"Fuck!!" Eliza was forced to stop firing at Justine when she used Alex as a human shield. Lucky he was unharmed, but that didn't stop karma from bitting her in the ass, as he was thrown at her. The witch quickly caught Alex, and flew back into the air before she could hit the water. "Sorry, sorry, I'm so sorry!!" She repeatedly apologized, setting him back down on the marble floor.

All she could do then was help Sue stay suspended into the air and watch Lily face Justine. A gasp escaped Eliza's mouth when the vampire managed to get the drop of blood she needed, and was supprised to see that nothing happened. Somehow Caroline's love for Justine made the sacrifice null and void. A grin appeared on the witch's face when Lily managed to transform back into her magical girl form. What she shouted to everyone had Eliza thinking.



Love. That must be her bane! Eliza couldn't be too sure since she was separated from Anaya, but should the witch take the risk in finding out? "Guys, I have an idea! Just help me get her weak enough so I can strike!!" She told the others, before setting Sue down, and flying up to where she was facing Justine. Focusing on her attack, several magic circles appeared infront of her, firing large, red and blue star-shapped bullets at the vampire. Learning from her previous mistake, Eliza tried to make it to where the others wouldn't get hurt by her attack.

“Shade, come in.”

Veronica was sitting behind a desk at a police station. It was just one of her many fronts, and one of her more valuable ones. What type of shadow organization didn't benefit from having power over the law?

“Shade, talk to me.”

The woman took hold of her earning and tried to listen. Even if Silhouette wasn't talking to her, she could hear some of what was going on. Justine yelling 'heart breaker' was not especially reassuring.

“...Silhouette?”

That was when Veronica looked at a PDA on her desk and could see silhouette's location flashing on the screen. It would seem that she had made her way out of the over city and back onto this plane. But did that Justine had returned here as well? Veronica bit her lower lip and glanced around herself. It wasn't a good idea for her to be running around in the middle of the day. Shadows were her specialty, and the less sunlight there was the better. It was also likely that if Veronica was to leave right now, there would be little she could do for silhouette. The distance she had to travel was far, and magical girls could be killed in an instant. At best, she would arrive and find Sil was fine. At worst, she would be intercepted by a beacon girl. The pros of action were far outweighed by the cons. Some would say there were no pros, and yet...

“Your mission isn't over. You don't have permission to rest yet.”

Veronica flipped off the lights. The fastest route of travel available to her was shadow stepping over to her location. She could use the ventilation system to get outside, then use the sewer system to get to the dock. But from there, she'd have to ride a boat to Silhouette's location.

“I'm not paying you to sleep, get up!”




Sue wasn't sure what she expected. Of course Justine would attack after seeing something like that. Sue was just fortunate that she was able to avoid enough of the attack that only one of her wings were destroyed. By the looks of it, Justine wasn't fairing much better. They both seemed to have a single wing left. The fight was almost over for both of them. Yes, things were coming to a head.

It disturbed Sue when she saw Lilly practically offer herself before the gluttonous vampire. If she wasn't recovering from her thrashed wing, she might have thrown a gust of wind between the two to blow them away from each other. But it seemed that the spell failed for reasons no one but lily could fathom. Or at least, it wasn't a conversation Sue cared to dedicate her attention to. Until she brought up love, that is.

Love is an interesting emotion. When people think of love, it's easy to think of its happier side. The word love invokes images of childhood friends playing, young lovers kissing under a tree, or other forms of intimacy. That's the part of love everyone remembers. But there were other forms of love too. Like putting up with simple inconveniences like remembering to go to the store to get medicine, lending your umbrella on a rainy day, or choosing to go see a movie that your partner wants to see way more than you. Those were better examples of love. But not all love was sweet. Sometimes it could be bitter. There were hundreds of examples of this. But the best example to Sue was her very own story. She loved Amber. She remembered going to all the yard sales with her to decorate the sky bastion. She remembered all of their misadventures, especially the encounter with Mariette. She even remembered confessing her love to her, and how embarrassed she was when Amber stated she only dated men. And now she was gone. Were it not for love, Sue might have been a little disappointed with her death. But the power of love made her brave. She absorbed the black coin, knowing full well that it would bind her to the mint. She watched Amber work under them in misery, and chose to carry a burden greater than her for this one shot at revenge. That was Sue's power of love.

Without her wing, all Sue could do was use her mana to repair herself to stay aloft. But she wasn't going to do that. Sue allowed herself to fall while diverting all of her magic into her next attack. She could hear the wind rush past her as she plummeted towards her target. Sue didn't know exactly what Lily was planning, but she had no doubt those dark clouds were the start of something powerful. And speaking of powerful, Scout was unleashing some firepower of her own on the vampire. Sue would have to get out of the way, but she had one last payload of mystic might to deliver.

”Take all the love you can handle!”

Just as she was falling behind the vampire, Sue thrust an open palm towards Justine. Before she could blink, the mightiest shock wave she had fired yet detonated in the Vampire's proximity. Sue was not going to get away unscathed though. Sue attempted to block with her remaining wing, but the energy ripped it apart before throwing her backwards. With her immediate mana reserves drained and wings in tatters, she tumbled through the air. The ocean swallowed her as fell out of the sky.



Hah! Man, Lily sure was corny...

As tempting as it was to land a quick hit on Justine, the other magical girls probably had this under control. Now that the threat Justine posed was, frankly, minimal, She was really just here to confirm that her mission was successful before departing.

If Nancy’s power was as advertised, then Mariette was not letting her get away. She struck before Nancy could change her mind. With that, she spent some time with their lips pressed together, while Eli watched closely with a slight dark blush on her slime-face. It took a number of seconds, however…

Mariette’s eyes widened, a surprise and liveliness not often seen in them encompassing her as the effects of the spell ran through her, the bubbles and flowers litting up around them as Mariette and Nancy were still interlocked in the kiss. When she finally released, Mariette blinked as she explored what she was feeling.

With all honesty, Mariette had forgotten how it felt to feel fresh. Always, with no real exception, she felt a deep exhaustion within her soul which dragged onto her every movement, even as she dutifully accomplished her goals in the name of Asengav. Yet, all of that… The burden of Asengav, the constant pressure… All of it had cleared away, and Mariette could look around herself at the surrounding girls with alert eyes that weren’t marred by the sole purpose of detecting threats to herself. It was as if she was seeing colour for the first time, or just realizing colour was indeed a thing. Everything looked and felt so… so… alive…

Mariette turned to look at Nancy, who was breathing heavily. Mariette looked a bit confused, the experience not what she expected and she may have been blushing a bit, looking more alive than ever. Then… she breathed out the breath she had been holding, giving a little smile at Nancy that looked more gentle than Eli had ever seen it.

‘You… you should practice that magic more often… Thank you…’ So she said, feeling lighter than ever. With that, she came to a joyful, happy and natural decision in the heat of the moment.



… But that was for later! Now, they had to go and defeat Justine! More energetic than ever, Mariette turned to make her commands in a happier and more hopeful tone than she had ever used before, and the effect seemed to spread among the girls under her command. They were all getting more hopeful!

… Of course, then numerous moments later as they were heading off Mariette was reminded she was still, in fact, the pawn of a Horror when the Bane she had received from him reared its ugly head.

Geh. What a dampener on her mood. They also figured out that it was the mirrors that were causing it. That… was unacceptable, but due to knowing at least one of the girls was a Light specializing girl, she couldn’t lie. Geesh.

‘No! That’s… that’s not what I want,’ Mariette breathed to Nancy’s claim that removing the mirrors would help her, despite her pain being alleviated as she threw it away. It was not a lie, in that she didn’t want them to remove the mirrors for her, because that’d be them being aware of the bane she most definitely didn’t want them to know about. Okay. Other options. Well, as luck would have it, Mariette was not constrained to corridors.

‘We’re taking an alternative path!’ Mariette said, using the magic she had regained to open a portal from beside them to… whatever path she could that did not cross a cracked mirror. The fact Nancy had just removed the closest such mirror gave her that opening. ‘Through my portals! I will navigate us to our enemy!’

It was more difficult. She had no vision of other places in the building so she had to guess where she could open portals, but she did have a sense of where the cracked mirrors were. Using that, Mariette attempted using portals to take her to whatever rooms that did not have cracked mirrors in them, through paths that didn’t have cracked mirrors directly in-between herself and that room, because that caused problems too. She had to open small portals for her eyes first, to scan the new room for danger. If the eye-portals didn’t open, it meant she was trying to open them in space occupied by a physical object and she had to move a bit before she could see what was safe to open a portal for the rest of her troops. It’d likely be as navigating a maze, but Mariette was sharper and more determined than ever, she’d make it through this! She had a goal in mind, and damn it if she’d be stopped by a stupid bane!

‘I’d like an update on what’s going on out the front whenever possible!’ she also informed the sister of the two twins that had stayed with her. It was fairly simple there. If she was informed that the sister had died or that her allies were dead, then the front door was lost. If she was informed her allies were alive or if the sister was quiet, then they had won the front door. Because, if she was quiet it meant Alicia had managed to talk sense into her about Mariette’s true nature. Mariette smirked thinking about it. Anyways, to the battle!

Eli was still hanging on, holding Asengav’s mirror and keeping a watch on her mistress.

The pale twin shook from fright upon seeing Alicia turn furious, and took a step back as the Becon girl opened her palm. "No, please!" She cried out, only to reel back from the blinding blast; she covered her face with her hands as she stumbled, and then blinked, looking confused. "H-Huh? Wait, I'm not in the....dungeon?" She then heard Alicia's statement on the dark magical girl. "Mariette...Wait, is that true? I need to warn Milli!" She put a finger to her forehead, and wrinkled her brow in deep concentration.

Kimble purred at first when she was petted, but then gave a sad whine as Alicia removed her hold.
"Got it!" Sylvia shouted, and pulled out what looked like a strange sword with cogs spinning at it's hilt from her magical handbag, while Sally twirled her Shamrock Shooters in her fingers, her tongue peeking out from a cutesy smile. The twin didn't realize she was grabbed until she heard Alicia speak to her, and she looked startled with trembling lips.
"I-I don't know! I was taken straight to the dungeon! You got to believe me!"
"It's in the west wing, nyah," Kimble answered. "Take a left from the foyer, and you should reach it."
"Ok, let's go!" Sally cheered, and was the first to run. However, one of her weapons slipped from her finger and dropped at her feet, causing her to slip on it. She landed comically, with her rear sticking out. "I'm fine!" She shouted out, but Sylvia had already gone inside the castle, followed by Alicia and finally by Sally as she scrambled after them. Kimblee looked after them with longing eyes, like a kitten abandoned in an alley, but then cheered up a little when Penny spoke to her. "Nyeah," she answered with a couple of nods. "I know now that the Beacon are nice people. I wouldn't mind...If they were my owners," she whispered the last part to herself.

At the foyer, the Beacon girls saw that there was a hole in the center of the room that opened upwards, suggesting that it was made from underground. Aside from that, there was little else to see; there was nobody present, living or otherwise. Penny soon ran in to the front, and fired a shot at the west wall; it blew through a couple of walls, crumbling them down into dust and debris. They soon heard faint sounds of fighting and screaming girls, and ran through using the self-made shortcut.

The party entered the library: it was a breathtaking, vast hall filled with shelves upon shelves of books, each reaching up to the tall ceiling. It had multiple elevations and a big globe of Earth that slowly spun by magical force, occasionally highlighting a region with a name scrawling on the surface, only to disappear moments after. However, the girls had little time to marvel at the sight, as they soon saw what was happening at the bottom section of the library; it was June, their rookie comrade, who was fighting against four magical girls with pale skin and droopy eyes, holding books on on one hand and weapons on the other. Alicia recognized the girls to belong to the group of former prisoners that Mariette had supposedly freed like the twin, but they lacked any meekness that she had.

The ghoulish girls ran and dodged with fervor, and struck with deadly intent, clearly motivated by more than mere survival. One of them even the willpower to throw small balls of fire, even if she was so weak as to be carried on another girl's back, who then defended the both of them with a dagger-like weapon against June, barely holding on. The rookie herself screamed loudly as she swung her weapon around, clearly intent on slaughtering them all; based on the red stains on her clothes and several dead girls scattered among the books, she has already had first blood on her career as a chosen of Beacon. She was shocked and relieved to see her fellow companions.
"Help! They're attacking!" She screamed. In response, the girls decided to flee towards the exit on the other side of the room, leaving behind fluttering pages from their books; two of them ran with swift speed with one casting a fence-height wall of fire behind them while being carried, while one turned invisible.

---

Just as the crowd around Mariette reached out and grabbed some mirrors from the wall, they stopped when Mariette did not agree with Nancy's plan. "You don't? What should we do then?" She asked with sad eyes. The other girls around her looked confused by their savior's behavior. But then, they were convinced of their new plan. "Okay Mariette!" Nancy cheerfully replied. "I'll follow you anywhere!" Mariette quickly realized that Justine had taken precautions against her, as the rest of the staircase was blocked off, as was a large area above them. Mariette saw that there was an unnatural hole in the ceiling far above, as if it was cut out by magical means. She felt a faint trace of an Overcity Shift there, but could not peer further in the room due to her Bane.

She probed for the next nearest area, and found that a room nearby did not have broken mirrors at all. In fact, the room was a treasury, filled with material wealth beyond compare. She saw that some of the magical girls she had freed had reached the place, and were scouring it for anything useful. Mariette then saw it; a single unbroken mirror, fitted on a beautiful, ornately crafted black frame. The mirror also had the same size and shape as the one Eli was carrying around, meaning its frame could be stolen and fitted to Asengav's mirror. If Mariette were to open a portal there, she could assume all the girls under her leadership would charge through it.

While Mariette was searching around, she spoke to the other twin, and she nodded. "Okay. I'll contact Vanilli." Like her identical sister, she put a finger to her forehead, and focused. After a moment, she gasped. Then, she gave a glance at Mariette with wide eyes, and took a few steps back. "Y-You...AAAAHHH!" Milli screamed, and dashed down the stairway, running on the wall. "Huh? What happened? Should we follow after her?" Nancy asked.

---

Lily turned her head towards Alex as she continued charging her magic, and shook her head.
"No, Alex! I'll be the bone of your sword of LOVE!"
When the magical boy's magic was channeled into her, long arcs of lightning crackled from the sides of Lily's head, and she glowed entirely, taking her to heights of power last seen when she had defeated Helga. Justine's once-unbroken demeanor had shattered, and she looked on with fear in her eyes as the black cloud fully formed.

"No...What is this power!?"

"This is the end, Justine!" She screamed, and thrust her staff forward.



And then, out of the heavens, a giant projectile of pink electricity was launched, resembling both a thunderbolt, and an arrow with a heart-shaped tip. Justine screamed back, and transformed the rest of her wings to red arms. With the rest of her vast magic she summoned a red magic circle as a shield to defend herself from the attack. However, the shield broke down from the awesome attack, causing her to lose one of the red arms.

Before Justine could recover, Eliza unleashed her own magic, and it seemed the starry night sky itself fell down on the vampire, bombarded by sparkling stars. Justine defended herself by having the red arms protect her, but they too were shattered, and she was left heavily wounded, with blood trickling from the corner of her mouth.

She saw Sue coming in from behind, but, surprisingly, she did not attempt to avoid her palm blast; she simply looked on at Sue with what looked like regret.

"So this is the end..."

With a resounding thunderclap, both Sue and Justine were launched, and they plummeted into the cold water of the sea. "Sue!" Helga cried out, and dove in after the black-winged girl, having turned back to her regular magical girl form. Soon the two surfaced, with Sue's arm slung over Helga's shoulder and Helga breathing heavily as she spoke: "I can't believe it...We did it! We finally beat Justine!"

---

Justine slowly descended into the abyss, and with weary eyes filled with sorrow saw that she had transformed back into her regular form. She still looked monstrous, with two leathery wings and sharp fangs, but she now resembled what she looked like centuries ago, when she was first cursed by her Patron. For all these years, she was given gift after gift by the Horror, and she had grown powerful. But even so, she had none to blame but herself for her impending death.

...Caroline...My dearest sister... She thought, and images of their happy days flashed before her eyes.

Forgive me...For letting things turn out like this...And now, I had become the very thing I sought to prevent...

She could feel her consciousness slowly fade, and the world around her turn to black. She closed her eyes, resigned to her fate.

...I was the most foolish of all.

But then, she felt something move towards her, and opened her eyes; she saw a green-haired girl with glasses on her forehead and puffed cheeks grab her by her waist and with a great struggle drag her upwards.



...Impossible... Justine thought, and reflexively spat out water as her head pierced the ocean's surface. She was supported by Lily, who transformed back to her regular form and dove in to rescue her the moment she saw her disappear under the waves.

"...Why?" The injured monster girl asked with a heavy breath. "Why did you save my life?"

Lily also panted, but then gave a wide smile.
"Because I made a promise; I won't let anyone else die, no matter what. And that also means you, Justine! Besides, that's what a magical girl should always strive for, ehe!"

Justine looked flabbergasted, and was stupefied into silence. Lily on the other hand continued smiling. She waved to the rest from the water, and then sneezed.

"Uhh, a little help? I'd like to get out of this water now."

Alexander sighed as he made a barrier ramp down to Lily. He walked to her and held out a hand "For fucks sake Lily! 'Bone of my sword of love', 'Cupids Arrow'? I'd ask where you came up with stuff that corny, but there are just some things man wasn't meant to know. Also-" He turned his head to look at Justine "-I really really hope you know what you're doing"

With the combined efforts of Lily, her, and Sue. They've managed to defeat Justine. Yet Eliza still felt a pang of guilt in her chest, the same guilt she felt when Minnie was killed, as the vampire fell into the ocean. The witch couldn't help but wonder if there was a different way to win the fight, without having to resort to bloodshed.

She hated it, and her new form was a forever reminder of it.

Eliza glanced over to Lily, who had dove into the water after Justine. She rose a brow, thinking that there was no way the vampire was still alive. As it turned out, she was. A grin a relief grew on the witch's face, as she flew down to lift Justine out of the water. "So, how are we supposed to get back to the others?" She asked.

So. Arriving at a treasury. All things completely without value to Mariette. She looked around, and… hm, signs of Overcity Shift over there? It didn’t seem like she could progress further, Justine had locked her out very effectively. She’d have to assume that was the point. Now, Mariette was completely inclined to leave all these riches behind, but then Amber flashed through her mind, her request about taking something that belonged to Mariette. … Hm.

‘… Anything in here could be something that Justine treasures for a plan of hers, or a trap. For safety, I want you all to deposit everything in this room into this portal for safekeeping. At the very least, we’re keeping it out of Justine’s hands,’ Mariette said dismissively, opening a portal in the floor. Said portal led directly into her Hammerspace Handbag. … Before letting them throw any gold into it, though, she retrieved her bunny from it, hugging around bunny whom she had deposited in the Hammerspace Handbag at the time when it stopped being mentioned in posts. No way Mariette would let her bunny share space with something that Justine could probably detonate at any moment.

Then there was the matter of Milli. She contacted her sister, before her eyes widened at Mariette, who didn’t react in the slightest, before the twin turned and ran screaming. Mariette simply smirked a little. Well, that was a very enlightening experiment. Good job winning, Alicia, Penny, others. Nancy asked if they should follow.

‘No, she made her choice. Our allies, the Beacon representatives, have won the front door. However, I should inform you that Beacon desires my demise and will take steps to turn you against me, even if we’re in agreement that Justine needs to be defeated. The twins were successfully turned, it would seem,’ Mariette simply said.

While the rest of the girls were taking everything else, Eli had sought out the mirror that stood there, ensuring the rest didn’t try to throw it into the handbag. Mariette saw her inspecting it, and could but wonder what might be special about it for it to be located in the treasury.

Regardless, they had nowhere to go. Looked like they needed two mirrors, regardless. After they had gathered sufficient goods, Mariette made them stop.

‘It is possible the battle is taking place in the real world, this being the Overcity. I will see if I can follow the Overcity Shift that took place nearby, and I will use this mirror to open a portal. When it’s open, I will scan through it myself with portals, and in case the battle is ongoing or I see a chance of victory I will command you all to charge, be ready for battle. However, in case Justine is alone and at full might, we will draw back as we do not stand a chance. If Justine is already defeated, we will also be leaving, as this place holds nothing more for us. Either case, our time here draws close. Thank you, for your acceptance of me. Let’s try this,’

So Mariette declared, before trying to open a portal following the Overcity Shift using the mirror found in the treasury. Asengav’s Mirror was left unused, it was still the emergency exit. It was also a test to see if this mirror had any special properties. If it opened, Mariette would open eye-portals to look around, then make her decision, all while standing there clutching her bunny.

Alicia Hayden

Leaving behind Kimble while keeping in mind her directions, she only paused for a moment as her gaze swept the foyer, settling on the hole in the floor ans the impact crater in the ceiling. "I see they were busy," she remarked. Just what had happened in here while they were finishing the fight outside?

There was little time to think about that however, and Penny took over in making them a path to the library by blowing out the walls. It might be a bit overly blunt, but for once Alicia could approve of Penny's destructive tendencies. It got them to June faster and that was all that mattered. Though she was also glad that they didn't hit anyone along the way there, that would have been a bit awkward.

The sound of fighting spurred her forward, and she plunged further through the hole that Penny had made. They soon arrived at the library, entering into a massive room. There was no time to look at it, and she instead focused on the fight at hand. "June!" she cried, extending her palm and tried flaring a burst of light. Yet she doubted that it did any good, with the girls retreating in flight at the sudden arrival of reinforcements.

As the fight came to a swift end, she quickly hurried over to June. "Are you alright? What happened?" she asked. It looked like it, relatively speaking, but she could tell that the rookie was scared. Glancing around, she couldn't help the involuntary clenching of teeth at the dead bodies. Not that she was angry at June, when the rookie had been stuck in a bad situation and had just acted to defend herself with no better options. She was new after all, so one couldn't expect too much of her.

No, her real anger was directed at Mariette. First she came to them seeking their help from a threat that she had enabled and helped make even worse, purely to save her own skin. And now she was taking advantage of the girls that she had previously abducted for her own purposes. She should have shot the portal user dead when she had the chance.

She did her best to keep it repressed, and focused on the task at hand as she turned to face the others. "I don't know how, but Mariette, the portal girl serving the Horror who approached us about Justine before, she's somehow managed to get the brainwashing that Justine used on the girls they abducted to apply to herself instead. We all know what a Horror could do with an army of magical girls at it's command, so we need to stop her too if we can."

Admittedly she'd always planned to put an arrow in her back when the fight was over, but this changed things. A lot.

"My magic can shake off the brainwashing, so I can work on that. I just wish I knew how the fight with Justine was going on," she muttered, glancing around as if she could somehow see through the walls and get an indication of how the battle was progressing. If they didn't need help then they could focus on stopping Mariette. but if they were in trouble then Beacon would have to help out.

Sue wasn't in great shape, but she was still conscious when Helga pulled her out of the water. Her body was wrecked by pain, and she was trembling in the girl's arms. ”Y-you didn't have to do that.” The water was stinging sue's eyes. Fortunately it was a simple matter for the former familiar to air dry her face. ”Did we get her?”Sue posed the question, but then looked over towards Lily. She could see Lily trying to rescue Justine. She could hear Lily repeat her mission to save everyone.

And it sickened her.

It didn't take long for Sue to amp herself up again. She was less trembling from pain than with emotion. Her eyes were totally bloodshot, between the crying and being splashed with salt water. With a shout, she blew herself out of Helga's arms. Normally Helga's strength would have been more than enough to hold onto Sue, but the sudden attempt at escape wasn't expected. While the former familiar fell through the air, she forced another pair of black wings out of her back. It was painful, and she was screaming the entire time. Sue might have been gifted with a strong affinity with magic, but she wasn't able to function at full capacity right now. Nothing felt broken, but her head was throbbing. Using her magic under these conditions was painful, but it just fueled her anger. She nearly crashed into the ocean again, but her wings were big enough to where she could adjust her trajectory and fly over the water. When she got near Lily, she started to slow up. By lifting her body up vertically, her wings acted like an air brake and slowed her down.With Sue hovering over the two girls, She looked down at them as if they were nothing but insects.

”Lily.” She was practically whispering the words. Only barely audible over the crashing waves. ”What have you done?”

Lily had managed to walk a few steps up the magical stairs when she saw Sue shout at her from above. She sneezed again, and looked at her with bewilderment.
“Huh? Is something the matter?” She asked, confused by her reaction. Justine on the other hand looked on with a pained expression; Sue had delivered a grievous blow to her body, and she clutched at herself while observing the exchange.

Alexander lifted an eyebrow. “Okay look; you’re clearly overreacting. I know that Lily’s naming sense is kind of cringy, but it’s not that bad.”

”You broke your promise, Lilly.” Sue groaned before lifting her finger to point at Justine. It was shaking. ”Because of her. That f-fuckin' hussie had Amber murdered right in front of me!” She looked over at Alexander. ”That was her, Alexander. That was my captain on the floor that you were trying to save. Her luck finally ran out.” Her head twisted until it was looking at Justine again. ”Because someone thought a new world was worth the lives of everyone on the old one.” Her eyelid twitched as she looked back at Lilly. ”Or Does Amber's sacrifice not count? Because apparently this entire ritual was going to fail anyway?” Sue fluttered closer to the group. ”Justine made you break your promise Lily. B-but I don't hold it against you.”

Alexander’s eyes shot wide open “...oh shit.” He turned to Lily “yeah, this is one social battle I can’t help you in. I mean, if our positions were reversed, I would totally want to murder Justine. Hell, I did kill one of the girls who helped kidnap you. So yeah, I don’t think I have the right, or social skills to help here. Hell, I’ll probably just make things worse.”

Lily was shocked by Sue’s tirade against her, and by her blaming Lily for breaking the promise. But just as she was about to ask how she knew about Amber, she finally confirmed who the black-winged girl was.
“S-Sue? It really is you...” She teared up a bit after she listened to her rant. Fortunately Alex was there to support her; otherwise she would have broken down from the emotional load.
“I-I know that what happened to Amber is awful. I know Justine is a bad person. But...”
She averted her eyes.
“Revenge is never the right answer. It only leads to a cycle of hurt, and sadness. We magical girls need to put a stop to it, we have to try and protect everyone. Besides,” She spoke with a sniffling tone, and wiped her eyes with her sleeve, looking straight at her.
“If we kill her...We will be just like her. You wouldn’t do it, right Sue?”
She asked, her lower lip trembling. Justine lowered her head, and closed her eyes while she was still carried by Eliza..

”Right, um, some things happened. Now this is me.” Sue was momentarily phased, but regained her composure. Sue fluttered down onto the edge of the platform Alexander made. Her wings were spread out, threatening to encompass everyone. ”No lily, I would be like her if I killed her, you, Alexander, all of Beacon, and expected it to bring Amber back.” Her eye brows shot up in the air. ”Or maybe if I killed someone she cared about. Her sister maybe?” She turned to look at Justine. ”What do you think Justine? What would I have to do to sink to your level? Would killing one magical girl that nobody really gives a shit about do anything? What have you done to uphold the magical girl code we all live by?” She was grinding her teeth, and it was audible.

“...”

Justine was silent at first, and seemed to ignore Sue. At this point, Helga clambered onto the stone platform with the rest. Justine slowly lifted her head, and looked at Sue with her red eyes; instead of malice or hatred, they were filled with weariness and sorrow.
“It does not matter what you do to me. I failed everyone, even my sister. What purpose do I have in this world except to move on to the next?”
Her words came out one after the other with a struggle, and she coughed by the end of it.
“If it satisfies your petty needs, then feel free to end my existence. Maybe then your soul will be at peace.”
Suddenly, Justine was slapped by Lily.
“No! You’re being stupid again, Justine!” Lily shouted, and shook her head while Justine reeled back with gritted teeth.
“Don’t think you can just run away! You have to face up to what you’ve done, and apologize to everyone!”

Justine looked resentful and hurt...But she also looked remorseful, if only a little bit.
”So you want me to redeem myself...Is something like that possible? For someone like me?” She lifted her eyes to look at Helga, who stood next to Sue. The bestial magical girl shared the former familiar’s murderous intent mere moments ago, but even she seemed to turn hesitant after Lily’s speech. “Well, I know Amby...Wasn’t the type to hold a grudge. She would just smile and walk it off...Like she always did.” Big tears drifted down her cheeks. “She always wanted to move on to new adventures, to seek new thrills and collect treasure. She even gave me a chance, when I tried to kill you all once. There’s no better pirate out there. So...Sue...” She turned to look at her. “Maybe we can kill Justine later, when she has betrayed Lily’s trust. We won’t feel too bad about it then, right?”

While Sue didn't appear to be listening to anyone but Justine, Helga's words did seem to cause Sue to shift around. She approached Justine, her wings coiling in the air as she did so. ”I'm going to let you live. Not because I think you can redeem yourself, but because you've just discovered how powerless you are to change anything that matters, and you're going to continue to live in a misery you can only escape with death.” She turned away from Justine. ”If you want to die so badly, do it yourself.” Sue walked away from them, hastening her steps until she got to the stone platform that use to be Justine's floor. Once she was there, she fell onto her knees and buried her face in her hands. Her sobs were audible for everyone.

Justine might have still been alive, but Her anger was finally beat out by her sorrow. All it took was hearing someone else mention her name. Regardless of what happened to Justine, it wouldn't change the fact that Amber was gone. She wasn't even sure how far she would be able to take this fight for revenge. She'd have to kill all the Visceral, that jelly girl, Father, and a whole bunch of other people. It just wasn't in her. Even if she was the strongest magical girl in the world, she was emotionally still herself. No amount of power, magical or otherwise, could change who she was on the inside.

But she couldn't think about any of that now. Her mind was racing with all the memories she had made with Amber. There were too many to count. Too many to focus on. She had always been relatively pleasant to be around, and it was a shame she was finally gone. But sue had a silver lining. ”A-at least...” Her chest was bothering her. Between sobbing so hard and being hurt in the battle. ”We still have...” Sue struggled to sit up. Snot was running down her nose, and she couldn't even keep her eyes open. But she struggled to speak between her gasps. ”Her...” Sue tried to calm herself down with deep, cleansing breaths. She made no attempt to look at anyone while she was recovering.



...Ship.

Ah, that was going to end badly.

But as tragic as Su's story was, the day was saved. Justine got her just deserts, and aside from Amber and a few other poor souls Beacon put to rest, no real casualties to speak of. A slam dunk, and one that was sure to please her patron.

One chapter down, however many more to go. With any luck, Penrose wouldn't tear itself apart like it had last time.

This was normally when Tonya would bid her allies goodbye and wish them well, but that kind of went against her whole being here. In fact, there really wasn't much reason for her to stick around at all. She had seen this exact same scene play out numerous times. Not much reason to watch it play out again.

Ah, fuck it.

Tonya turned back towards the spectacle. It was bittersweet, but moments like this would be few and far bewtween going folward.

Kimble’s last whispered statement was heard by Penny as she raced off, but was quickly pushed aside in favor of focusing on her task at hand. A manic smile found its way on to Penny’s face as her cannon round tore through the walls with ease, and the smile just grew as Penny took in rest of the castle. She was going to have so much fun tearing this place apart.

Following after the Beacon members again, Penny stayed at the very edge of the pathway she opened tearing chunks out of the wall as she passed them. She took an inordinate amount of satisfaction at the feeling of crushing stone in her hands and in a fit of glee charged through the final wall by herself rather than use the shortcut she had opened just a few feet to the side.

Breaking though the wall she threw bits of the wall at the retreating girls, uncaring if she actually hit any of them as she wouldn’t likely chase after if she did. Instead she took in the view of the library and swallowed thickly as she did. This place was truly breathtaking to the sole monster girl in the room, and for a vastly different reasons then it would be to others. It was like looking at an intricate set of dominos all poised to fall, and Penny was the one who got set it off.

Slowly she walked over to one of the bare walls and gently ran her hand upon it. As a cleric of Laat she knew of all manner of ways to destroy, part of that knowledge are the principles of architecture, from this she could tell the wall she was standing in front of was one of the load bearing walls. It wouldn’t take much, if the prior walls were anything to go by, to set everything tumbling down to dust, especially if the fire stuck around. ‘It would be so easy too’ she thought to herself as she looked at the wall with longing.

With effort Penny turned away from the wall, her hand still resting on it as she did, and focused on the members of Beacon and Alicia for the first time since she entered this room. ”You girls might want to grab everything that’s important and evacuate” She said her voice trembling lightly as she spoke, the manic grin still etched across her face and the spark of her madness visible in her eyes as they glowed a harsh orange “As I can topple this castle from right here” she added as she thumped the wall hard enough shake the walls not bothering to hide the shiver that ran up her spine at the wall’s reaction.

The lightning in her blood was roared with restrained desire, the metal plates of her limbs itched to feel the stone crumble beneath them, the monster within her needed to hear the symphony of this castle collapsing, needed to witness this timeless bastion of to fall to ruin, but Penny could be patient, needed to be patient. Her allies with were still inside, and they weren’t as durable as Penny, but her patience could only last so long with this temptation staring her straight in the face.

“Please hurry”

June stumbled in place as the Beacon girls crowded around her, and she suddenly dropped to one knee, clutching her stomach. "I think I...Don't feel so good." Sylvia took a hesitant step towards the fleeing girls, but then sheathed it once she saw how the fire began spreading. "Damn, they got away. Well, we were lucky we got here in time." She then went over to the rookie, and examined her wound. "No wonder; they got a deep wound in. We gotta get you back to headquarters. I'm calling a retreat." Sally was upset. "But we just got here, and Justine is still on the loose!" Sylvia shook her head. "If Alicia is right, there is already a group of magical girls who went to deal with her. Besides, once Sma-ahem, Penny smashes this castle, she won't be causing trouble for a while."

June seemed to cry a bit as she realized what had happened. "I'm just a burden, huh..." Sylvia patted her head. "Hey, chin up, kid. Sometimes things don't go as planned, but we never leave a girl behind. Now come on, I'll carry you. Beckoner, contact Strawberry and Blueberry to leave this place." A Beckoner resembling a cute star-shaped creature appeared, and nodded with a warm smile before leaving. "Now let's go! Penny, make sure to only leave bricks behind!" She shouted, and then ran off carrying June, followed by the others. Sally turned, about to join them, when she tripped again. However, this time she didn't stand up as quickly; she saw something unusual. "Wait...Huh?" She exclaimed, and Sylvia shouted from the end of the corridor after her. "Uhh...Coming!" She replied, looking like she wanted to say something, and left Penny alone in the library; the castle was now all hers to "change".

---

Nancy was very confused by Mariette's explanation about the Beacon, but she hesitantly nodded. "Okay, if you think they won't listen to reason, then it's best we avoid them for now." The other girls all nodde,d and together they went to raid the treasury. Thanks to Mariette's Hammerspace Handbag and the horde of girls throwing items into it, the all the various gold coins, jewelry and strange relics were easily emptied out of the room. A suit of armor incidentally came to life, most likely set as a trap by Justine; it was resistant to damage, but it was completely overwhelmed by sheer numbers, and disabled. The pieces of the armor were then thrown in with the rest of the treasure. Mariette used her magic on the black-framed mirror, and found it to resonate with her powers, not unlike the mirror Eli carried around with her. She opened a portal through it, and peered inside. Mariette saw a vast ocean, and a stone platform held aloft by Alex' magic. And there, in the middle of them all, stood Justine. Even if she didn't look drenched and miserable with her head bowed down, the dark magical girl could tell that she had been rendered harmless by Lily and the others, and that she could leave, her mission now accomplished.

The magical girls from the library returned with magical books in their hands; they seemed to be potent arcane tomes, but MAriette knew she would have to examine their contents later. The magical girl who turned invisible in the lbirary reappeared a bit later before Mariette; she looked visibly panicked. "The Beacon are going to destroy this castle!" She shouted. "They plan to kill all of us!" Magical girls around them shrieked and cried, afraid out of their feeble minds.
Suddenly, when Eli stood next to the the black-framed mirror, the mirror she held in her hands began shimmering with rays of darkness; as if reacting to the presence of the other mirror, black tentacles reached out from the frameless mirror, and struck at the looking glass. Instead of shattering the reflective surface, the tentacles seemed to reach in, to the "other side" in a mysterious fashion. Then, the tentacles pulled, and Eli was forced to let go of the mirror, allowing to fly off. With a magical locking sound, the mirror was layered on top of the black-framed one, becoming one; at the specific moment the two mirrors were joined, Mariette caught a faint glimnpse of something she had only seen in her dreams; Asengav himself. "Whoa! What is happening!" Nancy exclaimed. "Your mirror, Mariette! It sprouted tendrils!"

The black-framed mirror's surface swirled with blackness, and then opened up to an amazing sight; Mariette saw an opulent, gothic mansion, floating in the middle of the abyss, and only lighted by reflection given off by mirrors floating around the abysss, like oval-shaped stars. Mariette felt Asengav's presence seep out of the mirror. As if dragged by tiny tentacles, she felt compelled to pass through the mirror, and enter her new Dimensional Apartment. "There, that's our escape!" Nancy pointed, and the crowd calmed down. They waited for Mariette's command to escape the castle of terror once and for all.

---

Lily sighed heavily as she saw how Sue went away to cry on her own, and sat down at the edge of the stone platform, letting her legs swing around. She leaned on her knees with her elbows, and rested her head on her hands. She didn't look at Justine at all, seemingly upset with her. Justine also sat silently, her gaze down on the floor, and her opened hands, still stained with Lily's blood. For a long time, there was an awkward silence, the void filled by waves splashing against stone.

"...I hate to admit it, but you are right, Lily," she abruptly spoke, and Lily turned around, wiping her tears.
"Huh?"
"I was never able to complete the ritual. Because, deep in my heart, no matter how much I tried to deny it...I still wanted to love. I still wanted my feelings to reach Caroline. She was my shining hope, who saved me from complete despair."
She gave out a weak little laugh, and coughed.
"Lily Lightning...I can't apologize for my deeds, but I can respect the strength of your heart. You taught me an important lesson today, and I won't forget that."
"Justine..." Lily spoke softly, and smiled just a little bit in the bittersweet moment.
Suddenly, the group heard a magical wooshing sound, and somebody fell into the water from a high distance, followed by someone clambering inelegantly onto the stone platform; it was Sonia, who looked heavily injured, to the point it was amazing how she could still move around. Justine was visibly shocked, and knelt down next to Sonia, who now laid on the stone platform after Lily helped her up.

"Lady Justine...We lost the castle to the Beacon...I'm afraid...We can't return."
Justine stroked her hair.
"That's okay. We have other matters to attend to."
Sonia gasped, and then coughed.
"My Lady, do you mean-?"
"Yes...Let us search for Caroline. Somebody taught me to never give up on your feelings, no matter how hopeless it may be. And my heart tells me to find my sister." Justine helped Sonia stand up, and took her hand. She then took her hat off, and offered it to Lily.
"I suppose this is farewell then. We might never meet each other. But I suppose that is for the best. May you succeed where I failed..."
And with that, Justine disappeared. Lily clutched at the hat, looked at Alex, and then looked up at the sky with a meaningful smile.

When Justine left, all of the tension inside of Alexander's body that he didn't know was there suddenly vanished, and he fell on his back spread eagle "Fuck, what is wrong with me!? This whole idea was stupid! Just siege a crazy girl's heavily fortified castle, what could possible go wrong!? I could have died! What I should have down was just skip town...so why the hell am I okay with this!? Lily!" He pointed a finger at the magical girl "I know this is your fault! Both you and Sol are screwing around with my head! I am completely okay with that, and I hate being okay with that! So stop engaging in hijinks with my think meats! How dare you make me concerned with your well-being!" Having yelled himself breathless, he took some time to get some air in his lungs 'but still...' his mind flashed back to the dead women, now know to be Amber 'why does knowing she was Amber make me feel sick?'

It took some time, but Veronica was able to commandeer a motorboat to take out towards Silhouette's position. She was in her magical girl uniform, but was wearing a trench coat over it to make herself look less suspicious. She had also taken off her hat, as that looked ridiculous with a trench coat.

“After this, You'd better not be dead.”

Once the boat was close enough to the stone platform, Veronica extended a hand and cause the shadow under the floor to darken until it was completely black.Then the black mass under the floor turned into a giant hand that picked up veronica and placed her on top of the floor with everyone else. She turned towards “Shade” and knelled down by her side. She placed a hand on her wrist and could feel her heart pumping blood through the rest of her body. She wasn't in great shape, but she was alive. Veronica let out a deep sigh before turning to the rest of the group. There were at least two new mint girls, and they may or may not have transformed in front of those that weren't.

“Does anyone know who I am?”

Sue looked over at the newly arived. ”Yes... You're Veronica.” her voice cracked a bit.

“Then we can save some time.” Though Veronica would typically like to keep the ebon girl's identities secret from everyone, she knew a bit about everyone here. Veronica felt those present would keep their identities a secret from everyone to help protect them. “I am here to retrieve all of the new ebon mint girls. Things are going to be a bit different for you now.” The black hand picked up “Shade” and moved her onto the boat. “Those of you who are not with ebon mint may remain here or come with us, but we will be parting ways at the dock.” The hand came up again, this time reaching for Janet's unconscious body. Veronica knew the former beacon girl had defected and was working for Justine, so she could be an important clue to figuring out what was going on. If Sue or Eliza confirmed that Justine was still alive, Janet could contain information about other possible hideouts. “But you must make your choices quickly, because I cannot linger here.”

Sue stood up, wiped away her tears, and started walking towards Veronica. ”Can Helga come with us?”

The coin broker sighed. “It is not ideal, but there shouldn't be any issues if she chooses to follow us beyond the dock.”

”Then I'm coming. I'll see you guys later.” Sue limped over to the edge of the platform and dove off the side. Her wings let her float into the boat without much difficulty. ”Wait, Helga?” Sue looked back up at the platform. ”Did you see what happened to Amber's body? Someone needs to recover it.”



Well, if Veronica was offering, Tonya wouldn't turn her down. She was kind of interested in interrogating Janet herself, so that was another reason to stick by her.

Alicia Hayden

Though she wanted to continue the pursuit, Alicia found herself rapidly overruled by Sylvia. June had been injured in her fight, the fire was spreading in this place, and most aggravatingly it seemed that Penny had decided she wanted to destroy the castle. She knew that it was just in her nature to do so but it was still frustrating for her. They hadn't even had any time to free the prisoners from Mariette's control, and they wouldn't have the chance once Penny had done what she wanted to do. And that would leave countless girls in the unwilling service of a Horror.

Taking a moment to address June, Alicia gave her a warm smile as she shook her head. "You held off all those girls by yourself, and that's something. When you have a bit more experience like the rest of us you're going to be something to see," she assured the rookie. There was nothing to be ashamed of in her performance, and Alicia didn't want her blaming herself for their retreat when it was only part of the reason.

Things rapidly moved to their conclusion, Sylvia making her exit with June, and the others moving to follow her. Alicia wanted to object, to try and buy some time for them to do more, accomplish more. Not just the prisoners who might get caught when Penny brought the castle down, but Janet as well. There had still been no sign of her this entire time, and now they were abandoning her again.

"But...But...gah!" Her protests faltered and fell, replaced by an expression of frustration as she found herself overruled. Initially moving for the exit, she paused, swung back, and grabbed the first couple of books she happened to reach off of the shelves before joining the others in their escape. It wasn't much, but maybe Justine had collected something that would be useful for them when this was all over.

She passed by Sally as tears budded in the corners of her eyes. She was angry at Penny and her monstrous nature, angry at herself for not being more successful, angry at her companions for going along with it and writing off everyone else in the castle. All she could do now was hope that things worked out for them. And somehow she doubted that they would be that lucky.

It turned out that Justine still had hope. That she wasn't able to complete the ritual, cause the vampire still had love in her heart. While this was relieving to hear for Eliza, Sue had still lost Amber, who had been murdered before she and Anaya had arrived. The witch couldn't help but feel bad for her. Another magical girl appeared, saying that Justine's castle was taken by beacon, before the two of them dissapeared to search for Caroline.

"Ah, shaddup and kiss the girl already you little shit!!" Eliza yelled at Alex for his little fit. Still, she was tired, and she was ready to go back. The witch prepared to fly back up into the air again when a boat drove up by the platform. She recognized the woman driving as Vermillion Veronica, one of the workers for the Ebon Mint. Apparently she was there to pick up the new mint magical girls, carring the unconscious Shade into the boat. As much as she didn't want to leave Theresa and Anaya waiting back at Justine's castle, there wasn't any other way to get back to them. So Eliza flew into the boat, and waited to see if the other two were going with them or not.

Mariette simply stood watch as the room was emptied into the handbag portal. When the armour awoke, she employed some basic portal tactics to give her girls the edge against the entity, and it was quickly defeated. Then the other girls returned, delivering tomes and the news Beacon was going to destroy the castle. Puh, really, Beacon? Though, with the assumption Justine was a powerhouse they couldn’t defeat with the available troops, which was a rather logical assumption when she considered it, this was a reasonable tactical manoeuver. It might hamper her ritual. Good. Mariette could get behind this.

This did mean Mariette would have been dead if it wasn’t for Nancy. Fancy that. With a sudden time-limit, she went ahead with her plans. A portal opened in the dark mirror, Mariette sensing the power within. My, where had Justine found this one? In any case. On the other side…

Oh? They had defeated Justine? Mariette was impressed. Without killing her? She was quite curious how this had occurred. At the same time, she was alarmed. If Justine turned a new leaf and was present when the time came, it would be very troubling. This circumstances had to be inspected, and it was important to find out what they planned to do with their enemy now. Mariette planned to step through, connect to the survivors… Hm. Sue and Scout looked different. Some were missing. In any case. They would surely need a ride home, and Mariette could share that Beacon was destroying the mansion but assure that she had saved the prisoners. This would give her a positive reputation boost, and being part of negotiations she could seek an opportunity to eliminate Justine. Excellent. The plan was in motion. She was about to step out, to stand on a portal in the air above the group, looking forward to seeing Justine’s expression upon seeing her and perhaps have a conclusive bit of banter, when…

‘Wah!’ Eli, who had walked close to the mirror to look through at the scene with her Third Eye to make sure her mistress wasn’t just looking at a piece of art made by the Illusion-specialization or something similar had inadvertently taken Asengav’s mirror close. Tendrils sprouted, Mariette had to stumble a few steps back with wide eyes as the two mirrors joined. And there, for just the slightest moment;

BLACK

All semblance of plans blew out of Mariette’s mind where she stood, wide-eyed. She knew what she had seen. This had never happened before. And the mansion now before her, besides perfectly matching her taste, was seeping with Asengav’s presence. In horror, Mariette’s mind immediately went for nightmare scenarios. Had she displeased her patron? Was she in for a harsh lesson? Was she being reassigned to somewhere bad?

It didn’t matter. She would follow his commands. She quietly steeled herself, and prepared to face whatever was through this portal-

“There! That’s our escape!”

Mariette blinked and she looked over towards Nancy, who had said that, and the other girls that seemed like they were agreeing. Wait, hold on. There were bad things through this portal. They should get away. She’d been intending for them to get away. If they left now, Asengav couldn’t get his tendrils on them, and they could live on in peace. Mariette opened her mouth to warn them-

A severe pain coursed through her mind, making Mariette bend over and grunt as she placed her hands on her forehead. When the pain finally cleared, Mariette shook somewhat as she got back upright, looking forward towards the beckoning mansion.

What was that thought for? Warning them? That’s stupid. They’re pawns, and currently they were resources for Asengav to make use of. Surely, the Horror would be pleased with such an assortment of feeble-minded powerhouses. Asengav called for her. She would answer.

‘We’ll get out through here! Let’s go!’ Mariette called to the other girls, before jumping through the portal, into Asengav’s grasp once again.

Penny watched her Beacon allies leave with the same manic expression she had displayed at her first realization of what this room meant to her. All but one of the leaving girls had just shrugged and agreed with her plan and Alicia’s anger wasn’t hard to see. Underneath the mania Penny felt as she had messed up here somehow, but couldn’t place what it was.

Turning back to face the wall the mechanical girl hit the wall, softly this time, she would wait a moment before she hit it again slightly harder than before. Over and over, slowly building up the strength of her hits, till the walls were shaking with each blow, she rang out a warning to all who might be in the castle, using the walls themselves to deliver it.

As she waited for some unknowable signal she ran through her plan. This wall was the first, that was true, but a castle this size would be guaranteed to be toppled with only this wall being taken away, she need at least two more to be certain and at least one of those would have to be the mirror to this one. So after tearing this wall down, she would turn north and keep running through walls till she found another load bearing wall and quickly tear it down before venturing to east to find the load baring wall that was opposite the wall she was striking at.

The blades on her left arm flared to life, her spider limbs extended as well. She would be rushing around with the castle as it came tumbling down so every weapon she had would likely be needed, both to make sure she didn’t end up buried underneath tons of stone and to give her the tools to take out anything that might stop her, and if all else went poorly she knew this place had an underground complex as well that she would escape into so she could buy a bit more time to escape.

She pulled her fist back one more time and felt something click within her. It was time. The blades on her right arm lit up and she stopped holding back. She lashed out at the wall, letting out a roar as she did. The wall, having been weakened by her steady blows crumbled to dust in the face of Penny’s full strength as she fulfilled her Patrons mission. The cyborg didn’t spare the wall another glance as she turned towards her next objective and started blitzing through whatever happened to be in her way. Change and destruction had come to the castle, and nothing would stop it now.

Penny was a living wrecking ball within the castle, blowing through walls, furniture, doors, everything. A few times she would snap fire a gauss round at load bearing structures she could see off her determined path, or at something that looked like it might survive the castle coming down on top of it. Several times the force of her stride left holes in the floor over where she had ran but Penny refused to look back, for every moment she stayed still increased the likely hood she would find her end with this crumbling structure.

Her spider legs worked mainly at deflecting the debris coming down on the rampaging half monster, as did her blades on any slabs of stone that landed in front of her, but all of her limbs were used on the load bearing walls when she came to them. She wasted as little time as possible on completing her goal before racing off to the next one.

When she had finally taken down the third wall, she just kept pushing through and started forcing her way outside from there, she would have preferred to make it back to the entrance, but knew that to try that at this point would drastically shorten her current life expectancy. A cry of triumph was on her lips and would ring out the moment she was clear from the destroyed building. After taking a moment to survey her handy work, Penny would circle around to rejoin her allies so they could work on finding a way back home. All the way there was a spring in her step for a project accomplished.

The Visceral Castle's stone walls shook with a great rumble as Penny made the first few punches. And soon enough, its halls and corridors echoed with the panicked screams of various girls. Penny saw through the holes she had made that a horde of maid girls rushed through the foyer, their arms flailing and eyes full of tears, hoping to escape the impending destruction that she would bring forth. When the horde reached outside, they were met with Beacon's forces, who didn't stop them; in fact, Sylvia sighed in relief. "I'm glad Penny made a warning first." She petyted Kimble's head as the group observed the castle from a distance.
"But what about the prisoners? What if somebody was left behind?" Sally asked, cocking her head to the side and accidentally bothering Alicia with her rabbit-eared headdress. Sylvia gave a reassuring look as she grasped at air in front of her. "Don't worry, I'm sure Strawberry and Blueberry did their job securing the dungeons. Speaking of...Beckoner, do you have status on those two?"

The Beckoner appeared, and shook its small head. "I'm sorry, but...Strawberry and Blueberry...were killed in the bombing." Sally gasped, and Sylvia's eyebrows furrowed. "WHAT! So those two were impostors! I didn't give them an identity check because we were in a hurry...Damn!" She kicked the ground. "But they didn't attack us...What were they after?" Sally then spoke up. "Actually, that's the thing...Back in the library, I saw two corpses disappear...It's like...They passed through the floor." The Beacon was left silent, and looked on as the castle began crumbling, collapsing into itself as it's foundation was unable to support it. They saw Penny in the distance, dashing away with her spider limbs lashing at any loose debris around her. With a mighty leap, she escaped the falling central tower that plummeted from the sky, and with a great earth-shaking crashed down to the ground. The castle was now but mere ruins. The Beacon cheered, as they had successfully destroyed yet another enemy's lair, and brought glory to Beacon unlike ever before. A glimmering sparkle of hope, that would guide them forward.

---

Lily looked back at Alex, and giggled at his antics. She walked over to him, and lifted her foot.
"You're blaming me? Aren't you silly, Alex~" She then placed his boot on her stomach while wearing a wide grin; she was so light he could barely feel it.
"You lazy bum, don't drop immediately when the fight's over. But, you did come and rescue me, so I guess you deserve a rest."

Helga turned to see the motorboat approach them, and bared her fangs. "Don't tell me..." She mumbled, but then sighed out of relief when the new arrival revealed she was here to pick up the Ebon girls. "I'd like a ride too, if possible." She nodded at Sue with sad eyes, and a half-hearted smile. "Amby's here, actually." She pointed to the altar at the center of the platform; sure enough, her body was still there, in nearly pristine condition. "I made sure Amby wasn't too affected by the battle; I want to give Amby a proper funeral." She picked the dead girl up, and with tears in her eyes went to take a seat at the back of the motorboat. When Veronica gestured for Lily and Alex, the green-haired girl shook her head.
"Me and Alex won't need a ride. We got our own!"
She then posed, with her hands in the air.
"Let my spirit gallop across the field of clouds, and strike my foes down with thunderous applause!"
And with that incantation, she transformed back to her magical girl form. She summoned her staff, and twirled it; soon enough, a thunderous horse spirit galloped across the ocean, and with a crackle transformed into a motorcycle before her. She turned her head back at Alex, and winked.
"Get on, Alex! We need roads where we're going!"

Lily waved to the rest, feeling sad that they now had to part ways. But that but a normal part of her life as a magical girl, meeting and departing with the strangest people...And she wouldn't have it any other way.

"Bye, everyone! I hope to see you gals again!"

Helga waved back with a blush on her cheeks, and saw the two off as they rode across the ocean, on a glittering track of Reinforcement magic.
As the wind wooshed past her, and caused her hair to fly up, she took a look at the memento Justine left her with. She then put the hat on, and giggled some more, riding back to Penrose. She did not know what crazy adventure she might fall into next, but she knew she could count on her friends to take on any ordeal.

---

Numerous girls shrieked and cried in fright as they felt the castle quake from powerful blows. They looked desperate as they looked upon their savior Mariette, who fortunately had a way out. "You got it, Mariette! Come on girls!" Nancy shouted, and was the first to follow the dark magical girl through the portal, followed by a long line of girls that charged through the magical gateway.

Mariette found herself standing on the abyss; it felt like standing on polished glass, with an endless darkness just waiting under the surface. When girls popped out behind her, most of them slipped and fell on their butts. Nancy however was graceful as she skated towards the mansion's front door. "We made it!" Nancy cheered. "Thank you so much for saving us!" She went over to the front doors, and like a humble servant, opened the door for Mariette to enter. "You deserve to go first," she spoke with a smile. Eli then appeared behind them, and now held Asengav's mirror, fully restored with a black frame.
The interior of the mansion was similar in some ways to the Justine castle, at least when it came to first appearances; there was furniture that seemed both foreboding yet oddly soothing, evoking Victorian design in it's gothic nature. The walls were decorated with portraits of other chosen of Asengav, but upon closer inspection they were actually mirrors reflecting paintings back at the viewer. There were no candles or chandeliers lighting the inside. Instead, a luminescent glow that emanated from the floor and ceiling enabled the residents to see. Mariette could tell that Asengav was pleased with Mariette's deeds from the uncharacteristic warmth that the mansion was bathed in.

‘The time is coming.’

The green sprite that talked had an elfin appearance and butterflies that fluttered around her. She sat on the railing of a staircase at the entrance hall of the mansion. She did not blink as she continued speaking.

‘Can you feel Him, Mariette? Our lord was furious from his pride being sullied, and by having been denied the offering you failed to give. But you brought vengeance on his nemesis, that miserable blood-soaked Patron, and stalled his plans for another millenium. You've also restored our lord's mirror, and amassed resources at an astounding rate. He has deemed you ready, and so he has sent me, Lea Keufer, as His messenger.’

Lea hopped off from the railing, and levitated right before Mariette.

‘The world you’ve been assigned to will play a major part in the operation to come.’

She suppressed a smirk.

‘This is what our lord has been building up to, for a long, long time,’ Lea informed trying to read Mariette’s expression with every word. She continued.

‘While he has especially prepared this so that in case of failure he can just try it all over again and start from scratch, he would be very disappointed to see this fail. Let’s just say that succeeding would be rather beneficial to your continued well-being…’

She let the last statement hang in the air, the implications all too obvious.

---

Far away in the distance, atop a hill covered in flowers, two phantoms peered down at the great cloud of dust that the wrecked castle had brought up; one of them held a couple of tomes in her hands, looking as ethereal as she was.

"I can't believe we did it. We sneaked right under the noses of the lantern-heads and got Justine's spellbooks."
One of them had a boastful tone, and turned to face the other with a confident smile.
"And it's all thanks to our demented friend's little trinket. Isn't that right, Julia?"

You're correct, Jillian. We are lucky Caroline decided to give us her Disguise Artifacts.The Panopticon will be pleased with the arcane knowledge we can offer."
The other girl floated still in the air, a faint smile on her lips as she now saw the castle as a ruined heap.
"But the bunny girl noticed us. We need to leave before the Beacon catches on to us." Julia began floating backwards. But as she turned-

"Ah, how lovely. You brought my books for me. That saved me from a lot of work, heh heh~"

The ghostly monster girls were alarmed as they realized a magical girl stood behind them, her face hidden by an umbrella. The ghost girls held their hands out, ready for combat, with Jillian at the front, protecting her Twin Soul.
"Who are you? And how did you find us?"

The stranger gave a little laugh, and twirled the umbrella.

"Oh, I am a friend...And I have an offer to give to you. As they say, keep your enemies close..."

She lifted the umbrella, and the twins' eyes opened in dread.



"...and your friends closer."



...Or is it?