beating her at archery and defeating a large number of ninjas without her weapon, all the while intuiting Aska's intent and talking her into changing sides and joining Cephiro's side. 

More than their one on one capabilities, the Magic Knights are known for their teamwork and cohesion. The three are absolutely inseparable friends and cover each other's weaknesses. Together they released and won the power of the three Rune Gods, defeated the Dark Lord Zagato, a master of martial combat and magic that it was believed no one in Cephiro could stop by combining their powers into a greater light magic attack even when Zagato was greater than any one of them individually, defeated an enemy with the power of the Pillar (a reality-warper who maintains and controls all of Cephiro with their emotions), defeated the Dark Pillar Debonaire reflecting the fears and despair of all Cephiro through using the hope of all Cephiro, won the contest to become the new pillar while fending off inter-planetary attacks from the advanced mecha world of Autozam and the mystical worlds of Chizeta and Fahren at the same time, helped each other through their psychological difficulities and even overcame the will of a universal reality-warping deity who had sent Hikaru and Eagle Vision to another dimension where time was stopped. Hikaru refused to leave Eagle Vision behind, even as she turned to flame, but Umi and Fuu in watery and wind forms respectively reached across dimensions and pulled Hikaru back across dimensions, their mecha combining into one force stronger than even the god, giving the power of the Pillar to all of Cephiro. 

Individually all three have personality weaknesses. Hikaru can be stubborn and naive, tending to run into danger easily, as well as lacking versatility. She also has a strict honor code, unwilling to use magic against Lafarga since he didn't have magic. Umi is easily irritated and provoked, and is a bit of a glass cannon. Fuu lacks confidence and isn't quite as raw powerful or combat skilled as the other two. That said the three together cover for each others weaknesses. The only weakness it could be argued is that because they're all Earth girls they lack some level of knowledge and expertise in magic compared to other characters in their setting, though at still very clearly skilled magic-users. 

Name: The Magic Knights

Origin: Magic Knight Rayearth

Powers and Abilities: Superhuman Stats, Superhuman Willpower, Statistic Amplification, Summoning (their weapons and the Rune Gods), Inter-Dimensional Vision, Travel, Portal Creation, possibly Creation, Weapons that can't be wielded by others, Elemental Manipulation (Fire, Lightning, Water, Ice, Wind, Light), Anti-Intangibility, Fourth Wall Breaking (Hikaru), Limited Animal Communication (Hikaru), Can Breath Underwater (Umi), Mild Gag Powers (Umi), Healing (Fuu), Forcefield Creation (Fuu), Binding (Fuu), Can survive as fire, water, and wind, Resistance to Reality-Warping and Magic. Resistance to Body Control (Fuu)

Weaknesses: Various psychological weaknesses, limited experience with magic

Attack Potency: Large Building+ normally, Planetary+ with Rune Gods, Universal with Combined Rayearth

Durability: Large Building+ normally, Planetary+ with Rune Gods, Universal with Combined Rayearth

Speed: Hypersonic Movement Speed, FTL Reaction/Attack Speed, FTL Speed with Rune Gods

Range: Hundreds of Meters normally, Tens of Kilometers with Rune Gods. Interdimensional with some powers

Stamina: Superhuman (The Magic Knights' stamina is highly amplified due to their willpower)

Skill: At least High C Tier for Fuu (fended off a large group of Ninjas without her sword), Mid B Tier for Hikaru and Umi (comparable to the greatest warriors of Cephiro and Chizeta respectively)

Intelligence: Likely Clever for Hikaru (figured out the Light Monster's modus operandi in short order), Clever for Umi (is good at intuiting the feelings of others), Genius for Fuu (goes to a prestigious school for gifted students and regularly outwits even smart characters she meets)

Standard Equipment: Escudo Swords and Armor. Jeweled Gloves.

So who could the Magic Knights defeat as a team? This will be mostly based on who they could beat on land rather than with their Rune Gods as that's an entirely different question. 

Lantis. Lantis is also from Magic Knight Rayearth and is an ally of the Magic Knights but if they fought, I believe the Magic Knights would win. Lantis is compared to his brother Zagato as a master of both martial abilities and magic abilities, which while an intimidating combination that would make it hard for most people in-verse to beat him one v one, against the Magic Knights I believe it would be almost a repeat of the Magic Knights vs Zagato.

The only thing that would be different is that their wills would be different. It depends on why the fight occurs obviously but Hikaru and Lantis care for each other, meaning that if both their wills are lower, so would their hypothetical power for this matchup. That might make it sound more one-sided since Umi and Fuu would be able to muster much of the will they had against Zagato though the Magic Knights only defeated Zagato by combining their power. This wouldn't happen against Lantis. That said I believe Umi and Fuu could rally Hikaru's will to fight if they needed too.

Pierre from Sugar Sugar Rune is someone I believe the Magic Knights would be able to pretty easily beat together even if he could likely beat any of the three alone. Pierre is one of the strongest of the Ogres, the outcast mages of the Magic World, and should scale above Vanilla's feat of using her magic to create a beach, which would put him in a similar power tier as the Magic Knights, alongside several other building level feats in SSR. A more generous estimate would put him at a similar level to the Magic Knights in the anime using a more conventional size for a beach and the pocket dimensions that SSR-verse characters create that arguably extend to the horizon. Speedwise Pierre scale from Chocolat and Vanilla flying to the Moon in a night, putting him as faster than the Magic Knights, though not so fast they can't react to him. While Pierre's magic and reality-warping are both potent, these are both things the Magic Knights can clearly resist on a scale larger than Pierre's. As such Pierre's direct offensive haxes like transmutation or soul manipulation likely wouldn't work.

Pierre does have the benefit of the Ogre regeneration which allows him to reform from being melted meaning even though he's physically much weaker it won't help much and he can just attack the magic knights with magical blasts. Beyond that he has access to a large repertoire of insanely powerful illusory magic (even creating an illusion of the entire cosmos) and his distinctive ability, that being emotional and psychological manipulation, both mundane and magical. The said the Magic Knights can help each other with psychological tricks he tries to pull on them individually, can easily move past dimensions if he tries to dimensionally bfr them, and Hikaru has access to fire magic, a type of magic not seen in Sugar Sugar Rune's manga, and the light of which would be especially effective against an ogre. He also could try to take their hearts, their emotional energy, and while each one individually might be susceptible to some of his manipulations, when they're together Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu can each talk each other out of any manipulation he tries. 

Overall while Pierre could try and manipulate them, their extreme will and friendship would allow them to see through his illusions until Hikaru hits him with Flame Arrow or Crimson Lightning, the three resisting or recovering fairly easily from most of his repertoire. While against one of them individually, Pierre could use his illusions and psychological manipulation while he bombards them with magic attacks, together they should be able to see through especially given Fuu is smarter than him, Hikaru can talk to animals that Pierre wouldn't know he needs to decieve, and Umi has already dealt with her psychological insecurity even by herself. 

With medium difficulty, I believe that the Magic Knights could likely beat Suzaku from Yu Yu Hakusho, the lightning demon together. 

Suzaku is an astral plane entity as a demon, yet the Magic Knights powers can affect the mental plane Nova with their magic, consistent with strong enough wills being able to create things from the mind itself (Zagato's Rune God) and even affect the laws of the world (the creator.) Suzaku and Yusuke's destruction of their large metal dome they were in that a heavily wounded Yusuke survived was calced at 6.2 tons of tnt, putting Suzaku slightly weaker than the magic knights. This is also true if you count the animes both as in the anime Suzaku as an upper C Tier scales far above the lower C tier Rando who vaporized a large pond calced at kiloton level, putting him still slightly weaker than the Magic Knights. He also scales to his own lightning, putting him at superior speeds, though once again they can react as they did against Inouva. Suzaku as a Demon attacks on the astral plane though the Magic Knights' psyche are likely strong enough to endure it given their godly willpower. Beyond that Suzaku has relative skill to Umi and Hikaru by scaling but with the added benefit of his ability to multiply himself into 7 of himself. This means that the Magic Knights would have to fight 7 entities that are all roughly on their level, with a very high level of skill, fairly intelligent and with roughly as dangerous a magic style. 

Fighting seven relative opponents like that would be really difficult but the Magic Knights have a lot of crowd control and large area of effect. Hikaru can soak up Storm of Torment attacks from them like Yusuke did, but with the benefit of allowing Umi and Fuu to counterattack at the same time with Fuu using winds of admonishment to hold at least two of them at once, as well as widescale attacks with Emerald Cyclone and Umi able to cover the entire battlefield with Sapphire Whirlwind which covered the entire city-block sized battlefield against Tarta and Tatra. Fuu would likely think quickly as Yusuke did to use the insulators on their shoes to cover their hands to allow them to somewhat resist Suzaku's lightning and while Suzaku can heal himself by absorbing copies, Fuu can do the same thing with her normal magic.

However the two big advantages the Magic Knights would have is their portal creation and statistics amplification. With their ability to summon portals, the Magic Knights can create an unstoppable shield against ranged attacks and just as Yusuke defeated Suzaku by amping himself on his own lifeforce, the Magic Knights can do that through their friendship and willpower, but with far less downside as they wouldn't be burning their lifeforce. As such while I don't think fighting seven fighters somewhat relative to the Magic Knights physically would be easy, I do believe it's something they could do.

With high difficulty I believe it's possible the Magic Knights may be able to defeat Vlad from Magicka, who is not a vampire.

Vlad is notably stronger than them scaling into the triple digit tons of TNT by his relativity to Wizards that can freeze sections of lava and move small hills in combat while the Magic Knights are arguably somewhere in the lower double digit tons. This means Vlad is likely over 10x stronger than them. If you use the anime for the Magic Knights and you highball Vlad this difference would likely be preserved as it's possible he scales in the novel to Azimuth who was stated to move a "mountain" in combat. He also has faster movement speed, though slower reaction speed. Vlad is a master of all eight elements and can absorb them at will which would allow him to absorb fire, ice and lightning. His attacks would be an immediate threat to any of the Magic Knights though they should have some resistance to his abilities due to their magic resistance. Beyond that he also has "Portus" his personal magicka that can let him teleport people across dimensions and time. If

 Vlad teleports the Magic Knights in time, they can't necessarily return, though they would be able to return from a dimensional teleportation and in fairness, Vlad has never shown teleporting people that FAR in time,. so the Magic Knights could likely return to the battlefield from temporal bfr of hours just through their natural lifespan. It's also not his first move. Fuu's attacks are the only one that can directly hurt Vlad as wind is not a Magicka element though her attack power is the weakest, plus he has forcefields as strong as their Rune Gods, immortality, and higher durability.

All this may make it seem downright impossible for them to beat Vlad, and yeah it would be very difficult to beat Vlad. That said they have a massive skill gap (High C and Mid B vs Low C) and Vlad is psychologically kind of a theatrical arrogant goof. While Hikaru and Umi dodge around his attacks, Fuu could try to manipulate Vlad's sense of arrogance. The Magic Knights also have one thing that should work, their teamwork light attack as for some reason despite not being a vampire, Vlad is more sensitive to light than normal and this attacks involves them amplifying their statistics. As such if Hikaru and Umi try to melee Vlad while he runs around theatrically and Fuu manipulates him into position, the three can potentially beat him via a combined attack, though this would be extremely dangerous as at any point a sudden area attack from Vlad could threaten any of the Magic Knights though they do have some counters to Vlad's abilities such as Fuu flying over an ground shaking from Vlad.