Given the rather rude interruption of her bow, Shade would have to admit that not everybody here wanted an encore. If she had cared what these mindless, faceless beasts wanted, then she might have felt the least bit offended at their incredibly bad taste in music. But the truth was, she couldn't care less about what her prey desired. Only that it die like it was supposed to. That said, it would be rather difficult to kill these things if they killed her first. She should probably find a way to escape from this weird tongue-reel.

Shade was not actually a brute. It would be nice if she could simply pick up this huge monster and throw it. But such strength escaped her. She also did not currently have access to her dagger and so could not easily cut the tongue. Even though she had only just stopped using it, she already missed her trusty blade. Of course, if someone like her was too reliant on one thing, that was bad. She had to be able to adapt. And it wasn't like she hadn't ever been in a situation where she only had use of her fists, too.

Not that she wanted to think about the situations that she was in when she was weaponless before.

"Watch where you're putting that tongue, you creep!" she was in a rather awkward situation. Attempting to jump would only lead to her landing in the void that was that creature's mouth much quicker. That was most likely a very bad thing. The longer she was constrained by the beast, the weaker she felt. What a horrendous thing. Her performance was perhaps a bit too flamboyant, she should watch that in the future, assuming there was one for her. "If I could have some assistance with the tongue, I'd certainly think about giving an autograph, eheh~!"

Currently, Shade was attempting to separate herself from this beast by slamming down on the tongue with all her might. She wasn't sure if it'd work, but that was the best she could manage currently.

The battlefield around the Earth Bastion turned more hectic, but the crew of Magical Girls on it continued fighting valiantly, some even going as far as unleashing great magic to eradicate the magical manifestations of malice. Makoto was one such example, able to take the shot of energy unleashed from Penny's Gauss discharge and manipulate the nearly unstoppable force with an instant gravity well, speeding it up so that it hit the Gorelion pinning Penny. Aided by Mariette redirecting projectiles through her portals, the monster was swiftly slain by the shot piercing it. As a result, the tongue released its grip on Penny, and the robotic monster girl stretched her arms out, wiping herself of the beast's saliva.
”I gotta hand it to ya, that was impressive, squirrel girl. But it was my shot, so technically I got the kill.”

Amber made a swift turn with Earth Bastion towards the west, and rammed right into the Gorelion that directly attacked the ship. However, despite the great mass of the ship, it was stopped by the sheer strength of the single Gorelion, letting out a bloodcurdling roar as it pushed with all it's might. Then, Amber felt how the ship slightly rose on the left side; the abomination was soon going to tip the entire vehicle over.


In that critical moment, Alicia unleashed the full potential of her magic, and launched a great beam of light that banished the darkness, and burned the pushing Gorelion; it growled in anguish, but soon enough, it was reduced to but a pile of ash, smited by brilliant light.
The beam then swept over to the closest target now that the west was cleared, which was a lone gorelion on the north, annihilating it. And then, it aimed for the the Gorelion on the deck. However, it ended up hitting the portal Mariette created to protect Libby; the beast's pounding was rendered useless as it clawed and struck at the ground, but the portal was shattered by Alicia's attack coming from the other side. Fortunately, with Scout's help and as Alicia squeezed in a few more seconds of the beam before it turned too taxing on her mana reserves, the two managed to also destroy the Gorelion on the deck, turned to a big, crusty chunk of half-burned carcass.
"Yeah! Eat it!"
It looked as if it was about to fall on Libby, but the magical girl rolled away in a silly fashion.
"Holey moley guacamoley smoley!"

Shade did not manage to free herself from the prone Gorelion with the slam on the tongue, but managed to buy a bit more time before she would be dragged into the horrific monster's gaping maw from the beast reeling in addition to Mariette also peppering this beast with redirected projectiles. But then, she would be met with a rescue, and from the most unlikely of circumstances.


Eli came blasting out of the Earth Bastion's cannon, and cut through the beast in glorious fashion; like a cannonball fitted with sharp blades, it easily sliced the beast, causing black blood to rain over Shade. Then, Eli splatted hard against the ground like a water balloon; Eli now felt a pain equivalent to having all her bones broken, and as a result could not move, unable to keep her form consistent as she slowly spread into a puddle. But, she was successful in slaying the Gorelion, and it released Shade. Healing magic will be required for the both of them to recover.

Anaya kept shooting at the only Gorelion left, but was snatched by a tongue. Helga, now turned absolutely furious, seemed to turn into a full monster; she developed scales on her skin, a muscular lizard tail, and a dragon-like snout. She roared like a mythic being, and charged into the fray by jumping off the deck, her claws now strong enough to rend the final monster into pieces. By the end of it, she was coated in black blood, her breathing hard, and she looked towards an alarmed Anaya as she recovered and stood up, stepping towards her with a slouched figure, long claws dragging behind her.
"Umm, Helga?"

The fight appeared to be over. Just as soon as they appeared, the gorelions were defeated. But while the fight was over with swiftly, it had definitely taken it's toll on the magical girls. The earth bastion stopped in its tracks so that everyone could recover.

“Eli?!” Sue pushed her way out of the gunner's seat. She hadn't really meant to fire the harpy, but she was trying everything just to get the cannon to fire. Sue turned back into a bird and flew towards Eli's side, or at least the side of the puddle she had become. “Eli, you...” The bird hopped closer. “You look like a puddle with a person's face! Do you feel okay?” The bird did raise her head to look towards Shade. The new magical girl had tried to help, but Sue couldn't remember her boarding the ship. Strange, but she was clearly a friend. “Medic! We need a medic over here!” She hopped and beat her wings in an attempt to get noticed.

Amber watched the spectacle from the side of the ship. She had come outside to examine the damage with her own eyes. “Seems those scurvy dogs can lift up the ship. I guess running them over won't be an option in the future.” Amber might not have made the best choices during the fight, but she was pleased that everyone more or less worked together. That was all Amber really expected to come of her acting like a pirate captain.

“Amber!” Sue was still hopping. “You can heal this, right?”

But Amber's attention was on Helga. Obviously leaving Helga in a state like that wasn't good, especially with so many beacon around. It wasn't super well know that this new Helga was the same one that was responsible for the hospital attack, and Amber hoped to keep that under wraps for as long as possible. They really didn't have the time to explain to Alexander and Beacon that Helga was a different person now. But Anaya just called Helga by name. Maybe some of them already knew?

“Oop!” Amber deployed her wings and floated down to Anaya's side. “Hey um...” She folded up her wings up and turned towards Helga. “Um... Boy, you did a good job!” Amber bounded in front of Anaya. “Great job! Fantastic! Definitely my best ship mate!” Amber chuckled. “Good thing we have a working shower on board, right?” The grip on her cannon was tight, but she didn't have it aimed directly at Helga. “So uh, ghost girl?” Amber was speaking to Anaya through clinched teeth, but didn't take her eyes off of Helga. “No sudden moves, okay?”



Another one in the bag.

Taking out the spy would have been ideal, but it seemed Eli had other plans. Looking closer at her spool might have revealed something like this could happen. Eli was hurt pretty bad now, and Tonya had been partially responsible for that. If the cannon had been properly loaded , this wouldn't have happened. But in the end, Eli was hurt, not dead. Her primary objective would be complete. Removing the spy later would be more difficult, but she had faith in this group.

The main course was coming up, she'd need her ace face on if this was going to go down just right.

Alicia Hayden

Aware of the risks that came with what she was doing, the high powered attack paid off as she roasted one of the things before it could flip the ship over from brute force. She couldn't simply stop at the one however, and swung around to bring herself to aim at one of the creatures on the deck. Though it was a good thing that Mariette's portals weren't two way since that would have been a bit awkward. As it was, the strength of her magic torched the portal it hit before continuing to strike the Gorelion behind it.

Gritting her teeth she kept her focus up as she tried to keep from going too far with this spell. Nonetheless by the time this Gorelion died too Alicia was basically tapped out for all the mana she was willing to use, even with the emergency reserve afforded by her blood magic. At least she didn't have to worry about anything else as the group finished off the remaining bad guys without her, including their resident slime girl getting shot out of a cannon (of all things)

With the coast clear for now, Alicia sent away Star Seraph before staggering a bit, grabbing onto the railing as exhaustion from the rapid use of all that mana set in. "I really hope she doesn't have many more of those things," she remarked as she gestured to the carcass on their deck. She wasn't sure how they were going to get rid of that but it wasn't her problem, at least in her opinion.

Alicia carefully lowered herself down to the deck of the ship, leaning back against the wall as she observed everything that was going on. She should probably be angry about their new dragon teammate, but honestly she didn't have it in her right now. Besides, it wasn't like she was in a position to do anything about it right now anyway. So she'd just leave it be for now as long as it didn't start destroying things.

Glancing over to her companion, Alicia gestured to the dead Gorelion. "Next time those things show up, you can take them out Suwako," she called. "i'm just gonna take ten, wake me up when we get there."

Throughout the battle Mariette assisted, holding herself in place with tentacles whenever the craft tilted, watching the battle as a whole and opening portals where needed. However, she herself lacked the firepower to take out beasts like the Gorelions, so it was up to the others to actually send out the firepower. And so they did. They performed admirably. Mariette let the portal between Alicia’s shot and the Gorelion be until the last moment so that she could assist with its disappearance, though found that she barely had to as the shot destroyed the portal on its own. With some more help, it seemed they were able to decimate the rest of their current enemies, and…

Eli flew out of the cannon, quickly unfolding her blades while being unable to contain a half-terrified battlecry as she flew straight at -and through- the intended target Gorelion, Eli scarcely believing it the few moments of airtime she had on the other side after having sliced through the massive beast before she promptly crashed into the ground. Being slime, she deflated into a pool, losing all semblance of humanoid shape to absorb the blow, yet she still suffered considerable damage. She remained floating there, feeling pain but smiling oddly.

‘Th-that worked, I helped, hahaha…’ she laughed to herself as Sue came about. The slime gave a little giggle, mostly drunk from triumph, lying in place as she was unable to move. ‘I wonder if this is how it feels to have broken bones… I wouldn’t know, I have no bones…’ Eli mused, feeling that pain, eyes unfocused staring into the sky.

Mariette breathed out after a job relatively well done. So, Alicia mentioned her hopes that Justine didn’t have more of those… Mariette retracted her tentacles so they vanished out of the world and deposited the magic mirror in nothingness as she spoke, opening her visible eye once again.

‘A day ago, Justine had at least more than forty that I knew of, but each of those has since been removed from her arsenal. She could still have more, however,’ Mariette shared. Now, then…

@FamishedPants
Mariette opened portals to bring the wounded back to the ship. That is to say, Shade and Eli. A portal suddenly opened beneath them. They never fell, suddenly what was under them shifted from the checkerboard pattern of the Overcity to the enchanted wood of the Earth Bastion, then the magical swirl of the portal rose above their heads and the surrounding scenery changed too, assuming Shade didn't dodge. Not that Mariette actually knew how injured Shade might be, but at the very least. Mariette’d also give a helping hand to anyone who didn’t seem like they could get up. Now, the dead Gorelion on the deck might be a problem, but Mariette saw no need to bother it right now. Right now, she had a different matter to attend to.

She walked over to Eli.

‘Oh…’ Eli made a noise as the sounds of Mariette coming closer was heard.

‘I have far greater use of you as a scout and scanner than a frontline combatant,’ Mariette said, a poisonous sting to her voice. ‘I’ve already lost more than I desired to against our current opponent. I’d prefer if you refrain from plans of action that increases your likelihood of death, Eli.’

That said, Mariette turned around, and walked away.

‘… Yes, Mistress…’ Eli could summon, still a pool of goop on the floor, as Mariette walked away from her.

Now, then. Mariette now stared at Helga’s new transformation. She was half-a-mind to open a portal under her to make her drop from a portal above it and then spin it so that she could be trapped in an endless fall if she made any violent movements. Or, if that was impractical, just open more portals to the ground as shields if anyone happened to come under attack, like Anaya or Amber. Numerous sky-eyes still looked around for ambushes or similar in all directions, including up, while Mariette kept her exposed eye on Helga for now.

But, yeah, if Helga was to leap at them, Mariette was going to attempt to open a portal in front of her to fling her into the air and then open another portal under her linking to directly above to send her into an endless fall to cool her head off. That should do against Mariette’s current irritation.

The worst part about hanging back and keeping everyone shielded, Alexander decided, was that now he knew he could actually fight. As much as he wanted to go out there and kill a monster lion...something stopped him. For some reason, the idea of someone getting maimed or killed because they didn't have a forcefield made him feel sick. 'The old me never would have worried about that. I'm not sure if this is Sol or Lily's fault, so I'll blame them both. Those two are a bad influence on me'. With the battle over for now, Alexander decided to take a walk. It didn't take long for something to happen

“Medic! We need a medic over here!”

Dammit. He was a medic. And that strange sick feeling inside of him compelled Alexander to go help. He jogged over to the source of the voice "alright, alright, who needs-" That's when he saw Amber, her bird friend, a monster girl covered in gore (Ha! Pun), and some new girl. The monster girl herself wasn't looking too good. Physically she looked fine, but she didn't seem to be all there mentally. That's when he remembered Lily 'This is just like back then...' something about her just made him think of that time when Lily went berserk. "I'm...not sure healing can fix going berserk." He quickly applied a forcefield to himself, and the girls (minus the crazy one)

---

Suwako continued firing off her arrows and growing her vines to immobilize the approaching Gorelions. Midway through however, they seemingly went berserk, as their movements became wilder and more erratic. She wasn't sure what had caused this, but it certainly didn't really solve their problem. Some of the Gorelions slammed their bodies into the ship, causing Suwako to stagger a little. And when any of them got too close to her for comfort, she immediately backed away. She ain't going to get caught in that disgusting tongue of theirs. She was thankful she got others who were more suited to a melee battle than her.

When Amber made a swift turn on the ship as she rammed it into a Gorelion, she could feel it being tilted by the sheer strength that the beast possessed. Thankfully, Alicia managed to kill it before it caused further damage on the ship. And soon after, the fight was over. Amber stopped the ship to let everyone recover. Suwako felt a little tired, though unlike some of the others, like Alicia, she hadn't really unleashed her full strength so she was still relatively fine.

"Yes, don't worry. You can rest for a while after this. I'll handle things around here," she said to her tired friend. Alicia had expended most of her energy, it seemed. And now it's time for the reserve to come out for a switch.

@Flamelord

Helga slouched closer to Anaya, her snout sniffing the air as she growled at the dark magical girl; it seemed that she also considered her a threat for contributing to her distress and frustration now that she was only directed by pure instinct. However, before the dragon girl managed to lift her claws, Amber intervened, causing her to blink and stare in shock, like a deer in the headlights. Anaya only nodded once at Amber's advice, her gaze also unmoving. Helga took a step closer, and sniffed at Amber, her snout nearly prodding at the pirate girl. "...L..."
She managed to speak between growls. "...Lady..." She slowly lifted her arms, and caught Amber in her hold as they wrapped around her. Amber then realized she was successful in calming Helga down, and the golden scales rippled off her like dust, returning her back to her previous state. "I'm sorry," she mumbled, her face tucked on Amber's shoulder. "I got so mad, I...It brought out bad habits."

As the two shared in their tender moment, Penny groaned.
”Ugh, save the mushiness for later! We gotta get going already!” the mechanical monster girl went right up to the Gorelion's carcass, and bent down to tuck her arms under it.
”NRGH! Of course I gotta be the one to clean up the mess from my ship! YAAAHH!” She lifted the dead abomination, and lobbed it over the deck, making a thud as it landed on the ground.
She wiped her hands, grinning pridefully. ”Now, get your booty back at the helm, captain, or I'll keelhaul yar!” Libby Bibby watched on the sidelines, and giggled at Penny. Then she bounced over to Eli, and doubled over, grinning. "Heehee! Eli's more smushy, like pudding!"
As this was happening, Scout followed Alicia inside the ship, rubbing her eye.
"I think I'll take a break too. I'm so tired I'll pass out."
And so, once the entire crew of the Earth Bastion was back inside, the vehicle charged ahead at full steam, leaving the bloody battlefield behind.

---

The mighty ship rolled forward undeterred, passing by the strange, dreamlike world that was the world of Overcity. They passed by ruins built around a massive, seemingly bottomless pit, as well as a forest that sung a beautifully ethereal song, and even a rainbow that led to a metal cooking pot full of gold coins. However, there was no sign of magical creatures one might have expected to see, such as leprechauns or unicorns. Instead, they could only see an occasional Gorelion or two lurking in the darkness; they did not dare approach without an outside incentive, and simply watched as the ship rolled by.
After about half an hour, the crew could see, far in the horizon, a gothic structure:



It was a grand feat of architecture, standing tall and ominous, lighted in a red hue against the blood moon that shone behind it. However, they soon realized that the castle was surrounded on all sides by a vast lake of murky water, eerily still. "That's the place," Helga commented, leaning against the railing with her claws raking across it. "She's gonna be expecting us, since I'm sure she was the one who sent the hounds at us. And it's already half moon...We need to hurry."
Earth Bastion stopped at the lake shore, and Helga hopped out. "If I remember correctly..." She reached out towards a dead tree near the shore, and pulled down on a branch; it was actually a lever, and opened up a secret passage, with stone stairs leading down into darkness under the lake. "This should lead down to the dungeons. While our main group of fighters storm the castle with one group on the ship, and the other with flying girls, a third team could infiltrate and rescue the captives. However, I think Justine may have Sonia guarding them. What do you think, everyone? Should we split the party to three? And if we do, who goes where?"

While Helga was discussing their plan of action with the others, Libby Bibby turned to look at Eli, now mostly healed thanks to the healing effect that Alexander had bestowed on the ship.
"Ellieee! Let's go together the sneaky peaky way! Libby can play hide and seek really well! and Libby knows you can too!" As she said that, she flashed a big smile, her red eyes staring intently. She leaned over a bit, and Eli and Anaya caught a glance of something resembling a spiky red tattoo peeking from her neckline, exposed due to her collar still opened from the previous fight. Then, something strange happened: as the sight of the mark came to their consciousness, both of them realized how familiar it was. And then they realized, thanks to their close affiliation with their respective Patrons, that the cheerful girl was....



....A servant of a Horror. In addition, they could gather from the subtle, previously undetected magical aura, that she had a Bane; it was something related to emotion.

"Huh? Is something wrong, Ellie?" She asked, leaning over even closer, smiling. Eli could feel Libby's breath on her as she giggled softly, her lips parted. At that very moment, she saw them: in the faint crimson glow, in the looming shadow of a dark fortress, she could not mistake the very same fangs that had taken her twin sister's life.

"I'm going to rescue the captives" Alexander declared. "After all; it's the reason I'm even here at all." Despite how calm he seemed, he was filled with nervous energy 'Even though it would be stupid, I have this strange urge to charge down there and slaughter anyone in my way. It's almost like every second Lily is still down there, the chance of something horrible happening goes up. I'm not sure how much longer I can hold out before I decide to say 'fuck it' and charge down their myself' It was such an alien feeling for Alexander, that he wasn't sure how to cope with it. 'Dammit Lily, what the hell did you do to me!?'

Amber had regained her composure after the close call with Helga. It was clear Penny's comment had bothered her, but Amber stayed her tongue. Once everyone was gathered and Helga explained things, Amber remained silent. She had hoped that she wouldn't be called on to be a leader again. But after Alexander nominated himself to go save his waifu Lily, Amber decided to step in.

“I'm not going to try and convince you to do something else, as you've clearly made your mind up. But I need you to keep your head on your shoulders.” She chuckled and tipped her hat. “Just try not to get tunnel vision when Lily comes into sight. Your mind is your greatest weapon. Don't let stormy seas throw you off course.”

Amber turned to address everyone else. “I think Helga has the right idea. We're too few in number to overpower Justine, and we're too great in number to sneak by unnoticed. So I think we should split up into at least three teams.” Amber stuck her hand inside Eli and pulled out her notepad and pen. After she wrote down everyone aboard, she started pointing at them with her pen. “Eli, Libby, Mariette, Sue, and the new winged girl will fly in from the top. They'll have the easiest time flying, and I feel like Mariette is most familiar with Sue and Eli's capabilities... Even if Sue has extremely limited capabilities in direct combat. Libby will need help to etting around, but that's what portals are for.” Amber continued to draw lines. “Suwako, Alicia, Helga, Scout, and Alexander will enter from below the castle. Helga knows the path best, Scout's illusion magic can be used to avoid detection, and Alicia and Suwako's fighting styles benefit the greatest in this environment, especially with Alexander's ability to protect everyone.“ Amber only had a few magical girls left. “Shade, Penny, Ayana, Makoto, and myself will remain with the ship to attack the front of the castle. I feel that Ayana can create an army fitting for an assault, Makoto and Penny are tough enough to survive without Alexander's shield, and... Shade's fighting style interests me. I'm needed to pilot the ship of course.” She handed the notepad and pen back to Eli. “I tried to pair up everyone with who I felt had the best synergy. I also made sure to put myself, Helga, and Sue in different groups. Each of us have a link with our patron, and can communicate through him. This will allow us to communicate with Mariette in a pinch if a group needs to pull out. I also feel that each team should have a leader to help guide their teams in a pinch, which should be Mariette, Alicia, and myself respectively. Though you're free to pick your own team leaders of course.” Amber folded her arms behind her back. “If no one has any objections, I'm ready to board the castle when the rest of you are.”



Amber? You sort of forgot someone. That's okay, Tonya planned on being anywhere and everywhere, all at once.

In all seriousness though, the spy was going to oust herself, and Tonya planned on assisting when she did so. Depending on how she felt, she wasn't going to contend with Justine directly unless the situation dictated it was necessary. Though ideally, she'd find a way out of the overcity before anyone knew what had happened.

@BrokenPromise

---

Makoto giggled, walking up to stand beside Alexander. "Didn't one of you say something about your girlfriend being important to the person behind all this? Surely she wouldn't be with the regular prisoners." The truth was that she just wanted to go by herself. She could feel that she had to go there if she wanted her food. While a healer might be useful, the others could use one much more than she could.
It only took a moment for Amber to begin spouting off her ideas for groups. Makoto took offense. "I don't really care how you all group up, but it's smartest to put the ranged fighters in the upwards and ground-floor teams, let's call them A and B. A team should have several to secure an escape route when the castle inevitably gets surrounded by grunts. Team B should have some because the castle is large, there's probably some high ground to worry about when you get inside. Whereas team C for the underground doesn't need any, since it's probably more cramped down their than the other teams will deal with." Makoto paused and thought for a moment. "Really, we can settle the teams based on necessity. Team A needs some rangers to keep the escape safe, and fliers to get up and down, plus to keep a safe escape after everyone else has made it out. Any bombers should also go with them, to take a top-down destruction option if necessary. Team B needs brawlers and shooters to keep a total range coverage and to do the most damage until the other two teams can make it there after the midbosses. Said midbosses and planned meeting with the other teams mean that healers should focus on B, only going with A and C if we've got extras lying around. And C team needs melee fighters and anyone who can use the banes of the enemy patrons, assuming they have any. We could also use a light user."
Makoto looked at Mariette. "You should really just stay on the ship and keep everyone in contact with each other, keep everyone mobile with your magic." Makoto struck a pose. "I'll be going with C to look for nuts in the dungeons. The rest of you know each other well enough to figure out who should go where."

Alicia Hayden

Yawning, Alicia made her way onto the deck of the ship, glancing up at the large castle that was nearby with a slowly growing determination as she shook off the weariness which had seeped further in courtesy of her nap. She'd have wanted to take more time after a show like that, but unfortunately Justine wouldn't be so considerate. She would just have to do her best in the circumstances that they had and hope that she didn't have any more troubles that she was unprepared for.

Everyone else seemed ready to go, and she stepped in to join everyone else as they observed their target on the deck. "Of course she is. I'd be expecting trouble if I was enacting my grand ritual," she commented aloud, perhaps a bit grumpy because of the exhaustion and the overall situation she was in.

Still, they at least had a basic plan. Three teams, attack the castle, free the captured girls if they were in a condition to be freed, and a two pronged assault from air and land. Of course Alexander immediately volunteered to go into the dungeon, so he could get Lily back. But that wasn't the most important part that she took out of it. No, the name jogged her memory, flashing her beck to the conversation that had brought Mariette into this little temporary alliance of theirs.

Turning to Mariette, she wasted no time in pursuing that line of thought. "You mentioned Sonia before," she noted aloud. "If you know what she can do, now would be a good time to mention it." Mariette had said something about the girl making Justine untouchable for just Mariette herself, hence why they were in this whole situation. She just didn't know why it was the case.

In the meanwhile, Amber presented a plan for them to follow, in her 'I'm the pirate captain therefore I'm in charge' role. She shot Amber a skeptical look, if only because she found herself dubious about the wiseness of some of these choices. "Am I going with the underground team because I know light magic? Because it feels like I am. My powers are a lot more limited in tight enclosed spaces you know." Her specialization was bombardment magic after all, and she couldn't really bombard in an indoor corridor without hitting someone else at the same time.

Still, she didn't offer up her own assessment of what she thought the teams should be. She didn't have much experience with the other girls aside from Suwako, Scout, Alexander to some extent, and Penny. The same might be true in reverse, though she was fairly confident that she had given a good enough demonstration that her strength laid in being able to really hit a lot, which didn't work indoors.

....To be honest, she also wasn't sure how many of the people here would consider her and Suwako more expendable than the others just because they came from Beacon. They were in a pretty solid minority here, and she would be damned if someone else threw them up to be sacrificed for the mission or their own survival or whatever. They might all be on the same side but they had only fought together once, and with everything that had occurred since Justine had begun this plot, she wasn't ready to put her life into anyone elses hands. Especially not Mariette's.

"I agree with her," she agreed, nodding towards Makoto. "Justine knows we're coming, so we should give our main assault forces the best chance we can to either draw her attention or to get further inside her castle. That should make it easier for the team going after the prisoners, since she'll have to pull resources to fend us off, even knowing that we're coming."

Eli was a pool in the ground and Libby came and leaned over her.

‘Teh-heh, yeah,’ Eli giggled in the pain. ‘I’m a puddle~!’

Then the trip happened. Mariette stood silently, watching with small portals attached to the sides of the Bastion to look in all directions so that they weren’t ambushed, but it seemed this wasn’t necessary. So, eventually they approached Justine’s castle. Mariette stood gazing at it with an empty expression, contemplating what they were facing up against, feeling numerous strands of hesitation…

‘Ah!’ Eli jolted in surprise as Amber reached through her slimy body and took her notepad and pen from her during the planning phase. Visible panic etched into her face as she stretched a wing to try to retrieve the notebook, but stopped on a distance as she knew Amber had tactical use of using an empty page, but that didn’t stop that the pirate had Eli floating around her waving her wings in notable panic and distress all the way through explaining the tactics all the way to giving the notebook back, upon which Eli once again stuffed it in her stomach and wrapped her wings around it in a self-hug as if to keep it safe with a sulking expression on her face.

Mariette listened to the plan they were drawing out. There was an issue with it, wasn’t there? Nevermind that Mariette fundamentally didn’t like being ordered around, this time those orders could get her killed. She knew she had to speak up eventually. Amber said where she was needed, Makoto gave an alternative impression, and then Alicia asked what Sonia’s powers were. Alicia got a perhaps underserved annoyed glare, due to Mariette’s current mood, before Mariette started talking aloud.

‘… Sonia is capable of sudden dimensional travel. She has displayed the ability to add or remove herself or others to a scene from nowhere with a simple touch, with the addition that she can call objects into existence from nowhere, this “nowhere” probably being an alternative dimension she keeps around. Helga can probably expand on that and correct what I got wrong, she worked with her,’ Mariette said. Then there was that major part… ‘Sonia can use this power to neutralize me and Eli instantly. At any point Sonia still exists, I might become a liability.’

She didn’t use the word “bane”, but they should know. Justine knew her bane, and Sonia could summon it instantly. Mariette REALLY didn’t like the chances of that bane being revealed in this battle, because all things considered, Justine probably had candles hung everywhere inside the castle just for Mariette’s consideration. It was also very simple for anyone present to procure if they knew of it. She originally had only intended to guide everyone here and then leave them behind, but now they were including her in the planning… She couldn’t deny, her portals were a tremendous asset to any team. However, as long as Sonia existed she could suddenly vanish from the equation, therefore…

‘Relying on my portals and my leadership is therefore relatively unwise. With your suggested teams, should Sonia appear before the winged team, it would be down to Libby and the girl who hasn’t entirely accepted to join in battle to defend us.’ Obviously, that was no good. Mariette turned quiet there, feeling useless and embarrassed enough by having to admit that she’s got this massive flaw right about now.

Meanwhile, having been given back her notebook and relaxing a bit, Eli felt relatively ready to get going. She wasn’t very good in a fight, but she sure had the stealth abilities needed to scout out the place for whatever group she was in. Then, Libby jumped at her. Oh, it seemed like she had made a friend. In a way, having this energetic a friend was comforting, slightly filling the space of Deni disappearing.

‘Oh, you sneak, too? Alright, then let’s-’ Eli smiled, turning to Libby, when suddenly Libby leaning made Eli catch that mark. However, catching that mark would not have been enough to make Eli quieten, being the servant of a horror is but a note in the notebook and something to remember for the future. No, what stood out were…

The fangs.

Eli froze dead in her tracks, smile vanishing, eyes widening and pupils narrowing, a ripple going through her body as her body partially hardened from Reinforcement magic in uncontrolled reaction. Eli wasn’t the kind to become angry, so all that filled her was fear, terror for the being before her. The harpy took a step back and held aside a wing to harden into a blade and strike, but stopped mid-way in realization to how useless that would be. The next instinct was to announce this revelation to the others, but that was hard to commit to when the target of the terror was filling the majority of her field of vision. The third thought was that perhaps this could potentially be taken advantage of to set a trap if only Eli could keep her cool…

But that was a really tall order right now.
Eli shrieked in fear, when she finally came to move she stumbled back and fell. That shrieking perhaps wasn’t good for a group that partly intended to sneak inside didn’t entirely occur to her right about now.

In immediate reaction to the shriek which she recognized as Eli’s, Mariette spun to open a portal beneath her remaining underling, to quickly displace Eli somewhere safer behind their other allies, closing the portal as quickly as possible should this be successful. Then it was a question of what had she shrieked at? She’d likely realize in moments, but that was also long enough for a reaction to happen. In fact, there was long enough that Mariette might not even had the time to be successful with the displacement.

---

To Suwako's relief, the rest of their journey was uneventful. She ended up enjoying the ship ride more than she had expected, as she stood on the bow of the ship, her long hair fluttering freely in the wind. They went pass a lot of wondrous locations that she would love to investigate further if she had the chance. There were still the occasional Gorelion but they didn't seem to dare approach the ship, which was just fine to her.

And finally, they arrived to their destination; a castle looking terribly gothic in its construction. Suwako watched as Helga opened a secret passage. Apparently, those stairs would lead to the dungeons of the castle. She suggested that they split into three groups, with one going down these stairs to rescue the hostages.

"That could work," Suwako commented on her plan. "I would go down to the dungeons. I could order my vines to spread around and look for the prisoners."

Alexander then told the group that he too wished to rescue the prisoners. And by that, he meant Lily. His ability would surely be useful in close combat fight, Suwako thought. And speaking of close combat, she realized her bow would be quite gimped if she had to fight down there. But her plant manipulation ability could be very useful. She guessed she would just have to fight mostly with the latter.

Suddenly, she heard a shriek. It sounded like Ellie's. Turning around, it came from the direction from the girl indeed. She looked like she was looking at something so terrifying that it paralyzed her ability to move. But there was nobody there. Nobody other than...

"Libby?"

@PlatinumSkink@Flamelord@BrokenPromise@Ariamis

Shade simply had no reason to attempt to evade the portal that opened, and so she wound up aboard the vessel alongside the other injured girl. Having experienced similar situations like this, Shade brilliantly smiled like her disguise suggest she would. The fact that she was surrounded by potential enemies was not lost on her, but she understood that in order to keep this rather weak, stretched persona viable, she could not afford to give any true indicators that she was not who she claimed to be. Thankfully, in a non-combat scenario, suppressing her emotions was as easy as breathing for her.

With nothing forcing her to the ground, the magical girl stood up, though she favored the uninjured leg. "Ah, I'm so dirty now!" she complained with a cute pout while inspecting the bloodied clothes she now wore. Given that they were black along with the blood, it wasn't actually that noticeable in most areas. Her skin, however...

"But thanks to whoever helped me, I really was in a bit of a bind." Shade noticed there was just a puddle that once was the girl that had fired herself out of a cannon for the assist. How comedic.

There are only two people who should really pose a risk to blowing my cover. I should just avoid them.

By the time they arrived at what apparently was the group's destination, Shade had healed the damage sustained in the last fight. The situation on the boat...thing seemed tense, and even though she was a stranger aboard, nobody had come to really interact with her, which was a little bit disappointing given her effort into the character she had built. But the less amount of story building she had to do, the better. By the way they interacted with each other, Shade determined that this ragtag bunch wasn't the most trusting lot, even with each other. Would they be able to achieve their goal, this way?

Shade owned no interest in the matter herself. If these people lived or died, it did not bother her now that Veronica had confirmed she could return to her own world. But she did find it strange that she couldn't figure the exact relationship these people held to Veronica's, no, The Ebon Mint's goals. The earlier sabotage made it seem as though the Ebon Mint would benefit from their destruction, however, Shade was advised against killing the captain. The captain must have had some kind of usefulness to the Ebon Mint. Especially, Shade thought, if she was being asked to trail the ship even going into this Overcity place.

Is the Captain perhaps a member of the Ebon Mint?

This question popped into Shade's mind. For the Ebon Mint to desire somebody to live enough to protect it, it needed to have its use. A common 'use' one might have to the Ebon Mint would be servitude. Shade knew that better than anybody else. They valued their pawns enough to threaten those who accidentally dispose of them, so long as the pawn still had its use, that is. Assuming the deduction is fact, Shade imagined the very horrible and awkward possible outcome to the sabotage where she eliminated the pirate.

That perhaps would not have been a debt she would get the chance to repay.

"Ha..." Shade sighed, as if bored.

She hated not knowing the exact situation during prolonged operations like this. The fact that she did not have intel on every living person aboard this ship irritated her, but they apparently wanted to engage in a very serious fight with another being who was not going to be a walk in the park, supposedly. Any mistakes here could be her last. Though that was par for the course with her occupation, dying in a place that wasn't even Earth... weighed just a bit more heavily on her.

Eventually, the crew had bunched together to discuss their plan of attack. Though she paid mind to the plan itself, she was far more interested in something else. Shade had limited knowledge on what each girl's capabilities were, but any mention of them was instantly remembered on the off chance she drew their aggression in the future, even if it was merely a small bit of information. She understood Information was important against a potential opponent.

Knowing how your opponent works and when to engage was a potential game-changer for certain foes. You are never really thrown into an arena with somebody and made to fight straight-on, at full strength. That kind of stuff generally only happened in fiction. In reality, there were always modifies that could shift a battle in one direction, heavy or softly. A man with a gun did not beat the man with a knife 100 percent of the time, but he did have an advantage that was difficult to overcome. In her human life, Shade had overcome this through stealth and clever use of cover. But Shade had never found herself in those scenarios willingly. A gun was preferable to a blade, at least when you were a human. Now... well, things were a bit different. The important aspect is to know that, no matter what, if there's a single percent chance of one side winning, they CAN win. So theorizing can only go so far.

Still, Shade bothered to do it if only to mentally prepare for the general outcome. And she currently did so now.

The best candidate, right now, was Mariette. Shade could only go off of what she had personally seen, but it appeared as though she had a good control over the size of her portals as her main power. Shade was able to observe this during the ride, spotting the eyes the girl had created along the way through her own special eyes. Given that kind of ability... Shade would have absolutely no problem dealing with her were they in close proximity when starting the fight if the scenario had them both at full strength and no interference.

In a ranged fight where Mariette had no proper knowledge of Shade's own abilities, Shade could still claim victory with relative ease if Mariette made one very critical mistake. But it would be nowhere near as "guaranteed" as close-range.

And if Mariette started the fight at a range and with information pertaining to Shade's actual capabilities, that wasn't something Shade desired. It would not likely go well for her unless Mariette was a fool and unable to realize the proper precautions she could take to prevent retaliation.

It was to be expected, but any situation where she could easily see herself not "winning" was always upsetting. She might be a sore loser at heart. But she had not too long to dwell on such thoughts. People were getting excited in various ways involving the plan that had been laid before them. Shade had her own qualms about the plan, particularly with whom she was to be paired with, but she also did not want to draw very much attention to herself. She was not, after all, a true member of this bunch. Merely a random girl who appeared and offered help. It might be more in character to do as instructed, but if most of the crew seemed to be against the initial plan, then she supposed she could get away with voicing concerns.

"Eheh~ I'm glad that you find me dazzling, but" Shade giggled like she was embarrassed and placed a finger to her lips. "My ideal stage lets me get a bit closer to my fans! Being out in the open isn't personal enough!" she claimed. "I give a mean autograph, after all~" she punched the inside of her hand to emphasize her point.

Out of the two plans laid before them, Shade favored Makoto's just a bit more. Had she more influence in this group, she'd ask everybody to give a general idea of their capabilities and then formulate a plan around that. It would serve her own goals, of course, but also allow her to identify which people should go where. A plan needed absolutes. Leaders were supposed to give this. A group without an actual leader was bound to fail somewhere along the line. Shade was not confident in either plan, even if they had been the most brilliant thing she'd ever heard. Because a plan was only good if people listened to it. Could this group settle on one thing and go with it? The assumption was that this was unlikely. With nobody to say "You will" rather than "You should" with enough legitimacy that people would listen, they may as well be going in with no plan.

But this was merely her opinion as someone who once called themselves a part of a military. What did she know?

"What if we---" A very loud shriek erupted from a nearby location, cutting Shade off from what she was about to say. Were they already under attack? It was probably a smart move by whomever their foe was to take the initiative against such a force. What little formation they had could easily be undone. Shade, like the others, quickly sought out the source of the scream due to her own unfamiliarity with the crew and unwillingness to be the first into the fray, Shade's immediate reaction to this was to prepare for a fight by clenching her fists and, unlike last time, utilizing stasis on her hands as well so that she didn't break her hands each and every time she smacked against something hard. A nice touch that was missing earlier, but she chalked that up to inexperience with this style of fighting. It was certainly a bold thing to do earlier, but it so far had worked.

Helga had a concerned look on her face as she stood between Amber and Makoto, her eyes shifting between them as they spoke up. Of course, she agreed with her Lady's suggestion on how the crew would split up, but the squirrel girl also had valid points to make.
”Who in their right mind would let you alone down there? That's just stupid,” Penny chimed in, pointing at Makoto.
”Besides, I think captain's plan sounds good.” She stretched her metallic arms, and a humming sound could be heard inside her as she became worked up.
Helga sighed, and then looked at Alicia and Mariette. "Well yes, I did. But it's not like she ever explained to me what she can do. But I can say this with certainty; she uses Space magic, and not just teleporting or dimensional travel, either. She can summon items she has touched personally, out of other items she has touched...She can even enchant her surrounding environments and modify the space within them. She's the strongest out of Justine's Four-uh, Three Elites. Even Mariette struggled against her when they fought," she said, and smirked as she remembered what happened, before she bit her lip. "Uhh, not to mock you or anything."

”Enough standing around! Just play rock-paper-scissors or something, we can't-Huh?” Penny turned as she heard Eli's scream, her arms making a lock-in sound as she tried to see where the threat was. She was distracted by Eli suddenly popping behind her through Mariette's portal.
"Eli? What is it?" Helga asked, and then looked over to where everyone else was staring in various stages of confusion.
"Um...Well..." Anaya mumbled, and pointed at the one person that didn't seem to fit in with the rest of them, the odd duck of the group: Libby. As everyone's eyes settled on her, she turned her gaze around herself, looking around to see what had gotten Eli and the rest so riled up with a little smile.
"Hm? Hm hm hm?" She hummed, a dumb grin on her face. But, it didn't last long; she turned her attention to Mariette.
And then, she began giggling.

"Hee hee..."

"Hee hee hee..."

"Hee he-HEE HEE HEE!"

As Libby laughed maniacally, a crimson vortex of blood suddenly formed around her, enveloping her and knocking back anyone near her. Helga gasped, her eyes widening upon her realization as she braced against the strong wind that pushed at them.

"It can't be...!"

The red tornado churned and swirled around her for only a lingering moment, before it ended. And as it did, Anaya let out a cry. Standing before them was a girl whom Mariette and Eli have met, and whom had haunted their consciousness ever since:





"Oopsies! Caroline was found out!" She spoke, her fangs now visible to everyone.
"Caroline wanted to play hide and seek even more, but Ellie found out!"

"Watch out! She's Justine's little sister, Caroline von Visceral!" Helga cried out, her legs shaking as she tried to put on a courageous front.
"She...She is PSYCHO!"

Caroline's red dress seemed to waver and slither around her as she stood there with her bare feet, seemingly made of blood as it flowed like liquid.
She grinned widely, her eyes intense as they shifted from one girl to the next. And then, they settled on Eli.

"Ellie...Caroline is grateful. Dennie was such a nice doll...to play with...She was delicious...And she gave Caroline new powers, powers to play hide and seek! It was so...much...fun..."

She then looked down at her open palm, and breathed heavily.
"Big sister wanted Caroline to play hide and seek...But...Caroline wants to play with dolls...Squishy cute dolls...Pretty dolls with long hair...Dolls with...sweet...sweet...SWEET RED!"
She then held a hand to her side, and a red spear with intricate design formed from blood flowing out of her palm.
"Play with Caroline, Ellie, Mariette! Play with Caroline lots and lots and LOTS!"

Eli fell and plunged into the floor, just as Mariette wanted her to, quickly lifting her head to ensure “Libby” was still in her sights. Her eyes remained wide and expression twisted by fear, as Caroline revealed who she truly was, and began speaking. She had… gained powers for consuming Deni. And… she wanted more.

‘… Aaah…’ Eli, being made of slime, couldn’t properly cry. But, her eyes felt like they wanted to. The being that had eaten Deni was right there, and now she was coming for her and Mariette. Eli lay there without being able to get more. It hurt. She felt so tiny and useless, alone. It was a helpless feeling, leaving her cowering in place...

… Mariette, however, stood focused. A vile frown directed itself at the speaking enemy before her. Anyone nearby felt the magical energy she was channeling. She was feeling… anger. Far more anger than she was used to experiencing. This creature, the same had taken Deni from her, had now stepped close and dared terrify Eli. How DARE she?

Mariette stood in the forefront, and Caroline was addressing her. Caroline wanted to play. Who was she to deny the experience?


Not waiting for anyone else in any shape or form, Mariette swung her arm and hand-mirror weapon, without a word of communication to her allies and barely restrained anger in her movements as she swung open the mana font Asengav had granted her.

A stream of portals flung open all over the area between her and Caroline, the other ends directed into the floor around her, from which tentacles sprung and swung through the portals for a swift strike at Caroline. Mariette didn’t expect to hit, but that frankly didn’t matter.

Across the Bastion dark circles formed, like purple marshes on the deck, among allies as well as elsewhere. From these, creatures appeared, creatures called from Asengav himself. Nimble, dark, humanoid in shape with white glowing eyes, seemingly made of slime or ink just like Eli, but they were mindless monsters.

Monsters whose eyes were all fixed on the foe on the ship as they growled or leaped, dashing to action, gathering around Mariette or spread across the ship. With loud snarls they threw their arms, which stretched far and fast with ends shaped as sharp points at their enemy. They were numerous, around thirty spread and jumping across the ship to get into position to attack at Caroline.



Then started the true game. Mariette was going to hound every step of Caroline with every fabric of her being. Using her awareness and previous experience with the devil to attempt to track the superior fighter’s movements, smaller portals swung open to take the stretched attacks of her minions’ arms and set them again on track for their target. Portals opened in attempt to block Caroline in any direction she headed, with the attacks of her minions flying through numerous portals before they finally headed to strike at Caroline from difficult angles.

Quickly, a maze of dark arms would form, intent on trapping Caroline between numerous portals that could or could not shoot arms at the enemy. If Mariette’s allies were shooting projectiles as well, Mariette would reroute as many as possible of those back at Caroline the same way as well. Each attack that was rerouted flew through a string of portals just large enough for the attack to pass through pointing at one another to keep the projectiles afloat at the predicted next locations the target could be. All for the purpose of hunting Caroline down.

If Caroline hunted at her allies and Mariette could react in time, she’d open portals to attempt protecting them, and if possible catch Caroline in the portals to send her a distance away so more distance where Mariette could unload her minions’ and allies’ attacks on Caroline for the additional distance, while portals with tentacles clawing at Caroline from the floor around Mariette clawed at her in directions the portal witch didn’t want the vampire-girl to go. If Caroline attempted attacking through these portals, the attacks would go straight down into the floor of the Bastion around Mariette. Hopefully a god’s blessing made that too hard to crack.

If allies were in obvious danger, Mariette would open portals under them to relocate elsewhere on the Bastion, unless they were the ones who charged in on their own. No sense moving away a close-combat nut from close combat. Mariette would try to take advantage of such circumstances, instead, having her minions’ arms fly through more portals to punish Caroline for staying in a fight. If Caroline happened to grab any of the minions’ arms that came attacking, she’d simply command them to leap at her to make some use of their last time in existence, they’re already as good as dead if that happened.

This wasn’t hide and seek anymore. It was a frenzied game of tag where one party was extremely fast and powerful while the other had access to portals and plentiful of projectiles. Mariette would chase this girl down with all of her power.

She couldn’t keep this up indefinitely, but right now, she was charging as much of her magic as she could, perhaps unreasonably so. As soon as they were inside the castle, her bane would probably prevent her from going further. Here, she could still go all out. Besides, this was the girl that killed Deni. It was possible Mariette wasn’t acting completely rationally.

In her mind, Mariette blamed Justine far more for Deni’s death than she did Caroline, who she viewed as a being of inferior intellect. What would be more just than the possibility of murdering Justine’s precious sister in return?

… She cannot be allowed to get away…!

Edit: Since tactics-talk apparently took place on the lake shore, Mariette would have approached to speak. Meaning all this time she was in fact on the lake shore, and not on the Bastion, apparently. The portals described as going into the Bastion floor instead goes into the lake shore ground. Still needing to be close to Mariette because tentacles don't have a long range.

In all honesty, Tonya didn't need a spool of fate laden string to tell that there was something wrong with that one. But it was whatever now. After looking at Mariette's "transformation," she decided she wasn't really needed to help defeat Caroline. But just because she could, she'd give the looney spy a swipe before heading off with the rest of the siege party.

...

Sue quietly listened along to everyone discuss their plans. The familiar liked Amber's plan best of course. Mostly because she had a lot of respect for Amber, but also because her plan put everyone somewhere, and she at least sounded like she considered everyone's strengths when forming it.

What Makoto proposed was more along the lines of advice than a plan. It was kind of suspicious how she insisted everyone siege the front, but then insisted she herself take the secret passage. She must have had her reasons.

Amber always said beacon girls were stupid, incompetent fools. Sue had more or less attributed this to the fact that Amber had an, erm, unique relationship with them. But Alicia for some reason seemed to think her bombardment magic would be more useful attacking a wide open area then the narrow corridors of a dungeon. Limited room to dodge or disperse meant that her attacks would be more effective. What was amber thinking making Alicia the leader of a team? Not that Sue was in a position to critique Alicia's way of fighting. She did almost nuke Alexander because Sue said it was a good idea. Fortunately, Alicia looked like she was willing to forefit her leadership position.

Mariette pointed out a real flaw in Amber's plan however. If Sonia was as all powerful as she seemed to be, then the roof attacking force wouldn't do very well with just the mentioned magical girls. It was a shame Sue wasn't stronger. She would have liked to have been relied on...

Before Amber could respond to the criticisms, Libby revealed herself, and the portal apocalypse started. The fact that the only person they were able to recruit was a spy didn't sit well with the familiar, but she hardly had time to react to it.

Amber did not have an especially strong reaction to it all. She looked annoyed more than anything. “Change of plans.” She eyed everyone around her. “Sue, you're going to pilot the earth bastion. It's tank controls, just like in the arcade.”

“G-got it!”

“I'm going to enter through the roof. I won't need a large force. Eli and the winged girl can follow me, but I plan on avoiding detection.” Her eyes shifted. “Helga, you're going to go under the castle with the exact same group I suggested, only you'll take Makoto with you instead of Alicia.” By this point, the minions were pouring in all around them. “As for everyone else, just stay alive. I doubt a frontal assault is going to be very effective, but it's where I expect most of her forces to show up.”

Meanwhile, Sue had flown into the bridge of the ship to engage the earth bastion. Her heart was racing, and there was already sweat all over her face when she transformed into a human again. But as hard as it was to do, she sat down and gently pushed the levers forward. The earth bastion would be sailing across the lake in no time.

---

Beacon might have been falling apart, but it was at times like this that you needed to be part of a group to stay strong. Tonya (not Mac Tonya) never regretted her Beacon girl heritage.

Tonya was currently in uniform while standing guard at a street corner. It was just a dead end street that saw very little traffic. Her green dress fluttered in the wind as she waited for the patrols to get back. After the most recent attack, Beacon had lost a lot of ground, and needed to really stretch out their forces just to maintain as much of their turf as they had. She didn't really understand the hate for Beacon. It was pretty clear to her that Beacon was making all of the right moves. Collectively, they probably did the most to thwart the monster threat. There was the unwavering insistence that every monster, dark, and Ebon girl had to be slain, which likely upset a few people. But it wasn't like those girls could be saved or even properly relied on half the time. Monster and dark magical girls had twisted personalities, and it was just a matter of time before an Ebon mint girl would use her coin and become one of the former. What little good they did in the meantime was not worth their continued existence. It really bothered Tonya that Penny was technically allied with beacon. She wouldn't have been surprised if they were an Ebon mint spy on top of everything else. Tonya would never say this out loud, but anyone not allied with Beacon was probably the enemy.

Tonya was pulled from her thoughts when she heard a woman singing. The song was unsettling, but she knew what it was. A week or so ago, Alicia had reported a monster girl and boy that had an aura accompanied by some music like this. Tonya was fully expecting an ambush from two such magical girls. She would have liked some backup, but she was pretty capable on her own. Tonya was durable, and her wind magic turned her umbrella into a mighty weapon. She would just have to wait and react accordingly. Her teeth clinched tighter and tighter with each passing second.

“Um-”

“PUT DOWN YOUR WEAPON!” Tonya waved her umbrella around, nearly knocking over the stranger who approached her. It was a red haired girl who looked as nervous as Tonya felt. “O-Oh, um.” She pointed her umbrella at the woman. “State your business!”

Regina hugged herself. “Is this how Beacon greets everyone?!”

“You know I'm beacon?” Tonya took a deep breath. “A-Anyway! Might be! Stop avoiding the question!”

Regina was standing in the street. “I'm going to transform, alright? It'll make explaining things easier.”

“Alright.” she waved her umbrella. “I'm watching.”

As soon as Regina transformed, she was struck by a wall of wind, followed by a peppering of apples, acorns, and anything else Tonya could fit in her hammer space. She didn't stopp her attack until Regina had been knocked to the ground. “What are you doing!? I'm trying to surrender!” Her voice was cracking.

“I know how you monster types are!” Tonya pointed, walking into the street. “But you don't scare me, and I can see your evil plan with my eyes closed!” The festive girl twirled her umbrella and assumed a defensive stance. “Now, when is your boyfriend going to show up and ambush me?”

Elroy answered by launching his chains out of a nearby storm drain and ensnaring Tonya's ankles. They were attached to his shield, which had been placed in the storm drain in preparation for this ambush. With a sharp tug, the beacon girl fell forward. She was able to use her wind magic to avoid slamming into the street, but that was when Elroy popped out of a manhole cover and launched two more chains from his gauntlets. They coiled around her wrists like vines, and pulled her towards the sewer. The chains around her ankles let go as Elroy pulled Tonya into the sewer with him.. There wasn't much Tonya could do to fight back in the sewers. She didn't have any powers that let her see better down here, and with Elroy slinging her around so violently, there was little Tonya could do to resist or fight back. What few wind attacks she was able to launch either didn't hit anything, or simply weren't strong enough to harm Elroy. When the beating stopped, Tonya was on the brink of contentiousness. “Hey Regina! I got poppins!”

The succubus lowered herself into the sewer. “That could have gone better, I underestimated how scared they would be after that last monster attack.” She fret her brow. “Having said that, There was nothing stopping you from launching your attack from where she was initially standing.”

“I'm soz. I keep forgetting how soft and squishy you guys are compared to me. I'd love it if someone threw apples at me.” Elroy pulled Tonya into a bear hug. “If it's all the same to you, I'd like to grab my shield and get out of here.” He chuckled. “But this was fun, we should do it again.”

“Of course.”

“Wha...” Tonya's body was so wrecked with pain, she couldn't even stand without Elroy's assistance. “What's going on?”

It was impossible for Tonya to see, but she could sense Regina was holding her hand over the beacon girl in the darkness. “I find everything about you disgusting... For now.”

An intellectual part of Alexander's mind understood the need to plan this out. To carefully pick who goes were, in order to maximize their chances of success. However, he wasn't in a very logical state of mind. Therefor, it was really for the best when they found themselves under attack, since it forced them into action before he lost his patience "What the!? How did one of her goons sneak up on us!?" Not having payed much attention to the many magical girls on the ship, he didn't realize that she was actually one of the girls who had come with them

Before he could do anything else, the many portals suddenly appeared everywhere, which made the battlefield an even more confusing mess "Gahhh! I don't have time for this bullshit" As he began arming himself with weaponized barriers, Amber called for the attack teams to group up. 'Finally! Wait...who am I with again?' Alexander's frustration began to grow when he realized that even though he knew the names of the people he was 'assigned' to, he didn't know who they were 'Dammit, I only know a handful of people here! Wait...Isn't 'Helga' the stomach shanker?' Suddenly remembering that brought so much needed relief to him 'Right, I think she is. Amber mentioned someone knowing the layout, so that has to be the stomach shanker. Ugh, that is such a relief; I'd hate to have to ask someone who my team was, that would be too awkward' Alexander began looking around, and quickly found her 'There she is! Never thought I'd be so happy to see that bitch' He then jogged up to her, and not having anything to say that wouldn't provoke her into a fight, chose to say nothing.

---

As the vortex of blood consumed Libby, Suwako quickly jumped backwards and summoned her bow, aiming at the transforming magical girl. It was now clear that she wasn't what she was supposed to be.

"Tch, Justine's little sister?" Suwako answered back to Helga's warning. So they've been had.

As Caroline cackled madly, announcing her desire to play, Mariette immediately summoned her portals all around the insane girl. Suwako didn't hesitate to join in on the attack, as she fired off her arrows towards Caroline. In the meantime, she also summoned her roots and vines around the girl, waiting for an opportunity to grab her and immobilize her. Suwako would combine her arrows and vines with Mariette's portals as well, making them able to pop out from unexpected angles, adding an extra layer of difficulty for the girl to dodge all of them. As usual, Suwako would try to keep her distance from Caroline. If she threw her red spear towards her, she would either dodge or create a makeshift wall with her plants to block the attack.

@Ariamis@PlatinumSkink