Surrounded by beaches and seas, girls in swimsuits and festive activities… A little bit in the past, still during the stay at the island paradise, Mariette had found herself asked to accompany a girl composed entirely by lightning, the one they called Cindy Ford, who’d previously announced herself to be the ruler of Penrose… who wanted to have a private word with Mariette. Very well, then.

As she accompanied Cindy towards the café, the white-haired girl in an eyepatch got seated on a simple chair at a table not far from where you ordered the drinks. Mariette was happy enough with just getting orange juice. Honestly, she didn’t get to drink that particularly often. Still, not the most avid conversationalist, Mariette kept her eyes on Cindy as she awaited what the shape of condensed lightning would say.

Cindy soon joined her with two glasses of juice, placing one on her side of the table before taking her own at the opposite side. “I ordered you a blueberry smoothie. Hopefully your taste buds find that agreeable,” the crackling monster girl spoke, and took a sip of her own lemonade.
“I recognized your voice from the time I made my declaration to Penrose. You suggested that we should form an alliance. Now, I would like you to elaborate on that. Exactly what kind of cooperation are you offering to me?” She asked in a polite tone, slightly contrasting her dated vocabulary.

Blueberry smoothie it is. Mariette took a bit of it, and found that it was agreeable enough. Now.

Huhu. Did she suggest something like that? Perhaps she did. Let’s say she did.

‘… Very well,’ Mariette started, putting down the smoothie to look at Cindy. ‘I am, perhaps you could say, a princess from another dimension. I lead the forces of my patron, which are great in number, and support his desires. Now, he cares little for who rules in Penrose…’ which was true enough… ‘… but he needs me to supply him with resources every now and then. As Penrose is at the center of a magical flux, it’s a logical place to begin. So, the deal is as follows…’

‘You get a portion of our strength. We’ll help by deploying monsters in key positions, give you Magical Girls that will fight for you, and will give you information as needed. In exchange, you give us any monsters you fight, any prisoners or enemies that you think would be better spent thrown into the abyss, or magical items that you feel you can spare us. We’ll give you support proportional to how much you give us, but overall, I believe you’ll find ruling Penrose to be a lot easier if you have our help.’ … That about covers it.

Cindy listened intently, a pair of flickering strands of electricity on her forehead furrowing like eyebrows. “The Abyss, huh? Well, I suppose it is how you describe your inner demons.” She smiled. “We can always use information and new subjects...Even monsters too, should the Beacon threaten their safety.” She gave a curious look. “Your idea of equivalent exchange is unexpected, but adequate. Having a reliable means of disposal will prove beneficial to our rule. I may even be able to throw in an artifact or two, should you prove yourself worthy of your confidence, hm hm~” She glowed a bit, and took a sip. “I assume you have underlings prepared to gather any offerings I may have?”

‘Absolutely. … Well, not currently...’ Mariette said, gesturing a bit on the environment around her. It was hard for them to be prepared when they were all stranded in a beach dimension. ‘… But under the assumption that we will be returned to Penrose eventually, that will be the case. We’re keeping the city under watch and my followers are prepared to jump in whenever is needed.’

Cindy clapped her hands together, causing a bright light to manifest, like the snapping of a photo. “Excellent! In that case, I shall declare our alliance true.” She leaned over at Valerie’s direction. “Two beers here, tavern wench! We shall have a feast!”
Valerie’s eye twitched, but she smiled and bowed. “I’m sorry, but we don’t serve alcohol...”
“Hah! What kind of pub is this? Very well then, two refills of our drinks then.”
She turned to Mariette. “Meet my advisor on top of the town hall on Saturday midnight; then, we shall discuss the details of your fealty.”

Well. That was decently easy. Fortunately, Mariette was saved from alcohol by Valerie. Besides that, was Cindy actually able to consume alcohol? Did she have a bloodstream for it to give her a high from? … These questions aside. ‘Very well. We will meet you there.’ With that said, she lifted her drink (blueberry smoothie) to meet Cindy’s glass, because that’s the form of gesture she got the feeling Cindy would appreciate. ‘For a fruitful united endeavour, then,’ Mariette offered, albeit her expression remained passive.

Shion sat alone in the back of a warehouse, waiting for two of her clones to return to her. She fiddled with her phone as she waited before nearly dropping it in surprise.

A hole in reality stood open before her. Floating in mid-air, a portal to darkness, just utter black on the other side. Then, a girl stepped through, a pale girl with long white hair, dressed in an elaborate dark dress, eye-patch over one of her eyes and arms around a white stuffed bunny.

‘I am Mariette Pedersen,’ she said. ‘Shion. I have an offer for you.’

Uh… Right. Okay, I can handle a random girl appearing from nowhere and wanting to make an offer. Not exactly the form I expected the devil to take, but…” She laughed. I’m just joking about that. I’d be interested in hearing how you found me though.”

‘Suffice to say, I have scouts scouring Penrose at all times, and one of them happened to overhear a very interesting conversation in the Pitstop,’ Mariette told her, assuming that to be enough. ‘Your gems. I command the ability to traverse dimensions, you see. Within my reach I have many worlds filled to the brim with mana, which your gems could collect plenty. You can even request the type of mana you’d like them to be filled with. Leave them with me, and I assure you they will be filled far faster than if you left them with the likes of Penrose Independent,’ so Mariette claimed.

‘In return, I want a portion of the gems. A third of them should do,’ Mariette told, gazing at Shion.

... That’s… quite the offer. I’m certainly interested, but I wonder if an individual can manage what a group like the Independent can. Each gem requires a one and a half Silver Coin investment. That’s why I went to them, because they can supply not only the bodies but the investment to grow perpetually. If you can afford the upfront cost, I’d be more than happy to take up your offer. A third of what you collect is more than fair if you’re telling the truth.”

Mariette stood silent for a second, squeezing her little stuffed bunny, considering it. While she had a large amount of money, she did not gain any new coins from her patron, and it was as such a limited amount, not to be spent on a potentially limitless amount of these gems. ‘Hm. My scout failed to inform me about the coin requirement. Very well. Before I confirm anything further, then, how large a quantity over how large a time-span are we talking? How many would want to have us work with?’

”The more the better. If you really can fill them like you say, it wouldn’t take… probably a month to fill up a full hundred or more gems, assuming we could afford that many. If I could just wish them into existence, I’d have you take... Shion paused for a moment to calculate. At a third of them for you, I’d say getting three hundred would pretty well set you up for life at a hundred, and would probably finish my goal as well. Shion laughed. But it’s obviously not that easy, and it’s costly. But keep in mind that the gems are reusable; once they’ve been emptied of their storage, you can refill them. I’m honestly surprised we’re getting away with it as cheaply as we are.”

‘Hm. I may not be prepared to make quite that big of a monetary investment. While my group has an excessive amount of magic, we’re not as intent on profit. Tell me, then. Would a deal of some form still work if my party simply stood for the magical charging of the gems? I promise that the speed and quality will be superior to anything the Independent can offer. If not… I suppose I could provide the funding for 80 gems, out of which I’d like 20,’ Mariette suggested, looking noticeably less happy.

”Of course. We’d be able to get you some gems to charge and you could keep a third, but if I may be selfish, I’d prefer to just give you twenty-five of the eighty you could afford. Twenty seems like a lowball to me, or maybe you could consider the five extra as compensation for charging some of the other fifty-five?”

‘How generous of you,’ Mariette said with a nod. ‘Very well. In that case…’ Mariette waved her hand in the air, and a portal opened in the air. A girl that’d been on stand-by jumped out, a blonde girl in a purple dress that immediately turned to Shion and smirked, waving a draped-over hand at her.



‘This is Suzette Laderoute. She is the one that will be in charge of ensuring the right sort of magic is put into each gem, and is also the one who will be meeting up with you when I am busy in other directions,’ Mariette explained.

‘Yo~! Pleased to meetcha!’ Suzette said, in an amused tone.

‘The funds will be…’ Mariette said, and then a portal opened basically right by Shion’s side, and an amount of coins just fell out of it. Somehow, it was the perfect amount of coins to pay for the deal that had just been agreed on. ‘… That should do. I suppose you don’t have the gems at this moment. Shall we plan for when to meet up again?’ So Mariette asked.

Shion’s eyes lit up. ”Wow… sort of expected it to take you a while to gather those up. Yeah, we can meet up again in… does two days sound okay? We can meet back here again, same time? Or would you prefer some other place and time?”

‘This place will be fine. And if it isn’t for any reason, we’ll simply pick you up. So you’ll provide the gems to Suzette, she’ll fill them with mana of the different types you request, and then we’ll give them back for examination. After that, you can give us our share. Deal?’ Mariette asked.

”Absolutely. Deal.” Shion held out her hand.

Mariette took a step or so forward, separated one hand from the bunny she was clutching, and took Shion’s hand, sealing the deal.

Summer took her Ruby Coin, sat down on a beach-chair, and sighed. To be honest with herself, she had sort of wasted the vacation. Dark thoughts filled her mind until Shion suddenly walked up to her. "Hey." Summer looked up at Shion, who was moving around somewhat nervously.

"What's up?"

"Uh... I was wondering if I could have that coin you just got?"

"What?" How selfish of her! Not only did Shion just get one of her own, but she had the whole vacation to make money through events!

"Look, I... I'm not the best at asking for favors. But I'd be eternally grateful if you would give me that coin. You aren't going to need it here, you know? And I could really use it..."

Summer thought for a moment. "Why do you want it so bad?"

Shion flinched. She had hoped to get away with not needing to explain. "I... I lost my brother a while back. Her voice grew somber. "I think that... with enough magic, I might be able to bring him back to life. That's my goal in life, now."

Again, Summer took a moment before responding. "I know what it's like to lose someone you love. I lost a brother too, before I became a magical girl. Well, he was my cat, but he was a brother to me. So I get the feeling of wanting to bring someone back... Do you really, honestly believe you can do it though?"

"I do. Absolutely." A moment passed in silence. "I'm sorry about your loss." Shion added genuinely.

Summer sighed and let out a small laugh. "I spent my whole time here sta-... I mean, doing something important to me, so I didn't really have time to just relax. Besides, I'm... not really that important to Beacon. I was sent to Penrose mostly to get out of everyone's hair, I think. Sure, I offered to go there to help out when I heard the situation there, but... I think it was only approved because they didn't want me anymore. And all I really did in Penrose was manage to destroy a landmark with a stupid use of my powers, so... I think I'll just hang out here for a while. As for you..." She flipped the coin towards Shion, who caught it. "Dan said these are made from our wishes, right? I guess I can lend my hope to your dream. Just promise me that you'll remember this and be generous to people when you can, okay?"

Shion stared at her in disbelief. "Y-yeah. Okay, I promise." With that, she turned away and walked towards the exit, turning and waving at Summer before going through it.

... ...

Yeah, there were a bunch of events where we could get magical coins for entering. You should've been there."

...

"Well, I personally spent the time relaxing. The only way to get a gold coin was to participate in a lesbian's wet dream sport of some kind, and weaker coins weren't worth the effort. I had my duplicates take pictures and video for the P.I., and it turns out that I now have profiles on most major players in Penrose. At least, before everything went to shit."

... ... ... ... ...

"Yes, I know your were worried. But you knew I was safe. Besides, you should learn to trust me more."

... ... ...

"Well, that's uncalled for."

... ... ... ... ... ... ...

"THAT'S UNCALLED FOR!"

Thump, thump, thump

Fingers drummed on wood, repetitive, like an unending drumbeat upon the wooden cabinet that Alicia sat next to in the lobby of Beacon HQ. It wasn’t like her to be nervous. Ask anyone and they would cite her as the picture of determined action, a caring attitude, and many other platitudes besides. Well, hopefully they did. And yet here she was, increasingly worried about what she had planned to do as the minutes ticked by,

It had been pretty busy recently. With the White Coin finally out there it felt like Beacon had finally sprung back to life, ready to face the tasks that were in front of it rather than just slapping on damage control. They’d seen a swelling of new recruits, and after some time Alicia had decided that she should spend some time with people other than Penny or Janet and Jenna.

Alicia could have done this with anyone really (though there were some she was unwilling to spend personal time with, in spite of their apparent newfound devotion to the cause), but in the end she had decided to meet with Serenity. She was probably the most unusual person here aside from certain individuals with Alicia’s ire, whether she liked it or not. After all, Penny being around meant that monster girls had become somewhat familiar, for better or worse. But a girl who had once upon a time been part of a world ending Horror? Now that was unique.

Though she couldn’t really claim that it was entirely selfless. She was curious and wanted to know more. And perhaps that was in error, but it had worked out with Penny. What were the odds something went wrong here?

So she’d talked with Serenity, and set up a time to meet. A time that was rapidly approaching, as she remained in place to be more easily found. She had no idea if this was going to work out like how she wanted, and the uncertainty was really starting to get to her. Maybe this had been a bad idea after all.

But she wouldn’t have too much longer to be obsessed with her own thoughts as the girl she was meeting with drew near.

...On the other end of the spectrum, a certain white haired girl was nervously making her way over towards Alicia. Her eyes were seemingly struck looking towards the ground, with minimal looking up save to see where she needed to go...and not run into anyone. Not that she hadn’t been approached by enough as it were in the last while, between questions from people, and the grilling by Beckoners, and the stares of mixed opinion. This was not even to mention the comments she had been hearing, ones about gratefulness to the “Star Seraph” for supposedly purifying her…

...Which frankly the “Star Seraph” hadn’t done, though the maid was a tad afraid to let that bit slip out. Who would even dare to believe her about the true story???

All of this combined had thusly made her prior conversation with said “Star Seraph” about meeting up and hanging out…well, all the more nerve-frying at its core. She’d held up as best as she could, agreed to meet at a certain time. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad? It was hard enough adjusting to her own skin with all of the attention and fear she felt, albeit physically her body felt entirely natural at least. It was at least one little benefit she’d been able to have after all of this.

”H-h-hi there...umm...Alicia,” the maid said, her voice sounding like she felt as she made her final approach towards the finger-tapping magical girl, all whilst decked out in her casual attire and in an (of course) untransformed state, ”S-Sorry for almost being late...umm...people kept...ah…”

By the Infinite Abyss, or maybe she should be thinking “Beacon’s Light” now, she hoped this day out would be a good thing! Maybe something to soothe her nerves, or at least get her away from the magical girls crowds here at the moment. Er...Alicia seemed like a nice girl, at least!

Thump, thump, thump-

Drumming fingers stopped abruptly as Alicia turned to face Serenity, with her agitation dispelled by the arrival of the person that she had been waiting for. There was a silent breath, all concerns and fears laid to the side as she approached this situation. Now they could only see how things worked out.

”Hey Serenity,” she replied with a small nod of her head. ”It’s okay, I’m just glad you made it.”

Rising to her feet, the Seraph took a moment to brush the accumulated wrinkles out of her shirt before getting to the actual reason they had met. ”Let’s get going. I don’t think either of us wants to stick around here longer than we have to,” she observed aloud, hands resting comfortable at her sides. She could do without feeding the rumor mill for a bit, if possible.

For now, she headed out, leading Serenity past the entrance and into the streets of Penrose. There was no destination in mind yet, merely determination to be somewhere else, where they didn’t have to deal with magical girls and responsibilities. Just two people getting to know each other better.

The new magical girl did her best to keep pace with Alicia, while glancing about at the various signs and storefronts as they were walking by. Clothing, jewelry, restaurants, and more seemed to unfold before her in an ultimately new way when it came to the mortal perspective. If the ‘former’ her had managed to incarnate...what would have really happened then? The expectations of Soth back then, would they have been proven true now or been shaken to their core? Or maybe things wouldn’t have changed at all.

Mysteries of unknown nature aside, Serenity’s face did light up somewhat as the duo were nearing a seemingly rare sight these days. A front for a large arcade, signs promising things like an in-house eatery, tons of games, crane machines, and more. The glowing lights from inside were even visible from the entrance, and for a minute the maid’s nervousness seemed to drop in favor of a genuine curiosity. She walked over to the door without thinking, glancing inside like a young child in a candy shop.

She’d seen a good many of these sorts of things in her former self’s conquests. But...well now in this form for the rest of eternity (she supposed) this sort of thing seemed to grab at her attention much more than it ever used to. Which is to say, it never used to at all.

”Ah...d-do you like g-games?” the girl asked, turning back to Alicia and asking her a question as her timid self seemed to come back once more.

Their wandering took them across a decent chunk of the nearby area, and a bit beyond. While there wasn’t much said at the time, Alicia did have the opportunity to gauge how Serenity reacted to everything, and learn a bit about her in the process. She hadn’t been sure how she would treat everything, given her nature.

The arcade had not been a conscious decision at first, but remembering that it was nearby had caused the Seraph to swing that way, exactly the sort of reaction that she got. Which was why she wore a smile as she joined Serenity at the front entrance. “I wouldn’t call myself a pro gamer, but I do enjoy it when I have the time,” she replied as she glanced through the glass door, before looking over to her companion. “And….well, you mentioned before that you had Soth’s memories, but you never said how many of those were happy ones. So I figured, why not try and make some?”

What better way to do that than playing some video games old school style?

Serenity blinked in surprise for a moment, letting Alicia’s words sink in before a small (albeit still a bit nervous) smile came onto her face.

”I, um...untold millennia of knowledge acquisition and world devouring since the beginning of time doesn’t usually make many happy memories…” the girl said, initially hesitating before she made that particular admission in her usual manner, ”B-but...that is in the p-past. L-let’s go in!”

”I figured,” Alicia concurred with a small nod as Serenity gave exactly the sort of answer she had assumed she would find. Horrors not being interested in warm and fuzzy things was hardly a surprise, though she supposed that it was possible she could have been surprised. Who could really predict what a Horror would do?

Still, it wasn’t hard to understand the desire to want to move past that, and she made no effort to dwell on the past. ”Right,” she agreed, swinging the door open and holding it for Serenity to enter the building.

Once inside she headed over to the front counter, handing over money to get a healthy number of tokens for the various arcade machines. She’d been spending a lot recently, and quietly she made a note to save up a bit in the future. But for now it should be fine as she passed off half of the tokens to her companion. ”So, what do you want to try first?”

The maid magical girl looked about, machines lining the walls, flashing lights, and games galore before her eyes as her timidness temporarily melted again before her excitement. Though in particular, her eyes settled on a more mundane machine...the crane. A fancy version of a crane game at that. Inside its casing were stuffed animals, gift cards of various amounts (some up to 50 dollars even), toys, and the like just staring back at her. Perhaps it was her old self’s habits of collecting bleeding over slightly, but the white-haired girl pointed over to the machine with a gleam in her eyes.

Without thinking she grabbed Alicia’s hand with her own free hand, and drug the other girl over. Serenity then plunked in a couple of tokens, a satisfying clunk ringing in her ears as the tokens landed inside, before getting hard to work. She grabbed the single joystick before her, equations and eldritch knowledge racing about in her head, until-



-...what? A small, white stuffed teddy bear with angel wings and tiny halo fell out of the bottom where prizes were supposed to go. The maid seemed to be elated, though...had she done this before? She’d just beaten a crane game on the first go.

Not much thinking about it, however, Serenity grabbed the bear up, gave it a hug, and then offered it to Alicia. Though as she came a bit back down to earth in the process, the maid magical girl tried to avoid direct eye contact, but kept out the offered bear with a small blush on her face.

Rather than being directly answered, Alicia found herself being dragged away from the counter towards one part of the arcade, her gaze slipping over the machines to figure out where they would end up. ”Crane game, huh? I’ve never been too good at these,” Alicia observed as she took a position next to Serenity.

Watching her at work was almost surreal, and the Seraph could only watch with surprise as the very first go at the machine ended up with a win. ”Not bad,” she congratulated Serenity, patting her on the shoulder. She wasn’t sure if it was just luck or not, but still. Figuring it out on the first go like that was impressive.

Gesturing to the toy that had been selected, she couldn’t help but add to her previous comment. ”That definitely fits with where you are now,” she noted as it was offered to her. That caused her to shake her head, giving it a gentle push back towards Serenity. ”You keep it. It can be a reminder of the fun we had here.” She needed that sort of thing more than the Seraph did. Alicia could always get a prize later. They had barely started after all.

”U-umm...t-t-thank you, I-I know lots of things...s-so this game to me is rather s-s-simple,” Serenity said, hesitantly pulling the bear back into a tight hug against her chest. The fur felt so soft, so nice...so gentle. She hadn’t felt anything like that before, really, albeit she had wanted to give Alicia some kind of gift for just being nice to her in general. Taking her out to hang out, no one had done that before, and she’d been too busy trying to explain things for the last long while and avoid getting locked up (at least in her mind) to visit the pirate that had appeared with her.

”W-Would you like to do s-something else?”

She wanted to be nice, ah, or at least was afraid to ask to stay here and drain this machine dry. That would sound so...mean. Even if it was ultimately possible for her personally.

The explanation provided was one that Alicia hadn’t really considered. Sure, she knew that Serenity knew a lot of stuff, but she had assumed it had more to do with magic and psychology and stuff like that. Not the complex physics of a crane game. But it seemed to have worked to their benefit in the end. ”You’re welcome.”

She didn’t dwell on it for too long, instead surveying the arcade to see what games were near them. Something for multiple people, so they could play at the same time…..!

Taking Serenity’s hand, this time Alicia was the one to pull her along as she guided them through rows of machines to the one that she had in mind. Specifically, Dance Evolution.. Getting on the left pad, she would guide Serenity to the other before moving to set them up. “So basically there’s going to be a song that plays, and on that screen in front of us there’s going to be four directional arrows and a bar on the top. You see those arrows on the pad? When the arrow reaches the top, you’re going to step on that arrow with your foot. If it’s stretched, then you’re going to hold it there until it ends. Make sense?” Finished with her explanation, she watched Serenity expectantly before she began. It might be a bit difficult at first, but she was confident that her friend would catch on quick.

”M-makes sense!” Serenity said with a little confidence this time, her bear held close after listening intently to her soon-to-be dancing partner explain the game, ”Um...r-ready?”

With a nod, Alicia inserted the required tokens into the machine. She frowned intently, scrolling through the song list and selecting an easier difficulty for Serenity’s sake. But she soon found one that sounded like it would be good, and confirmed her choice before stepping back to the center of the pad. ”And here we go.”



The song began, and Alicia’s knees bobbed with the beat as the arrows appeared onscreen. Soon enough she was moving, nailing most of them. It wasn’t the hardest that she could have done, but she was a bit rusty. It had been a while since she went to the arcade. Hopefully Serenity was doing alright.

Initially the hesitant maid attempted to stamp on the right arrows around her, and initially it seemed as if her panic was going to get the best of her. Her movements were initially sloppy, and her eyes seemed to hurriedly scan over her feet, Alicia, and the arrows on the screen in a nervous flutter. Yet as the song went on, Serenity’s focus seemed to be pulled steadily towards the screen, and despite her initial fumbling she began to hit the arrows more consistently as she continued on. Eventually even the look of panic faded into a look of laser-focused attention on Serenity’s face, and her body seemed to bob more and more in-line with the rhythm of the game...until eventually she was moving and stomping to the beat to a ‘T’ on the pad below her.

The song soon came to an end after several minutes, leaving the Seraph breathing deeply from the exercise as she compared their scores. It was much closer than she would have expected, at least from her first glance. ”Not bad,” she said to her companion. ”What do you think? Fun enough for another round, or should we try something else?”

The magical girl felt herself breathing heavily as well, though as she came out of her tunnel-vision led focus on the game she looked at her score. Eyes shot open wide at the closeness of her own score and Alicia’s, and a nervous pang shot up the girl’s spine as the worries hit her mind. Had she done too good??? She didn’t want to look like she was trying to one-up Alicia, heavens no! But after looking to the Seraph, as Alicia’s words reached her ears, Serenity felt the tension in her body slightly release. S-She had done good? It was ok? No “hey you have untold knowledge, that’s cheating”, or the like?

The news for a moment brought a face of elation to the surface, and with a smile she didn’t realize she had on Serenity nodded her head vehemently in the energy of the moment.

”W-We can do another round if you’d like!” the maid felt herself blurt out loudly, before realization came and she clasped her hands over her mouth...albeit still garnering a few eyebrow-raising stares from nearby people in the arcade in the process. Then as further realization set in about her word choice, poor or not, the maid’s face began to rapidly turn beet red.
O-Oh no....

Taking things at face value, Alicia was more than willing to go for a second round. ”Alright then. Let’s see what we can come up with.” Obviously it would have to be a bit harder this time, now that Serenity knew what she was doing.

Settling on another song, she confirmed the choice before stepping back to begin. “I hope you’re ready,” she said with a glance over to the side. ”I’m not going to go so easy on you this time. She was clearly being a bit more competitive this time around



The sound began in earnest, and with the pounding of the guitar and drums she began moving along to the music once again. This time she moved just a bit quicker, a bit more accurate. All to keep up with Serenity’s improved skill. Now this was a real battle.

Serenity, upon seeing her dancing opponent get serious, did her best to put on a serious face in response. She was being taken...seriously! Not in a bad way, but something inside of her seemed to burn bright as she heard Alicia’s words was all. Something inside seemed to...not want to give in! Not in the face of this challenge!

As the new and much harder song began, Serenity began to try to get back into that “focused” state she had been in with the last song. The introduction began seemingly at a decent pace, albeit notably faster than the prior song, and the maid did her best to get into the proper rhythm with the beat of the song. The struggle to get into the proper movements, and a more noticeable trailing behind Alicia, were rather apparent though.

Yet as the words began to ring out she felt a sharp pang recoil through her body, as if stoked by the lyrics themselves. Her focus seemed to wane, and Alicia’s lead would continue to grow as the words and arrows passed on by.



It was like the song had been chosen to hit home for her….or what she had been. Something that had brought about a cycle of tragedy over and over again, and had not the heart to understand those it affected or hurt or manipulated. Nor had “she” cared back then, nor was she free to do otherwise even if she had attempted to ponder such. Even as an extension of Soth, drawing from the seemingly endless main mass, her will had been the Greater Horror’s own naturally. She had done vile acts in the name of amusement, twisted innocents, had corpses stolen….

...and ruined the lives of two people who had come to love each other, genuinely.



Before the despair could grab more of a hold on her heart, the tightness in her chest becoming worse and worse, something seemed to suddenly rise up inside of her. Like a small, flickering light or candle held aloft in an unlit room. A ‘spark’ of knowledge, one could perhaps say, that led to words bubbling up within her mind.

Why had the Beacon even chosen to spare her? Why had that light chosen to free her from those shackles, and grant her former self’s dream despite her crimes rather than smite her away? Why had Alicia come out with her, rather than toss her to the side or smite her into dust?



This was a second chance at life, a dream beyond a dream! After all, there was someone who wanted to be around her at all. Alicia. The Star Seraph herself, who regardless of her position and everything had wanted to spend time with her despite it all. That meant something, genuinely and sincerely. It was like a new chance...a brilliant light to help her move forward! She wasn’t walking alone in the darkness anymore, because someone was by her side! Such a seemingly dull thing to her old self, but...now it was something she felt proud of.

Perhaps it was an overly emotional line of thought to have, but the hope it brought was more than worth it! She couldn’t turn back now! She could change, and be something more!



As the song neared its inevitable conclusion, Serenity seemed to steel herself visibly. Her steps became more deliberate, her focus renewed as the lyrics rang clearly in her ears. That pained look of hers eventually shifted to something of a renewed “resolve”, for lack of a better word. Though her score was stuck most woefully behind Alicia, however, the maid seemed to finally put her all into the game. Stomp. Turn. Stomp. Focus. Get into the beat. Feel the rhythm, and let it flow into the moves.

Unaware of what she had unintentionally brought on or the emotional realization that Serenity had made, Alicia was still focused on the game. Yet the divide in scores had not escaped her, and as the song came to a conclusion she could only draw one path forwards.

Another sigh escaped, the Seraph stretching a bit before she nodded. ”Hm, maybe we should take a break from that for a bit,” she observed aloud. She’d go for another round but it seemed like Serenity could use a bit of a breather from this.

Hands resting on her hips, she turned to survey the other available machines. “”Looks like we’ve got some shooting games, basketball, air hockey, a racing game...that one could be fun.” She wasn’t sure which one to go with, but it wouldn’t be a hard decision.

Feeling like her heart was going to erupt out of her chest from the exertion, Serenity looked over at Alicia as she leaned on the guard rail next to her dance pad. Some beads of sweat ran down her forehead, but at the same time she weakly nodded to Alicia. Something...more casual, perhaps, would be good after this workout. And emotions. Both those things were rather draining to the mind and flesh for humans like herself, as it turned out.

“Maybe...basketball...would be nice...for something less intensive?” the white-haired magical girl managed to breathe out as she caught her breath, eventually moving back off of the guard rail and letting out a small sigh of relief at not having keeled over.

”Sure, we can do that. Come on.” Taking heed of Serenity’s state, Alicia led her over to the basketball game. Time for them to do something a bit less stressful for a bit.

The game was a fairly traditional setup that you would see at a place like this. There were basketballs lined up in a chute, and two individuals could stand side by side to compete against each other. The person who was able to shoot the most baskets would be declared the winner.

Taking up position on the left, Alicia fed in the tokens that would get them set up to play. ”This one is pretty easy. Just get as many basketballs through the hoop as you can,” she told the other girl before picking up her first basketball to do just that. It wasn’t that complicated, unless you had particularly bad hand eye coordination.

She would take the first shot, then allow Serenity to do the same so she could get a feel of what they would be doing before she spoke up. ”So how have things been going since….you know,” she asked, giving a general wave towards the girl. ”I imagine there’s a lot to get used to.”

As Serenity tossed another basketball, listening to Alicia’s questions and looking at her out of the corner of her eye, she let out a small but audible sigh. The basketball seemed to bounce off of the rim of the basket as the maid seemed to think for a moment, before another basketball rolled out in front of her.

“I-It’s…been interesting, to say the least. New body, new me, and...I just can’t help but feel guilty about all of it somehow. And...scared, honestly,” she said, looking to Alicia for a moment before picking up her next basketball, “Scared everyone is going to up and kill me one day, that this...whatever this second chance that your patron decided to give me will be wasted…don’t even know why it gave me a chance at all….”

Doing her best to line up another shot, Serenity tossed the ball at the hope once more. Swish. Nothing but net that time, at least.

Alicia frowned, and though she could not picture the exact situation she liked to think that she at least had a grasp on some of Serenity’s concerns. This was a unique situation for everyone, she was pretty sure.

”Well, you’ve still got the Spark inside of you,” she noted, idly holding her next basketball in her hands. ”By the rules of the organization, anyone who did that would themselves be forfeit from Beacon. Though I’m not sure how much of a reassurance that is.”

She let out a small chuckle before tossing her next basketball. This one solidly hit the backboard without coming close to the net. ”I can’t speak for why the Beckoners did this, but they must have their reason for it.” Her confidence in those leading Beacon did not waver, when there was no reason that it might.

“...From you, those words are of some comfort, genuinely. In fact, you are the one who has been the nicest to me, and perhaps put me most at ease at this point, since I arrived at Beacon,” the white-haired magical girl said, distinctly happy in her tone for a moment before grabbing up another basketball, ”And today...has been the most at ease I have felt yet...it means a lot, truly. I wish I could be here with you and make this time last...forever, perhaps.”

Serenity tossed the basketball, after shifting it somewhat nervously in the grasp of her two hands, this time with the ball hitting the left side of the backboard before bouncing off and rolling back down. A light grimace then flashed briefly to the girl’s face.

”Yet...many of the girls still regard me like pet or some novelty, and just claim that you ‘purified me’ and enslaved ‘the wretched monster’. That’s not the most of what’s happened...but it’s not like I can blame them either after all I did before,” the maid said, the words lingering on her lips as she glanced briefly over to her companion for the day, a somewhat melancholy look in her eyes.

Pleased to hear that she felt that way, Alicia couldn’t help but grimace as Serenity amended her appreciation with how she had been treated by the others. It was the sort of thing that she did not want to hear, and it served to exacerbate her frustration.

”Seriously?” She grumbled aloud, sighing, as her palm came to rest against her forehead. She would have hit something, were she in the place to do so. But right now all she could do was express her annoyance. ”I’ve told them to stop doing that sort of thing, but nobody seems to listen.”

After a moment she shot Serenity a weak smile. ”I’ll talk to them about it. They keep crediting me for things I didn’t do.” And trying to correct them never seemed to work out, for whatever reason.

”I...I am sorry...I shouldn’t have said anything about this, and left you to be so frustrated. This...is supposed to be a happy day. Yet even the thought of lying to you didn’t feel right either...not after all you have done for me already,” Serenity said, light panic bubbling up again in the back of her mind, before reaching over and grabbing another basketball and making a half-hearted shot that missed the hoop altogether.

Pausing for a moment after, the white-haired girl then let out a long sigh. With one of her hands reached over to grab the hand Alicia had used to hit herself with, gently holding it between her fingers for a moment, ”You have stood by me so far, even, despite how little I have been around. I want to be able to help you as well...it doesn’t take millenia of knowledge to see how stressed you have been about things. My own slip of the tongue has somewhat confirmed my own fears at that...but please, let me help you in turn as best as I can from now on. As selfish as that is to ask, that is...”

Serenity let go of Alicia’s hand as gently as she had grabbed it, before placing her own hand back down on the new basketball in front of her, a small and genuine smile coming to her face, ”Yet I will work to prove myself to the other girls, and to you, even if it takes a few decades. That I promise. Then perhaps they will see reason one day, and will listen to your words.”

For the moment, the maid didn’t care how...emotional, potentially poetic, and unhesitant she was being. She had to ride out the high from this emotional realization of hers, because the high (at least) wouldn’t last forever. She hoped the lessons from it would stick, however, though she’d have to work on that part. While she could be so bold as she was being right now...she treasured it regardless, along with this day spent out with Alicia.

Alicia was quick to shake her head, lest Serenity think that there was blame being put in either direction at this point. ”It’s fine. No harm, no foul,” she assured her companion.

Yet in spite of that there was no effort made to stop heras they held hands for a moment. It was strange to hear such concern and appreciation from what she knew had once been a horror, even if it was a bit rude to think in such a manner. After all Serenity was no less human than she was now, even if she had a lot more memories to sift through.

”Part of it is just the circumstances too,” the Seraph admitted. Picking up her basketball, she would do a one handed shot that bounced off the rim before swishing in with a very satisfying feeling to accompany it. ”After what happened with Victoria and the Justine business, there isn’t a lot of trust from the outside. And we took a lot of hits. People are nervous, and looking for something to cling to for hope.”

She gestured behind herself to where her wings would sprout from her back. They weren’t there right now, if only because they were at an arcade in public, but she could imagine their presence nonetheless. ”They gave me these wings and made me a Seraph because of the assault on Justine’s castle, but to be honest I didn’t actually do anything there. I never even saw Justine herself.”

It was something she regretted, but there was nothing that could be done about it now. At the very least it was a lesson about not overspending your magic on worthless targets. ”Because of that being made a Seraph and having all this praise just feels a bit hollow to me. That fight at the graveyard was the first time I actually felt like I deserved to be where I am.” Her smile widened, even as she looked over at Serenity. ”As long as you keep trying, with time I’m sure they’ll accept you. It might not even take a few decades to do it either.”

”Heh...I will trust you on that as well! Though I will also say I believe you are most worthy of those wings of yours, and do not let yourself tell you otherwise. If there is one thing these old memories can tell me now...it is that growing into a position is part of the job,” the maid said, smiling somewhat wider in return as she looked back to Alicia, eyes almost beaming, ”Yet hope...trust...distrust...regrets...joy...being human truly ‘riding the emotional rollercoaster’, isn’t it? Though I would not have it any other way.”

It was touching to hear someone with such faith in her. Especially someone with so many centuries of experience to theoretically draw on. Differentiating between was a bit tricky, but she made sure that Serenity knew it. ”That’s the hope,” she assured her. ”It just feels weird getting all this praise for being at an event even if I didn’t affect how it ended.”

Reaching over, she patted Serenity on the shoulder. ”And that’s good to hear. I’m supposed to make you run laps around the base if we think you’re going back to that ‘destroy the world’ thing.” Of course, the grin she wore indicated she was joking. Mostly.

Serenity’s face dropped from its positive beaming, right down into the depths of a truly panicked expression that seemed like all the warmth in the world had up and vanished. The entire nature of it was far more comical than anything, however, though before the Seraph could speak more a sound quickly escaped Serenity’s lips. The sound was itself something akin to a dying llama or scared goat.

”AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! Anything but the laps!”

THe reaction was very overdramatic, and very hard to take seriously. As such, Alicia couldn’t help but burst out into a fit of giggling that interrupted her basketball throwing. ”Relax, I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about. And I’ll be here to help if anything happens.”

Serenity seemed to calm back down a bit as Alicia reassured her, though regardless she puffed her reddening cheeks out a bit in response to the giggling of her companion, ”M-M-Meanie….b-but it's good to know you’ll b-be there for me…”

Serenity tossed the ball, without much looking ahead of her as she threw it, though a light “ding” drew her attention suddenly over to the game. Hey, she’d managed to score a point! Nice.

With Serenity’s focus returning to the same, Alicia did so as well. Not that either of them had been trying particularly hard up to this point. But now it at least had their attention again. ”Looks like we’re almost out of time,” she noted, glancing at the clock that was counting down with big red numbers. ”We’ll finish this up, and then see what else there is to try. Sound good?”

”S-Sounds good!” Serenity said, snapping out of the distraction of the game and looking back over at the other girl. A small smile began to form again on her face to boot.

With the agreement made, Alicia turned back to the game. The two of them made for an odd pair, especially to those who knew what they were. Nonetheless, it had been a fun afternoon, and Alicia did not regret the time she had spent with Serenity today.

Complete darkness. Mariette squirmed, but couldn’t force her way out. She couldn’t open a portal, that power had been taken from her. Fear. Fear surged through her veins. She could beg for mercy, but the effort would be wasted on the one who would hear them. An attack ran straight through her soul. She cried out in unspeakable pain. Her limbs trashed against the restraints. Darkness traveled across her veins from the place she’d been wounded, causing pain wherever it touched, and all she could do was scream in pain and terror…!

Ko couldn't believe her luck. She'd just finished meeting with some older Puchuu when one of them gave her a Platinum Coin! She quickly put it in her bag, a small pouch that she carried around on her back, careful to not put it in her hammerspace bag for fear of losing it and ran off to find the nearest exit from the Overcity.

However, as she ran, one of her bags got caught on a corner. Thinking it was her hammerspace bag and therefor totally fine with a small rip, she simply pulled it until it came loose. Unbeknownst to her, as she got closer to the exit, the Platinum Coin she was so excited about fell out of her bag alongside a new ID she meant to give to Shion. Finally, after about half an hour she reached the exit and prepared to go find her charge in Penrose.

The Platinum Coin, bound with Ko’s power, fell on its edge rolled on over the eternal checker-patterned floor of the Overcity. It rolled, and as it did the rules changed. Did it roll for seconds? Hours? Days? Meters or miles? Straight on a plane or through multiple dimensions? None could say, but it suddenly hit the foot of a Gorelion and came to a sudden stop.

The Gorelion looked down curiously at the coin for a moment. Then it was about to lean down, bite it and release the power to itself… when a Sphinx slammed down its paw at the cheek of the Gorelion, and the two giant monsters growled at each other, both wanting the Platinum Coin. The two slammed into one another, not noticing that the force of their impact had caused the coin to fly off on another journey.

The coin flew and hit a Witch, who stared at it as she held it with bony fingers, before taking it with her as she flew off on her broom to a witch-meeting at her hut. She showed off the coin to the other Witches, and they were ecstatic about what could be done with the magic in it. They dropped the coin into a potion and watched as it bubbled… and then the cauldron promptly exploded, sending the coin flying out the window as the Witches cowered.

A Monster Girl wandering the Overcity was suddenly hit in the head by a Platinum Coin. She grabbed it, and blinked at it a couple of times. A Platinum Coin! She couldn’t believe her luck! … Exactly, she didn’t. Something so lucky would never happen to her. If she were to use it, there was no telling what curses and terrible fates were to be inflicted on her. Disappointed, she sighed and threw the Platinum Coin into the abyss of the Overcity.

The coin fell into a highway of mana, a current used by some patron to create an infinite swirl of mana directly into its mouth. It was a nice, gentle flow, which the giant leisurely drank of, and then the Platinum Coin was pulled along the flow into said mouth… The coin had more power than the Lesser Force could handle at once and the giant promptly threw up a giant explosion of mana, sending the coin flying once again.

It fell into water, water in the Overcity. It sunk to the bottom, where the coin lay undisturbed for a long period of time. How long did it lie there? Unknown. But eventually, a monster fish sensed its power, and swam in to get a bite out of it. Unfortunately for the fish, the coin was tougher than it could chew through, so the fish merely swam up to the surface again and spat it out. Once again, the Platinum Coin was in motion.

So the Platinum Coin, brimming with power, skipped and scuffled through the Overcity, until it came across a puddle. An unremarkable puddle which had been lying there for who knows how long. There, the coin hit down hard on its edge. It was slowed from the resistance of the puddle and fell over into the middle, a small splash announcing that it had reach the end of its journey through the checkerboard lands of the Overcity. And there…

It dissolved into the puddle.

…

…

…

There was green path, and she wandered it. There were trees around, men worked the fields for crops, and she was protecting them. Ah, this was life. But then, she saw them. Foes, servants of neighboring warlord, crossing the road from the other side like they owned the place, sizing it up for their invasion. She didn’t hesitate, and walked straight for them. She passed them, and they noticed. Hands went to swords. She swung around, her sword suddenly drawn. She was faster. They fell, their swords never drawn, as she sheathed her sword and smirked at their fallen bodies. Too bad, this place is under my charge~

…

No, wait, this is a dream.

She opened her eyes in the darkness.

Still dark.

She was… nothing?

This didn’t seem like anything.

That’s no fun, she was bored already.

She could just close her eyes, and-

No, wait. She’d done that before. That’s what triggered the dream.

She was locked in a series of perpetual dreams.

How long had she been here?

Impossible to tell.

She remembered, she remembered she-

Ow!

Something hit her head?

She could feel pain here?

Something… something had landed on top of her.

It felt like it asked her a question.

Huff, she thought, feeling smug.

What kind of question was that?

Of course she could handle it!

The thing that hit her head withered away into nothingness.

She didn’t really understand, but-

Oh. It was cold.

She could feel?

That was-

‘Wha-!’

She made a noise and sat up with a start.

Her confused eyes darted over the featureless landscape.

… Huh, wait.

She was… in the Overcity? What on Earth was she doing-

Wait.

That’s right.

She had been… inside someone else. Fighting…

She had been hoping to lose, for she fought someone she loved.

Her loved one had won, and they had shared final words.

Oh. She realized with a start.

She had died.

But then, what was-

By sheer coincidence, she lifted her right hand to pull her hair out of her face. Her eyes widened. Hold up. Hooooooooooooooold up. Something was very, very off. Her hand wandered to her forehead, then down to her face, feeling the shapes and the texture. Her left hand moved to join it, only to hit something on her side which made a metallic noise. She looked down to see what it was, but instead her eyes fixed on her own hand.

It was a hand. The colour of skin.

The Horror’s Darkness… no longer coated her. He had… abandoned her? Cut the connection. To avoid having his darkness consumed… No patron was connected to her. Yet… here she was.

Alone. … In a human body, dressed in clothes, no longer a monster, and with a sheathed physical sword at her side. She had to feel around a bit more to ensure there wasn’t a gigantic mistake.

Wait. That was impossible. Without a backer, she couldn’t have gotten these powers. Without a patron, she shouldn’t have…

…

…

Glimmr was a great thing. Social media, was a great thing. It allowed people to do all kinds of things. Connect with others that they normally wouldn't have even met. To make friends, mess around, and other things. It could make people famous, and people could even make a living off of making videos, or just uploading vlogs if they were interesting enough. It also let certain people spread their ideologies, no matter what they really were, if they were creative enough.

And on a certain Idol's Glimmr page, her own website, and in various other places, a video had been posted.

The video opened With the usual Chibi Vi-Chan twirling into view with nothing but a skimpy nurse-outfit and a giant syringe.

"Whasssup my deviously deviant crew? It's ya girl, Vi-chan here with a totally original character design!" She twirled the oversized Syringe giving the camera a playful wink and smirk. "...h-huh? It's not? Eh, who cares, I'm still adorable. Annnyways, my lovely little followers I got some pretty lit news for you guys." The Chibi Vi pulled off the nurse uniform, now wearing what some sort of professor or teacher might wear, and the background flickered from its white void to a beacon flag.

"First, a brief little rundown of events." She took out a pointer and tapped it against the screen. "So we can all agree the Ascendancy is bad news for everyone in Penrose! Like what the hell man. Coming on our turf and just taking over the place? Talk about power-hungry creeps who seriously need to have a lovely little dirge played for them." She chuckled darkly, winking at the camera with a malicious grin. The beacon flag switched into a different flag. It was violet in color, with silver trimmings around the edges, the middle depicting some sort of intertwining structure pointing downwards with a shining orb seeming situated within the structure.

"History lesson over! Seriously, you little piggie-ahem-lovely little fluffy adorable sheep should be paying more attention, and totally not because I put this together on five minutes notice." Vi-Chan moved closer to the camera, sitting on a table with her legs crossed. "You live here, after all! And well, if you don't then that's all you need to know. The Ascendancy are a buncha lowlifes that want my cute butt for themselves. Now my lovely little fans definitely don't want that happening, do ya? Yuck. the only one getting some of my fabulous butt would be a clone of myself or maybe one of you lucky sheeples if you impress me. Anyways, Penrose has been all doom and gloom ever since they showed up, so I'm gonna be doing a thing! I'm throwing a Party. That's right, a party. A little Monstrously Dark party for all of us downtrodden, poor little people of a darker disposition. Ya'll know the rules. Keep the fighting to a minimum or I'll have to get angry, and trust me ya'll reaaaaally don't wanna make Vi-Chan angry. You remember what happened last time, don't'cha? Normal magical girls are welcome too so long as they behave." She hopped off the desk, smiling darkly at the camera.

"Beacon though? You can come, but first you'll have to find it. I'm not giving a location, after all. My faithful little fans know what's up already. But on some off chance you do find us...ehehe, well. I'll play you all a lovely little Dirge. It's my best work. You could say it's so great it'll make you go brain dead! Ahahaha! Well, anyways. Toodles lovelies. Spread it by word of mouth to any that want to attend. I can assure you, you won't be disappointed!~~"

She pressed her face close to the screen the Chibi-version's face slowly contorting into one of a hate filled scowl.

"And beacon? Seriously. Fuck off and let us have a bit of fun. We don't mean any harm, unlike you lameo losers who go about murdering for no reason. You'll get your comeuppance soon, or my name isn't the Adorable Elvira-Chan."

The video then, cut out, and then within two hours it would have been deleted. The reaction of the magical world as a whole was probably not hugely great. After all, Vi was only popular right in Penrose in some surrounding areas. She did have a bit of a cult following in other parts of the world, so it was definitely going to get noticed. And for the past weeks, her Glimmr account and posts had been increasingly anti-Beacon, and many of her followers had begun to have a similar disposition. Even those who were only tangently related might have been drawn in to such rhetoric.

---

"Aaaaaahhh this is a terrible idea whywhywhywhywhywyyyyyyyy!" Back in her little base, Vi was faring far less well than some would think of someone who basically just declared some sorta war right to beacon. Vi spun in her gaming chair, rolling to the far side of the room and holding the top of her head. The chair hit a table, knocking itself over and sending her crashing to the ground. For a few seconds she laid there. She couldn't say she was entirely opposed though.

Chloe was right, and she knew it. She could run all she wanted too, but with the things that were happening, Beacon was going to find her eventually. And the things she had done, when she worked for the mint? Even if she had been forced to do things against her will, she doubted Beacon would let her off easily. At best they'd lock her up. Worse? Well...

...

She hugged herself.

She was a coward. The worst sort of coward. She'd betray anyone if it meant living a bit longer. It wasn't like her to do something like this, and maybe she was being driven by fear, but all the outcomes for her had begun getting increasingly worse and worse over the past few months, all because of Beacon. She just wanted to live quietly, without bothering anyone, in her little studio! Why was that a crime!?

But she was a coward that wanted to live, and if violence gave her the best chance of clinging onto life, then well...

She'd be safe for now. Probably. A little voice in the back of her head kept giving her doubts. She knew her way around computers and tech stuff. No way were they gonna find her. Even if they did somehow manage to trace stuff through her proxies, all they would end up with was a dummy computer running from an internet cafe that she had already cut her remote access too. Meaning that she was safe.

"...fuuuu." She sighed, standing up and adjusting her hat with a slightly trembling hand. "Okay, Vi-Chan. You're a badass. You've killed people. You've beat people over the head with an inflatable pool toy to kill them before. Badass!" She picked up her chair. She had a party to put together.

Mia Cooper couldn’t believe what was happening. Upon walking into her room at the Penrose Orphanage she had found an unnervingly creepy woman wearing a dark robe and mask sitting on her bed. That alone would have been shocking enough, but then the woman had gone on to explain that she was none other than Mia’s roommate and best friend Connie Williams. It was all so unreal. The woman looked nothing like Connie, but did sound a bit like her…

“Why don’t you tell me what happened,” Mia asked. “How did you get like this?”

“W-well, some of the other kids locked me in the cellar,” the woman explained.

What?! Mia roared internally. I’m gonna beat the crap outta those jerks… Even if this woman wasn’t Connie, Mia refused to tolerate bullying of any sort.

“A-and when I was looking for a way out,” the woman continued, “I found this really awful m-ma-mas…”

“Mask?” Mia offered.

The woman nodded, before giving voice to a shocked gasp.

“Oh my gosh… I-it… it… c-clung to my face…” she said in a whisper as her hands slowly reached up to touch the mask. “Oh no… I-I’m still w-wearing it?! Oh jeez, oh jeez, oh jeez…”

She was starting to tremble and hyperventilate, clearly at the beginning of a panic attack. Connie was deathly afraid of masks, after all, Mia reflected.

Holy crap, Mia thought to herself. She really is Connie…

What before she had doubted, she now knew with utter certainty, and with that knowledge came a renewed resolve to help her suffering friend.

“Connie, it’s okay, it’s okay,” she told her soothingly, while putting her arm around her and gently rubbing her back. “I’m so sorry you had to endure all that by yourself, but I’m here now. We’ll fix this. I promise.”

“B-but Miaaa,” Connie sobbed. “H-how can you do anything about this? T-this isn’t something s-simple like bullies… It… It’s some k-kind of h-horrible magic curse…”

It was at that moment that Mia reluctantly made one of the biggest decisions of her life.

“You’re right Connie,” Mia told her. “It is magic. You’ve become a magical girl.” She took a deep breath. “Just like me.”

“L-like you?” Connie asked in bewilderment.

“Yeah,” Mia confirmed with a sigh of resignation. “Listen Connie,” she added as she stood up and walked a short distance away from the bed. “I’m gonna show you something pretty crazy, so please try not to totally freak out on me, okay?”

“O-okay…” Connie replied.

With a nod, Mia closed her eyes and summoned up her magical power to initiate the transformation. Connie watched in disbelief as a glowing and swirling whirlwind of mystical green energy quickly enveloped Mia. There was a mighty flash, after which Mia was no more. In her place stood an emerald-skinned nymph-like woman of otherworldly beauty. Her green hair flowed down in luxurious waves to pool on the floor, while her outfit consisted of little more than a skimpy bikini made of vines and leaves.

“Nature’s Beauty! Nature’s Grace! Nature’s Power!” The demigoddess announced. “Behold! I am Gaia, Daughter of Mother Earth!”

Now it was Connie’s turn to be dumbfounded.

“W-who…Who are you?” she whispered hesitantly.

“Oh, dearest Connie,” Gaia said serenely, with a tone filled with warmth and compassion. “It is I, your cherished friend. What you see before you is simply my magical girl form.”

“M-Mia? Y-you look so different… You sound so different…”

“Yes, well, I am Gaia now. If you wish, you may think of Mia as the seed, while I am the blossom.”

“S-so you’re not Mia anymore?”

“It… is complicated. Just know that I am still your friend, and I wish to do all in my power help you.” Sitting back down beside her, Gaia put a comforting arm around Connie’s shoulder. “To that end, I believe the first thing we should do is reverse your transformation, and the best way to do that is to simply relax. Here, rest your head upon my lap,” she offered invitingly. “That’s it, just lay down and make yourself as comfortable as possible. Then, leave everything else to me.”

Gaia’s voice was so blissful and calming that Connie found herself gladly complying with her every request.

“Th-thank you for doing this, Mia,” she said sleepily as she felt her friend’s elegant fingers running through her hair. “Oh! S-sorry, I-I mean Gaia.”

“There is no need to apologize,” Gaia told her lovingly. “You are my dearest friend. You may call me by whatever name you wish, I will cherish the sound of it all the same.”

As Connie drifted into blissful slumber, her imposing transformation finally dissipated, leaving behind the gentle girl Gaia had known since childhood.

“Sleep well, my dearest Connie.” Gaia said, while she smiled down at her friend. “Know that I shall always be here to guide and protect you. The nightmare is over now. Everything will be all right. So vows Gaia, Daughter of Mother Earth.”

The nightmare was far from over. That much was plain to see. The man writhed in agony, assailed by a relentless tide of unimaginable horrors. What those horrors were could have easily been seen, had the two young women wished it, but both had decided that it was for the best if they simply viewed the external symptoms. As far as Gaia was concerned, that was unnerving enough, and she was sure Connie would be quick to agree with her on that point.

The two magical girls sat on the edge of the roof of one of Penrose’s tallest towers, one that directly overlooked the only slightly smaller corporate headquarters of Covington Industries. Their unusually long hair blew wildly in the frigid wind and they clutched the folds of their cold weather robes tight about them.

“I-is it just me, or has it gotten c-colder every night w-we’ve been out here?” Connie asked.

“It is not just you,” Gaia replied. “And this is not natural. Mother fears a dark force is at work, perhaps one inadvertently set into motion by that disgusting pig down there,” she added pointing to the man depicted by the orb Connie held in her trembling hands.

The weather had indeed gotten worse, Gaia reflected. And that wasn’t all. Several natural disasters had struck Penrose over the last several weeks, leaving the city partially evacuated and in a state of near shutdown. Thankfully, the Penrose Orphanage was located at the very fringe of the city, and thus had escaped the recent calamites relatively unscathed. Incidentally, and despite its location at the heart of Penrose’s metropolitan core, the same could also be said for the building below them.

It was only natural for the global headquarters of a mega corporation like Covington Industries to be built like a fortress, and CI’s HQ took that line of thinking to its most drastic extreme. The place was entirely self-sufficient and, with its advanced armored skin and array of robotic security systems (including, it was rumored, an entire army of battle robots) was supposedly capable of withstanding the assault of any natural disaster or military force. It was the perfect place for a greedy coward like Thane Covington, CEO of Covington Industries, to hole up in for the duration of any emergency, safe and secure in pampered luxury.

Of course, a direct assault wasn’t the only way inside such a formidable stronghold. Despite, or perhaps because of, his company’s status as a technological juggernaut, Covington had neglected to guard against mystical adversaries, and thus his penthouse bedchamber was just as vulnerable to Connie’s magic as any back ally dumpster a simple thug chose to sleep in. This thought brought a smile to Gaia’s emerald lips.

Thane Covington was the driving force behind one of the most corrupt and pollutive corporations in the world, and the Daughter of Mother Earth held no sympathy for a man who had hurt her beloved Mother so. Ordinarily, she would be the one to enact Mother’s retribution personally, and in a most direct manner. However, in an effort to give Connie more experience with her powers (as well as to appease her horrific patron) Gaia had hit upon the idea of using a subtle, but no less effective approach. Each night, for the past week, she and Connie would visit this overlook, where the Daughter of Mother Earth would watch with approval, while the Empress of Nightmares flooded Covington’s mind with a parade of horrific visions of the repercussions his actions were having on both the natural world, and his fellow human beings.

And this plan was most certainly having an effect…

“Oh my…” Gaia observed with mock surprise, while placing an elegant hand to cover her mouth. “It looks as if Mr. Covington has just wet himself.”

“Eeww… T-that’s so gross…” Connie said as she turned away. “I-I don’t know about you, Mia, but I really don’t wanna watch any more of this…”

“Very well,” Gaia conceded. “We can return to the Orphanage now. After all, I believe we have seen more than enough for tonight.”

“Phew…” Connie said, giving voice to a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness. I think I might freeze solid if I spend another hour out here…”

“Come on,” Gaia said with a laugh. “Let’s head home. When we get there, I’ll make us some hot chocolate.”

“Mmmm… That sounds reeeally nice…”

As they departed the rooftop, Gaia couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief herself. The city of Penrose had grown far darker and more dangerous in the weeks since Connie had become a magical girl, and while Gaia had done her best to keep her inexperienced friend away from major combat thus far, the odds of them encountering a truly threatening foe steadily increased with each passing day. And it wasn’t just monsters that worried Gaia, oh no. Rumors had run rampant of late that a powerful new force had arrived in Penrose, the so-called ‘Beacon Ascendency’.

Since her work often took her to places seldom frequented by other magical girls, Gaia had only a passing knowledge of The Beacon, but what little she did know said that they could be fanatical at the best of times, and from what she had recently heard, the members of this ‘Ascendency’ were even more fanatical than most. Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be much of a problem. After all, she was no monster or dark magical girl. But Connie…

Over the past few weeks, Gaia had learned that Connie’s patron, while certainly horrific, was NOT a Horror. Thus, Connie was neither a DMG or a monster girl. Gaia knew this. But would The Beacon be so clear headed and rational as well? The Daughter of Mother Earth highly doubted it. With this at the forefront of her mind, she had done all she could to keep her friend’s magical girl activities ‘under their radar’ so to speak, while doing her best to improve Connie’s combat abilities. She only hoped that, when the time to fight inevitably came, her preparations would be enough.

Fortunately, Kaito’s attacker was not out for blood. Mika dropped down in front of him while encapsulated in a large droplet of water.on impact, the water bubble exploded and splashed him and everything else directly around the girl. Mika probably soaked herself more than anything else in her surroundings. If Kaito bothered to observe Mika (who wouldn't?) he would notice she was dressed like an Arabian dancer. Her red uniform was covered in gilded accessories, and she also had a tail and pointy cat ears.

“Hi hi! I’m Mika!” She said with a friendly wave. “I don’t get to play with boys very often, and not ones with cool legs like that!” In a puff of smoke, Mika’s legs also transformed into that of an avian creature. “They’re animal-tommy correct! A lot of fantasy artists don’t realize the true shape of a bird’s legs, and just cut them of at the knees!” She giggled, without any intention of stopping her rambling. “Also, do you hop or walk? I’m kind of curious because-” Mika’ pupils dilated and her ears flickered. “It’s so cold! The water is so cold!” She extended her arms. “Quick! Huddle with me for warmth!” She hobbled towards Kaito with chattering teeth.

Christine ^{today at 8:26 PM}
We're gonna have you work your way into The Ascendancy.
The Boss thinks your best bet might by through some new girl, Dawn Astrea.
New recruit of some kind.

Rebecca ^{today at 8:27 PM}
you're fucking kidding

Christine ^{today at 8:27 PM}
Nope.
Miriam will be handling you for the duration.
G-01 got a picture of this "Dawn" just after she entered the city.
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