@ERode @Ariamis @Shifter_Master

A tense moment of energized expressions were all that Dawn could manage before their victory was shredded by the presence of another enemy. While FanFan had already begun dealing with the wolves during their fight, Endsinger was no doubt the greater threat, and she did not regret focusing on her.

Dawn had moved to crouch beside Leena as she recoiled in upon herself on the ground, merely comforting for the moment as she had no healing expertise to utilize for another.

The Nullification Field dropped, FanFan screamed, and Leena barked. The revving of an arcane engine rumbled in the background as Dawn once more returned to action. She flipped and spun, angling herself to drop her hammer of a sword onto the skull of the first clone that Leena could block.

Viva's bike surged round the arena, its cracking engine interspersed with the sound of her gun unloading into the clones. The fallen guitar of Endsinger did indeed catch her eye, but the musical weapon was not something she could use, much less wanted to even touch. Besides, her eyes caught a different target.

As Viva barreled for the corpse of Endsinger, Dawn was there to meet her. She launched into the air, slammed into the earth beside the corpse, and was already midway into a spinning slash close to the earth. It was aimed for the bike's wheels, hoping to stop Viva's ride in its tracks, but when it met with a solid object, it was not with rubber and steel.

Dawn's attack crashed through the manifested ramp Viva had formed, all too late; the magical girl already got use out of the ramp, and was well on her way through the air. Dawn paused, watching as the rider screeched off into the city. The sound of Feral clones still mobbing Leena and FanFan ripped her attention back, and she returned to slaying at their sides.

One had fallen, smashed to bits by FanFan’s spiked gauntlets, but three remained still, hulking wolves that shot in the moment that monochromatic field fell. Their lives were disposable, but it was due to that disposability that they wanted at least a single moment of ecstasy before they disappeared. The one that Leena blocked leapt back just as quickly, Dawn’s greatsword missing by mere inches. The blazing arbiter’s sword turned the rubble to dust easily, and within that smokescreen, Anaya reached out, the combination of the Feral pack and Viva’s own daring escape giving the spirit puppeteer the leeway to snatch the guitar-halberd in that lapse of concentration.

It had been cold, inert when she first touched it. Nothing but an unwieldly, blunt weapon.

But as Anaya imposed her own magical energy upon it, tendrils of eldritch ink that crawled up her fingers, up her arm, and stopped only at her shoulder. A myriad of voices hammered in her skull, generations of lost hopes and broken dreams. Child stars who never reached the same heights once they became adults. Musicians that lost their own distinct style as the industry pushed them towards conformity. Students whose passions did not equate their talent or circumstances. Idols, careers lost in a fake scandal. Rising stars, turned to ashes by tragic accidents or malicious jealousy. Boys and girls, ruined by fake companies that promised celebrity.

The Endsinger sang for the dead, in place of those who no longer had voices.

She snapped out of her reverie, to see the guitar practically aglow with energy. Leena, FanFan, Dawn, and the Feral clones were immediately captivated by it. Handling magical artifacts was dangerous business, and Anaya had just triggered something with her attempts to utilize it.

Soon, they all found out what.

The heavens split open, and the swirling clouds up above unleashed their wrath, a veritable waterfall of eldritch lightning crashing upon the stage, centered upon Anaya. Nothing was spared from the destruction, the ground beneath the girls feet disintegrating. Against such a wide-scale attack, the Feral clones could only wail as their bodies unravelled, what magical power keeping them intact failing upon injury, while the Ascendancy girls had mere moments to put up their defenses against the sudden onslaught.

Behind her, Viva could see the lightning fall as well, and from her vantage point, it looked almost like an upside down tree, hundreds of lightning bolts leaping from the clouds to converge into a pillar of lightning.

It felt as if the rain of lightning had continued for an eternity before it ceased, leaving only a crater of the mountain of rubble Endsinger once performed upon. In the epicenter, laid Anaya, unmoving, the hand she grasped the guitar with now turned into a charred, skeletal black.

And from the ashes of obliteration, the Ascendancy rose once more.

For a moment the pirate almost felt sorry for the dying lich's almost human moment, right before it was consumed by the devastating attack of her ally. Yet he had become nothing short of an abominable monster, casting aside all that had made him human in the pursuit of some love long lost. In doing that he had already lost everything he could have had, perhaps, in the magical girl's own mind. More than that, however, the sheer nature of how the goo lass had finished off the undead creature was nothing short of interesting! Horns and tendrils and a monstrous appearance, the wine-color hair due to all of the blood, the palpable lust for blood and feeding, and ultimately that raw voracity that her and that monstrous sword-arm-fusion thing had shown as clear as day. What a way to finish something off, that was for sure, but at least the entire lich was gone in one...bite? Eh, gone in one bite. That felt most appropriate for it all. Also it somehow stoked her own hunger, a rumble arising within her stomach as she-

"CREEEEAAAAK! CREEEAK CREEEAAAAAAK CREEEEAAAK. CREEEEAK? CREEAK, CREEEAK CREEEAK-"

...Eh? So that blade she wielded was her patron? That seemed to make enough sense, but at least her patron was giving her some more useful info finally! Then there was apparently advice on some demonic Japanese swords or something-...bah. Random magic trivia was not what she needed right now! Sophia shook her head lightly at the attempted ramble of her patron, ultimately ignoring it as she flew over to where Amaryllis was and landed beside her. Her hawk-like wings would also swiftly disappear as well.

"Oi lass' yer' patron seems tah' have ah' damn big appetite, an' yeh' as well! Ate ah' entire thin' n' one good bite ya' did, an' finished im' off fer' he could do nuffin' else! Wish ah' could speak teh' yer' blade ere', see what eh' likes tae' eat best! Hahaha!" Sophia spoke to the now-normal-again Amaryllis with a joyful, positive, and victorious tone before letting out a boisterous laugh. Yet she didn't skip a beat as she then put an arm of friendly camaraderie around the silver swordswoman, and before glancing about to the others who had helped in the fight with a supremely proud grin, "Ah'll take everyone out tae' eat affer' this! Least' if yer' all still hungry after all dat'! Moi' treat!"

Though before the joyous pirate could speak more, however, she felt and saw something coming. A new presence seemed to speak to and approach them, a mafia-looking guy and a white tiger with him, commenting on the silver swordswoman's actions with some obvious hesitation. Perhaps it was understandable in a sense, but she herself wasn't one to judge what had just gone on. Was rather badass and impressive, if the pirate had to be honest about her own thoughts! Not that inner demons were new to her either, yet still she had come to find any clues on her own past. It haunted her some. She did know the gist of what she was, due to her patron telling her about a corpse and a coin and magical girls and such. That wasn't the bother. Yet more importantly...who had she been, and why had that other lass with wind tried to murder her outright?

Ultimately the pirate magical girl narrowed her eyes at the mention of the Mint, and merely at the stranger's encroaching upon the end of a battle. After letting her allies speak on the matter, though not bothering to hide another cheeky grin at the mention of the guy needing to have a tortoise rather than a tiger, the pirate then gestured to the mobster-like fellow with her free hand that still held her boarding axe. It wasn't a threat, merely a neutral gesture at his presence, though the axe still being in the pirate's hand perhaps didn't help.

"Ey', ere' isn't anymir' fighting goin' on...less' ya' ah-tak' mah' friend ere'. Tried teh' come tah' elp', or got other resins' fer' comin'? In other words, as mah' friend ere' stated, please state yer' business ere' if ya' will."

She had to make sure, after all.

@PlatinumSkink@BrokenPromise@ERode@FamishedPants

---

Serenity smiled at Alicia softly but tiredly after being helped up, though it seemed this was not all. In awe she looked upon the Cardinal as the lovely being spoke, and then let the softly glowing white coin granted to her float all the down into her cupped hands. Though her hands even now still held her Soul Gem, the maid magical girl could not help but take pause. Such warmth and love emanated from that coin, so pure that-...was she...crying? The warmth of those wet tears, streaking down her face, had been almost unnoticeable compared to the coin. Such pure joy and warmth she had not felt in a while, and yet there was only one sensation she could recall feeling it from. Her conversion, even her transformation into a human that came at the power of that radiant beacon that had approached her. That warmth filling every fiber of her being, shaping her and changing her and bringing with it only peace. Yes. Such a lovely memory, even a most precious memory that was all hers...it was not that of the void she had come from.

She would embrace this coin indeed. She would follow the true path, no matter what! Then slowly, gently, and carefully the white coin once more slowly descended and merged into her soul gem. Immediate warmth and love permeated her body so overwhelmingly, bringing on even more of those silent tears as she held back the urge to ugly cry, though there seemed to be more to it than merely this. Her very soul gem seemed to become even more deeply and richly golden, its soft and gentle shine become far stronger than it had once been when she first looked upon it. It even took on a whitish tint! More so, that golden filigree decorating the container of her soul seemed to gain a soft radiance of its own...a very minute white glossiness that was so gentle yet so very distinct.

After her transformation and return to normal, her attire becoming even cleaner and neater than before, the white-haired Serenity gently looked over to Alicia and gave an affirming and happy nod. Truly...all had worked out well for them. In the end. Yet right after her brief confirmation to Alicia, the maid magical girl then looked to Juliana with a warm yet tender smile.

"Juliana. Such a lovely name you have. So strong you are, so dutiful, and yet filled with such compassion and kindness you are. Today it seems our prayers have been answered, and yet I must confess I feel a now greater curiosity about you than before.

I...truly wish to get to know you better, if I may, and if you are willing."

Once more the words rolled right off her tongue, again directed at Julianna, without even a second thought on Serenity's part. It mystified her, and yet it all felt right at the same time. Perhaps she felt such respect for the other girl's kindness and compassion. Perhaps it was her demeanor, or a sense of kinship somehow, that had opened her mouth once more. Regardless, as Sally and Kimble received coins, as the Cardinal handed down decisions of leadership, Serenity turned her head to look upon and listen to what was going on. Though much of these events kept a smile upon her face, Rachael's summons to the Hall of Luminous Valor and the brief sadness of the Cardinal brought back to her mind that not all was still well. They had been saved, freed from death or torment or exile, and yet the Ascendancy's mission was still to continue its course. Such an issue...well, in time the answers would come or be found. She had faith in that, though she couldn't stop letting out a small sigh at things.

Though after listening to Alicia speak to Sylvia, before more directly beckoning her and Aurelio to the hall, the maid magical girl looked once more the Juliana for a moment. Giving a brief nod of respect to the warrior, Serenity then jogged off to catch up with her compatriots. Yes. There was a lot of work to come to figure out and sort Penrose's situation, and many days that would pass of learning now that Alicia had a new position and status. Though doing her best to get to the side of the girl she had called a friend, Serenity could nto help but let out one last exclamation:

"D-Don't forget me! You have my millennia of untold k-knowledge to help as well!"

Well, admittedly the emotional high she had been swept into wasn't going to last forever. Not that she was the same as before either.

@Ariamis@Flamelord@Shifter_Master

Cindy smiled at Eliza’s answer, her cheeks glowing yellow with joy. “Thank you. May you be fortunate on your quest,” she spoke, and waved goodbye as the angelic with girl and her familiar exited the shelter. She then nodded at Aurora’s statement about Vi-chan. “She is a symbol of hope to us, so it would make sense for her to cause such a reaction.” She was pleased by Chloe’s offer of assistance. “Ah, that would be marvelous. Sometimes my subjects can act rowdy if left unchecked. If Divina can assert her will and ensure harmony within the shelter, then as queen of Penrose I shall name her peacekeeper.” A thought then occurred to her. “Oh, by the way, will you be joining us for Vi-chan’s concert? We would welcome your presence there.”

---

Lily turned less alarmed as she realized it was Tetrad who had relocated them away from the Beacon extremists. She smiled warmly at the old-looking magical girl touching her shoulder, and placed her hand over hers.
”Oh, I see! Thanks, Grandma Tetrad!” She cheerfully showed her gratitude, and afterwards giggled at her suggestion.
”Kind of, yeah! She did say she was a looker back in the 50s!” She answered in a ditzy manner, unaware of the implications it would have towards Tetrad’s appearance.

However, her smile soon faded into a worried one as she met the gaze of a distant girl, her eyes like two red marbles, as beautiful as they were intense: Silhouette.
”U-um...” She attempted speaking up, knowing the other girl was not the most sociable type.
Was it something I said? I thought she gave a compliment to Tetrad! She thought, her mind scrambling for answers..
No, I’m sure she was like that ever since we shifted...Maybe she wants to ask something.
Before Lily could confirm with the assassin, she frowned upon hearing Alex express his frustration, and leaned down with her hands on her knees.
”Well, it’s not like we could have expected this to happen...But still, no matter how many Beacon bad guys are there, you’re gonna beat them all up! I’m sure of it..”

She nodded at Tetrad’s suggestion for their next move, and offered a hand in lifting Alex up.
”You do? How lucky! I’ll follow your lead then, Grandma Tetrad! Thanks a lot for the help, Rina, Su and Mika!” She waved to the girls as they quickly disappeared up into the canopy.
”Come on Alex, hop aboard. I’ll get us out of this thicket.” With a pedal to the medal, Lily then sped through the woods, deftly turning and weaving past the trees in her way. She occasionally had to lift up into a wheelie when the terrain proved difficult, and it was a bumpy ride, but for the most part she managed to traverse through the woods at a respectable speed.

Su was the first to reach the treetops, and was met with a beautiful sight of the world of the Sprawl; having previously been covered in the dark of the night, the sun now shone like a bright mango and revealed much to the eagle-eyed dark magical girl; valleys with giant flowers, a quarry with flames rising from the depths, a bushy maze that spread like a kudzu, and much more. Fantastic creatures also lived here, from pretty unicorns galloping over a field, to dumpty goblins chasing after them with crude spears. It looked like the kind of world an Isekai protagonist would be sent to after an unfortunate encounter with a truck.
Mika and Rina followed soon after, and they also saw the wonders of the magical realm. However, all three girls had their attention grabbed by a massive formation of crystals, right next to the forest, that encircled a gargantuan metropolis soaring high into the sky; the titular Overcity. They saw that the forest extended a mile or so before they would be out in the open, from which the gates wouldn’t be too far.

---

Leena looked disgusted upon seeing the fawning looks of Viva, familiar with the demented fascination dark magical girls often had for the macabre. However, she didn’t have time to feel revulsed for long; she fended off the Feral clone that swiped at her, performing a cartwheel as she parried a blow. In the process of doing so, she deftly nabbed her gas mask from the floor, putting it on. She took in a deep breath, seemingly rejuvenated again; Dawn could see how the mask’s straps magically extended and closed around her head, and her eyes returned back to looking sharp and focused. The veteran gave an appreciative nod to her presence, glad that the rookie hadn’t been hurt.

As if on cue, she made a twirling dodge to evade Viva’s motorcycle and posed with her sword like a scorpion’s stinger, having expected her to shoot at either her or Dawn who immediately pursued her. But instead, the nurse-like DMG drove past, causing the veteran to grunt from her taunts; she went for the corpse after all. Trusting Dawn to handle it, she looked back at the guitar to see if the corrupted girl grabbed that too, only to be shocked; a third party even she hadn’t noticed had intervened, and grabbed it. “No!” She yelled at Anaya, just as FanFan had arrived to punch the clone attacking Leena and Dawn came rushing back.

But it was too late.

The two experienced Ascendancy girls knew that liches store their souls inside select items, turning them to phylacteries. And Leena could tell based from experience that the item always reflected the lich’ personality; for a sports lover, it could be a football, or a weapon for the martially inclined. But for the Endsinger, a musician, there was only one choice. And if anybody was so foolish as to attempt to draw power from the cursed artifacts, doom would follow.

The moment the black trails came over Anaya and the guitar began glowing, Leena grabbed Dawn’s wrist, and violently threw the both of them towards FanFan, who cast a spell; her metal arms detached from her body, and transformed into a dome that covered the three Ascendancy girls. Utilizing the conductive property of the barrier, it worked as a Faraday cage that distributed the electric charge caused by the lightning storm, canceling its effect on the interior of the dome and grounding the electricity to the frozen soil. The two girls kept quiet, Leena having put a hand on FanFan’s shoulder as she concentrated on holding the cage. Finally, as the storm ended, the shield morphed back to robot arms, and the three looked upon the devastated remains of the battlefield.

---

Sally ran over to Aurelio with tears in her eyes, graciously accepting the hug the dapper magician gave to her.
“Aurelio! I’m so glad you’re here!” After the display of affection, she took the handkerchief, and loudly blew her nose on it. Sylvia and Kimble also graciously accepted the handkerchiefs, and dried their tears using them.
“Thanks for the hanky,” Sally afterwards spoke, and took Aurelio’s hand.
“And for being here; it means a lot to me, you know. You're like my lucky charm~”
Kimble looked at all the others, and made a cute cat smile. “Everyone looks prettier after the White Coinnya!”

As the Beacon people left the courtroom, Sylvia sighed in response to Alicia’s apology, slowly shaking her head. “It’s fine. I was the idiot trying to take responsibility.” She put a hand on Alicia’s shoulder, a bittersweet smile on her lips. “Ever since I saw what you did at Justine’s castle..the look in your eyes...I was sure that I could pass the torch to you. You have the will to go further than I ever did.” She then took a step back, and chuckled. “At least now I can take things a bit easier, heh. I’ll go ahead and prepare stuff so you can move into my office after your meeting.”

While Alicia and Sylvia conversed, Serenity approached Juliana, who blinked in surprise. Her cheeks then developed a shade of red as the maid girl complimented her. “Oh, umm, thank you.” The tall Ascendancy girl averted her eyes. “In my line of work, it is difficult to develop relations of genuine friendship. However, I would like to try. From my understanding, friends enjoy spending time in recreational activities, yes? To prepare for such meetings, here is my phone number for communication.” She took out her cell phone to show her number to Serenity, and engaged in casual chat the best the socially inexperienced amazon could.

Afterwards, the group headed off to the Hall of Luminous Valor. There, they were met by the gazes of the Ascendancy officers, now more mixed in their feelings as when Aurelio first arrived. Rachel’s feelings of scorn were still apparent, but the others had mellowed out, and felt respect for Alicia.
“Alright, I’m not going to repeat myself, so you’re going to listen carefully,” Rachel addressed the group, signalling for Elora to change the projection on the table.
“While we are bound by duty to tolerate each other and come to each other’s aid in the case of an emergency,, that doesn’t mean we have to work together. I have far too much at stake here to let a rookie Paladin ruin it.”

The display changed an organizational chart showing Beacon and Ascendancy as two different groups, and then to a map highlighting parts of the city..
Elora chimed in, without expressing any strong feelings one way or the other.
“Over the past two weeks we have confirmed to have successfully reduced monster activity down by 60%. According to my calculations, we will reach full purification by the end of the month.” Rachel adjusted her glasses menacingly. “You may do as you like with the local branch; it is under your jurisdiction, not mine. However, the Ascendancy will continue purging Penrose of corruptive elements.” She crossed her arms.
“If you do wish to help us, I could use some help in tracking down a concert run by corrupted girls. Aurelio can fill you in on the details.” She turned away. “That is all.”

---

The beastly magical girl’s fur stood up on end as she was startled by Amanda. “Hey, that’s rude!” She snarled and showed her teeth. “We’re just having a...friendly chat. Ain’t that right, Selene?”
The dark magical girl nodded, and now looked at Deni and Valkyrie. “Hood is right. We are your friends. You came here to give us that package,” she spoke to them in a hypnotic voice. Deni and Valkyrie couldn’t help but look deep into her spiralling eyes, and found themselves falling into a trance, believing her words completely. Before she realized it, Deni found herself offering the box up to Hood, who snatched it.
“Thanks a million!” She glanced at Amanda. “Eh, you’re still here? Broom off, why don’t ya?”

---

“This is the end,Stagnation! Face the glorious end-AAAHHH!” Sirkkeli rushed forward, aiming to scissor chop Penny in half with her blades when she was struck by the intense light of Penny’s ShineSpark. Paralyzed thanks to her extrasensory vision being overwhelmed, she was bound by Penny’s chains as she jumped over her. “NOO! IT CAN’T BEEEE!” She screamed. “You’re not Light, so how-” At that moment, Valerie came in for the fatal blow, her sword of thunder flashing as it pierced the monstrous gynoid. Though her reactive armor attempted deflecting it, it proved futile before a weapon of pure energy. It was a risky use of mana, but it proved its worth as electricity coursed through in an impressive display.
“So...This is it…” She groaned, blackened by the lightning attack, as Penny thrust with her arm-mounted spike.

“Lord Laat...I offer you...the greatest tribute...My...destruction...”

After one last, inhuman flinch, the monster slumped, turned into junk by the two cyborgs. Then, the molds and liquids that covered the two of them faded away, freeing Penny from her viscous wrappings. It was then that Penny realized her mana had dropped considerably, now to a third of her potential might. But victory was theirs.

---

Helga dismissed Emily’s gratitude with a humble wave of her hand. “Don’t mention it. My fault anyway that you got mauled.” She spoke while the two were on their way, hopping across the city. She bit her lip upon hearing the question, rolling her eyes so the other girl couldn’t see.
“You see, I’m only bringing you over cause I don’t want to feel like I owe you anything, got it?” She half-yelled back, a bit more volume than she wanted, before returning back to normal voice.
“Actually, just forget I said that. Anyway, here we are.”

The two reached the Golden Trove, a hotel with a yellow sign and asian-influenced style. Helga walked in, and rung the bell on the counter before passing behind it and placing Lupa on a bed situated on the break room in the back. The, she transformed back to human, her clothes having turned into a maid uniform.
“Hey, ghost twins!” Helga yelled, looking up at the ceiling. Soon after, two girls peeked their heads upside down.
“Did ya call us?” Jillian asked, and glanced at Emily.
“Oh, I remember you! You were at the beach party, right? I’m Jillian.” She threw an arm around Julia’s shoulder, bringing the pouting girl close.
“This is Julia. Nice to meet ya!”
“Can you two help us?” Helga pointed at Emily.
“Do you have a Healing Artifact I could borrow? Emily here got wounded.” Julia nodded.
“Yes.” She brought out a star-shaped amulet, giving it to Helga.
“Alright thanks. Emily, could you sit down over there?” She pointed towards a black sofa to the back of the room. In the case she complied, Helga would use the artifact to tend to Emily’s injuries, closing the wounds with healing magic.
“Those two are staying here for the moment being, along with some other magical girls, weird or not,” she happened to mention. Then, she sighed. “I hope Su’s okay. Come back safe, please.”

A bit later, the two heard the front door open, and Helga’s eyes widened. “Su! You’re ba-”
However, as she returned from the back room, she stopped in her tracks upon seeing who arrived; it was Eliza and her familiar. The two had successfully traversed the city without drawing attention from the Ascendancy patrolling the rooftops, and reached the hotel without incident. “Oh, welcome to the Golden Trove,” Helga greeted the two, having assumed a polite demeanor. “Do you have a reservation?”

Thanks to her illusion magic, Eliza and Theresa were able to safely make her way to the hotel. Though it didn't hide her anxiety with the Ascendancy still in town. Taking her hood off once she stepped inside, the witch was greeted by Helga, beimg asked if she had a reservation. "Uhm, not exactly. I'm actually here on buisness, for Cindy Ford." Eliza showed the invitation to Helga. "I-I'm supposed to give this to the owner of this place. Since not everyone knows about Vi's party, o-or where it's at." She said, visibly a bit nervous. Theresa, meanwhile, looked around the room, waiting on the witch.

---

Seemed her quick gamble payed off! With their combined effort, Valerie and Penny finally defeated Sirkkeli. Her lightning blade dissapearing, the former looked over her sword handle. "I'll have to fix this later." She sighed, then looked over to the other android with a smile. "Heh, we made a good team, didn't we? Name's Valerie." she introduced herself, looking back to the deceased insectoid.

"So, friend of yours?"

---

Amanda seemed unphased as Hood and Selene explained themselves. Did they think she was born yesterday? Sighing when they managed to manipulate Ronin and Valkyrie into giving then the sword, one of the crystals behind the mage were fired at the box, knocking it out of the dark girl's hand. "Nice try." Catching it with her free hand, she retracted the crystal back to her, her spellbook appearing to rapidly flip through pages by itself. "I tried to be nice, but it seems you're not backing down."

Though she wasn't exactly made for combat, having a specialization akin to illusion, Amanda was more than willing to improvise.

---

If her patron heard word about what she had just done, Anaya didn't want to think of the punishment that would come. As soon as she tried to use her own magic on the Endsinger's guitar, the spirit girl's eyes widened not only out of shock from an inky substance coating her arms, but from the surge of voices. Spirits of stars burnt out. She didn't know how to feel about such despair. She didn't know whether to pity them, or enjoy seeing such suffering. Was that a sign of how far gone Anaya was? Maybe so.

She snapped out of her thoughts to see that everyone's eyes were on her. She didn't know why until she looked back at the guitar, now glowing with a strange energy. Looking up at the swirling clouds above them, Anaya could only throw her soul gem to Celia before, as if the heavens rained judgement down upon her, she was engulfed in a surge of lightning.

With the Ascendancy defending themselves, Celia was left alone. The empath did her best to counter the rain of lightning with her bloodlust magic, avoiding what she could. Once the storm ended, she looked over the destroyed field, Anaya in the center, unmoving.

"A-Anaya...?"

Or so Celia thought for a moment. Looking closely, she sighed in relief. Anaya survived. Though she was in a critical condition, the spirit girl was still alive. The empath looked back to the Acendancy, hesitant to ask. "Can't you help her?"

Alexander got on the back of Lily's motorcycle, sudden much more aware of the close physical constant between the two of them "It's just..." He started, struggling for the right words "The whole time dilation mess make no fucking sense! If the whole point was to give us some time to unwind, then why was time passing faster outside of that dimension!? If anything, it should have been the other way around! And then, we get invaded by the fucking Spanish Inquisition of all things! It's,,,it's almost like some cosmic force or something is trying to tell us that vacations are bad, and we should never go on any."

He sighed and shook his head "You know, it's kind of funny" he said as he looked around at the scenery speeding past them "The onle other time I was here, it was to fight that anit-love wack job and her goons, so I didn't really get a good look at this place. Now that I am...it looks kind of amazing." He snorts "Maybe we should have just had our vacation here, At least that way, we wouldn't have to deal with any time dilation nonsense."

@Ariamis@Majoras End

There was a moment of stillness from Penny as she waited to make sure that Sirkkeli was really dead. The confirmation came from the vanishing of the gunk that covered her at which point her hands fell to the ground with as she released a shudder at the sensation of the burning suddenly vanishing. “That we did, thanks for the help” Penny would reply as she stooped down to recover his detached appendages her additional armaments receding as she did so.

“I’m Penny” The Beacon-borg supplied as she looked closer at her now deceased foe. “And I think she was my replacement.” She would answer the question posed to her “Either that or my contemporary from a different planet or something” she went on as she considered what to do next. Her mana was low, but that wasn’t too terrible a situation to be in and her Regeneration was already working on correcting that.

Still there was another option open to her, Penny was just debating the moral implications of it “She’s was a follower of my previous Patron. A God of destruction, pretty sure he’s pissed that I slipped his chains. Not sure if she chose to find me or was ordered to do such however” She went on, before, with a mental shrug, she started to tear the junked bot in front of her into smaller pieces.

Despite the destructive, possibly sacrilegious, act it was obvious that Penny was examining each part she tore off in detail building her own mental blueprint of how the alien insectiod worked. After she was done with her examinations she would then pop the piece of scrap into her mouth and eat it, drawing sustenance from the metal and speeding along her. It also increased her understanding how Sirkkeli was constructed, giving the Purified Monster girl an in depth look into the composition and magical latticework that comprised how to alien girl worked.

“I kinda hope this was a onetime thing, but I wouldn’t be too surprise if it isn’t” Penny didn’t seem to be very concerned with her apparent cannibalism. As to her she wasn’t defiling the core of who Sirkkeli was, that was housed in the soul, and at this point what was left would be picked for scrap by someone eventually so might as well take care of it now.

“What brings you too Penrose, if you don’t mind me asking?”

---

@Ariamis@Flamelord@Crusader Lord

Aurelio would throw his arm around Serenity’s shoulders to give her a slight shake after she caught up to them “Forget you? Never gonna happen” He would reply jovially still riding the Joy from the outcome of the trial. Beacon under Alicia was going to be fantastic, he could tell. Sadly they still had the Ascendancy to worry about, but hey one thing at a time.

Walking back into the Hall the young magician had to work to keep the ‘I told you so’ out of his smile which was actually made easier by the fact that only one of them seemed to still be holding a grudge. And he still didn’t understand where Rachel was coming from, but perhaps it was something that they would always disagree on.

Still no reason not to try and extend an olive branch “I told you I would help, Rachel” Aurelio would say earnestly as the girl walked away “I intend to keep my word on that.” With that he would reach into his jacket pocket and retrieve the bracelet he had been given by her only a short time ago. “I can’t promise that I will always have it on” He would add as he slipped it on “But while I’m actively working on your request I’ll be sure that you can hear me”

He would then turn to his companions to actually fill them in “What she's means is that before the trial I was informed that there is a Dark magical girl out there going by the name of “Vi-Chan” she’s setting up a ‘rave’” He would say using air quotes “ And that she has invited any and all of the darker persuasion to show up, even let the normal magicals know they can show if they want so long as they don’t start trouble. However the thing is she threatened Beacon, by name, twice. With her ending threat making it seem like she has something planned that will be kicking off soon.”

Aurelio was a glad that there had been a bit of time between showing up to the trial and it starting. It had given him a chance to actually find a mirror of the video the Vi-chan had sent out, and now that he had seen it he had to agree that Rachel was likely correct about it being the beginnings of something bad. It was one of the reasons he was so willing to put on the tracking device right now.

“Unsurprisingly, Elvira didn’t actually say where this gathering is to be taking place just stated that those in the know already knew. I was going to try and find some information about that now that the trial is over with. Possibly meet up with Penny as she might know something due to her status before joining Beacon” He would explain with a shrug, it wasn’t much of a plan true, but at the same time he hadn’t been working on it for very long due to having more important things on his mind.

"You are welcome to tag along if you want" He would offer "I can also delay heading out if you need me fore something else"

Everything was moving so quickly, and Alicia was not sure that the fact that she was now in charge had really sunk in yet. "Thanks Sylvia. Don't hurry on my account." She wasn't sure how long this meeting would take, and it wasn't as if she had much stuff to move in anyway. How did you even decorate an office?

The group quickly got underway, moving through the corridors of the HQ to the Hall of Luminous Valor as requested. Everything seemed a bit warmer now, now that the trial had been resolved. Beacon could move forward, and begin the process of recovery.

"Of course not, I'd never forget you," Alicia said with a look over her shoulder to Serenity. "I'm sure you'd know more about responding to the various Horror related incidents that crop up than I would." At least a first anyway. She knew how to fight, but the leadership aspect and managing strategy? That was an entirely different matter.

Arriving in the Hall, Alicia nodded to those already present as she walked over to the table that Rachel stood nearby. Disdain was clear to see, but she tried to not let it get to her. It would come in time, or so she wanted to hope.

She examined the map when it appeared, that more important than the organization chart that had preceded it. That would be easy enough to hold to. Turning to Rachel, she did her best to keep a warm demeanor. "I'll do what I can. I know we may not agree on philosophy, but we're on the same side. I want Penrose back to normal as much as you do." Even if she didn't feel the same way about the amount of blood that needed to be shed to do it.

But Rachel went on her way, and the topic of conversation shifted to the party that Aurelio had apparently been tasked to look into. While she wondered how it would be relevant to the Ascendancy, the reason was quickly explained.

"So it's either a call to arms for everyone else, or it's a trap," she observed once he had finished his explanation. "They wouldn't call us out if they weren't confident of their position." Of course it was a bit of a moot point if they couldn't find where the place was.

Arms crossed, a hum escaped as she thought about it. "We could always try and use Scrying magic, though they might have prepared for that. Otherwise I can think of a few other people to ask. Like Rebecca, she may know some contacts from when she was at the Independent who'd have the information we need." It was worth a shot to at least try, though the information might not be free. But it couldn't be as bad as dealing with the Mint for it.

However Aurelio's comment about his future plans caused her frown to deepen, mind drifting back. The absence was glaring now, and a myriad of emotions began to eat away at the good feelings that had persisted since the end of the trial. Worry, anxiety, all rising higher and higher. "Actually...I think we need to talk about that. Has anyone heard from Penny since we got back? Because she hasn't contacted me, and after what happened during the talent show the final day of our forced trip I..." She could not finish, did not want to express the doubts that had surged to the foreground of her mind. She wanted to reject it, but could not deny what she had seen. It seemed that even after joining Beacon, Penny had still kept her secrets.

She looked between the trio gathered in the room, wanting one of them to say something, to put her mind at ease. If they could.

@Ariamis@Crusader Lord[@Shifter Master]

@Phonic@Ariamis@Majoras End





Instead of running off as intended, Deni found herself giving over the box.

In the very next motion, Reinforcement Magic went straight through Deni, boosting her physical capabilities as a (moderately weak) shield formed behind the beast girl in case she tried to jump back while Deni’s hand flew to her sword and cut a rapid iai-style slice forward at the foes before her that were clearly trying to steal the box she held.

‘NOPE! CAN’T LET YOU DO THAT, SPOTTY!’ Deni shouted with glee and happiness in her tone. Deni really didn’t think she’d get into a fight this early, but gosh darn, she would so gladly fight to keep thieves from stealing this box! It had been entrusted to her, and as a Ronin, it was her pride that was on stake to ensure it reached its destination!

That, and fighting thieves was just such an exciting prospect!

Deni noted Amanda's existence, but honestly, it wasn't that important right now! The box was way more important! She could thank the strange magician later!

It was over. Eli breathed out a bit in relief, it had seemed pretty dangerous there for a bit. She noticed Hilaria waving at her, and, well, er, the darkness harpy gave an unsure little smile and waved a dark wing back at her. That’s about all she could do.

‘The enemy has been vanquished.’ Mariette opened a portal and walked out, looking a little worse for wear due to having been grabbed by Billy earlier. She’d appear next to Amaryllis, Sophia and Hilaria. ‘I apologize for the spray of my barrage that may have inconvenienced you, it was not the intended attack that was performed.’

‘Thank you for calling me. Thank you for helping with the battle,’ she said first to Amaryllis, and then to Sophia and Hilaria. ‘And… thank you for looking after Bunny,’ Mariette said, intending to take back her toy bunny from Amaryllis. She gave Nuncio a brief look over, but ultimately decided that there wasn’t enough cause for anything else.

‘Today’s effort in protecting the city is done. I’ll take my leave for now. Come, Eli,’ Mariette said, turning around to open a portal and going (assuming she got Bunny). Eli skipped over to join her mistress, and with that, Mariette was 100% intending on leaving… but any of those present can make her stay by talking to her, grabbing her, etc. If nobody does, she’s off.

@BrokenPromise@Crusader Lord@FamishedPants@ERode

@FamishedPants@ERode@PlatinumSkink@Crusader Lord

Nuncio considered himself a loyal guy. There were a lot of rumors about Italian men being huge womanizers, unable to occupy themselves with just one girl. This was a concern that Sammy had when they first became an item, and it stayed until the last time he saw her. Any time they had to part, any time other girls were around, she’s say something to the effect of: “Now I know you could have anyone you want, but remember you’ve already got me!” Maybe it was more her own insecurities that made her say that, but Nuncio had never witnessed Sammy feel sheepish about anything. Except for that one time she got Tony killed. But there was no point thinking about that now. Until recently, she hadn’t been around to say anything like that. It felt unreal. He found himself scanning the battlefield for places where she could hide. He was waiting for her to pop out and say “Ha! Just as I deduced! I’ve caught you in the act!”

Nuncio coughed into his hand. They were talking to him already, and all at once. "Uh." He smiled. The boy could barely make out what Sophia was saying. "Nuncio, Feline Mafioso." He placed his hat on his chest and bowed. The tiger made a low, guttural sound, but didn’t seem too interested in the magical girls present. It was content to remain by Nuncio’s side and watch his back. He acknowledged Hilaria’s remark with a chuckle and a wave of his hand, though he was pretty sure it was a slight to his arrival time. "I think my reason for bein’ here is clear. Magical boys and girls are supposed ta hunt monsters. Well, the ones who serve Puchuu and Forces anyway. I serves Nu of the pond, but I’ve recently joined the Penrose outer alliance." He placed his hat on his head. "Recently might not be correct. Didja go on vacation for the past few months? Time really flies, don’t it?" Nuncio took a few steps towards Amaryllis. His tiger did not follow right away, but upon noticing Nuncio’s movements, the tiger leaped to his side in a single bound. "None of yas look like beacon, wanna clue me in on who ya are?"

There was something curious about this woman. Something about her features. The way her legs looked like they could hold up a man’s hopes and dreams. Her proud bosom that was the envy of every woman. Pale skin that was comparable to marble, and a slender weapon that was as fair as the person holding it. Yes, This had to be Sammy’s friend he’d heard so much about. Was this why she had never introduced them?

---

@Rune_Alchemist@Card Captor

Katarina’s disapproval of Tetrad’s actions got nothing but a chuckle out of the old woman. ”Sure, I’ll keep that in mind.”

And before long, Tetrad was alone. Being this old sucked. Well, it would be better if she had a rocking chair and something to knit…

”So how’s life, sil?”



Mika was not very talkative during their search of the forest. The situation must have been getting to her, because she had pinned her ears back as soon as Katarina took to the tree tops. But after the discovery of the over city, her ears perked up instantly. “Jackpot!” She rushed back to Tetrad where Sil and Tetrad were waiting.

“I found the over city. I didn’t see anything that should pose much of a problem.” She placed a hand on her hip as she continued to explain. “I did spot some goblins and unicorns that appear to be indigenous to the area. I can’t speak for what lies below the treeline, but I didn’t see anything that should pose a problem.”

Mika puffed out her chest. “We found it too! If you follow us, we can lead everyone right to the city!” She picked up Tetrad and dumped her onto Alexander’s lap. “We need to carry the old, otherwise we’ll be here forever!”

Tetrad was now sitting on Alexander’s lap with her legs and torso sticking out of either side of the motorcycle. ”Oh-ho!” She said before lifting a hand to her mouth. ”Hello there, young man.”

“I’ve got everyone else!” With a hop, the nimbus appeared under her feet. “Silly, Rina, Su! Let’s gooooo!”

Su could have asked why Mika didn’t just take Tetrad herself, but chose not to. The fewer delays, the better. Having said that, Su couldn’t help but feel an odd sense of deja vu when she looked at Sil. She knew she had seen her previously, but this was different. There was something very familiar about Sil’s uniform that made Su think she had seen her somewhere before. But aside from the graveyard battle, this was the first time she had seen the knife wielding magical girl. It didn’t even feel like she had seen her that long ago. Maybe even some time this year, but she couldn’t pin down the exact memory.

But the fewer delays, the better. If Sil remembered Su, she’d probably make mention of it on the flight over to the over city. She stepped onto the nimbus, but didn’t take her eyes off of the assassin.

---

Regardless of the Nimbus's size, Mac planned to just sort of anchor herself to the underside of it with her gravity magic. It wasn't too expensive as far as spells went, and with how little she needed to use her mana thus far, it was an expense she could handle.

Now, Mac understood Su and Helga had been together now for all but a few days, but she did kind of think that Silhouette and her could make for a cute couple too. Not that she wished for a termination of Su's current relationship, this was more something to think about on this trip where she couldn't talk to anyone. Though the altitude they were flying at did make her feel like making a giant illusionary troll at some point. That would be a nice distraction if they ended up being followed.

@Ariamis@BrokenPromise

---

So that was the Overcity? The huntress frowned lightly, a bit unsure how to feel. This was her first time here, the sight was...interesting to say the least. Was that a unicorn? It was almost too fantastical. She had heard tales but seeing it first hand was something else, but an odd feeling of...disbelief? Like, she was a magical girl and should be used to stuff like this, but she couldn't help but to feel a somewhat childish wonder at seeing something like a unicorn. Likely she was just nervous because this was such an unfamiliar situation. She knew Penrose like the back of her hand, but being in this forest was completely different.

"Thanks." Rina said boarding Mika's Nimbus, mostly keeping to herself. Didn't matter too much, all she had to do was just focus on getting back now that she had been rather rudely yanked from the city. Last time that happened, she missed two months and the Ascendancy had decided to show up. "Never been to the Over city before." She stated, taking a seat and letting her legs hang off the edge of the Nimbus. Might as well let them know just in case something happened, and mostly that she had no idea what they were even doing, and they seemed like they knew more about here than she did.





@Ariamis

---

"Hmm...I might be there." Chloe said with a smile. "I love parties, fufu. Especially if they involve potentially a bit of destruction involved." The Dark Magical girl giggled. "A little party to relieve stress would be quite fun." What was more interesting to her, however, was what Cindy said to her about Divina."...Now that's a wonderful idea, though! Divina would love nothing more than to ensure peace. I can talk to her, or you can, if you'd prefer." She gave Cindy a smile, just as she was approached by someone else who seemed both to know her and want her attention. "If you'll excuse me for a bit Cindy, a girl requires my attention, fufu."

---

When Viva slipped into the corrupted sanctuary her mood had long since soured. She had plenty of time to contemplate how things had gone from bad to worse due to getting caught by the member of Beacon, no matter the fact that she hadn't attacked any of them and had even gone out of her way to help them. Beacon now knew she was dark, which meant she had to be more careful in her search, which had already been fruitless so far.

So no Viva wasn’t in a good mood, as she wove through the crowds that had gathered in the main room, thankfully the blood bag she was drinking from was taking the edge off. ”Your prediction was full of it” She would mutter grumpily to a Goat like Monster girl as she dropped down next to her.

“Hey! All I said is that you shall have great luck” The girl replied defensively “That can go both ways. Besides you day isn’t over and maybe one of the new arrivals can help you out”

“Newcomers?”

“I don’t think so, one of them seemed to know Cindy. She was some kinda cyborg I think, plus she walked through the blank door to somewhere else and brought someone back with her.”

That had gotten Viva’s attention. “Really where are they?” she asked as she tried to scope out the area hoping to catch sight of her target.

“The robot left shortly after, something about making sure she wasn’t a security threat to this place” The goat girl answered with a shrug “But the other girl is over there.” She would say pointing off at Chloe. Upon seeing the Spirit mage Viva had to hold back a squeal of delight, along with a sigh of relief. It wasn’t exactly who she was looking for but it was practically the next best thing.

“Gotta go!” the twisted nurse would say as she nearly ran over to the first solid lead she had on finding her target in months. When she was almost there Viva would take a moment to make sure her appearance was as clean as she could get it. Straightening her skirt, adjusting her hat, and brushing away any dirt she could see. She also vanished her half drank blood bag back into her hammerspace but she didn’t notice the small trickle of blood that was left running from the corner of her lips.

“Umm excuse me? Mistress Chloe?” Viva would callout nervously once she was closer “Do you have a moment to talk?”

“...eh?” Turning away from her current conversation, Chloe glanced over to Viva. A small grin crept across the dark magical girls lips as she studied Viva. Had she just come from a fight or something? “...Heh. What do we have here? A cute little nurse approaching me. And calling me Mistress no less. Keep that up and I won't be able to keep my hands off you, fufufu.” Before Viva could say anything, Chloe closed the distance between them, pressing her body against the other girls. Taking her pointer finger, she swiftly wiped the blood off the corner of Viva's lips. “Fufu, you had something on your face. You wanted to talk to me about something?~”

She didn’t seem inclined to pull away from Viva.

Viva had been briefed on Chloe when she first accepted her task, but seeing was a different matter then hearing about it. It was easy to see that Chloe embraced her taint, much more wholeheartedly then Viva had expected and it was a pleasant surprise to be sure. She could easily understand how someone could fall for the mischievous mage.

“Rumor has it that you are spoken for…” Viva would say as her eyes tracked Chloe’s now bloody digit for a long moment as she fought to push down her still inflamed hungers for a moment. “Otherwise I’d have no qualms about where you placed your hands” Viva would reply with a sly grin returning her attention back to Chloe’s face.

“But that’s getting a bit ahead of ourselves I fear” She would continue on with a sad sigh as she took a small step back, just large enough that there was some space between them, business had to come before pleasure after all. “First an introduction; My name is Vivian, though I prefer to go by Viva.” She would say with a bow of her head “I am a Solo Girl, currently working on a task for a Patron. One that I think you’d both be able to help me with and would be wanting to see completed. For you see it deals with Penny, and her… Unfortunate ties to Beacon.” This was the point where Viva felt she had to tread carefully. Getting in between a Dominator and things they considered theirs was always a risky gambit.

“Would you be interested in hearing me out and possibly helping?”

“Tsk, everyone wants to talk business these days.” Chloe huffed, inspecting the blood on her finger. “No one wants to just play a bit. Such a bore.” Folding her arms across her chest and pouting lightly, she offered Viva a playful smirk. “Well, it's a pleasure to meet you, Viva. Whoever your current patron is, I must say, they have quite the eye to pick me out of a crowd.” Chloe would be more than willing to talk alliances, or potential cooperation with anyone short term, even long term, depending on what they wanted. In fact, she more than welcomed cooperation between magical girls of any background.

When she mentioned Penny, however, Chloe's smile only faltered for a brief moment.

“Fufu, Penny?” This girl was interest in Penny. Many questions came to mind, foremost was why. Solely because of the mentioned ties with Beacon, or something else? “I am...painfully aware of my little Penny's connections to Beacon.” She sighed deeply, appearing troubled by the fact. “My fault, really. I had to leave Penrose for a time.” She ground her teeth together. “Buuuut I think I can, convince her that staying with them is a bad idea.” She smirked. “...we just need to, give her a reason too. Ahem – perhaps we should discuss something in private?”

Internally Viva let out a breath she had been holding. She had hoped that Chloe felt the same way that both Viva and her current Patron had felt about Penny’s oddly strong ties to Beacon, but hearing it first hand helped soothe the irrational fears that Chloe might have gotten in the way.“By all means, lead the way” Viva would agree before moving to follow Chloe to wherever it was she knew of that would be better for this conversation.

“And all work and no play does tend to make things dull” Viva agreed as they walked “But coming across you has been the best stroke of luck I’ve had in weeks” Viva explained giving Chloe a better look over now that things seemed to be going well. “And really, I mean that in more ways the one” She would say charmingly.

“After we are done with business… I wouldn't be opposed to a bit of fun” Viva would add with a smirk of her own. Really it was such a delight to meet someone else who enjoyed the darker things in life.

“Eeeeh?~” Chloe giggled at Viva's offer. “You’re quite the flatterer~” She playfully commented, opening the portal to her apartment and holding the door open for Viva. The dark magical girl waltzed in, letting Viva in as she made her way over to the couch. “I've been thinking of a few ways to deal with this annoyance, but dealing with it delicately is rather...difficult. Penny's such a good, pretty little girl.” She giggled, holding a hand to the side of her face as she glanced at Viva. “That's why I love her so very, very much and if anyone hurts my pretty Penny, I’ll be quite upset.” An obvious threat anyone could easily, hopefully pickup on.

“...that aside, what sort of fun did you have in mind?” Her attitude shifted amicably once more as she slyly slid next to Viva. “Fufu, chaos? Experiments? Want to see what happens when you force more than one soul into a body?~” She pressed a shoulder against Viva’s. “...or maybe you want to do something with me?~”

“Is it flattery if it’s true?” Viva would ask as she followed Chloe into the apartment. She was a few steps slower as she walked towards the couch, taking the time to look around the apartment as she went. It was a nice place, but it was the small bits of cohabitation that stood out to the most to the dark nurse. “And I can promise you now that harming Penny is the last thing on my mind.” She would reassure her host as she sat down, not surprised or upset at the threat “The Patron I’m working for, let’s call her Mother for now, just feels that Penny has fallen in with the wrong crowd and wants to make sure Penny’s not hurt by the Beacon’s caustic influence.” Viva would explain sincerely, for she agreed with Mother completely. She agreed with Mother on a lot of things in fact, it was why Viva had sought her out and ended up with this task to act as both a liaison for the Mother and a potential friend for Penny.

Viva then tried to be upset at Chloe’s obvious attempt to circumvent the business discussion but honestly she could understand. Politics were so dry and bland at times, besides what better way to get on the petite girls side then ceding control of the conversation? “Would you hold it against me if I said all of the above?” She would reply as she leaned into the contact before snaking her arm up onto the back of the couch so it wasn’t in the way “Chaos is easy to come across these days, and I’ve not had a chance to play around with my magic in some time so both would be a delight, especially with your company” She would say with a sly grin “And I would love to see anything you want to show me, I’ve never had the chance to see a spirit girl up close. Tell me do souls taste as exquisite as I imagine they do?” And perhaps a part of her was still keyed up from her curse of desire from earlier, but who could blame her? “And if Penny is willing to share... Well we are in private already~”

“Fufu, how scandalous.” Chloe slowly ran her tongue across her lips. Oh, she really, really shouldn't. Her precious little Penny would get so jealous, wouldn't she? But the idea of it was quite enthralling in its own way. Besides, seeing Penny's little jealous face would be cute if she ever found out about it. Viva wasn't exactly making it easy to not get her hands all over her, either. Giggling, Chloe unceremoniously laid down, using Viva's lap as a pillow.

“Do you want to taste one?~” She placed a finger to Viva's lips. “I can assure you, they taste so very sweet.”

Viva couldn’t help the sharp intake of breath at the offer of a soul to eat. “You… you have one?” she would ask shakily, her mouth stuck in indecision of wanting to go dry from desire while also wanting to start salivating and the prospect. It was almost like a dream come true, a fantasy that Viva had held for some time now, the chance to devour a soul.

“Oh please, please, you have to let me try one” She begged softly her body shaking slightly from anticipation. There was little she wouldn’t have done to eat a soul, she was just normally better at hiding that fact, but her meal earlier had been interrupted and she was still so very hungry.

“So eager.” Chloe laughed. “I am a spirit mage, you know. Souls are sort of what I deal in. I think I can spare one.” She smiled pulling her finger away from Viva's lips. “As a token of...good faith, shall we say~” Sitting up, Chloe summoned her orb. Ripping souls from the afterlife was an easy task, especially in a place like a graveyard. In a place like this though – well, that was why she kept a good stock stored up as fuel.

Her orb flashed a bright, violet light as she pulled it to her side. Placing her hands on the crystalline ball, Chloe caressed it softly. Making a pulling motion like she was pulling a cloth out of something, the spirit mage removed something from the orb. A swirling, semi-solid mass similar in appearance to fog, but having a consistency similar to that of a gel like substance. Of course, souls she held on too, tended to become tainted after some time, the corruption hanging onto it like tar.

Wordlessly, she moved so she was now sitting on Viva's lap, holding the glowing mass in front of her.
“Fufu, pretty isn't it?” Her hand brought it to the other girls lips.

Viva was transfixed by the whole event. She hadn't been lying when she said she had never seen a Spirit mage work up close before and to see the ephemeral mass summoned up for her had her licking her lips. “It’s beautiful” She breathed, mesmerized by the soul as it was offered up to her. The fact that she could see the taint stuck to it just made her mouth water even more.

Slowly she reached up to caress the spiritual mass, to get a full sense of what it was she was about to consume, but that moment of reverie didn’t last, as she quickly bit into the soul with vicious glee.

She didn’t bother to hold in her moans of pleasure at the taste. It was beyond her wildest expectations, sinfully sweet was the only way to really describe it, with the corruption adding devilish hints of savory delight. Greedily she devoured the treat, alternating between small nibbles and large hunks. The last portion she simply drank down, marveling at the texture as it slipped past her maw.

“Mmm, that was delicious!” Viva murmured as she just sat there in the blissful afterglow of such a wonderful meal. A sinister smile on her face as she reveled in actually devouring someone’s soul.

Chloe watched with macabre delight as her guest devoured the soul, not moving an inch from Viva's lap. She greedily devoured every last bit of it, only a shrill, brief wail from the soul in question before it was utterly consumed by the girl in front of her.
“Ahhh, I almost want to indulge myself for a bit.” Chloe giggled, briefly locking lips with Viva. “But, we did come here for business, fufu...and I think I trust you enough now. It's not often I see a girl such as myself in Penrose willing to indulge in such beautifully dark things.” She giggled. “...I almost want you for myself, fufu. So tell me, my pretty, gluttonous little friend, let's discuss my pretty Penny.”

Viva was surprised at the sudden kiss, but she wasn’t going to complain about it, except for the fact it had been so brief. Still Chloe had a point, they had come to this hidden nook for business, still Viva couldn’t help but feel that the deranged girl on her lap was changing topics just to vex her.

“Right business...You’re a minx you know that?” Viva would say with a playful glare before she gave her head a quick shake to resummon her focus, leaning back into the couch as she contemplated her next words. “I was given two tasks by Mother.” She would start opting for honesty due to feeling like she had found a kindred soul within Chloe “The first was to establish contact with Penny, and to offer my support and act as something of intermediary between them as Mother is interested in becoming Penny’s Patron. The second, and more important task, is to work towards separating Penny from the Beacon, with special care to be taken to keep Penny in good health.”

“To both of those ends Mother has told me a bit about Penny, her personality and her friends. It’s how I knew about you, Mother is very pleased with you as well in fact.” She would mention with a wistful smile. “Other things that might be of use is the fact that I am technically a Reinforcement user, though my magic is much more twisted than the usual” She would say with obvious joy and a hint of pride at that fact it was the best Silver Viva had ever spent.

“Unfortunately the only idea I’ve been able to come up with without meeting her is trying to make it so that Beacon Excommunicates her somehow. Most members wouldn’t pose much of a threat to Penny from what I’ve heard, but with the Ascendency in the area I’m not sure how safe that idea is anymore.” Hell even without the Ascendency it would have been risky, but hopefully having Chloe help would open up other options.

“Fufu, but you love me anyways, yes?~” Chloe giggled in reply as she readjusted her seat, leaning her back against the arm of the couch, still sitting in Viva's lap. She stretched her legs out, listening intently to the other girls words. So this...'Mother' wanted to try and drive a wedge between Penny and Beacon. This was obviously something she'd agree with. She'd love nothing more than to see Beacon earn her pretty Penny's ire, to watch her smash it all and destroy it as she was built and designed too. She even had a few ideas on how she could do that.

“...hmm, this Mother sounds like quite the fun Patron. Better than a certain old dragon I won't have to worry about for too much longer, heh~” She giggled lightly. Truthfully, she had been thinking about this for a bit herself, the moment she heard that Penny had fallen under their thumb. Finding an ally like this would be very helpful...but to what end? “Mother is interested in becoming Penny's Patron...I certainly wouldn't mind that, you seem like such a nice girl so I'm sure that Mother is as well, but...trusting my little Penny to someone else I don't really know is asking quite a bit. It's so very difficult for girls like us to trust others.” She sighed, her orb slowly rotating behind her.

“With the Mint abusing us, Beacon wanting nothing more than our deaths, and patrons such as horrors using us for their selfish ends...” Chloe gave a resigned sigh. “You can understand why I wouldn't want to hand Penny over quite so easily.” She smiled again, running a finger down Viva’s cheek rather roughly. “You want my things, you’ll need to assure me you won’t break them first.”

This time the implied threat forced Viva to suppress a shiver. She hadn’t really meant to, but she was suddenly very aware of the fact that she was more or less trapped by the smaller girl. One who had proven that she had no qualms about sentencing souls to oblivion, all the while talking about Chloe’s prized possession and how someone else was interested in it.

Thankfully the fear was mostly unfounded “M-mother feels the same actually” Viva would begin to explain “She hates those that target those she sees as her children. Which includes all Monsters and Monster girls. Dark magicals, like us, aren't always viewed as her in the same way. But we can prove that we are her children just as much as the Monsters are.”

“She is a good mother” Viva’s gaze would drift away from Chloe as she spoke, the longing and conviction obvious on her face as she spoke “Or at least she is the best that she can be. She wants to be Penny’s Patron but she is more interested in seeing to it that Penny is safe from Beacon. It’ll be up to Penny if she accepts Mother as a Patron, and Mother will respect it if Penny says no, but the offer will never expire.”

“None of us deserve to be left without a Mother to watch over us after all” She would finish softly, a far away look in her eyes but she didn’t stay in the far away place. Her gaze focused again on Chloe “What can I do to prove to you that I, and Mother through me, only want to help?”

“Why do people always ask to prove themselves?” Chloe replied, a mildly curious tone in her voice. “Obviously I could make a request, but then that merely just proves you're willing to put up with a bit of unreasonableness on my part to gain my trust for whatever it is your long term goals are.” The dark magical girl giggled. “So I don't think making a specific request would make any sort of trust between us.” Not that Chloe would ever fully trust someone aside from Penny, but It was clear this Viva person had more than a little affection for this 'mother' creature. That was fine, Chloe wasn't going to judge anyone. That was what beacon did to innocent girls. “So, you give me a reason. I don't care what it is, and I don't care if you do it or not – but just know that if you don't and try to mess with my little Penny, we won't be so friendly~”

“I..” Viva was a bit caught off guard at the reversal. She had figured that Chloe would be more than willing to use the opportunity to order her around. Yet she couldn’t deny that the other girl had a point. Viva didn’t have much she could offer, and her word wasn’t worth anything yet due to them only just having met. They both were willing to indulge in the darker things in life but that was as much a boon as it was a bane.

She chewed on her lip as she thought, intentionally choosing the part that she had so recently healed. “I need to get Penny away from the Beacon” Viva would say at last “Not because I care, but because I don’t want to remain as simply human.” She would turn to look Chloe dead in the eye as she spoke “Mother has promised me that if I can get Penny away from Beacon that she will step in and force a magical overload as she becomes my Patron” And there it was, the true reason why Viva agreed to all of this. “I don’t care to take Penny away from you. I just want to make Mother happy. That’s all.” Now Viva just had to hope that it was enough to convince Chloe.

“Tsk,” Chloe frowned slightly. “I could care less about what you want.” She replied first, somewhat harshly. I am not naive enough to think you'd be doing it for some selfless reason.” She could make a few not very well founded guesses from what Viva had told her, but that was still entirely up in the air, really. It was likely Viva didn't know, either. “Why should I trust this mother with my Penny? For all I know she wants her for scrap metal, and I would be so very, very, distraught if she hurt my precious little robot.” Chloe grabbed the side of Viva's face gently, not looking away from her eyes either. “Hmhm, how about this, my gluttonous beauty? We want to drive Penny away from beacon. We can certainly make that happen so much easier together. But I want to meet this mother. Doesn't matter when. Either before or with Penny if and when she decides to meet. Besides, if I endorse her as well, Penny would be far easier to convince to join this Mother of yours.”

Viva couldn’t help the small flinch as Chloe’s harsh tone. She had misunderstood what Chloe had been asking, she didn’t want reassurance that Viva didn’t mean Penny harm, she wanted to know that Mother didn’t mean Penny harm. The very thought was blasphemous to Viva though, Mother would never intend to harm one of her children, but Chloe didn’t know mother, so she could be forgiven for being cautions.

quickly Viva would reply knowing that if she didn’t her life was likely already forfeit “I can do that” Her voice was deceptively calm, for inside Viva was remembering exactly why it was a bad idea to step between a dominator and those they consider theirs “I just need to know when it is you would like to meet with Mother and I can start working on it” She would finnish before swallowing down her fear. She would get through this, and remember for next time to watch what she said with far more care.

“Fufu, that's a good girl.” Chloe giggled. “How soon can we do it? I am honestly, really interested in meeting someone who has taken an interest in my little Penny.”

“Soon” Would be Viva’s reply “it will take a bit of time to set up but no later than Tomorrow night” she was tremendously grateful that Mother had in fact given her a way to get incontact with her, Otherwise this encounter would have ended poorly she was sure of it.

There was a tangible pause as Viva made her offer.
“Well, then...” Chloe leaned backwards, Stretching and sighing tiredly. ”Ah, all that business talk made me bored again.” She let her body fall over the arm rest of the chair. When was Penny getting back, she wondered? She wasn't in any danger since she still had her token, but...ah, she was so bored. “...fufu,” Giggling, she sat up and wrapped an arm around Viva. “Care to...end where we started?”

Viva slowly let out a thankful sigh when Chloe at last seemed to find the terms agreeable, and found herself wondering how it was Penny dealt with Chloe’s ability to switch between playful and frightening with a drop of a hat.

Such thoughts were left by the wayside at the mischievous girls suggestion, to which Viva could only smirk “As you wish Mistress” she would reply as she slid her arms around the girl in her lap. She wasn’t going to turn down such an offer after all.

‘Seems like the goat was right after all, I am getting lucky after all~’

Silhouette couldn't see the point in making small talk at this time, but she did not ignore Tetrad because of this. She thought for a moment and seriously considered the question, even though it likely wasn't intended to be answered. "I... didn't dislike the respite from this city, so I suppose it has been okay. Notwithstanding the Ascendancy intervention that is."

Truth was, that was a mixed bag. Getting mixed up with them so early was a bit irksome, but that also meant potential conflicts she could enjoy. Thinking in this way was still very much foreign to her, but she could not deny herself any longer. Ninha and her, in a way, might not have been so different. She was just unfamiliar, whereas Sil imagined that the girl was never in denial. How she envied the girl if that were the case.

The others seemed to have ascertained the Overcity in a relatively short amount of time, which was a pleasant surprise to Sil. She wasn't partial to waiting around.

But Mika was asking a bit much of her.

"You want me to get on that?" Silhouette asked, eying the cloud skeptically. She was obviously doubtful the thing was safe, but it wasn't like she had any transport of her own, unfortunately. She sighed, resigning herself to her fate, but not before asking them to wait for a second while she approached a tree and, brandishing her blade, carved a small chunk out of it, which she then stashed in her coat. It was to be her insurance in case of an emergency.

Hopping onto the potential death trap, Sil spoke. "If we're all ready, then lets go." she urged.

Presumably, Nimbus did indeed take off. This being the case, Samantha kept one hand over her breast where the piece of wood was resting. She intended to use it the moment she needed to and no later.

Katarina voicing her inexperience with this area prompted Silhouette to respond. "I suggest not coming here for a vacation, unlike someone else. It is most certainly a dang..er..ous...?" she trailed off as she slowly eyed the girl staring at her. Sam slightly tilted her head, unsure why she was getting such treatment from Su. It was making her feel uncomfortable. And wasn't that rude? What kind of person just stares at someone like that? Only a creep or something of that nature.

Oblivious to the irony of her having such a thought, Sil opted to take action. "Su?" she addressed the girl by name unconsciously. "If you could stop violating me with your eyes and ask whatever it is you want to ask, I'd appreciate it."



How sweet it was for the girl to personally thank everyone. Wasn't she precious? But not entirely. That trick of hers was perhaps the least pleasant experience Hilaria had the misfortunate of having in a long while. If she thought about it, the only real damage she sustained that fight was friendly fire. Hilaria might have to discipline her if that happened again, which would be even less pleasant.

"Oh, Hilaria is glad to have been of some help~! You can call upon her whenever you need~!" she lied with the sweetest smile on her face. "Mmm, but only if you don't cook her like that~"

Saying such, she glanced back at the newcomer, whose tiger had, unfortunately, not turned into a tortoise. She thought he should prioritize fixing that. Maybe then she'd find him somewhat interesting, but for now she did not. Hilaria found herself paying less and less attention to the conversation involving him, and instead turned back to Mariette, who was making a break for it.

"Eh~ Leaving so soon~?" she asked the girl before she could disappear into the portal. Hilaria was mildly curious about the girl with a cute little doll. But if she was unwilling to talk, then that was fine, too. She could also strike up a conversation with the pirate, or just leave.



Emily frowned upon hearing Helga's reasoning. She did not owe Emily a single thing, as far as she was concerned. They were sisters, and so it was only expected that she would help one in need. Even if the pain was intense, a mauled arm was always preferable to a dead sister. And she imagined Lupa would not be particularly happy if she had killed someone in that state.

As they entered the hotel, Emily took in her surroundings. She had not been to a place that bore any resemblance to this before. "How pretty!" she complimented, following the girl to the break room, wherein Lupa was set down and Helga had changed. Emily did not follow suit as she felt it was best to remain in her magical girl form until she was in better shape.

Moments later, the two ghost girls arrived. Emily had a vague sense that she knew them from somewhere, and this was confirmed when Julia mentioned seeing her at the beach. There had been quite a few girls there, but Emily still felt a little ashamed she didn't properly recall the girls. They didn't seem to take it personally, so it must not have been as rude as she was imagining it was.

"Oh, hello! I'm Emily." she introduced herself to the ghosts, doing her best to smile despite the pain she was in. She was nothing but eager to comply with Helga's instruction, and sat on the sofa as asked. As the girl explained the situation here and her worries, Emily frowned. "Su is a friend of yours?" she asked. "In that case, I do hope things turn out alright." she wished the girl luck.

When all was said and done with the healing, Emily felt so much better she nearly jumped out of joy. "Thank you!" she told Helga, and then both of the ghosts. With the pain gone she could properly smile, which naturally the other girls got to witness.

Being the stranger she was, Emily was quiet as the door opened. She felt a tinge of disappointment when Helga deflated after the guests turning out not to be Su, but otherwise did nothing.

@ERode @Ariamis @Majoras End

No matter the normal strength, Leena effortlessly threw Dawn for FanFan, the power of urgency and desperation on her side. Dawn fell into a roll as her sword burst away into a cloud of twinkling lights. Her skid came to a stop beside FanFan on her knees, and bracing for the onslaught, ducked her head in a minuscule attempt at furthering her defenses. The severe lightning storm crackled about her, and through the bright flashes she could see each zap vaporize the earth, piece by piece. It was as if a divine hand had flensed dirt and stone from the surface of the planet.

When at least the screeching maelstrom subsided, Dawn stood proudly upon a pedestal of rock that had survived thanks to FanFan's shield. It was but the three ladies of the Ascendancy, a charred corpse, and the pitiful remainder that was Celia. Dawn took a step forward towards Anaya's smoking body, and contemplated ending it there and then, despite Celia's plea for help. Still, she was but one of three here. She cast a gaze back to Leena, clearly seeking some guidance.

Was this insolent magical girl, incapable even of saving themselves from their own endeavors, worth sparing in the end?

@Ariamis @Majoras End @Asuras

Off in the distance, on a nearby building two figures watched the last acts of a brutal show play out. They hadn’t been drawn in by the music, or the chaos of the fight, or even a sense of curiosity. No they were here purely off of luck. Such occurrences were hardly surprising to the two however; their lives seemed to be dominated by the unseen force.

”Ya’ know It’s times like this that I’m really sad we got grounded by that stupid fish” The taller of the two said with a sigh from where she was lounging as they watched the down pour of lightning reduce the stage that had housed the majority of the show to little more than dust.

”That’s not very nice you know” Came the soft spoken reply from the smaller of the two girls, her eyes were glowing with soft inner light as she scanned those below for some unseen unknowable trace that the girls always sought after. Neither of them seemed much invested in the drama that was playing out below them, both watching it with only vague interest.

“Seems we might both be able to give a granting tonight though” Sakura would go on to say after a moment blinking away the glow from her eyes as she turned to her sister.

Violet, rather than replying to her sister, simply rolled off the building. Mid-fall she pushed off the wall and tucked in to a roll just before hitting the ground, gracefully displacing her inertia as she used the momentum to propel herself forward, seamlessly transitioning into walk as she went. Sakura just huffed in exasperation before she followed after in a more mundane fashion, simply jumping from point to point until she too was on ground level.

They didn’t bother to conceal their presence as they approached the small gathering of girls. In fact “Seems like it didn’t take long for things to get interesting here in Penrose again” Violet would cheerfully announce their presence as she nearly sauntered up to them all. Sakura simply maintained her silence as she followed after her more socially capable sister. “and correct me if I'm wrong but someone did just ask for help correct?”

"Eh?! Dontcha' wanna' stay fer' a free meal? Mah' treat fer everyone, swear on mah' patron!" Sophia called out to Hilaria and Mariette, after looking back at the two Mariette once the horror girl made clear she was going to leave. As much as the pirate's accent was thick, however, she truly felt she was doing her best to be genuinely nice here! They had all fought well, and a good fighin' crew was always welcome to a good feast to celebrate. Such was her mindset. Well...if any of these girls were up to it anyways to boot.

Though Sophia looked back forwards after the mafioso boy began to speak again...albeit with a pause and somewhat awkward seeming smile...the pirate lightly rolled her eyes in exasperation. It was like some people couldn't understand plain ENGLISH around here! Then again, she was a pirate and pirates tended to speak rather uniquely. Though what about "Talk Like a Pirate Day"?! Didn't mundane people have that to give them some means of understanding-...ugh, nevermind. At least the mafioso-sounding guy seemed to have the manners to introduce himself and do some explaining, though the obvious questions seemed to follow right after. Well, at least the questions seemed obvious to her. After being asked for an explanation it was only proper to give one in return!

However, the guy's eyes seemed to obviously wander a bit over the swordswoman's body as he walked up to Amaryllis (and her). A pang of light frustration pushed Sophia to let out a small sigh in response. Sure the goo lass was pretty sexy, such was her lot in becomin' a magical girl, but she also wasn't a hunk of meat! Amaryllis was her friend, after all! She wasn't going to sit around and let her friend be ogled like that by people, after all. Even she had some standards for a pirate!

"Ey', Nuncio, please keep yer' eyes up to her face will yeh'? Just ta' ask fer' politeness' sake, if ah' may interject as ah' friend ere'." the magical girl interjected, keeping her tone as polite as possible in the process.

Perhaps those words would be more easily heard and grasped? She was trying at least, to enunciate and pronounce her words as clearly as possible, and that's what counted in her mind. At least she was also more understandable than the creaking buncha' planks that was her patron! Though she was perhaps a special case in grasping what her patron would tell her. Something about those sounds seemed to just plunk out words in her head. Handy, that was.

Sophia pulled her arm of camaraderie back politely, before tilting back her axe-gun to sit back on one shoulder as she put her other free arm on her hip. A wide grin came onto her face once more, then, as she let out a proud laugh.

"Ah'll let mah' friend introduce herself, but ah' am Sophia von Zeerover! The Number One Pirate in all ah've Penrose, new ta' the block despite tha' time nonsense, and friend to the lass next to meh' here! Good ta' meet ya'!"

Sophia took her free hand off of her hip, before extending it outwards with confidence towards Nuncio to offer a proper handshake. Such was the pirate's life! Plus one less person apt to try to kill her was nice. Always nice.

Speaking such, what was that maid girl doing right now? Hopefully stayin' alive and such, she hoped. Poor lass had been pretty shaken up when they first met, after all.

@PlatinumSkink@BrokenPromise@ERode@FamishedPants

---

The maid girl had happily made sure to show and give her number to Juliana in return, though too felt some enjoyment in the following casual chat the two underwent before she had been forced to run off with the others. Something was special about the Valkyrie girl...but what was it that stoked her curiosity and interest in her so? What was drawing her to the other girl even now? It was nothing she knew of right now anyways, and...well, it would take time to figure that all out anyways. Time talking, being around each other, and getting to better know each other would maybe reveal the answer. Such was the nature of being human, right? To find these things out, to build those bonds, and keep moving forward!

Though after arriving the white haired girl let out a small and surprised 'eep!' when Aurelio suddenly pulled her into a one-armed embrace and gave her a light shake. Yet the magician's following words and those of Alicia were in some sense a comfort as well. They hadn't forgotten her...they wouldn't forget her.

Despite the good feelings still around after the end of the trial, however, Rachael seemed apt to stomp on it and assert her authority. Had trying to get them excommunicated an executed not been enough for her? It seemed not. But perhaps she was being emotional about it all as well. What was clear was that Rachael was noting that the Ascendancy's mission was to continue, she didn't trust Alicia to not "mess up" her plans, they were keeping separate for the most part, and they'd be tolerated merely out of duty. Had she missed much beyond that? Indeed, they were even being asked to help deal with a situation conjured by corrupted magical girls. Serenity almost wished she had scribbled some sigils and runes to...no. That would have been bad. Very bad. Ugh.

She and the others could only really go one thing at a time, and there had to be a better solution to the Ascendancy problem. Not that they had been useless or all terrible either...they'd helped this place in their absence whilst they were stuck in a time dilation kidnapping event and swimsuits. The maid magical girl had to give credit where it was due, at the very least. There were even those within that organization, like Juliana, that seemed to be more compassionate and kind than she'd ever expected. So there had to be hope that things would work out well with all of this too!

Aurelio also Alicia also brought up some good points, however. This dark magical girl/monster girl event was more than suspicious, they all did want Penrose back to normal, and the locations of the ShineSpark-infused monster girl were another thing entirely as welll. In Serenity's mind the direct attacks on Beacon were also nothing short of a trap.

Though between her prior thoughts and now, however, an idea of sorts did some to her mind. "An idea of sorts" being the emphasis here. Looking up at the visibly more tense and worried Alicia, however, pushed the white haired magical girl to step forward and place a comforting hand on Alicia's shoulder.

"I haven't heard from Penny, but...I know we can do this! But we need to be organized, that is the key! If I may?"

Serenity spoke as best as she could, though a relatively minor slight chill ran down her back. Even so, she as confidently as possible moved before their small group, taking control of the projection table they were at and changing the display on it to help visualize her explanation. They had to figure something out, have some sort of plan at least. To just rush out was...the thought of it worried her a lot.

"From what little I saw 'before' I became as I am now, especially here in Penrose and of its inhabitants, Penny might be a potential key to figuring what's going on. But if Chloe gets to her, or if some other dark force like Cindy Ford and her self-proclaimed queenship, I...well, I feel there is enough worry about it all already.

But from here we can break things down, to try to figure this out better."

The projection on the table shifted again, splitting from a tree diagram of connections and images and information into several distinct groupings.

"One thing we need to do is help Penny. For that, sending someone she trusts most from here might work best. But if she's with Cindy, or Chloe, or those at the 'rave' I...I don't know how it would go down. At all. I have all of what my former self saw in regards to Penrose, and what he dug up otherwise in his boredom, but that is all I have to work on. I worry we could trigger something bad with Penny caught in the middle, especially with the situation the Ascendancy has created in our absence.

Next, in regards to the 'concert' and 'rave', between the feeling of it being a gigantic and obvious trap, especially with the attacks made on Beacon in its 'advertisement', how do we get info? We have no idea about Penny right now, and we need to help her before anything else. Plus we don't know everything going on at this 'concert' and what detection magic or other things could be set up there."

The maid girl then let out a long, exasperated sigh.

"I know of someone, well 'something', who would be very happy to help us with at least one of these things. She's, ahm, not alien to Beacon...and has actually worked with the Hawaiian Branch sometimes.

But I...I don't want to get too far ahead. Does anyone else have suggestions or ideas?"

The projection on the table shifted again, though barely, tossing in a small black silhouette into a new and very small small side grouping. This one in particular seemed to contain a strangely familiar black silhouette from human eldritch fiction, surrounded strangely by party hats and ocean and the like.

@Ariamis@Flamelord@Shifter_Master

Su was kneeling on the Nimbus as it started to take off. You didn’t stand up on a nimbus for the same reason you don’t stand up on a magic carpet. If you were too tall, the air stream would knock you down once the Nimbus started to fly forward. Not only that, but the air would sting your eyes and make it impossible to see what was coming.

When confronted by Silhouette, Su’s first response was to pull back her head and raise an eyebrow. “Well ‘Silly,’ I just couldn’t help but feel we’d met previously. It would explain why you’re taking such a familiar tone with me.” she lowered her hands behind her back to keep herself propped up. “I remember seeing someone like you. Someone who looked like you. Maybe a month before the Bates ritual in the graveyard. ” Su had to be careful that she didn’t mention she was formerly a familiar. No telling if the Mint was present. “Your behavior is a shade different from what I remember too.”

Mika was laying on her chest, kicking her legs while the nimbus took them to their destination. “Um, Rina?” she traced some circles on the cloud with her finger. “You’re friends with Beacon, but they don’t seem to like Su very much.” her ears went back. “are we going to fight some day?”

---

Armadillo?

“Amaryllis, Hilaria, Amaryllis.”

But that was the extent of the knight’s ability to really care. A rose by any other name was just as sweet, and claptrap like that. All she wanted to do was eat and then sleep, but even though her Sword felt satisfied by all this, there was still more to do. More monsters to slay, more demons to hunt. She felt it in her soul, her mind. The barrier was still siphoning more magical power from her, still reconstructing itself. Until it completed itself…

Another interruption. This time from Sophia. Amaryllis looked at the pirate queen for a moment and, in a lapse of judgment, offered the flat of her Sword to the flame-haired woman. “The Sword’s tastes lean towards the powerful. Monster or magical, it matters not, but so long as I am its Wielder, it’ll only taste the soul of the former.” A pause. Sophia didn’t touch the blade, Nuncio’s own introduction (Cat Gangster? Interesting vibe.) drawing her attention away from the matter of the Sword’s speech. The Knight of Rose still felt it ‘purring’ in her skull, like steel wool rubbing on the inside. “And yes, I’d appreciate a meal after this. Thank you.”

Didn’t know what to make of the arm around her shoulder, but Amaryllis felt fatigued enough to be grateful. She leaned against Sophia, just slightly enough that her body didn’t slant in any obvious manner.

So much to do though. So much to say. If she had done everything by herself, she wouldn’t have to address everyone who had participated, right? But she brought them in here, so she’ll see them out. With conscious effort, enough that it felt as if she was exerting herself again, Amaryllis gave a little flourish, before a silver rose budded out from behind Bunny’s right ear, blooming out fully and then oxidizing into a deep red. “Your magical ordinance worked out for the best, Mariette, but seeing what we’ve all gone through, I’ll save the full heft of my gratitude for a more opportune date. For now, I bid you a good rest.” Or whatever Horrors allowed their pact-bound servants to do after slaying a sturdy lich.

And now, back to the Feline Mafioso. Penrose Outer Alliance…was that what Cindy’s thing was called? Amaryllis narrowed her eyes slightly. Everyone she knew had been thrown into Dan’s Beach Dimension, so this…may well be an opportunity, no? A chance at figuring out everything that had gone down, and at learning of every new faction that had settled in during their absence.

The Knight of Rose frowned. The fatigue may be making her a little pragmatic, a little numb. But this was good, for now.

“There’s no problem,” she spoke, tilting her head towards Sophia. “I’ve no reason to shy from a man’s gaze, least not in this form. You can stare as you like, Nuncio, but in exchange…join us for a meal. Tell us everything that has transpired over the last couple of months.”

A smile graced her lips, charming and practiced. Rusted petals fell still, wasteless byproducts of her magic.

“I am Amaryllis Evenings, Knight of Rose. As fate would have it, my repose in the tropics, though it felt like a mere three days, unfortunately grew to twoscore that amount, leaving me shamefully unaware of recent comings and goings. If you were to inform me of such events, well…I prefer to keep my list of contacts short and sweet, but perhaps I’ll make room for you.”

Though she wouldn’t have to, if Sammy could just answer her phone.

Cindy smiled, pleased with the asnwer. “Ah, excellent. I look forward to meeting with Divina then. Send her my way, and we shall see if she is up to the task, hm hm~” With that, she waved goodbye to Chloe as she left.

---

Lily smiled widely upon hearing about Mika’s discovery, and giggled as Tetrad was placed on Alex’ lap, finding her quip funny. She also found Silhouette’s exchange with Mika interesting; she expected Sil to refuse entirely, but it seems even her pride had its limits.
”Alright then, let’s go to this Overcity!” She hollered, and off they went, with Lily following the nimbus cloud.
There were a few more wondrous sights to see during the trip, such as ent-like walking trees, fairies that were dancing around a mushroom circle, and even a green dragon with bloodshot red eyes puffing white smoke out of a fat blunt. The unicorn stopped by a clear blue pond to have a drink, while goblins lurked from the shadows, watching its every move. One threw a spear at it; the unicorn immediately turned and deflected the crude weapon with its golden horn, shattering it to pieces and causing the goblins to flee.

Lily did not seem to care too much however, as she was caught up in the conversation.
”I know, right? It’s so unfair! I bet Dan screwed up the magic somehow. He’s a big dummy.” She made a wheelie as she passed by a rocky patch, causing the motorcycle to shake. She seemed to realize this, as she then slowed down, strolling past a rocky cliff from which a waterfall swept down, splitting into two mid-air. She looked at the environment as well upon hearing Alex comment about it; a smile formed on her lips.
”It is really pretty here...” She turned back to look at Alex; she looked excited.
”Alright, once Penrose is safe again we’ll go here on a...a...a date!”
She smiled widely with a big blush, and then returned her attention back on the road, making a swerve to avoid a sleeping forest troll resembling a mossy boulder.
”A date! Yeah!” For the rest of the trip through the forest, she swayed from side to side, humming a little song.

Soon enough, thanks to their speedy transports, the group had reached the edge of the forest that opened up to a grassy plain. Of course, what most drew everyone’s eyes was the vividly colored structure that stretched far and wide; the Crystal Curtain. The blue wall was not far from the forest, but the group’s real goal, the gate, was a bit further ahead along the side of the curtain.

”WOW It’s so beautiful!” Lily exclaimed, and took out her phone to snatch some shots.
”It’s like mountains made from crystal! Come here Alex, let’s take a group photo!”

However, as she was about to pull her photo out, Mika heard something, coming from deep within the forest. It was faint, but she recognized the shouting voices to belong to the Ascendancy:

“...D-types...area...”

“...keep loo...can’t...far...”

“...tire mark...after...”

---

Leena walked briskly past Dawn, her sword lifted to her side. She seemed to ignore Celia’s plea as she approached Anaya, her eyes cold like the bitter winds of winter that howled around them.
Once she was over the barely-living dark magical girl, she lifted her blade, and without any hesitation, swung the blade down.

>BOOM<

The musical instrument that once served as Endsinger’s phylactery made a reverberating blast of sound as it was split vertically in half, right in the gap between the two central strings. Foul magics seeped out, and fizzled into the dark sky, leaving a haunting song that travelled on the wings, and spread to Penrose.

Leena lifted her blade, and then glanced at Celia, as if she only then recognized her existence. “Don’t you worry. We got this.” She lowered herself down to one knee, and ripped her gasmask off; Dawn saw that her face had been restored to normal, with no trace of blood from the earlier battle. The gasmask let out a small puff of what looked like green gas as she cast a spell on it and then placed it over anaya’s face, the straps binding themselves to her head like with the Ascendancy girl. Then, she stood up, and turned to look at Dawn as FanFan now approached Anaya. “You hesitated, Rookie. Next time you do that, someone might actually get killed.” She then put a hand on her shoulder; she smiled. “But for your first time, you did better than expected. Good job, rookie.”

Celia saw that after Anaya was made to wear the gasmask, her condition turned visibly better; she started to breathe better, and her burns began receding, turning unblemished. However, she also saw how FanFan gently lifted the dark magical girl up using one of her robotic arms.
“Now where did I put them...Ah, here.” She pulled out an artifact resembling an infinity symbol, and bound Anaya’s hands with them. The runes on the white stone shimmered, and Anaya transformed back to human form, her magic sealed away. FanFan then lifted the girl up, carrying her in her metallic arms with surprising delicacy.

Then, as Leena turned and was about to address Celia, they were approached by a strange set of twins. FanFan smiled, and made a curtsy, her robot arms still carrying Anaya. “Oh, hello there! My, aren’t you two simply fabulous!” Leena on the other hand raised an eyebrow, and looked back at Dawn. “Yeah, it didn’t,” she answered, and followed the two with her gaze, her hands crossed before her. She seemed to be deep in thought. “Hmm...”
“Oh, aren’t you girls the ones needing help?” FanFan asked, looking them over. “It’s at least minus twenty degrees Celsius. You must be freezing.”

---

Rachel still faced away from the victors of the trial when they spoke to her, only glancing back as Aurelio brought the bracelet out. The stern look on her was unabated, but she did nod at his reassuring words. “That is good to hear. The command center will keep their ears and eyes open 24/7, so we are prepared to receive intel ASAP.” She averted her eyes as Alicia spoke, her hands balled up into fists at her sides. “Paladin Seraph...to combat a virus outbreak, one must act accordingly to save the most people, correct? Not with platitudes.” She took in a deep breath. “I pray that the Cardinal has not made a mistake. Dismissed.” With that, she walked away to mind her own business, and the group was left to discuss amongst themselves.

The other Ascendancy members, while hesitant, weren’t as aloof. “Excuse me. You mentioned Penny, correct?” Elora was intrigued by Aurelio’s mention of Penny, and the cybermancer approached the group, her machines slowly rotating around her. “I finally managed to track her signal.” She tapped fast on her keyboard, and one of the monitors surrounding her showed a block of data including a t-posing spinning 3d-model of Penny. “She seemed to have been in a fight down at Wall street; her mana reserves are currently running at low capacity. I’ll prime the teleporters to the location.”

She soon had a look of surprise as Serenity handled the table projector. “Oh, what’s this?” Hudie turned, and looked at what Serenity was doing. The entire Ascendancy was now listening closely as Serenity explained of the possible risks involved. “Chloe...She was the D-type from the incident records...” Elora mumbled, while Tsuki brought out a book ”Yeah, she caused a Class-3 in the downtown area. Noted ‘extremely dangerous’ by Sylvia, and has resisted Beacon before. If what Serenity speaks is true and someone like her is involved with Penny...”

“Cindy Ford is the bigger threat.” Now even Rachel joined in. “She is gathering an underground guerrilla force of corrupted girls.” She bit on the nail of her thumb in frustration. “If only we could find out where they’re hiding...Probably at the residential districts, where they would have most access to prey. Or maybe the docks...Or maybe we could use Penny, and find-”

Suddenly, Hudie screamed. Rachel and the other members turned around, expecting trouble. One second later, an ominous image appeared on the projector, and the rest also exclaimed in surprise. “A HORROR!? Are you seriously suggesting to summon a horror?” Rachel pointed her finger at Alicia; her eyes seemed to burn with hate.
“Serenity needs to be punished for such heretical thoughts! Paladin Seraph, I expect immediate retribution! Give her penance!” Everyone else now looked at the Light girl, waiting to hear how she will punish her.

---

Hood grunted as the box she held was shot right out of her claws, and ended up in Amanda’s possession. “No! That’s mine!” She screamed, her fangs bared as she turned, her paws now extended with sharp claws. Selene then spotted as Ronin cast her spell. “Wait, Hood-!”

“Give it back!” She hissed, and pounced...Only to smack right into the barrier, destroying it. Selene summoned her weapon and blocked Ronin’s sword sing while Hood staggered, causing sparks to fly.
“The spell broke, Hood! We need to get out of here!”

A passing magical girl happened to see the commotion. “Guards! Over here!”
Hood’s eye twitched. “Well, shit.” The two thieves had nervous looks as Valkyrie now brandished her spear, having recovered from the hypnotic suggestion. Faced three against two, the red-hooded girl bit on her lower lip. “Alright...Time for the Hood Secret Technique!” Selene nodded, and caused a cloud of illusionary purple smoke to billow forth, enveloping the two.

When the smoke cleared, the two were last seen running into a side alley. “Run awayyyy!”
Hood screamed with her furry arms flailing behind her, while Selene looked pissed. “You said she was an easy mark, idiot!” Looking back one last time, Selene scoffed.
“You saw nothing!” Hood showed her tongue. “Snitches get stitches!”
And with that, they turned the corner and disappeared. Soon enough, two guards, dressed similarly to those at the gates though with slightly different colors, arrived. “Which way did they go?” They asked.

---

Penny felt that her mana made a slight recovery upon eating one of Sirkkeli’s pieces, though her Shine Spark seemed disturbed by the nugget of corruption that entered her, warning her with a slight, warm glow from within. By dismantling the pieces, she learned that the gynoid was indeed alien in design; her working mechanisms were a mix of technology and organic matter, with sometimes more and sometimes less definite borders between the two. Her high sensory ability came from special lenses that reflected light at a much higher intensity than the human eye could. Her blades mimicked the functionality of venomous fangs, able to pump out liquid from microscopic holes set into the sharp edge.

The sticky mucus was made by mixing her saliva with a chemical compound that sent the liquid’s viscosity and tensile strength to incredible extremes. The gynoid’s reactive armor, capable of autonomous defenses against simple attacks. Formed by metallic muscle tissue, and topped off with plates with sensory ability, the user doesn’t have to be aware of attacks for them to be repelled. The most impressive part of the gynoid was it’s metal-eating mold; it seemed to be a symbiotic organism that lingered in special chambers in her blades. It fed on her magical reserves via a psychic connection, and able to regenerate at the atomic level at an astounding speed.

Penny learned that she could safely modify herself by externally grafting pieces of the other android to her body, and gain lesser forms of the leaking blades and reactive armor. However, she had a feeling that she could get more if she were to consume Sirkkeli’s entire body, and assimilate the gynoid’s corrupted materials.

---

Helga nodded at Emily’s question, looking dreamily into the distance. “Y-Yeah. She’s a very dear friend to me. I hope so too. I do have this Friendship Stone I could use…” She mumbled, lost in thought. ”The ghosts looked happy when Emily greeted them, and they twirled around her. But they immediately retreated up into the ceiling when Eliza arrived; ironically, they seemed spooked.

Helga was surprised by the mention of Cindy Ford. “Oh, are you a magical girl? Me too!”
Her disguise disappeared with an echo of her words, and she assumed her monstrous appearance. “Don’t think I’ve seen you before, though,” she spoke with a hand to her hip and a friendly smile. “What kind of business does Cindy have?” She asked, genuinely curious.

When Eliza handed over the letter, she blinked. “Oh, the party? Well, I am the owner, so let’s see...” With a careful claw, she slit the envelope open, and read the letter inside. As her eyes moved from side to side, they slowly opened wide. “WOO HOO! It’s happened! Yahoo!” She bounced in place from sheer excitement, holding the letter up. “Par-ty! Par-ty! Invitation to the par-ty!” She briefly ran to the back room. “Look Emily! It’s the address to the concert! Whoo!” She returned back to behind the counter, having remembered she is supposed to be serving a potential client. “Oh, thank you so much! And please forgive me for my burst of emotions. You can let Cindy know that we will definitely attend the concert. How could I repay you? Oh, I know!” She checked the rooms from the computer. “We do have a vacant room you could stay in for tonight. For just one bronze coin, we’ll even throw in a breakfast for you. How about it?”

---

At the place where the battle with Billy was fought, sounds could be heard in the distance. It was that of shouting, clacking heels, and crushed snow. And there, Sophia and Amaryllis could see in the distance as a group of magical girls were making their way towards them. Based on their number, they could guess it was a squad of the Ascendancy, sent to deal with the lich and anyone involved with their destruction. The group of magical girls had the chance to scatter and flee before they showed up. Or, if they felt brave, they could try and settle things with a threat of six magical girls.

'A date? That...actually sounds kinda nice' There was something strangely soothing about this place, and the idea of just wandering around with Lily sounded really peaceful. It was a feeling that Alexander didn't have a lot of experience with, but he found that he liked it a lot 'Why do I feel all...fuzzy inside? It's...kind of nice'. When they reached the Crystal Curtain, Alexander found he had a calm smile on his face

”It’s like mountains made from crystal! Come here Alex, let’s take a group photo!”

Alexander chuckled at Lily's energy, but followed without complaint. That's when he heard voices that were both familiar, and unwanted. And all that inner peace was just tossed away, as his anger and bitterness returned "No...no fucking way" he gritted his teeth "They actually managed to follow us all the way here?"