No mind control, good. Brainwashing though, that was bad. Since gaining the Psychic spec neither she or her sisters had really had time to hone probing minds. That normally wouldn't be a problem were it not for the Spark that forced Jenna out before she could get a grasp of how to properly heal Abigail's mind. She's definitely brainwashed like you had been sis. Spark pushed me out before I could get enough info though. We need to stop her resisting so we can figure it out. Thoughts?

One second. Dispatching a cultist Janet scanned around. The only ally that they didn't immediately know a fair amount was Alex. Skimming through the girl's mind would help with that. Somewhat erratic and snappy thoughts. It took a few seconds to sort through the blur. Lily has Lightning and Time magic. That didn't quite solve the issue. Keeping the other cultists at bay she weighed their options. We need Abigail out of this fight or on our side. If they could break through the barrier they could let Lily try and shock their friend and stun her. Not really a guarantee that would work or give them a large enough window. There was the potential that another barrier could be thrown up.

This short little exchange took place silently in a matter of seconds. From the looks of things they were starting to get the upper hand. That illusion didn't last long however as the Bates' aura came over the area. Abigale changed targets and picked up Janet along with Aurelio and one of his clones in an almost loving embrace thanks to her use of Gravity. Thrashed around like dolls there wasn't a whole lot that Janet could do other than try and strategize a way out of this mess. Reaching Janet she linked with the three she wanted to talk to.

’Hey, this is Janet. Sorry if this is an invasion of privacy but I'm psychically connecting us so we can come up with a plan. Abigail needs to be dealt with or she'll just keep trapping us over and over. Jenna was able to glean that her mind has been altered. We’re pretty sure we can fix it but we need more time to detail the damage to repair her mind without the Spark pushing us out.’

Lily was shocked, but managed to calm down as she recognized her.

’Yeah, she’s too strong to fight head on. We need to snap her out of it! I’ll focus on boosting you with my magic, so you’ll need to get in there and fix her up!’

’I can give us all a boost while Jenna works on Abigail.’

While they planned a new set of cultists moved in and the warlock burst out, awoken by the Bates aura.

’That's not good. Lily, if you think you can hold off the cultists then go ahead and speed up Jenna. She's going to need that extra time. Aurelio, can you calm Abigail from here? ‘

‘No?’ came the dazed response from Aurelio as he stood back up from getting tossed around by the gravity spells that Abigail has used ‘She’s not actually all that angry anymore, it vanished with that aura surge, so there is nothing to calm. Get me close and I have something that might stop her but I’ll have to focus everything on making it work’

’Working on it!’

’Wait, what am I doing?’

’Here’s what I’m thinking. Jenna, when Lily speeds you up you’re going to have to break through that barrier and get close enough to touch Abigail. That should allow you a better connection to read her. We will keep the rest of them busy and defend you while you work.’

’Hurry, you don’t have much time!’

’Sounds like a plan. Take point I’ll follow, you’re giving off good vibes so I should be able to amp you for a bit as well’

’Alright then, here we go.’

With a plan in place Jenna set herself up to start moving. For a moment she lost track of Lily as she seemingly teleported. She didn't have a whole lot of opportunity to heed Lily's warning. "Oh god I hope this works." The warlock closing in the girl braced herself as the time magic was cast on her. Having been through some pretty intense bursts of magic getting shocked was a new one. Seizing up Jenna's heart felt like it was about to burst out of her chest. Struggling for a moment the pressure subsided as the rest up her body caught up. "Damn that hurt."


For everyone else, including Janet, she watched as her sister was struck by Lily's magic and a blur flew past the defenses in seconds. Damn, time magic was seriously stuff. The knight didn't have a clue how much drain a spell like that was, but it was clear that Aurelio was feeling the strain. They had to keep everything else at bay and as per their talk Janet lifted up her banner as she activated her Rally Cry. "Take heart my friends and accept this gift. We will not fail this night!" Her voice boomed as her banner flashed with a blinding light.

The glow coming down Janet was exuding magic throughout the area. Lily, Jenna, Aurelio and his clones all being within range would feel the warmth of the the spell. Wounds would begin healing as their mana and mental fortitude would begin to replenish. Benefiting from her own spell she would use her defensive abilities to keep the warlock's attention. Making her way to intercept she placed herself in the path of the dark mage to keep him away.

---

Well the plan worked to some extent. She was free of the tar monster and tumbled to the ground. Thank goodness for her over boosted defense. Stretching for a second she could feel that more enemies were moving in from the darkness. This whole being blind thing was getting old. Didn't help that whoever was managing the evil forces now appeared to be bolstering them. Shannon could fix both of these problems though.

Raising her arms the exposed dirt in the area began to rise. "Should have started with this." Anyone that could see her might expect she was planning for an attack but instead dropping her arms to the side the dirt exploded into grains and rushed out in all directions across the battle field. Others fighting wouldn't see it until a wave of dust came flying out out of the darkness. The cloud didn't linger but a moment, settling over everything like a fine blanket of powder. Now sprinkled with her element Shannon could sort out with much more detail what was going on. It was still better to focus on the nearby, but she didn't have to rely on the jumbled vibrations in the ground as much. Assessing what was around her it was then that she became aware of Rebecca trapped inside the Tar Baby. It was a good thing that she had managed to litter the thing with dirt or she may never had known anyone else was there.

Sensing out the area again she made note of where the crypt was located. These things chasing her would not let her advance though. There were other options though as she let the enemy draw nearer. "You picked the wrong girl to mess with. Hope you like going on trips." Earth and air trembled before the immediate area suddenly became a vacuum as Shannon, Rebecca, the Tar Baby and the hoards of other creatures approaching were shifted into the Overcity.

Free of the oppressive aura Shannon took in a breath of fresh air. The dark clouds dispersed and the creatures were plainly visible and no longer bolstered by the Bates. "Let's see how well you fair without all that extra magic. Now, let go of my friend!"

Focusing the dirt around Rebecca began to move. It surrounded her, compressing and hardening into something of a harness. Putting her left arm forward Shannon used the rest of her Mana Font to hold the other pieces of dirt in the Tar Baby in place while jerking back her staff. The result would be the monster stopping dead while its prey would suddenly be pulled hard to break her from the things grasp. Avoiding touching the tar covered girl Shannon spoke up. "Are you alright? While it would be nice to go over formalities there was still the issue of the hoards around them.

Taking the time to properly map things out she could now get a clear idea of the size of the Tar Baby. It was big which made getting stuck by the thing a real problem. It seemed to have a rather simple goal in mind though, eat anything it managed to catch. Turning to the other creatures, they were lizard like in form and movement. They didn't appear to be made of the same substance as the Tar Baby at least. Letting them get close would probably be a bad idea none the less.

Beating the tar monster into submission was nearly out of the question. She could continue to fill it with dirt until it couldn't move, but that would expend a lot on mana without even addressing anything else. The little stunt with Rebecca though gave her an idea. Flinging tons of rocks, dirt, and other earthen debris into the Tar Baby she tapped into her Vitality using Blood Magic. "Lets see how hungry you really are." Up with her staff the material embedded on and inside the sticky monster lifted it up. Waving her staff the ball moved and rolled across the ground over the lizard things, trapping them in droves as they were pressed inside. This wouldn't eliminate the threat entirely, but it would reduce the number of targets significantly.

Like a ball and chain the Tar Baby was whirled around before, with a mighty heave, the mass of monsters was released and hurled into the distance. Groaning a bit the girl shrugged. Using some Vit was always such a pain. It was a great thing she had it in spades. Having cleared most of the field she balled her hand into a fist and slammed it into her open halm. A shock wave emanated where Shannon stood and shot an eye at the remaining reptiles. "C'mon!"

Seemingly having the upper hand she stole a glance in the direction that the crypt was in. At best in the Overcity it would be open and she could try shifting back inside the barrier. At worst it would put her right next to it where the worst of the fighting was likely to be.

The morning light filtering through the revolving doors of The Bowery, a comfy but unassuming hotel in Penrose, was abruptly scattered in the path of three particular youths entering the hotel. The first to enter, a girl with short black hair, scanned the hotel’s lobby with her grey eyes, noting the beautiful, flowery curtains. The second, a blonde girl in a blue coat, turned mid-stride to check over her shoulder to look at the last of their procession, a young man carrying a plain white mug in his left hand. Whereas the other two carried an air of professionalism into the hotel, he passed over the detailed, similarly rose-patterned carpeting with his right hand casually resting inside his hoodie’s pocket, sparing it a glance past the bags under his eyes.

The grey-eyed girl went straight to the Bowery’s front desk, and waited for the day clerk to offer them a room. The clerk greeted them with a smile, and as she confirmed their names, she seemed surprised. “Oh, we have a room available for you on our VIP floor. Just use this keycard on the elevator interface, and it will take you there automatically. Have a pleasant stay.” She gave the card to black-haired girl, and bowed.

When the three individuals did as instructed, and scanned the card on the interface, the elevator began rising up. Then, it stopped at the fifth floor...When the building only had four floors.

The elevator opened up to what looked like a smoky, shaded club, furnished in a vintage style, with roses as the motif. There were tables coated in checkered tablecloths with chairs around them, and a wide bar with unnaturally large bottles of liquor, each at least 10 liters in volume if not even more. There was a stage in the back, where faint black shapes wearing fedoras were playing moody jazz.



The walls were made of transparent glass, with nothing but darkness stretching out past them, just like the ceiling. The only source of light was from vintage streetlights that were inexplicably scattered around the club; they cast a morose, noir glow on various spots, leaving most of the club in a shade. The three soon realized that everything, including even themselves, was devoid of color; there was nothing but black, white, and shades of grey, like in an old movie.

“Greetings, Miss Rhodes.” The three heard the voice of a man coming from the bar; he was draped in shadows, holding a big bottle of wine, and pouring it to the tiniest cup of glass imaginable; however, even when he emptied out the entire bottle, the glass only seemed to get topped, and just as quickly drank away by a single swig.

“Welcome to The Bowery.” The man turned on his stool, and stood up. At that moment, the shadows parted, and revealed his menacing appearance. He snapped his fingers, and a shadowy shape began mixing more drinks, sliding them on the counter. The drinks bizarrely continued sliding in the dark air, until they stopped on the table right next to them, with not a single drop spilled.

“Have yourselves a drink; they’re on the house.”

Collector Delta - that is to say, Annabelle Rhodes - briefly directed her attention to the offered glasses, opening her Third Eye as she did so. The glasses themselves were magical in nature (no surprise there, given how much alcohol went into their host's glass) but the liquids within weren't. Delta didn't think he'd be stupid enough to try lacing them with Ichor, or even how much he knew about it to begin with, but in this business it paid dividends to be sure.

She partly turned her head to Scribe Xi and Lee Richards, nodding slightly. She shifted her gaze back to their host, her Third Eye showing her two more interesting details - that this Interdimensional Apartment belonged to their host, and that said host harbored a lot of power in the general direction of Shadow magic - before she closed it.

“How generous. Was the alcohol made the same time as the decor?” she said, raising a glass with the hint of an approving(?) smile.

“It’s vintage, if that’s what you’re asking,” he answered, stepping closer towards the group.

“Give it just the right amount of aging, and it’s a taste that never gets old.” Once he was about ten meters away, he stopped.
“But I didn’t invite you here to talk trivia, know what I’m sayin’?” He chuckled, the sound reverberating in the bar, causing the bottles on the shelf to jingle.

“You see, my boys and girls have kept an eye on you for a while. You’re new to Penrose, so I thought I’d lend you a hand. Show you the ropes, and whatnot. I’m even willing to deal in some information on more...hot topics.”

"Hot topics only old veterans like yourself can speak easy about?" There was a sound like fingers snapping, and Lee was briefly engulfed in darkness. Three seconds passed, and his outfit had changed. He was also carrying an unloaded tommy gun in his mug hand, the right one still in his jacket pocket. "Like writing up a pink slip with a dozen typewriters?" Lee said, gesturing vaguely with the gun. He turned to look over his shoulder at the band, breaking their host's line of sight to the gun.

When he turned back around he was carrying a mug again. "Ah, but just like we're not here to talk trivia, neither are we measuring each other's..." He gestured towards the glasses with his mug. "Cups. We're here to discuss business, as fellow professionals. It's why we agreed to meet, after all. So why don't we take advantage of your lovely furnishings and do just that?"

The figure’s attention seemed to be drawn at Lee’s mention of the pink slip, but then quickly returned to the jovial expression he had before.

“Glad to hear we’re on the same level; the less explanations I have to make, the better. Ah, I should introduce myself; Al Scarpe. Have a seat.” He sat down, his elbows on the table as he clenched his knuckles.

“Here’s the beef; our business here at the Bowery has kissed the curb. For a couple of reasons.” He leaned back to take something out of his jacket; it was an envelope. “First off, the Golden Grove.” He threw down a photograph on the table, in a manner similar to a playing card in poker. “It’s got a big problem with the conditioning; lots of filth around, it’s a danger to everyone. We need some handymen who can ‘air’ the place out, and clean it.”

Next, he threw down another photograph; it was a mugshot of a girl, with the name Binky written on the back.

“We also lost one of our ‘amicos’. She’s a dear member of the family, so I want her returned safe and sound. If you do this job,” he then took out a Black Coin, and flicked it with his thumb. “You’ll be given due compensation.”

Collector Delta scanned over the photos carefully. “...well, the jobs you want done are interesting enough...” She took a slight sip from her drink.

Scribe Xi spoke up. “If it's all the same to you, though, we'd like to see this in writing.”

"You know how important good bookkeeping is in business, Al. You don't mind if I call you Al?" Lee said, putting down the mug. He took the Coin with his left hand. He turned it over with his fingers as he talked. "It helps keep track of the coin, whether you're really in the black or the red." The Coin vanished mid-trick at that last word. "Making sure no one's cooking in the library," he continued, the Coin visible again as he resumed turning it over. "You know how it is. Dealing in good faith is well and good, so long as you know that faith is good."

Al smiled, and took a swig from his glass. “You’re as shrewd as you’re pretty, miss Rhodes,” he responded, and pulled out another envelope. This one had a wax seal, the emblem on it resembling a black rose. “Lucky for you, I got a contract ready.” With a flick of his wrist, the wax seal burned off in dark flames, and a small sheet of paper flew out; it seemed to be magically animated as it spun down to the table. The terms were simple enough; in exchange for services made, including but not limited to the destruction of the Golden Grove hotel and the retrieval of the target Magical Girl, the Archive would be paid for in Black Coins and intelligence. Scanning the contract with Third Eye would not reveal anything more. “Now watch; I’ll make this pen...Appear.” He pressed his palm to the table, and when he lifted it, a black fountain pen was in his hand. While such a feat would seem mundane in their world, Delta would notice that she couldn’t see any appliance of magic with her Third Eye. “Ta-daah. Now, I just need you to sign it, and we’re in business.”

Delta looked over the document in question… and frowned. She scanned the document several times with her Third Eye to confirm what she was seeing here. All it said was that for ‘services made, including but not limited to’ the tasks mentioned in slightly more explicit terms than what he’d just described them with, they’d be paid for in ‘Black Coins and intelligence.’

“If you really think that I’m as shrewd as I am pretty,” Delta said, her tone perfectly cool and collected. “Then that means if you honestly expect me to sign this contract as it’s worded, you must think I’m pretty fucking ugly. Because according to the insultingly vague way it’s currently written, by sticking to the letter of the contract you could get away with paying us with two Black Coins and the directions to the nearest Starbucks.”

Al flipped his fedora up as he leaned back on his seat, placing his feet on the table in a carefree manner. “You got me there, hah. I didn’t specify the exact payment, nor the deadline when they should be handed out.” He took the contract, and pulled out what looked like a lighter, setting it on fire. However, bizarrely enough, the paper didn’t burn to cinders, but instead glowed from the intense flames dancing over it, with Al holding it without seeming to mind it; the letters on the paper floated and shifted on the paper as he pressed his pen against it. “Now, how about you tell me what you really want, and I’ll jot it down. Doesn’t that sound better?”

Collector Delta said nothing. Then she stood up from the table. “Scribe Xi. Lee. We’re leaving.” Then she turned her back on Al Scarpe, and started walking towards the exit, her companions close behind her.

“Well, this is a nice dumpster fire,” Lee said cheerfully, waving over his shoulder at Al with his mug hand. “Have fun reporting this fuck-up to your higher-ups.”

Al’s eyes were hidden by the brim of his hat as he chuckled menacingly. “Oh, already putting your chips down, are we?” At that moment, the exit disappeared, swallowed up by the very shadows that filled the entire space, leaving no escape. The music in the place then changed in tone.



“But we’ve just started talking. Why don’t you calm down, and really reconsider?” He spoke up, lifting the brim of his hat. Delta and the others could feel how the shadows in the room seemed to extend, giving a more ominous atmosphere. “It would be an easy job for folks as talented as you.”

Collector Delta calmly took Scribe Xi’s hand, and started scanning the room with her Third Eye; she could see that Al’s magic had spread to every corner of the room, like creeping tendrils of darkness.

“Oh come on now,” Lee started. “It’s obvious we’re wasting our time here.” He gestured vaguely with the mug. “It doesn’t matter if the way you’re doing it is because of the paper, the pen, the ink, or even your own magic. You’ve already displayed the ability to change whatever’s written on that paper you’re holding at will. Your cheat’s been exposed, bambino.” Lee then tilted his head to indicate the darkness surrounding them. “And considering that you’ve just tried to get us back to the table by slamming your metaphysical dick on it, you’ve proven that you’re not interested in dealing fairly.”

Something in Lee’s posture radiated menace. “Unless, of course, you realized refusal meant it’ll be chopped off. Your dick, that is.”

“...A cheat?” Al pondered the word, and lifted his legs off the table. “Ma’m, I’m running a business here. Everything I’ve said is the truth. And this contract,” he extended his hand, and the paper swirled around it. “It’s made of the oldest of magics. Power so great even gods must honor it. Assuming I actually wanted to write up the terms on the fly, I couldn’t possibly change the words in it once the contract has been formed. And that only happens when both parties are touching the contract. What you see,” he threw it like a playing card, letting Lee catch it. “Is exactly what you get.”

The paper clinked against Lee’s mug, which hadn’t moved from his hand since Al made his toss. And, much like it had been all during this meeting, Lee’s right hand stayed firmly inside his jacket pocket. He simply watched as it fluttered lamely to the floor. Al also observed as the paper laid still on the floor. A moment later, it fluttered up, and began floating before Lee. “You can stare at it as long as you want, that won’t change the truth,” he added.

Lee's tone was persistently casual, though Al Scarpe could feel menace radiating from his direction like the rays of the sun. "...heh. You know, for an agent of the Mint, you're actually starting to be interesting.”

"But you know," Lee continued. "It's funny. Here you talk of what you see is exactly what you get... when you've been staring at nothing for a little while now."

Lee started to withdraw his right hand from his pocket, and-
"Did you get all of that?" Collector Delta said. She was sitting in front of the photos, still where they lay on the table. For that matter, Scribe Xi and Lee Richards were sitting in the same chairs they'd occupied since they first sat down, with a chair between the latter and Al. Nothing new there. The contract lay on the table in front of him, his pen was in his hand - and his hand felt like he's been writing with it for some time.

"You've done a good job keeping pace, but it would be understandable if you needed to consult Scribe Xi's notes on the exact wording we agreed upon so far."

Al didn’t respond immediately, his hand unnaturally fast as it wrote down and erased Collector Delta’s terms with perfect precision. When she was done, he chuckled. “I don’t need to consult your people, ma’m,” he responded, back to his jovial mannerisms. “It’s all written down.” With a dramatic flourish, he signed his name in the bottom. And then, slowly slid the flat paper across the table. ”Now, all it needs is your signature. Then, once we both touch it, it becomes official.”

Collector Delta took a moment to carefully read over Al Scarpe’s handwriting… then closed her eyes and sighed. According to this draft of the contract, the terms essentially boiled down to this: In a time of three months starting from the day the contract was formed, services by the Archive, including but not limited to the destruction of the Golden Grove hotel, the assassination of its magical residents and the retrieval of the target Magical Girl to Al Scarpe, are to be made and paid for in Black Coins, intelligence, and US Dollars. Which, while a great deal better written than Scarpe’s first offer…

She looked off to Scarpe's side for a moment. “...very well then,” Delta said. Her tone and expression were unreadable.

In the background, the music stopped. The musicians looked at their instruments in confusion. Their attempts to keep playing were only met with the same persistent, consistent results. The saxophone player let out mighty breaths, pressing the buttons furiously, but there was only silence. The pianist tried every key in front of them, even resorting to reaching into it to test the hammers with their dark fingers, but there was only silence. The bassist put more effort into their bow hand, gliding it across the strings with increasing passion and desperation… but there was only silence.

All those musicians could hear was the silence, howling in their shadowy ears.

Collector Delta simply sat in her chair, her expression and posture suggesting no menace at all. Likewise was the case with Scribe Xi. Lee drank from his mug, but all just as silent as the musicians.

One second, the vacant chair at the table was simply sitting where it was. Right next to Scarpe’s own, as it had been.

And in the space of a blink, it was a foot away from the table. There was no visible way it could have moved, nor could Scarpe recall any movement from it. It was just there.

Another blink. A specter towered over him, in the form of a powerful and foreboding man wearing a heavy World War II-style trenchcoat. From behind a pair of thick sunglasses, Al Scarpe could physically feel the weight of that cold, disapproving stare, even if he couldn’t truly see it.

Al immediately recognized who it was; even the absurdly powerful Ebon Mint coin broker tensed up at their sudden presence. “So you finally arrived,” he spoke calmly, having lifted his head just enough so that he saw from under the brim of his hat, as if shielding himself from directly looking at them. The musicians stopped, and the club fell even further into silence. All eyes were on the new arrival. “For the Blind Man, you give a hard look. Can’t say that about any of our other ‘special’ clients.” He took a look at Delta and the others, then back to the trenchcoat-wearing entity. “Then again, only few of them make personal appearances, so in that sense, you’re extra special. I suppose there is a reason you needed to manifest in the Prime Material.”

"Been here the whole time," said the Blind Man. He spoke at a slow, measured pace. "Erasing the memories of my presence, from your mind and those of your subordinates. A test of how you would treat my chosen. A balanced deal. Aware and unaware that I was here."

The Blind Man gave Al Scarpe a moment to process those thoughts. "You performed better than your peers," he continued. "Barely. So you will be the messenger. Or the eighty-fifth."

“Yeah, I figured,” Al responded, respecting the otherworldly being’s abilities. “I advise to refrain from tampering with our memories from here on. While we prefer to stay professional in these matters, we don’t lack the expertise to throw a troublemaker out of the house...No matter who they may be.” He tapped the brim of his hat. “But for now, I’ll let you keep those; think of it as a tribute of good will. Anyway, glad to have passed the bill. I’ll let my boss know that you’re a wiseguy.”

The Blind Man didn’t comment on that last sentence. “Now. To negotiate the terms once more. With your memories uninterrupted from this point onwards.”

---

“...And you have the right to deny any requests we make of you, as specified. Alright, that’s all,” Al spoke, after the terms were finalized. He held the contract out to the Blind Man. “Now, if you would be so kind...”

The Blind Man took the contract, regarded it one final time… then signed it, apparently satisfied.

While the Horror was still clutching it, Al looked at it, and nodded. “And with that...” He tapped the paper with his index finger; a whooshing sound could be heard from the paper as it rustled like in a strong wind, before it turned calm; the words on it were now engraved in golden letters.

“...The contract is established. Thank you for your patronage.” He snapped his fingers, and the shadows twisted on the back wall, forming an elevator door in the same spot it was where Delta’s group first entered the club from.

“I’ll keep in touch...But if anybody asks, we never met.”

Collector Delta left the glass on the table. “Thank you for your time,” she said, before walking away.

Scribe Xi simply got up from her seat. She made their way towards the elevator, following Collector Delta.

The Blind Man left the table in silence.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Lee said. Mid stride and back turned, he raised his mug as if to toast, before sipping from it.

They all stood within the elevator for a moment, before the doors finally closed. Al took a sip from his glass. “I wonder what’s gonna break first, Veronica: your stubbornness, or your little Cradle...”

...

According to Scribe Xi's phone, they'd left the Bowery in the general area of lunchtime. While Grandfather wasted no time vanishing into the streets of Penrose alone, the members of his Archive chose to go and grab something to eat. After slipping into the Catacombs for a moment, the three of them emerged halfway across town, in the Morioh Town area. Fortunately for them, there were still plenty Pope Layton
sandwiches available, so they got themselves three sandwiches and a table.

About halfway through their ketsu sandwiches, there was a notification on Scribe Xi's phone about a new text from Chloe. "I need to talk about our arrangements." There was a follow-up text with what looked to be her current location.

"It's not that far from here," she noted, sipping from a bottled cola. "We could probably just walk over without any fanfare."

Delta looked over at Lee. Would you like to come with us?

Lee shook his head. "Thanks, but she's more familiar with you two. Don't worry, I'll catch up later."

Xi tapped out her reply, then hit SEND. "We'll be there in 10 minutes." She got up from the table, finishing her drink. "Alright, then. Let's get going."

As the girls left Pope Layton to meet with their client, Lee sipped from his mug. Then, about a minute later, he sighed.

While Lee sat there, alone in Pope Layton, a figure landed on a nearby rooftop. They smiled, before placing a mask onto their face. A mask with a bright red letter 「A」 in the center.

A couple days ago, before the coming of the storms.

Penrose was safe, in a way, after the last wish had been granted. It was by far the biggest wish they'd granted in a long time. And it was likely to attract attention should anyone figure out the source. It was hard to say exactly who would sort out how such a feat was achieved. Despite what one might think, however, laying low wasn't something that the twins always had to worry about; their luck tended to keep them out of harm’s way most of the time.

Temporarily sheltering up in an empty office space, Violet and Sakura were lounging in some chairs playing a game of cards. It was a little interesting quark of theirs, but their magic didn't really allow them to play a proper game of chance with anyone except with each other. Anyone else would end up losing as fate simply favored them.

Having located them, Mariette opened her portals directly into the room where they were playing. She let them process that something had happened for a couple of moments, standing silently on the other side wearing her usual magical dress and holding her bunny, before she slowly walked into the room. Behind her, invited specifically because of whom they were meeting, was Eli. The little slime-girl was currently letting Mariette walk in first to scuttle in after.

‘Hey! We've come to visit!’ Eli called with a bit of a smile. Mariette looked at them with somewhat softer eyes than those she usually had, because of the wish in play that made them friends, currently letting them react first before the matter of why she had come would be brought up.

Third Eye was a handy power to have. The portal opening was fairly easy for Sakura to spot, though she didn't say anything to Violet as there was no need to. It had been a while since they'd seen one another, the friendship thing being a little forced of sorts. A majority of people they knew would rather use them so "friends" weren't always friends. When Eli spoke up though Sakura looked up and waved. "Hey, long time no see. How are you two?"

Violet would lean back in her chair till she could see their guests, somehow balancing the chair so it wouldn't fall, and a soft grin on her face as she did. "Hey there" She would add in greeting before looking around a bit "Where's Deni?" she would ask curiously somewhat expecting the slime girl to pop out of a shadow as she asked.

At Violet's question, Eli stopped short, smile faltering a bit as once again she was reminded. Mariette briefly closed her eyes as well, but replied. ‘Deni fell during our struggles with Justine von Visceral.’

‘My sister, she...’ Eli started to fill in, taking a brief break. ‘She defended her mistress and me. And it...’ She shook her head. ‘A-aside from that, we're fine. We won the day, after all...’

Mariette inspected the two closely, through a bit of her own pain. To see how much this wished friendship impacted them upon loss.

Violet was stunned, first by hearing the fact that Deni was... gone, then by the impact that came with losing her balance and crashing to the floor. She tried to say something, but eventually just let out a pained sigh. Loss wasn't an uncommon thing for the twins, but losing a friend still hurt.

Silently she moved to hug Eli, there wasn't anything that could be done now, and no words would truly help.

Opening her mouth to say something, Sakura only just managed to hold her tongue. She wanted to blurt out "Why didn't you tell us!?" But it was far too late to do anything about it now. Covering her mouth in shock for a moment she put the cards down and made her way over to Mariette. Knowing the portal girl wasn't a touchy feely type she gently put a hand on her friend's shoulder. "A-are you doing alright? I mean..." It was hard to piece together words to express herself.

Despite that it had been a while ago, the chance to cry again made itself far too powerful in a situation like this for Eli. Violet was hugged in turn, Eli planting her head against her and wrapping her wings around her as she cried again.

Mariette sighed out, confirming indeed that the connection went both ways. She raised her eyes to meet Sakura's, a bit of gratitude in them as she was also shown support. ‘I've been kept busy. Life is never quiet for one who's contracted to a Horror. In a way, it has helped. Kept my mind off it,’ Mariette stated earnestly.

"Mm... Well if you ever need to talk about it then feel free to come to us. Or anything really. We don't get that opportunity all the time either." She smiled reassuringly, patting her on the shoulder. Not wanting to stick to a solemn subject Sakura tried to move on. "I'm sure you didn't come here to talk about this though. What do we owe the pleasure?"

‘Thank you,’ Mariette said and nodded gratefully at Sakura's words, a bit unfamiliar with actually letting someone have a hand on her shoulder but it was fine here. Then... that matter, which had to be brought up. ‘You are unfortunately correct,’ Mariette started, with a tone that indicated this to be a serious matter.

‘I have allies that have issues with a large-scale wish you recently granted. The power of said wish was mentioned as a potential threat. They would have you killed, and it was suggested that it'd be by my hand. I have no intention of hurting either of you, and I'll defend you if I have to... but those I speak of are a dangerous kind. We need to discuss this,’ Mariette said, looking to the two of them as she said.

“Well, you could let them know that wishes like that are rare” Violet would add speaking up from her position on the ground still comforting Eli “You could also tell them that they can get the wish undone, though it would require them to take out the one who made it in the first place” she would add.

Sakura was slightly surprised that Violet would throw someone under the bus that had just pledged to defend them. If anything Amaryllis was an asset. ”Ooor… you could make a wish that would help protect us from your allies.” Even though Sakura was supposed to be the “Curse” there was still practicality to keeping some people around. They already had a fair amount of leverage on some of the bigger players in Penrose. But it seemed that their activity was beginning to draw the wrong attention. This kind of thing tended to happen when they stayed in one place too long. This town just happened to be a powder keg.

Mariette considered their words, her eyes narrowing somewhat. ‘I hesitate to make a wish to protect you from my allies. It would keep you safe from them, but in turn it would endanger me. If they found that I had made such a wish, I’d be accused of not having my patron’s best interests at heart, and…’ … A wave of dread flowed through her body, the very idea of opposing Asengav on any point terrifying her. ‘… And I can’t do that. Partly because that’d potentially draw Asengav’s attention to you, which we do not want, and partly because I would potentially suffer the consequences.’

‘The elimination of the one who made the wish…’ Mariette mentioned, looking them over. ‘We can do that. However, that won’t solve their worry of future wishes being used against them,’ she said, frowning a bit as she considered for potential solutions to that.

Tapping her finger against her chin for a bit Sakura tried to consider their options. There were a lot to choose from, but not all were necessarily viable for Mariette. ”Really so long as we have a good way to escape then we should be fine. Doesn’t have to do anything with people you know. An Interdimensional Home or the like would work just fine.” There was no need to get super fancy with a solution.

‘… You wouldn’t be safe inside an Interdimensional Home,’ Mariette told, dead-serious. Believe her, she has experience having her Interdimensional Home invaded. ‘That is…’ A thought occurred to her. ‘Unless I protect it with a couple wishes, I suppose.’ Mariette considered for a bit, and then raised her voice again.

‘Three wishes, correct? That’s how Djinns work, as far as I am informed?’ With that, Mariette crossed her arms and focused fully formally at the two of them, and gave voice to her thinking.

‘First wish. I wish you two an Interdimensional Home that will never be found or invaded by anything.’

‘Second wish. I wish that if the two of you are ever about to be killed or captured, you are automatically transported into your Interdimensional Home, where you can remain safe until the coast is clear.’

‘Third wish. … I wish that I will never be suspected of having made these wishes. This to protect myself from the suspicion of my allies, which should tie it all up nicely. … Is this possible? Your thoughts?’

‘… No, wait, hold on. Even with those wishes, you would still be potentially susceptible to blackmail. Hm. Eli? Would you be willing to wish for them never to have anything they hold dear to themselves threatened in order to get a hold on their actions?’ Mariette asked, looking over at Eli, who blinked and looked over from where she had been crying, slightly confused.

Mariette spouting off three wishes one after the other was somewhat amusing and endearing at the same time. It also showed how the girl deliberated. And while it would be fun to grant all the wishes then and there, the twin's patron saw them as largely unnecessary. Laughing a bit Sakura put her hand on her friend's shoulder to slow her down. ”Whoa whoa, you don't have to do all that. Give us some credit, we can handle ourselves pretty well. I think the first wish is more than enough.” Being a separate little pocket of space, when Sakura snapped her fingers to grant Mariette's first wish there wasn't much to show for it. However, in a pink puff of smoke the Djinn girl vanished for a moment before popping back into the room. ”Nice. May need a little redecorating but we can work on that.” She smiled brightly.

‘Hmpf,’ Mariette made a noise of discontent. ‘You can still be ambushed. I would like you not to overestimate your chances,’ she said, keeping her arms crossed looking at Sakura with an unsatisfied expression.

”Maybe. But now we don’t have to be wandering around and hiding in places like this.” Sakura said gesturing around them at the office space. ”It’ll be a lot harder to catch us off guard if they can’t trail us anymore. Does that make sense?”

‘… I don’t approve. I feel you’re pushing your luck. It would make me a lot calmer if you’d accept my second wish. There are beings out there who could capture you far before you reach your Interdimensional Home. I’d know, I’m one of them,’ Mariette replied, frowning as she replied.

‘I-I’ll be okay, thank you,’ Eli whispered now, to stand up and refocus on the current conversation and actually pay attention.

Sucking in her lower lip, Sakura seemed a little hesitant. She knew that Mariette was right. And by all accounts it would be the safer bet. However, the girls had learned the hard way that granting multiple wishes for the same person in succession was generally frowned upon by their patron. Although maybe he would let this one slide since it was for their protection. It would allow them to continue doing their job after all.

“Any time” Violet would reply just as softly as she too returned most of her focus to the topic at hand. She hadn’t really been out of the loop, hard to be when the Twins would share thoughts with ease.

“Part of the issues is our Patron” the darker haired twin would say “While it’s not a direct command, he tends to get really annoyed when we grant more than one wish to a person in single interaction. So while we don’t have any issues granting your other wishes, he might.” She would openly say as Mariette and Eli were friends, it was fine if they knew these things, Violet felt; after all it wasn’t like they were explaining the limitations on their magic. Just a bit how their Patron thought.

“That being said, Eli here can wish for something and it wouldn’t bug Cafer. So if you two are really that uncomfortable about it there is that.”

‘… Hm. No other choice, then,’ Mariette said, with regret in her voice. ‘Eli. Would you spend your second wish?’

‘Yeah, I heard,’ Eli nodded. ‘If it’s fine, I’d like to save my third wish for myself, so we don’t spend it on our mission. That said, I’m fine making my second wish now.’ So, Eli took a deep breath while Mariette looked curiously at her servant. ‘So, I wish that if the Djinn Sisters are about to be wounded or captured against their will they will be transported into their Interdimensional Home. … Does that work?’ Eli asked, looking to Sakura and Violet.

‘Hm. That would potentially keep you safe, but it won’t stop my allies from attacking you. I’m not sure I can convince them not to do it with the materials currently available to me,’ Mariette said, looking towards Sakura and Violet from here. In a “will you be alright” kind of way.

Waving her hand a bit, Sakura didn't seem entirely concerned per se. ”This is already way better. Our biggest risk was that we had to hide in places like this. Now we can do our thing and just vanish. Your allies would have to get lucky finding us on the occasion we aren't in our new home. It's not like this isn't the first time we've been hunted.” Raising a finger she wanted to make one last thing know. ”We just have one person we've seen that we plan to grant a wish for and then we'll lay low for a bit. Okay?”

Mariette breathed out a bit from her nose, not entirely convinced but it’d have to do. ‘Okay. Then, one last thing. Whenever you’re outside a building in Penrose, with the sky above you, be it in an alley or a main street… Assume there’s someone that will be aware of whatever you do,’ Mariette warned, her voice cautioning. ‘… I didn’t tell you that,’ she added after a second.

“We’ll keep it in mind and keep to ourselves,” Violet would say before popping away to her new house for a moment. “Set the wish into our new home, nothing's going to get in the way of it there.” she would explain before walking over to Mariette. “We will be fine, we have a few tricks up our sleeves incase things get really dire. I promise, we will be fine” she would reiterate tapping her friend on the nose lightly.

Mariette’s expression softened somewhat as Violet approached and tapped on her nose, something she surely wouldn’t let probably anyone but the Djinn Sisters do. Even Eli probably wouldn’t be let to do that. Being poked on the nose felt odd. Familiar emotions. ‘I will hold you onto that promise,’ Mariette told, looking between them. ‘I’ll try to visit more often. Perhaps we could even hang out… normally. I’d like that,’ Mariette said, able to say things she couldn’t to anyone else to these two.

Eli looked over her mistress curiously, aware of how unlike her usual mistress those words sounded. ‘Me too,’ Eli also filled in.

Nodding in agreement, Sakura gave Mariette and then Eli a hug. ”Definitely. We’ll get this whole thing sorted out and then we should be safe to hang out.” Leaving their friends out of further wishes on their accord would also protect against unwanted backlash due to threatening their patron’s plans.

”We’ll work on getting you a set of keys to the house later. That way once this is all done, you two can just drop by whenever the mood strikes you.” Violet would add on with a smile as she stepped back towards her sister. “In the meantime, we will get this next wish done then stay out of sight for a while. Kay?"

Mariette nodded to the two, knowing there were some things she still wasn’t saying but she’d get to that when the time came. For now, she accepted and returned Sakura’s hug and Eli hugged in, too, while Mariette summoned some of her power to open a portal behind her as it was about time. ‘Sounds good. I’ll look forward to it,’ Mariette replied, hoping this could be the case.
‘There’s a bunch of messes we’re currently taking care of, and lots of guests, but we’ll handle it,’ Eli said, attempting to sound determined. ‘You take care of yourselves… and thank you,’ she also said, so that she had said that as well.

With that, Mariette stepped backwards through the portal, and Eli eventually skipped back too. ‘… Good luck,’ Mariette wished, knowing what the future might hold. Eli did a little reassured wave, before the portal closed and they had departed the room.

”She’s adorable” Violet would say to her Sakura as they turned to leave as well. They had a wish to grant after all.

---

As the Rose Knight had continued to make her way towards the graveyard and its crypt, Annabelle had been trying to do what she could on her end. At least whilst her Patron was busy looking at other things. She was being drained of her life and magic, but...what she still had left not in her chain arm would perhaps suffice. Anything to save a bit of, er, 'juice' in case she needed it.

...and she probably needed it.



She'd managed to do this much, tap into the barrier surrounding the crypt itself. It was not a huge feat from the inside for her, due to her "unique" nature in regards to her and her patron. Though if she tried anything, Soth would in all likeliness notice. Plus it wasn't like she had the amount of power to remove the entire barrier, or force it all to power down at this rate. She was, after all, currently being drained like a battery in an old MP3 player.



A shudder of pain ran down the white haired magical girl's spine, even as the ritual chanting continued and she dug deeper into the magic of the barrier. Her face twisted into a scowl as the magical message run out inside of her head. Only limited access?! How limited was the access? Like "take down half of this thing" access, or "alter the permeability", or something else?!

Annabelle dug deeper as her nervous system screamed at her like it was on fire, the void-touched magical girl looking at various options and tasks that she could perform right now. Though the more she looked, the worse her options seemed to be. Most things seemed locked behind a required amount of power that she couldn't output, at least as a lone and not-well-off-right-now magical girl.

Though a singular option eventually flashed in her mind as she thumbed through everything.











She only needed to see the options that far down, though it was surprising how many more "operations" were here.

Maybe she could force open a small hole, though? Er...maybe enough for one or two people, but only for a moment. Maybe.

It seemed feasible enough, and it seemed her patron had disabled the ability to remove parts of the barrier already. Why, though? Did he halfway think she'd be able to do this much if he turned his back for a second? Or had he just been lazy about it all?

She could feel Amaryllis getting closer and closer, however, too soon to think on any other ideas. She had to do this, and now!



'Hurry inside! I am opening a part of the barrier, but it'll only stay open for a moment! And...be careful once you get inside! she communicated to Amaryllis, trying to urge the other girl inside. This, as an opening would appear before the Rose Knight's very eyes during her approach to the crypt...and not too soon or too late, either.

Annabelle gave a grunt as she tried to channel some of her Soth-given magical power, the stuff being drained from her actually, as she selected the 4th Operation. She could feel the power swiftly dissipate from within her, like casting a spell, and she could feel the part of the barrier open up.

Success!!!

But as soon as she did that the creatures and minions in the room stopped cold. Their eyes (many or fewer depending on the creature) swiveled towards her, cold, calculating, but most of all...alarmed. They had felt what she did, but more than this the darkness magical girl felt a tremor from the tentacles of Soth that were holding her up in the air. That only meant one thing, and perhaps it was the one thing she had forgotten to take into account. Or rather, she hadn't had the time to calculate if he-

Oh no.

No no no.

NONONONONONONO!!!



Soth had noticed. No, he'd even picked up on what she'd done when he wasn't looking. Was he that fast on the uptake, or just that powerful?!

Annabelle struggled as the laugh of her patron rung out again into the ritual chamber, rebounding against the walls like a great hammer. But as she panicked, her mind racing with thoughts, she lashed out with the magic in her right arm as well. Or rather, reached out was perhaps the better term for it. She'd recalled the image not too long ago with Amaryllis, even if unintentionally, and her magic grasped out at the one from that image like the hand of a drowning person.

In the girl's own mind, a message or few flashed by. But-







-wait a second.





Annabelle felt her connection to the barrier shut down instantly. Such was the power of her Patron, and she couldn't even feel out where to access the barrier anymore at that. It was terrifying, but before the connection had severed...



...The accidental message had made its way out. Albeit, within a limited range.

The call would echo across the graveyard, into the minds of all of those there. It rang in the heads of all with a blood-curdling echo, yet at the same time carried the weight and raw emotion that only the human spirit could ever output.

Yea, it was a cry for help in the most primal and easily understood manner possible.



@t2wave@MadManMoon@Shifter_Master@Ariamis@PlatinumSkink@Vocab@FamishedPants@Flamelord@ERode@DarkwolfX37@Card Captor@BrokenPromise

The tone of the meeting had changed as soon as Faith made her appearance, and tensions seemed to lower. That was until Cindy said she would accept Faith as a tribute. Faith let out a small chirp, and Lotus's eyes became cross again.

Beatrice was quick to regain her composure. "Heh, I wouldn't mind stealing another one of those~"

Lotus looked at the dragon girl for only a moment before gazing back at Cindy. ”Hmmm, you would like that wouldn't you? Faith is a forest goddess who rules most of the surrounding territories. To even pretend that you are wo-”

Faith plopped what was left of her banana in Lotus's mouth. ”Finish that for me please.” She grinned before running a hand through her hair. ”What Lotus was trying to say using dramatic licensing is that I'm not what's being offered as a tribute.” She turned to Beatrice. ”I'm not that easy, unless you happen to be a banana!~” Faith spun around and leaned into the chest. Her ankles and knees were locked, and she only bent at the hips. The transparent frills on her skirt didn't do anything to hide her hot pants, which were ill suited to covering the form they rested on. Lotus made sure to position herself between Beatrice and Faith for the duration of her search. ”I know it's here. We threw this thing together in five minutes, but I know I wouldn't have forgotten-” She stood up. ”Ah hah!” Faith spun around. ”Here it is!” She shook out a few red coins into her hand and presented them to Cindy. Then with a raise of her brow, she pivoted and handed the coins to Beatrice, who was more than happy to reach around Lotus to take the coins. ”These are red coins. Curious little devices. I don't fully understand how they work, but they change you in some interesting ways. Look at this.” She pulled a ribbon of sheet music out from behind her head. But upon closer inspection, it was actually a band aid. Faith reached for the broken lock in front of the chest and placed the band aid on the lock and smoothed it out with her fingers. In just a few seconds, the band aid faded away along with the crack. The lock was in perfect condition, minus the accumulated rust. ”I wasn't able to do that before. But take caution if you're going to use one. We were told they were experimental.” Faith paused for a moment before her finger shot up in the air. ”Oh! You also need this!” She reached into the bag again and pulled out a rusty key, which she also placed in Beatrice's hand. ”The key to the alliance!”~

Lotus looked at the key. ”You had the key to the chest, with you, inside the chest!?”

”The key to the alliance!~” Faith waved her hands for dramatic effect.

---

@FamishedPants@Vocab

Shona had already began climbing up the moment she attacked, having expected Katelyn to rise up. She trusted the arrogance that flying monsters had, thinking they were beyond her righteous sword. However, despite the astounding reach of her whirlwind slash, the dynamic dragon girl managed to dodge the worst of it, only managing to cut the tip of her tail off with her final leap. Unfortunately, this resulted in a position where she couldn't create a barrier fast enough to jump out of the railgun's way, and braced for impact with her glowing shield; she directed all of her barriers to her front, causing the shield to grow, sparkling like many stars. As the raialgun shot hit her, the shield broke, scattering into star-like sprinkles, and Shona screamed in fury, preparing another slash that would surely slay Katelyn.
"YAAAAAAAAA-"

The very next moment, Shona's eyes widened, having realized something strange; she saw that the world was spinning, round and round, dark skies and grey dirt passing each other in rapid revolutions.. Yet, she felt light...Lighter than she had ever felt before. Had she learned to fly? She wondered. Her second feeling revealed the truth; a great heat washed around her neck, followed by her helmet clanging against the ground, like the bell of Penrose's cathedral.

She had been beheaded.

"...C-Curse you...backst-tabber..." She groaned with her last breath as life swiftly left her, her body having hit the ground a second later in an even louder crash, creating a small crater. Her disembodied head was laying to the side, and there she saw what happened to Katelyn; she had fallen down face first, a pool of blood slowly spreading from her. She gathered that the dragon girl had suffered the same fate as she had, cheated on with a dishonorable, treacherous tactic. She could not let things end this way; even if she was her enemy, she wanted to uphold honor and chivalry, no matter the cost. With a last twitch, like a dullahan searching for what it has lost, the headless suit of armor slowly reached over to touch the body next to it, a slight glow emanating from her fingertips for a brief moment before it too became still, like the countless underneath them.

Silhouette's attack had slain both of her opponents. But it had taken its toll on her as well. She was completely out of mana, and felt physically strained as well. That wasn't even including the wound she inflicted on herself to trigger the spell. Normally her regeneration would stop the bleeding and start mending the wound, but without any mana, she didn't have any way to heal herself via magic. She was going to need help.

Silhouette could hear Veronica's laughter. It wasn't cold or evil, but a genuinely happy laugh. “Sam, that was extremely reckless.” Veronica sighed, but the joy was evident in her voice. “We might have to spar once you get back. Just make sure Mika is kept alive.”



Using the combination of wings and feet, Lupa and Mika easily reached the roof of the mausoleum, managing to avoid the worst of the whipping tendrils; a couple of them did hit Mika as they rose upwards, leaving nasty, stinging wounds on her. Sil's shadow was left to endure the wrath of the horrorling's its black shape indistiguishable from the frenzied little blobs that swarmed over it, rending it to pieces. However, its sacrifice allowed Lupa to generate clones around the two in a circle, ensuring their next action would succeed as the clones fought off the climbing, endless wave of abominations in a brave last stand.

“You alright Mika?”

Mika's brow twitched "I'm fine." She wore a brave smile. "Alright, looks like everything's in order." Mika stretched her legs before crouching into a sprinting position. "Are you ready?"

“On the count of ten!”

"One, two, ten!" All of the clones simultaneously jumped into the air as Mika and Lupa bolted forward. They were ready to tackle any of the minions in their way. In fact, having a minion or two present would be something to tackle and help cushion the fall as they flew off the edge of the building. The clones would not be joining them. Once they had flown to the maximum altitude, they picked up their legs and plummeted to earth shell first. With any luck, this would cause the roof of the mausoleum to cave in, covering wherever the horrorlings were coming from. When they landed, Lupa stood up and looked towards the mausoleum to see if their plan worked. Mika however took notice of Sam's weak form. While Mika had never seen Samantha's magical form, she had seen Sam during the meeting with Veronica and Eliza a few weeks ago. Mika's ears twitched."You're hurt!" She galloped over to Sam's side and activated her healing artifact. As soon as she touched Sam, she started to feel her wound close up. It would take some time for the hole in her chest to completely heal, but at the very least Samantha's condition wasn't getting any worse. "You got a little banged up." She giggled. "What happened to the knight you were fighting? I remember her from a story I read in the news. I think she was brainwashed. You didn't hurt her too bad, did you?" Perhaps it was the gravestones, Mika's innocence, or a trick of the light, but she didn't seem to notice the bodies of Sil's victims.



Mac hadn't needed to help Silhouette, but Lupa benifited from some extra lift provided by her gravity magic, and then again when they attempted to cave in the roof. But now wasn't the time to celebrate.

---

@Rune_Alchemist@Ariamis

Chloe could see it. The image of Penny having her arms ripped out by some monster boy. "If someone's going to take Penny to bed, it's certainly won't be you." This turn of events annoyed Chloe. Her orb glowed once again, but this time she was doing more than just summoning the spirits of dead pets. Some of them were defending her, but the rest were congregating. They leaped on top of each other, building up to something.

Helga was becoming more reckless with her attacks, but her fury was making her stronger. Divina looked quite surprised when Helga managed to put a sizable dent in her white monolith, but it still held up. It opened its eye and looked down at Helga.

”And this is why beacon hunts monsters, because none of you are like Elroy!”

None of Divina's feathers were able to pin down Helga, and her vibroslash was strong enough to scatter her projectiles to the four winds. But the monolith was ready with a projectile of its own. It launched a pillar of light straight for Helga, just as the vibroslash was about to make contact with its eye. It struck the eye, throwing a cloud of smoke up in front of Divina. The beam missed Helga, but the attack caused the ground to explode, filling the air with debris. Helga was thrown by the attack, but was able to get her feet under her before she landed on the ground. If she had enough wherewithal to notice, the ground was getting further and further away from her.

Su remained what she considered a safe distance behind Helga, keeping them both afloat with her wind magic. The monoliths had all but ignored Chloe in an attempt to protect Divina from Helga's attacks. They spread their wings and gazed up at the two with their single eyes. Fortunately they relied on their wings to fly through the air, so all Su had to do to keep the lasers off of her allies was blow gusts of wind over their wings. It wasn't ever going to destroy them, but it was all Su could do if she wanted to keep Helga and herself in the air. Because Helga had wings, she was in complete control of where she could move. The only thing Su could really change was her altitude.

”Helga!” Su was able to see the extensive damage Helga was powering through. She had hoped to confront Helga once the battle was over, but she wasn't sure if Helga would last through the battle like this. With the monoliths gathering below them, and Divina momentarily unable to attack, Su had a chance to act. She kept Helga far above her opponents and attempted to fly in front of Helga. ”Look at me!” She hurled another gust of wind at a monolith. ”I'm here!You're not alone anymore.”

”Are you in love too?” Divina spread her wings. ”Let us all test our love together!” This time, Divina was prepared to fire her feathers and monolith at the same time.

”Damn!” Su ended her own flying spell and cast a wind barrier on Helga to divert any incoming projectiles. It wouldn't offer her much protection from that beam attack though.

---

@FamishedPants@Card Captor@PlatinumSkink

It was an exhausting experience, but Alexander managed to free himself from the blob. While he stood there panting, the tentacles on the outside prepared to coil around him. But both Mayra and Emily's fireballs denied the slime creature its victim. It jiggled and hissed while continuing to to expand. The hole Alexander had leaped out of was considerably bigger now.

While Alexander was safe, the same could not be said for Emily. She didn't have much time to react to Mayra's surprise kick, and could only bring her gauntlets up to brace for the blow. It was still strong enough to throw her towards Alexander. Fortunately he was looking in their direction when all of this happened, and would have a brief moment to react.

Tonya was now standing up inside the slime, which was behaving more like a large barrier that surrounded her. The slime was getting bigger and bigger, as the void inside of it slowly grew. Much like a glass blower might shape a vase, Tonya was using her wind magic to shape the slime. It rolled forward so that the hole was facing the ground. That caused the slime to be propelled into the air. It soared several stories into the sky, hovering over everyone. Meanwhile, Tonya looked like she was undergoing a transformation. Bark was starting to cover her skin.



Tonya opened up her hammerspace again, and it practically rained spider covered apples. Not only that but dry leaves, twigs, and stones as well. All covered in spiders. The different shape and weight of the objects caused them to behave differently as they were fired out of the bottom of the slime. The leaves almost immediately fluttered off to the side while the less aerodynamic objects were blasted towards the earth. The “balloon monster” strafed side to side in an attempt to hit as many people as possible.

---

[@t2wave]@Vocab

Shifting the fight into the over city had an immediate effect on the monsters. They seemed to be moving slower, especially the giant that held Rebecca in its jaws. The life-sapping curse was having an effect, but it didn't weaken its grip enough for her to escape.

Shannon was able to lock the dirt around the tar baby in place, and make a “rock lasso” to pull Rebecca out of it. But the imposing monster wasn't going to just let go of her. It fought against her magic and tried to keep its mouth closed. Rebecca was in excruciating pain, as her stone cocoon was being pressed against her by the beasts mighty jaws. She could feel the stone barrier collapse around her chest as jagged stones were driven into her. But eventually her curse won out, and the creature was too weak to wrestle against Shannon's magic. Rebecca had been freed from the Tar Baby, who simply collapsed out of exhaustion. It would not remain this way for long. Shannon knew that fighting the tar baby was a waste of time when there were more pressing concerns to deal with. She was successful in wrapping up the Tar Baby, several of the invisible lizards, and throwing them far, far away from herself.

Shannon then prepared to enter the crypt by way of over city shift. This was more difficult than one might imagine, as moving the correct distance the crypt was in the mortal world didn't translate to the overcity in a way that made sense. Moving to where the crypt should be could cause Shannon to end up anywhere. She could end up several feet past the graveyard, or even further away from the crypt from where she entered. But it was a risk she was willing to take.

A risk she would have liked to have took.

Rebecca and Shannon could hear the sounds of snapping before they were both pulled into the air. Behind the ball of dirt were several dusty invisible lizzards, all with their mouths open. The two magical girls could feel something stuck to their back. It did not take them long to figure out what had happened. The invisible lizards had long sticky tongues, and the ones in the ball stuck to the ones still around Shannon and Rebecca. This created a chain of lizards that was able to take the two magical girls along for the ride. At the speed they were moving at, it was impossible for them to draw in their prey and devour them. Before they could free themselves, they noticed the ball of dirt was headed towards a strange sight...

---

@Shifter_Master@Ariamis[@t2wave]

Lily had managed to spare a few of Aurelio's clones from certain annihilation, and was doing on heck of a job keeping the emerging cultists at bay. Few of them were able to get up a shield before they were mowed down by arrow fire. But there was little she could do to free her friends from Abigail's clutches.

Fortunately the four were able to have a quick pow-wow and talk strategy thanks to the twins psychic magic, and had a much better idea of what to do. Good thing talking is a free action

Jenna surged forth under the spell Lily had placed on her. Between Jenna's newly acquired speed, and Aurellio's distraction via clones, there was little the warlock could do to impede her. He was dispatching the clones one at a time, but it seemed he was going to be tied up with them for a while. He had impressive strength, but lacked the speed the clones had. Five clones left, now four.

The nebulous energy from the large monster powdered Aurellio's solo clone, and it could feel magic building in side of itself. One could only imagine the mana coming from a focused beam of this stuff. No wonder Abigail wasn't running out of mana. It could use this energy to cast its own spells, or hand it off to one of the other magical girls.

The remaining cultists surrounding Abigail and her mana beast were few in number, and Jenna could easily walk past them. She was able to get ahead of the spark and really examine Abigail's mind this time. It seemed that whoever warped Abigail's mind had rewired all of her emotional responses. Abigail was very much herself, but her brain had been tampered with to make sure that she couldn't go against the Bates wishes. Regina had placed herself so high in Abigail's mind that she would turn on her friends, family, and even risk her safety if the Bates willed it. It was possible that Abigail was aware of all this, and was trapped in her own mind, unable to act on her own intentions. Armed with this knowledge, she could now heal Abigail, and possibly the other Beacon buddies.

But they vanished. Abigail, the mana beast, and Jenna. They seemed to just pop out of existence. Janet's spell didn't reach her, but she was able to sooth her other companions with her magic. Without Abigail's spell holding everyone in place, they were free to make their move.

Meanwhile, Jenna and Abigail would find themselves in the over city. But this space wasn't empty. There were all sorts of items from a melting glacier, a road roller, and a statue of a manatee, and other large objects scattered about the checkered landscape. Such objects must have been moved here recently for some reason. They all looked relatively heavy and had to way at least a ton each.

Abigail immediately flew away from Jenna, who was considerably slower now that Lily wasn't able to channel electricity into her heart. The beacon buddy didn't look too pleased, and her mana beast was still firing its laser at her.

”Not gunna stop, huh?” She pointed at Jenna. ”That's fine, if you won't stay out of my head, I'll crush yours!” Jenna might have been able to reinforce her defenses, but without anyone else present to disrupt Abigail's spell, she was only delaying the inevitable. An unfortunate circumstance to be sure. ”Gheaaaaahhahahahahahahaha!” She taunted as Jenna squirmed. But then she looked off to the side and her eyes expanded. ”What the h-”



@Vocab

The ball of dirt, tar, minions and monster girls narrowly missed Abigail and Jenna. When the ball landed, it broke apart as Rebecca, Shannon, and the tar baby rolled through the rock's remains. They were dazed, but otherwise fine after the landing. The same couldn't be said for the lizard minions that were vaporized on impact.

”W-whatever! I'll just use my greatest spell!” All of the nearby objects started to float in the air. The mana beast, the odds and ends, but not the magical girls or the tar baby. Once Abigail and all of the objects were far above everyone's heads, she screamed the name of her greatest attack. ”TSunder-Fury!” Everything and everyone was warped back into the battlefield. Aurelio was hiding in the garb of a cultist, Janet was healing everyone, and Lily was still shooting fools. Abigail was surrounding herself with a repulsion field. It wasn't too strong at ground level, but that likely wouldn't be the case as they got closer to Abigail. Meanwhile, the excruciatingly heavy objects were being thrown towards the earth like the fist of an angry god. A statue of a mermaid hit the ground and exploded into stone shrapnel. Everyone could feel the ground shake with every shot. The rate of fire was slow, but Abigail was clearly aiming to kill, and she didn't care how many of her allies she wiped out in the process. Abigail didn't seem to be prioritizing any of Aurellio's clones however. Not with a direct hit at least. Abigail appeared to be more interested in flattening out the other magical girls present.

The tar baby looked like it had enough of all the fighting, and was actively trying to run out of the battle before it was caught inside one of Abigail's craters.

---

@Flamelord@DarkwolfX37@Rune_Alchemist@Shifter_Master@ERode

Regina was in a tight spot. The train's light would certainly make it hard to shadow step out of the way. Fortunately the light wouldn't ever reach her. The dome of darkness Regina had cast on the mouth of the archway might have been a cloud of shadow to most girls, but not her. Darkness specialized girls could see in the dark no problem, and that included her dome. She was able to see the train moments before it emerged from the dark dome, and was able to shadow step out of the way. The train was a blur it was moving so fast. It sped off the tracks and collapsed in a heap in the distance.

"That was close!" Regina was panting.

Rina was able to keep ahead of the giant dragon head that was chasing her. It wasn't too hard for her stay ahead of it so long as she focused solely on avoiding its attacks. She wasn't able to hear Amaryllis's call for aid due to the deafness curse Regina had placed on her. But that was starting to wear off, along with the strength-sapping curse.

Elroy missed his target, but not because of any lack of trying. Alicia and Summer were whisked to safety on the seraphs wings, and Alicia's glowing sword prevented Elroy from pursuing. "I thought we were having fun!" Penny's rocket arm stopped Elroy from pursuing further, and he turned to face Penny moments before they collided. She managed to cut into Elroy's top most arms, but before she could cut all the way through, her chainsaw caught a hold of Elroy's cape and dragged it into the saw. One of the reasons professional lumberjacks wear Kevlar leg guards was because the Kevlar can easily bind up a chainsaw before it cuts through their legs. While Penny's chainsaw was far stronger than anything a lumberjack could hope to access, Elroy's cape was also considerably stronger then Kevlar. It blinded up the saw long enough for Elroy to place his foot on Penny's chest and kick her away. "Hey! You spent a lot of time on these!"

That was when Annabelle's call managed to reach everyone in the graveyard, including the intended recipient.

"Annabelle?!" Regina's voice was trembling. "Elroy! Annabelle's in trouble! We need to stop this now!"

Elroy, the boy who always smiles, through pain, through hardship, things sinister and sweet. He turned to face his sister.

And he scowled.



"Are you seriously springing this shit on me now?"

"The entire reason why we're doing this is to free Annabelle!"

"Hmmmm, no." He chuckled, but his anger was still apparent. "No no no no Regina. We're doing this because you wanted to do it. That's the only reason why we do anything. Fight at the hospital? Your idea to help out those ass holes. Fight at the garage? Because you put fake memories in my head to incite my wrath. Guess part of you needed to be reminded how much I used to care about you. Establishing a team of Beacon girls because of some petty grudge you have against Beacon? Definitely not my idea. I also get nothing out of the relationship you and Annabelle share. But I can see how someone as fuckin' needy as yourself can easily forget about the needs of your only true friend." Elroy was growing in size, He was easily taller than the crypt at this point.

"E-elroy, How could you-"

"I'm tired of your games, I'm going to live for myself moving forward." In a puff of black smoke, Elroy transformed into a true monster king. He was easily the largest thing in the graveyard, standing taller than even most full sized monsters. He looked like a black centaur with a few extra arms, made out of obsidian and aegis. "Soth can have this world, there isn't a single thing in it I want!" Elroy charged towards Penny, ready to deliver a beat down. After his transformation, Penny's rocket hand was no longer able to contain him and simply fell off.

But Penny had also undergone something of a transformation. The cartoon train was not made out of traditional metal, but the engine of destruction could hear it call out to her. The parts of the train flew towards her and built Penny up to be something equivalent in size to Elroy.



”Well this is turning into a nightmare, but that was to be expected.” Amaryllis was able to enter the barrier, but by the time Alicia, Summer, and Sammy got there, it was sealed up again. ”Oh... you lot again.” Sammy adjusted her cap. ”I knew you were behind this somehow. Don't think you can stop me from opening this barrier. Big Tony is stronger than he looks. If you so much as think of laying a finger on me he'll ravage you like a fat man would his cake.” She remained on a gravestone just outside of the crypt. ”Now, so long as you don't interrupt me, I should be able to get past this barrier you've put over the place.”

Meanwhile, swarms of imps with tridents stormed into the area from all sides. These were not Soth's minions, but lesser monsters that decided to show up along with the arrival of their king. They were charging down all lanes of the cemetery but seemed to be ignoring anyone standing on top of a gravestone, and stayed clear of Elroy and Penny for the moment. Anyone still on the ground had some fighting ahead of them.

Amaryllis was inside the crypt, and it was just a long chamber between her and Annabelle. A few cultists had come out of the main room to slow the rose knight down.

'Fuckkkkkkkkkk!' Alexander mentally groaned as he saw the incoming magical girl. Acting quickly, he tossed up a barrier between the two of them. However, since he was still catching his breath after that ordeal in the slime, it wasn't as strong as normal. His body was slightly achy, and he found that it took actual effort to maintain his Beast form. He was suddenly filled with a strong desire to find Lily and bail. But he knew her too well to think he could do that; she was a bleeding heart. There was no way she would leave if there was something she could do to help. So right before Emily crashed into his barrier, Alexander sighed and wordless cursed Lily for being too nice a person. That was definitely the only reason why he was here. Yep...just because of Lily and nothing else.

@BrokenPromise@FamishedPants@PlatinumSkink

"Strange to see a magical girl with the very specific power to speak when they're decapitated."

Silhouette's voice was perhaps the last thing either of those girls had heard. The rest was silence. In the end, the only one left standing was a weakened, injured, and exhausted Sil. But that was enough. Because the irony was that despite manipulating time, she always seemed to be low on it, and thus she could not spare any for something so foolish as chivalry. The knight merely had herself to blame for her anticlimactic death. Had she not spewed vile words about how terrible Sil was? What had made her think she could expose her back and not be stabbed? An assassin like herself could not pass such an opportunity.

With her target and the glorified obstacle no longer a threat, she sighed, only to cough up some blood, which she wiped away from her mouth with the back of her hand, then applied some pressure on her wound. Unfortunately, while the act of eliminating the both of them wasn't exactly difficult, the power she possessed came with a hefty price. Left in bad health and lacking mana, she'd need aid, which was also ironic, given her remaining objective.

Fortunately, the wait for assistance was not a long one.

Sil could hear Veronica's laughter, and with that, she somehow felt some of the pain go away. When it is kill or be killed, hesitation begets missed opportunities and a swift loss of life. Inversely, If you dare, the very world will briefly yield, providing you everything you need to succeed. she mentally responded to Veronica. Given that Silhouette was characterized by her concise replies, this was probably noteworthy. I have no plans of failing.

Though she was determined, she understood she was in horrible position to follow up on it. Honestly, it wasn't clear to her how she'd accomplish her current task, only that because Veronica willed it, it had to be done. It was going to be done.

"..."

She wanted so desperately to sigh in relief when Mika arrived, but doing so would likely hurt. It was also her intention to save every breath she could for when things went sour, a high possibility given things went well for once. While weak, she was still on her guard. She wouldn't succumb to any opportunists there might be here, at least not without seeing them first.

"...I appreciate it..." she managed to breath out her gratitude to Mika for easing her the burden her body was experiencing, but felt a little embarrassed by the fact that she was the one being helped. Silhouette, if only out of pride, vowed to return the favor if she could manage to regain the energy to do so. Yes, she wasn't someone who exhibited a selfless desire to repay someone, it was just that not doing so would tarnish her reputation... or something.

Deciding that thinking too hard on her reasoning was pointless, she listened to Mika's question. Brainwashed? Maybe that explains her aggression. Silhouette wasn't sure if Mika was blind or what, but she clearly didn't catch what remained of Sil's prior obstacle. So to avoid dwelling on a pointless subject, she answered the girl. Sil opened her mouth to speak, making a 'sh' sound, but closed it again. She wore a somewhat confused expression, but then finally spoke. "...She left, but... I doubt she's hurting much, if at all." Silhouette lied as naturally as she breathed. "But there's... no reason to worry about her... if she's not going to impede us. Instead, lets focus on what's ahead..."

Silhouette thought to herself. She had just spoken about hesitation, but then she found herself a victim of said trait. Though she excused herself. The reason was solid enough, for she had tried to relay knowledge she did not actually wield.

What was her name again? I suppose it doesn't matter. They're simply two nameless bodies added to the count.



"Kuh...!"

At first, Emily was happy to have the additional help from Mayra. With the three of them, they should be able to overtake the brainwashed girl without killing her. Considering they were strangers, she couldn't let her guard down entirely, but she had done so enough that she didn't have enough time to avoid the kick, so she did her best to mitigate the damage received by blocking.

It still hurt, and as she was sent flying, she cursed her stars in bitter grief and woe. She quickly did her best to slow her air speed by shooting jets to try to propel herself in the opposite direction she was sent, so when she collided with the barrier, it wasn't too painful.

Grunting, she looked to Mayra. Her expression wasn't anger, but rather sorrow, or maybe disappointment? Perhaps a mixture of the two. It pained her to be forced to fight a sister. But that was the extent of what she did, as she had to focus on what the other magical girl was doing. She kept an eye on Mayra, but the immediate threat was the spiders coming down. Thankfully, she was rather proficient in waveclearing, so she shot wide blasts of fire to intercept the spiders, at least until Mayra tried to do something. "Hey, you need to pay attention!" she called to Alex, who seemingly hadn't noticed the newest barrage of spiders.

Lea watched blankly as Kimble responded favourably to her suggestion and took off. Hm, she did have some manner of skill, making this a bit easier. It almost made her wonder. Would she benefit from adopting a cat? Having a sidekick that was hers and only hers, that she actually could trust her back to, it would be nice. The way Mariette had Eli…

She took out a phone and called a number while slicing another tornado. She immediately started talking when she heard the phone be answered.

‘How much can you get from within the smoke of the graveyard?’ Lea asked. She then listened to the reply. ‘Is there a chance they used it specifically to cloud them from you?’ Lea continued. The reply only made her frown. ‘Hmpf. I sent in Mayra, as she’s the one of us that best suits surviving in unknown circumstances. Hopefully she’ll be able to give us detailed reports.’ Regardless, next point.

‘I just introduced myself as Frida Merkel. Remember it for me,’ Lea told the one on the other end while cutting another tornado with a blast of wind. ‘… You’re as impressive as always. There’s one more thing you can tell me. Who is Kimble?’

_______________



‘Hahahahaha!’ Mayra laughed as Emily was knocked back into Alexander, looking really happy. The “I’m not mad, just disappointed” look didn’t seem to affect her particularly. That’s, however, when Tonya decided to take it up a notch and decided to make it rain spiders on them.

‘Woah!’ Mayra jumped back and blasted a wave of fire around her to clean out the initial infestation around her, somewhat wide-eyed as she looked. ‘Woooo, enough spiders that I’m wondering if you kidnapped Ronja! Hahaha! Guess I should take you seriously!’ Mayra said, grinning at the girl undergoing her transformation. Orbs of fire started taking shape around Mayra, and she grinned in Lucifer’s direction…

‘I really, REALLY want to fight you! … But I suppose I was really sent here to beat up horrors, so I guess that can wait a bit!’ then she turned to look at a grin up at Tonya. ‘You’re not the only one who can summon monsters!’

With those words, little floating creatures emerged from the orbs of fire around Mayra. Their outer shells held together shoulders, arms and a horned head, but their insides burned in nothing but fire, and they were channeling this fire to bear on Mayra’s enemies. Each was only around a meter to a meter and a half in height, but floated with a stream of fire jetted down. The orbs vanished quickly after the creatures had emerged.



‘Alright, let’s do some exterminating~!’ Mayra called, and then she and her minions alike charged into the field of spiders, blasting fire in sweeping motions to eradicate the spiders and shooting up at the source if they could spare the time. The minions fought by throwing the fire in their hands as little fireballs but also by swinging fiery first with reasonable competence and being composed of fire. Of course, Mayra was way more capable than the numerous minions she had summoned, but the numbers helped in the war against the rain of spiders that was coming down upon them. The spiders of course still had the numerical advantage, but Mayra did what she could to sway the tide.

Angling in behind the mysterious interloper, Alicia's face wore a scowl as the barrier opened for the figure, only to close seconds before she and Summer could teach it. "Tch, typical," she grumbled. The last time someone had run off by themselves it hadn't worked out too well. So they had better start looking for some way to get past this barrier on their own.

If anything, her scowl deepened as she turned to see just who else was present at the crypt. "Not you again," she muttered to herself with a sigh. Sure, she might not be a threat, but it was much too soon for Alicia to want to deal with this nonsense again. Not that Sammy was particularly endearing herself with that sort of attitude.

"Oh yes, we're definitely responsible," Alicia replied with an eyeroll, wondering if she was maybe too blatantly obvious about her sarcasm as her fists clenched. "That's why we're standing out here trying to get inside the barrier, rather than trying to stop everyone else who's trying to get in." God, which deity had she ticked off this time, and how?

Before she could comment on the situation more, things took a turn for the worse. As far as she could tell Elroy was having some sort of emotional breakdown due to....well she didn't actually know why, but it was happening. Her head rose, almost earning another sigh as she shook her head. "You've got to be kidding me." At least Penny was on hand, already growing larger through assimilated metal to fight him, just like she had with the ice golem from before.

But they had a situation on their hands, more monsters storming into the graveyard in the distance. Loath though she was to admit it, Sammy was the least of their problems now. Her sword vanished, Star Seraph returning as she redirected her magic to ranged alternatives to deal with the large waves of beasts. "You'd better get a move on. We're about to have a lot of company," she called, before lowering her voice to talk to Summer. "If you can use your powers to bypass the shield somehow, then do it. Or find some way to keep Gumshoe here from slamming the barrier back in our face once it's open." She wouldn't put it past her to try that kind of trick.

Stringing Star Seraph, she joined in the defense, a trio of arrows arcing skywards. At the apogee of their rise they burst like fireworks, sending smaller arrows lancing down into the waves of monsters to cut them down to size. They didn't have to kill them all, just buy time to get inside the barrier. The longer she could keep these things away from Summer and Sammy, the better. She would just have to trust that Penny could handle Elroy.

Though speaking of that, where had Regina gotten off to? She still had a bad feeling about that.

@BrokenPromise@Shifter_Master@DarkwolfX37

"I'll think of something!" Summer replied, heading towards Sammy. "Hi again! Still after Binky? I'd appreciate it if you'd stop. She's a nice girl and she's got things pretty bad... Well, better now that she's under Beacon's protection, but still not great. Anyway, if you could open this barrier like you claim, it'd be really interesting to watch. In fact..." She paused and reached into her handbag pulling out a video recorder. "I'd like to record it so I can learn from you!"

---

Shion continued waiting for Cindy, wondering when it would finally be her turn to speak with her.

---

@BrokenPromise@Flamelord

Amaryllis never stopped.

As the barrier closed around her, as she was isolated from the rest of the world, the Knight of Rose didn’t spare a second glance backwards. Before her was the incomplete avatar of a Greater Horror. Before her was a foe that would put that demon at the stadium to shame. Before her was what anyone would consider a Demon King.

She sped up, midnight blue hair streaking behind her as malformed puppets of the monstrous devourer sought to slow her. The blossoming of the petals counted down their execution. The flash of steel slew them more gracefully than they’ve lived. They fell apart, silver closing their mortal wounds before a single drop of their vile blood could stain the air.

Her Sword sang, delighted at the appetizer, its hunger only amplified as Soth’s presence grew and grew.

She was in.

The chamber was vast, walls engraved with sigils profane and obscene. Lesser horrors mingled with cultists, their taboo deformities sticking out clear in the magenta glow. In the center was the only object of beauty within the room, an elaborate, treasured altar made grotesque by the content of its embellishments. Gaudy and tasteless was the correct manner of looking upon it. This wasn’t some alien beauty that humans weren’t able to comprehend. No, this was just the set of a bad horror movie, complete with sexually exploitative shenanigans one would expect out of such a schlocky creator.

Amaryllis grimaced, dropping her mask for just a moment, the sheer magnitude of malevolence giving the Knight of Rose pause.

“Disgusting.”

Three soundless step transported her before the enraptured maiden.

One hundred strikes turned her bonds into minced meat.

A single flick cleansed the mirrored blade of filth.

She turned to face the corpse that would soon become the vessel of an evil god and raised her Sword towards the sentient emptiness that dominated this crypt.

And she spoke.



But that was mere formality.

No heart laid within the Infinite Abyss.

In the few moments that Jenna had she was able to completely map out the damage that Regina had inflicted to the Beacon Buddies minds. No doubt it was the same for all of them. With this knowledge they could begin the repairing of... Any plans to make a quick correction vanished when she, Abigail, and the creature powering their friend were moved into the Overcity. There was hardly time to get a good look around before she was caught alone in the gravity girl's grasp. The only silver lining came in the form of a black ball of squirming creatures seemingly dragging along two very surprised magical girls.

"The hell..."

"Stupid lizards."

All present looking up as Abigail's attack was set up they were all moved back to the normal world. Now the madness really began. The objects brought back with her were beginning to come down with deadly force. Whirling around Shannon tried to identify who was friend and foe. Her power made quick work of that. Likewise it didn't take much effort for the knight twins to figure out the the two newcomers were not enemies.


Having taken in the situation there were few that could take a hit from the attack baring down on them. Hell it likely had the force sufficient to even snuff out Shannon herself. But there were other layers she could employ to protect herself. Something the others might not have realized was that the beast was bleeding mana as well. In touch with the earth she could sense it and she made a B-line to where it was falling. Attempts to throw something at Abigail were repelled so it would take more than an ordinary amount of effort to get to to her of the mana beast. Something presently at her feet. Pulling the mana soaked ground around her she began to draw it in.

Extra mana like this was not something that was often afforded to the earth girl. If she wanted to do something big it was at the cost of her own health. Scooping up a handful of stones she focused her power into them, breaking it up into tiny jagged pieces. Concentrating on seemingly minuscule projectiles she forced them into the field and propelled them in the direction of the mana beast. Should they meet their mark they would go to work cutting and tearing the creature up until it was a pulp. It would also drop more mana boosting fluid down on her as a bonus. That alone wouldn't solve the impending threat to everyone else though. "Hey you! I heard you were working for that witch Regina!" Anchoring herself to the ground she continued. A earthen form of Regina sculpted itself by Shannon. Running her hand under the figures chin she took hold and pulled it's head off. "Hate to threaten and run but you're little queen has a grave with her name on it!" Shutting her hand the likeness cracked and crumbled. The earth dragged Shannon down and she began to visibly burrow in the direction of the main fight.

Janet and Jenna had been busy bolstering the others to defend them. A direct hit likely wouldn't save them, but a glancing blow or the resulting debris should be greatly reduced. The brazen display put on by Shannon was baffling though. Did the girl have a death wish? If the distraction worked it might give them the opening to restore Abigail. Trouble was there was no guarantee they could accomplish it before the girl was turned to paste. No turning back now though. Light on their feet they prepared to heal Abigail if given the chance.

"Success!" Lily screamed as her newly crafted sorcery brought Jenna across the graveyard in a flash. However, she also felt the punch in her mana; as she crudely matched two different types of magic together in an inefficient manner, she ended up casting one spell for the price of two. However, it didn't stop her from holding back the cultists with her arrows, managing to avoid counter-fire. Soon enough, she felt how both Aurelio's hope-magic and Jenna's Rallying Cry reinvigorated her, bringing her back up to full strength.
"Yes, now we can-Huh?"
Abigail disappeared, causing Lily to become frustrated.
"What, did she shift? But why?"
She got her answer when she returned, causing an event not unlike a meteor shower to fall upon them.
"Oh crap! AAAHHH!"
She ran around like a cartoon, avoiding pianos, sinks, safes and the like.

"ROODO ROLLA DA!" She screamed as the asphalt-flattening vehicle was the next to drop...But it was stopped in the air, cast in stasis by being hit with an arrow resembling the hand of a clock.
"Now I get it how Minnie did it."
Bolstered by the protective power of the Beacons, Lily had decided to pull out her own trump card.
"Aurelio, I'm going in! Give me a boost!"
She then sped up, and jumped up, dragging her staff behind her as it charged with bright, crackling energy. She stopped an Easter Island statue as it was dropping, and used that to propel herself up towards Abigail. She was aware of the repulsing field, but she wouldn't let it stop her. While she wasn't the smartest kid in school, she learned enough of electromagnetism to know that repulsive forces cause electrons to arc around the object, and accelerate. She would take advantage of this phenomenon, and took a gamble with her mana; she prepared for her Killing Blow, but accelerated its charging by combining time magic into it. Then, as she released the empowered Zeus' Wrath, she intentionally curved it around her repulsive field, so it would accelerate into energy so vast it would cause a giant electric discharge, with Abigail at the center. It wouldn't be enough to kill Abigail, or even knock her out; all she needed was to paralyze her momentarily, and allow the twins to fix her short-circuited brain.

---

Cindy's expression turned amused as Lotus was silenced by the yellow fruit, having only slightly dipped to disappointment when Faith denied her status as tribute.
‘I assumed as much,’ she commented, and glanced aside at Shion, aware of how long she has had to wait.
‘What is the real tribute?’
As it turned out, it was coins. And strange ones as well, with crimson color.
‘...Julie, what are these?’
Julie shook her head, and Cindy sighed. "Not something I've seen before," she answered, "but if they're anything alike the mystical coins I do know exist, they're able to grant magical boons, possibly with a price,"
Cindy put a hand to her chin, and gazed upon the coins; she sensed the magic in them so Faith was not lying about their arcane nature. However, they could easily be a trap to curse the user, or worse.
‘Give me a proper explanation, or demonstrate to me how it is used. While you make up your answer, I have another to address who has waited too long.’
She turned to Shion, a warmer expression now on her face.
‘Now then, as I recall, you sought my protection? Or did you seek to also form an alliance, like these two?’ She gestured to the two girls.

---

Helga dodged the laser aimed at her, only to be hit with rocks and broken pieces of tombstones from the ensuing explosion, sending her flying back, knocking out a few of her teeth, and causing more damage that she continued to ignore; she was not looking well at this point with her many wounds and battered armor; her lack of restraint quickly proving to be her undoing. She didn't even notice that she wasn't flying of her own power, forcing Su to directly confront her.
She struggled against the winds, trying to swim her way out like a dog, clawing at nothing. When Su demanded to look at her, she was met with Helga's grief-stricken gaze.

But then, as Helga saw Su's eyes, she saw someone who had been with her ever since Amber left her. Visions of their time together at her grave caused tears to fall down her cheeks, as she remembered her having spoken those very same words before.
"Re...Revenge..." Her screams lost their power, just as Divina cast a double strike with both flechettes and a monolith laser. Though the feather failed to hit her thanks to the wind barrier, the laser struck her right in the shoulder, causing her wing to be blasted off.

"AAAHHHH!" She screamed as she fell. She was reaching the ground fast...And then a hard bass sound reverberated throughout the area, and Helga flipped back to standing position; she managed to redirect her landing with her palm-based Sound Cannons. Her other wing also fell off, only to magically fade; she managed to shake off her Metamorphosis.
"That was nice, blowing of some steam," she spoke, and took a lowered stance. "But Amber wouldn't want me to avenge her like that. She would want us to work together. But now I'm like this, damn..." She glanced at Chloe. "I'll destroy her monoliths, so you'll be the one to end her, exhibitionist girl!" And with that, she got to work; using punches charged with high-frequency vibrations, she began demolishing whatever constructs Divina would summon. She would cast off her remorse and hatred, for she had no use for them. All that mattered, was that she could return with Su and Mika to a peaceful future.

---

"I am Kimble, silly Miss Frida!" Lea suddenly felt the cat-girl lean over her shoulder from behind her, giggling mischievously; it seemed that despite the distance, her sharp feline ears heard every word Lea spoke, and managed to sneak up on her when her eyes left her.
"Who are you talking to? Are they down at the graveyard with Mistress Alicia? She is there to protect Penrose, nya!"
She then rubbed her cheek against Lea's.
"She's amazing! If only she nyaticed me more!"

---

Now that she wasn't being the target of attacks, she could feel the curses slowly wearing off. She could feel strength returning to her limbs, and she could hear much better. Avoiding one of the dragons attacks, Rina deftly dodged to the side, back flipping and launching a few swords towards the Dragon head in the attempt. Hmph, this wasn't quite enough, was it? She needed something else. Think, Rina, Think!

Inhaling, the magical girl stopped running, Pivoting on the spot to face the beast after getting some distance between her and it - except...it was no longer following her? Rina paused, taking a quick look around in case she was about to get ambushed, but it seemed as though it had run off in fact - Swiveling her head. Rina turned towards the source of a commotion. In fighting...? Perhaps this could be used to her advantage. She turned once more, avoiding another attack from the dragon head before dashing towards Regina and the others. Should she? Should she even try? Should she take the risk? The chances anything would go right were slim. Dealing with monster girls and dark magical girls were never going to go right, but - perhaps.

...

Well, the two she met recently seemed friendly enough. No outward hostility at all.

Perhaps, she could be optimistic for once.

"Alicia!" Now back in the fight, she turned her attention to Regina. "Focus on the big guy. I'll handle the other one!" She had lost track of them during her fight with the dragon head, but she didn't trust anyone else at the moment. She'd like to trust beacon, but she still couldn't fully bring herself to say she could ever fully submit to conforming to someone else's idea of justice. Refinding the owner of the dragon head however, was easy enough.

"...Hmph. You!" Rina pointed one of her swords at Regina. It was a hostile, defensive stance, and she was ready to dodge and counterattack at a moments notice. "...I don't know what is going on with you and your partner, And I recognize a call for help when I hear one...so I'll give you one chance to aid us. Accept, and I shall stay my blade from your neck, for now. Decline and Justice will show you no mercy." Her tone was unwavering, firm as the steel her swords were made of. There would be no negotiating. Either she would accept the terms, or she wouldn't.

Was this a mistake? Probably. But justice without attempting some mercy, was not justice. Regardless, if Regina didn't respond within ten seconds, then she'd have made her decision and Mercy would no longer be given for this monster.


@BrokenPromise

---

"Ahahaha!" Chloe couldn't help but to laugh. All the remaining spirits congregating near her. Her orb danced around her, like a lantern calling the lost, remaining souls she could find in this now cursed place. Still, she couldn't take too much time here. She could feel it. A heart wrenching, unpleasant feeling. Penny was in danger. Of course she would be caught up in this - so she'd need to finish it swiftly. Ah, this was going to be something rather inelegant, but it would do.

"How rude." Chloe smirked, tilting her head slightly to the side. "It's not exhibitionism...it's merely me being honest with myself. But I know love when I see it. Yours is quite wonderful." Crystalline wings formed behind her, lifting the dark magical girl slowly above the air, her crystal ball shining brightly in the darkness. "So don't worry. I'll crush this impure one and maybe take you on a date later, heh!" This was going to be quite a quick, dirty, and inelegant thing...but she'd use whatever she needed too.

"You want to speak of love, wretch?" Raising a hand, the congregating spirits began coalescing into an amorphous, ethereal mass. The orb spun, fast, faster, and even faster as a screeching noise permeated the area. "You're love is nothing more than a fabricated sham, isn't it! Your nothing more than an impurity that needs to be cleansed." Chloe laughed, a psychotic grin forming on her face as the amalgamation in front of her began taking some sort of form.

"Let me crush that impurity of yours!"

The amalgamation twisted, a horrific, ear splitting screech shook the entire area as something fell out of the mass, slamming its entire rotten, putrid body into the ground. The beast coughed and sputtered, attempting to get its new set of eight legs under control, a hoarse, pained whinny came from its equine maw, half rotted, strips of flesh falling from its mouth. Its goat like back legs were the first under it, its feline front paws the second. Four arachnid legs jutted from its sides, helping stabilize and orient the beast's massive canine body.

"Hmm...if I had to equate this beasty to anything - it'd be your so called love~!" Chloe giggled, dropping herself on top of the beast. Whew, she was exhausted but if there was one thing she was good at, it was appearances. Now atop her mount, Chloe donned her second armament - her gloves. Without another word, the chimeric beast gave a shriek, a roar, carrying its rider atop it as it bolted towards Divina's White Monolith with unnatural agility that a creature of its size shouldn't have, deftly avoiding the lasers from the Monoliths, and those that did manage to hit didn't seem to slow it down at all. Once at the Monolith, slammed its entire body weight into the monolith and undeterred, it leaped backwards before shrieking up at Divina.

The lobby of the golden trove was shaping up good. Su was starting to learn all the little nuances that made a lobby inviting to potential guests. The walls were red with an oriental gold leaf design sprawling over it. Paper lanterns hung from the ceiling, and the floor was solid marble. There was a large TV mounted in the wall of the lounge, and ample seating for guests to wait for their families. While the lobby did it's job great, the Chinese aesthetic made it feel like you weren't in Penrose anymore. That was certainly one of the things Su liked about working here.

But it was late, and the night clerk called in sick. No one was available to fill in, so Su decided to cover the shift herself. Helga offered to do it for her, but Su refused her help, insisting she do it anyway. She needed something to occupy her mind. The work wasn't that hard anyway. She almost had all of her guests billed out, and she was playing a game of spider solitaire just to stay awake. The graveyard shift would be here to take over in a few hours, so she just had to stay awake until then.

That was when the double doors leading outside opened up. Su looked up from her computer and waited for the guests to arive.

The duo that walked in through those doors made for an odd couple. The teenage girl seemed normal enough, gripping the straps of her pin-covered backpack while she took in the sight of the lobby. She looked around, mesmerized, with her long brown hair and red scarf swishing behind her with the movements.

The man walking in beside her seemed a little out of place, or at the very least his body language indicated he felt that way. He looked like he stepped off a noir filmset, what with a black trilby as his choice of habadashery and how he wore an honest to God canvas trenchcoat. The grinning mask he wore on his face kind of clashed with that aesthetic, though, as did the hockey bag he had slung over one shoulder. And where the girl seemed to be overflowing with energy, the poor guy looked like he was ready to find the nearest bed and crash headfirst into dreamland.

"Thou hath scares in thy mists! Get them gone!"

It was not enough that Su had to fill in for someone tonight, she also had to deal with Boteg and his aversion for anything magical. One would think having a patron watching over their home for such things would make one feel safe, but Boteg was equally scared of all forms of magic. It didn't matter if it was a wandering magical girl or an enchanted pencil, they were all potential threats to him. Not that she could blame him in this instance. The girl looked innocent enough, but the man in the creepy mask wasn't very subtle. The girl was young enough to be a magical girl, and Su suspected the man she was travailing with was a familiar, minion, or possibly a magical boy. She didn't really care, so long as they behaved themselves. Most things that put Boteg on edge weren't worth losing sleep over. She certainly couldn't run a buisness if she sent away everyone who bothered the scared dragon. Su cleared her throat and minimized the window to her card game.

”Good evening.” Su put her hands together and gave a small bow, making sure to never take her eyes off of the newly arrived. ”Will you be staying with us tonight?”

"Yes, we will be," the girl said. She looked back at her companion, who looked like he was seriously weighing the odds of falling asleep in one of the lobby chairs. When she turned back to Su, her eyes sparkled with mischief. She came closer to the desk and spoke sotto voce. "Say, could you hook us up with a single-"

"Room with two beds in them," the masked man interrupted. Though he still sounded exhausted, he looked more awake than he had been a second ago. "Though we'd settle for a single bed and a cot, only if your doubles are all booked," he said, looking pointedly at his younger companion.

"Just checking to see if you were still awake, Uncle," the girl said, innocently batting her eyelashes at him.

Su blinked. ”Uncle?” She doubted very much that was her uncle, but that wasn't really the biggest problem right now. ”I mean, one second.” Typically Su kept a few rooms on the bottom floor empty just in case someone magical game by, she could have them sleep there far away from Boteg. Having a single room with two beds was seldom necessary for such individuals, as so many magical girls tend to wander alone. This meant that Su would have to give them a room on a higher floor closer to Boteg to accommodate them. ”I have two openings on the fourth floor. One facing towards main street, and another facing the harbor.” Su looked away from the computer screen. ”But if you want to sleep on a cot, we can put a cot in of the open floors at ground level. It wouldn't be as wide as a double, but it would save you some money.” Su crossed her fingers under the counter.

"The one facing the harbor'll be fine," the masked man said. "I don't mind paying a little extra for the comfort."

”Of course.” Su would have liked to have complained, but money was tight enough that filling up a more prized room was worth it. Perhaps that was why she left the option open to them. After the decided how they were going to pay and Su let them ask any questions they had, she passed them two key cards. ”These cards will work until nine-o'clock tomorrow. Don't miss our continental breakfast. It's complementary, and a lot of the guests say good things about our steam buns and porridge.”

"Well, thanks for the tip, he said, tipping his hat. Then he paused for a second. Speaking of..." The masked man placed a twenty on the counter in front of Su. "...here's one, from one tired person to another."

"Nice meeting you," the 'niece' said, before taking her 'uncle's' arm.

"I swear, you're gonna be the death of me," he muttered, as they made their way towards the elevators.

Su was so surprised to see the tip that she forgot to thank the man as they walked to their room. Her eyes darted between the stranger and the bill on the table, until the two people left her sight. Su let out a sigh before returning her attention solely on the bill. Had this happened a few months ago, seeing if the bill was cursed or not was a small matter. Of course Su had no problem taking money for the room, but this gesture, it seemed too nice. Come to think of it, seeing those two get along so well made Su's blood boil a bit. She picked up the bill and examined it closer. All the proper markings were there. Colored thread, UV strip, both watermarks. She placed the bill on the side of her monitor. She then placed her fingers on the side of her head. ”Boteg, have Mika hang around room 426. That's where the new 'scares' are headed.” With a sigh, Su returned to her computer. Even if she didn't fully trust them, the new guests were more interesting than this card game.

---

The masked man, leaning against the wall in room 426, looked at the beds longlingly. His displays of fatigue downstairs weren't entirely an act, but he couldn't go to sleep yet. He still had things to do before he could rest easy that night. "Alright, he said, looking at his companion. "You said that if we stayed at a hotel together, you'd have some more explaining to do."

She sat on the bed closest to him, swinging her legs playfully over the edge. "There are some things I can't exactly talk about yet, but ask away... Sergei," the girl giggled.

Sergei sighed through his mask. "In that case, Maria... why this specific hotel?"

"Your senses are strong enough to pick up on it, aren't they? What makes this place special."

Sergei gestured upwards with a thumb. "You mean whatever that thing is on the top floor?"



Mika was fully transformed, standing beside the door. Waiting was awfully boring, especially when she had comments to write and even a brand new game to try out. But that didn't mean it couldn't be made more exciting. With her ear pressed against the wall, and her bestial senses active, she could listen to the occupants rather easily. Of course, Mika wasn't new to all of this spy buisness. She needed a cover. That was why she had put on a maid's uniform to help explain away why she was standing in the hall, if she was spotted. So mika found an old french maid costume that fit her perfectly, and wore it over her magical girl uniform. All of the maids in the golden trove wore Chinese maid costumes to go along with the aesthetic, but Mika was sure this was fine. It was fun to wear something that made her stand out a little bit. Regardless, it sounded like they were about to get to the good part. Mika pressed her head harder against the wall.

Back in the hotel room, Maria nodded. "A creature whose greatest fear is magic. He views it as an unstoppable tide, one that drowned and swept away his bretheren. So he fled here, to this little rock in the cosmic seas, hoping to be free from his fear." She paused to gesture vaguely around them. "To the heart seeking freedom... this island is a prison, surrounded by water."

They were talking about Boteg! Mika stood up on the tips of her toes, her tail wagging a mile a minute. It slapped against the wall a few times, but not hard enough to make much noise. She didn't think so at least.

"...did you compare magic to water just to make that reference work?" Sergei asked, briefly glancing back at the wall he was leaning against. Sounded like some kid was slapping on the halls, judging on the height.

Maria looked surprised. "And here I thought you didn't play videogames."

"I've got a copy of the novel," he shrugged.

Maria's eyes sparkled. "You mean you read the light novels?"

"Hey, it's easier than lugging around a console. Cheaper to replace than one, too."

"Oh, I see now, she tittered. "What, did you fry it after losing too many times to the dragon?"

"No, during a fight with this Towerborn, she thought it'd be funny to assimilate it into their body. The Morphs disagreed. So she got melted into slag."

"I didn't know they were such fans."

"They're really big into the philisophical angles it explores."

"Do they also like using the Thunder spells?" Maria teased.

"Ha ha," Sergei deadpanned. "...as a matter of fact, they also really liked the first game's take on Aero." He shook his head, steering the conversation back on track. "...so there's a powerful creature at the top of this hotel, and his fear of magic is practically drenching this place. So far I'm following. Is there more to your reasons than this?"

Boteg had a videogame about him? Mika was getting really amped up now. She wanted to play this game and learn more about her patron. She imagined he'd be really impressed that she'd play a videogame about him. But they hadn't mentioned a name yet. She had to keep listining. Hopefully they wouldn't spoil too much. It sounded good.

Maria nodded, a bit more seriously now. "There is, yes. According to the 「Insiden Gospels」, 'the ancient dragon sitting atop his golden trove' has a role to play in the events ahead.

"The 「Insiden Gospels?」"

"The scriptures and their prophecies were scattered long ago. I have several pages' worth, but not all of them.

"And according to whatever pieces you got ahold of, the good eldritch book told you that we had to rent a hotel room from an honest to god dragon."

"That's right."

"Would I also be right to guess you've been carting me around, being cryptic as possible, all so that I help you fulfill these prophecies?"

"I'm not being as cryptic as the day we first met," she pointed out.

"Don't suppose you'll explain how you made it out of that alley alive?"

Maria cheekily winked at him. "A girl's got to keep some secrets.

Sergei sighed. "Why did I almost expect a straight answer that time?"

"We've got time for about five more questions."

She was being cryptic. Good, Mika was glad that they weren't going to spoil the videogame. Her tail was wagging faster and faster. But they only had time for five more questions. She figured it might mean they were going to go to sleep. It was getting pretty late.

"I couldn't sense that dragon nor his fear while I was outside the building. And something tells me that other people couldn't do that either. So how did you find this place? It's not like the street address was just there in your book of prophecies."

"They're specific, but not quite about that, no," Maria admitted.

"Then how...?

"As you know, 「his」 domain is... was... the Path of Black Leaves, she amended. "A Way Between opened on its own on a certain day, and one of those leaves made its way into the hair of a particular girl. One with the powers of a beast. According to the 「Insiden Gospels」, it was said that she would lead the way."

"So you traced her back here?"

The leaf that attached itself to her was drawn in by the power of 「Gravity」, or 「Fate」, if you prefer calling it that.

He crossed his arms in thought, trying to remember... "When was this again?" Sergei asked.

"Do you remember that day, last week, when you were at that stadium? You met me with another of my, ah, friends a short while later."

"Yeah, I remember her. Poor kid got trampled by the Skeletor Fan Club. Wasn't she the one babbling something about 'protecting a girl chosen by his black leaves...?'" And then, epiphany. "Oh, now I get it."

This video game was starting to sound more like what happened to Mika two weeks ago! And she could have been that beast girl! She remembered a girl being trampled, but didn't remember seeing her in the aftermath of the battle. The leaves were also a detail she didn't remember, but she was dealing with a lot during that fight. Of course, that was when Lupa got hurt. It still hurt to think about it, but she couldn't let that bother her in the moment. But it sounded like they might have unknowingly been talking about her. She was, after all, a beast girl. Mika knew what she had to do. With stunning speed, she pulled out her master key card and opened the door to their room before charging inside. With a jump, she landed between the two and looked at the masked man.

”Are you making a sequel to Boteg's game? Am I the main character?! ” Her eyes twinkled. She could be the hero to Boteg's next game! ”My name is Mika, and I was there! I was fighting skeletons and evil mommy arachnid! Um.” Her tail was waving like crazy now, smacking the girl behind her. ”Did the girl who got run over make out okay? There were a lot of wounded during that fight and I didn't see her at the end.” Her tail slowed down while she waited for an answer.

---

Sergei had seen and done a lot of strange shit over the years. While this situation didn't exactly crack the top ten, he sure as hell didn't expect to deal with this tonight. One thing stopped him from roundhouse kicking the intruder in the face the second she burst in: that utterly calm look on Maria's face, as though she... no, scratch that, probably because 「she knew this was going to happen.」

Even with that tail slapping her in the face, she looks like she's having the time of her life. With that smug-ass grin on her face, watching me struggle to respond... No, he realized, something was wrong about that. She was looking in his direction, sure, and upwards... but at the wrong angle. Wait - is she looking up this kid's skirt? ...you clever little sneak. You planned that too, didn't you?

But then he processed what the girl in the French maid getup had asked him. Oh... shit, she asked about 「that girl」. Get your shit together you 「Faceless Bastard」, you've got to tell her something.

Sergei could tell this 'maid' was one of those starry-eyed types, the kind some might describe as 「pure」, but what he usually sorted under 「wild cards」. You can always trust a dishonest person to be dishonest, but dealing with someone who wore their heart on their sleeve? He had to play his cards carefully here.

Okay. Time to「Open the Game」.

"...she needs plenty of rest," he said. "She'll be glad to hear you were concerned about her."

Mika clapped her hands together before diving into Sergei. She bear hugged him and nuzzled her face in his chest. ”Send her this big hug too!” Once Mika was content with the duration of her hug, she released Sergei to turn and look at the other girl. ”You know what? Give her two!” Mika gave the smaller girl the same hug she gave Sergei, with an equally long duration.

"I'll be sure to give that to her," Sergei said, slightly off-balance. It'd been a while since he'd been hugged by someone his own age, let alone anyone younger. Damn, this kid's adorable. I've still got to be careful about my words, though, and try to keep her in a good mood as long as possible. He spared a glance at Maria, trying to see if she'd try and say something to the kid. Though in the wake of that hug, Maria's expression seemed to have done a hard shift from mischevious to... blissful?

”Give her one of these too! The ones my mom gave me always made me giggly!” Mika kept Maria in a bear hug and nuzzled her head into the crook of her neck. ”Neomp!” Maria initially jumped, but went right back to having that blissful look on her face. Though over time she seemed more relaxed and eventually rested her head on Mika's. ”Mmmph?” Mika pulled back her head. Maria still had a smile on her face, but it was evident she had fallen asleep in Mika's arms. ”Haha! She must have been really tired!” The maid scuffed her way out of the room. ”I'll take her to my place. Then when she wakes up, we can talk about Boteg's game!” Mid-sprint, Mika swung Maria's body so that she could carry her bridal style. She was wearing a grin the entire time.

Red flags went off in the Faceless Bastard's head as Maria started drifting off. And then, with the enhanced vision gifted to him by the Morphs, he spotted the fang marks on Maria's neck the second this 'maid' pulled back her head. Though he was already suspicious of the kid by this point, he wasn't able to move fast enough to keep her from leaving the room.

Son of a bitch, now I recognize her type, he thought, sprinting right the fuck after the 'maid.'She reminds of that 'Nee-chan' kid I met a few years ago, during 「the Gravenhurst clusterfuck.」A veneer of sweet, sugary 'Genki' bullshit over an anime watchlist drenched in blood and psychosis. I swear, she'd get a fucking kick out of seeing an honest-to-God catgirl.

Mika looked over her shoulder. ”Wait, you want to race me to the top?” She started to run even faster. ”Last one's a rotten egg!” She was running at speeds that were beyond human ability. Mika was about to make a corner and would soon be out of sight.

He was honestly very fucking tempted to lift up his mask and let the Morphs have at it, but it was too early to deploy the nuclear option. The Faceless Bastard did, however, ask some of the Morphs he'd left outside the hotel to check the windows for her and that 'room' she mentioned.

The hotel had close to a hundred rooms, so it would take some time to locate with such vague details. But Mika's location was not hard to spot. They could see her using the fire exit to climb to higher levels of the hotel. Sergei found the nearest staircase and was at least able to stay on the same floor as the maid. Once he got to the top floor, theMorphs had pinpointed her location. Just a few hundred feet from Sergei's location was a room deep inside the Hotel. It had no windows, but a single door facing out towards the harbor. She had gone in there, and there didn't appear to be any way out.

One empty corridor between him and where that 'Mika' kid was holed up.

The Faceless Bastard undid the strap on his mask, but held it up to his face with one hand as if he was winded. It wasn't too much of a stretch, considering that theiving cat was hell on wheels. He had no clue if this conspicuously empty hallway had a machinegun hidden within it - which if he'd been on the security team, might've had one set up to take advantage of the straight shot.

But, then again, this was a goddamn hotel. If the bullets went too far down or outwards, the chances of hitting civilians with them skyrocketed.

He carefully stalked down the hall, but he made it to the end of it without incident. He reached for the handle, and found it was unlocked.

So he opened the Ddoor.

The door opened without a hitch. It appeared that it was not locked. The room beyond was a short corridor that had an elevator on the right wall and ended in a staircase. Since the elevator wasn't running, Mika must have used the stairs. The Faceless Bastard made his way forward, careful not to get jumped around any of the corners.

The stairs lead to many rooms, all of which were locked. But they had windows to allow those outside to look in, and were clearly marked with signage. All of the rooms appeared to be for very specialized uses. An auditorium, office cubicles, all of which looked dated and lacked the theme of the rest of the Golden Trove. The Faceless Bastard could tell Mika hadn't entered any of these rooms. Not because they were old, but because he could hear her feet beating their way up the last few steps. But he resisted the temptation to break into a sprint. Once he got to the top of the stairs, there were two doorways. One was a fire exit, and the other was an unmarked door locked by a key pad. He could hear Mika talking to someone on the other side, but he couldn't quite make out the words.

Leaning against the wall with the keypad door, The Faceless Bastard envisioned his options like a poker hand. It came up like one Joker, followed by four completely different cards.

First card he drew was a pretty cinematic one. He could try asking one of the Morphs electrocute the key pad, and to undo the lock that way. But, while that kind of ploy tended to work in movies, he'd been around long enough on the Internet to have read the Evil Overlord List. If he just tried frying it, it could just stay locked, as well as give away his position. From what he'd seen so far, though, it didn't look like they'd taken any of the other advice from the List. Really up in the air, that one.

Second card, then. It was possible he could release a Morph or two into the vents, try to gain information about the situation in the room before choosing an entrance strategy. The risk with that, though, was with the fact that at this point he was practically on top of that presence he'd sensed earlier. A dragon who, according to Maria, Feared magic more than anything else. He wasn't sure how much the Morphs counted as 'magical,' but it wouldn't be hard to read that scenario as part of an assassination attempt. And if the dragon flipped the fuck out...

Well, better consider his third card. Simply breaking down the door.

...yeah, like that's not going to spook the living crap out of them. Might as well grab that fire ax and make a reference to The Shining while I'm at it.

Then, he turned his attention to the last card. It was one hell of a gamble - something so monumentally stupid that most people would dismiss the idea out of hand.

He exchanged two cards, but both of them came back just as bad the ones they replaced. One involved crashing through the window, the other requiring far more time than he reasonably had to work with here. The Faceless Bastard considered his options carefully, then decided: he would launch his 「Do or Die Gambit!」 He raised his fist...

...and knocked on the door.

It did not take long for the door to simply swing open. The Faceless Bastard only had a moment to notice Maria, who had been placed in a chair. Or had mostly been placed in a chair. Her arms and legs were hanging off either side while the seat was supporting her stomach. Before he could take in much more, Mika leaned around the edge of the door. ”Rotten egg! You're a rot-”

"Get thee gone!Get thee gone!" Boteg picked up a box of tissues and launched it towards theFaceless Bastard. It simply bounced off of his chest without any real harm done.

Mika lifted her phone to the side of her head ”Helga! are you busy?” She tugged on her skirt. ”Boteg is kind of upset, I don't think he likes the new guests.” She giggled.

Well, he'd won that hand at least - he'd gotten the door open without everything going to shit. At the very least, the man with a golden reptile head and hands looked like the best candidate for that dragon that Maria was talking about. The fact that that he was standing right at the center of that powerful presence probably helped narrow down the suspect pool.

So if he understood Mika's words correctly, she'd revealed that the dragon's name was 'Boteg.' Who apparently had good aim but an absolutely shitty fastball in that form. Though it could have been that, despite throwing a bitchfit, he wasn't willing to cut loose in the hotel. Yet.

Another hand was dealt. From the way Maria had moved slightly on the chair, she might still be breathing. Though he had no idea for how long that would be the case.

The first card was to keep fueling Mika's 'game developer' misconception. Replaying the conversation with Maria in his head, it was clear that she'd chosen her words to give Mika that impression, probably to adhere to the prophecies of those Insiden Gospels. Or to ensure that they would stay accurate? Prophecy bullshit gets complicated fast.

The second? Set the record straight about the game developer thing. Sure, the cover might get him in the door, but there was always the chance that someone would get suspicious enough to start a fight. He had no fucking clue how many locals gave a shit about this hotel's owner, but given how many innocent people could be caught up as collateral, a fight here could easliy make him public enemy number one. If he was up front about what he was, it would be easier to convince them that he wasn't interested in kicking anyone's shit in.

Provided Maria wasn't in danger of actually dying or anything. Because if they killed his best lead on what the hell was going on in this city, they were on thin fucking ice. And he'd be under it when it breaks.

The third involved barging into the room past Mika. The-Scalie-Who-Was-Probably-Boteg wasn't willing to throw down the gauntlet yet, probably using that weak form to conceal his true might from everyone else in Magic City USA. He probably wouldn't bust it out until he absolutely needed to, but the Faceless Bastard had no clue how Mika would react. And judging by how fast the theiving cat was, and that other girl's testimony, she was the fucking strong.

The fourth was to wait a moment first, and try to get invited inside. Maria might be breathing, but he had no fucking clue what that poison was actually doing to her. Maybe she was just out of commission for a bit, maybe Mika went overboard and overdosed her. Or maybe his luck was absolutely shit and she turned out to be allergic to whatever was in her system.

Well, she wasn't foaming at the mouth yet, but he couldn't spot the bite wound from his position. No clue if the skin around there was inflamed or something to that effect.

The fifth was the old Shock and Awe. Maybe a casual hand on the shoulder, get her attention by saying "Hey" or something, and simply taze the fuck out of a kid. For the purposes of knocking her out. Turnabout is fair play after all. Though if she 'accidentally' died due to a miscalcualation, well, sometimes it just be like that.

...alright, that was a stupid one, and not Door Gambit stupid. She was on the phone with one of her friends, and regardless of whether he fried it or not he had no way of telling if she was somewhere else in the building. Take someone out mid-conversation, and there's a high chance something about the takedown will make it over the line before it goes dead. Plus, you know, Maybe-Boteg was right fucking there watching him.

He sent cards three and five back to the dealer, but not before commiting that cathartic image to memory. And in their place...

Okay. He could work with this hand.

"Mind if I sit down?" he asked Mika, gesturing vaguely inside the room while leaning a little on the doorframe. He spoke softly, hoping to have as little of his voice make it through the phoneline as he could while being comprehensible to Mika. He also made sure he was breathing a little heavily, as though he was still catching his breath, but not too much as to oversell it.

”Sure! One sec!” Mika dragged a chair away from Boteg's desk over to where Faceless Bastard was standing. While he made himself comfortable with that, Mika grabbed the other chair that had Maria in it and dragged it closer to the door as well. Mika set Maria upright in the chair while holding the phone to her ear with her tail. ”You there Helga? He seems really mad!”

"Just a minute Mika, I'm nearly done with this," Mika heard Helga's voice, alongside the rapid sounds of her sharp talons clacking against the sturdy buttons of her custom-made keyboard. "...Aaaaand there." Soon enough, a door near the Faceless Bastard opened, and a regular young girl in a maid uniform stepped out of it. She performed a curtsy with a polite smile at him.


"Excuse us, mister customer. Mika can be a bit of a handful at times, so please bear with us for just a moment while I talk to her."

"No, by all means," he said, gesturing vaguely with one hand. Alright, so far my gambits have paid off. Even better, I've got Maria right in front of me, and I'm closer to the fire exit than I'd expected to be.

Speaking of Maria, she seemed to be in stable condition. At this point, it looked like luck had sided with the Faceless Bastard.

...something's up with that other 'maid,' though. Almost all of the other maids we saw on the way up were dressed in the 「Chinese style」, but only Mika and her friend are dressed in 「French outfits」. So, if one Magical Girl's been dressed in that kind of uniform, then it's highly likely 「this new girl's also a Magical Girl.」

Helga bowed with her hands tucked before her. "Thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me..." She turned to Mika, gave her the coldest death gaze she could, going back to her days as one of Justine's Elite Four, and sighed. "Now, this," she pointed at Maria. "Is unacceptable treatment of our customers." She put her hands to her hips, and leaned over at her. "When this is over, I'll have you on laundry duty for a week so you'll think about what you did."

Mika's smile withered away under Helga's menacing presence. Her ears went back and she lowered her head. ”Did I do something wrong?” She poked her fingers together. ”I won't do it again, I won't do it again, I-” Her voice cracked. ”I only wanted to be friends with her.”

Helga's expression turned softer, and she rubbed her forehead with her index finger and thumb. "Yes. When you make friends, you ask them if they want to spend time with you, not abduct them." But while she was angry at the trouble Mika had caused, even her heart melted upon seeing Mika sad. She reached her hand out towards her, and gently petted her head. "We all make mistakes, Mika. The important thing is that we learn from them."

Mika nodded. ”Okay.” She looked at Helga. ”I'll do better next time.”

She then walked over to the door leading to Boteg's office. "Master Boteg?" She called out to the dragon-headed man. "Pleaseth forgiveth Mika for thine upsettance," she spoke, knowing that archaic form was most easily understood by him, even if only a little better than the usual. "Thine Dragon Scare assureth thine that thou art to be kepth pristine and unblemished, and thine lair safeth from evil." She bowed, showing respect for the Patron. She then lifted her head, and had an annoyed look. "And please stop freaking out."

Boteg kept his brow crossed. He only made a growling sound in response. His hands were curled into fists, but he made no attempt to challenge Helga. He opened his hands and placed them on the edge of his desk. Boteg's voice was low, and he spoke slowly. "Scare." He looked to the faceless bastard. "What hath brought thou here?"

Alright. Let's see how this hand plays out.

"Well, I came because of Maria," said the Faceless Bastard. He gestured towards the girl, who was about as responsive as 911 in the ghetto. Then he indicated Mika. "And Nekopara over there. Partly because Maria wanted to meet her, and partly because the sentiment was... returned a bit more strongly than I'd expected."

Yeah, that's putting it delicately, he thought.

"Doth thou take me for a fool, yeasty eye-offending dogfish?!" Boteg stood up. His broad sholders and height made for an imposing figure, but his trembling hands gave away his fear. "Me speaks of thou reason for selecting new home for thy place to rest. Thou hath selected new home for a reason?"

"Uhh..." Helga signalled to Mika with a funny expression, attempting to hand signal that one of them should speak up. When Mika continued being silent, she gave an awkward look, and then, like a switch was flipped, perked up with a wide smile, having stepped to the dragon's side. "What Master Boteg said is: 'Could you please explain your motives for having chosen the Golden Trove?' Aside from the obvious, like our well-furnished, luxurious rooming and great offers?"

"Hey, I'm serious. The kid wanted us to stay the night at this place," said the Faceless Bastard. "She's got a friend who's in the hospital, one who wanted to know Mika was safe and sound. So Maria found out where the kid works, and dragged me along." He gestured again to Maria. "If there's more to it, you'd be better off asking her for the full picture," he sighed.

It's a cheap trick, but I need more time to figure out what the hell she was trying to do here. I've got the general shape of it, but I have to be sure I'm calling it right before the showdown.

Boteg's fingers tapped the top of his desk for a moment before he looked to Mika. He gestured towards the unconscious girl with his head.

”I'll set this right.” Mika approached Maria, keeping an eye on the Faceless Bastard the entire time. ”I'm going to wake her up, don't be alarmed.” Once she was close enough, Mika leaned over Maria and bit her a second time. She immediately jumped backwards once Maria showed signs of regaining consciousness. Mika glanced up to look at Helga and mirrored her servant-like gesture. But her head still hung low in shame.

"She will tell me everything." Boteg folded his fingers together. "Pray tell, why hath thou come here?" He didn't wait for her to fully awaken before continuing his interrogation.

Maria looked around the room for a second, before settling her eyes on the gilded elephant in the room. "Holla th're," she said. "You wilt beest Boteg."

Oh god fucking dammit, this is going to get annoying fast. The Faceless Bastard maneuvered the hand on his mask into the facepalm position. "Please stop. The maids are clearly able to translate."

"Answer me, fawning rump-fed wench!" Boteg brought his fists down hard on his desk. "Why hath thou come here?! Me thinks thou hath more at stake than a chance meeting with little scare."

Mika's knees buckled. ”H-he's just nervous. Just answer calmly.” Mika averted her eyes from Maria.

Maria gave Mika a brief, reassuring smile. Then she turned to Boteg. "I'll explain it briefly, then. It was to seek an audience with you."

She raised her arms, indicating the hotel around them. "Though it is nearly imperceptible outside of these walls, your Fear of magic has all but drenched this place, making a virtual 「beacon」 of emotion. Looking at it through the eyes of the world we stand in, this place is a place of business as well as your home. But, through the eyes of 「Gravity」 - those of 「Fate」 - you have made this place more essential than you realize."

Where exactly is she going with this? wondered the Faceless Bastard. He had an idea of what she was leading up to, but would she actually...?

"Everyone has a role in this great 「passion play,」 but yours is of greater import than most.「Gravity」 has drawn us together tonight, for this purpose. Maria stood, extending her arm towards Boteg dramatically. "We would propose an alliance with you, to help protect your life, your servants, and this place from those who would destroy them."

Boteg's “brow” flicked upward, making the dragon look far more bewildered than angry or scared. "Thou art not gilded with the Terrible One's magic." Boteg sat back down in his seat. "Little scare, Dragon scare, how doth thy feel about the scares in thy home?"

Mika's ears perked up. ”Well, I think they're okay people.” She glanced at Maria. ”I brought them here because I wanted to get to know them better.” Her smile returned as she pranced up to the Faceless Bastard. ”I don't think they mean you any harm, Mr. Boteg! I don't really understand what they want, but I think if they want to protect and play with us, we should let them!” She leaned into the masked man.
”Don't you agree, Helga?”

Helga nodded, happy to see some kind of progress in these 'negotiations'. "Of course. I don't think there's any problem,as long as they behave themselves~" She gave a wink. "Now, would you like to have some green tea?"

The dragon's brow only raised higher when Helga voiced her opinion. "Me thinks tis most splended that mine scares like you... guests." Boteg lifted a finger, like a parent reasoning with a child. "Me has another to consult before I hath come to a discission." He smiled. "But Me is anticipating a favorable outcome. Me thinks we should talk more in the morrow."

Mika was rubbing the side of her head against the Faceless Bastard's shoulder. ”I'm so happy you'regunna be our friends now!" "Yeah!" Helga agreed, clapping her hands.

The Faceless Bastard carefully patted Mika's head with his free hand. By all counts, it looked like he'd won the game of wits. Nobody was dead, injured, or even pissed off at each other. The Morphs didn't seem to have any issues with this turn of events - hell, they seemed enthusiastic about working with the dragon and his cohorts. He should have been happy right now.

So what was this weight that was settling upon his heart?

Maybe it was because, unlike the others, the implications of her words troubled him. Magical Girls, from what he knew, were more than capable of holding their own in a fight. So why exactly were they needed to help protect them? What made this place so damn important to those 「Insiden Gospels」?

And what the hell did she mean when she talked about a 「passion play?」

He looked at the girl who called herself Maria Zeppeli, and wondered what she wasn't telling them.

As she trailed back from the kick the chain trailing from her launched arm would snap up and coil around the nearly severed limb on Elroy’s back. With a fearsome pull she would snap it free allowing it to fall in to her awaiting hand before recalling the appendage back to her with her new trophy.

The Engine would come to a stop much further away then would be expected from the simple kick it received, due to the hover system intentionally not being turned off causing it to glide far outside of simple reach.

It wanted to gain distance from Elroy, to gain a bit of time. It knew nearly everything about it the recovered limb, it had built the thing after all, but the properties that Elroy had added to it when he changed it were worth investigating.

The voice that called out in desperation washed over the Engine without any reaction from the monster. But it used the added lull to its advantage. One luminous orb kept tracking the primary target as its blank mask like face split and cracked open to reveal a churning maw of endlessly grinding teeth. Slowly and purposely it feed the metal limb into its maw, forcibly breaking down the metal, grinding and tearing it down to the most basic components. Analyzing everything it could about the metal in a way no organic mind could comprehend.

Across her frame the metal of its chassis took on a slightly onyx sheen. Now its weapons would never be able to be wielded against it again, a gift stolen from the enemy who used them against her.

The second the analysis was completed and integrated to its frame The Engine renewed it assault on Elroy. As it raced to meet the transformed Monster King, a rolling tide of metal reached the robotic incarnation of destruction. The metal from the cartoon train that Summer had conjured fused with it causing it to grow and change.



What emerged was a product of the Train’s memory of shape mixed with The Engine’s desire of destruction. Its serpentine body was kept aloft, and mobile, by a thunder storm of red hued lighting that arced between it and the ground. Along its length there were numerous limbs akin to centipedes’ legs or mantis’s arms. Each had a ragged razor sharp edge that could be turned in to a chain saw’s blade. The four grasping mandibles were wide open, revealing a maw of endless razor sharp churning teeth the envy of any industrial metal grind in existence.

The Engine had no qualms about meeting Elroy’s charge head on, bringing its countless limbs as it bear as it sought to envelop and tear apart the opposing titan. It also speared no remorse on any of the smaller minions that happened to be unlucky enough to get too close. As the tridents they carried were just one more source of metal for the Engine to utilize.

A high pitched whining sound would start keening from the Engine as it charged. The Gauss system was once again primed.

---

In the heart of chaos Aurelio shined. Simply because when things started to hit the fan, emotions start to flow freely from all parties involved.

His basic clones were purely on defense, harassing the cultists if they got to close ”Excuse you, I’m working here” and willingly tackling ”Time to Move!” or shoving ”Heads up!” the other girls to get them out of the way of the falling objects if needed. They were expendable and they knew it.

The solo clone was drawing as much magic as he could from the cast off Mana dust. With it he would start feeding the self-sustaining Hope loop the original had set up earlier. All of his allies would start become empowered, they would start moving faster, hitting harder, become tougher and just all around be better. “Fear the power of a Bard!”
If there was anything left after boosting the hope cycle as much as he could he would turn his magic towards cutting off Abigail from the Mana beast with whatever he had left.

Hidden as he was Aurelio worked towards getting closer to Abigail. Using his disguise and subtle magic’s to try and go unnoticed. He backed off a bit when he saw Lily’s incoming spell so as not to get caught with the back lash. He did add as much Frustration and Worry as he could pull from the air to it however, chaining the emotions together to bind Abigail and lock her in to a few moments of indecision, So that Jenna could work.

”Sorry about this”

"Fuckin', would y'at'least warn me before you's do shit like that again?!" Rebecca shouted to her Stone Magical Girl compatriot as they flew against the floor of the Overcity, using her sword stabbed into the ground as a quick and easy way to slow down. Being crushed, beating eaten, being launched across the world, her day was just getting better by the second. She scarcely had time to recognise the other girls that they had happened upon, before another shift occurred. The Boss had talked about the Overcity a bit, same with some of the members who had the ability to shift in the first place, but arriving in a different place than she had started still disoriented her.

She took a second to look around, checking the other Magical Girls and Boy she would have to fight with, aiming to recognise some. Aurelio - an Empath with Beacon, she had heard - as well as the Twin Soul, who the Informants still had barely reported on. And that girl, Lily, who the Surveyors claimed showed up nearly everywhere there was something going down. Rebecca wasn't versed on their abilities, but at the very least they had numbers, disregarding the cultist mooks.

With a sigh, she, with a bit of difficulty, wiped some of the tar from her hands and blade, and prepared for combat. Except for the one issue she quickly noticed.
"Right you's are 'avin a fuckin' laugh, aye?" she called out to the rest of the Mahou, staring up at the sky, Abigail, the Mana Beast, and the veritable meteors that were being hurled, "How in the fuck d'you's expect to kill 'er when she's in tha' fuckin' sky?!"

Casting a glance about, Rebecca began to resent her luck. With a sword and zero capacity for flight, how in the hell was she to get up there? She looked at Shannon, taunting the enemy, and wrote her off as "soon to be dead". She looked at Lily, doing Lily things. And then she looked at Aurelio, using the mist to cast his enhancement spells. Then she looked at the beam of mist the creature was firing at Abigail, and had an epiphany. The whole area was dark - curtsy of the fog veil that covered the graveyard. In the nooks and crannies of the graves, and far above in the air, where the light of Lily's death lightning and the glow of the Mana Beast couldn't reach, Rebecca had an opening.

Bolstered by Aurelio's aura of hope, she ran to the side of the field, where the Tar Baby had just been crushed. Among the debris of destroyed monster and gravestones, with the light of Lily's Killing Blow illuminating the field, a deep shadow was cast. As soon as she had come across a good spot, Rebecca sunk into it, and began the first of what would become numerous, consecutive shadow steps. With her skill and mana capacity, it wasn't a good idea to perform long distance jumps, but she could maintain a steady stream of short steps for a fair distance.

So she dashed from shadow to shadow, along the outskirts of the graveyard, hugging close to the fog veil and up into the air through the darkness. By the time Lily's Killing Blow had reached its mark, Rebecca would be in place - much higher in the air than she had originally anticipated, but she had faith. As far as she could tell it was probably the lingering effects of Aurelio's enhancement, though that didn't change the feeling. She knew she would survive the fall.

With the thought in mind she launched herself out of the shadows, sword outstretched, and aiming for the bubble on the back of the Mana Beast. With gravity as her ally, and the last remnants of her mana dredged together into her blade in the form of a lifedraining curse, she plunged downwards. With any luck, she would puncture the bubble, and using her remaining momentum, tear the Mana Beast open from behind, spray its mist across the entire battlefield.

---

The tentacles binding Annabelle collapsed into a pile of meaty hunks on the floor, diced by Amaryllis' sword's might, before eventually dissipating into a black, ethereal smoke. Annabelle herself fell to the floor, emitting a small cry of pain.

This didn't stop her, however, nor seemingly stop the drain that had been put on her.

As the darkness-magical girl stood up again, bit by shaky bit, cultists swarmed towards the center to protect those who were chanting around the altar. Some were wielding nothing but their teeth or tentacles or fangs...others wielding a menagerie of other things such as metal knives and baseball bats stolen locally. Others held tomes in their hands, glowing with various sigils and symbols that would be found incomprehensible to the mentally stable or sane. It was a very visible effort to protect the ritual and the body lying on the altar, as if it was more important than their very lives and existences.



'Ah, there is a mortal phrase to describe your position....a 'knight in shining armor' perhaps? Such an odd phrasing to linger in the mortal vernacular, but i shall accustom myself to these soon enough.

In fact, i must say it is an exciting prospect to indulge in this at all. Haha, so very peculiar of myself after so many eons to focus on the short-term...but i feel it shall alleviate my boredom for a while yet~'

As Soth spoke, inky dark portals formed around the center of the ritual site behind the warmed cultists. The portals rippled into the world like some kind of liquid, protecting the chanting cultists and the altar at the center. Some of the cultists noticed the phenomenon and began to smile, their faces bearing the look of true insanity...others began to relax their defensive stances. What was happening? Did the cultists know what was going on? Were more enemy forces about to come out against the two free magical girls?!

As this occured, Soth's voice seemed to ring out in the chamber with a low chuckle, coming from the portals physically, loud enough to be heard beyond the door of the crypt itself even like it was a speaker for the horror's physical voice.



Wait, what was going on here? 'Amuse himself more', what did that even mean?! Was it going to be another giant monster like at the stadium, or-



Oh no.

The ritual chamber began to rumble with the thrum off power, the crypt visibly seen to be shuddering by those on the outside. A parting formed in the dark clouds, forming directly above the crypt and swirling like some kind of nexus. In the center it was clear, revealing the dark backdrop of the twinkling stars themselves as if the sunlight was being blocked out.

Then it began. Not the main ritual completion, but the partial manifestation of a greater horror in the mortal plane.

Rain began to pour down from the sky as the sky crackled with thunderstorms rapidly appearing around the nexus of cloud movements. Small tremors quaked in the ground, enough to be felt in the graveyard by those present.

Sequentially after came waves of tangible magical power, coming from the great cylindrical portal that had finally formed in the ritual site around the altar. The magic rippled into the graveyard, and all the way out into the wider city itself even. It was utterly alien in nature, and the inherent nature of it made it feel wrong to even the basest forms of life. It wasn't destructive, and not a single blade of grass was cut, though it wasn't a good feeling either.

And so the cultists in the basement, the ones on the outer side of the abyssal substance now protecting their lord's chanters and soon to be vessel, began to sing. Only the two magical girls at the ritual site could hear now, but the words were unmistakable and rung clear. Haunting and clear it was, a melody of jagged and alien rhythm that would jar the very soul.



Before the magical girls' eyes, physical space itself bent as the cultists on the outer side of the barrier finished their incantation. Their forms were then sucked up like a vacuum, pulled deep into the abyss which had fully formed behind them. Only an occasional spellbook or knife remained floor where some of them had once been, dropped in an instant by those who had let them go before being taken in with looks of bliss on their faces. A bloodless, but ultimately horrific, sight.

...Then the tentacles and eyes began to emerge. From the barrier, that very portal composed of the void itself, they same out slowly as they manifested. Physical space seemed to bend around them just a little bit, and the feeling of "wrongness" from the magical energy emitting out seemed to spike. The eyes seemed to stare through one's soul, and the only cultists left the in ritual chamber were not hidden behind something incredible as they chanted.

"This is but a part of me....i hope you both do not mind, but this new feeling i wish to give my thanks for this day.

I shall deal with you myself, and any who come to this place to try to prevent my incarnation.

It seems so absurd...haha....but i shall relish in this sensation further. Do keep me entertained!"

Soth's own voice run in the chamber and from the crypt itself again, not some psychic message, nor a verbal communication via a portal. This was the very flesh of the Infinite Abyss, of Soth made manifest. It rang with power to the senses, and his presence seemed utterly drenched in it to the core.

...And this was just a part of himself, let out on a whim in exchange for a few lives.

He wasn't being serious, however, and both Amaryllis and Annabelle would not find it too overbearing. It was many-fold greater in magnitude than any mundane monsters, or even the being at the stadium, but at the same time felt restrained still. They didn't seem any different than the tentacles Amaryllis had butchered in a heartbeat either, though there were far more now.

In other words, this partial manifestation was something they could actually fight against. And were anyone else to get into the ritual chamber, they would be able to join in on things.

"...I can take the right for a little bit...ah...if you take the left for now....deal?" Annabelle said with a small smirk at the end as she looked at Amaryllis. By this point she had finally fully stood up, and now her chain arm was slowly unraveling into over a dozen tentacle-like chains. She was huffing still as she spoke, and it wasn't like the other pain and drain had stopped ravaging her body.

Though...she seemed rather determined now, even if it was a mask by some means, and a healthy bit of fear still could be heard in her voice alongside this.

@t2wave@MadManMoon@Shifter_Master@Ariamis@PlatinumSkink@Vocab@FamishedPants@Flamelord@ERode@DarkwolfX37@Card Captor@BrokenPromise

Lotus snorted. ”Hmmmm, How aggravating.” She watched Cindy approach Shion.

”Lotus, manners!” Faith looked at the coins and then to Julie. ”Ahem!” She smiled. ”So these coins, they were used on us already. We are the demonstration of how they work. It's a long story, but Lotus, myself, and a few other girls were offered a chance to participate in a test with these coins. We were told they could change aspects of ourselves that we didn't like. Not that there’s a lot to hate about being a demi-goddess~!” Faith placed a hand on her chest. ”But there were a few things I was unhappy with. I'm sure you know what that's like, right? Something about the shape of your body or your power. Not all magical girls are created equally. Few of us are here by our own choice.” She took a deep breath before stepping closer to Julie. ”This red coin though, it worked for me. It was and wasn't for several other girls. Lotus...” Faith leaned in close and whispered. Julie could feel the hair on the back of her neck stand up. There was something oddly soothing about Faith's quiet voice. ”Being a tiny girl with tentacles coming out of your head tends to give one body image issues. We all tell her she's beautiful, but it just makes her angry.” She coughed before pulling back. ”But regardless of how well the coins work, they just wouldn't let us go! We were kept in special cells, told very little about why we hadn't been released. Something about needing to study long term effects? I don’t know, maybe Lotus remembers more. I convinced our nearby cell mates to escape, and we broke out. We took the coins with us as penance of course. We're still looking for the one who imprisoned us, which is one of the reasons this alliance is so important to us.” Faith looked at the coins in Julie's hand. ”I can’t tell you more about the coins, but I hope hearing how they were discovered and used is satisfactory. I can summon my fellow escapees, but that will take some time. Lotus and I wanted to come see Cindy as fast as possible. I think we did pretty good considering our time constraints.”

Beatrice looked over Faith's shoulder at the coins. "Oh yea, I see some residual magical signatures from the coins on them. I was wondering what that was. Guess they really did use them." She folded her arms. "Can't say I have any desire to change though. I'm not against hording them myself. If Cindy doesn't want them, I might steal one just to say I have it, heh."

Faith chuckled. ”You would steal from Gaia's only daughter?”

"Don’t worry, You wouldn't know about it if I did. We could still be friends." Beatrice said this while lifting one of those strange bandages Faith had off of her person. Faith had a pretty good grip on her red coins, and those might belong to Cindy if she decided to go along with the alliance. "Wonder what the shrimp is going to do." She looked at Shion. "It’s a duplicate. Interesting." Beatrice’s smile widened.

---

@FamishedPants[Vocab]

When Mika, Lupa and all of her clones kicked off the roof of the mausoleum, they caused a few cracks to run down the roof of the structure. And then, when the clones landed with bombastic impact, the roof collapsed, crushing all of the horrorlings that were yet inside. After Shona's defeat, the horrorlings lost their magical empowerment completely, and were once again reduced to mere magical girl fodder, with the clones cleaning up after the two went to see Sil. After the conversation, Mika and Sil then noticed a silver line that popped out of the black smoke; based on the grooves in the dirt, they could tell a magical girl had created it as a breadcrumb trail for anyone to follow. And based on the sounds of fighting in the distance...It would lead straight to the very heart of the graveyard, where the source of conflict lied.

“Hey Mika!” Lupa pointed at the line. “Looks like the fight isn’t over yet. Maybe we can get to the heart of the conflict if we follow this line.”

Mika scooped up Silhouette like a bride. "Yea! That sounds like a good idea." She looked to Sam. "Thanks for sending your double to come help me, by the way. Guess I still have a bit to learn."

“Hey! Quit mopin’ Mika! There’s nothing wrong with getting by with a little help from your friends.” The other four clones joined her side. “Now let’s keep this party going!”

"Right!" Mika was rather pleased with what she discovered today. She had thought that she had to mentally command every action that Lupa had to perform. But it turned out She was capable of obeying simple commands, and seemed to behave like normal. At least what Mika thought of as normal. She didn’t really know the depth of Lupa’s personality in their short time together. But at the very least it didn’t seem like Lupa was behaving against her will. She felt alive, and that was something Mika could continue to use once this fight was all over. "Just hold onto me, Sil. We’ll have you back in fighting condition in no time!" That was an extremely optimistic, but so was Mika.

---

@Rune_Alchemist@Ariamis

Su managed to recover before landing on the ground again. When she noticed Helga had shifted out of her enraged state, she breathed a sigh or relief. ”Well said, Helga.” She turned to look at Chloe's giant abomination. ”I'm less sure how I should feel about that.” But now was not the time for commentary. Su raised her hands above her head, and a mighty gale blew through the battlefield. It wasn't strong enough to hurt anyone, but the flying monoliths would have a hard time hitting their target in such a wind storm. Now that Su wasn't trying to keep herself and Helga afloat, she could start using larger spells.

Few of the monoliths could stand up to a pummeling from Helga's claws. Even in their strengthened state, they crumbled away with just a few hits. One of Helga's claws got stuck in a monolith, and she simply swung it into another one, shattering them like glass. Su's wind storm ensured they had limited opportunities to retaliate, and Helga made sure they fell before they could.

”W-what is that!?” Divina turned just in time to notice the giant monstrosity sprinting towards her. ”I knew you were an agent of darkness! And quit making fun of my feelings!” When the abomination slammed into the white monolith, it was enough to knock Divina off balance. ”What the-!” Before she could finish, the creature howled at her. ”Why is everything screaming at me!?” The white monolith fired a pillar of light at the abomination, and it went all the way through the thing. The creature's howl was cut short, but it could still stand, albeit a bit weaker and less nimble than it was before. But it had succeeded in stunning Divina.



Just a few extra well timed screams due to some illusion magic did wonders for one's ability to concentrate. That was to say it totally evaporated. But all this running around was making Mac tired. Not much longer though, she just had one last stop to make before checking in on the Bates themselves.

---

@FamishedPants@Card Captor@PlatinumSkink

Between Mayra and Emily's flames, not many spiders were able to land on the ground. The few that did were quickly squished by Mayra's minions. They would still be pelted by burning rocks and overcooked apples, but that was relatively minor.

”They have horrors too!?” Tonya was not too happy with this recent development. She extended her umbrella out the hole in the bottom of the slime balloon and used it to block the incoming flames. She used the power of wind to draw the flames towards herself, keeping the slime monster safe. Without air, the balloon drifted towards the ground again. The lower altitude was making it easier for the pyro girls to simply bypass Tonya's wind all together and shoot for the slime directly. But by that point, Tonya was ready to make her move.

She allowed herself to fall out of the slime. Before she landed beside Emily and Alexander, she released all of the fire she had caught back at them in a single blast. It was hot and intense, but it took Tonya some time to land by their position, so they had a moment to prepare for it. The slime balloon had also turned into a slime blanket, and was descending directly onto Emily. Hundreds of tentacles tried to wrap around her every appendage and pull her into a slime cocoon.

”Now for YOU!”

The horrorlings Mayra summoned were little more than fodder for the enraged beacon girl. She left her umbrella open and charged straight for Mayra, screaming the entire time. Any attempt to cast a fire spell at her would simply be redirected into the umbrella. If something wasn’t done soon, Mayra risked getting impaled on Tonya’s umbrella.

---

@Shifter_Master@Ariamis[@t2wave]@Vocab

All it took was a few items to fall before the rest of Aurellio’s clones were wiped out, save the one with the mana charge. A glacier had smashed into the ground and threw deadly shards in all directions. Such shards posed a moderate threat to a magical girl, but were far too much for the fragile clones. Fortunately, they proved to be too much for a lot of the cultists too. Even the warlock groaned as his cape was pierced by flying ice shards.

Janet and Jenna needed to moderate their mana expenditure. It was one thing to heal people, and another thing entirely to keep everyone’s mana topped up. Lily was using some potent spells, and the twins were starting to share in her exhaustion. The others would need to act fast if they wanted to have a shot at healing Abigail.

Shannon immediately taunted Abigail before trying to run off. Her stone daggers were fighting their way through the artificial gravity the entire time. ”Wha? That’s almost as unforgivable as what they said about me and bro!” Abigail thrust her hand towards Shannon, and a slew of objects flew towards her. Shannon was cut off by a cement mixing truck. Borrowing hadn’t helped her, as the vehicle sunk deep enough into the ground that it cut her off. The shock wave likely stunned her, even though it was impossible for her to get hit by flying debris. Following close behind was two planes that crashed on either side of her. Shannon had only one direction to move in, and Abigail knew it. Her next projectile was a Toyota Prius that created a deep crater directly behind her. Shannon was being bombarded by powerful shock waves, and didn’t have much time to act. The only path Shannon could possibly take was straight down. But that wasn’t going to protect her from the next attack. A steel pipe was dropped straight over Shannon’s position. Then like a nail under a hammer, The twenty-foot shaft was buried under a falling boulder. Aurelio couldn’t pick up on Shannon’s emotions anymore, nor could Janet and Jenna detect the presence of her mind. Shannon was gone. Her stone daggers clattered to the ground when her mana was no longer there to activate them.

But now they had their opening.

Lily was under a crazy number of magical enhancements, and was able to do some incredible feats with the window of opportunity she had. Lily could get within range of Abigail and turn her killing blow into a stunning blow, Which put a brief end to the incoming “meteor shower”. This further allowed Aurelio’s clone to interrupt the flow of mana coming out of the mana beast, which was made even longer when Rebecca dove onto the creature and stabbed it. The membrane around all that mana didn’t explode like Rebecca had hoped. But it did puncture the creature’s shell. But it did cause the mana beast to wail, seizing it’s mana restoring laser for a time. With Abigail unable to move, and her mana supply cut off, most of her effects ended. The repulsion field was deactivated, and the other thirty something items she had with her fell out of the air at once. That included Rebecca, who was holding onto the beast, and Lily, who was forced out of her magical girl form from the mana expenditure of her killing blow. While nothing was falling with the same force as “Sunder-Fury,” they would need to brace themselves for a rough landing. The twins were able to remain out of the way of any falling obstacles.

Aurelio did not fall however. His body was pulled closer to Abigail, who smiled at him as the two floated towards earth together.

”They’re going to kill me.” Abigail let out a nervous chuckle. ”I’ll continue to live, but this person I am now, brainwashed or not, will cease to exist.” She wrapped an arm around Aurelio’s shoulders, and placed her other hand on the back of his head. Abigail swallowed before continuing. ”Before everything ends, at least let me have this, bro.” She closed her eyes and pressed her lips against the magician’s cheek. She kept this up until the twins were close enough to heal Abigail’s Brain. With Abigail’s mana and mental defence dwindled to almost nothing, it would be a simple matter to restore her mind.

The warlock and the tar baby seemed to have vanished in the confusion.

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@Flamelord@DarkwolfX37@Rune_Alchemist@Shifter_Master@FamishedPants

Elroy's footsteps shook the earth as he charged towards Penny. "That new form suits you, tin worm." Elroy raised his two upper arms, and a web of chain appeared between them. "But worms should be feasting on dirt and corpses, and you're far too high above ground for that." Elroy had been hit by Penny's “mouth cannon” enough times to know it was surely an attack in the cards for her. So as soon as they came together, he pulled the chains over the hole in her face and locked his hands behind her head. His lower arms took turns throwing punches into the engine's torso. His cursed fists ate away at Penny's armor with every blow. Each hit ensured the next one would be that much stronger.

While assimilating her old arm had made Penny impervious to having her metal tampered with, she was still unable to gain any mass from it. Worse, the imps tridents also appeared to be made out of the same metal that Elroy was made up of. But she did manage to absorb a decorative fence that was used to divide several grave sights.

Regina was so distracted by what just transpired that she was frozen in place. She didn't even notice Rina approach until she spoke. "Gh!" Regina raised her hands in defense. But it seemed that Katarina was offering her a way out. It took her a moment to process the words. She was trembling in place. "Y-yes! That sounds agreeable." She placed a hand over her face. "I'm going to try to regain control of my brother, please try not to kill him." Regina shadow stepped her way on top of a grave stone and started firing at Elroy with her sniper rifle. None of her bullets were designed to harm, but they were curses and mental edits. Exactly what they were could only be distinguished by Regina or someone with third eye. Rina’s possition was almost overrun by incoming imps.But Alicia's arrows had bought her some time. And she was about to get even more time as a band of beast girls carved their way through their numbers.



"Remember us?" Lupa was still in her strange rhino-beetle-carapace-with-kangaroo-legs mode. Her four clones were fighting all around them.

“I’m Mika!” Mika was still carrying Sil in her arms. “That’s Lupa. We shared some donuts, and I never got your name.”

"What’s the game plan? The minions are only going to get stronger." Lupa was right. Larger imps were showing up, and soon it might not be enough to just stand on top of the gravestones.



Sammy turned up her nose to Summer. ”Regardless of how Binky is doing, you're using her to make more of those blasted coins. I wouldn't be surprised if Binky was the head of Beacon all along!” She closed her eyes. ”Anyway, you want to film me busting down your Barrier? Fine by me.” She “looked” at the barrier for a few seconds. ”This is a sturdy barrier, I'm impressed, Beacon. But I have deduced it's weakness!” Her eyes shot open. ”While it cannot be broken or dispersed easily, it can be briefly disrupted by strong attacks” Big Tony hopped onto the ground. ”Now flee inside your stronghold, Beacon. My reinforcements will be here shortly. I suggest you destroy all evidence of your nefarious deeds before they get here. Consider it a mercy for not impeding me at this step of the investigation.” Tony Launched himself at the barrier. With a single swing of his claw, the barrier was briefly opened, allowing Summer and Alicia an opportunity to run inside.

Then it started to rain.

Alexander really didn't like some girl who just got punted at him to nag him about paying attention. "I just got eaten by a slime and had some girl shot at me like a missile, cut me some slack!" Then the crazy girl touched down near them. When she did, his instints screamed at him to go on the defensive "Dammit. Hey you, brace yourself!" he told Emily. He then created a large triangular shaped barrier in front of him, with it's faces pointing up and down, and one of it's points pointing at the crazy girl. "Dammit, I don't have time for this crap! I got to find Lily before she get's herself into trouble." he yelled, trying to bury his worry as deep down as he could.
@BrokenPromise@FamishedPants@PlatinumSkink