Between keeping everyone updated on what has and will happen, and providing support for the Artillery Line, Eliza was starting to feel overwhelmed. Their efforts to keep Justine's side of the fight away was starting to feel in vain, but the witch shook off the feeling. Using her time magic to enhance her reaction time, she used Feilian's interference to snipe anyone trapped within the tornado.

Then the front door was destroyed.

"Damnit!! Everyone, we've been breached! And the second beacon team's making their way to the foyer!!" Eliza quickly informed her side of the fight. Looking back to the window, her eyes widened when Justine and Sonia appeared right in front of them. But even without her scrying power, she knew what was going to happen next.

"Move, MOVE!!" the witch backed away from the sphere projectile fired at the Artillery Line, combining both light and time magic into a shield to deflect any beams the crystal fired at her. At this point, Eliza was starting to get angry again, but she couldn't let it get the best of her like before. She couldn't waste any time on her meditation stone either, so what was she supposed to do?

Once she saw the greater gorelions that were summoned, the witch's eye twiched. Once. Twice. Eliza quietly walked up behind one of the creatutes, charging her gautlets with dark magic in the intent to bash it's skull open once it turned around.

Eliza managed to refract one of the deadly red beams with a time-accelerated shield of light, just in time for Alex to step forth and defend her from the followup beams. Eliza then used the moment of distraction to her advantage to sneak behind the monster for a flanking attack, ending up between two of the bulky monsters. Her punch caused the monster to release a magical girl it has caught with a howl of pain as it was struck right in the noggin. However, she realized too late that she had made a mistake; the Greater Gorelion behind her also turned, and slammed into her, causing her great bodily damage and knocked right into the first monster's gaping maw. She managed to avoid being completely sucked in, but her arm ended up caught in the monster's abyss-like mouth; she could feel how the monster was rapidly draining blood from it.

Eliza struggled against the monster on a fight or flight instinct, blood starting to seep through her mouth after being slammed into by the other Gorelion. "GET OFF!" she kept punching the Gorelion latched onto her with her free hand, while charging up a blast of light magic with whatever strength she had left in her other hand.

The Gorelion behind Eliza slammed against her again, causing her to flinch, but she possessed enough fortitude to stay on her feet and blast the monster pinning her with an explosive spell of radiant energy, resulting in the monster to let go of her arm. However, she realized her arm was now drained of most of it's blood, and she could barely lift it up for how weakened it was. At that moment, she could feel her destiny pull her towards Alex; at his side, she had a chance to survive this deadly trial.

She tried lifting her arm. Nothing. She tried balling her hand into a fist, lightly shaking her arm. Nothing. Eliza cursed under her breath. She couldn't fight with one arm, could she? The witch spat out the blood in her mouth, and looked around for the only healer that was with them. She didn't know why, but she felt like sticking by him would prove useful. So as Alex was cleaving away at the other Gorelion, Eliza went behind to blast it with another light beam, paying mind to avoid hitting him in the progress.

"Woah!" Alexander was caught of guard by the sudden beam of light. It hadn't actually come close enough to almost hit him, but the surprise of it made it feel like it did. Crossing his weapons in front of him to block the a charging bite from the beast, he took a quick look around for the source of that attack, and soon noticed a blonde haired girl. "Hey uh...this" He paused as the beast let off it's attack to try and tackle him. A quick sidestep got him out of the way, and he began putting on the pressure "I realize this is going to sound kind of weird but; have we met before? You look...kind of familiar."

"Had a feeling some of you wouldn't recognize me. Doesn't the hat ring a bell, Alex??" Eliza huffed, putting the two Gorelions in a temporary stasis, then rapid-firing both light and dark daggers at the monsters. "It's me! Scout!!"

"...Scout..." He repeated, trying the name out on his tongue. A few seconds later, it hit him "Oh wait, I think I remember; The assault on the mansion! You were there for the fight with the crazy doll girl that helped kidnap Lily. And then came along on the rescue mission." He snorted in amusment "Man, that feels so long ago. And yet-" He turned to the Gorelion and raised his voice a little "-It seems like some things never fucking change" He huffed "But seriously, it's nice to see a familier fa-er...person, in all of this madness."

"Tell me about it! And I ditched the nickname a long time ago, just call me Eliza!" The witch dropped the beasts as soon as she felt they were stabbed enough. "From the bigwig patrons striking gold on this goddamn war, to finding out Visceral never changed, Cindy dying, and me trying to cling onto my sanity for dear life?? Nothing makes sense anymore!! I'm glad to see you guys are still alive though, but you and me gotta stick together!" Eliza then turned her attention to her handicapped arm, furrowing her brows. "Got enough energy to fix this up? Those things drain blood quick."

Eliza charged her Time magic and succeeded to stop the Gorelions for long enough for her to stab them with elemental blades before they broke free, though it came at a noticeable cost in her mana. While the dark daggers didn't seem to do much, the light daggers staggered the beasts, buying her a brief respite from the onslaught.

"Yeah, sure." Alexander walked over to Eliza and took a closer look at her arm "Geez, that thing got fucked up." He then started pouring healing magic into it, and the arm fixed itself in a matter of seconds "There, that should do" He nodded "I'm not sure if you already had any plans, but I'm going to go find Lily. I really don't like the idea of her all alone out here"

"Thanks, Lily and Hilaria are probably holding out on the other side of the crystals. Here." With both her hands working, Eliza took off her hat and pulled out a bubble of time magic. Suspended inside it was her magic camera and thornwitch blade. She grabbed the camera from the bubble, and took a quick picture of the Gorelions for some more information on them.

The moment the shutter snapped, capturing the Gorelions in a magical picture, runes appeared on it, forming into English letters. The picture explained that the Gorelions are vampiric beasts of the night that prey on blood and flesh with an eternal hunger for magical beings. Despite their lack of sensory organs, they can magically sense prey in a vast area, and possess tongues capable of shooting out of the creatures' magically darkened maws and impaling prey from a distance. This particular variant has been enchanted with obsidian armor capable of absorbing much damage. However, they still retain a weakness to light magic.

"Everyone on the artillery line, the Gorelions are weak against light magic!!" Eliza informed the group, placing her camera back into her hat, and giving the photo to Alex before he left. "Hope you find this useful."

Alexander took the photo, shrugged, and then waved Eliza goodbye. 'Alright, time to put that new magic GPS to use.' Calling upon the mental compass within him, he directed it find Lily, and within seconds it came back with a result 'Man this is so useful' With a smug grin, he ran off in the direction of Lily.

???

Huh. Well. That was no fun. That a single pulse of fear drove away all the kobolds. She’d been having them prepare to fire at their enemies through holes in the walls and have this ultimate ambush that’d take out at least one of them. Instead, this single Magical Girl just unleashed a something pulse that rendered that whole encounter moot. Irritating.

Oh, well. Better just burn them all when they go up the stairs.

---

Void Room - Infiltration Team


‘I am super happy that we had you with us!’ Ronin called to the Magical Dream Princess as she saved them from dropping into the Collector’s grasp and helped them through the portal.

On the way up the stairs, the stairs suddenly sealed behind them and above them a magma-bomb exploded, sending a couple thousand liters of burning hot magma came pouring down at them.

After they easily overcame this trap, they found themselves in the foyer. It was possible they heard some running from the above balcony, some Magical Girls were evacuating because there was no way they could do the trap as intended now. Then a dead Remorhaz was shoved through the doorway and a series of pressure-plates were activated, each resulting in a sudden detonation that reduced the corpse to dust. Still, other than that, there sure wasn’t much here. Because Mariette was ignoring them…

They probably saw how the roof above them suddenly took massive damage, albeit didn’t fall. Why, a huge magic bomb just detonated there and now Gorelions with their massive weight was walking on it. It was honestly impressive how it didn’t fall down on their heads.

However, one of their numbers felt something.

@Majoras End Anaya felt an immense force suddenly emerge from somewhere in the basement. There was an intense pressure of spectral magical power, tugging at basically any undead soul in the area. She was of course keeping the ones she was already attached to… but there were other, recently dead souls, who were easily claimed by this new entity. Whatever it was, it rose out of the basement, somewhere along the eastern side of the mansion whereas they were currently located in the middle, rising up towards the battle taking place above…

‘Okay. Keeping in mind that our enemy can portal her forces, what do we do, now?’ Ronin asked. She had honestly not considered that far. She really just needed to get to Mariette, somehow.

There were paintings of various of Asengav’s Champions, but the paintings were also mirrors…



There was one more painting. The problem with it, was that it was blank. Like, there was someone supposed to be in the picture, but failed to show up to be depicted, or something. … Ronin pointed at that one in specific, and whispered. ‘That one. She’s an information expert that is likely following our every move. She needs a small, secluded area to work in, though. Do we have a way to find her? If we do, she can’t fight, herself… I think. I’ve never been able to find or corner her, myself, so I don’t actually know, hah.’



@Ariamis@Flamelord@Majoras End@Ponn@AtomicNut@MadManMoon

---

2nd Floor - Mariette’s Office


Now, this was technically where Mariette was located, but her mind sure wasn’t. Mariette was utterly focused on the map displaying everyone’s locations in front of her and the little voice in her ear telling updates.

@FamishedPants@AtomicNut

---

3rd Floor - Artillery Line





So, the girls opened fire, and it looked pretty good. Justine was running out of Thralls. Yet, somehow, the Red Nest gunner penetrated their defenses and shot down 8 common magical girls. Must have had barrier-piercing bullets, or something, considering the sheer number of defensive girls trying to keep them safe. Sally shot one, okay, sure. Then, Justine appeared in the opening…

‘FALL BACK! FULL DEFENSE!’ Mariette called, through communicators to the people there. She started opening portals for her troops to relocate to other places in the mansion. The defensive line was done, it was time to regroup.

The explosive came in. It was met with a myriad of different defensive measures. Ronja, Alexander and Eli’s barriers, Suzette raised a shield of determination, Tullia and Victoria both kicked up shields of ice to block the bomb and Josefin quickly started draining mana from their attacker. Even Mayra grabbed one of the would-be lost girls and then blasted a spray of fire into the incoming explosion. Despite all their efforts, the explosive still destroyed another eight girls…

‘Recover the wounded!’ Mariette commanded.

‘There are no wounded,’ information girl informed. ‘Just dead or alive.’ There were only five common Magical Girls left.

Mariette writhed a bit. They’d put up the greatest defense they could possibly have managed… and this was what it amounted to? 17 girls had died. Out of her original 33 girls, only 15 remained… and only 5 of those were on the Artillery Line.

Could she have done something differently? Could she have done something that would have resulted in the same amount of injury to their foes while reducing casualties? … No. Mariette was fairly sure that was impossible. Any other plan would have probably have done far worse.

‘W-wah… I got a whole lot of mana…’ Josefin told, holding her arms forward with the yellow mana sinking into her hands like a cloud, as she’d tried to suck up the explosion, and while that hadn’t been possible she more or less filled up.

Then Justine called up the Gorelions. Nope, not an option.

‘Everyone, fall back, regroup! Help others fall back! I’m opening portals! I’m summoning a being that will fight Justine!’ she called through communicators, opening portals for people to flee to various places across the mansion. ‘Esther, target the Gorelions! Slow them down, aid our escape!’

So she said. As promised, portals started opening at various points behind them for them to escape through, towards various safe back-rooms from where Mariette was intending on then portalling them individually to the same location. Then, it was simply a matter of getting them there.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the mansion, the wooden Magical Girl that had bound herself with the mansion flexed. She’d felt the pain of when Justine’s bomb went off, and now felt the heavy feet of the Gorelions standing ominously where they should not. She manipulated the floor and roof, having the wood inside extend, magically having the wood quickly bind around the legs of the gargantuan beasts while wooden lances from below sought weak points in their armour to pierce or otherwise annoy the creatures enough to make them stop focusing on the other individuals of the room.

So, Hilaria found herself momentarily caught by a tongue.

‘ICE…!’ came a call, and Victoria vaulted over her and struck down at the tongue with an kick engulfed in cold magic that, upon impact, sent a freezing chill through the tongue, the cold magic rendering it frozen stiff.

‘… AND FIRE!’ Mayra burned up her dragonic leg to glowing temperatures and came with a follow-up kick from below, intent on cracking the frozen tongue with this clash of cold and heat, freeing Hilaria.

If it succeeded, the two close combat fighters high-fived with grins before dashing back to retreat through portals as ordered.

Otherwise, Suzette and Tullia could give covering fire in the shape of high-power magical beams to hold off their foes, and otherwise help people get through portals. Josefin and Eli just pulled back, no questions asked. Healers and support are too important to stick around.

It appeared that Eliza and Alexander engaged the Gorelions as the others escaped. At the end of it, there was the piece of information… they were weak to light. … Mariette quickly made the observation that perhaps she was needed on the field of battle after all. Maintaining the portals to let others escape, Mariette stood up in her office.

‘Cover me,’ she told the ones nearest her, which would be Dina and Silhouette, as her hands were starting to glow with magic. A portal dropped Ronja next to her. ‘Help us recover our allies,’ she told Ronja and the rest. Then, a portal opened, right by Lily.

Mariette blasted one Gorelion directly with light, intent on freeing Lily, wherever she is at the moment. With the second one, she shot whatever Gorelion would mean Alexander is free to arrive, possibly the same one. ‘Get in,’ Mariette requested, if they were at all hesitant. Ronja was there to shoot reinforced web to them, attaching to them to swiftly pull them into Mariette’s portal to rescue them from this particular battle. Then, of course, she closed that portal as quickly as possible and opened another to retrieve Eliza, because she’d be the one ally left, should Hilaria have pulled back when commanded to.

She just hoped the entity she had summoned would reach in time.



@Ariamis@Majoras End@FamishedPants@AtomicNut@BrokenPromise@Card Captor

---

Outside - Assault Team

So, on the outside, it appeared that the attack on the Artillery Line gave the Assault Team a brief respite. That, is, except…


‘Hey, whatever happened to your army!? There’s, like, just five of you left!’

So, they’d been able to destroy the wolves, the Remorhaz, most of the clones, opened a path to and broken through the front gate… but under the assumption Aurelio was teleporting the injured Hyun Long back, how many were left?

It was Aurelio, Kimble, Sakura, two thralls, Sally and a Red Mist member. Slightly more than the five the surviving Victoria clone was insisting, but it sure weren’t many.

‘You SURE you want to attack with those numbers? We still got plenty of allies left! Maybe you should pull back?’ the Victoria clone called, from a moderately safe distance, having stayed out of the fight for the express reason to shout demoralizing lines at them while hiding part-way down the snow.

@Ariamis@AtomicNut@BrokenPromise@Shifter_Master

---

Outside - Way Up in the Air


So, Su requested an extraction as she fell through the air and caught Helga… and in that moment, a different wind caught onto her. Above them was Lea, of Asengav’s champions, binding her wind around them from a considerable distance and yanked them up through the air towards her, lifting them both up and beyond. There, a portal open for the three of them to go through.

‘…’ Lea had seen Kimble down there. There was at least some part of her that desired to save the formerly monster-girl, a slight connection. But it was nothing compared to her bond to Asengav, and she could not risk it being severed. If Kimble saw her, though, she predicted that their next meeting, if any, would be a bit more problematic. … Oh, well.

Trixy and Viridian would also find a portal to open near them. The order to retreat was to everyone. This included the Yeti, who suddenly found a portal open beneath him and he fell into the building.

She didn’t say a word to Su or Helga as she flawlessly extracted them. That is, unless someone intercepted them, but it was distinctly possible that Justine was about to be very much distracted.

@Ariamis@AtomicNut@BrokenPromise@Shifter_Master

---

2nd Floor - Taihei’s Room


She was… hitting? Taihei couldn’t entirely believe it. She was actually causing casualties among her enemies? Where was her usual explosions, the sudden destruction of her immediate surroundings, whatever other bad luck that caused her to be entirely unable to help in any way whatsoever?

Then the bomb exploded above her. Oh, it was time. Now everything was going to come collapsing down on her and wipe out her room. Taihei braced herself for impact… but the ceiling held on. Nothing came collapsing down on her. Taihei heard in the reports how many others had suffered, but not her. … How was that possible? If anything, that bomb should have somehow duplicated into her room. It was like she wasn’t even unlucky?

That’s when Sally called out to her. Wait… that… that’s it. Taihei stared at her with her usual, dreary eyes, as the reality of the situation came into fruition. It was her. The one whose name they had mentioned when going through possible adversaries in Beacon they might one day fight. Shamrock Sally, the super-lucky one. Somehow, their fields of fortune (or lack thereof) had come into contact… and neutralized one another. … … … …

‘Ha… haha…’ Taihei chuckled, a devious little smile spreading across her lips. With this development, there was nothing that could stop her anymore. Taihei on her own, without her bad luck, was a phenomenally powerful Magical Girl. Without her bad luck, she was going to be invinci-!

A bullet struck Taihei’s cheek, making her whole body twist in pain as the bullet flew off her.

To put this into perspective. Taihei has utterly overloaded her body with defensive artifacts. In order to combat her own bad luck and ensure her survival, she has all manners of defensive effects on her, to the degree that she basically does not fear death anymore. And here was a random bullet that for some reason passed straight through all her defenses and struck her cheek for absolutely no given reason.

Taihei suddenly realized. What was happening was not that their luck was averaged. What was happening was a massive imbalance in the innate magical force known as luck. Two extremities in this force had collided, and created an area of chaotic fortune for the both of them. What was once exceedingly unlikely, their luck in mind, suddenly became exceedingly likely, and vice versa.

Taihei, a person forced to live with her ill fortune, was obviously someone who couldn’t leave her survival to chance. She’d equipped herself with so many defensive artifacts that she was virtually unkillable. Not even her own bad luck was capable of overcoming the miniscule chance of something bad enough happening to her. So, in this field of chaotic luck, where the unlikely becomes likely…

It was Taihei’s worst nightmare. She could be killed by anyone right now. The only reason that shot hadn’t killed her outright was because, at that range, it was impossible for Sally’s shamrocks to pierce her exceedingly tough skin.

That could change.

‘STAY AWAY FROM ME-!!’ Taihei shouted, and a barrage of super-heavy lances came barreling for Sally and the Red Mist member next to her. The barrage swiftly ended, on account that Taihei was working with limited ammunition, and just ran out of lances. She quickly got her communicator. ‘Mariette, I am in danger! Get me out of here!’ she told, and no sooner had the words left her mouth when a portal opened behind her. Taihei threw a partly frightened look at Sally, and jumped to escape.

Turns out, she did treasure her life, after all. She just didn’t realize until it was in danger.

@Ariamis@AtomicNut@Shifter_Master

---

???

Did everyone manage to escape the Artillery Line through portals? Were there still Gorelions alive? If so, the Gorelions were allowed to advance through the empty space, probably chasing after those who had retreated… and then the girl in the small space pressed a button. The “Trapped Room”, as well as the two “Extra Storages” to its left and right suddenly and phenomenally detonated, with all force directed forward.

Of course Mariette had expected the Artillery Line to be attacked, that’s why the Trapped Room existed. Mariette had not known what exactly would be the target of this amassed firepower, but the Gorelions made worthy targets. Rest assured, after these went off there would be absolutely nothing left of the Artillery Line or the three rooms that were in front of them, and the Assault Team would see a second phenomenal explosion take place on the third floor artillery line…!

@Ariamis

---

Justine’s current location

An entity rose through the mansion. As it went through, some of those around could perhaps sense the Powerful Aura that the being was dragging along with it. Mariette was certainly keeping an eye on it.

Those in the map room could also see it, on the map. It was passing through the eastern side of the mansion, going from the basement, through the first and second floors, completely ignoring floors and walls as it passed. It carried a name.

Mikayla Synnot.

Probably just as Justine was about to make a move, an entity arose from the mansion to face her. Any onlookers could immediately recognize the brilliant transparent shining white of a spirit. Yet, something was different about this spirit. That is to say, the sheer magical power that emanated from it. The Powerful Aura, a sure tell for anyone in the know that this was the power of a Monster Girl. The spirit in question wore a long, white dress, long white hair flowing around her serene spectral body, white face, and every fabric of her glowing in power… and around her, willing or not, gathered the spirits of the recently deceased. Thralls of Justine or servants of Mariette, their souls sought instinctively to her side, joining a host of unseen spirits supporting the ethereal ghast floating before her.



The barely opened eyes of the woman locked onto Justine.

y o u a p p e a r t o h a v e t a k e n w e l l c a r e o f m y s u b o r d i n a t e s

The words simply appeared inside the mind of anyone looking in her general direction, but they were clearly intended for Justine.

o n l y f a i r I e x t e n d t o y o u t h e s a m e h o s p i t a l i t y

With that, spirits scattered from her body. Spirits wielding deadly weapons, glowing in ethereal might, surrounding their queen like a legion of protective and offensive force. They were reapers with scythes, armoured warriors with lances, shapes of magical girls with a variety of weapons. Numerous of these spirits opened fire, be it with spectral magic or bows or guns. At the same time, the ghost herself floated motionless, ready to intercept as she’d been told of Sonia’s ability to teleport. On Mariette’s request, she’d ensure Justine was unable to interfere for a while…

@Ariamis

---

2nd Floor - Back Corridor

This whole area is an if-statement. Will only happen if Mariette manages to evacuate all player characters.

The whole army was gathered back here. When escaping, all portals went to different rooms to ensure that if one was compromised it’d limit the damage. After the immediate escape, new portals opened to funnel everyone to the same location. The surviving “lesser” magical girls, player characters, Asengav’s champions, various monsters summoned by Dina. Everyone.

Mariette, clutching her bunny, who for some reason was entirely black in colour, came through her own portal before everyone gathered. She took a deep breath, then spoke.

‘We have little time. The strongest of Asengav’s champions, the spectral Monster Girl known as Mikayla Synnot, is going to keep Justine busy for a bit. Before she’s done, we need to incapacitate the enemy Infiltration Squad. Using portals, I want us to attack them on all sides. They are currently in the foyer,’ Mariette said, holding up the map to show them on the first floor foyer, while they were currently located behind the library + study on the second floor, outside Mariette’s office.

‘A spooky black-haired one of them has the power to instill a wave of terror over a large area. Another likely disguised as Mariette or Eli is able to block all magic in the area. Beware,’ the information girl informed through the communicator, referring to what Connie did, and what Leena would be able to do.

‘Tell me your preferred method of attack and where you’d like to be placed, and then…’

‘We strike.’

Oros? Ah, the one that Hilde met. They didn't really know a whole lot about her other than she was associated with Faith in some way and let Hilde and her friends go. There didn't seem to be any particular reason not to as least hear her out. Making a connection Janet spoke to Oros' mind. Hello Oros. You need some help with something?”

“yea, bi, dose deeds two be webodized!” There was a short pause in communication. “Bi dose is doh logger adached. So I am thinging with a dazaly voice do illustrate tad pound.”

Taking a few moments to sort out what in the world was being said it eventually came together. Alright then. That is quite confusing. What exactly about your nose? Janet wanted to be sure she was understanding the message right.

“You’re not nearly as fun as your minion is.” The mental message was followed by a mental laugh. “My nose has an interesting characteristic. I can sniff out magical girls based on their patrons. I would like to give it an upgrade.”

That was a new ability to Janet. Also a potentially dangerous one. She did manage a slight chuckle. Well, fun isn't always Beacon's strong suit. What do you mean by an upgrade? Trying to find something? Curiosity had the better of her for the moment.

“Improve the proximity.” was the all-to-obvious answer. “Say I wanted to hone my nose to the point where I could smell everything in penrose… simultaneously! .The rotting garbage on the second floor everyone refuses to empty, the depleted case of lipstick left in the men’s bathroom, your panties, if I could take it all in at once, I’d know who everyone’s allegiance is for.” Oros hummed. “Though I guess a more boring use of that power would be to track down mint agents, wherever they hide...”

While I’m all for tracking down Mint, that’s a pretty tall order. What makes you think I can do something like that? Much less what you might do afterward. The two walked around until they came across a window to look out at who they were speaking with.

A laugh poured into Janet’s mind. It was loud and coarse, like reverberating metal. It would have been total ear rape material if she was listening to it with her ears. “You made a coin that can purify corruption, you made a homunculus, you mean to tell me that making my nose a wee bit stronger poses a problem?” The laughing continued. “Who cares what I’m going to do with it afterwards? I’ll tell you what I’m not going to do with it. I’m totally not going to side with a magical girl who tried to remove all love from the world even though it goes against everything my patron stands for just so that I can lay waste to another, far less dangerous magical girl.” She cleared her throat, or at least sent a telepathic sound that she was. “You want to know my real intentions? My nose isn’t just capable of picking up on patrons. It can also guide me to people with certain qualities. Qualities that make for an ideal, mmmmmm, what’s the word? Not friend, something stronger than that…”

The Beacon girl wasn't quite connecting the same dots, but the message of potential help in the future was clear enough. Seemed this Oros knew more of what was going on than she'd expected. Try as she might, getting allies outside of Beacon had been proving to be more difficult than expected. So really any support she could get toward a more peaceful resolution would be good. Suppose if I want to prove I'm not like all the rest in Beacon I should at least make myself available to others. I can see what I can do. How do you propose I do this? I don't believe those above me would just let me bring you in to study and figure out what needs to be done. Not that I think you would want to be in that position to begin with.

Oros took something out of Summer’s hand and tossed it up to the window where Janet was standing. The small shape hurdled through the air before it got close enough for Janet to catch.

“One of your friends did the honor of removing my nose from my face. I’d normally be pissed about it, but they gave me a cool replacement.” She waved. “I doubt even Beacon would get pissy over something like a nose, but you do you. Maybe don’t report it? I’ve always just done what I wanted.” She folded her arms. “Unless you want payment for this, I can head out, right? I’d just like to know a good time to return for my nose when you’re done modding it.”

Catching the nose thrown up to her, she was rather surprised when she actually took a look at what it was. How? What the... okay. She pocketed the nose and paused for a few seconds. Was not expecting that at all. I can't be for certain. This would be my first nose job. Think you can part with it for a couple weeks? She had loosened up just a little. Getting orders from the Inquisitor always put them on edge.

Oros smiled. “Sure. I’m not letting you keep it though.”

That would not be very good for business. Just come back around the area and we’ll be able to find you. She returned the smile briefly.

Nodding, Alicia relaxed as she left the monsters to Connie and Mia. The duo were very effective at that, sending the incoming patrol running away in terror at imagined phantoms. All except the minotaur, and that was handled by FanFan. “Don’t fall too far behind,” Alicia told her, when instructed to go on ahead while she dealt with the now bound monster.

Preparing to move on to the stairs, the group paused as Joanna and her friend caught sight of a trap of some sort. “Good eye,” she remarked, shifting to the side to dodge the pressure plate as they headed up the stairs.

Then shutters slammed shut on both sides and lava appeared at the top of the stairs, rolling towards them. Had someone stepped on there plate, or was there another trap they missed? She wasn’t sure but there was no time to dwell on the ‘why’. They had to keep from being roasted alive! Too bad FanFan wasn’t here.

“Mia, make a barrier to block the lava. Those with Reinforcement, support that barrier,” she directed before looking to Tenebra. “While it’s stalled, get rid of the lava. Condense it or move it or whatever you have to do so we can get past.”

Despite the quick response, things were still a bit touch and go. But they made it to the other side mostly unscathed, and entered the foyer above. They had just barely gotten a look around when a monster slammed the doors open, sliding across the floor to the stairs and setting off all manner of traps in the process. Then a detonation rocked the roof above, though at least it did not collapse on them. While she might have a strong disdain for Mariette, Alicia had to admit that the portal user had put some strong construction into her manor.

Glancing at the paintings, Alicia’s attention turned to Ronin. “I have x-ray vision. But something about this place is proving difficult to see through. I’ll need you guys to cover me for a moment so I can focus.” She then turned her attention inwards, activating her Third Eye to cast her sight beyond the limits of normal human sight. She’d already looked in the basement, but found she could only make out the shape of a room. To see specific things inside she needed to concentrate. So she’d survey for likely candidates, then focus on those. First the foyer, then the hall at the top of the stairs.

For now she worked as fast as she could manage, well aware of the ticking clock looming over them. Hopefully they still had time.

_{@Ariamis@Ponn@PlatinumSkink@Crusader Lord@Majoras End@AtomicNut@MadManMoon}

---

Ilmarinen was indifferent to his secondhand inclusion from Reaver, focused on the task at hand and not the sort of personality to make a big issue of small details. They would see how things panned out.

Varjo giggled, pleased to find such a warm reception from Viva. So many others tended to ignore her or ran away whenever she showed an interest in playing with her. It wasn’t her fault that they didn’t want to have fun. “Maybe after the mission,” she answered cheerfully. “Good friends are always so hard to find.”

Examining the weapons, Reaver would be able to tell that Seppa basked in the praise that he gave her. She was not a very complicated individual, and someone showing such regard for her craft and arsenal were sure to meet with approval from her in turn. “Oh, definitely. I made the one’s your holding on to right now,” she replied with a grin. “I’ll keep that in mind the next time I’m in the forge.”

She then looked to Viva, humming in thought. A spectral limb reached over to the pile of goods as she rummaged through what she had. “Hmm, I think I may have something you could use,” she muttered. Eventually she produced a moderately sized axe, the edge of which was coated in frost and a chilled handle.

“Here. This one creates icy gusts when you cut the air plus the usual ice benefits. I didn’t bring much in the way of equipment I could offer you,” Seppa noted. Having given Viva what she could, she distributed some toys to the others in their little operation. It was only fair to share the love, so long as the items she gave out were returned. Aside from Ilmarinen’s bullets anyways. Getting those back would be tricky at best.

Nodding, Louis looked over the group. “I’ll leave this to you then. If everything goes as planned Anja will join you for the finale. Good luck.” With that he turned, making his way out of the warehouse. His presence was no longer needed.

Grinning, Varjo took Viva’s hands in her own, once they were no longer occupied by weapons of course. “Come on, let’s go. We’ve got a party to crash.” She was eager to get to work, and to show the poor monster girls at the Sanctuary just who they should put their trust in.

“Indeed, let us depart,” Alma agreed as she pushed off of her resting spot. If she had noticed the look Viva gave her, she said nothing of it. For now, the trio exited the warehouse, making their way along at a decent pace. After all, they could not act until the other team had.

As they moved along, Varjo did not hesitate to speak with their newest comrade. “So how long have you been in town?” she asked. “I just can’t believe we haven’t run into each other before now.”

_{@Shifter_Master}

Meanwhile, Seppa gathered up the rest of her gear, and led Reaper in the opposite direction to the strike team. “There’s a camera across the street,” she told him. “I figure we start smashing her surveillance net and Penny will come running eventually. Then we lead her on a merry chase, and pull her into the Overcity.”

Coming to a stop next to a boarded up storefront, Seppa nodded to where the camera was hidden. “Go on and smile for our friend,” she directed, grinning and waving directly at it. Then moments later a spectral limb slammed into the machine, tearing it free of its mooring and tossing it high into the sky. Then on to the next one, to repeat the process.

Here was hoping that Penny was paying attention.

_@AtomicNut

“Like, super duper thankie wankies, Samurai-chan~! (giggle!)” MDP told Ronin cheerfully. “That makes Magical Dream Princess, like, sooo super duper happy wappy~! (giggle!)”

Then came the lasers, followed by the approaching monster patrol, which Connie swiftly dealt with by using her nightmare magic.

“Humph, Magical Dream Princess would have liked to dazzle wazzle them with sweet dreamy weamies instead of giving them awful wawful nightmares,” MDP pouted. “But, like, you did get them to go away without hurting them, so, like, Magical Dream Princess thinks Connie Wonnie did, like, a super duper good job~! (giggle!)”

“T-Thanks…” Connie replied. “I-I’m just g-glad I c-could h-help…” She was still a little shaken up, but she was starting to feel a bit better, especially after seeing how successful her spell had been. Of course, had she known that her actions had caught ???’s attention, and that she was now being placed in the same threat category as Leena, she would have felt considerably more concerned. As it was, her slightly more optimistic outlook quickly changed once they reached the stairs…

No sooner had they started their ascent, than a barrier slammed shut behind them, while above them, a magma bomb detonated with a loud roar and a flash of light. Alicia began snapping orders on how to deal with this latest threat, but before she could finish a single sentence, she would find that the situation had already been taken care of.

“Golly wolly~!” MDP exclaimed as the molten magma spilled down towards them. Not wasting a second, and moving with the swiftness of a hyperactive child on the world’s greatest sugar rush, she conjured her Dream Barrier, fully encapsulating the entire team in a small bubble of warped reality. They would find themselves in a colorful land of fluffy, pastel clouds, stars, hearts, rainbows, unicorns, and other such incredibly whimsical and sickeningly cute things. They would also discover that the deluge of magma had transformed into a torrent of skittles and other small candies. “Mmmm~! Yummy~! (giggle!)” the childish magical girl cheered as she scooped up some of the candy and popped it into her mouth. “Magical Dream Princess just wuvs candy wandy~! (giggle!)”

Just what she needs, more sugar… Gaia thought to herself, while she helped Connie keep her footing as the candy surged around them.

So as to keep the sugary surge from getting too intense, a large cutesy cartoon caterpillar suddenly appeared among them, holding a massive umbrella, which it used to part the candy’s flow. “Like, thankie wankies, Mister Caterpillar Willar thingie wingie~! (giggle!)” MDP told the creature, before giving it a big hug. “Oh, wow~! Like, the candy wandy floody wudy’s all done~! Bye bye for nowies~! (giggle!)” she said with a cute wave as the Dream Barrier dissipated, leaving them in the mansion’s (now magma free) stairway once more.

The moment the Dream Barrier dissolved, Connie fell to her knees, whimpering and clutching her head.

DREAMS!!! the voice of her Patron roared in her mind. SHE WAS USING DREAM MAGIC, EMPRESS!!! SHE IS THE SERVANT OF MY MOST HATED FOE, THE SOVEREIGN OF SWEET DREAMS!!! YOU MUST DESTROY HER EMPRESS!!! YOU MUST ENGULF HER IN ENDLESS NIGHTMARES!!! DO NOT WASTE A MOMENT, EMPRESS!!! DO IT NOW!!!

N-N-No… Connie whimpered. S-S-She’s m-my f-f-friend… A-A-And s-she h-hasn’t d-done a-anything w-wrong…

WHAAAT?!!! YOU DARE TO DEFY ME?!!!

Y-Y-Yes…! I-I w-won’t h-hurt m-my f-friends! Y-You c-can’t m-make m-me! J-Just… J-Just… GO AWAY!!!

For a moment, crackling tendrils of dark energy swirled around Connie, before suddenly dissipating as she collapsed with an exhausted sigh.

“Connie!” Gaia cried in alarm as she rushed to her friend’s side. “Are you okay?!”

“Y-Yeah, I-I’m f-fine, Mia,” Connie replied shakily as Gaia helped her to her feet. “I j-just had a l-little p-panic attack, t-that’s all. I-I’m f-feeling b-better n-now,” she added, while giving her friend what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

“All right, little sister,” Gaia said, her eyes still filled with concern. “If you say so. Come on,” she added, “let’s catch up to the others.”

Continuing up the stairs, they found the rest of the team standing in a spacious foyer. Something unpleasant must have recently occurred here, because the entire room was covered in gore, as if some giant creature had been blown to bits. Noticeably free from the bloody mess covering the rest of the room, pictures of several magical and monster girls were hung upon the wall, although one of the images appeared to be blank. Ronin drew their attention to this one, explaining that “she” was an information specialist, who was probably following their every move. This was certainly a bit unnerving, but Ronin went on to add that this mystery girl was probably working from a secluded room. If they could somehow find her, Ronin was fairly sure that she wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight. After that, she could presumably locate Mariette for them or something. The diminutive samurai wasn’t too clear on that part… In any event, MDP wasn’t really paying too much attention, having been drawn to the portrait of a scaly monster girl in a fiery landscape.

“Oooohhh~! Like, who’s this dragony wagony person werson~?!” she asked Ronin excitedly.

Hilaria braced against her shield as the onslaught of attacks came rolling in one after another. The gorelion summons that set upon them with their tongues had not forgotten about her and she remained resolute against the barbed appendage now lodged in Mars.

Clutching Vulcan in her other hand, she thought to bring the axe end down on the gorelion's taut tongue only to notice the laser attack at the last moment and lowering her profile behind the trusty scutum and avoiding what damage might've reached her through the copious amounts of barriers, bodies, and other obstacles, all while still in a game of tug-o-war with the obsidian beast before her and temporarily ignoring the call to retreat.

"Hilaria would love it if you could die for her~!"

Now that the other attacked seemed to have ceased, she was going to return to dealing with the tongue, only for a couple of elemental girls to show up and save her the trouble. They did not miss a beat and quickly retreated afterward and Hilaria had better things to do than to show her gratitude, like killing the beast trying to devour her. She leveled Vulcan towards the gorelion as it pulled another girl into its maw and fired, figuring aiming at an orifice was more likely to cause damage than firing upon its obsidian hide.

Hilaria might have been able to call upon her less civil abilities had her own desire to save the others not been for selfish reasons. But unlike Alex, who simply hated to see people die, Hilaria felt, at most, mild irritation, which meant she wasn't likely to go berserk anytime soon if things kept as they were. Instead, she advanced towards the gorelion she was attacking, bringing her amazing strength to focus behind her shield, which she slammed into the monster before pulling back and having the shield morph around her hands to form her fist weapon. Something as durable as the gorelion would probably be difficult to cut rather than bludgeon.

So, with gravity-infused fists, she would continue to put up her fight in order to buy as much time for others to retreat as Mariette suggested. It would only be when she knew the rest had succeeded in doing so that she herself would follow suit, so until then she would clash with these gorelions.



To the naked eye, Silhouette was nowhere to be found, having seemingly disappeared from the pocket dimension. This was, of course, merely how it might appear and not the reality, as she had not left Mariette's side for even a single moment. Trusting Mariette's fate to her stuffed animal did not exactly strike Sil as the proper move, and so she currently played the role of Mariette's shadow in a literal sense, using her Darkness specialization.

"..."

Wordless as a shadow should be, she simply listened as things began to escalate throughout the battlefield. It took no genius to understand that despite her best efforts, Mariette's defense wasn't holding out. The forces Justine commanded were certainly threatening, a fact that made the assassin antsy.

It was because she could be out there fighting right now! But, in an objective sense, that was the worst choice she could make minus desertion. The anticipation of clashing steel was beginning to wear on her, but by the sounds of things, she wouldn't have to wait long. The Infiltration Team drew nearer by the moment, and so too did the fights that would inevitably arise because of them.

Now was probably the last chance she would get to speak if she wanted to without ruining her cover, so she opted to take it, briefly taking physical form. "When each second counts, it helps to have a spare," she snapped her fingers, and afterward, Mariette would begin to feel the world slow down a little. This heightened perception of time was of course a benefit granted to her by Silhouette, which should allow the Portal Witch to better respond to the dangers she'd be experiencing shortly.

With that, the assassin's form darkened until it was pitch black and melted into Mariette's shadow once more. It was from here that she would, when the opportunity presented itself, launch a surprise attack at anyone unlucky enough to try to attack her VIP.

“Purification is real, I can promise you that, but I will never force it upon anyone who doesn’t want it.” Penny’s voice Echoed with some unnamed power at that declaration. Her Gravity adding weight to that Promise. Freedom to choose who you were was something that Penny cared for very strongly. She would turn her attention towards the table she had been sitting at earlier, before she was called to act as Queen. The potions she had set out were still there. Some had been picked up, but no one had used one yet.

“You, and anyone here, are free to the potions. You will never have to pay for one, you will never have to work for one, and you will never have to take one. They are there for those of us who need them, and it will never be my place to determine who needs one.”

In the back of Penny’s mind, she registered one of the camera’s she had set up around the permitter of the Sanctuary go off line. What had caused it Penny’s couldn’t tell but that didn’t bother her. Many of the camera’s were old or little better than simple webcam’s that she had set up. One shutting off wasn’t much of an issue.

Penny gave Belladonna one last warm smile before a more serious look settled across her features. “You stand accused of murder, and of endangering the safety of the Sanctuary. Both of these things you have admitted to.” As she Spoke Penny’s voice would seem to fill the room even though she never raised her voice. “High crimes, but you are not without extraneous circumstances. Loss of control of a blackened desire that was forced upon you.”

“Verdict is guilty. Judgement is Service.”

A second camera went out, not far from the first one. Still Penny didn’t react to it, at least not openly. She was watching for it now. Once could be happenstance, twice could be coincidence. But if it happened a third time? That was simply enemy action, and Penny knew that she had enemies.

“Service is as follows; Mandatory hours spent towards the maintenance or operation of the Sanctuary and mandatory work done in the name of the Sanctuary.” Penny kept her gaze locked onto Belladonna as she explain the broad terms of what it was she was being sentenced to.

“Do you accept this judgment?”

Overcome with emotion Belladonna could only nod and let out a quite “Yes”

“Then you no longer need these” Penny would reply smiling once again as she broke the manacles around the wolfgirl’s writs open. “Come on, me, you, and Goblina will go over the de-“

Mid-word, mid-step, and mid-action Penny would stop. Her attention snapping outside the building. A Third camera just went down. Slowly her head would turn towards the direction of where the third camera went down.

“Goblina.” Penny would call out her voice suddenly very cold “Take Belladonna and let her know of some the tasks that need to be taken care of around the Sanctuary. When I get back, we can go over the details.” She would step back and around as she spoke moving towards the exit. “Monica, get the guard roused and ready. Someone is taking out my camera’s. I don’t know why. Be ready.”

And before anyone could ask for more information Penny would leave; she wasn’t heading towards the last camera that had been taken out however she was moving ahead in the line. Towards the next camera in the pattern.

The few girls who saw her face shortly before she walked out the door would have flinched out of her way on instinct, because Penny looked ready to murder someone.

---

A small fact not widely known was that Pain was a lot closer to an emotional response then most people knew, it was why it was possible to hurt someone’s feelings for example. It was also a key reason why Aurelio always tried to avoid large scale conflicts. In small amounts pain wouldn’t register. After the ambush and counter attack for the ambush? Just standing in the wreckage of the front door hurt.

That just made every little bit of pain he was feeling seem that much greater. Minor wounds in the long term but each one felt like they had been torn into him by dull rocks. Part of why he was able to keep going was Shock. His magician’s mark’s being snuffed out in mass was clogging his ability to processes his emotions. It was a Bad state for an emotion mage to be in, but a full-blown breakdown would have been worse. One which he only narrowly avoided.

“Yeah I’m still kicking” He would say with a strained smile as he kneeled down next to Hyun a sputtering blue glow suffusing his hand as he tried to focus on healing what he could. And it was that sputtering glow of magic that told anyone looking just what state it was he was in. After all due to his Eternal style he still looked immaculate. The soft glow of Compassion kept flickering in and out with splotches of Depression and Frustration mixed into it, and at the same time his cane seemed to be glowing an uneasy black.

“Elora” He would say as he did his best to keep his magic stable to heal Hyun, even as he knew that he didn’t have enough stability in himself to fully heal her here and now. “I’m compromised and Hyun needs emergency attention.” His voice was strained and everyone nearby could see tears starting to pool in his eyes “Permission to trigger the Final Act and then retreat”

He would flinch, violently, as Taihei fled. The surge of raw Fear nearly overpowering him in his delicate state. “Please” he would plead over the comms as he struggled to keep himself together for just a bit longer.

Victoria’s clone was summarily ignored, entirely. She wasn’t attacking them and she wasn’t a target as far as Aurelio was concerned at the moment, but that could easily change if she turned hostile towards them.

---

Viva would give the axe a few experimental swings to test the heft of it, slow enough not to trigger its frosted enchantments. Melee wasn’t her preferred range to fight in but she was passable, regardless the icy effect of it was exactly what it was she wanted so she wasn’t going to complain too much.

She would nod her thanks to Seppa, noting how the girl had brightened up at the positive attention towards her weapons. “Have fun Reaver! Don’t do anything I wouldn’t” Viva would say with a wave but her attention would quickly turn towards Varjo as the two of them trailed after Alma, hand in hand “I arrived shortly after the Ascendency did if I have the timeline right.” She would answer “I used to be a Solo and I was working on a task for a Patron that brought me here.” Viva would explain with a sharp grin. This task of the Mint’s might even help her standing with Mother now that she thought about it, break this den and step in to help Penny with her next one.

“The task didn’t go as expected, but I still ended up impressing them enough to get my wish from them, though I do agree that it’s a shame that we never met before this.” She’d continue with a chuckle “There was only one other person who seemed to enjoy things like I do but alas she seems to have vanished.” She would give an exaggerated sigh; Chloe was such a great find. It was a shame they only got to share one mean and one night together.

“Seems like things are looking up though~” she’d finish with a wink towards Varjo.

---

_{@Ariamis, @Flamelord & @PlatinumSkink, @Ariamis, @AtomicNut & @Flamelord}

@PlatinumSkink@Shifter_Master¿@BrokenPromise?@Ariamis

Sakura's semblance formed a frown as the pain of her ravaged backside kept spurring her and made her blood boil. She knew this injury was not a game-breaker by far, but it still hurt. Not only the pain, but how humilliating it was to have her butt in the freeze. Even as a grown man it would have been, more so than she apparently looked like a little girl. "Hyun..." She said, somber, without any kind of demeaning nickname. The allies were starting to suffer the toll, and there was this girl taunting.

This was an assault, of course it was harsh. The brief respite allowed her to once again refocusing in Justine. She had to double down, and shrug it off. She clenched her fist, as a bloodthirsty smile appeared once more, upon the girl's taunting. Yes, why should she not attack? These bastards were so smug as to throw taunts at her, so why she should not attack now? The words had the unintended effect of spurring Sakura.

"Ice-chan, we're just getting started. If you're so many left, all it means is more targets" She then eyed the absolute massive power manifestation from Justine's opponent, and beamed with absolute glee, as she covered herself in Lightning. Otherwise how would she be able to punch ghosts?

Not a split second she began to run. Then wall run, like the superpowered lightning martial artist she was, only to reach Justine's sheer height in virtue of her demented parkour.

"YOU ARE WELCOME, BITCH! HORYAAA!" She said to Mykaila as she began to descend upon her troops like a certain angry chinese warlord that should not have been ever pursued.

---

Reaver's fidgetting was more patent, as he put more effort than it should when destroying another camera. Inanimate objects made bad opponents, and in a bout of impatience, activated his third eye. For how long he would need to keep up this farce, he wondered. He wanted to get in the thick of the battle. Gain glory or die trying. He expected as much, otherwise he would not have resisted as much the vampire lady's calls. She had a certain allure, that much was given...

She wondered how was she doing in her endeavours.

Still, there was no time to waste. The main attraction was there.

"Heh." He fashioned a spear out of one of his reinforcement fields, as he began to buff himself up, and tossed it with an accurate shot at Penny. Doubt it'd even scratch the behemoth, whose power vastly exceeded his own, but it would serve as greeting. Most people would call insane, or even flee at such unfavourable odds. But Reaver? Who could? War drums always whispered in his ear. The sweet scent of Valhalla always beckoned. To the place he could truly feel good. No more mediocrity, a wrecked father and a monstrous mother. Al Scarpe was fond of him. He had found a place where he was the cool kid.

He did not want to disappoint.

"Hello, Penny. You look different. New haircut?"

Justine saw as the great Feilian began to wane, and smiled smugly, her eyes cast down at Su.
”It doesn’t matter how many the witch lures with the flutter of her eyelash! They are all fools for trusting the destroyer of their home! And that includes you, little bird!”

”My Lady, she has already left.”
She saw as Su rushed to save Helga, and scoffed, wiping her hat of snow with her hand.
”Pah! My grand monologue is best suited to my sworn nemesis anyway.”
She brought up her spear, readying herself for a counterattack from Mariette...Only to witness the mass retreat of her forces, fleeing like routed soldiers through various portals.

Justine blinked at first, silent, as she comprehended the move.

”...oho...”

Suddenly, she spread her arms to the side, laughing uproariously up into the black sky. ”HOOHOOHOOHOO! So this is Mariette Pedersen’s true nature! A coward who shakes in terror upon witnessing my power! HOOHOOHOO! How amusing! How jubilant! I expected more from you, but it seems it was futile to begin with!”

However, as Justine kept laughing, she did not notice the entity that rose up from the depths of the mansion; like a silky specter, Mikayla Synnot’s ghostly form coalesced and formed, joined by lesser spirits of the recently deceased that spun around her, like electrons orbiting an atom.

”My Lady, we have company,” Sonia informed her with a grim tone, having summoned a candle holder with a lit candle in one hand, her other hand wrapped around the monster girl’s waist; throwing knives extended from between the clenched fingers of her fist.
Justine herself however seemed less agitated, and leaned her head slightly to the side as she observed the spirit, an amused smirk on her lips.
”Hmm...How curious. I sense greater power from you than even Mariette possesses. It seems she has forsaken her pride to summon her Patron’s champion. But it matters not.” She now summoned a sword, it’s pommel shaped like a cross, it’s blade seemingly made of crystallized blood as she licked the edge of it.
”I won’t lose to anyone again...I will have my revenge.”

And so, the battle between two beings of blackest night began. Mikayla opened fire with an assortment of ghostly archers and gunners, but Sonia easily teleported her and Justine out of the way, appearing instantly behind the revenant. Justine countered with a wide slash of her blade, only to be deflected by a phalanx of phantoms. Scythes swung and lances thrusted, but Sakura intervened by ascending up the outer walls of the mansion, delivering a shocking punch that scattered the spirits. Seeing her chance, Justine held a palm forward with glee.

”Lance of Longinus!”

Justine instantly created a red magic portal from which a scarlet beam of searing hot magical energy shot forth. Mikayla avoided the short-range blast, if only barely, as a result it made a direct hit on Viridian’s radio tower; having been thought of as invincible until now, the spell was powerful enough to blow a chunk of it’s side, and causing it to grind as it slightly tilted.

Justine breathed deeply, a psychotic smile on her lips.

”You avoided my spell...That means even the dead have something to fear!” She glanced at Sakura as she had hopped to the rooftop after her attack.
”Now, welcome oblivion as we cast your spirit into the abyss!” Justine then continued to cast ranged spells at Mikayla while avoiding close quarters combat with her using Sonia’s teleportation, inadvertently blowing more holes into the black dimension in the process.

---

Helga held her stomach in pain as she was kicked, and her eyes widened as she saw Su jump after her. The two of them were saved by the fantastic flexibility of a flower, allowing them to rebound from their fall. “Ugh, we can’t beat them when they’re together like that,” the toothy girl grumbled, and looked up to see the vampire girl engage in an epic duel against a ghost-like entity. She also heard Mariette’s command to retreat, and saw Lea lift them up with Wind magic.
“Ugh, I don’t like it...But now’s our best chance while she’s distracted.” With a nod, she followed the sprite through the portal, taking Su with her.

Trixy slid stylishly down to ground level to engage with the remaining member of Red Nest, assisted by another markswoman as the two laid down suppressive fire. The chain weretiger roared as he suddenly jumped from his cover, and launched his chain at Trixy, attempting to bind her. However, she managed to escape by a portal that appeared at the last second, jumping back just as the chain was about to reach her, only to hit the wall of the mansion with its bladed end.

Meanwhile, Sally ended up running and screaming with her hands up around the field as big lances came crashing down. Sally managed to avoid most of them, just like before, but once again a single lance was about to hit the Red Nest member close to her.
“No...No!” She dove courageously, shoving the weretiger out of the way as the lance landed right on the tip of her left foot, crushing her toes.
“OW OW OW OW!” She screamed while rapidly bouncing around on one foot, holding the other foot in her hands. “What are the chances of my toes being crushed? This isn’t just jinxing, you’re scrambling luck all over the place!” She then saw a portal open behind Taihei, and she quickly disappeared. However, Sally didn’t have much time to grumble, as she provided suppressive fire on Dusty, managing to hit a lucky shot on her shoulder, causing her to drop her gun from the shock as she retreated through a portal. Now no longer under fire, Sally hopped over to Aurelio and the others, having managed a small smile despite the pain she was going through. “Looks like they managed to catch a lion by its toe. How lucky of them~”

---

At the front door, Kimble sighed, grateful for what little aid Aurelio could provide to her as he focused on tending to Hyun’s injuries. She then stood up when one of Victoria’s ice clones popped out of the melting snow, clutching her magical sickle in her hands. She
“That’s right! We don’t need an army to deal with the likes of you!” She shouted back. Then, she saw Lea upn in the sky. She bit her lip, having been reminded of the person she loved.
“Even if I was the last one standing, I’m still going to fight! Because Alicia believes in me! She believes in us all!”

Aurelio had contacted Elora, and she had responded swiftly. “Aurelio, what is your status? The sensors picked up all kinds of fluctuation in magic readings.” She was silent as Aurelio reported on their status and request. “Permission granted. Preparing an extraction on your location.” Sally heard Elora call to her. “Place the marker near you, and secure the area.”
She slumped against the wall next to Hyun, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, and nodded.
“Roger.” She looked up at Aurelio. “Be careful, okay? She is dangerous, even more dangerous than I could have imagined.”

---

Dina gritted her teeth underneath her neutral facial expression as events unfolded before her at a pace she could not comprehend. They were going to breach soon, and Mariette and her lot were being pushed even more back. Her ears downcast and tail downwards, she grimly realized that this collective was beginning to be fairly desperate, calling the big shots, as things were getting increasingly bloodier and bloodier.

Such was war waged among humans, and magical powers only made it worse and furious. Her eyes rested on Dan. He clearly was like a sprite of a magical fountain, detached and ignorant. She even pondered if she ever knew the true nature of the one he was allying with. A joy eater spreading misery. That could not feel well. She gestured with her hand for Dan to come…

Dan soon appeared, a big drop of sweat on his brow and his bottlenose scrunched up in fear. “Oh, Dina! Is there something on your mind?” He asked, less lively than usual.
“So far you girls have done a good job, if that’s what you’re, uh, wondering about.”

Dina shook her head, as she took the small dolphin as if he were a baby on her arms. “That's not it. You’re hurting, aren’t you? You… never expected humans to be like this, did you?” The catgirl said. “I’ve seen this before, and It’s always a bloody result.” She whispered.

Dan yelped as Dina carried him, but then managed to slightly calm down. “Dina...I have been foolish. While I still think Justine needs to be stopped, this...This is not a good way to go about it. Mariette is just as willing to resort to extreme measures as she is, and I fear she might become worse thanks to me.” He covered his face with his stretchy fins. “But I can’t just leave her, not after my promise to her. That would break her heart.”

“I know. We try to keep our promises, right?” Dina said. “Maybe it’s worth a shot.” Dina said, while still cradling Dan.

“It’s going to be a red dawn upon this battle. Please allow me one last chance to avoid something we all will be regretting. It won’t take long.” Dina said solemn as she raised her voice to Mariette, readying herself before dashing through the library to reach the front of the infiltration team. Without hostile intentions nor weapons. She deployed her Ruler’s aura… without distinction as well.

Still engaged in looking for a spot that fit Ronin’s description, it was not hard to miss the incoming Ruler Aura. But of course, there were only so many options as to what the source could be. Reorienting to face it, her bow aimed up the stairs as she prepared for the foe to emerge. ”Get ready,” she warned. ”Let’s give them a warm reception.”

Dina’s nose twitched. It felt… wrong, somehow. She had to take extra care about what to do next, so she put up her strongest barrier… at the same time she shouted “Parley! Parley!” The words almost choked on her mouth. She was a creature of poise and elegance, not a daredevil who would jump into the enemy’s guns normally. But it had to be done.

FanFan caught up on the stairs to see MDP clear the magma trap, clearly impressed despite her disguise. “Nice job, Princess!” She complimented her, and then reached Alicia and the others. There, Leena had summoned her swords while still resembling Mariette.
She grit her teeth when Dina called out to them, her swords threateningly pointed.
“Parley? Is Mariette going to surrender?” She twirled her blade with finesse, finding herself unusually willing to at least hear her out despite her urge to purge the monster girl.

Prepared to fire, Alicia was not expecting it when the aura stopped, and the person creating it yelled that they just wanted to talk. Which the aura did seem to indicate, but after the rave there was no point in taking chances. ”No way,” she replied to Leena, ”If she was going to surrender she wouldn’t leave it to a lackey.” Not when she had her portals.

It could be a trick, Alicia was aware of that. The place certainly seemed rigged with enough of them. And even then, it would waste time Mariette could use to recover. Still, it might be worth it to hear what they wanted to say, if it could remove some of the cards Mariette had to play. She lowered her bow, but kept an arrow at the ready just in case. ”Talk fast,” she called back.

Well, the trickiest part was done. Dina gulped, as she immediately lowered her defenses, stepping in plain sight. “I’m Dina. Ally to Mariette by intervention of Dan.” She presented Dan too, who probably was still in her arms. “Past this point, it’ll be the last pitch. A veritable bloodbath. We have no desire to go through with it, yet our agreement binds us to help Mariette and keep her safe against Justine. Only Mariette and not that horrible master of hers.”

Dina said, much more crudely than she was used to. “And I know it’s the same for you too. You must be Alicia. Penny has spoken highly of you. Also, Lady Gaia, hello.”

“Empress Denisova,” Gaia acknowledged with a respectful nod. “It is a pleasure to see you again, although I dearly wish it were under more pleasant circumstances.”

“Oh, i-is t-that the c-cat girl you m-met at the g-gardens?” Connie whispered. “S-She looks r-really pretty…”

“Indeed it is, little sister,” Gaia confirmed. “I believe she is a member of Russian nobility, which goes some way towards explaining her refined bearing and commanding aura.”

“Ooohh~! What a pretty kitty witty~!” MDP squealed upon Dina’s appearance. “And that little dolphin thingie wingie she’s holding is, like, sooo totally wotally adorable worable too~! (giggle!)”

“Hi there,” Dan waved back to the excitable pastel-colored girl with a happy, if somewhat nervous smile. “I’m Dan the Dolphin, Dina’s Patron.” If MDP were to reach out and touch Dan, he would accept it with a joyful squeak. “I hope we can all get along.”

‘…’ Ronin had a problem. Thing was, without a violent battle she couldn’t get close enough to Mariette to save her, as she desired. Though, yeah, going through with the battle would lead to the probable death of herself and a bunch of those around her. On the flip-side, how many lives would be saved if they stopped Asengav’s operations here? Or if they stopped Justine? Though, even if it was the preferable option, could Dina truly negotiate a blood-less compromise? ‘The ones you wanna convince are Alicia and Justine. Good luck,’ Ronin said, pointing briefly to Alicia and then outside. If the cat-girl pulled this off, Ronin would be seriously impressed. For now, she kept her wits about. Mariette was no doubt surrounding them as they spoke.

Speedwagon, for her part, was conflicted about this turn of events. On the one hand, her Power of Friendship was telling her that Dina was being genuine here with her offer. She had a feeling she knew where it was going from the oddly specific wording Dina used…

...but at the same time, Speedwagon knew that this room was a fantastic place for an ambush. Even if Mariette didn't use her portals to launch a counterattack from anywhere in the large foyer, the balconies above were good places for defenders to strike from, and there were entrances on nearly all sides of the room.

"From what I can tell, this lady's dealing with us squarely," Speedwagon said, frowning. "Or at least, she wants to." She did not point out the obvious problem that she hoped subtext would convey - that while Dina wanted to parlay, there was no reason that Mariette wouldn't attack them while they were distracted. No telling if saying it outright would spring the trap, or worse, give Mariette the idea.

Thankfully, it looked like Joanna got it, because she shifted her stance in a casual motion.

FanFan and Leena, still disguised as Eli and Mariette respectively, lowered their weapons, though they still kept a vigil watch over the room, aware that somebody could use Dina as a chance to catch them unaware. “So you’re proposing that you’ll help us in exchange for letting Mariette live?” Leena asked. “How about purifying her? We can’t let her do as she pleases anymore. If you’ve worked with her, you’d know that.”

Dina’s ears perked up slightly as she eyed the collective. Her sight then went to a certain corner of the room. “Two-tails. Do tell if something’s incoming. Do so and you can play with the bound minotaur.” She said.

The group heard a snicker echo in the foyer, impossible to discern from any single direction, followed by an equally omnipresent voice:

“Very well, then~”

Leena and FanFan’s eyes widened, and they drew their weapons. “You had someone spy on us all this time!” Leena accused her with a pointed sword, but FanFan lowered it down with her hand. “It’s fine. It shows that Dina is serious, considering she revealed her just now. But we can’t dillydally for long. Paladin Seraph,” she turned to Alicia. “It’s your call on whether we trust this catgirl or not.”
“Purifying is traumatic..” Dina said.” Still… the Mariette you know and despise isn’t the real Mariette. It’s but a construct, like how child soldiers are made. When I promised to help Mariette and that no harm came to her… I also meant I’d fight her master if need be.” She then added.

Unlike the others, Alicia was not surprised to learn they were being watched. Mariette had known the second they arrived, she likely still had eyes on them. What was one more? Instead she turned to what Dina had said, and the trustworthiness that Speedwagon asserted.

”It may be traumatic but it is necessary,” she challenged. ”It’s the only way to ensure her Patron no longer has a hold on her. And there must be justice for what she’s been a part of. The girls she’s abducted deserve no less.” admittedly she would not be as satisfied without some final reckoning, but she had always assumed Purification would be impossible anyway. It would be too easy for Mariette to escape before it was finished. Things could not be left to chance.

Dina’s facial expression tensed even more. Probably this was the hardest negotiation she had run in a while. Yet Dina persevered. She had agreed to spread joy. She held others to high standards, so it was natural she would hold herself to high standards.

“An eye by an eye, and the world goes blind.” Dina replied. “I have waved the flag of parley and that is what I shall do. I will try to convince Mariette, as unlikely as it is, that she needs to take such a bitter medicine, in order for bloodshed to stop. However, let me say one last thing.” Dina added.

“Stay your hand now, and I will spare no effort in bringing this proxy war to an end. Even if it means braving horrors or vampire girls who use thralls to dispose of mines. That much I swear.” Dan slowly nodded, looking silently proud of the conviction Dina had.

Speedwagon’s senses, throughout Dina’s responses, hadn’t revealed anything less than complete sincerity behind her words. Which… might almost have been worse than if she had been trying to fool them. For one, the very act of stalling them, even for a moment, gave Mariette an opportunity to marshall a counterattack… and Dina genuinely didn't seem to consider the possibility that she was enabling more bloodshed in trying to avoid it.

Worse, what if it ended right now? Dina was still Mariette's ally, so any ambush she would have to plan with her there would have to avoid hitting her (if she valued her life, at least). They'd lose that advantage once she was gone.

And God preserve them if Mariette, against everything, actually took that deal while inside one of Asengav’s domains, signing her own death warrant. Horrors didn’t tend to turn a blind eye to those who betrayed them, or knew they were about to betray them.

Speedwagon’d seen it herself, once upon a time.

As insane as it might have sounded, she might have little choice but to keep these negotiations going. Because the second Dina went to actually start pitching it to Mariette, one way or another a bloodbath would break out. Either as a result of Mariette refusing, and the battle resuming; accepting, and risking Asengav coming down on them all in all its eldritch fury; having wasted enough time passing so that Justine, coming in as a Big Damn Hero, escalated things anyway. The situation was fucked.

And worse, she couldn’t risk saying any of that outright - Dina herself proved that there were others listening to their conversation.

“So what on earth did Mariette say, to convince someone like you to throw in with her lot?” Speedwagon asked. “After all, it’s not hard to find out the kinds of things she’s been up to. Abducting Magical Girls, turning them to her own side. And credit where it’s due,” Speedwagon said, indicating Alicia. “Beacon’s been falling pretty hard on people who’ve done that in this town, as of late. So. Why?”

“I entreat myself to follow commitments, even if they have been handed me over by my Queen or Patron. And because Mariette is driven by fear. Same as half of this town as of late. The Ascendancy is proof of that. We stick to our spears and hearts and shield ourselves to not lose anything more. But in doing so, we lose more than we gain.” Dina replied, marking a distinction between Beacon and Ascendancy, much like Penny had attempted earlier with varied success, but that told her that the current Beacon was not monolithic. Once he finished speaking, Dina heard her summoned monster’s voice whisper to her ear, inaudible to the others by being masked with illusion magic: “Mariette’s preparing forces around you as we speak. I suggest you get a move on before you’re ambushed~”
Alicia could see with her Third Eye that an invisible fox lady was next to Dina, before she disappeared under the floor.

Completely oblivious to the high-stakes discussion taking place around her, MDP happily skipped over to where Dina was standing and began gently petting the dolphin she was holding, giggling with glee as she did so. “Like, Magical Dream Princess would really super duper wuv that too~! (giggle!)” she replied after Dan had expressed his hopes that they could all be friends.

“I agree with Empress Denisova that a peaceful resolution would certainly be preferable,” Gaia added, after Dina had stated her intentions. “Yet I am unsure that such a resolution will be possible, due to reasons I have no doubt your majesty is well-aware of. Does your majesty perhaps have a plan, in regard to dealing with those obstacles?”

“The ebb and flow is too complicated.” Dina curtly replied. “And it seems we’re running out of time…”

Alicia appreciated the points that the others brought up as they conversed, all the while thinking on their next move. Her gaze narrowed at the sight of the being next to Dina, before it vanished. Were they being played? Maybe. It was time to end this. ”I’m not making any promises,” she decided at last. ”Mariette needs to be stopped and I intend to do that, one way or another.”

With that she looked back to the others. ”Let’s go. We won’t be safe here forever.”

Dina's gaze become downcast as she stared at the floor. "So you say." It was safe to say her voice had the faintest hint of trembling and hesitation at this point. "One way or another is a fancy of saying at all costs." The noble catgirl sighed as a weapon materialized in her hand, but still had not assumed a hostile stance. "The hole in your heart will continue to grow until you cannot even forgive yourself." She added before casting a reinforcement spell on the entire infiltration team. "Consider this my compensation for the time spent in trying for a peaceful resolution. As unfortunate as the outcome will be." She said as she began to leave.

"No hard feelings. Fight well. Stand proud." She added, before grabbing Dan once more. "I did try." The little dolphin himself frowned, saddened by the group’s rejection. MDP’s headpats had helped stave off most of the negativity, but his bottlenose still drooped down his face.

The Infiltration team, after their talk with Dina, continued up the stairs of the central staircase, and ended up on the second floor of the mansion.
‘Dina came from this direction,’ ‘Mariette’ noted.
‘I’m going in first!’
‘Eli’ followed up, and prepared to charge into the library, her mechanical arms summoned to react to any sudden attack or trap.

---

At the former Artillery Line, Alex finally got a chance to prove himself as Justine’s monsters wreaked havoc. After one of the Gorelions failed to skewer him with their harpoon-like weapons, he grabbed it, causing the monster to bellow and yank back, just as Alex wanted it to. Shooting down the corridor like a missile, ready to eviscerate the abomination with a shimmering blade. However, he failed to deliver a direct impact, instead slashing the beast’s tougher shell. Still , he managed to cut through the obsidian armor enough to slow himself down, causing sparks to fly as the sword’s edge dug into the black carapace. The beast shook it’s back, bound in place by Esther’s wood rising from the floor to wrap their feet, but Alex easily used the momentum to jump up into the ceiling, landing on it feet first. Wooden lances also shot from the floor, but they failed to pierce their obsidian armor or even distract them from their prey.

Meanwhile, Eliza engaged the other Gorelion. Though she was wounded due to her unfortunate positioning in the fight, she managed to stall the two monsters long enough for Alex to deliver a blow strong enough to crack the shell off one of them, and rebounding off the beast to leap towards Lily on the other side of the corridor.
There, he saw as Hilaria had a contest of strength with a Gorelion stepping on Lily; the green haired-girl gasped as the monster pressed on her, but Alex’ barrier instead broke, saving her.
”Get off me, you dumbo!” She screamed, and released a discharge of electricity. However, aside from causing the beast to slightly startle, it didn’t seem to affect it too much. Esther’s wood also wrapped around this one’s feet, and successfully held it’s foot from crushing Lily, though it was only a matter of time before it struggled free and flattened her like a pancake.

Hilaria was also initially in trouble, unable to attack effectively as long as the beast was pulling on her shield with an anchored tongue. Two girls suddenly jumped from behind Hilaria, their two slender legs synchronized and infused with opposing elements that delivered a double-whammy of freezing ice and searing flame, one after the other. As a result, the tongue froze and cracked, severing the fleshy appendage. As the girls retreated from the beast’s raging roar, Hilaria delivered a blast from her trusty Vulcan into the impenetrable void of another Gorelion’s orifice, saving a magical girl who was nearly devoured and also causing the beast to howl and bleed. It was on its last legs now, and attempted ramming into Hilaria with it’s heavy bulk, only to clang against the dark magical girl’s sturdy shield slam. At that moment Mariette appeared from a portal, and blasted the Gorelion with a beam of light, proving effective in piercing it’s tough defenses as it howled in pain. Then, as it was distracted, Hilaria delivered a mighty punch, delivering a graviton strike that caused the beast’s obsidian armor to crack and shatter, sending the monster off its feet were it not for Esther’s bindings that glued it to the spot. The beast’s head now hung down as it growled in a daze from her concussive blow, and as it lurched slightly to the side, Lily took the opportunity to slip out; she had charged the floor under her with electromagnetic particles, and created a frictionless surface from which she slid away as if greased.

Another Gorelion was about to shoot her with a tongue, but Mariette fended the attack off with another beam, causing the best to shirk away from the light and allowing Alex to move through to reach the group.
Lily panted hard as she clambered back up using a corridor wall as support.
”You...You saved me, Hils! And Mariette too...” She spoke between heavy breaths and summoned her weapon, only to be interrupted by Mariette’s order.
”Huh? But we gotta stay and fi-Kiyaaa!”
Suddenly, she was webbed by Ronja on the other side, and swiftly pulled off her feet right through the portal. When Alex would arrive through the magical entryway, she would see that Lily ended up stuck to a web that was spread on the far wall, having ended up in an embarrassing pose.
”Uuu...” She whined, still weary from the chaos just moments ago.

---

At the Sanctuary, the crowd listened to Penny’s judgement with various looks ranging from fear to respect to confusion. They each slightly shivered as Penny laced her words with a touch of Gravity, giving them a weight that lingered like an echo. Once Penny gave her verdict, the crowd gasped, surprised by how merciful she has been to the guilty monster girl. Belladonna remained quiet, feeling her wrists in a contemplative manner once the manacles were off them.

“Wow...Penny is a wise queen, to understand her like that...”

“I think she let her off easy I mean, she endangered the Sanctuary...”

“But she did make a point about the circumstances. She got lucky, really.”

“Alright, show’s over. Please resume your duties as before.”
The crowd quickly dispersed once Goblina waved to the crowd and announced the end of the public trial.
“Queen Penny, that was an amazing spee-” she attempted to speak, but was swiftly silenced as Penny spoke in a chilling voice, causing the monster girl's ears to stand up straight
“U-Understood. You can count on me,” she answered with a salute, and watched as the mechanical sovereign stomped or flew off, parting the crowds like a snowmower through a wintery street. The guards stayed behind, patrolling vigilantly as they scoured the area of intruders.
Goblina sighed, and wiped her brow before turning to Belladonna.
“Now then, I shall list out the types of service that you may undertake in order to complete your sentence: cleaning out the sewage system, collecting garbage, gathering provisions...” Belladonna sighed, and stretched her arms above her head.
“Ugh, I figured this was going to suck. Can’t I do something else than scrounging up in the dirt?” She asked, her ears drooping down. Goblina pressed her pen to her chin.
“Well, there is something you could do to improve morale and advertise the Sanctuary. It depends on how….ahem...natural you are willing to get.”
Belladonna blinked. “Huh? Wait, you don’t mean-” then, she delivered a fanged smirk that would be terrifying to see in the moonlight.
“Oh, I get it. You want to snatch some shots and roll a tape of me, huh?” She put a hand behind her head and another on her hip. “Monstergirls Gone Wild?”

Goblina’s jaw opened in shock. “Actually, I mea-”

But before she could stop her, Belladonna gave her a thumbs up. “Very well. If you insist, then that is how I’ll pay for my crimes. It does beat prison at any rate. So, when do we get started?”

Goblina slowly facepalmed, and then smiled a bit, showing a tooth. “I suppose we can add that to the list.”

---

The guards at Beacon HQ were befuddled by Oros’ request, and then raised an eyebrow as Summer actually heeded that request. They looked up towards a window where the strange magical girl’s flying jib was grabbed by Janet. It seemed that an agreement of some kind had been made, so the guards returned back to their posts.

When Alexander finally found Lily, she was busy being flattened by a Gorelion "Lily!" He screamed, his heart beating so fast it felt more like it was trying to kill him from the inside out '[color=aba000]Dammit woman, I take my eyes off of you for a few minutes, and this [/i]is how I find you.[/i][/color]' He ran to try and help her, but found himself blocked by another Gorelion "How many of these fucking things are there!?" He tried to simply go around the beast, but it seemed to want to keep him away from the others, as it kept readjusting its position to stay between him and it's ally "Listen kitty, I do not have time for this nonsense!" The beast just replied with a roar 'And if I try jumping over it, that'll just give the thing a clear shot. Fuck!' Left with little other option, he charged at it.

The beast quickly learned to not try and bite him, when its first few attempts cost it an eye. Enraged, it then stuck to swiping at him with it's claws. Alexander was able to keep himself by throwing barriers in the way of its attacks, but he was struggling to gain any ground. Then, the beast over committed to an attack, and the rebound off of his barrier knocked it off balance 'Finally!' Taking advantage of the opportunity, Alexander dove under the beast to the other side, lashing out with his blades at it's underbelly while also spearing it with tails. The creature howled in pain as it slumped to the floor. checking back up on Lily, he saw her get webbed up and dragged through a portal. Not wanting to fall behind, he ran through the portal before it could close. Once they were out of the battlefield (kind of), he walked up the the bound Lily, tore the webbing off of her, and pulled her into a tight hug (tails included) "Lily, you havegot to stop almost dying! Just because I can heal heart attacks doesn't give you an excuse to keep giving me them! Sometimes I worry that you're a magnet for doom, and I question how you've managed to live this long."

Penny had no idea what it was Reaver was hoping to gain from his attack, but even then, she wasn’t going to play around. Her gait never changed from a determined stride as she closed the distance, the thrown spear was met with force as one of her hidden limbs unfurled and shattered the magical weapon while it was still in flight, all in one smooth motion.

The unfurled leg stayed poised to strike as she growled out a reply “Reaver.” her tone was laced with a surprising amount of venom and hate and her eyes were already glowing a vibrant red. All together she looked only a half-step away from starting a massacre. At least until she cut her attention towards Seppa. At which point she left off a scoff “Just Mint” before shaking her head as most of the hate and tension would suddenly vanish from her posture.

“Closer to a new coat of paint” She would reply as her eyes regained their dark gold color. She would come to a stop about ten feet from the two of them before cross her arms. “That and getting rid of toxic influences. Something I see you haven’t done” She would add with a pointed look at Seppa “I’ll ask upfront. Is there any point in asking you to backdown?” Penny would ask Seppa, Reaver she could guess at. Besides there was a chance that he might still be in contact with Chloe, and that wasn’t something she was willing to forgive.

---

The Relief at getting his request allowed was a wonderful reprieve from the nightmare that was the battlefield for Aurelio. At last, an end was in sight, for him and hopefully others as well but one could hardly blame him for being selfishly glad that his involvement in this was nearly over.

“Keep an eye on my signal as well if you would” Aurelio asked as he performed a few more passes of healing to help keep Hyun stable while Beacon locked onto the remote marker. “I’m probably only going to be getting one or two spells of before things go south”

Afterwards he would sit back for a moment as he fished out the lone candle he had taken earlier. He stared at it for a moment as he ran though his plan, but then he let out a soft chuckle as he looked up at Sally. “I’ll try my best” he would promise before shrugging “But honestly, I’m pretty sure I’m her worst nightmare.”

He would then move to stand, but would pause part way. Turning he would place a soft kiss on Sally’s brow and let an honest smile grace his feature’s “We should hijack one of the auditoriums rooms and fill it with blankets and pillows when we get back and have a movie night.” Aurelio would offer before finishing he movement to stand. He would once again regard the candle with a look before chuckling again and lighting it with snap of his fingers. Though the flame would be a vibrant white, notably magic in nature rather than normal.

With a flourish of his cane Aurelio would venture in the beast’s den, his head held high and a warm smile still on his face. He looked for all the world like he was at the top of his game, but his cane still pulsed with its unsettling black glow and his gloves hid the white knuckled grip his hand on it and the candle stick.

But he still walked forward into the mansion with his lit candle, the flame a lit spark of his feeling for Sally. A physical manifestation for his hopes, and a torch to help guide and protect him.

“Alicia” He would say as he moved towards the fight with Justine and Mikayla, hoping that she still had her comm and could hear him. “I’m starting the Final Act now as otherwise it’s not going to happen. Be ready for it.” And with that he would turn off his comm, and put all other distractions off to the side. It was show time.

With a whispered prayer(“all the worlds a stage”) and a simple illusion to displace where it was he really was, he stepped into the battle field of the two greatest foes present. And called out “Excuse me ladies! Mind if I interrupt?”

---

_{@AtomicNut, @Flamelord & @PlatinumSkink, @Ariamis, @AtomicNut}

With various tasks agreed on, the two would walk away and head in the direction to check on the operation. Along the way though Janet opted to head back to the lab to get to work, leaving Jenna to see what all was going on. As she understood it Elora was the one overseeing everything. Making her way to the mission's command, Jenna looked over the magical displays trying to make sense of what was going on. Looked quite chaotic. "I got your call. How do things look?" She stood at a distance so as not to distract Elora by hovering.


Getting back to the lab, Janet began to scrawl out some formulas on a barrier with her magic. They never wrote things down on paper or on a computer when they worked. Just on the off chance someone might try and steal information. Whether that be the Mint, Penny, some other third party, or even Beacon. Working for a time, Cindy wrestled control from Janet when some good progress was being made. Looking over the info before her she scowled. And thus started a back and forth process of talk between them.

What is the meaning of this Janet?

Rachael has given us orders to create a weapon.

I see that. I cannot allow such a thing to be in the hands of Beacon. You know this does not fall under our agreement.

I realize this. At this point I am trying not to get us killed.

If that is your fear then why do you stay?

We're not in a position yet to make the needed changes.

So long as the Ascendancy is here you will not get what you request. You must make a choice.

I'm buying time here.

You're making excuses. I can tell what you're doing here. You cannot change Beacon as you believe.

And you can't just force us to leave yet.

Trapped in a circular argument for several minutes the girl was practically frozen. It was ultimately obvious that the contract they had was not going to work under these circumstances. Some of the restrictions needed to be laxed a bit else neither of them would be able to operate. Perhaps she should have taken up Penny on trying to remove her. Not that she was particularly sure it would work to begin with. Now she was going to have to share in the process of making this weapon. One thing was for sure, this whole wish for knowledge was turning against them pretty fast.

”Excuse me?” Viridian had not been addressed, but you can bet she had an opinion of it. ”When I said you could do whatever, I didn’t mean pitch your strongest girl against Justine to buy time! Look honey, ya gotta get Justine and Sonya apart before they over take you. Right now there ain’t nothin’ preventing them for calling for beacon reinforcements!”

@PlatinumSkink

That was when a stray shot actually damaged the STRING, causing part of it to break apart. It immediately returned to string form and fell into Viridian’s waiting hands. A minor inconvenience. Aside from being able to freely communicate with everyone, the downing of the tower would do little to hamper Viridian’s ability to communicate with her agents, who were still aware of the enemy’s exact position.

”Seems like Mariette doesn’t have the salt Veronica thought she did. We might just have to stage a coup, agents.” Viridian sunk into one of her shadow portals and appeared…elsewhere. ”Silhouette, Ronin is likely going to try and save Mariette. You have my permission to help her when that happens. It’s true that Veronica gave her word that she would do nothing to go against Mariette’s plans, but that’s why I’m in charge now, haha! Oh, but do make sure Mariette survives all this. We need her to ensure Justine doesn’t get away.” The cradle agents could practically feel Viridian smile. ”I ain’t leaving without that bitch’s head.”

@FamishedPants@Majoras End

---

Dusty was struck and killed, adding another tragic death to the doppleganger’s string of misfortunes. Both her body and gun blew into dust. None of Trixy’s clones remained.

---

Helga and Su came through the portal before the former familiar responded. “I agree Helga, but there wasn’t much we could do on our own. I hadn’t even anticipated I’d get to Justine.”

Then they listened to Mariette.

”Heh! Guess those weretigers are stronger than they look.” Trixy rubbed her nose. ”I still wanna get back out there, but you can drop me wherever. I can support from afar, and I can bite.” She used the brief respite to load up her gun.

“Mariette, this is unwise.” Su folded her arms before leaning against the wall. “If you’re not safe here, your best option is to move to a new location. Their forces are divided, meanwhile you can be wherever you’d like. While we fight defensively, Justine is going to keep attacking the mansion until you’re forced to reveal yourself. Dan isn’t preventing Sonia from teleporting, and as a result, Justine is unstoppable. Wiping out Beacon is not the goal, stopping Justine is!” She fret her brow and lowered her eyes to the ground. “ I’m not sure Justine needs to die. She honestly believes that you are responsible for what’s happened to Penrose. I’m not sure how to break through to her though...” Her eyes rose back up to meet Mariette’s. “Regardless, if everyone’s in the mansion, it seems like the perfect time to attack Sonia. If we can get rid of her, Justine will be vulnerable. Leave a crew here to distract Beacon if you must, but the real threat is outside, hurling bloody spear after spear at your home. Us fighting Beacon is exactly what she wants.”

[@Ihavenoideawhototaglolz]



I mean, it is!

Though she felt power rush through her from Dina’s Reinforcement spell, Alicia did not place too much reliance in it. It would only be a temporary thing, so assuming that she would always have it was likely to end with them in a pinch. At least they were able to move on without a further fight. Dan might be sad about it, but he’d survive. Probably.

For now they headed up the stairs to the second floor as she resumed looking around with her Third Eye. FanFan immediately went to follow Dina’s entry point into the foyer, on the assumption that it would lead them back to Mariette. Yet Alicia was not so hasty to follow, wanting to make sure they did not miss anything or walk into an ambush. Hence, the use of her Third Eye. Personally she suspected that Mariette was not directly back that way, but it was as good an option as any.

Yet as she moved on, something caught her eye. Or Third Eye, rather. There was a room beneath the stairs, possibly a closet but with what Ronin had said and the tricks Mariette had up her sleeve, it was best not to leave things to chance.

Before entering the library, she paused and looked to their companions. As had been said before, they needed to stick together. Plus it might just be nothing so she didn’t want to spend too much effort on it. But there was a way they could make sure, without needing to go and fight.

That in mind, she looked to the person who could make it happen. “Connie, there’s a room beneath those stairs,” she told the girl, gesturing to the left side stairwell. ”It might be nothing but Ronin did say to look for ‘small, secluded places’. Could you use the fear trick you used on that patrol on anyone inside of that room? With how clever she is, I don’t want to leave things to chance.”

She would wait for Connie to confirm or reject her suggestion, before moving on to join the others in either eventuality. ’What are the odds there’s something of value in here?” she wondered aloud. Not that Alicia intended to find out just yet. There would be time for reclamation when this was over. For now they continued through the library, the Paladin alert for danger as they continued searching for Mariette and wherever she was operating from.

_{@Ariamis@Ponn@PlatinumSkink@Crusader Lord@Majoras End@AtomicNut@MadManMoon}

---

It only took four cameras for Penny to show up, which was a bit more than Seppa had been expecting but she wasn’t about to complain. After all, the Queen had come to face them. Reaver wasted little time in his antagonism, throwing a magic spear at the mechanical warrior and proclaiming his defiance. In turn Penny was all but dismissive, so certain and confident that they were not a threat.

Perhaps this was true. But there was only one way they would find out.

“They said you were pretty tough,” Seppa observed with a grin as she readied herself to fight. Weapons rose, hovering in the air with the aid of her powers. A spear, an axe, a sword, a cudgel, plus her own fists, all menacing and glittering in the light. Perhaps they were not as ominous as Penny could be, but she was confident in the works of her craft nonetheless.

Settling into a fighting stance, she nodded to Reaver. “Well, I’m not one to miss an opportunity to put my tools of the trade to the test against the best out there. I hope you won’t disappoint me.” There had never been a chance of avoiding this fight, and she was eager to get to it as she launched the sword and spear forwards for a pincer attack.

_{@AtomicNut@Shifter_Master}

---

Varjo nodded along as Viva explained what had brought her here. Each word was listened to eagerly, her controlling nature wanting to understand what aspects of Viva she could. That way they would be able to have more fun together. At least while they wee on Mint business.

“No matter how winding our paths are, we always end up where we are meant to be,” Ilmarinen noted as they moved along, slipping past Penny’s cameras without drawing attention to themselves the way that Seppa and Reaver had done. There was no need to give up the game this early.

Varjo rolled her eyes. “Don’t mind him, he’s always like this,” she assured Viva. “Something about how ‘chaos is nature’s natural state’ and ‘destiny’ and all that nonsense. Personally I think he took one too many hits to the head while practicing his flight.”

“The universe has its own plan. We are all merely players in it,” Ilmarinen observed, fingering the coin that Viva had seen him so fond of before. This was an argument they had had more than once.

Still, Varjo wasn’t about to get into it. Not when she had more fun close at hand. And not just because they were nearing the Sanctuary itself. “That’s why I’ve got to be the fun one here. Alma is all super serious and focused on the mission. But at least Seppa has some fun toys.”

That caused Alma to glance back. “Didn’t she threaten to rip your arms off and toss them in a volcano in another dimension if you touched her stuff again?”

“Yeah, but she doesn’t mean it,” Varjo replied happily. “Who could stay mad at me?”

After a moment Alma cocked her head as she shifted the topic. “Seppa says they’ve started fighting Penny,” she noted. “Get ready to release the monster.” They just needed her to be in the Overcity, then this part of the plan could commence.

Grinning, Varjo skipped over to a nearby manhole cover. Alma joined her, hefting open the access point. Vajro then waved her arm, and a diamond shaped being with a large eye in the center appeared. “Go on, let’s go find our new toy,” she told the familiar, dispatching it into the sewers. It would be her eyes down there, as they got in place for the next step.

_{@Shifter_Master}

Reaver let a small chuckle, upon hearing Seppa's reply. "You heard the lady, o Queen." He paused as he shifted his spear. "Just because we're in the same kind of circles, we're not as shallow as Chloe who had the nerve of running on her own commitments." He spat at Penny, fully knowing that in all likelihood, Chloe was an unhealed scar that he could exploit. "Great technique, but still more shallow and stupid than she carried herself to be." He paused.

"Still given that we were once colleagues, albeit very briefly, I will consider your proposal. To make me drop the spear peacefully you must give me something better than the possible debt and betrayal that comes from double crossing the Mint AND... something better than the promised Valhalla of my master Odin." He said unironically, before cracking another smile."Though if you were to act all coy and bossy and step on me, it would work a little."

He rattled his shield and began to bang on it as he beckoned. "Can you hear it, Penny? That dark thrumming of strife? Put yourself to test. Wash away any mediocrity and compromise. Cast yourself in the gaze of the Allfather, with the bloody symphony of war!" He began to laugh as he began to make his movement in brisk steps, like those of a weaponmaster, towards Penny, his target.

"VALHALLA AWAITS!"

No one could deny that the servants of Asengav were having a really bad day. Bad enough that Justine was assaulting the mansion head-on, but to get the local chapter of Beacon to join her party in the quest for revenge? It was getting to be almost cruel, the extent of damages to life and property alike.

Unfortunately for Mariette, her extensive defenses had another opening to exploit – right in the heart of her mansion.

Collector Delta was the first to exit the eldritch passageway, stepping out from the cooler air of Grandfather’s Catacombs into Mariette’s personal library. She appreciated how well kept it was, even in the middle of an all-out assault. Apart from the gothic aesthetic, Delta first noticed the wooden tile flooring in the room – curious enough, given that most people would use carpeting or rugs to muffle sound in such spaces, but also how it masked the bookshelves. Or, specifically, the fact that the bookshelves were actually part of the floor, almost as if that room had all been meticulously carved from a single piece of wood. Given how there was magic present throughout all of the wood in the walls, and what that implied, it was interesting to say the least.

Her ally, Scribe Xi, also took a moment to take stock of their situation. If Delta didn’t have the Third Eye, she might not have noticed her come through. After all, to the naked eye nothing was there. But her vision pierced through obfuscations to see Xi’s figure, covered entirely in bone spider’s silk. Frankly, it was simultaneously a ludicrous and vaguely hypnotic sight, the way the colors shifted along each muscle-like cord of eldritch silk. She could also see the lump over Xi’s right shoulder, where Delta’s familiar hid under the silk, boosting Xi’s magic with his proximity.

Shifting her gaze upwards, she noted the stairs towards the north wall, extending the space by a second ‘floor’ in the library, and host to more shelves filled with various tomes, manuscripts, and scrolls. All of it made for an enticing collection, but they were on a time limit. Mariette might be busy defending against an assault within and without, but Asengav would eventually notice the eldritch hole bored right into one of his strongholds. Especially since, for all intents and purposes, Grandfather counted as another Horror.

Delta looked further upwards, briefly, and frowned at what she noticed.

There were voices coming from the direction of the foyer, and Delta recognized the voice of Alicia among them. Not surprising given her rank, and multiple reports of a personal vendetta against Mariette, but it could spell trouble. Her Third Eye would cut right through their illusions.

Beacon’s team is still making their way through the mansion, Lee noted. Seems like they’re headed this way, specifically. We need to move.

Delta sent a brief thought of acknowledgement through the connection to her familiar, still frowning up at the ceiling with her Third Eye open. She quickly assessed the situation, then made her choice. Head on without me, she sent. Both of you.

Xi paused mid-stride. She couldn't see Delta, as she'd used her own magic to bend light around her, so Xi didn't bother trying to face her. What’s she doing? she asked Lee. At the speed of thought, he relayed the question to Delta.

In response, Delta simply sent the mental image of what she’d been frowning at, and let Xi connect the dots.

It didn't take long for the realization to hit. Oh.

Beacon and their allies won’t draw Mariette’s fire if they die. Delta drew her wand. The higher their numbers remain, the more Mariette will divert her forces to counteract them.

So you’re staying behind to even the odds.

Once the door opens, I’ll cast a spell on the floor, layering mirrors over the tiles. Anything standing above it will have its true form revealed in the reflection. Save for myself, at least.

Xi nodded. Give ‘em hell.

Lee smiled (or rather, sent the image of a smile). Stay safe, Anna.

Delta aimed her wand at the floor, mentally preparing the spell. Likewise.

_{“Connie, there’s a room beneath those stairs...”}

Xi swore internally, quickly closing the distance to the other foyer door, further away from the voices and incoming footsteps.

---

@Ariamis@Ponn@PlatinumSkink@Crusader Lord@Majoras End@AtomicNut@Flamelord

???

Did… that just happen?

Their magma trap… had been transformed into a 3 year old girl’s stereotypical dreamland. How did that even happen…?

‘The pink hyper one in the infiltration team just turned our lava-trap into candy. Some form of reality bender. Be careful of her,’ she told the team. Yikes, let’s hope that’s not as bad as it looked…

Later, when the Dina scene was over and they were coming up the stairs…

Funny thing. The information girl was eavesdropping on every word said by the infiltration team. So.

“Connie, there’s a room beneath those stairs. It might be nothing but Ronin did say to look for ‘small, secluded places’. Could you use the fear trick you used on that patrol on anyone inside of that room?”

The girl quickly pressed a button to her left, and a small hatch opened soundlessly beneath her, allowing her to drop down into the corridor right under her, the hatch closing above with utmost efficiency. Fortunately for her, the entire infiltration team was going up the stairs to the second floor, so the first floor corridor was safe. Hurray for never splitting the party.

From there, she walked into the wall, Esther deforming the wood of the mansion to allow her escape. On the way she picked up her mobile phone to display her view of the infiltration team and she put headphones from the phone to her ears. Her ability to supervise would be greatly diminished when not inside her base, albeit not crippled, she was capable of doing everything from her phone wirelessly.

If she could avoid the fear attack it was possible she could just return to her base afterwards, no harm done. She cycled to the foyer trap and prepared.

---

2nd Floor - Back Corridor


Everyone was eventually returned to the back corridor, and then it was time to plan their attack. Except, Dina said she was going to try to avoid this. ‘Wait, that’s-’ Mariette was a little late in the objection. But, but, her time-sensitive plan…!

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise, though, as Su’s words gave Mariette something to consider. She was right. The real enemy wasn’t Beacon, it was Justine. While her current plan was the best for destroying the attacking enemy force, it’d leave Justine free to retreat. Mariette gave an exasperated sigh at the mention of being supposedly behind the destruction in Penrose. _{‘I was in a beach dimension…’}

That aside, she considered it, and then looked to Su. ‘You have a point. Do you have an idea of how to corner someone who can teleport at will?’

“Sonia's primary objective is to protect Justine and kill you. If we give them a shot at you, or attack Justine from multiple angles, we can be ready and counter Sonia when she tries something. All we need to do is predict her actions and we can land a counter attack,” Su replied.

”She's saying to portal spam, Mariette, and dump a metric ton of us onto her!” Trixy added on. _{Thank you @BrokenPromise for the input}

Not exactly the most fool-proof of plans, but alright.

‘Very well,’ Mariette said, and then turned to her forces anew. With Dina talking on the other side, it gave Mariette time to hold a speech.

‘Listen, everyone. Su made a good point. My true enemy is Justine and Sonia. If we go through with my plan, even if we win, she'd simply retreat and return with another army thirsting for revenge. To prevent that, we attack her now. We divide into two groups. One group attacks Justine. This will be me, Bunny, Eli, Su, Helga, Trixy, Silhouette, Eliza, Lily, Alexander, Hilaria and Dina. You're here because our enemy is Justine, the one who terrorised Penrose. Let’s finish her together.

The other group will hamper Alicia and prevent her from reinforcing the outside. This will be Lea, Freya, Mayra, Suzette, Ronja, Josefin, Taihei, Tullia and Victoria, supported by Esther and our informer. You know this mansion, and won't mind fighting other residents of Penrose.

Justine group. I'll get onto the roof, you assist me. Justine will not be able to resist aiming for me. We will be assisted by Mikayla out there, a really powerful spirit-girl. Any comments on strategy? Otherwise I'll just send us to the roof.

Home team. Your primary goals are to prevent Alicia reinforcing Justine, and to survive. Avoid killing our enemies, we don't need more grudges against us. It's time to unleash our minions.

Any questions or suggestions?’

Through a PM, it has been confirmed there’ll be no such that would fundamentally change the contents of this post and could be said in the beginning of their own posts. The only one that potentially needs addressing is Lily possibly wanting to talk to Justine, the response to which would be ‘Then talk as we fight.’ Mariette has had enough delays.

This was when Mariette opened portals to allow the home team, the champions of Asengav, to surround the enemy infiltration team, and as such Dina was warned by her fox that the foyer was being surrounded. She sent each common Magical Girl away, they weren’t powerful enough to handle what they were going up against and Mariette wasn’t willing to further risk their lives, though had Josefin drain a bit of their magic to deposit in Mariette first.

While they were arranging things, their information girl kept them updated on what was being said in the foyer by communicators. Summarization, of course, but ultimately that the negotiation was a bust and Dina said she was willing to fight Asengav to save Mariette. Lea in particular looked like she wanted Dina’s head for this. Then Dina apparently buffed the whole enemy team. Ronja was like ‘Oh, I should be able to do that, too,’ and through Mariette’s portals she buffed the rest of the home team.

When Dina eventually returned, she found only the Justine team standing by, and Mariette turning towards her.

‘We’re going after Justine and Sonia while my forces hold back Alicia. If we take down Sonia, there will be no further risk to my life. Let’s go,’ she said, and then she opened the portal…



@Ariamis@Majoras End@FamishedPants@AtomicNut@BrokenPromise@Card Captor

---

2nd Floor - Back Corridor


In the corridor, Taihei appeared from a portal after having fallen back herself. Some of the other girls looked a bit hesitant about her, on account of her famous bad luck, but Taihei didn't even notice them right now. She was far too shaken.

Josefin noticed her, and instinctively started bouncing over, but stopped mid-way, her expression faltering. Last time they talked, Taihei had mentioned that she, in her existence, was another thing contributing to Taihei's terrible life by being another life ruined by her luck. However...

‘Josefin,’ Taihei said, calling her attention. ‘Wh-what?’ Josefin asked, flinching on the spot at being spoken to. ‘I... wanted to say I am sorry. For last time. Turns out that... I don't want to die, after all,’ Taihei said, recalling what had just happened.

Josefin blinked in surprise at Taihei's words, then smiled so widely and bounced forward to hug around her monster aquatic friend. Taihei, with her immense endurance, didn't even budge under the force of the glomp, giving the slightest sad smile as she did.

‘I'm happy,’ Josefin said. ‘Let's make your life a life worth living, alright?’

‘I'll... do my best,’ Taihei responded. ‘Thank you, Josefin. I'm lucky to have you.’

‘Tihi,’ Josefin giggled a little.

Then they were sent to do their ambush.

---

Void Room - Infiltration Team


Ronin was momentarily worried by Connie’s little panic attack, but if she said she was alright, then alright. That aside, then MDP asked about a particular painting. That one. Uh. Ronin looked at Mayra’s painting for a bit. She’d never actually worked with Mayra, just kinda sorta knew she existed, but…

‘I’m pretty sure that one’s exactly what she looks like! A fire-darkness dragon monster-girl that’s really tough in a close-to-mid range fight,’ Ronin said, intentionally withholding her name, knowing information girl was likely listening. ‘Have you seen her before?’ Ronin followed that up with.



And if she had not, she didn’t need to wait much longer.

As “Eli ” charged into the library, the door swinging up for her…

Firstly, Delta’s spell went off and the floor was turned into mirrors. The mirrors below “Eli” revealed a lightning-quick shadow that had been hiding in the ceiling above the door, who-

Claws and a tail struck at her with the power and speed granted by Str 22 and Agi 21, a combo to disrupt her defenses and then send her flying, as Freya had been waiting for her to make her entrance.


Meanwhile, the foyer trap went off. In the middle of the room a small item launched into the air, and went off. A giant shock-wave of Sound-specialization cracked across the foyer, sure to rattle anyone unprepared for it, Freya jumping inside the library and bracing her ears as to take minimal damage herself. A loud CRACK echoed through the whole mansion, but here in the foyer the sound was deafening, would bypass physical shields, and doubled as the signal to start the ambush.


From the lower floor, east side, the door slammed open and Tullia pointed her Bifrost Staff at the intruders. A sudden, chilling beam of Mag 16 ice blasted in, intent to freeze them solid and end this encounter early. As she did that, Victoria (real one) entered from the north-north-east door to the foyer on the first floor, and skipped to plant her hands onto the side of the stair. With her limited yet competent 10 Mag, she let her ice spread over the surface of the stairs and up to the base of the second floor entrance, intent on freezing the feet of those standing there and making them easier targets, as well as maybe make them slip if they try to move.


From the lower-left, first floor, Taihei entered. She lifted three of her artifacts that she’d made with her 18 Mag, and with the same Mag to her second specialization of Gravity she now sent these flying at the infiltration team, fully expecting them to explode on shields but at the very least she’d have distracted them. With her she had Josefin, who completely lacks ranged attack alternatives and as such is just peeking right now.


From the second floor, west side, the arachne form of Ronja appeared right along with Suzette. Suzette shot a straight blast of Mag 16 empathic rage at them, the sheer rage in the blast seeking to tear whatever it found asunder, all while the blonde girl grinned so happily at them. Meanwhile, Ronja threw a giant net of Mag 15 Reinforcement web on them, intended to restrain them even as it had large enough square holes for allied attacks to get through.


Second floor, east side, an overly excited dragon girl jumped up on the railing right above her own painting, grinning at them before unleashing a massive burst of fire from her mouth at those coming up the stairs… which at Mag 10 wasn’t quite as dangerous as the other magical attacks in the room, but still nothing to be simply shrugged off. Lea rose into the air beside her. She locked onto her targets, and threw manifested shimmering green lances of wind through the air, targeting specifically ‘Mariette’ and Connie, the two they’d been warned about. At Mag 13 it wasn’t the most powerful offensive move in the room, but with Agi 21 no amount of regular dodging would make Lea’s lances miss, for she was a certified magical sniper that could predict such moves.

It should be noted, though, that while all these attacks sounded pretty lethal, they weren’t intended to kill, as Mariette commanded. Ice was only going to freeze. Suzette would power down her beam if she was making actual contact. Mayra’s fire would hurt, yes, but wouldn’t kill an averagely powerful Magical Girl. Lea had the greatest precision here and could pierce through a body to cripple someone without killing them, albeit that one probably looked pretty intent to kill. And Taihei’s explosive artifacts exploded when at a certain distance to living beings, far enough that they would cripple and not necessarily kill, albeit she thought that maybe she’d be unlucky anyway so either she did no damage at all or accidentally killed someone. Sally wasn’t close enough to change her bad luck, was she?

At the same time, a barrier was raised over the front door. The barrier was originally intended to keep attackers from escaping the ambush so they could be routed, but now it was being used to prevent what remained of the assault team from trying to be reinforcements.

Freya, after this, was a bit startled by the fact the floor had become mirrors. Mirrors were usually a good thing, being Mariette’s tools of magic, yet these were somehow not Mariettes, and Freya had experienced enough hostile magic to know remaining in a room with enemy magic is a bad idea. She called forth her minions, which manifested from darkness as a group of rock-beasts, representing the combo of Freya’s two specializations Rock and Beast, that she couldn’t use due to Mag 2. Tough creatures that couldn’t actually defeat Magical Girls themselves but could totally block their entrance into the Library by charging at the door from inside, stampeding over the mirror floor intent on preventing the infiltration team from just fleeing into the library! … While Freya slipped out the back because she didn’t want to be in a room with enemy magic.

This was their ambush. If they started being overpowered even the slightest, they had orders to retreat and regroup. We’ll see what happens.

@Ariamis@Flamelord@Majoras End@Ponn@AtomicNut@MadManMoon@Crusader Lord

---

Outside - Assault Team


‘… So, like, what kind of arrangement do you guys have with Justine? You know she’s gonna break it, whatever you do, right? Ain’t she the bigger threat here? Mariette’s not trying to either destroy the town or steal all the love from the world, hah,’ the Victoria clone asked, looking curiously at whoever remained now. Like, Kimble, maybe.

---

Justine’s current location



What Sakura found that she was facing was not a unit of easily killed minion ghosts that she could simply power through. These were ghosts filled with supreme magic, each acting as an extension of Mikayla’s will, and she was deep inside the Powerful Aura the spirit was extruding. She struck towards them, only to be met with a ghastly union of shields, clashing towards her assault with impeccable timing, before the soldiers flowed around the shields, armored or girl-like ghosts slicing towards her with swords and scythes, working with complete team-work, as if controlled by a single mind. Individually they wouldn’t have been able to compete with Sakura, no, but the sheer mass of them made for a powerful wall that was forcing her down.

She was, however, able to strike at those who were directing their attention towards Justine, the two of them together making a number of them have to scatter. These were quickly replaced with more of their number, Mikayla looking on with the slightest of a smile as she dodged Justine’s missile.

A sphere of powerful spirits swirled around Mikayla as she engaged with Sakura and Justine. The ghostly Magical Girl swung her arm, and with it a flock of ghosts extended like a massive blade to chop at Justine’s position, but she teleported out of the way. Specters moved out of the way of Justine’s attacks, and it appeared that Mikayla herself had absolute control of her location, able to speed through the air with sudden and high speed. Sakura was being a pain… so Mikayla made a gesture with her hand, and her second specialization of Gravity suddenly grabbed at Sakura to fling her away from the fight with a powerful lurch.

Then Aurelio appeared. If Justine stopped, then Mikayla briefly stopped as well, all her spirits pausing in mid-air in their exact current location. After all, her given mission was to delay Justine. What did it matter if this little boy wasted a couple of seconds? If he had a devious plan to play, then he’d play his cards anyway should she move to cut his limbs off.

Still, what neither of them knew was that Mariette had a change of plans.

A blast of light suddenly surged through the air straight at Justine and Sonia. If(when) they dodged it, it’d be caught in a portal going to straight above them to catch them again.


‘Justine von Visceral,’ Mariette called, holding her mirror forward with her left hand and grasping around the currently coloured black Bunny with her right. She’d emerged on the roof, glaring towards Justine’s current position. Tiny portals were around the top of her head leading to the eye under her eyepatch to allow her to look in any direction, down and up included, teleporting opponent. A look of determination in her visible eye.

‘Let’s end this here,’ she said, as she charged more blasts of light through her mirror, opened more portals to potentially reroute attacks and try to corner Justine and Sonia, help her companions get where they wanted and spread her tentacles for probably close combat attacks. With her she had Eli, who had one wing become a Reinforced shield, and the other becoming a blade ready to do battle, albeit she looked pretty nervous.

All allies of Mariette in this particular fight may request Mariette’s portals and then simply assume Mariette opened such a portal for them, in order to position themselves as they like to attack or whatever they want to do, assuming Mariette doesn’t have an obvious reason not to.

Aurelio suddenly may have found himself relatively ignored. Maybe. Depends on what Justine’s doing.

@Ariamis@BrokenPromise@FamishedPants@Majoras End@Card Captor@AtomicNut@Shifter_Master

@FamishedPants@Majoras End

”Seems the ol' coup won't be necessary after all. Give 'em hell!”

Of course Viridian was pleased with this new turn of events. Who'd have thought little ol' Su would be able to talk sense into the cowardly portal witch? At least this felt like a proper confrontation now. Mariette standing on top of her crumbling mansion like a bonified badass, confronting the monster that had taken so much from her. How unfortunate that she wouldn't be able to participate in the fight directly. She would just have to live vicariously through her agents.

The ambush wasn't critical to her mission, but with so many eyes outside the mansion she could keep an eye on Mariette's babies. A shadow appeared on one of the walls, and Viridian... Waited inside. She would make her entrance but only a fool would step into that with everything else going on.

@Flamelord@Majoras End@Ponn@AtomicNut@MadManMoon@Crusader Lord

---

Su rolled up her sleeves. “Be careful, the last thing we need to do is shoot one of our own.”

”Best to stay on the ground if you're close quarters. Of course I never hit my allies unless I want to!” Trixy giggled before looking to Mariette. ”Oh! And remember that there are some weretigers and other magicals out there. I'll see about keeping them distracted while you guys work on Sonia.”

“You want to talk to Justine, Lily?” Su shrugged. “I think that's... admirable.” The hotel manager nodded. She didn't think it would be a productive talk, mostly because she was convinced that Justine, like Mariette, had her mind tampered with by her patron. “In that case, let's send Lily out first. She should be safe so long as Justine is still occupied with your other girl. Once Justine has said her piece, and she will, we can all attack her while she's distracted or if Lily is in danger.”

---

Be it the way Su envisioned or some other cause entirely, she popped out of a portal some distance above the fighting. Halfway between Mariette and Justine. If everything was happening the way she wanted, she would be the first person to appear after Lily. Alexander might try to go with Lily, but there wasn't much she could do about that, nor would it really interfere with her attack.

Su would have charged up a bit of mana for an attack before showing herself, which she would release into a wind spell. A wind tunnel would extend outward from her hands and descend on Justine's position. She could sweep the cyclone to one direction or another, but the goal was to get Sonia to move. Between Mikayla's attacks and her own, there wouldn't be a lot of safe options for the maid to move in. With any luck, Mariette's presence would give Sonia's movements a bias towards the portal witch's direction. Hopefully that would be enough for one of her allies to remove Sonia from the fight, or at least put some distance between the two.

”Huzahhhhhh!”

Trixy decided to shoot dodge her way out of a portal located directly behind Mariette. Sadly, she could only shoot a single round, and that was at the chain weretiger that tried to hit her earlier. Once her shot had been fired, she rolled over to the wood hedge she made a bit ago before aiming over the edge. There were a few more people than she anticipated, but the weretigers were her priority. She wasn't going to let them escape a second time.

”Sam, Eliza, now's our chance!”

@FamishedPants@Majoras End@Card Captor@AtomicNut@Shifter_Master

“Nopey wopey~! (giggle!)” MDP replied cheerfully after Ronin asked if she’d seen the dragon girl before. “Buuuut, a meanie weanie person worsen who looks like that did some really nasty wasty thingie wingies to a super secret wecret placey wacey that belongs to Magical Dream Princess’s most favorite wavorite person worsen in the whole wide worldsie~!”

It was about then that Dina made her appearance and asked to parlay. Connie didn’t really understand much of what was going on, but the tension in the air was palpable. At least to anyone who wasn’t MDP. Connie’s eyes widened as she watched the cheerful girl skip over to Dina and start giving head pats to the dolphin she was holding. A dopey smile began to spread across Connie’s mask as she watched this incongruous scene play out, and she couldn’t help but giggle at the sight.

“O-Oh my gosh,” Connie whispered as a blush colored the cheeks of her mask and a pair of tiny stars seemed to appear in its black eyes. “T-That’s so adorable…!”

A part of her wanted to run over and join MDP in petting the cute dolphin, but her timid nature, combined with the knowledge of how serious the situation truly was, gave her pause.

After the brief negotiations failed to achieve any meaningful results, Dina surprised the Infiltration Team by casting a reinforcement spell on them.

“Oh wowie~! That tickles~! (giggle!)” MDP squealed as she was infused with the spell’s power. “Like, super duper thankie wankies~! (giggle!) Bye bye, for nowie, Dina Wina and Danny Wanny~!” she added as the pair departed. “It was, like, sooo super duper nice to meet you~! (giggle!)”

“You have my deepest thanks for the assistance, your Majesty,” Gaia added with a graceful curtsy. “Your generosity and desire for peace will not soon be forgotten.”

“Y-Yes! T-Thank you!” Connie managed to call out before the cat girl disappeared through a nearby door.

Not wasting a moment longer, Alicia led the team up the stairs, with FanFan (or Eli, as the case may be) taking point. Moving up to the door Dina had left through, the Ascendancy girl summoned her mechanical arms and prepared to barge into the chamber beyond. However, Alicia instructed her to wait, her attention fixated on something below them. A moment later, she gave voice to what, informing them that she had discovered a small room under the stairs, perhaps the location of Mariette’s mysterious “information expert”. Connie was slightly startled when Alicia asked if she could employ a nightmare pulse to flush out anyone who might be inside it, but she quickly composed herself enough to offer a response.

“O-Okay,” she told the Beacon girl shakily. “I-I’ll d-do my b-best!”

Turning to face the room in question, Connie closed her eyes in concentration.

I can do this, she told herself as she slowly breathed in and out, in an attempt to calm her badly frayed nerves. I can do this!

Gathering her power, Connie made sure to focus on just the room and its potential occupants, before sending out a relatively low-powered beam of condensed nightmare magic. She waited a few moments for any reaction, but nothing happened.

“U-Um, I d-don’t t-think it w-worked…” she noted, pointing out the obvious. “S-Sorry…”

“Like, don’t be sad, Connie Wonnie~!” MDP told her, while giving the masked girl a hug. “You did your besty best, so that’s, like, all that matter watters~! (giggle!) And, like, there totally wotally might not have even been anybody wody in there in the first placey wacey~!”

“Or they could have defenses in place to guard against such an attack,” Gaia mused.

She was about to ask Alicia if they should give the room a closer look, when something emerged from the door in front of FanFan and sent the disguised Ascendancy girl flying backwards with considerable force. Immediately after that, a sonic trap activated, the mighty, ear-piercing thunderclap causing Connie, Gaia, and MDP to wince in pain and cover their ears against the cacophonous assault.

“Owie! Owie! Owie!” MDP whined. She knew this was bad, but her pounding head wouldn’t let her focus enough to allow her to conjure her Dream Barrier.

The next instant, the stairs they were standing on turned to ice, which tried to surge over their feet and freeze them in place. Simultaneously, various members of the Infiltration Team were assailed with webs, explosive artifacts, and blasts of pure magical energy, as several magical and monster girls appeared around them. Before she even realized what was happening, Connie screamed in pain, as a shimmering spike of condensed magical wind pierced her shoulder. The wound was not particularly large, and the spike didn’t perforate anything vital, but it was still agonizingly painful. Clutching her bleeding shoulder, the masked girl dropped to her knees, her body shuddering, while black tears streamed down the sides of her mask.

“CONNIE!” Gaia cried in horror at the sight of her friend’s plight. The attack had happened so fast, and she was still recovering from the effects of the sonic trap. Thus she had been completely unable to protect her friend, but she would make up for that now…

“YOU BITCH!” she roared, turning to face the source of Connie’s torment. Focusing her mystic power, the verdant magical girl sent a dense cloud of seeds hurtling towards Lea. Just before reaching her, they exploded into growth, forming a writhing mass of wickedly spiked tendrils. These swiftly enclosed around the monster girl, intending to brutally shred her apart.

Meanwhile, MDP found herself about to be engulfed by a massive blast of fire. She was just fast enough to fire a blast from her wand a moment before the conflagration struck, its rainbow beam causing the flames directly in front of her to transform into a shower of harmless glitter. It was then that MDP saw where the fiery attack had come from.

“Hey~!” MDP cried excitedly, her eyes lighting up at the sight of the draconic monster girl. “Like, is your namey wamey Mayra Wayra~?! ‘Cause, if it is, then Magical Dream Princess wants to have a talky walky with you~!”

Sakura grunted in frustration as the spirit mooks kept stubbornly getting into her way. "You litt- GAAH!" She said surprised as she was yanked and flung away, her frown becoming more patent. She had misjudged this spirit witch. She was a stone wall, rather than a cavalry sent to hamper the enemy. Different tactics she needed to do. It vexed her. She normally didn't like thinking, and did not like her options.

She could turn this into a slog by using lightning to snipe clusters of enemies that were joined together, but it would take far too long. And the delicate chaos of the battle was shifting... What the hell was Mariette doing here all of a sudden? Had she gained bravery or was just being desperate? It was so frustrating, both were her targets, but were currently beyond her reach.

Stupid ass weird white gravity girl.

Wait.

She could fight fire with fire. Her side had another stupid ass weird gravity girl too. With an unhealthy obsession towards the rat bastard and Mariette. She flipped her phone and yelled.

"OI, Silver baka! Mariette is here!" She said to Tenebra.

---

Dina casted her gaze at Mariette as she saw her enter the portal to face her nemesis and terror. "You've grown to face your fears. I'm proud." She said, not unlike the grandmother figure she was beneath the teenaged appearance of a catgirl. "Kitsune, Scorpion Man, Yeti, Minotaur, Kobolds. You shall assist against the infiltration team."

"Fairies, with me." Dina said, before eyeing Dan, and casting a cat smile. "I'm going to need some instruments, Dan." She said to her Patron. "Don't you think it's about time... we spread some Joy?"

Dina and her faerie retinue hopefully crossed the portal, being a little better from their earlier panic attack, and appearing right next to Mariette. The noble catgirl put a hand on Mariette's shoulder, softly smiling, before releasing her Ruler's Menagerie Aura.

"Von Viszeral" She added, while getting her throat ready.

"Know what you are no longer capable of, and repent!" She said, before she indicated with a hand sign the start of the music.

My german is a bit stuffy, but here it goes...





All men and women shall be brothers and sisters. Because we're meant to love and be loved. And because we're meant to do grand things.

---

Tenebra was not having a good moment, as the sudden impact of several things at once damaged her considerably. If not because her enhanced outfit, she'd be probably knocked out at this moment. Turned into a bloody, dishevelled mess, she clicked on her phone by accident as she used her gravity magic to try and deviate targets off course.

What she heard flipped her switch... and she began laughing. "HEHEHEHE hAAHAHAAhAHA!" She said, as she charged her magic to her maximum, despite the hits of lances and artifacts. "MASS WARP!" She yelled, almost ecstatic, creating a portal zeroed on Sakura's back, allowing the infiltration team a quick exit from the ambush should they needed too.

She jumped gleefully into it, raring for battle. "Pedersen! Imma go-"

Only for her strength to leave her and plummetting, face first on the floor.

Whoops. She had just used a lot of magic. Still the warping portal was massive and active.