"Yay! I got new friends! Nice meeting you Julia!" Dariya answered energetically, a grin as wide as kid who had obtained free access to a jar of cookies. Hook, line and sinker. You shall be useful, Julia. She thought inwardly, as she stood perfectly still, waiting for the deal to be sealed with the bodyparts the petite magical girl had so much fixation on.

And then an interruption. Dariya's gaze turned towards another girl who was pointing and yelling. Still with a composed face, her eyes slightly narrowed. Oh no. Nonononononono. She added as she saw an older girl in a magical girl costume similar to Julia pointed to her, claiming about royalties. That delusional wreck's claims might ruin everything by upsetting Julia Her fist clenched tightly as she quickly hid it behind her back. And then another magical girl, named Kei, whose attire was a barroque mashup of a nerdy girl and tryhard fashion diehard introduced herself. Was that lawn quote from an action flick? Dariya suspected so.

Turf claims, huh. Well, it was not surprising. Unexpected, but not surprising. Magical girls were still humans and trash, so something as petty as turfs was bound to appear and happen. No matter. Dariya just kept calm and composed. She had to keep her act of being utterly harmless believable.

"Well met, Kei. Mary. Also, this lawn needs more...care? I mean, it's only concrete... Ah no, I think spotted a bad weed on a crevice. I can help tending the garden as well! I am useful! See, Julia! I help!" She added, falling on the ditzy characterization once more. Her eyes rest on Mary.

"Um, I might be wrong and a stupid Dariya, but I don't think you can claim royalties on something you don't choose to begin with? Cause, the disguise kinda plopped like this in my case. If I could choose, I'd have treated my puppies better." Dariya added as she addressed Julia once more.

"Julia's red dress is cuter, by the way." She added by flopping on top of Julia in a somewhat motherly hug, her chest embracing Julia's head and neck. "My cute boss. And you guys will stop picking on her, or I'll ... I'll have to sternly reprehend you." She said, reinforcing her words a rather mockery of a frowny face which looked more like someone eating sour lemons rather than being threatening.

"We're the strawberry gang, bitches." She added.

Badass 0 % Idiotic 100% Nailed it. Dariya thought to herself.

There was little that had to be said. However, precisely because this was the case, much will be said regardless.

-The rampant denial of the 「Curse-Woven Impostor」, a fool who had become locked into repetition. A cockroach in a glass, seeing its fate but unable to hasten the pace.

-The mediation attempts of the sidekick. A poor sidekick, then, if they would aim to restrain the action of the protagonist. The sort of sidekick who would be swayed by worldly desires, rather than one who had escaped the cycle of that 「Six-Twain Wheel」.

-The audacity of a child. A fool who does not understand that they are but a speck in the hand of the Bodhisattva, that the 「World」 they hold so dear is merely a forgotten veil. Simulation, falsehood, dream, illusion, craft of a demon, prized domain of a narcissist pariah, altar of a corrupted god, plaything of an incomprehensible is-not. Pathetic. Impermissible. Disgusting.

How dare she state that the visage of the 「Curse-Woven Impostor」 is superior to that of the original?

...the declaration had already been made. Ah yes, there's no possible means it could not be known.

Declaration. Sentence. The world starts, the world ends.

As the warning had been given and ignored with reckless abandon, there was no reason to hesitate.

Fall into nothingness.

Condense into nothingness.

Shatter amidst nothingness.

Become naught under nothingness.

"All candy received by the 「Curse-Woven Impostor」 shall henceforth be made with inferior quality control standards and shall be given a mark-up of approximately four hundred percent additionally!"

The announcement that called for the end of Being pierced the world. Like an army of insects, innumerable points cut through space, cut through time, cut through the foundation of reality's hastily-made "logic" as though it had never existed.

"Furthermore, all allies of the 「Curse-Woven Impostor」 shall incur the same detriments! Verbal abuse will be meted out as time permits! When total verbal abuse is infeasible due to temporal constraints, an overly terse and upset demeanor will be adopted! The soul will be broken apart and reduced into the dust from where it arose before it can enter the cycle of reincarnation! All applications as prospective sidekicks will be denied on face!"

So it goes.

There seemed to be plenty of action going on around the city. It isn't a surprise, Gdańsk was a very busy city all year long. Of course, with the resurgence of Witches, it was busy for all the wrong reasons. While Serafina should have been hunting for Witches, she preferred a nice day off. When the day was up, she'd be back into the fray, but for now, she needed to relax. Now, in a huge city like Gdańsk, what could a cute little girl like her do to relax?

Eat some ice cream with a good friend. Kazimiera Sienkiewicz came to Gdańsk around the same time as she did, and quickly struck up a friendship. Working alone might have been beneficial, but it could also lead to a quick end, and that wasn't really how Serafina did things. Working with another person still allowed her to get as many Grief Seeds as she needed, as well as reduce the risk factor. Having company was also nice, it made a boring life seem more complete.

Of course, Serafina wasn't actually at the location yet. She overslept, and missed her ride, so she had to take public transportation. Now public transit in Poland wasn't too bad, but it wasn't the preferred method of transportation. It also didn't help that the nearest stop was still a decent ways away, so that required Serafina to run as fast as she could to make sure her friend didn't wait too long.

With all the training she had been through so far, the running wasn't too bad, but she couldn't hold her excitement when she finally caught sight of her friend. Serafina ran faster upon seeing Kazia, almost as if she was running into her.

Actually, Serafina didn't slow down, and continued to speed up. She was crashing into her.

"Kazia~~~~~!!! "

Kazia was adapting well to Gdańsk better than she was initially worried she would. Originally, she had been worried about making new friends, being at loathe to leave her old team. They were a tight knit group once, broken apart not by some tragedy in combat but the plain necessity of her parents moving to a new city.

Her worries had been quickly quelled when she met Serafina. Immediately striking up what she could safely call a friendship, the two had fought together through several battles in (un)surprisingly busy Gdańsk. While it was not the same as having a full team, having just the two of them seemed to have its own comforts. Namely, the much reduced risk of disagreements and interfighting which her old leader had dealt with so efficiently with a charm and charisma Kazia was not confident she had.

Being the proud owner of a bicycle, Kazia did not take public transportation like Serafina did. As such, she had much more leeway when it came to getting to places on time - not only could she fail to miss her bicycle as opposed to a bus or train but if needed be she could always take several shortcuts. Side-streets, Alleys, parks, forests, people's lawns. Despite all of this however, she had barely made it to the prearranged meeting location and locked her bike when she heard her name being called.

Turning and looking towards the source of the sound, she saw Serafina completely disregarding any idea of slowing down as she plowed right towards her. Kazia only had a brief moment to spread her arms to accept either an incoming hug or tackle, something which was only possible for her through months of dealing with life and death situations.

Running around at the speed of sound,

Got places to go, gotta follow my rainbow.

Can't stick around, have to keep moving on,

Guess what lies ahead, only one way to find out!

Actually, Serafina was fully aware of what was ahead of her. It was her friend Kazia, with her arms wide open. It appeared to be that she couldn't handle her excitement either. Serafina jumped towards her friend, arms stretched outwards to greet the other in a hug. Of course, since Serafina was fairly strong as it is, on top of the fact she was running at her top speed, this was more of a linebacker trying to sack a quarterback then two friends hugging.

And, as one would expect from such a powerful collision, Serafina brought her friend to the ground. If Kazia wasn't a Magical Girl, she'd probably be in a lot of pain, but she was fine! What was a tackle to a big, strong, magical girl?! Serafina was fine of course, landing softly on her friend. This was probably a very awkward situation to the onlookers, but Serafina paid no attention to them. She had urgent matters to talk about.

"Kaiza~! I heard that more foreigner girls showed up! I hope that they understand that Poland is number one, and that they're learning the ropes around here! I won't tolerate them if they insult or disgrace our beautiful land! "

A cute little scowl appeared on Serafina's face. She understood that her friend Kazia wasn't as, well, insane for Poland as she was, but that didn't mean she could keep quiet about it. Of course, Serafina would mind her business, and let them do as they will. However, if she finds out that they were disgracing her beautiful Poland, Serafina would not be pleased.

Poland is number one.

Kazia allowed herself to be knocked down by Serafina. Had it been anyone else Kazia would have taken it as an attack of some sort and she would have responded - probably violently - but Serafina was a friend. A little roughhousing was not out of the place at all - the fact that this looked really strange to the bystanders notwithstanding, of course.

As Serafina talked about the foreigners, Kazia couldn't help but be a little excited. It was always good to meet new magical girls - in a world where magic was unknown it was nice to meet other members of the really small number of magical girls compared to the rest of humanity. They already shared the common bond of "being a magical girl", that alone should be basis for getting along, no?

"Well I guess there's only one way to find out if they're learning the ropes or not." Kazia commented, deciding to play on Serafina's occasionally disturbing but mostly likable patriotism. Much like Serafina's love of Poland was obvious to Kazia, it was no secret to Serafina that Kazia hoped for cooperation with other magical girls. No doubt she would figure out Kazia intended to approach them and talk of potentially making a team.

Serafina understood exactly what Kazia was referring to, and her scowl became sour. This was a topic they've talked about plenty of times in the past, but it wasn't one Serafina enjoyed talking about. She didn't like foreigners as it was, let alone having to work with them in something as serious as this.

There was also another reason, one a bit more serious.

Serafina's voice became a tad more serious, hoping her friend would pay attention to her words. "Kazia, understand that not everybody is willing to be nice and cooperate. You might be used to working as a team, but many prefer to fight on their own. They'll have no qualms leaving you to die, and would never want to share. Just because we're friends doesn't mean everybody will be. "

The life of a magical girl was usually that of being alone. You have much more to gain working on your own, and most would probably see it that way. Kazia might be used to working with magical girls, but she was probably just lucky in the past. Luck like that wasn't likely to strike twice, and Serafina had to make sure her friend was aware of that.

She'd also only work with fellow Poles, but Kazia probably knew that already.

Probably.

Julia Steinhart

Already irritated, it didn't take much time for Julia to summon her own weapon when the raggedy girl accompanying the loud one transformed and summoned a crossbow-looking gun. She planted the heavy end of the hammer on the ground and placed her palms over the end of the shaft, looking at the strange magical girl with anger that started to subside when Kei explained the actual accusation Mary held against her. "You mean my clothes?" She quickly looked herself over, and then glanced at Mary. "Huh. Ain't that a reason to get your panties in a bunch." Then she got asked a bunch of questions, but Julia dismissed them when she heard a phrase that she interpreted as a threat.
"You must mean my lawn, cause Strawberry Gang owns this hood."

Julia assumed that the two were part of a rival gang based on their association with each other, and the aggressiveness that the junkie girl used. But Julia wasn't gonna back down from a bunch of posers.
She crossed her arms and attempted to look tough, but the effect was diminished by the ditzy girl who towered behind her. She sighed, and nodded to Dariya's claim of being useful. She did like how easily she got her recruited, but she kind of ruined the gangster mood she was trying to put on, especially when she got called cute. Like with Yuniko, this made Julia incredibly embarrassed, causing her to pull her hat over her eyes as she blushed.
"Hey Dariya, I'm not cute, so don't call-MMPPHH!" Before she could finish her sentence, Dariya snatched her in her bosom, enveloping her head entirely in-between her valley of marshmallow hell.
"HMPPMHPHMM!" Julia struggled as she pushed on Dariya's deathtrap, and again gasped out loud when she managed to plop out.
"Okay...huff...that's enough...huff...Dari. I think...huff...I've had enough...huff...boob action now. But yeah...what she said."

After Julia recovered, she realized Mary was about to threaten her, and straightened up, puffing out her non-existent chest forward defiantly. She stared at the girl with squinted eyes, but they opened up in bewilderment as she heard the repercussions. Her cheeks bloated, and she held her stomach before she couldn't hold it in anymore, and started laughing out loud.
"Bwaahhaaahaa! Okay... Hahhaahh...sure...Haahh..." She tried to speak between her bouts of laughter. At this point she was unable to hold her composure, with all of the ridiculous events coming one after other like she was in a comedy routine.

However, fate was defied as Julia's expression turned cold as obsidian within but a glimpse of time's inevitable passing. She upset reality with her turned step, her challenging irises shot at Mary as arrows of divine wrath.
"I'll suffer through the「Non-Discount Doom」that you have cast upon me,「Julia of the Ballerings」 , for all of eternity and then some. I curse your name, 「Mary the Vendor Bitch」 , and vow my 「Shopping Revenge」upon you. Until we meet again in 「The Bakening」 ...Farewell." After the world was finished enduring the mighty monologue, the crimson warrior turned around, wind sweeping through her braided locks as she gave an order of grand magnitude to her loyal troops, and sounded the horns of Ragnarok with a booming voice that reached the heavens themselves:

"A'ight, whatever. Strawberry Gang, my homies. Let's blow this popsicle stand and get to work hunting that Familiar or whatever the hell it was," she said lethargically while pointing her thumb to beyond the alley, gesturing to Yuniko and Dariya to follow her as she now went to chase after the target, dropping the act that she put on for her amusement.

"...oh?"

The tone of the child who had, mere moments ago, been proclaiming the unfair candy markups that would be be imposed, had taken on a new form. In contrast to fire, this was a restrained fire, shackled even as it burned brighter. Mary was alight.

Ah, so that's it.

No. Rather, that was always it. The previous conclusion was built on a premise that had never been proven, so only in the wake of that premise's destruction could a new one be made.

This reality necessarily exists, in some fashion. Even if that damnable 「Craft of Laplace」 scuttles about in the corner of the eye, feeding it tales and legends that never were, even if this was all a meaningless dream scripted by a blind idiot, it must still exist. After all, no mind can contain concept and property in their totality. If that demon attempts to feed us a concept, it must create a basis of it to feed to us. That basis could very well be an illusion, but as long as that premise "is", there is no need to make an ontology of ideas. The only means by which a mind could contain these concepts would be if it had reached that path at the end of the 「Tao」, at the collapse of 「Moksha」, at the exit from the 「Six-Twain Wheel」.

If the one was perfect though...then the one would know the answer to the question we are currently seeking. As such, that futile ideal of the 「Supremely Mysterious and Primordial」 is tossed aside, trash to not even be considered in furthering the premise.

-Does that not mean that object theory should collapse when we realize what every part of that illusion stems from, though? Ah, that's too much effort to think about, far too much effort. The delineation between the 「World」, the 「Other」, and the 「Self」 is simply there so long as we say it is there; if crushing that premise was desired then it would be done, but for the current moment there is no need to crush it.

After all, at that moment of collapse when the separation between the 「Other」 and 「Self」 becomes impossible, that means it would implicitly be impossible for "me" to kill "you". It would simply be suicide. It would simply be the waking of a forgotten dreamer.

This was not madness, as it was perfectly self-consistent.

This was not monstrous, as it was based in normative calculi.

"Then we'll play. Am I 「He of Ten Heads」 or 「He of Ultimate Idealism」? That doesn't matter regardless, as long as one is one and the other is the other. I'm fine with doing the fourth punishment before the others, after all."

From infinity disappeared infinity, thus infinity still remained.

From infinity disappeared infinity, thus finitude remained.

From finitude disappeared finitude, thus finitude remained.

"Insolence like this is far too much of a crime. For one who 「Courts Death」 to such an extent, there's only one penalty. But that's to be expected in an age when the 「Bull of Dharma」 stands on only one leg. Very well, though. I'll administer the punishment once other matters have been dealt with."

A sharp laugh cut through the air, its creator's eyes glinting in the same manic fashion that they always did.

"Sidekick, come! It is time to prepare for the arrival of 「He Who Undoes Filth」! Gahaha!"

Wait, had anything even changed?

Words quickly catalysed the absurd situation into something with traces of sense. The reflexes of the girl in the beret were true, and mimicked Kei's own, albeit with a weapon much heavier. The metallic gleam of the hammer caused Kei's grip to tighten around the crossbow- Quaint, small, a toy- And she heard her heart beat in her ears until the red-coated fighter relaxed. Strawberry Gang..? Yeah, on second thoughts, I think I'm gonna have to start sharing real soon. She wouldn't have said that aloud for the world, though.

In the side of Kei's attention, the blonde in the blue coat was sassing her. It was a response Kei could appreciate the essence of, though the undertones were confusing. Is she actually trying to tell me I'm not shit, or is this just standard banter? She seems... Nice. Like a three-year-old is nice. Kei didn't know anything about three-year-olds, but the honest innocence in Dariya's jokes made her impossible to read. I wouldn't even know her name if she wasn't being- Being... Fuck I can't even tell if she's self-deprecating or actually talks like everyone is eight years older than her. The blonde's amicable- or naive- or maybe sycophantic fawning expressed itself as a plush hug. The irony of the girl's figure occurred to Kei, and she stopped trying to think in sentences. Dariya was frustrating enough to understand as is.

The recipient of the embrace had darkened her eyes under the beret while her sidekick was speaking. It was a foreboding pose, at least before it broke up under Dariya's affection, and even then she put herself back together... Pretty admirably, given the circumstances. Better than Kei had from the German tourist, absolutely. Agh, no, I didn't want to remember that. Ok then. Julia. The cute boss. Ok. She's not cute. She's scary. And she knew it.

The paper dam of Mary's self-control dissolved and released its endless verbal reservoir of crazy. Kei almost ducked aside, leaning outwards slightly with the awkward balance of someone trying to avoid a friend they couldn't afford to lose. The word 'sidekick' came up somewhere- Should that be 「Sidekick」? How does she even vocalise that- and Kei's attention flinched back to Mary. For the most part, however, her gaze rested on Julia, awaiting something that would confirm her position of authority, steeling herself for whatever harsh wit the white-coated girl would have to respond to in kind. When it happened that she laughed, a silly, heartfelt belly laugh, Kei laughed with her in a nervously asthmatic wheeze.

But Julia changed gears rapidly, and Kei couldn't match up. She swallowed her smile, choked on it, and coughed hoarsely into her glove, caught up completely by the shock of the switch, the familiarity of what she was hearing repurposed into something not only legible but actually pretty clear. ...? The hell! The Hell is she actually doing this, what the fuck, how? And then, without missing a beat, the hammer-bearing girl snapped back into casual confidence, dropped a line, and left practically unchallenged.

By the time she was done, Kei almost stepped in line after her. What. What. No. Whoever Julia was, she was slick. Mary might have walked the walk, but it was an abstract kind of meander into a convention and back out again. The newcomer was every bit as suave, but knew what she was doing in a broader world. She made puns, for fuck's sake, where did she learn to improv like that? The girl acted almost like she actually belonged to a gang- Were street gangs even real?- or, realistically, a particularly intense drama class.

Mary was laughing, the familiar cackle of superiority, but the sidekick she beckoned was busy trying to reconcile what had happened with her own impressions. Dariya's new. She's new and she wants to be useful. The unnamed schoolgirl with the sketchbook poking out of her bag may have been, too, with the way she had been running after Julia earlier. And all the newbies latched on to Julia rather than scrabbling about like drunk spiders. Kei could see where that was coming from, but she felt jealous beneath her stunned admiration anyway. Point was, Danzig's overload of Magical Girls wasn't collapsing into a free-for-all, but a hierarchy.

And that might be a good thing, for anyone not on the bottom level.

Speaking of which.

Salomea:
That's really close to where I am. I'm fine, enjoying the parade with family. I sense a witch. You're taking care of it, right?

Oh fuck. Kei's phone dissolved back into the glitter she'd pulled it from and she sprinted, not wasting her time with the stone pavement but jumping step by step over the other girls, each footfall landing on the vertebra of a long grey backbone arched in the air, a mural painted briefly over the face of reality for her benefit. From the momentary vantage point, she saw a metallic glint on the tower of the basilica. The green shadow of a girl was still there, playing with something. Good, she can stay there.

The last neckbone of Kei's support lead her back onto the ground at Julia's side, and diffused into the air with an oily smell. "Oi, mobster, you know what?" She wished, suddenly, that she had spent more time preparing for this moment. Maybe she'd start with Pulp Fiction. "I reckon you can keep this familiar. Consider it a gift!" With this many girls stuck together in the area, it wouldn't last to breeding age anyway. Overfishing is a bitch. "But I have a crew waiting on me to show up, so if you'd be so kind, I'm going to make this a joint venture. If not, well, it's a joint venture now anyway." No, that wasn't tough enough, not nearly tough enough. There had to be some undertone of conflict, an element of mystery or rivalry to establish herself as worth listening to.

An idea flickered up in Kei's head, a gamble buoyed by recklessness, and she looked sidelong at the girl in the beret as they ran. "Race you." As the cobbles grew littered with erasers and sharpeners, she dropped the crossbow into her coat, where it dissolved, and left Dariya behind with the chocolatier and the art student, making a wide wave towards Mary, gesturing her to haul ass. There was a twinge of guilt, but right now, Julia was much less awkward to tag along with, and more important to impress. It's not like she doesn't already think I'm useless anyway, hah, lol. Dariya'd make a much better sidekick.

Past that point, Kei didn't look aside to check Julia's progress any more, but she had a strong feeling that she was losing. Magic was one hell of an energy drink, but it could only pump up one's kicks so much before you had to rely on your own fitness, and after twelve months of combat, Kei's muscle weight was approaching average.

The thrum of the familiar was harder to feel through her ankle than it was from her ear, but little by little, it was growing. That, and it was moving relative to her as she moved. It stopped running. The side lane was no longer a direct route, either. Kei smothered her aching legs in magic to give her one last fling, skidded around a corner, and stood at the end of a pass between the alleyway and Royal Road, hesitant to move further into the main street.

Somewhere far ahead, Salomea was waiting, but Kei had dreaded showing her costume in public then, and though the presence of all these other witch-hunters gave her a little social safety, she still looked haggardly around for Julia to find confirmation to continue the latter half of the race. Letting the big girl out of sight may have been a dangerous move.

After speaking, Mary, a triumphant smirk etched onto her face for no particular reason, walked off in the direction opposite where the familiar was. There was no point in killing something like that at the current time. There were more important things to deal with, after all.

Besides, only an amateur would be foolish enough to deal with something like that. Mary was no amateur; such a thing was impossible, as she was a protagonist.

That naturally meant she was "pro+agonist". As a pro, she could not be an amateur. As an agonist, she was undergoing mental turmoil for the struggle of her identity at every waking moment. The strife caused by her clashing lineage, the basis of her own nature as a contradictory existence. The clash between her maternal grandfather being the 「Demon Lord of the Sixth Mountain and Sea」, but her paternal grandfather the 「Archbishop of the Sacred Goddess」. The 「Reverse Scale」 that was embedded in her soul, the result of a contract with a 「Dragon King」 made with her ancestor a thousand years prior. The trace of 「Chaos God」 that lurked in her bloodline, the result of that ritual her ancient ancestor performed in that damned Akkadian ziggurat...

Mary tore her mind away from the thoughts of her own nature. She could not be delayed by that, not now. That girl, the 「Curse-Woven Impostor」 who had been called "Julia", had declared herself an antagonist to Mary's protagonist. This, of course, meant that like Mary, she was an agonist, but she was also an ant. However, even that declaration was part of the 「Curse-Woven Impostor」's nefarious plan.

The others hadn't noticed. How could they have? The 「Curse-Woven Impostor」 had done an excellent job, concealing her intentions and nature as she had. Even Mary had to admit that, were it not for a fatal mistake the antagonist had made, Mary would not have realized exactly what her opponent was.

Yes, that fatal mistake had lifted the veil that she had so expertly crafted. In a moment of foolishness, she had referred to herself as 「Julia of the Ballerings」.

Ballerings. That word was her downfall, for hidden in it was the Truth just waiting to be rearranged. 「A Bell Rings」.

At that moment, Mary had realized the 「Truth」. She had realized what this "Julia" was. Without question, she was a member of the 「Solemn Order」, the 「Illusory Apostles of the Devourer」. The 「Solemn Order」 was a little-known group that was subordinate to a larger organization, the 「Order of Agkylomitis」. They were an order that aimed to crush all opposition and make their leader, the 「Godslayer of the Golden Sickle」, the dominant power in the 「World」. That phrase, "A Bell Rings", was their sacred creed. The moment it was indirectly spoken, the trick became useless.

"Julia's" vicious dismissal of Mary and attempt to emote was of course a clever trick, designed to make Mary think that Julia couldn't possible by a servant of the 「Order」. Clever trick, for an 「Illusory Apostle」.

Yes, Mary knew now. Her soul, no, the 「World」 itself spoke to her. However...she could not act immediately. After all, a single member of the 「Solemn Order」 was weak, but they had built a godlike force over the millennia, shattering the limits on humankind. If Mary revealed what she knew, revealed that she recognized Julia for what she was, the rest of the order would be roused to action. Consequently, Mary could not let the 「Solemn Order」 realize that she knew their plans yet. She had to act normal, otherwise they would have the opportunity to plan around the plan she was creating, designed to strike down their plan.

No, for now, she would need to make preparations. It was for this reason that she had begun walking in the direction of her home. Plans for dealing with the 「Solemn Order」 would need to be made, preparatory measures would need to be taken. That world-defying organization, the influx of magical girls, that school project she hadn't started on yet that was due next week, all of these things would need to be dealt with immediately.

-With a jolt, Mary stopped walking, as if something had suddenly occurred to her.

This was because something had suddenly occurred to her.

Her sidekick was not following her.

The sidekick she had given her bag.

The bag that had her shit.

What's more, she hadn't made any of the candy with her magic's sugar, because that was cheating. Mary, while many things, was not a cheater. However, while she did not regret that decision even at the current time, she was nonetheless annoyed by it, as she was unable to locate her bag without retracing her steps in the most boring possible manner.

...

...

...

Acting as though she hadn't made that realization, Mary resumed walking.

No, rather, it was not mere acting, it was almost as if she had completely forgotten it. She had not done so, nor was she pretending to have forgotten, but rather her mind was oriented towards the thought of "I want to disregard this". As such, this delusion twisted itself within Mary's mind, until that point of collapse became the point of expansion.

Candyless and cackling, the idiot continued along towards her house.

Dariya's head tilted so slightly as Mary Beth announced her "wrathful" punishment. It was a good thing that since little, she had kept her emotions in check fully, because if she had not, she would have broken into laughter much as Julia did, after breaking free of her embrace. Instead, she just frowned slightly in confusion, before tending to what Julia and Kei said.

Julia had decided to make this a show of improv, and spout the same kind of language as the other red interloper.So cute! Dariya giggled inside as the red dwarf reasserted herself, after having had a taste of her sweet embrace. It was all proceeding as planned. More or less. With fringe benefits, even.

"yay! Hunty time!" Dariya clapped her hands in excitement, after hearing Julia's speech. "I'm on it, Boss!! I'll be an awesome hunterette!"

And the so called fringe benefits, namely Kei, also was roped in Julia's game. Excellent. Proud types were so easy to follow in their game! But one thing concerned her. Mary Beth. Dariya wasn't the most honorable of people, nor the most empathic... but even her could feel pity towards the deluded girl's predicament. A little of prodding in her own was beginning to leave her a strange aftertaste. Just what the hell did all we sign in? And on top of that, Mary was full of delusions.

So, for the first time in a while, Dariya broke her masquerade partially, and blurted. "Wow, that Mary sure is ditzy!" she said, still in her nice persona mask, in order to make her sound hilariously hypocritical.

And both Julia and Kei were gone. Dariya's eyes darted, as she quickly shuffled in a panic reaction "EEEE! WAIT FOR ME BOSS!" She added as she flailed, her legs beginning to make the motion of a run... only to end up tangled with eachother, her entire face colliding with the ground in a rather clumsy fall.

Ow! I'm still not used back to having a left leg, it seems. She added internally, rubbing her nose with teary eyes. And they were gaining ground in a race. Both seemed fit, in addition to the more than probable durability enhacement of magical girls. She couldn't bet them by running normally. Flicking her wrists, she then used her weapons to tightly bind her legs and... chest.

Well, It's tight enough for a little jumping, but I don't want risking smacking myself with my own chest while sprinting. It's time for a hard test run. How hard these bodies can really jump and run? Dariya added, before raising her butt in the air with crouching hands and legs. The speedrunner start position. She tensed her legs.

She undid her mental hesitation. And forsake all fear of injuries.

Go.

And she ran. At her fullest. Disregarding the force she was putting on her own body. She could feel energy coursing through her veins. All the times she wanted to jog but she couldn't back in the hospital, she did it now.

"WEEEEE!" She let out a exhalation of Joy, as she ran faster than any normal girl or even sportsman could hope to be.

Megumi, who had been in hot pursuit of the Familiar, suddenly fell to the ground and tumbled face-down into the pavement. If she was lucky enough to realize she had suddenly lost control over her body due to a PTSD flashback, she would have just enough time to break her fall with her arms. If not, she would inevitably break her nose. It couldn't be helped.

Such was life in Poland.

Because of this sudden failure for its pursuers to "pursue", the Familiar went on to reach its victim unmolested...

---Familiar

"Kii~ii~?"

The first of the old men, a retired engineer here visiting his hometown for the first time in thirty years, looks up vaguely in response. For an instant, his thoughts flash back to a moment in his past. Eleven year old Romario (for that was his name) was taken by a sudden sickness, and was being nursed by his younger sister through a rough, midwinter storm. In his feverish mind, he saw queer shapes and objects, floating and staring down at him from above his bed.

He had screamed, and thought that they were the ghosts of his ancestors, come to haunt him.

Later on, he found out what the objects had been, and had a laugh thinking back on it. What he had mistaken for vengeful spirits, were in fact just the comically large hats of his great aunts, who were hovering around his bed and seeing to his medication.

Romario chuckles to himself softly at the memory.

And then he dies.

*Crunch* *Crunch* *Crunch*
*Chomp* *Chomp* *Chomp*

An aura of dread fills the air, accompanying the sounds of living material being greedily devoured by the Familiar's hidden jaws. And, at the same time, there was something else. A faint hum. A white noise of magic that any girl with the power of magic could pick up on.

Something was different.

Due to some cruel twist of fate that left Megumi fallen behind and all of the other girls still beyond the confines of the Barrier, Salomea was the only Magical Girl in close proximity when that "something" began to take a more concrete form. A jolt shakes the earth, and right before the unfortunate Magical Girl's eyes, the Familiar finally explodes, revealing an object that had finished growing inside of it.

Floating above her, and rapidly disappearing behind the fury of magic, was-

A Grief Seed.

---Minerva

Minerva blinks. So... this Familiar thing, if it ate enough humans, it would grow into the full sized version that she was told about? "Well then, what are we-" She stops, and stiffens up immediately. Kyubey, silent up until then, perks up and glares ahead into the wake of magic before them. Megumi, who was on the ground next to the edge of the Barrier, was quickly engulfed by the powerful wave that was rapidly approaching the other Girls.

"It's too late! The Familiar, it's hatching!" Kyubey transmits these words, telepathically, to both the girls next to him and the ones chasing from behind. "Tch," Minerva complains as she lets the small, furry creature jump off her shoulder. She wore a tight, frustrated expression visible for a moment, but she quickly calms down and assumes a more alert posture.

"This isn't the time to be standing around. The parade is happening on the other side of that thing, isn't it? Then let's go! If it just hatched, that means it must be vulnerable or something... right?" Her words were directed at the Veteran at her side, while her eyes lay straight ahead on the encroaching field of magic.

Within moments, they were sucked in.

Frederica Bernhardt
[ ]

Her eyes narrowed slightly as the alleyway in front of her warped and twisted, before suddenly engulfing both her and the Girl beside her in what seemed to be a Witch's labyrinth.

"I see. The one who had rushed past me, had failed to kill it before it fed."

All bluster and flash, but no substance. Or worst, they have allowed it to feed, for an extra grief seed. Either way, this was unacceptable for Frederica, for their actions have brought into reality a chain of SUFFERING. A chain wrought by the absence of the victim the familiar, now witch, had devoured.

"This isn't the time to be standing around. The parade is happening on the other side of that thing, isn't it? Then let's go! If it just hatched, that means it must be vulnerable or something... right?"

"No. Do not underestimate a witch."

Having been sucked into a Labyrinth, a world that was unique to each witch that builds itself upon the real and simultaneously rejects the real, there was no more need for looking as inconspicuous as possible. That ship had already sailed the moment the familiar fed and hatched into a Witch. Re-materializing her armaments, she stretched for a moment, preparing herself for a real battle.

"Let us go. Do not stray from me."

Her movements were heavier, and slower than before; the weight of her turrets weighting her down, but as she finally reached where the newly hatched Witch was, it was obvious that she was as prepared as she could be for anything that might come.

Monika had run into a little problem. She had hoped that one of these would have given her the impression of the perfect idol, someone to look up to, that she could confront and hope for the best with. But… none of these had left a perfect impression on her. That’s how life worked, she supposed. The, um, “strawberry gang” had taken off towards the monster, leaving the blonde red-clad girl. As far as she could gather, it didn’t seem like she or the white/cyan one was in the, um, “strawberry gang”. It was those three. For most Monika could tell, the one who was leaving had been yelling on the apparent leader of the strawberry gang about something which Monika didn’t really understand. Must have been something older girls or experienced magical girls knew more about. Now, then. Those were heading after the monster. It was probably Monika’s best interest to follow them.

That was their job, after all. She had no experience fighting these monsters, so she’d follow them and see what it’s like. Of course, it would be best to stay in the sidelines and watch those more experienced than herself deal with the monster. This would additionally allow her to learn the combat capabilities and personality traits of the other combatants. Monika had a considerable advantage with this power which she had been given. It would be a waste not to use this opportunity to see and remember as much as she could for the future. Taking a deep breath, Monika brushed her arm over her somewhat wet cheeks to wipe away her tears before she turned to run after the group heading towards the monster. She did not intend on fighting, but just in case, she was keeping herself hidden and held her cloth close.

‘…’ At least, that’s what she had intended. But as Monika had turned to run after the girls on the way, she had to pause when suddenly the more mature-looking among the Magical Girls stumbled and fell. Monika stared down at her, slightly wide-eyed, hidden on the side, since she couldn’t run before she did. Monika couldn’t run in front of the other girls, after all, that’d be horrible. The brown-haired girl was rather confused about this one. She was the oldest one, clearly, but she was acting like… Alright, so, finally, she got up and ran… r-ridiculously fast!? Monika suddenly found herself left behind, and quickly started sprinting after, wide-eyed and confused as to why the woman had started running at her fullest! … OK, catching up, and such, but Monika’s not used to such speeds…!

Monika jogged after, making sure not to run too fast (or close if she could catch up) as her breath could reveal her location, meaning she’d likely fall a bit behind. While not as much as had she been wearing shoes, Monika noted that her feet still made little noise when she ran with them. Of course, materials meeting and parting did make sound. However, with the sound of the city around, it was unlikely the rest would hear her for that, right now. Unless, they, like, somehow caused Monika to make noise or bumped into her. Hoping this would not happen, the hidden Monika was on her way towards the source of the disturbing energy, her Soul Gem reacting and she felt it. She’d make sure to arrive last of those currently running, at least.

As the chain went to wrap around the Familiar, it looked to her as if everything around it distorted. The creature twisted it's way out of the narrow gap and flew off in another direction; bouncing across walls and down the alley. In a reflex instant, Megumi switched blade hands and began running. The labyrinth easily out run her as she attempted to untangle the chains of her Kursarigama, and in the distance she could already see people being absorbed and eaten within it.

Finally ripping the knot free, she lept back up and began swinging once more; the blades leaving gashes in the walls as she went. Seeing the labyrinth momentarily freeze for a second, she took her chance and made an ambitious leap in an attempt to drop through through in a single movement. As she did, however, the chains to her blades went loose and dropped to the ground, failing to reach it's mark.
"Shit..." twisting her body, she sent the second blade flying in an attempt to grab something, but as it did the weight of the first held it back.

Dropping to the ground - letting go of the weapon and using her arms as support - she performed a sort of hand stand, pushing off from the ground once again only to begin rolling on her side. Upon reaching the weapon, Megumi stood and grabbed it in her right, slinging the chain over the shoulders and dragging the left blade behind her thanks to a dislocated shoulder.
"God damnit... Why now?" her voice was flat and monotone as she limped after the Familiar, blood lightly pouring from a gash on her right leg.

The walk took several minutes of pain, and upon reaching the place it had escaped to, the sound of death filled her ears; a sound all too familiar. Her eyes flicked across the ground and to the girl under a manhole, peering up and over at the Familiar. Then, as if in response to the sudden silence of sound save that of the festival, the creature changed. A slight hum resonated throughout Megumi's ears and she immediately knew what had just happened. Thanks to her incompetence and lack of experience, the Familiar had just evolved; becoming a Witch. And not only that... It was right next to the carnival.

"Get DOW-" was all she could shout before a shockwave knocked her off her feet, adding to the increasing pain in her shoulder and causing the Kusarigama she carried to scatter across the ground. Trying the stand again was seemingly futile, as trying to stand on her injured leg caused quite the deal of pain. Looking once again on the girl in the manhole, her eyes quickly widened at the thought of the girls experience. If she was a novice, then that would be one less girl to deal with, yes. However, people might get angry if they realised she just sat there and let a novice die. She would just hope the kid didn't die before she could get up and help.

As Salomea peered through the tiny slit of the opening in the manhole cover, she witnesses the familiar devouring a victim and transforming, releasing a powerful gust that startled Salomea and caused her to lose her grip on the rungs, falling down hard into the sewer. She had heard someone issue a warning right before she lost her grip, allowing Salomea to make the landing a little less harsh. She didn't understand what was going on while the space around her began to warp. She thought it was a witch, but after what she had just witnessed she had to assume that it was a familiar that had just become a witch. Some other magical girls had told her a little about familiars, and she had heard Kyubey's voice just now indicating the same. The thought of all those people at the parade being attacked by the witch was sobering, her family was just across the street from this monster. Salomea rushed back up the manhole, pushing the cover off forcefully with magic-enhanced strength, though in the labyrinth, the manhole cover had taken the form a giant, circular eraser.

Looking around she sees two girls further in front: one who looked like a nurse, and another with cannons, who were heading in the direction of the witch. Behind her was a girl with chain-scythes who was injured. Salomea decided to make protecting the injured girl her priority and started summoning several copies of her weapon and ramming them headfirst into the strange ground of the labyrinth, creating a circle between Megumi and the most likely path the witch would take if it tried to attack the injured girl. "S-stay outside of the fence," Salomea ordered without confidence, while she herself stood in the middle of the circle and brandished her club defensively in the direction of the witch and the two girls. She hoped those two would be able to defeat the witch and keep it at bay, but if not, she would stand between it and Megumi. The rods that she had planted in the ground began to emit a low hum.

From her perch on high, Carina could only sigh as she watched the flow of events and how ridiculously badly the whole thing was handled. There definitely seemed to be more than one girl down there, yet they hadn't been able to catch a single Witch and kill it. Especially as it went on the run if her Soul Gem was any indication. Admittedly she wasn't the biggest fan of devoting excess effort, especially after she had already said that she would leave to other people, but come on! Even she could have handled it better than this.

She stopped flipping her blades for the moment as she stepped forward to get a better look at wherever the Witch had ended up, eyes widening slightly as she saw it practically on the main thoroughfare of the city itself, as witnessed by the girls moving that way. Well, this was probably enough to be qualified as a disaster now. And that was what she go for deciding that someone else could handle he problem.

Still, she didn't immediately leap into action, frowning as she looked around. "Hey Kyubey," she said aloud, not sure if he would actually answer, but using him as a springboard to motivate herself anyway, whether he was here or not. "You think they need my help?" She really didn't want to get involved in something as small as this, but if she had to then she would.

Well, Ludmilla thought. At least nobody seemed to care about her down here. She lay on her side, curled up in the foetal position, glancing at the fight through half-lidded eyes. Maybe all the magical girls just thought she was normal. Good for them, too. They could go ahead and waste all their despair on this fight and squabble over the grief seed later. That is, if none of them decided to fight for it. Or worse, had abilities to search and destroy other magical girls.

Almost as if some cosmic entity had been listening on her thoughts, something large and metallic came skittering near her little hidey-hole, with far too many bits of chain and whirling scythe blades attached to it to have been though up by anyone who wasn't a magically enhanced teenager. She kicked it away, hurriedly, and looked up and down searching for whoever had dropped it. Most likely, it was the young blonde with the gash on her leg maybe some ten feet away, executing a beautiful swan dive onto the cobblestones. Which would bring her down to her level. She'd see her. Crap. Well, as long as she didn't make eye contact she'd probably be fine. Just look harmless and nobody would try to kill her with a blade-scythe-chain thingamajig.