Another day begins in Penrose - a brighter dawn for some but for others, perhaps, a darker horizon awaits. Justice, in the magical sense, has always been a term thrown around a lot in the world: who is guilty of this, who is guilty of that, and all the laws that exist between every faction, distinguishing one from Magical Girl and Dark Magical Girl. "Justice" is what people make it, and whoever makes justice holds immense power.

For a long time, Beacon has been a forerunner in pioneering justice for the magical world. Their policing of the streets, execution of Monster Girls, and the excommunication of their disreputable members have, for the longest of times, placed them as the truest and. supposedly, most fair faction of Penrose, if not the world. Their compass pointed true, to the light they so desperately wished to spread.









In the din of the evening, The Vixen sat. The apartment she held up in that evening was small, dingy, perhaps too barren for the lair of a monster, and largely too dark for any non-magical being to reasonably seek their way around. She could see just fine, but had no plans of moving. Her evening was spent quiet, curled in a corner surrounded by her many tails, deep black in colour where uncontrollable fire had ravaged her flesh and singed her fur.

Tonight was a night of mourning. Perhaps of a way of life, but her eyes weren't weeping for something as trivial like a lifestyle. She was sad for things she had lost prior, things that couldn't be recovered, no matter how hard she tried. Not anymore. Now that evening had progressed into morning, she could gaze out a poorly kept window, cracked in places and grimy with age in others, and reflect on the better times, and times long past, and times where things she have been poor but instead she found herself happy.

And the prospect of losing that terrified her. Not in a menial sense of fear, but a deep seated petrification, rooted in her core like a cancer. The things she dreamt of had long since passed, and yet she couldn't stop imagining them. They plagued her. Kept her awake at night. Haunted her every waking thought, a byproduct of whatever mental flaw her transformation had afflicted upon her. She only had an awful future ahead of her, and a saddening past behind her, and in the middle she was stuck with ravenous hunger and an insatiable anger, that tore into her psyche each day, and left a gaping wound to be nursed in the night, when the lights waned in her dingy apartment, or whatever hideout she had procured for that night.

Some hours prior she had returned from her excursion, the night taking its toll. The Vixen had killed this night, and the previous night, and two nights prior to that, and the day prior to that. A hill of bodies that, given the chance, she would gladly convert to a mountain. Humans, Magical Girls, Monsters - none would be spared the sword. And then, an hour after that, she had returned to the apartment, bruised and sore from combat with a girl wielding giant, metal gauntlets. Her body ached. Her chest was bruised. Her breathe was ragged. Her mind was dark.

In those hours, between then and now, the floor found itself soaked in blood. Anger and grief had overtaken her, in the din of the evening, staring through her window in a pile of blankets and warmth. With her claws she had slashed her arms, her legs, her chest, letting herself bleed dry. Not half an hour later she seared those wounds closed, leaving deep, burnt scars that would no sooner vanish than her sanity return. And so she curled up in a corner, regretting and dreaming, wishing, waiting, hoping, crying, and looking, into a future inescapable and a past unobtainable, curled in a mess of bloody, burnt fur, and bloody blankets, staring blankly into the darkness.



A wave of fear crossed the path of the Vixen. Keen senses she possessed, but a Third Eye she utilised most of all. On her travels, across the roofs of Penrose City, reminiscing on old days, she had been struck. But unlike most she did not begin to doubt anything, or fear anything. Too much fear already possessed and destroyed her. Instead, that primal nature kicked in, sending her spiralling down that ever-long tunnel, spiked and marred in lust and hunger. The mental affliction of the hunter.

Those keen senses and that eye led her to the Cathedral. Surrounded by witches, encircled with Magical Girls, shooting off their spells and engaging in active combat in the middle of the day. It was a feast - one for the glutenous, and the ravenous, to partake in. She leapt across those buildings, claws and strength leaving dents and damages with every jump, across every gap.

And yet she could not arrive on time. Mere moments prior, as she scurried across the city to the Cathedral, it vanished before her eyes. No matter her vast agility, she hadn't made it in time, clearly. For a person to take the structure with them, they must have been of vast power, and she had arrived shy of their disappearance, too late to kill them. But that was fine. The strongest" wasn't her prerogative - anybody would do. To sate her.

So she stopped, by the side of where the Cathedral once stood, in full view of all participants of the battle. Those that read the news might have known her, by the matted, scorched black fur of her tails, or her hungry, crimson eyes, that scanned across the field, making contact with every Magical Girl she could see, land or sky, selecting her target.





In the grandstands of a large stadium was a girl, with dark skin, and flowing, purple hair, her body wrapped in brown bandages, surrounding her form like a dress. Still a year on, the outfit her transformation presented her with embarrassed her. But her Boss had taught her not to worry. Off to her side, on the chair next to her, was a handbag - her hammerspace - as well as a phone, and in her hand was a digital camera, specially built, enhanced and tested by both metal and reinforcement specialised girls. It was of excellent quality, with lenses far surpassing anything currently usable, and perfect quality even when zoomed into the battle below her from such a distance.

She was Christine West, Reporter for the Penrose Independent. On the pitch, a massive battle had been raging. Humans had once sat in these seats in her stead, but after the mummies attacked, they scattered, or died, only to be replaced with Magical Girls in troves. They came from the sky and started battling each other, without care for who they attacked, or the damages they caused. Some she recognised - some Beacon members, an Ebon Mint member - and others she didn't, no doubt belonging to the various factions that waged war over Penrose as their territory.

But something peculiar happened. That thing, that emerged from the portal. That horror. She lifted the camera to her eye, and aligned the thing, as well as some of the girls fighting it, in the digital viewfinder, and snapped a few pictures, before laughing to herself a small bit. Sitting back, in her chair so close yet so far from the battle, watching them fight, was interesting. It would make a great story later on.

Beside her, the phone she had placed beside the bag buzzed, once, then twice, before she picked it up. Unlike most phones carried by Independent members, this wasn't a flip-phone, but rather an old iPhone; the touch screen agreed with her much more than the buttons. A series of messages had been sent, from a contact simply titled "Rebecca".

she's gone to the Penrose Doom Cathedral
and
well
it's fucking gone

For a second, she looked at the message, then laughed to herself.

Gone?
How do you mean?

it's just gone, Christine

...send me a picture.

[Image Attachment]

Jesus.
Stay there, and watch.
This could be useful for her.

With a couple of presses upon the screen, she switched over to a second messenger, with the contact this time simply labelled as "Boss".

I've got something for you.

Like?

[Image Attachement]
The Penrose Doom Cathedral? It's gone.

By a Magical Girl?

I guess so.

Who took the picture?

Rebecca - she's still there now.
This is useful, right Boss? This is good

It is.
Very.
Keep up the good work, Christine.

Satisfied, she placed the phone back down, picked up the camera once again, and continued her watch, taking pictures of every action and participant of the fight, whoever they were. This, too, would be an extensively useful article. With it, and the Cathedral, things would start moving along much, much faster.

@whoever the fuck is at the stadium

---

Well...things had just gone from manageable chaos, to utter what the fuckery.

Whatever was going on, Rina was in the thick of it and she didn't like it. Being this close to the action was unsuitable to her - but it seemed she had some help in the form of some more new arrivals. Beacon? Just in time. Thankfully it seemed this new robot girl and this...whoever it was had a history and he promptly left to deal with her, giving Rina some time to make a next course of action. Her own position had been compromised, and she needed to move anyways. With all of these things going on, providing ranged support wasn't optimal even if she was certain her aim was good enough not to get into a friendly fire mess.

leaping off the roof, Rina hit the ground and began moving, swiftly avoiding the remaining mobs and enemies as she kept to the outskirts of the main fighting. While the Beacon and the others were busy keeping the focus of the bad guys, she'd deal with the remaining civilians. There was also something mildly concerning to the archer that made her move. Something or someone was leaving behind a trail of...darkness? Shadow? Some sort of mass of magical energy it seemed. Regular intervals, but she didn't see anything or someone leaving them. Invisibility? Some sort of ability of one of the current fighters? No matter. She grabbed a few of the remaining civilians that were in the area, swiftly moving them out of harms way either by roof top or the front doors.

- An immense, alien and ground shaking shriek nearly caused her to lose her footing, nearly dropping a civilian.

Damn it, that girl did she really!...She was regretting the mercy option more and more. Ugh, no. She couldn't save anyone else around the stadium. If that thing was allowed to get out, then the entirety of Penrose would suffer for it. The needs of the many and the needs of the few and all that. Urgh, it made her feel sick to even think such a thing, but when face with a threat like this, she had little choice.

"Something this size just makes a bigger target." Stringing up her bow again, the size of it began to enlarge, growing in size as she poured more magical energy into it. The creature was big. No obvious weak points aside from the eyes. Made out of all of the monsters that had been attacking the stadium too. Blinding it probably wouldn't work. Made out of all those lesser creatures, she had no doubt it could likely just reform itself anyways, but it didn't hurt to try and she could slow it down in the process.

"So lets see how tough this creature of yours is then." A large sword began forming in Rina's hand again. She'd focus on slow, demolishing and piercing ammunition for this creature. Little attacks likely wouldn't have much of an effect aside from annoying it. Knocking the sword, she pulled back the string, took aim, and released.

The large sword flew through the air, aiming right for one of the creatures eyes. Immediately after firing, Rina moved from her position. A sniper couldn't stay in one place for long after making a shot.

Abigail's cheeks flushed pink when Aurelio took her hand in his and placed a kiss on it. ”H-heh.” She was grinning ear to ear, but the corners of her lips were twitching. Still, she managed to hear everything Aurelio had to say. ”Well, I don't think Beacon HQ is a very safe place for Annabelle. And I don't really think it's fair if we kill her, is it?” She gestured towards Annabelle. ”She's harmless! She's just a normal girl who happens to be serving a horror, likely not of her own will. If we can give a pass to that monstrous bucket of bolts, why not to people like her? That's why we're going to stash her in Divina's interdenominational home.”

A portal opened up behind Divina. It looked like the mouth of a cave, with moss covered stones framing the gateway. Once it opened, Divina picked up Annabelle and walked towards the opening. ”Same thing with Elroy and Regina. Us Beacon girls forced them out of their home. It's not really fair to hold any sort of malice against them. Besides, they're a lovely group of monsters. I trust them more than my fellow Beacon girls!”

Abigail giggled. ”Regina is really nice. After we get Annabelle secured, I'll take you back to the stadium so that we can meet her.”Abigail closed her hand around Aurelio's. Their gloves kept them from actually touching each other. ”I think she's ready to recruit someone else to the cause.”

The carefree grin on Aurelio’s face was quickly removed as he watched the horrific event of Annabelle’s arm being reformed ”I see what you mean” he agreed softly even as he drew in the few motes of wonder that flew from the downed girl. “You’re fellows at HQ aren’t the most forgiving of people” He truly felt for the harmed girl, she was in a bad situation and he just didn’t have the right emotions to help her much at the moment.

Still something was off here, and it was Abigail’s defense of Elroy and Regina that proved it. That she and likely her other friends he had seen trusted a pair of monsters over her peers at Beacon was damning, especially since this HQ had only just started to move away from a hard kill them all stance. The only things that would make sense were manipulation or brain washing. After all there were ways to work around the spark rather than face it head on.

These thoughts never showed on Aurelio’s face however. Instead his smile made a small return as he gave Abigail’s hand a light squeeze “Any friend of yours is a friend of mine” True words as he wasn’t sure if anyone here was a light user “I would love to meet her” More truth, as the best way to mislead a Light user is by speaking nothing but truth, even if strung together it became a great lie.

“Before you go and get her situated mind if I place a tag on you two?” He would ask gesturing to Abigail and Divina “I would also like to heal her a little while I’m at it, but the tag isn’t much just a way to keep track of you girls, so long as we are on the same plane that is.”

Abigail was noticeably happier with Aurelio's apparent understanding of the situation. ”Healing her won't be necessary, I lent Divina my healing artifact.” She nodded at Aurelio. ”Besides, we have to get back to the battlefield. If you want to tag me though, that's fine.” She cast out her arms. ”Hold onto your butt! We're going back! Gheahahahahahahaha!”

---

When the two returned to the stadium, they could see the addition of a very large monster. ”Oh boy, maybe we'll have to evacuate Regina and Elroy too...” She looked around at all of her allies. ”Oh!” Her head poked up. ”Everyone's going to be right here soon!”

Aurelio gave a low whistle as he craned his neck to look up at the towering monster “Evacuating everyone might not be a bad Idea, as that’s going to make quite the splat when toppled” He supplied as he started working on how to even go about tackling the giant foe. He also did a quick scan of his marks from earlier to make sure his own allies were still doing alright.

“And before I forget: Trickster’s Tag” he said tapping Abigail on the shoulder before snapping his fingers. A moment later a grinning mask appeared on the girl’s shoulder “That way I’ll be able to find you in case we get split up” It would also allow his magic to track after her or be cast from the glyph its self. It wouldn’t give him any indication of how she was doing however, as the purpose of this glyph was subterfuge not support.

@PlatinumSkink@Ariamis



Su did not relax when she got deeper inside the building. Just because she had passed that one girl didn't mean there wouldn't be more. She also had to make good time if she wanted to find the frozen monster before it could hurt anyone. But what Su found was not what she expected.

Amber did not discriminate between magical girls, dark magical girls, and monster girls. All had valuable booty that they would often relinquish on capture. Monsters on the other hand were just that, monsters. Amber killed them because their presence upset Boteg, but they really didn't offer Amber anything beyond making her patron happy. Su was expecting to find a giant colossus of a creature frozen in a solid block of ice. Something hidden in the depths of the building that was waiting to unleash havoc on Penrose. But this monster girl said that she had been trapped by ice, which indicated to Su that her search had ended. If Su had known what the threat actually was, she wouldn't have been so eager to get past the metal girl. She wouldn't have entered the building at all. Su felt very stupid for not remaining with the skeleton horde. It took Helga's shout to bring Su out of her thoughts.

”Uh.” Su cautiously looked over her shoulder in the direction of the sound. ”Coming!” She turned her attention back to the girl in front of her. If she played her cards right, she was sure she could get out of this without starting another fight. ”Oh, do you want to put out the fires?” Su made the suggestion hoping to dodge any of the monster girl's other questions. ”Let's try this.” Su opened her hands, and a bubble appeared between them. It was actually a vacuum, which was only visible because of the dust particles swarming around the outside of it. Because there was no air inside of the bubble, the vacuum starved the fires it touched and put them out instantly. It just took Su a few seconds to extinguish all the fires and banish the bubble. ”I'm glad I was able to help out, but I appear to have taken a wrong turn.” She gave a small bow before turning around to leave. Su bit her lower lip as she walked back the way she came. She wasn't sure if that monster girl was going to follow her, or if she was going to become hostile. But she started to focus her mana just in case.

---

Mika's attention was fully on the wolf woman and her pack of other selves. It was a bit distracting, and the masked girl went entirely ignored by the spectacle. It was hard for the two skeletons she destroyed to garner as much attention as the wolf pack that was cleaving it's way through the horde of monsters.

When the wolf girl spoke, she was snapped out of her trance. ”P-pack!?” Mika wasn't entirely sure what to make of this comment. A pack of wolves was a family of wolves. Joining someone's pack was to become part of their family. This was fairly simple for wolves to do. But for humans, you became part of someone else's family through marriage. There was also adoption, but she was sixteen, so that didn't seem very relevant. While coming to Mika's aid was a huge plus in her book, she wouldn't actually marry someone over it. Especially with that other girl who fed her still out there somewhere. But perhaps the wolf woman wasn't being quite so literal with the usage of the word pack. Anyone who could summon this many clones of themselves probably wasn't lonely enough to damsel hunt for a bride. And if she was, Mika felt confident she could explain the misunderstanding away later, or find some kind of middle ground. ”Pack? I've got your back!” Mika's necklace started to glow a light blue color and her wounds started to close. She'd stick by this new girl like glue until she healed up a bit. ”You can call me Mika. Thanks for the rescue!”

---

@FamishedPants @Card Captor @Crusader Lord @Erode @Rune_Alchemist @Vocab





After Shona's swing missed, she raised the massive blade and rested it on her shoulder. Her armor shined brilliantly where the transparent edges came together. She briefly acknowledged Sally speaking to her by looking at her fellow beacon, but then looked back at Amaryllis.

”You do not know what you speak of. Perhaps she serves a horror, but even so I can tell she does not do so willingly.” Shona's reached for the sky, and her helmet appeared in her outstretched hand. It, too, was covered in the same transparent material as her armor and sword. ”Darkness can't be cut with a knife, it needs to be illuminated. Such is the duty of all beacon girls.” Shona lowered her helmet over her head, and the seam between her helmet and the rest of her armor sealed itself with a flash. The sparks danced across her crystalline outer layer. ”I am Shona Moffett, knight of Beacon, Champion of the Pure. I dream of the day this sword is liberated from my hands, but it will not be today!” Again, Shona took the offensive. This time there was less space between them. With a single hand, she heaved her sword off of her shoulder and swung it overhead. The blade was already curving towards Amaryllis, and would surely cut her in two if she stayed in the way.

“I cut not darkness, but the heart of evil, for bright light will always cast great shadows, and only the silver blade can cease the beating of malice and iniquity.” But their ideals could not align, for their blades reflected different scenes, and their values burned in different lights. Lashing out at the same time Shona had, Amaryllis remained three beats faster as the tip of her rapier thrust not at the Champion’s thick armor but at the pommel of the greatsword instead. Stopping it before it could fully accelerate, the rapier flexed but did not break, and, with a ‘pang’, bounced Shona’s sword back the way it came.

This forced her momentum back, causing her sword to swing backwards. Shona had the discipline to properly position her feet to prevent herself from stumbling. But this small window was all Amaryllis needed to get in a few quick thrusts at her side. Her thrusts did not have great penetrating power, but they were still coming from an exquisite sword arm. The first blow sent spider cracks across the surface of the armor. The second caused the cracks to fork and travel across her chest plate, the third shattered the crystal exterior of the armor, and still had enough power to plunge through her steel plate and draw blood. This was the second time Shona had been stabbed during this battle. It was difficult to gauge Shona's reaction with her helmet on, as only her eyes could be seen through two very small slits. But Shona was not standing still. Her arm followed the momentum of the sword behind her head. ”Take a good look at the blood on your sword.” Her broadsword made a complete rotation, cutting through the earth like it was nothing but air. When the sword popped out of the ground, it was followed by an explosion of debris. Likely not a threat to a magical girl, but it could cause momentary blindness. ”There is no malice in that blood. Only a desire to protect and serve pumps through this virtuous heart.” Shona's feet left the ground as she jumped into the air, causing her sword to soar even higher upwards.

Amaryllis cared not to continue their discourse amidst the bloodrush of combat, a flick of her wrist sending those droplets of Shona’s blood unto the ravaged stadium sand. Zealous and stalwart, the champion’s might was undoubtedly blessed by human prayer, but speed remained the Rose Knight’s forte, and a singular backstep propelled her five meters back, where both the eruption of earth and its blinding effect was simply mitigated by distance. Silver chains leaped out as the armored warrior ascended, mortal ivy anchoring around her ankles before she could complete her meteoric blow, and, wrapping the chains around her wrist twice, Amaryllis pulled harshly, swinging Shona in a wide circle around her.

Skin may be of steel, and flesh may be made of stuff even tougher than that, but blood flowed all the same, and a mind bereft of the crimson ichor fell into the blackness of nightmares and dreams easily enough.

It was clear to anyone watching that Amaryllis was faster than Shona. But that hardly meant the crystalline knight was done for. Shona was not spinning for long before she drove her sword int the earth below her. It was no longer a matter of strength of speed, but leverage. Shona was a heavy projectile, and she wasn't going to budge an inch with her sword stopping her momentum. The crystal edge of her sword cracked and flexed, but she managed to stop herself. If one was close enough, they might have heard Shona groan in agony. But she didn't stop moving. With the chain wrapped tightly around Amaryllis's wrist, she wasn't able to free herself before Shona's next trick. With her hand still on her sword, she curled up her legs and pulled her body away from Amaryllis, causing her to be pulled forward. With her opponent stumbling, Shona planted her feet on the ground and took off running towards her opponent, tugging her sword out of the ground. the champion gripped her blade with both hands and attempted to run her opponent through.

Her chain had begun to rust almost immediately, but even then, the uncommon fortitude of the Champion exceeded her expectations. Yanked forward by might she had no means of overcoming, Amaryllis stumbled for a fatal instance, and in that instant, exposed her navel to a killing blow.

But where the wielder erred, the weapon corrected.

Phantasmal pain bloomed in warning before blood could truly be shed, and as that agonizing foreknowledge shook her frame, the Rose Knight responded admirably, contorting her body sideways while arching her back, the pose maintainable only through acrobatic training and superhuman core strength. At the same time, her sword arm swung back, before an eloquent rapier thrust manifested from behind her, with the same technical prowess and daredevil confidence of professional pool players alike.

A behind-the-back shot sailed over the greatsword in a counter-strike that aimed for the same fracture her strikes had created before.

And she hit. Her blade sunk into Shona's flesh again, going deeper than it ever had before. Amaryllis could feel a bit of resistance as the blade attempted to pierce the armor on Shona's back, but it eventually punctured both her armor and the crystal enchantment. The transparent layer around Shona completely crumbled away, and her sword fell from her hands. But she was still moving forward, roaring like an inhuman beast. Amaryllis had peerless speed, but Shona had peerless tenacity.

The champion's hands were moving as soon as they released her sword. Her left hand came up to trap Amaryllis's sword inside of her own flesh, and her right hand seemed to grip the air and swing upwards. The empty space in her right hand turned into a crystalline dagger, which would cut across the tendons in Amaryllis's wrist if she remained in the way.

“I acknowledge your tenacity.”

It swung down, the final blow from her reflection and her opposite.

“But if you sought to protect the guiltless, you should have started with evacuation.”

The Knight of Rose closed her eyes, and, embedded within the champion’s flesh, the Sword squirmed. Savored. Screamed.

Screamed of the song eldritch, of the newborn that clawed out of its mother’s womb, of the monster that replaced the man amongst a field of broken roses.

Shona seemed to be nigh-impervious to the weapon shaking inside her intestines, But the sudden scream caused her to briefly loosen her grip. That was all it took for Amaryllis to slide her wrist out of the way. Shona's knife would still cut across her fingers, but the wound was not as bad as it could have been; the knight of rose could still hold her sword. The two stood a good distance apart. Shona's sword still laid on the ground, and her torso was filled with holes. Amaryllis's fingers were dripping with blood. But they were both able to stand in perfect form, despite their injuries.

Before either of them could make another move, the giant horror made its presence known. Both knights briefly glanced at the distraction, then at each other. Shona was first to speak. ”My queen and her vassals takes priority over all else, but perhaps there are better uses of our time than fighting each other.“ She scooted her foot under her sword and kicked it into her hands. ”I will withdraw from this fight, but I will not hesitate to fight you again in the future.“ After delivering her warning, Shona headed away from Amaryllis and the horror. It was impossible to tell if she planned on fully retreating, but it did seem like she was headed towards the remaining civilians.

“Throw down your gauntlet as many times as you wish, Champion,” Amaryllis turned, the amethyst glow of her rosary soon reducing that slight wound to nothing at all, “I will be glad to dance with you whenever you desire.”

A flick of the wrist scattered the blood of the warrior off her hungering blade, the rapier of a mirror polish once more, and the Knight of Rose turned. This stadium was too small for a duel between two greats, and the situation had escalated too far to indulge in extravagant verisimilitudes, for the creature that laid before her, pulsating its lesser brethren, was a true titan.

“Lesser Brethren of the Maiden’s Master, steel your resolve and speak what prayers you may. The moment you have trespassed upon the realm of man is the moment that your bell has began to toll.”

She raised her sword, flourishing it as petals danced to an unfelt wind.

“What is reflected within my Silverlight is not the value of your soul, but the eradication of your being.”

And each of her steps echoed with the gravitas of a chiming clock tower.

One by one by one.



Elroy slid to a stop as soon as the giant horror made an appearance. ”It's a bird, it's a plane, no! It's a Kaiju from another dimension!" Elroy had just enough time to finish talking before one of Penny's Gauss shots exploded, hurling the boy backwards. ”That was cheaper than instant ramen!" He cackled before crashing into a few seats. Only his legs were visible, as well as the smoke from his smoldering uniform.

"It looks like they were able to successfully evacuate Annabelle." one of Regina's dark mortars soared towards Elroy's possition and exploded, creating a dome of darkness. Several more followed it, each one blowing up a bit further back than the last. Once they had all detonated, they created several suspended domes of darkness that ran from the back of the stadium to the seats Elroy had landed in. When the darkness faded, Regina and Elroy would be gone. OR WOULD THEY!!??!?!

Tonya seemed to have joined her sisters in helping evacuate the remaining civilians. Alexander would soon be surrounded by wounded victims as the beacon buddies continued to assist with the evacuation.

---

“I've actually never watched K-on, but I always wanted to. However, I have played in a band before.” Jessica walked a bit closer to Lily, her grin widened as the space between them shrank.

Vanessa also walked closer to Lily. ”We actually have our own band.”

“Just the two of us” Jessica was getting closer still.

”We've played at live venues before.” Again, Vanessa mirrored Jessica and walked closer.

“I'm unstoppable on guitar.”

”I'm unbeatable on the drums.”

“Vanessa has a nice singing voice.”

“Jessica has the grace of a dancer.”

Jessica took Lily's left hand. “We could play in a band together.”

“We could join a music club together.” Vanessa squeezed Lily's right hand.

Directly in front of them was the entrance way to the Gym. Instead of pushing through though, the two girls stopped. They simultaneously released Lily's hand and looked at her. Their expressions were grave. Jessica folded her arms. “But before any of that can happen...”

Vanessa placed her hands on her hips. “What instrument are you going to play?”

---

Another news article from the Penrose Independent was avalable. The material was rather interesting. The eventual trial of Janet Howell was something that Veronica was personally waiting to see. However, the cloak and dagger nature of her organization made it impossible to get updates quickly. The coin broker had to wonder how Beacon felt about the loose lipped reporter that tipped off the Independent. If the time stamp was anything to go by, they hadn't even waited a full twenty-four hours to come forward with this footage. It was hard to say who was more careless in this particular scenario. Provided what she was seeing actually happened. After the last article, it was hard to take anything the independent delivered at face value. It would be interesting to see once she had confirmed with her own sources.

More interesting than the surprise direction of the trial was how the independent treated it. Veronica worked with spies by trade, and a lot could be learned from the type of information one chooses to display, as well as the information one requests. Counter-interrogations where a captured spy tries to learn all about what their captors know is a very real thing. Penrose Independent was always sharing reports with the public, and reading into these stories weaved a narrative about their underlying goals. It was impossible to tell for sure based on what little Veronica had read, but there was a pattern already forming between yesterdays story and this one. Yesterday's story was a smear story about how Beacon didn't do anything to help the people of Penrose during the spirit attack. The fact that it turned out to be a farce is irrelevant. Today's story was also about Beacon, but it was praising the new direction it took. At a glance, this might seem like the independent is simply trying to report the truth, and seems to favor stories about Beacon. But there is a motive here. Stories that villainize Beacon or give hope for their change are likely aimed at particular demographic. With this information, it was safe to assume that the Penrose Independent was likely made up of monster/DMG sympathizers, if thy weren't dark magical girls and monsters themselves. But this was all gathered at a glance. Further study would be necessary to learn anything about the information.

But this was all a game to keep her mind off of the current situation, which she was powerless to do much about. She was sitting in the very same office Binky had been in last night. After she left, several other subjects who were part of project scarlet escaped. Since Betty had destroyed all of Binky's clones, she didn't have the required manpower to deal with an escape attempt.

“Betty.” Veronica sighed. “I understand you're done examining everything?”

”Um.” She swallowed. ”The remaining subjects are content to continue with the experiments. It seems like the six that wanted to escape were working alone.” She hugged herself. ”But you really didn't need to hear it from me, did you?”

Veronica stood up from the desk. “We have somewhere to be now.” She placed a police officer's hat on her head “Seems they're calling all units to the stadium. You get to be my partner today.”

Betty twiddled her thumbs. ”B-but Binky probably needs our help! The escapees were all really angry with him for some reason!”

“Binky did a lot to forward the research of the red coin, and for that I am grateful.” Veronica put on a jacket. “But what I am most concerned about at the moment is that I have lost contact with Sil. She must be recovered.” Veronica stepped past Betty. “Eliza told me she was headed towards the cathedral. That's where Binky ran off to, so she should be there to protect her.”

Betty hung her head and walked after Veronica. ”O-okay.”

“And another thing.” Veronica continued to walk, but looked over her shoulder at Betty. “Eliza was attacked by a dragon girl yesterday.” She looked straight ahead. “If you spot something like that, you have my permission to eliminate it with extreme prejudice.”

Betty only sighed in response, swiftly dawning her police officer guise.

Penny knew better to stick near the portal once it started acting weird and stopped letting things in, for all of her lack of magical skill she had a healthy paranoia of anything that could casually ignore grounded reality. Thus she was already speeding away from the dugout by way of her thrusters when the monstrous roar erupted from the portal.

The force of the roar nearly toppled Penny due to her proximity to it and she tossed a glance over her shoulder just in time to witness the massive horror emerging from the now equally as massive portal. The cyborgs first instinct was fear, for as vicious as a fighter as she was and as often as her durability had been tested, this thing towered over the city and at the end of the day Penny still considered herself quite human. That near blind fear was quickly over written by wrath a moment later, as her monstrous instincts raged at the threat to her home.

With an act of will she tore her gaze back to in front of her as she forced herself to asses her options. During this frantic reevaluation she snapped of a gauss round at Elroy, more out of reflex then active intent and was vindictively pleased to see the attack hit home. That moment of clarity that came in the wake of that surprise reminded Penny that she had something that would even the battle field against the Kaiju sized threat they now faced.

Flipping around as she skated away she came to a stop near the middle of the baseball field and focused inward. Her trump card in this circumstance wasn’t one she had used before, after all she had only recently acquired it but instinct told her it would fit, if only barely, but it had the fire power to help tip the scales.

“Coordinates uploaded and LZ is clear. She called out mechanically as sparks of electricity arced off her frame and scored the ground near her “Target is locked and weapons are free” She continued opening her eyes as she focused on the Giant horror as a massive storm cloud appeared above the stadium. With a yell to the heavens Penny called down her stolen treasure “Earth Bastion!” And the heavens replied with a bolt of lightning of tremendous proportions that struck Penny where she stood.

As the flash faded and the thunder quieted, it would be revealed that the baseball field was filled, near completely, with yet another colossal entity. This time it was a tank of truly epic size now sat in center of the stadium, summoned by Penny from Laat's realm, and every gun that it had was turned to face towards the giant monster in a blatant show of hostility and not even a moment later one of the cannons roared out as the tank fired at the monster.

Penny as a creature of Metal had summoned the titanic war machine on top of her, thus she was currently fused with it. This gave her rudimentary control of the Earth Bastion, she could drive it and fire most of the cannons as well as remold parts of the ship if needed, but she was not as capable as her Monstrous half when it came to this, thus she could not turn it in to a golem to fight one on one with the Kaiju But as the Earth Bastion she would draw the creature’s attention and keep it focused on her, letting everyone else act freely.

From somewhere in the ship an announcement would ring out from an intercom system. “Yellow alert, D̷͞҉͏̡è̛͘҉̕s҉̶̛̛҉t́̀͘͢͜r̡ứ̧ć̸t̶̡̨͟į̛ơ̶͜͡͝n͏̡̛ ̴̵̛͞E͏̨ņ͏ģ́̕͠҉i̡͞͏̸͠n̴̢͠͝e͏̧̀ ̶̵̨̛ has reached 50%, caution advised”

Alice aimed at Suzette, who was now too far to pursue, and shot at her just before Summer's Shift enveloped her; she could not follow her shots with her scope, which meant she was unable to guide them.
‘That cockiness-!,’ Suzette's eyes widened, and she turned to see the shots aimed at her her way; she flipped in the air, dodging two of the shots, but the third one grazed her uncovered arm, sending her to fall down screaming into the street, right on top of a mass of bicycles.
‘Nrgh, a sniper! I need to warn Tullia...As soon as I...Get up, nhah....,’ She mumbled, feeling quite a bit more than she usually does.

Due to both the magically-induced dread that Suzette spread before she made her escape, and a song of hope and bravery, Summer became momentarily confused; as a consequence, when she performed the Overcity Shift, not only did she transport the other magical girls and civilians in addition to the witches, but also most of the cathedral itself; about two thirds of the building were shifted, leaving the top part including the tower behind, causing it to fall with a great clang of the bell tower that sounded far into the distance. The environment shifted into a wide field of checkerboard patterns and a sky filled with grey clouds, with the occasional glimpse of a sky colored in iridescent patterns. Two of the burning witches ended up as cinders, but the other two used a spell to put it out, their faces black and snarling, with a little ember coming up an upturned nose of one hag like an oil lamp. The witch in the bush also recovered, a bunch of branches now sticking our of her hair.

Alicia swooped in and continued shooting at them, killing one and sending the other to fall on the ground; the witch slowed it's descent by using a spell to inflate her bloomers and use it as a improvised parachute. "I hate children! Nghaaahh!" The hag screamed, and cast a spell at Alice Honorsby; she was turned into a little skunk with red stripes instead of black ones, and a miniature set of her hair decorations.
"If you kill me, she will stink forever more, hahaa!" Alicia realized the witch was a crone, the leader of the nearly-formed coven, from the small artifacts that were sown to her dirty robes, and possessed more magic than the other monsters. The crone cackled as she landed on the ground, glaring at Alicia, her green skin charred black.
The other witch on the ground aimed a spell at Summer in turn, but she managed to dodge it; she now had to wait for three turns before she could use the Shift again.
The two witches that attempted to fly away with their human prisoner did not escape the Shift, but they didn't seem to care; they continued fleeing towards some distant mountains, the hapless man begging for God to save him. Now they were about twenty meters in the air, and thirty meters in distance to the partial cathedral in the Overcity; Alicia could still save him.

---

The wofl girl grinned widely, showing her canines as she stomped on another skeleton, flashing a thumbs up.
“Awesome! Name's Lupa! Now let's show them how we bury some bones!”
But then, Lupa's nose twitched, and she turned to see the Masked Massacrer run fast into the middle of the skeleton army, heeding little caution. About half the skeletons she struck came back, showing she was unaware of their weakness, and turned their attention to the Masked Massacrer; it seemed the skeletons preferred the weakest opponent. Because they rushed right in, the skeletons easily surrounded them, and piled up on them. A giant skeleton rushed at them and jumped, about to bodyslam the Massacrer into a pancake.

“Not on my watch! Awoo!”
Lupa howled, and her pack all jumped, performing a coordinated tackle that sent the mass of bones scattering in a wide area. Lupa then entered into the fray, smashing skeletons appropriately.
“You idiot! What the hell are you doing?” Lupa shouted at the Massacrer, who was lying on the ground. Mika saw a couple of wheel skeletons roll right at Lupa and the stranger. Suddenly, Mika heard the skittering of multiple smaller feet among the skeletons at her left, and strands of black silk were shot from that direction, entangling her feet and immobilizing them on the spot. Mika realized it was no ordinary silk, magically reinforced to be as hard as steel. Then, she felt the silk vibrate, and saw lines of small spiders rush at her, using the silk as a bridge.
"Huu hu huu, aren't you a cute little snack~"
The spider girl giggled deviously as she lifted her head up, and revealed herself, standing in the middle of a spiderweb that immobilized the nearby skeletons.
"You'll make for a darling sweet treat for my minions~"

---

The moment Helga landed inside the building, she made a roll to preserve her momentum, and stood up with her claws raised, ready for battle. She recognized the metal-armed magical girl from before. Upon closer look, she noticed how similar the two of them were, using weaponized hands as their choice of weapon, with a killer smile to boot. But when she stood up, she was back to business. She spoke about Su; based on how she found her, she assumed Su had knocked her to this room. When she heard her shout back from deeper inside the building, sshe smiled. "Alright copycat, I already kicked your friend's ass. Tell me why I shouldn't kick yours too?"

---

With the arrival of a giant, horrific monster, the stadium turned from a nightmare into a night terror.
Sally turned to look at Behemoth, and ended up distracted; the frenzied Silhouette took this chance, and swung at her, aiming to slash at her neck and instantly kill her; miraculously, she whiffed about 99% of the attack, but a small wound was drawn on her skin, causing her to scream from pain and fall back, holding her neck. "Oh no!" She aimed up at her Shamrock Shooter, but Silhouette slashed at her wrist, causing her to drop her weapon. It seemed as if she had finally run out luck, her eyes watery as she saw Silhouette lift her blade, about to stab right through her heart...When she was suddenly smacked away by a giant tentacle.
Sally blinked, and then ran as fast as she could, rolling under the second tentacle that swept over the arena.
"That was the luckiest thing ever!" She hollered, and ran right to Penny's side.

Silhouette wake up with a painful concussion, having now found herself slumped against the baseball stadium's wall. She felt a stinging, burning sensation on her forehead, and when she felt her head, she noticed how a clump of her hair was missing, alongside the shoulder part of her jacket and most of the back of it; the giant monster's attacks were able to erode anything they came in contact, causing them to be gradually erased.
Fortunately, it also seemed to knock the effects of Chloe's Crystal out of her; she still felt a slight tingle of power, but it was nothing compared to the maddening rush that sent her into a fury before.

With a great spell and grinding of metal, Penny summoned Earth Bastion, it's broadside ready to unleash hell. However, because she had already spent a lot of time fighting Elroy and eliminating the few stray mummies until none were left in addition to combining with the vehicle itself, she did not have time to shoot before Behemoth roared and lifted a tentacle, about to smash down on it. But then, Katarina shot a sword at it's eye, and the creature wailed in pain; it slapped the tank sideways as it recoiled instead, causing it to turn before it shot it's payload; it landed at the empty audience seats, demolishing most of them. It's head deflated a little like a balloon, the damage visible to everyone. As a response, the other eyes aimed at the area Katarina was at, and shot an innumerable number of lasers. Since she was on the move, Rina dodged most of the projectiles, with a couple beams hitting her heel; they stung as much as getting rubbed with sandpaper coated with shards of glass, but by themselves did not incur major damage; a full volley would have been surely fatal. Behemoth sprouted more giant tentacles as it was aggravated, shifting it's mass of minor Horrors to better suit its smashing needs.

---

Lily smiled from relief as the two girls did not shun her nerdy reference, and gasped at their mention of playing music.
"Oh wow, really? That's awesome!"
She then yelped as the two girls moved closer on each side of her, and took her hands in their own; though she appreciated the attention, she also felt like they were slightly breaching her personal space.
"I-I'd love to! I mean, if you'll have me..." She gulped, feeling the warmth of their hands and their eyes eagerly looking at her; she felt trapped.
Oh wow...Are they...Really...
She did not finish the thought, as they released her hands, and now asked her about her role. They looked dead serious, their previous cheerfulness gone.
"Well, uhh...I..." She fiddled with her fingers.

"...The drums?"

@Ariamis@Rune_Alchemist@Shifter_Master

---

A great war machine fell from the skies.

A great sword sank into the massive creature’s flesh.

A horrifying mass extended from the Behemoth.

And she ran regardless of how small she was, driven by duty and her fears, vainglory and its pains. Each step propelled her faster, each step caused more petals to dance, until her form was a mere blur, a blue bolt tipped with silver that flew up the side of the colossal tank.

“Armored Giant! Take its core! The head is mine!”

With that, the Knight of Rose launched herself off the longest barrel the Earth Bastion had, sailing through the air towards the wretched Behemoth. She flipped, shifting her center of gravity for maximum distance and height, but even then, the inflated head of the beast was out of reach. Gravity took hold soon enough, and slowly, Amaryllis fell.

Yet, the smile remained.

For there was a red bolt on the outskirts as well, a fellow magical warrior who held the same principles of Justice in her heart, who, amidst the barrage of heat rays that caused concrete to bubble and burst, wove another massive claymore and sent it up towards the writhing beast. Was it divine luck? Was it perfect timing? It mattered not, for right as the great sword passed underneath Amaryllis, she performed a final flip, her heels clicking against the flat of the blade as she rode the sword up to the maw of the beast.
Hopping back before the point of impact, the Knight of Rose extended the tip of the sword as a silver chain shot out, grasping the humungous blade that nestled within the monster’s eye. Retraction pulled her forward, and the Silverlight sank into the giant blade completely. For a moment, her Patron was silent, almost contemplative.

And then, in the next, a lunar brilliance spilled from the giant sword as Amaryllis overwrote the magic that had constructed the sword-arrow. She yanked it backwards out of the Greater Horror’s face, and, utilizing her titanic strength and speed, delivered several more huge cuts onto its head as she swung around its gargantuanly gross head on her silver chains.

Extend, pull, strike, thrust, swing, and never stop.

With the great sword blessed by the Archer, the Knight made her chains her wings and tore at the monster’s flesh with Valkyrian ferocity.

There is something to be said about the human capability to overcome emotion, for Penny it had become a warped and twisted thing. Her monstrous wrath, her human fears, all had been left at the wayside, ignored in as she became the calm in the eye of the storm. For there was nothing that could focus or sooth the Cyborg like destruction. Regardless if was her or another’s.

That’s not to say Penny would ever forgive the towering monster that had struck her, it was still her enemy and was deserving of being rent asunder. Just that it’s actions had perhaps the worst outcome for it and the best for Penny. Everything unnecessary to this moment was left ignored as Penny forced all of beings attention at the Giant horror.

For these next few moments, she would step beyond herself and fall completely in to her role as Laat’AlOfan’s chosen. Thus she would bring the word of her God to this blighted amalgam.

The Earth Bastion housed over a hundred cannons; forty on each side that could be used in full scale broadsides. An additional thirty were mounted on gun turrets that could rotate to face near any direction there were numerous smaller cannons on fixed locations around the Tankship so that there was no blind spots in its firing arcs. Of all these cannons the tri-barreled cannon that sat on the front half of the ship was by far the largest and most dangerous weapon on the Earth Bastion.

The moment Amaryllis lept off it Penny roared in to motion, letting her actions answer the Knights call to arms. The Bastion spun in place as it realigned to its foe as Penny floored it aiming to ram in to the creature, her main gun poised to act as the spear of her charge. She already knew that the monster’s touch was destructive, and while she was currently part of the mighty ship, it was beyond her to transfer the entirety of her Regeneration to it. That was a skill that lies solely in the hands of the Engine of Destruction.

Still if she could bury the main gun in the things stomach, it would be able to avoid the round of cannon fire that would come moments later, as Penny couldn’t be reckless with her cannons, for one every missed shot would spread the destruction further from this fight, and the focus it would take to reload them wasn’t something she could spare at the moment.
After all it was her first becoming a tank.



“Geez what is with today and the nonstop crazy?” Aurelio would exclaim after the Earth Bastion made its appearance. Day one in Penrose was teaching the magician that this city’s problems were on a level of its own when compared to the other places he had been. Still this was not the time to be slacking off.

Tossing his can in to the air Aurelio brought his hands together in a great clap before focusing, and when he pulled his hands apart in a dramatic flourish a flashes of Indigo, Green, Red and Brown accompanied it. ”Gent’s” he would say in a chipper tune as he turned around to face the four clones of himself that he had just made, catching his cane as it fell back to him absently while he spoke “glad you could make it”

Despite being his clones it was immediately apparent that there was something different about these clones, none of them matched Aurelio’s color scheme. Where the original wore a brilliant white, his clones were each dominated by a different color. One wore a vibrant Red and had a slight scowl on his face, another was covered in a bright Green and had a cocky grin, the one wearing a deep Indigo had a compassionate smile, while the one in flat Brown had a look of focused annoyance.

“Red you’re with Penny” he would command pointing at the colored clone as he spoke “Hold nothing back I want that thing gone.” Said clone tsked before nodding and taking off towards Earth Bastion. “Brown, find Sally she spiked a moment ago and I want you to make sure she’s fine. If she is you’re her shadows, if she isn’t take her to Indigo” That clone just ran a hand down its face before giving a thumbs up in acknowledgement as it too ran off to fulfill its task. “Green and Indigo” He continued turning to face the last two clones “I want to find and cover the normies who got caught up in this, Green you’re the tank while Indigo your on white mage got it?”

“Got it chief!” they replied, giving mock salutes before heading out themselves.

“And Abi” He would say turning to face the girl after he was done with his clones “I’m at your service, lead the way” giving a slight bow as he did. The monsters Elroy and Regina were Aurelio’s immediate concern, now that it seemed that the resident cyborg had the Kaiju under control. That meant sticking close to Abigail, both to try and keep her save and to be able to meet them.

---

Paying no mind to her injuries, Rina continued. She had an impressive healing ability after all, and the lasers weren't too serious, but neither was her projectile apparently. A massive war machine fell from the skies, but she thought little of it. It seemed to be fighting the Behemoth as well, and she had no intention of getting in that things way. What she could do, however, was help Amaryllis.

Amidst the chaos, the knight was easy to spot. A silver dance of ferocity and fury, shining like a beacon amidst the behemoths' rage. She would assist, that was her role here after all. A large Zweihander formed. The bow elongated, a greatbow to rival the strongest of swords. Bracing herself, she pulled the string on the bow. A knight needed a blade after all, and she would give her a suitable one. "...Sword of justice, strike true!" A metal twang, the sword flew in the path of Amaryllis.

Moving once more, Rina watched as the Knight received the sword, riding it like some sort of mount up to the maw of the beast. A fitting scene, for Amaryllis. The Archer smirked lightly, but ultimately kept out of the fight still. No need to needlessly announce her presence one more after she moved.



Guest staring the new crystal 'Maiden'!

---

Why was...there blood?

Aurora's eyes widened, shock displaying across her features as Chloe had swiftly removed the bandages on her chest, a small yellow gem in her hand. The Dark Magical Girl shoved the gem into her wound. She should run right? This was bad, right? But her body was completely frozen. She couldn't move.

"hmm....there we go~" Chloe laughed, removing her hand from the wound.

"Urgh...what...?"

"Try not to fight it dear. You'll have an easier time living." Chloe nonchalantly continued. "...Do try not and waste this. It took me ages to even make that and I won't be happy if you fuck it up." Aurora's entire body began to itch, like insects crawling on her skin as she lost feeling in her legs, causing her to fall over as labored breaths escaped her mouth. What...what was this? She held a hand to her stomach as pain radiated through her chest from where the crystal was lodged. And then something else hit her. A sound. A harsh, cacophonous cry that seeped into her mind, shattering her skull.

She fell over, raising a hand up towards Chloe as blackness filled her vision.

...

...

"Urgh..." Something was poking her forehead.

"Sleeping on the job is bad, you know."

"Shut up...feel like death..."

"You'll be dead if you keep sleeping. Our Lord doesn't take kindly to laziness." Something slammed into her face hard. "Now get up!~" The jovial and friendly tone which she just spoke, completely contradicted her actions.

"Like what the hell! What's the big idea, creep!" Aurora, now fully awake once more gave Chloe a shocked and mildly surprised look. "You...you stabbed me! I think! Sorta! Stabbing sexy delicate maidens like myself is bad!"

"Calm down. It was a success! You're a magical girl now...well...sorta, heh."

"E-eh? Really!?" Aurora blinked. "W-what do you mean sorta?" With a smug smirk, Chloe reached for her own chest, giving herself a quick pat before looking back to McKenzie. Aurora's eyes drifted down to her own chest. "...GYAAAAAAA?!" A high pitched shriek filled the entire floor of the hospital as Aurora began panicking and patting her own body. "My boobs! Y-you took my boobs!" The new magical boy pointed a finger at Chloe in an accusatory fashion, though her attempts at looking angry could only be described as 'adorable'. "Give me them back! How am I supposed to date hot guys like this!?"

"Heh." Chloe chuckled, her smirk never fading. "You know, I know a number of guys who'd probably like to date you just as you are now."

"Arrrgh and what will Mary say if she sees me like this?" Aurora continued her ranting about her misfortune before stopping and glancing down towards her waist. With a brief, quick, inspection, it was confirmed she was now 100% male. Apathy and disillusionment quickly spread on her face as she fell onto the bed. "Ahh...I'll never be able to get married. I'll become a nun and join a convent."

"Aww, and If I'd say I'd still marry you?~"

"Shut up you shitty old hag. I don't want you and your saggy tits."

"...I'm sorry, what?"

"This is your fault give me your boobs-eh?" A dark expression came over Chloe's features, a hand picking up Aurora by the neck. "Ack I'm sorryi'msorry!"

"Shitty old hag am I? Aww, weren't you turned into the most adorable little thing. Would be a shame if you fell out a window."

"Gah!Nononono-!" Suddenly Aurora found herself doing just that. Chloe launched her, right out the window she flew into earlier. "You're crazy! CRAZY! This is the seventh floor you psycho I'll die seriously diiiiiii_iiiieeee!" Aurora's voice faded as she began falling to the streets below.

"Don't worry, I get the feeling you're the lucky type! Oh, and you forgot this!" Quickly tossed out the window after her, was a rather comically large black and pink squeaky hammer with a rabbit motif. "And here's a key to my apartment! Do find it unless you want to be eaten by a monster. Toodles darling!~" Aurora free fell for seven stories, thinking about her life choices until now. Ah, this was bad, wasn't it? Yet at the same time this body felt great. Like she could do things she'd never done before! And then she fell face-first right into a dumpster.

"Mmmpppf." The hammer fell down after, slamming into the side of the dumpster with enough force and weight to knock it over and send Aurora and it both sprawling out into the alley. The key fell seconds later, hitting Aurora right on the face. "Ahh...super unlucky right?..."

"Ah, that was tiring. Let's finish up here before any of the fun police show up." A small, murky, dark portal just large enough for Chloe to stick her hand through opened. Rummaging around in it for a few seconds, she quickly pulled back a small spirit. A ghost of some sort it seemed. "Do me a favor and watch this room, would you? Tell me if anyone comes looking for her..." The spirit gave a low groan of understanding before quickly shuffling off, hiding itself in the room. Now to rest for a bit and observe the city some more...

@BrokenPromise

The monster girl watched Su intently as she summoned the bubble and started to put out the fires…

‘Oooooooh. That’s cool! Nice! Thanks!’ The monster-girl grinned widely and happily to Su as she finished. The girl looked after her curiously… and then most assuredly started following her. There was something sharp in her eyes, with each step she followed Su with. If Su sped up, then so would she.

‘You’re cool. What’s your name? Are you strong? Do you fight for yourself or for others? Are you off to do good deeds in the name good name of good, now? Will it be fun where you’re going? I think I’ll follow you. Are there still skeletons outside? Teh-heh, it’s gonna be such a banquet. I hope Victoria saved some for me, or I’ll be really cross with her.’ She smiled so widely as she said…

‘Oh, Jelena’s fighting someone ahead,’ she added. Then Su likely heard a sound from the following scene.

@Ariamis

‘Keh.’ Jelena tilted her head downwards, a dark shadow from her coat’s hood covering her face above her wide grin. ‘“Copycat”, hah, hahahaha.’ There was something slightly hurt in the voice… when suddenly her right arm completely detached, the metal construct falling out of her coat’s arm and rolling over on the floor. The girl threw her head back as she grinned menacingly, her eyes threatening over the grin. ‘How careless of me! What was I thinking!? Of course I can’t go around with the arms I created for myself with my power, because it might resemble any other Magical Girl! I should go around with just my stumps, lest I might risk offending someone! Right, right!? Or are you gonna tell me you don’t have any limbs, either!?’ The girl turned her body and wiggled her right side towards Helga, the length of the coat’s arm fluttering uselessly. There was no arm in it.

Under the assumption Helga couldn’t COMPLETELY stun and leave her opposition speechless by showing off that Helga’s arms were also fabricated…

‘RIGHT!’ With that word, the metal girl suddenly kicked the arm on the floor, and it was sent flying at high speed at Helga. In the midst of the kick, large parts of the arm shattered as small shards of sharp debris, which flew forward like shrapnel of her kick, while the main arm and its claws headed straight for Helga. With the assumption that Helga would jump to target her, the enemy in the coat then jumped back and pulled all the metal back, intending on striking Helga in the back if she came heading for the metal girl. If Helga had dodged the arm itself and it flew out the window, it’d come flying back when the girl applied her metallic grip and her other arm moved to defend her from whatever her opponent was doing, potentially, and her legs were ready to stretch to shoot her to safety if she was otherwise targeted by magic.

The metal girl had apparently been a bit ticked off.

@PlatinumSkink@Ariamis



Su did not answer any of the girl's questions. Not that she was giving Su a chance to speak. As Su took hasty steps down the hall, her anxiety started to turn into aggravation. Helga had warned her yesterday not to go running off by herself, and without even thinking she had done just that. The only upside to this situation was that the monster girl was not trying to hurt her. If only for the moment. Small victories.

Su could hear some commotion going on in the room overhead. Because the hole that she used to enter her current floor was nearby, Su did have some manner of “sight” into the room. Alone it wouldn't have told Su much, but between Jelena's voice and her movements, Su had a pretty good idea where she was. The former familiar did not enjoy destroying buildings, but the metal girl above had nearly wrecked everything anyway. Su threw a quick barrage of punches around the spot where she heard Jelena. This caused a flurry of vacuums to slice through the floor, cutting a rough hole around where she suspected her opponent was. With any luck, Jelena and the piece of floor would fall together. This would let Su get in a surprise attack with another barrage of spells. Even if her legs just extended like last time, Su was confident knocking her legs around would at least throw her off balance long enough for Helga to finish things up.

”Everyone calls me Su.” She turned towards the monster girl and threw one last gust of wind in Jelena's direction. ”There's nothing exciting about what I do, but the skeletons were still outside last time I checked.” Su remained serious in her delivery.

---

@MadManMoon

Mika cheered for Lupa as the werewolf decimated the skeletal horde. Though it seemed the Massacrer's sudden appearance had disrupted her flow a bit. Not that Mika felt the masked woman was at fault for anything. She probably charged in here to save the beast girl after all. But It seemed like some wheel skeletons were lining up to try to finish them off. Mika was about to intervene, but she had her own problems. Some spider webs had wrapped around Mika's feet. The spider woman stated that Mika would be devoured by her minions, who were crawling across the web towards her. All Mika could do was look over her shoulder and give her captor a nervous smile. Her inability to part her feet told her that this was some seriously strong web.

What Mika found most troubling about this entire engagement, something that went far beyond her own safety, was what Mr. Spider must have been going through. He couldn't have been in a very happy place right now. Mika found people calling her cute understandable. You'd be crazy to think otherwise. But once you're married, you should probably keep those sorts of comments to yourself. That was when Mika realized the smaller spiders were probably her children. Black widows were named because they were known for eating their mates, but what most didn't realize was that black widows also feed themselves to their children. Their young are often too small to eat even the smallest flies, so they spit up liquid nutrients for their children to eat. After several days of doing this, they become dehydrated and weak. That's when their children eat them. The way Mika understood it, this spider woman was trying to use her as a surrogate mother to be eaten in her stead. This striking realization caused the smile to run off of Mika's face. She wanted no part of this.

”Oh no you don't!” Mika's mana reserves weren't depleted, but she really couldn't risk doing more than a few more full body transformations. Her artifact wasn't the most ideal thing to heal herself with, and powered through a bit of her mana, Fortunately, she had a plan that wouldn't use a lot of her energy, and it would even make things easier on her new friends. She placed her hands together, and a giant snake popped out of the ground in front of one of the wheel skeletons. It bopped it with it's snoot and threw the spinning skeleton into the air. Another snake popped out of the ground and did the same thing. While saving her friends was part of her goal, the real benefit to her attack was that she was throwing those skeleton wheel directly into that spider woman's web. With any luck, the spinning wheels would wind themselves up in the web, causing the entire aray to fold up on itself. Spiders and all. And Mika too if she wasn't careful.”Wait, I'm still attached!” She laughed. It seemed that Mika's plan wasn't thought out quite as well as it could have been, but she wasn't out of options. Cutting through the silk wasn't going to work, but with her legs pressed together, it would be possible to turn the lower half of her body into that of a fish. Her fins would be much thinner and more flexible than her feet were. There was that possibility. But it wasn't very cute, so she didn't do it. Instead she reached for a nearby humerus to swing at any spiders that got too close. If she ended up getting yanked into the mess of web, she'd have something to beat up mommy spider and friends too.

---

“Drums?” Jessica looked to her sister.

Vanessa scratched her chin. ”Radio head uses duel drummers now, right?”

“Have they done anything relevant recently?” What followed Jessica's comment was an awkward silence. Such a quiet wasn't something normal mortals could make. It had to be the work of a powerful curse, either inflicted by a dark magical girl or some heinous patron. “Creep was good! I like that song!” Jessica nervously smiled.

”I guess we'll figure it out later.” Vanessa folded her arms.. ”So you've been in Penrose for a month? I was going to say something about that, but you mentioned joining a band and I guess I got a little carried away. If you wouldn't mind showing us around after school, that would be great.”

Jessica smiled. ”I feel like an isekai protagonist, only without all the cool perks, like a huge group of friends.”

”If I recall, friends are why we were headed to the Gym in the first place. Shall we?” Vanessa pushed open the doors to the Gym and stepped inside. Aside from the basket ball hoops, there wasn't any gear present that anyone could see. However, the sheer size of the gym was definitely what one would expect of a reputable school like this. If one looked at the floor, they might be able to spot the school's logo etched into the gym's surface. But there were so many students present it wasn't clearly visible.

'Just my fucking luck. I get an asskicking powerup...and I'm still stuck on medic duty!' Alexander sighed as he patched up the last civilian. With a sigh, he got back up 'Might as well see how it's going' he walked out of the hallways, and into sight of the center of the stadium. That's when he saw it; a huge monster. And as far as he could tell, everyone was fighting it "Fuck yeah, and acceptable target!" strengthening himself to the max, he dashed at the monster. Once he was halfway there, he jumped in the air and made a spike ball barrier around himself, with a couple of bars inside for him to hold onto. Effectively turning himself into a wrecking ball.

The Vixen's scouting was short lived. Her eyes scanned the area, looking for something - anything. The Cathedral, or what was left of it, was in ruins, but despite that, not a soul was around. Not even her Third Eye picked up the presence of other Magical Girls in the vicinity. She had redirected her course on the whim of the fear aura, and had come up empty handed. Not even moments before she had arrived, people had stood where she stood. Fought where she stood.

The carnal drive of a beast reacted first, leaving behind the rational senses she still had for the moment. She needed to fight something. kill something, or she would never be free. The cycle would never stop - not if she didn't keep killing. In response, everything likened to "sense" made itself scarce, making way for her internal beast and animalistic instincts to take control of the situation she could no longer handle.

Her Third Eye was the first thing to draw its attention. Though there were no Magical Girls nearby, the place was teeming with magical energy. Everything in an extensive radius around the ruined Cathedral pulsated with magic. She had seen it on arrival, but barely took note of it: that girl, the one coated in magic, used an ability to shift to the Overcity. It wasn't a place The Vixen had been to before, but she knew of it from rumours and whispers. Her eyes could detect their entrances, though she couldn't open them; never before had she seen anyone open them.

Between everything that made up "The Vixen", the beast could make better sense on instinct than she could thinking about things for days. Surrounded on all sides by a miasma of magical energy, used to tear a hole in the world and warp to the Overcity, the carnal nature she so often, and yet reluctantly gave into, could do its work. It knew things, understood things. How to make things work. How to break things.

Summer's first mistake had been exerting so much energy. So much remained that The Vixen could use. She could feel it - her body absorbing, and understanding it. For a few seconds she stood, basking in it, letting the beast become accustomed to it, before she leapt into the rubble that was the Cathedral, near enough to where Summer had been. Magic flared within her as she prepared for something more complex than she, or the beast, had ever attempted. Multiple times before in battle did she replicate spells to confuse and injure enemies, but this was more than a spell: it was some innate ability to flip between dimensional planes. So she concentrated. The world tore open, and everything flipped.

Beneath her feet was a vast expanse of checkboards, and as she scanned the sky, her eyes fell upon numerous grey clouds, momentarily and periodically betraying a vast, chromatic sky. This was a place she had never been before. But she had no time to appreciate anything like natural beauty. Her eyes drifted from the sky, to the people around her. Magical Girls, and a number of them.

A grating cry, some kind of hybridisation of between a human shriek and a bestial roar. The Vixen's head tilted back towards the sky, sending the sound echoing across the vast expanse of the Overcity, for everyone present to hear. When it ended, her head lowered once again, painted with a violent grin, bearing canine fangs as she stepped slowly in a circle, taking in every foe present. A blanket of flames wrapped itself around each of her elongated, clawed hands, gently illuminating the overcast ground as she watched, and selected her target.









Christine had been sat happily off to the side of the stadium, relaxing in the grandstands, watching the fight as it unfolded. She had no intentions of getting herself involved, at least, not unless she was directly attacked. Her purpose here was to observe, after all; if she did any more than that, the Boss would be mad. Those that made the Boss mad were moved down, into training. And those that disappointed her then, well... You didn't often see them again.

In the first place, Christine wasn't a fighter. Only a year had passed since she had become a Magical Girl, and despite the training given by Sasha, The Boss, and others, she wasn't exactly cut out for it. Her kit was designed for espionage - for deceit. Not direct combat, and certainly not against some of the firepower the people down their were packing. She would fight if it was necessary, but anything other than life or death was a no go.

However, caught between thinking about what was ongoing at the Cathedral, and taking pictures of the battle, she almost failed to notice something crucial. Almost. The brutish, tentacled horror was doing combat with some giant, mechanical warship of a sorts. She was paying attention to that. But suddenly one of its many tentacles lashed out against the thing, spinning it to the side, and sending a volley of hellfire her way - enough to easily demolish the grand stand in seconds.

Instinctively, she grabbed her Hammerspace Handbag, and shoved the camera inside, before dispelling it, and quickly standing up. With her hand movements, barriers of ice rose up around her, as well as the rest of the grand stand, recreating a platform of ice across the seats as they were destroyed. heavily artillery rained down upon it, demolishing it entirely, but the area Christine was sat in was now entirely replaced with ice; i formed new seats, even part of the stairway down, though very little of the structure was saved.

She looked around, taking in the annihilation of the seating area, and looked back down to the chaos. Things were starting to become more trouble than they were worth, but she had an operation to carry out. Summoning a video camera from the space, rather than her digital camera, or even the bag itself, she sat herself down, a drew a miniature tripod from its base. She then placed it on a small platform of ice that extended out of a neighbouring seat, angled it toward the action, and pressed record.

With everything ready, she pulled out her phone.


uh
about that...
shes gone too

she sort of
just
vanished

yeah well she did
she just vanished
completely
and i cant find her
at all








For a fews hours the past night, Katelyn had spent her time in bed. She withdrew a small amount of cash from an ATM once she was a safe enough distance from the site of the battle, found the closest hotel, and crawled her way into bed for the rest of the night, bent on recovering the mana Regina had sapped with her cursed bullets. Against anyone else, that amount of mana expenditure might have been no issue, but the draining curses sealed the fight. Her body ached, and her head hurt, but her wings were intact. The same couldn’t be said for Eliza.

Now that the morning had come, Katelyn was up and about again. Walking through the streets, those watching her found her constantly flicking her vision between the people around her, and her phone. Before working for The Lady, she had been trained to spot a target in crowds easily. On her phone was a series of pictures - mugshots of different girls faces. One of them was Eliza, and all of them were Ebon Mint operatives. With the assistance of The Web, and some external sponsors, they had painstakingly racked up a list of people operating within the city: Eliza, Samantha, Veronica, Joanna, Nina, Shion… The list was long, and she had memorised them all, but a reference guide was always helpful.

Tired of the ordinary approach, she ducked into a nearby alleyway, and shed her disguise, before leaping onto the rooftops for a better vantage point. She didn’t need to be at eye level to catch them; she just needed a glimpse. With the freedom and agility granted by her Monstrous Form, she skipped across the city, scanning street by street, person by person, in the hope that one of the people she spotted matched the pictures she had.

And then, in the distance, she heard the sounds of a battle. For a second, she went to ignore it, but then proceeded to double back on herself. The last fight she watched, three Mint operatives had all shown up at once, including the Ebon Vampire herself. What were the chances that another operative could appear at another battle? Pretty high, she reasoned, as she began making her way towards the sounds of combat somes half a mile away across the city.

Once she got closer, she saw it: skeletons marching, Magical Girls engaged in combat, but none of it interested her especially. Instead, her eyes scanned the faces of the girls down of the street dueling it out, whilst periodically referencing the phone for their faces. When nothing came up as familiar, she scanned the rest of the surroundings, and there she saw her. A face on her list. Multiple faces, in fact - all belonging to one “Shion”.

Keeping her presence low, and off to the side of the duplicates keeping watch, she approached, just as the Victoria duplicates leapt off the roof to attack whatever adversary she was interested it. The moment Katelyn was in range, she activated her magic, allowing the blue white streams of pure electrical energy envelop her for merely a second, before it released, launching her across the streets and rooftops in a brilliant comet of light to the rooftop the Shion’s occupied.

Katelyn tore past the guards in an instant, leaving them no time to react as the shockwave and thunderclap echoed across the city mere moments after she appeared. Without allowing for any counterattacks or reactions, she redirected the residual electrical energy back into her next spell, which spread from out of her body in a radius across the roof, sending forks of lightning into each of the Shion’s present, unless they could somehow escape the near instant attack. Electricity arced across her wings as she stood, drawing her spear up along with her into a defensive stance, preparing for her assault.









”Can I ask you something, Sasha?” a voice questioned across an almost empty dining room. It belonged to a woman - the same one who, at a time, had interrogated and belittled Charlotte Suthers for her mistakes. And once again, she was a sat front and center in The Nerine Vista. Some high quality cut of steak, medium rare and gently lathered in sauce sat in front of her, half eaten, and across the table was a tall, terribly muscular woman, with silver hair, bedecked in an apron, almost entirely clean save a few unavoidable splashes preparing the meal.

”Of course, Boss.” a thick, Russian accent emerged from her throat, cutting through the silence that her companion failed to break. The difference between the two became obvious with only a couple sentences. This was the muscle, and “The Boss” was the brains behind it. With merely two sentences uttered, the two contemplated each other for a moment, letting the darkness seep back into the room.

”I gave you all of this... “ the girl started, her fingerless gloves clutched around a set of silverware that she promptly sat to the sides of the plate, ”The Nerine Vista - what a nice place. Good enough for a Michelin Star, even. I gave it all to you, ‘cause that was your dream.” her right hand reached for a wine glass, filled with some kind of caffeinated beverage, and she drank from it, letting her partner talk.

”You did, Ma’am. I am still grateful.”

”You would say you… owe me a debt, right?” she said, looking up from the glass as she replaced it on the table.

For a moment, Sasha seemed to consider, but not as if she were deciding if she was truly in debt. She was deciding what her next words should be.
”I would, yes. I owe you a great deal - for the restaurant, for letting me join The Independent.” she finally said.

”So if, let’s say, I… asked you to go out and kill someone for me. You would do it?”

With those words in the air, Sasha raised an eyebrow to her Boss. Odd conversations like these weren’t uncommon. Sometimes the Boss just liked to talk about things, claiming it helped her think about the issues she needed to take care of, the people she needed to manage, and the actions she would need to take in future. The Independent commanded loyalty, that was unmistakable, even though their members were free to join and leave as they wished. Sasha was loyal to the day she died, and her Boss knew that, but never before had she asked such a question.

The answer, however, came easily.
”I would gladly. You gave me my life; anybody you call your enemy is my enemy.”

”That’s good... “ she said, trailing off as she turned her head to the window, and watched through its one way glass the people strolling around in the morning light, going about their day to day lives. A vast number of thoughts circulated her mind, but one stuck out in particular: the disappearance of the Cathedral.

”Would you have me kill someone, Boss?”

The Boss kept staring, her fingers involuntarily tapping the table. And then, after several moments had passed, she turned back to pick up her cutlery, and continue her meal.
”I dunno how things will go, but you might need to. Today. That’ll be all, thanks.” and thus she continued eating, as Sasha stood from the table, and made her way back to the kitchens.

Binky was screaming the entire time, totally unaware of any damage they had sustained or even that a shift had happened. It wasn't until the fear aura went away that they finally quieted down. This was when she became aware of everything that happened to her body while she was running scared. Namely the bruises from falling into a rose bush, and all of the scrapes and cuts the thorns gave her when she attempted to leave. Her legs felt like they were on fire, and she couldn't stop her hands from shaking. Her attention then shifted to her surroundings. They appeared to have been teleported into an old fairytale. The checkerboard floor and oddly colored sky were reminiscent of the sequel to Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass. But Binky was a researcher of magic. As soon as her thoughts cleared, it became obvious what had happened. This was the over city. Someone had transported all of the magical girls, the people inside the cathedral, and the cathedral itself to the overcity.

”But... Why?” There was no point to shifting a fight to the over city if you were going to take the battlefield with you. Most magical girls used it as a means of minimizing damage to real world structures. Who in their right mind would willingly do that? The only thing they managed to do was destroy a poor old cathedral that was no longer sitting on it's foundation. Of course Binky wasn't complaining. There were no more cats. That made her situation a lot better. But as a researcher, she did have to wonder what the real tactical advantage of this entire shift was. Someone might had done it to protect her. One of the girls had tried to pull her to safety. Even so, this all seemed a bit too convoluted to really involve her. Beacon was here, witches were here, other magical girls were here, the Vixen of Penrose was He- ”WAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Knowing there was a magical mass murderer here sent Binky screaming out of her mind. She ran across the dreamscape, eyes shut and arms held high over her head. ”AAHHHHHHHH! At least I don't have to worry about the detective anymore AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” But she would trip over her own tired feet and fall on her stomach. Binky looked over her shoulder, only to see the detective walking up to her side.



“You're not going to out run anybody. I'll save you the explanation of the evidence and just hope you trust me.” Sammy spun on her heel and looked back towards the cathedral. ”A destructive lot these Beacon girls. I can't say I'm too surprised though, given my recent observations. No different than true monsters rallying under a symbol of hope.” She took a step towards the cathedral, or was it the Vixen? ”Regardless, it's always up to the detective to save the day, isn't it? Villains aren't captured by lawyers or judges. Nothing would happen in a courtroom without evidence provided by a detective.” Sammy was dwarfed by virtually everyone else in the area. The height of the cathedral didn't make her form any more imposing either. To anyone standing up there, she might have looked like a little black spec shouting into the wind.

---

Getting taken to the overcity was not among Mac's favorite experiences. It wasn't like she had the means to easily traverse in and out of this second reality, so there was always the chance that things could end poorly should she not get taken back. That said, it wasn't like this blindsided her. Mac always knew what was going to happen, or at least what was suppose to happen, and she was always there to ensure it went just as it was ordained.

Even if that meant doing damage to an irreplaceable cathedral. How quaint for it to be the work of Beacon rather than monsters.

Whatever, she just had to keep Binky from croaking. Part of her wanted to just reveal herself and punch Summer's stupid face in, but that would upset her patron. She supressed a growl and continued to assist with the witches' removal.

Needless to say, Alicia was not expecting the snap to the Overcity that happened all of a sudden. A growl of annoyance bubbled up inside of her, only to be squashed as she settled for sighing and rubbing her nose with only a slight grinding of teeth. Calm, she needed to stay calm. There was no telling why Summer had chosen to shift them now rather than earlier when it might have been needed, but she shouldn't judge her. She was a new recruit after all, and anyone could make a mistake. They would just have to talk about this bak at HQ.

Even if bringing the Cathedral too was a bit overkill.

The witches continued to go down, two burning to death while she was successful in putting down a third with her bow. Glancing over, she could only watch as someone was changed into an animal by the witch, who cackled and threatened her. She glared, realizing that this one must be the Crone, and the leader of this particular group of monsters. It was just too bad that she hadn't hit anyone Alicia knew, so mercy was not necessarily easy in coming.

BBut she quicckly realized that she didn't have the time to worry about this, not when that man who had been captured was still being taken away. "Janet, Summer, watch over this one," she called, gesturing to the crone. "Persuade her to get her sisters to give up and change those poor souls back. Use whatever means you have to." They would have to manage that while she dealt with the others.

Ethereal white wings flared wide, and with a rippling of power she launched herelf into the sky and after the duo. As she drew closer she readied Star Seraph and launched her shots, aiming for the more opportune targets in their broomsticks or their arms. She just had to get them to release their hold and then she could swoop in and rescue him before he hit the ground.

it was as she was in motion that she noticed the sudden flames and heard the loud cry. She only faltered for a moment, warring between whether to turn back and help her team or keep going. But in the end there was no choice. It was clear that this was a foe, the announcement had said as much. Beacon was a team, family, and she had to trust that Summer and Janet could handle things until she got back. If there was difficulty, she was confident that they would let her know.

For now, she had to focus on a rescue.

@Majoras End@Ariamis@MadManMoon@DarkwolfX37@BrokenPromise

Shion's copy simply waved as Victoria's left and continued recording the scene. After a few seconds she paused. One of the girls fighting the skeletons was being attacked by a swarm of spiders. Spiders. I hate spiders. She pulled a small whistle out from her pocket and blew into it.

Meanwhile, Shion and her other copies were attacked by another magical girl, appearing suddenly and shooting lightning at all of them. Of course, electricity being a byproduct of magnetism on the atomic level, it was simple enough for Shion to create several fields of magnetism into the air to divert the electricity, albeit barely in time, losing one clone in the process. She quickly jumped west with another clone while the other three split, two going north and one going east, all propelled from the roof with a large burst of repulsive force.

It was at this point that the original Shion heard the whistle and leaped from rooftop to rooftop along her clone until she was directly above her recording copy and saw what was happening to the small magical girl. Snakes suddenly appeared and launched some of the skeletons, if they could still be called that in their wheeled forms, at the web binding her. Stupid. That would only slow them down. No, what she needed was exactly what Shion had, a secret weapon of her specialization. Or rather, two of them. She reached into her clone's pocket and pulled out a rather large silver pocket watch, holding it towards the spider web, close to where the giant spidergirl was.

With her knowledge of magnetism, it was a simple matter to prepare her attack using little mana. The trick was not to rely on magical power, but rather on her own skill, skill she had refined in her time as a magical girl. Alternating polarization spread from her to her target before she let go of the watch and pushed it forward with her magic, firing it down an invisible funnel of magnetism that accelerated it past the speed of sound. A railgun, fired directly in front of and through the webbing from the horrendous monster girl, the "rail" continuing several feet underground before stopping for added power. "I'll give you one chance to leave! The next one is going through your skull!" she shouted at the spider.

---

Summer barely dodged a spell from one of the witches and hid behind the cathedral. She saw some girl get turned into a skunk, but had no ideas on how to help her yet. It looked like her plan had failed; rather than being able to leave just the baddies in the Overcity, she'd not had enough power to even bring the whole cathedral, let alone make the trip back right away. The girl she had tried to save before seemed to have been caught in the Shift as well and was screaming. Summer was torn between her duty to help everyone and her desire to help her specifically. She decided that helping everyone would in turn help the girl, so she turned her focus back to the witches. It was shortly after that a terrible cry rung out through the area. Her attention turned towards the newly arrived monster girl, a kitsune with flames covering her hands.

This was not good.

Katarina and Amaryllis performed a an awe-inspiring combination attack, with the elegant swords-woman riding the sword-arrow like a skateboard, delivering herself right up to Behemoth's head. The monster flailed around upon receiving another shot, and attacked the two magical girls with three tentacles; two of them attempted to crush Katarina between them in a pincer move, but staggered from the heavy blows Amaryllis proceeded to unleashed; despite the monster's shifting body, it seemed unable to regenerate the wounds delivered by swords. Penny rammed into the monster with Earth Bastion, impaling the frontal cannon in the monster. To her horror, Penny felt how the cannon disintegrated into the void. However, the monster stumbled, its legs crooked. And then, Alex delivered another strike with his wrecking ball maneuver; the monster hit its frame against the side of the stadium from the impact, causing it to crumble from the sheer mass. The monster roared, and Alex was slapped by one of the tentacles, and his barrier evaporated from around him, leaving him unscathed. The monster's eyes focused on the opening left by his movements.

Brown Aurelio found Sally behind Earth Bastion; she was down on her knees, clutching her neck and breathing heavily. "Ghrrr..." She groaned, looking pale; it seemed the wound was more severe than she first thought. "Well, I guess I pushed my luck too far..." She whispered with pained wordsa, and lowered her hand to look at the blood on it. Green and Indigo Aurelios gathered up the saurviving civilians scattered around the field, bringing them to Sally's location. Suddenly, all of the mouths on the monster opened, releasing Revenant Miasma; like a squid, it cloaked itself in a smoke-screen, causing Amaryllis to be disoriented as she inhaled it. Katarina noticed movement in the smoke; the monster fell to its side, and like a slug, began to squirm through the opening of the stadium in an attempt to escape, reaching the parking lot. Penny was in perfect position to shoot into the creature's back. However, due to the distance, and the fog that surrounded the monster, would she be willing to risk destroying the rows upon rows of cars parked there?

---

Helga squinted her eyes; her claws twitched when the cloaked girl spoke, scowling in response to her grin. Her eyes shot down to see what she dropped to the floor, and they widened. "They're detachable!?" She exclaimed, and was met with Jelena's confirmation as she lunged. Helga wasn't completely caught off-guard, as she fully prepared herself for assault, and ducked under the arm as it was kicked upwards at her. However, she didn't expect her to shatter the arm into shrapnel, and curled up into a ball, absorbing most of the hits with her arms. "Ahhh!" She screamed, and then threw her arms to her sides, scattering the shrapnel away. She was bleeding, with a shard of metal sticking out of her left cheek. "I hated having metal in my mouth, ever since I got my braces!" She shrieked, and lunged at Jelena, scratching her defending arm and leaving a major gash on the metal before she stretched and fled to the next room. "Get back here! You can't run forever!" She then dove to a room perpendicular to the one she went to, purposefully testing her opponent's ability for tactics during combat. "Or don't you want to fight after all?" She used her magic to project her voice so it continued to come from the room she was in, while she attempted to flank her.

---

The spider girl laughed mockingly as Mika struggled under her strings, putting a hand to her mouth as the first spiders reached her, biting her arms and shoulders as she tried to swat them away; she incurred six bites in total, and despite their small size were as painful as that of a tarantula hawk, paralyzing the muscles on her arms. "Yes! Feast!" But then, all eight of her legs jumped from shock when she saw the two wheel skeletons drop right on top of her; thanks to the Beast girl's ingenious use of her magic, not only did she save Lupa and the Massacrer from the high-speed assault, she utilized them to mess up her web. The wheels continued spinning even as they picked up strands of her web; though they were stronger, they distracted Ronja just long enough for Shion to sneak close and fire the watch; though not quite as strong as she had estimated thanks to her low magical ability compared to the massive feat she attempted, it was enough to disrupt the Reinforcement magic of the web, and cause it to snap in half, releasing Mika. Most of the spiders fell off as a result, confused from being knocked around.

"No! Impossible!" She screamed, and snarled as Mika bashed the few remaining spiders around with a big bone, squashing them like harmless arachnids. "You'll pay for killing my babies!" She shot out purple webs from the tips of her fingers, but one of Lupa's clones jumped to intercept the attack. As a result, it immediately disappeared. "Hey, double-legs!" Lupa pointed at Ronja, and growled. "Nobody, and I mean nobody, messes with my pack!" She leaped, claws at the ready, and Ronja responded by creating a circular barrier patterned like a spider's web, deflecting the attack as she jumped back, swinging by a thread she launched from her abdomen. "You're quite swift. But no matter how fast you are, you can't escape my web!" As she swung into an alley, Lupa chased after, only to get stuck on a giant spiderweb she created as a wall between the buildings. "Silly doggy, uu huu!" She taunted, swinging around like a pendulum.

---

The religious man struggled in the witchs' strong grip, still having faith. "The angel will save me! By God's will, you won't get away with this." They cackled in return. "This will make for a good soup, yes!" "Yes, slurp his eyeballs right out of their sockets!"
Soon enough, two arrows of purest light, their aim as true as the righteousness in Alicia's heart, flew; one struck a witch's broom, causing the end to crack open and the witch to fall, while the other was struck in her arm, causing both to wail hideously. The man dropped, screaming all the way, until Alicia swooped in for the heroic rescue, holding the man in a bridal carry. "I'm saved! Oh thank you, God's holy envoy!" He hugged Alicia, whispering prayers of gratitude until he was set down. He immediately ran behind the nearest rock he could find. "I'm fine, but please save the others from the heretics!"
Alicia turned to see one witch standing up from the ground, her broom broken in her hand as she rubbed her back, while the other was flying over her, her arm limp and face in an ugly scowl. But before she could attack, the witch on the ground flailed her arms. "No more! I surrender!" She screamed, and the other witch looked confused.
The few witches that remained at the cathedral shrieked at the sight of the newcomer, and decided to run for it.

@Ariamis@Rune_Alchemist@Shifter_Master

---

Each sundering stroke left another silver scar upon the wretched behemoth as Amaryllis cavorted over the monster’s body, somersaulting over, and then landing on, one of its flailing tentacles before dashing up it and dragging the massive sword alongside her. It was weakening. She could feel it shudder underneath her heels, could feel it shake as that tank smashed into it.

But before the deathblow was dealt, her Sword called her back, a wave of dread forcing her away from the lunatic waltz moments before a black miasma burst from Behemoth’s orifices. Even with just a single whiff, the Knight of Rose’s fortitude failed her, repulsion clear on her expression as purple veins stretched up over her pale skin. One last thrust buried Katarina’s great sword into the base of the greater horror’s throat, before she kicked off, diving away from the beast as it squirmed and writhed.

It was trying to escape. She could feel it in her bones, felt it as sharply as the magical remnants she left behind on its body.
Tumbling gracelessly back onto the Earth Bastion, Amaryllis pushed down the vomit building up in her throat, anchored her rapier onto the top of the machine and closed her eyes, summoning whatever magical might still residing in her body. “Machinist! Hunter!” she cried, rusted roses bursting in full bloom around her. “Saintesses of Steel, lend me your arcane might, so that we may pull this foul creation back to the pit!”

And with that, a dozen chains of silvered ivy burst from the wounds Amaryllis inflicted upon the beast, heading towards the Earth Bastion to grasp and take control of.

Everything went off like a charm, and Alicia quickly snagged the man out of the air before he could hit the ground. A quick twirl of her wings saw her heading towards the ground some distance away, though not in the cathedral proper with the fight that was seemingly about to take place there.

"Of course. The Light of Beacon strives to protect all," she assured the man as he took cover, before turning to the witches on the ground. No heed was paid to those who fled, if only because she had something else much more important to focus on. They were someone elses problem now, and if they persisted in their activities then they would receive their punishment in due time. "You two," she growled, wings flared wide for maximum intimidation. "Your coven transformed two magical girls into animals back there at that cathedral. Change them back to normal, right now, and maybe I'll let you run for your life with the rest of your sisters."

Her glare remained as she strung her bow, aiming at the witch who remained on her broom. "You have five seconds. I suggest you choose wisely."

@Majoras End@Ariamis@MadManMoon@DarkwolfX37@BrokenPromise

@Ariamis

‘Kahaha!’ Jelena laughed as she was launched into the next room by herself. Her arm flew back and into its socket again as Helga jumped into a different room, Jelena following the movements by turning her head towards where she supposed Helga would be right now. ‘Don’t call me a copycat unless you lose all your limbs and replace them with metal as well! But then you’d be the copycat, wouldn’t you!?’ she called, summoning her metal shards back towards her, with the exception for the one stuck into Helga’s cheek. That one she could have further fun with. Jelena grinned at the nasty things she could do.

‘Teh-heh, of course I want to fight!’ Jelena called, tracking the metal and reshaping the damage to her arm that Helga had done. ‘I just need to litter my battlefield with my metal and the-HYA-!?’

@BrokenPromise

The floor under Jelena was suddenly removed by Su’s blasted around where she stood to make her piece of floor fall down into the room where Su and the monster-girl was standing. She made a quick, desperate grab for the ledge, except her destructive fingers instead tore through the ledge she was trying to grab ahold of and she instead fell down in a spin. ‘TSK…!’ She made a noise as she instead shielded herself with her other hand, shaping the metal into a shield as Su started shooting her. The first few blows came before Jelena had properly shielded herself, but things pointed to Jelena having decent Vitality to harden through those for long enough to just be launched into the wall again. Though, Helga was in the other room up above, a bit far away to finish the job.

However, that’s when two swords of ice cut along the wall around Jelena, and the section of wall along with the metal girl was sent stumbling along the floor of the adjacent room, momentarily safe unless Su gave immediate pursuit.

‘You’re outnumbered. Let’s pull back,’ Victoria’s voice could be heard.

‘Outnumbered!? You’re here, and Mayra’s over there, isn’t she!?’ Jelena complained loudly.

‘Thing is, I’m not me, I already left,’ Victoria responded.

‘Oh, hell,’ Jelena cursed, then her head stuck through the door to look at Su and the monster girl. ‘Hey, Mayra, give me a hand, here!’

‘Mmmm…’ the monster-girl lifted a finger to her lips and considered, before grinning widely. ‘Nope!’

‘Whathe- WHY!?’ Jelena demanded.

‘You froze me and kept me out of the fun! Su helped me put out my own fire, and I wanna follow her for a bit, see what she does~!’ Mayra responded, smiling, putting her hands behind her back over her tail and tilted her body in an overly girly way.

‘GEH!’ Jelena jumped back from the hole in the wall, and then a heated but whispered conversation took place behind the wall.

‘FINE! HAVE FUN!’ Jelena called in a voice that sounded like she wished her to be impaled on a spear for all eternity. There was then the sound of the two of them breaking out a window and escaping for now. Of course, pursuit’s still possible if Su feels so inclined. Mayra gave a girly little wave for them to leave, before offering Su her hand.

‘Mayra McCullough. Pleased to meet you~!’ Mayra grinned so widely and happily as she offered. Well, that’s something that happened. What now?

Then there was that Katelyn unleashed lightning outside, and Mayra probably looked in the direction despite there being a wall in the way, being like ‘Oooh, who’s that?’

@DarkwolfX37@Vocab

Shion duplicates and Katelyn might become aware of Jelena and a Victoria escaping the building, possibly looking up and then having a silent chatter amongst themselves before attempting to fall back out of sight. Meanwhile, there were more Victorias hiding out here and there in roofs, alleys and inside the building the fight had taken place in, just in case, watching, but none of those were interfering in whatever Shion and Katelyn were doing right now.