@Ariamis@PlatinumSkink@Card Captor@FamishedPants@BrokenPromise@Ponn@Majoras End@Shifter_Master@Flamelord@twave



The Demonic knight said nothing, but inwardly, he was frowning.

What do you think this is? A videogame?? He thought in response how the android monstrous girl chose to proceed. Absorbing the spear. It would have worked... against an opponent who did not know a few military facts. Spears, or more precisely, pilums, had a secondary use. To stick to an opponent's shield and throw them off balance.

So when the third eye detected the attempt at ruining his spear, he quickly switched tactics, chose to reinforce the mishappen mess that was a result of the assimilation attempt and freeze it in an awkward position. The electric-wards would last for a while, and now Valerie's blade had a blunt, unwieldly protusion in the form of a spear that no matter how skilled she was, it would difficult her in swinging that particular blade.

Amateur... You don't realize that coolness it's not important when it comes to fighting. Even if you were crammed a thousand fighting styles into your brain with the magic of a girl's transformation, it takes wisdom to use. Reaver thought as he quickly drew his true weapon, the replica of the dragonslaying and anvil-cleaving sword Gram, and simple held it up just in the middle of the path of the kick, so the force would probably make the kicking, flipping sword for arms metallic scrap hurt herself.

But he wasn't done by a far shot. Shields were usually cumbersome, but sturdy, and not flashy at all. Yet for centuries they had been a mainstay of battlefields. For a good reason. Whatever the kind of sophisticated flourish, feint or technique, all he needed to do was plant his feet on the ground, clench his muscles.

And shield bash all the way to victory. A sword was a bad matchup for a shield and armor, and a sword for an arm, while it allowed dual wield and looked cool it was also true that reduced the distance one needed to use it effectively, moreover if it was a dual wield, where you must expose your entire front to the enemy. Closer to the shield. It mattered not what she did use, a shield bash would ruin almost all her attempts at attacking.

And he wanted to check the durability of Seppa's craft. He was growing annoyed. So he kept bashing, and bashing, and bashing. With the occasional stab of his trusty sword.

---

"Tsk" Dina clicked her tongue after seeing she was arriving a moment too late into the scene. Fortunately, one of Mariette's girls had taken her. "This isn't time to play games with Lady Mariette. Portal. GO NOW!" She issued a command, putting every ounce of her charisma, and Reinforcement boost on it, in an attempt to persuade the easily distracted dragon magical girl, while pointing at Dan's exit.

Her eyes darted to the duo, as her avatar was forcefully shut down, making Dina take some internal damage and spitting a handful of blood.

"Some knight and magical girl you are." Dina did not sound as graceful right now, due to the exertion she was taking to hold off Beacon. "What the hell was th... no matter. No time. Grab your soulmate, beast knight, heal her, and go through the exit." She could've staid and demanded Alexander to fighter. But frankly speaking, he was a brat... what could a brat understand about poise and honor? They were shallow and easily discouraged.

It was for the elders to teach how this was done. She then noticed something, in this odd lull. Sanctuary was under Attack? Problems never ceased. She felt like running away. Running to safety. To Penny. Her knees went weak for a second, she didn't want to die. Still she gripped her own arms so hard, and clenched her chattering teeth. She could not appear weak to the youngsters.

"I don't wanna die...mamochka" She whispered to herself.

I don't want to die. But... I don't want to disappoint either. She said, as she focused.

"B..blight of the...the Gods. Poi...poison of the He..Hero." She said, barely managing to get the words out of her mouth.

"RULER'S MENAGERIE: LERNAEAN HYDRA" She spent her beast magic transforming in a dreadful gatekeeper, with one of the mythological strongest poisons, coursing through her spit and blood. This also made her much harder to move, and probably could not get away in due time.

"GO NOW, ALL OF YOU!"

---

Sakura had no time to get embarassed any further, as she was healed a second time, and staggered to her feet, she managed to watch Tenebra's final moments. Her face contorted in despair and terror of an unexpected death.

We're sisters now, right?

She remembered her words, those particular ones. It made a knot in her jaded heart. True, silver weirdo-chan had never been the most stable nor well-behaved, a veritable crook in her own. But she was an underdog. And she wasn't half bad. She had a big heart, and would always give her everything on any request she made. Whatever the past she had, with Lily and her obsession with the rat... she hadn't been that bad of a girl.

She didn't deserve this.

The agonizing scream of Lily was heard too. She didn't deserve this either. This entire battle seemed to be a pile of bodies, trying to pave a bloody road to victory. It made Sakura angry. And sad. But more angry. If she had doubts and second thoughts about deceiving Justine, those had been washed away long ago. She had summoned the black freak. She had killed Tenebra. The rat had been right along, as shady as that thing was. Justine was a blight.

And a victim. But time was running out.

Was it going to end like this? A battle of pawns? To see who made the next move, as corpses piled up?



"Fuck...this." Sakura said. "Looks like I won't get to enjoy Emily's sweets in a while." Sakura said, steeling herself. The dimension was collapsing. She skipped one step. Two steps.

With her Incognito trait, it was likely no one was paying attention to her right now. Three steps. She broke into a running motion.

There was no victory without sacrifice. There was no winning without losing. Death and life were two sides of a coin. Four steps.

This was the hard truth. She had been a cynical man once upon a time. Five steps.

But seeing the smiles of these fools wasn't that bad. Six steps.

Fools that kept dying. Seven steps.

A slave obeys. Eight steps.

But a man chooses. Nine Steps. Her coins rattled in her hand, the accumulated toil and tears, the lifeblood of this world, being suddenly sacrificed to power up her last effort. Her Killing Blow, repurposed into a melee attack.

Those smiles were well worth over all of her coins. All of her body too. It was fun being a magical girl after all. Ten steps.

The final goal. Sakura grappled with all her might onto Justine. She could not miss. She couldn't allow her to get away. Friendly fire be damned. With her last words, she hissed in an eerily dissonant sweet voice. "Sayonara, Justine-kisama." Lightning was coursing through her body, and her fist.

Eternal Style was not even able to mitiigate how horrible and painful it was Sakura's flesh being forcibly burnt by the held energy. Yet she powered throught. She bit Justine, like a vicious dog, to get an ever stronger grip. It also meant she was going to take all the might of the blast too.

She did not care.

Anti magic field? Who cares.

Crumbling dimension? Pff.

Self Damage? Not a concern.

Take my Flesh...my soul, and my tithes.

Strike the Unworthy.

Yeah… probably best Taihei does nothing. As much as she'd wanted to assist her allies, her bad luck would probably just make everything worse. She started running towards the portal Dan opened as quickly as her abysmal agility could achieve. She'd rather not that her bad luck got her locked inside a collapsing dimension.


Dina made her position absolutely clear, and gave some commands. Ronja wasn't about to not follow.

‘I'll support the flight,’ Ronja told, intending to head over to the edge and run down, but she'd head to the corner to check how it's going for Suzette, Esther and Josefin, preparing to possibly shoot web and pull them in to save them from whatever they'd gotten into.

---

Josefin apparently managed to save Su from a sword and caused Leena to drop said sword. Her luck strikes again! Then she flinched as her wrist was grabbed and Leena used her as an impromptu weapon… but that, too, may have been a case of Leena fighting Josefin's fortune. 

‘Don't touch… what you can't handle!’ Josefin twisted herself so the hand of her grabbed wrist grabbed Leena's wrist in turn. Suddenly, Leena'd feel her mana being sucked out of her through her hand into the grinning mana-thief, the one titled the Perky Pilferer. Of course, not all of it at once, but prolonged contact would be problematic.

Josefin was ready to swing her sword in her other hand to block attacks aimed to sever her arm. She was also prepared to blast out her drained or own mana at skin-level to slow down impacts as she was swung around at things. She didn't have a way to prevent herself being swinged at Su, though, so up to Su to dodge that!

And if she looked like she was about to die, she'd let go, fall down. She'd done her part, time to survive.

@Ariamis@BrokenPromise


Esther was a strong magical girl, but as a physical magical girl that supplemented her considerable might with not-inconsiderable amount of magic, it was no surprise FanFan had more options in the Void World. As the saw chipped into her mana, it became clear Esther would not win in a direct physical one-on-one, that's what they had Freya for. The expressionless voiceless tree-girl was staring at FanFan, unable to counter, when… 

‘ESTHER, DETACH!!’ A command came from above. Esther immediately detached her roots from the mansion and jumped outwards, wrapping her wooden limbs onto FanFan's rotary blade and other hand to prevent her from moving, lifting FanFan's arms and guard as the tree-girl jumped out and over the metal-armed girl!

Under, coming dashing down the side of the mansion, was…!


An older girl in a purple dress, blonde with yellow details, grinning as her cloth-gloves and eyes glowed with a massive boost of empathic magic. Behind her, her cloth had formed into two giant purple bat-wings, streaming behind her as she dashed down the side of the mansion directly for FanFan!

‘Let me show you…why I'm the Emptiness Empath!’ Suzette boasted, as Esther focused on holding FanFan immobile as gravity was starting to grab her, but Suzette was dashing down far faster than gravity. With her Training, Suzette predicted how FanFan would attempt to counter her, her Wings perk on in case she needed to leap into mid-air to pursue her. Suzette charged all her magical power into her right arm, which glowed in sinister purple energy, and…!

‘Willpower Blow~’ Suzette called, slamming her clothed fist at FanFan!

Despite the Power's name, Suzette's Killing Blow was not made to kill… 

After, hit or not, the plan was for both Esther and Suzette to fall down to the ground, Esther releasing the grip on FanFan to avoid getting cut more just as Suzette passed. From where they could then join the flight to the portal.

@Ariamis

---

So, Freya was ready to fight with Justine, cooperate with Jenna in the battle… except she was suddenly enveloped by this dose of joy and love that wasn't even meant for her.

‘NO!’ Freya cried out, clutching her arms around her chest, the lamia's tail curling up next to her as well, her body-language almost looking as if she was in pain, yet she couldn't stop smiling, tears falling as she felt so loved.

‘It… it happened again…’ she said, before her gaze lifted and looked towards Aurelio as she was trying to force down her smile. ‘And once again… it's  when YOU'RE here…’ This despite Aurelio not being the cause this time, from her perspective. Freya shook her head and turned back to the battlefield, relatively recovered, but heart still beating quickly.

Yet, she was bothered.

She was supposed to be a stone-cold warrior and killer for Asengav, caring little for who lived or died among those unrelated. Yet seeing Eliza dash in the way of that stab… 

Freya suddenly didn't want to lose anybody. She wanted to keep this happy feeling, as long as possible.

She blasted off at Justine once again, intending to strike Justine's attack aside so she couldn't injure either Eliza or Jenna, this hopefully without disturbing Eliza's attack. Freya attempted to dodge any counter-attack as well, for she had no intention to sacrifice her life, either, then she'd definitely lose the happy feeling. 

Should she arrive on the other side of that attack unharmed, she'd quip to Eliza and Jenna.

‘I'll support you,’ she said, simply.

Then I imagine it's now Silhouette called out about Sonia's condition. Freya braced herself to take advantage of any lapses of judgement Justine may make or prevent any allies from being given fatal blows.

Though, then there was Sakura. And at the time she showed up, Freya got an expression of alarm at the massive amount of power Sakura was gathering, and was prepared to grab Eliza and Jenna to pull them back if they looked like they were about to become collaterals… or she could fall back to Sil and ask if she wanted to be evacuated, that works too.

@Ariamis@Majoras End@twave@FamishedPants

---

So, the mansion cracking in half was obviously not a good sign. Still, it gave the girls inside a very convenient exit.

‘Let me just put on a fake appearance…’ information girl briefly said as she applied some of her own magic on only herself. In moments, she now had the most generic background character girl appearance ever. ‘Good. I'm now ready to escape.’

… And then Victoria cracked through a wall because perhaps exiting through a place the dimension is ripping apart is not a good idea. She then picked up the Black Mirror and leapt out, followed by Tullia, Olivia, a totally generic girl and the crowd of surviving magical girls, currently making a beeline for the portal. Just as long as Victoria didn't try to exit with it before everyone else evacuated. That'd be inadviceable.

Mac had reached the limit of what she could do here. But she was determined to see this one to the end. She wasn't about to let anything happen to the cradle agents, not after all the assistance Veronica had given her. She ran in their direction, hoping to provide some unseen assistance.

---

Alright, I get it. I can insinuate as much as I like but it’s just not going to make you realize what I’m trying to say. Try as I might, you won’t be able to figure it out. So there won’t be any beating around the bush this time. I’m just gunna come out and say it.

I’m you.

I’m each and every one of you.

---

@FamishedPants@Majoras End@Card Captor@AtomicNut@twave

For as long as Su had been a magical girl, you’d think she’d start to realize that magical girls are by their very nature not creatures she can predict. She had hoped that Leena might have recognized her as the girl that helped save her life, and barring that, maybe Dina would stick around in case her strength gave out. Fanfan was right below her after all. But all Su could really do was stay calm and joke about it.

“Bitch? I’m actually closer to an avian creature, I think. Certainly not a canine.”

For obvious reasons, Leena shouting “die” and preparing to take a swing at her was almost enough to convince her to stop holding onto Leena. But it was hard to tell if the fall downward was more or less dangerous than the incoming sword. Fortunately it wasn’t something Su had to think about. A loli named Josefin had managed to show up just in time to attack. Only now Leena was holding her like a club, and using her like one too. Man, Leena sure had some strong arms if she could do that.

This didn’t really bode well for Su. She was not a strong girl, and it was taking all of her being just to hold onto Leena’s legs. She was swift, but with gravity acting on her every curve, there was nothing she could do to move her center mass out of the way.

It is said that in your final moments that your life flashes before your eyes. That you see all the important moments before you shift off your mortal coil. As someone who had been reincarnated a few times, she knew this to be false. When faced with your death, you wear a look of surprise, your mind goes blank, and then…

When Josefin’s body slammed into Su’s, she was thrown into the opposing wall. There was an audible crack as her skull rebounded, leaving a spray of red blood on the side of the mansion. Most of the blood was running down the side of Su’s head. Right over her ear and down her neck. It wasn’t a slow bleed either. Su could only keep one of her eyes open, and it wasn’t like she could even see out of it. Her vision was blurring, and her body wouldn’t stop twitching.

“Nnngh!”

She had a white knuckle grip on her own arms, and something like blood loss wasn’t going to cause her to let go. Even death wouldn’t free Leena from Su’s fingers. At least now she could understand how Amber felt. Throwing her entire life into a gambit to buy the others just a little bit more time. Though it was a little different for Su. Beyond her lover or her friends, she needed to make sure Mariette survived. She was going to be her mother after all.

Wouldn’t any mother willingly die before their children did?

Her head swung backward before her eye closed, and everything went dark.

---

Trixy wanted to aim over the side and put one in Leena’s cranium, but they needed to ensure Justine didn’t get her magic back before it was too late. She wouldn’t leave without victory, or the other cradle agents.

She turned her gun on Alicia, who had just kicked Helga out of the way. With no friendlies in sight, she attempted to bury a round in her chest. She’d love to have taken a shot at Justine, but there was too much going on over there.

Just a bit longer. Just a bit longer and this would all be over.

---

@Majoras End@FamishedPants@twave

The dimension was collapsing. The longer they lingered here, the more people would die. But all of those sacrifices would be meaningless if Justine wasn’t removed from this world.

”I suppose it can’t be helped.” The scarlet stranger approached Maura.

”Time for that huh?” Viridian watched the scarlet stranger move, but was ultimately ignored by her.

”Maura, our time together was short, but I can see you mean well and have the determination to continue the Cradle’s mission.”

”We’ll always remember dressin’ up for the party with ya, even if the mission took us down shit creek without a paddle.” Viridian giggled.

Just as Mariette could only operate her portals over her skin, Veronica could only access the cradle in shadows resting on her form. She reached for something behind her cape and pulled out a contract. Veronica’s fingers thrust into her own neck before smearing blood across the parchment. Once she handed the contract to Maura, It burnt up in an instant. ”The Cradle is now yours, Maura. You may continue with your own duties, but remember your obligation to all of your magical girls.”

With the Cradle in Maura’s capable hands, Veronica and Viridian were no longer patrons themselves. They served the cradle as some of its strongest members.



”I can dispatch Justine myself.” Veronica drew her wrist blade. ”In order for Cradle to survive, her members must not die here. As my last order to all of you, you must ensure Viridian is safely outside the dimension when it collapses.” She paced around Sonia’s frozen form.

”That goes for you too, Sam, but I’ll permit you to finish your job here if you’d like.” She reached for Sonia’s head. ”I wonder, would you care to know what sort of secrets are rattling around in there? Who was Justine to this mindless thrall?”

”Oop!”

Viridian noticed Sakura’s arrival. She considered intercepting her in order to prevent Justine from getting another blood bank to drink. But she could also sense the magic welling up inside of her. It was powerful, and it was possible that she’d inflict some damage on Justine. The vampire had survived a killing blow in the past, and if anything she was stronger still now. Letting Sakura land a hit on her might be just the opening they needed to take down Justine. Lily was out of commission, so this was as close as they were going to get to replicating her attack on Justine.

She pulled a plunger out from under her arm and crept after Sakura. After her attack, she’d try to pull the mobster off of Justine. Worse come to worse, Viridian would try to keep the vampire’s fangs away from her with her plunger. Under absolutely no circumstances would she allow herself to get bit. If Veronica prioritized her survival in this situation, she would adhere to it.

The fact that her approach had been interrupted was quite disappointing. A number were vying to take out Justine and it was hard to keep track of it all. Still, the attack had done a number on Justine which meant she wasn't at full strength. The fact that she had taken Tenebra's life was note enough of that. Justine's actions weren't much of a surprise, having been under her control before, but it still made her sick that she'd come so close to avoiding further death at the vampires hands.

With her access to the Emotion spec Jenna did her best to recover as much of the feeling of love as she could. It wouldn't have the same oomph as the cane, but she could make her strikes more effective. Landing nearby the dark magical girl was already moving in her direction, intent on running her through. Even being sped up Justine was in another league. Eliza and Freya's intervention gave her the space to narrowly avoid being shish kabobbed. That was when another girl came in with a killing blow of her own. Jenna had missed the beginning of all this, but right now the fight was getting messy. The main trick was, despite the amount of damage they did they had to keep her from taking the blood from another afterward. Sakura was already being extracted by a plunger of all things, Eliza and Freya were her next concern. Reaching out she lightly brushed both of the girls and shielded them, passing along a mental message. "If she's going to feed on anyone else, it's going to be me." It wasn't so much a warning as a determination that Jenna had made. Whether or not it would come to that would depends on how desperate things got. She wasn't going to let either of them become the blood sucker's next meal.

She did pick up some of the love that had spread through the lamia. Using that with what she already had she enchanted her spear with the emotion and shifted position to counter attack. She didn't have heavy hitting attacks like some, but she could keep Justine's grasp off of the others, her weapon infused with her bane making it's mere touch painful for the monster girl.

The knight wasn't able to grab Mariette thanks to Lily's last-ditch attempt to pass her Ronin's way. However, it seemed that the footba--err, Mariette, had been intercepted by Mayra, rendering the action rather pointless in the end. Hilaria looked at the defeated Lily. Futile and perilous folly. Her attempt had cost her the remainder of her energy. It was also true that the blow Hilaria herself had inflicted upon the small girl was far from negligible. She was in desperate need of help and probably couldn't protect herself. Someone could simply reach down and finish her off, so Hilaria figured it may as well be her doing the reaching. Nobody was near enough to prevent her from doing so who might've tried. Though Alex, drawing nearer as she noticed, would have to watch as her arm approached Lily's neck and...

...nothing visibly happened. She had extended two fingers outward and gently pressed them against the side of Lily's neck, and then stood up. He probably wouldn't realize until he got to Lily and attempted to move her, but Hilaria had just made her a bit lighter, as although it was as minor as it was, it was the best she could do to assist Lily. It was not like everyone else had stopped fighting. She should join.

By now, cohesion was a thing of the past. The battlefield was looking less stable by the moment, and that was not including the sudden appearances, attacks, and saves. Hilaria did not wish to remain here much longer, lest she be devoured by the ensuing void. It was time to stop playing around. She began to move to join the others and help with the escape attempt.

At this point in time, Hilaria was relatively sure the only person she could wholly trust not to try to stab Mariette was Dina, Dan, and Mariette's own personal allies. And speaking of...

With a loud crack, Hilaria fired her shotgun towards the approaching Ronin. The blast itself, merely a warning, would land between her and the girl she was attempting to make a target, taking a piece of the roof with it. Hilaria had to wonder why she didn't simply go after Mariette while she had the chance, but perhaps she wanted to eliminate a potential weak link? Hell if Hilaria knew. If that hadn't stopped Ronin from approaching, Hilaria would move to assist her ally. But if it had?

"Hello, little one~! Hilaria thinks you have the wrong girl~! Mariette's about two girls that way~" she motioned with her ax.

‘Hahaha! I did!’ Mayra just laughed as MDP jumped over to hug her. Meanwhile, Mariette was very confused. Why was a member of the enemy force hugging Mayra? Why did they seem friendly? So confusing.

Dina made her command, and Mayra nodded. ‘Alright, guess I'm jetting! Are you coming?’ Mayra asked MDP, before blasting herself off towards the portal as commanded. If anyone intended to, like, attack Mayra while she was standing still in the previous post, that's still OK, but Mayra's intention is leaving with Mariette in her clutches right now.

‘Wait, but, Eli-’ Mariette started, still clutching her black Bunny, but Mayra took off before she could finish. Last she saw before Mayra turned around with her, Hilaria was looking out for Eli. Ah, good, then she should be safe…

---

_{Small collab with @FamishedPants}


That frightened Eli. Why would an enemy commit to such a suicidal charge against her, of all people? Aim for the weakest link? Fortunately, Hilaria intercepted the enemy charge, and Eli breathed out in relief, however slimes breathe. She was going to turn and run for the portal herself. Still, wasn't there something familiar about the attacker? Almost like… but no, it couldn't be… 

Ronin staggered to a halt as Hilaria fired, flinching as she did. She looked over with a troubled look. Every newly given samurai-instinct in her tiny body told the same thing. She didn't stand a chance against this foe. However, she was too close to stop.

This person… she wasn't a champion of Asengav. She must be some ally that Mariette had called in. In that case, Ronin saw a fraction of a possibility. If it failed, she'd be leaving herself high to dry. Nothing else to it.

‘I'm going to save my sister from a Horror. Please don't stop me,’ Ronin told, giving a happy if tense grin.

‘Huh? Sist-’ Eli's eyes widened, looking over at the speaker. Surely, it couldn't-

Two things happened at once. The beacon that the primary soul of the Twinned Soul carried to alert its partner activated, telling Eli its location… right in front of her. Only the real soul could possibly do such a thing. Eli was in shock.

Secondly, Ronin leapt at Eli. It was now that Hilaria had the chance to intercept her for real.

The eternal knight did not take the chance, however, and repeated what the small samurai had said. "Sister~? Is that so~?" the word seemed to give her quite some pause and she stood, choosing to observe the two as they clashed.

Despite this supposed revelation, Eli couldn't believe it and naturally still raised her wing-blade and shield as Ronin leapt at her. However, infused with her own enhancements along with Aurelio's, Ronin was quicker and stronger. She struck aside Eli's sharpened wing with her sword wielded in one hand, and pushed aside Eli's reinforced wing-shield with her other arm.

With all arms spread out now, Deni used the rest of her momentum to fly straight into Eli's slime-body, used reinforcement to not actually go inside her amorphous body, and then swung her limbs around to clutch around her sister in a tight, tight hug, warm with her love.

‘D-Deni…?’ Eli asked, enhanced wings still spread.

‘I'm sorry… that I took so long!’ Deni said, smiling and crying a little.

‘Wh-why are you-’

‘Shush, little sister. Long story, not now. Listen. You're about to be sent to the Djinn Sisters' home. You'll be safe there,’ Deni said, and a slight glow started surrounding them.

Hilaria, who was still watching, chose not to interrupt the sibling's touching moment. She sighed to herself although it was probably too quiet to hear, and then wordlessly took off in the direction of Mariette and the others.

Deni noticed that Hilaria was leaving, and had also previously noted she hadn't been struck in mid-air earlier. She mouthed a silent 'thank you' that went unheard. Eli was a bit confused about what Deni had just said, but the Djinn Sisters were their friends, so. Still, what was that about… 

‘What did you mean by saving me from-’ Eli was about to ask.

‘Can you please do something for me?’ Deni interrupted her.

‘Uh…’ Eli was confused and couldn't reply.

‘Clear your mind. Don't think too hard on it. When you arrive, put a sleeping curse on yourself. I'll come wake you up, and everything will be fine. Please, please do this for me, Eli. You can trust me.’

Eli had a lot of reservations about this, especially the part about cursing herself to sleep. But… this was Deni. She could feel it. As impossible as it sounded, this was Deni. Eli felt herself overcome with joy at this tiny fact alone, so… 

‘… Alright. I'll trust you,’ she said, removing the enhancements on her wings and closing them around Deni, hugging her back.

Deni smiled so widely. 

‘I'm so happy to see you again,’ she said.

And then, the glow subsided, and Eli had disappeared from the battlefield, Deni standing there looking content for a bit.

…

Unless one of you decides to be a monster and interrupts, that is. That was at least 10 seconds of conversation, after all.

There was a very satisfying feeling of impact as Helga was thrown away by her kick. Alicia had been sincere in her comment about the Trove though, not merely using it as a ruse to distract her, so hopefully that would give her something to think about in the short term. She really didn’t want to do that fight again.

Returning to climbing, the sound of a commotion above reached her ears. Not that that was the only distraction, as the cracking of the dimension spread further and up into the mansion itself. There was also Trixy’ and although Alicia was alert for potential action she did not expect it to be quite so heavy. The round was dead on, a testament to her aim. Unfortunately her Enhanced Uniform prevented penetration, though she was almost thrown away by the sudden kinetic force and only barely able to grab on to another handhold.

Glancing around for the source, Alicia did not hesitate. She resumed climbing rapidly, attempting to stagger her movements to not give Trixy another easy shot like that. It was all she could do without a way to retaliate. Even if she felt like she’d been kicked in the chest.

She crested the lip of the roof only to find a large hydra-looking thing in the way and that fire girl from before fleeing with Mariette. “Son of a-” Alicia hissed before dropping back down out of sight. She couldn’t fight that thing, so she’d have to go around. Dropping down further, she moved to go around the outside of the building and intercept them that way.

She landed with a roll and began sprinting, only to see Mayra doing the same. It became rapidly apparent that if she caught up it would be at the portal itself, precious little time to prevent an escape. ”Fine,” she snarled, heard by no one in particular but aimed towards Mariette. ”You win this round. But we’ll have our reckoning.” That just left getting out of this mess so there could be a next time in the first place. The world was breaking down after all.

Turning back, her gaze fell upon her first target. The others were in trouble, both Justine as well as Leena. In a flash she made up her mind. First her fellow Beacon members, then the vampire. They’d need her power if they were to do this whole thing a second time.

There was one last thing. ”Leena, drop the field,” she yelled to her ally as she drew nearer the scene. ”Mariette’s escaping!”

Racing back in, she moved to intercept the duo that were tag teaming FanFan. ”Oh no you don’t!” she challenged, once again using her blade as a fixed anchor to gain momentum as she launched a flying kick at Suzette’s side before she could reach her ally. A risky proposition that could put her as the focus of whatever attack was being used, but it was a risk she was willing to take for the sake of her comrades.

_{@Ariamis@PlatinumSkink@AtomicNut@BrokenPromise}

---

With blade in hand, Oros would be able to find that it was not simply a normal blade. It possessed magical effects, though that was likely to be expected given who had initially used it. In this case the blade was hot. Very hot, metal glowing a bright orange encircled by yellow. Perfect for slicing through metal like a knife through butter.

That said, the monster Oros recalled encountering had not specifically been utilizing magical waste like what they were in now. But what the creature could manipulate was close enough for it to be functional to her needs. It drew in magical energy from the environment, and there was plenty of that here,. They would see how well she could use it, rather than it becoming a hindrance.

_{@Shifter_Master@BrokenPromise@DarkwolfX37@twave}

---

Buffeted by the explosions of magical energy as Viva shot her own barriers, Varjo persisted. Her Familiars moved around and behind Viva to keep her trapped in that dome, and to lessen the effects of those explosions on them. They served as conduits for Varjo’s magic.

“I think it’s time to end this,” Imarinen said casually as he hefted his rifle. There was a pause as he waited, observed. Then in the blink of an eye he fired. Using his Time spec he was able to count the pattern Viva fell into, and to thread his bullet through the period of her barrier being shattered by her bullets and the creation of a new one.

He aimed at her arm, seeking to remove the last pesky element that kept her resisting. When that fell silent Alma could then move in and deliver a knockout punch with Reinforced speed. They had work to do, and she did not intend to be held up here any longer. Not when greater chaos beckoned.

“Like, totally wotally~! (giggle!)” MDP replied after Mayra asked if she was coming along. Releasing her hold on the draconic monster girl, she struck a cute pose and gave Mayra a playful peace sign salute. She was just about to bounce after her new friend, when an interesting development in Samurai-chan’s little “duel” caught her attention. “Like, wowie zowies~!” she squealed in delight, her eyes sparkling and a brilliant smile spreading from ear to ear. “Samurai-chan and that cute little wittle slimy wimy girl really are sister wisters~! (giggle!)” Then the two siblings hugged, and MDP became even more starry-eyed (if such a thing were possible). “Awww~! That’s, like, sooo super duper adorable worable~! (giggle!)”

MDP was so captivated by the heartwarming scene that she simply bounced up and down and clapped her hands together, completely oblivious to everything else going on around her. Hydras? Collapsing mansion? Collapsing dimension? All went unnoticed by the whimsical magical girl. It was only when Samurai-chan’s slimy sister had been safety teleported away that a giggling MDP bounced over to Dan’s portal, her heart filled with feelings of warmth and love.

Mint! Melisa had been told about them. A shady and manipulative group apparently. Something about the name struck her the wrong way, at least at the moment. Anyhow her tumble was stopped by a magical force that pushed her onto safe ground. Bouncing and crumpling for a moment she very quickly reoriented her limbs to stand. "Thanks!" What exactly was going on was still confusing to her. However the main thing she could see was another girl had turned into a monster and was attacking Penny. She'd had some training to fight and use her magic, thankfully, but it was still something of a shock this first time. Holding out her arms forward her two cannons materialized.

This being a dump there were random bits and pieces of scrap lying around. Melisa spotted the blade and for a moment considered trying to control it, but it moving so quickly would making targeting it tough. Instead she began shooting at any loose chunks of metal she could see around Oros and Penny. Shifting and coming to life the metal objects began to dislodge themselves from the terrain and attempt to grab and restrain Oros and the additional arm coming out of the ground. The hot blade would damage the other metal objects, but it lacked any sensory capability to recoil from the touch. Besides, the arm holding the sword wasn't magically burning so that could still be restrained to protect Penny from a strike.

Penny withheld a grimace at the lack of real damage that her guass round inflicted. The steel spike landed, but she noticed the lack of effect the stored lightning had and wasn’t blind to the countered gravitic distortions.

Still both of those observation fell to the way side at Snoopy’s chimed in update.

‘Mika?!’ Penny thought incredulously at Snoopy’s happy update, before she forcefully paused that train to thought to focus more at the matters at hand. Those being the acidic hands grasping her ankles, the enchanted sword heading for her back and the strike coming at her front.



First was the sludge. It was corrosive, that much Penny could have guessed without coming into contact with it, and alone it wouldn’t have done much more then scuff her paint. But it was also magical, which came with its own problems, as that property allowed it to start eating away at her. But hardly a moment after the burn began a dull sheen would rapidly spread across Penny’s form starting from the points of contact. As she altered the top layer of her chassis adding in the properties of enchanted platinum, making her effectively immune to corrosion.



The strike at her rear was more complicated, but she had extra limbs and an extra eye so that wasn’t insurmountable either. Two of the Spider limbs focused on keeping the blade away from actually hitting her, in addition her holographic armor snapped to life along her torso. She didn’t think that her gravimetric barrier would do much considering how it seemed that her foe also had gravity magic, and wanted to hold off on her electromagnet barrier for now. Extremely high heat killed magnetic properties after all.

Her other two Spider limbs lashed out at the blade trying to grab hold of it, or disarm the tentacle limb holding it. As Penny wanted it after all, because good quality enchanted metal wasn’t easy to come across.

Snoopy was floating just above her head but faced backwards so that Penny could ‘see’ though him to more accurately coordinate her limbs.

At least that had been the plan, Melisa’s assistance would change things, but not significantly. One of Penny’s spider-esque limbs would abandon defense to begin tearing away at the slime coated limbs grasping at her ankles.



Lastly was the straight forward attack, this Penny chose to meet head on with a punch of her own. Her left-hand fusing shut into a veritable club as she aimed to break Oro’s nail like arm with her counter strike.



Penny’s inhuman mind scanned her situation again to verify that all active issues were being addressed. All three avenues of assault were addressed and responses were deployed. Melisa had been dragged to safety and had begun supporting operations and both Nunico and Shion were currently out of the line of fire.

Satisfied she returned to the thought that she had paused.

“I have to say Mika I’m surprised that you threw your lot in with the Mint. Was it personal that you chose to attack, or just trying to drive up profit for the Golden trove?” She would call out, but her voice was notably distorted compared to normal.

“And I’m curious, does Su know about your ties to the Mint?”

Quietly Snoopy pinged Penny with another update, this one going unacknowledged due to its low priority.

Outwardly Snoopy just beeped happily, he was finally able to perform his primary function and thus was quite content.

---

“Leena’s Null field happened” Aurelio would reply the moment he could. “And trust me, it’s not going to last that long. We can see it falling apart on our end.” He would add as he made a few clones. Before rushing back into the field to get to the rest of his teammates.

One of the Clones would stay outside the effected area to hold open a steady com link with HQ, the other two would follow Aurelio back in. One ahead of the other. That way the ahead clone fizzled out the last clone would stop giving a clear indication of where the field ended.

When he got back to the center of the madness, Aurelio would have like to been able to say he was surprised that the chaos had grown, He wasn’t but he would have like to be pleasantly surprised. Instead, he just ran towards the nearest Beacon member who needed immediate aid.

Leena.

He heard Alicia’s call out and hopped Leena would comply, and in that hope he set aside seventy percent of his remaining mana for the moment the field dropped. All of which would be used to summon as many copies as he could which would then proceed to teleport out with anyone they could. It didn’t matter if they were friend or foe save for Justine if he could help it.

Friends were getting ported back to HQ, everyone else would get sent to Penrose Park.

In the meantime, he was going to try and help deal with the people latched onto Leena in a manner that he really wasn’t a fan of using but wasn’t going to let that stop him. He would reach out and try to touch them and begin syphoning off all emotions they had running through them, enforcing an onset of total Apathy. If that didn’t work, he just hopped that Leena dropped the field soon so that he could teleport her out. Perhaps taking her aggressors with them back to HQ.

---

Viva was a font of curses and vitriol. Even as her vision black from the supposed lack of oxygen rather then the enchanted darkness around her. Her gun vanished in a short flare of light when it landed on her from her arm getting shot. Which only had her increasing the volume of her rant towards the members of the Mint that had betrayed her.

She was still hurling insults when Alma struck her and forcibly knocked her into unconscious. Which was obvious when it happened as Viva turned into a pile of flesh colored glop in the same instant, one which only vaguely retained a humanoid outline.

Due to the curse on her, it was hard to tell when she would wake up. But it was unlikely that it would be in time to escape or hinder the Mint’s plans any further.

---

_{@BrokenPromise, @twave & @Ariamis, @BrokenPromise, @PlatinumSkink & @Flamelord}

@DarkwolfX37@Shifter_Master@twave@Flamelord

The mafioso cautiously watched the fight play out. There wasn’t much he could do with Penny fighting out there by the liquid waste. Asking his tiger to fight in that would likely not be well received by his companions. Besides, he had just brushed her up. Can’t ruin her coat now.



It had been a long time since Oros had fought Penny. At one time it seemed like they fought every other weekend. She had probably been killed by Penny more than any other magical girl, and for good reason: she was powerful. Penny was fast, strong, and durable. Penny wasn’t a spell singer, but she had every utility power you could ever want. Many times, Oros had heard people call Penny one of the most powerful magical girls. But to Oros, she was just a worthy opponent, a challenge. However, Oros was presently on a winning streak and didn’t plan on letting it end yet.

Penny just wasn't as difficult to beat once you understood her. Regardless of what iteration she had, she was always an aggressive, close proximity fighter. She’d just throw herself at you and assume she would come out on top because of how strong she was. And there was no denying it; her strength was fearsome. But it was also that arrogant pride that made her so weak. Had this been Oros’s first fight against Penny, The shape shifter would likely be dead already. But over the countless years she had devised a method for dealing with all of Penrose’s magical girls. Penny might be one of the strongest girls, but she was also the most predictable. Not that it was really fair to blame Penny for that. If she had died to Oros time and time again, she’d probably smarten up too. But while Oros had fought Penny numerous times, this was Penny’s first time fighting Oros.

In the end, winning fights isn’t about the number of abilities you have or how strong you are, it’s entirely the situation. And right now Oros held all the cards.

Attacking the tentacles that gripped the sword was a sound strategy, but this was a feint. Oros could use the power of gravity to take hold of the sword again and continue fighting. In fact, without the tentacles holding onto the sword, it could be swung with impunity without having to worry about hitting its own arm or if it could even be held at a certain angle. The blade spun like a tomahawk, refusing to be poached by Penny’s destructive hands.

The tentacles that gripped Penny’s feet were merely there to cause her to tumble forward into Oros. There was no reason to maintain them once Penny had destroyed them.

Oros’s nail-like arm would break with Penny’s swing, but that was just denying the inevitable. Pain was nothing the the numb time traveler. She did not even flinch as her forearm was shattered on the spot. The spike now had a jagged edge that was still growing longer, and with Oros’s ability to alter her body shape, the forward flying Penny would not be able to avoid in time. Her torso stretched like a snake, determined to impale Penny on the spot.

And Oros wasn’t even out of tricks yet. Her black katana was unaccounted for. It was actually hiding in the pool she was laying in, ready to jet out at a moment’s notice. Altering gravity like this was usually taxing enough for Oros that she only did it occasionally, but her form seemed to be absorbing the magical waste into herself. She couldn’t burn the mana fast enough. She’d split Penny down the middle.

Could Penny fire back with anything? Probably. She was preparing another Gauss round or some variant of it, but it was all too easy to counter. Maybe she thought she could heal away the damage, but Oros's venom would counter act that. It was just a matter of time before she transformed into the “Engine of Destruction,” but anime transformations were old news. She considered her “Warpgasm” a perfect counter to it, and had several kills against other Pennies to back up her confidence.

If there was one move that Oros didn’t expect, it was Penny calling her by "that" name. As small as it was, as insignificant as saying anything to a creature who’s only interests are rampant lust and combat. It made her pause.

“The true name!”

The burning sword floated overhead, Any of Penny’s severed limbs would get pulled into Oros’s hammerspace by various tentacles, the dark sword would remain hidden in the depths, and Oros would pull back her jagged arm after minimal penetration (if any at all). All magic had been diverted to a second shift, and this one was going to take Penny, and only Penny, with Oros somewhere more secluded.

---

“Ahhhhh…”

Oros had used some of the extra mana she had to speed up her shift. She rolled backwards and sprung to her feet, still with the body of a crystal creature. Her hands had turned back, and were holding her new and old swords.

If Penny cared to open her eyes, she would see that she was in some ruined city. The sky was dark and clouded over, and large beasts flew over head. The stomping of creatures far larger than either of them could be heard in the distance. Everything was ruble and debris. Nothing lived here, not even the grass. If Penny could feel the cold, she’d feel a chill.

“I’d love to keep fighting Penny, and maybe I will. But perhaps we can talk first. It just didn’t feel right to drop several paragraphs of dialog inside a fight scene.” Oros sheathed her sword. She attempted to put away her new one, but the burning blade didn’t look like it would fit in her dress anywhere. Not without burning her up. With a sigh, she thrust it into the ground and leaned on it.

“You called me Mika. While that’s correct, it’s also not the entire truth.” She extended her arm. “So let me explain everything in a simple, concise paragraph so that you don’t have to read some shitty flashback to understand what’s going on.”

Unfortunately, Oros doesn’t write her posts. I do.

“Shit!”

---

@AtomicNut

“Hey Dina, wanna go to the movies later? I think there’s a magical girl movie I really wanna see.”

"I would be delighted to be accompanied by you, dorogaya."

“Yay!”

---

Mika had really fallen head over heels for Dina, and their feelings appeared to be mutual. Things weren’t always this way. At first Dina was far too high strung to bother with the rambunctious cat girl. But over time, Dina became more playful, and Mika became more mature. There were still times when they didn’t get along, but that was anybody.

“Thanks Dina! I really enjoyed that movie! If you ever want to do anything, just let me know!” Much to Mika’s surprise, the reserved woman gently took Mika’s chin in her hand and pointed it at her face.

"Even a lady has certain wants, and you can be certain of what I want now."

“I-I see!” Mika’s tail was spinning in circles. As Dina’s face came closer to hers, she found herself closing her eyes.

---

Nobody knew what happened, but the world was ablaze. Fires tall enough to scorch the heavens, and a pulsing eye loomed over all. The Mint and Beacon had finally pulled out all the stops, and everyone in between was collateral.

“Dina!” Mika held her lover’s shoulders. While Mika had survived Armageddon, it did not look like Dina would. She had used all of her mana, and Mika’s healing artifact was powerless to save the woman. “There has to be someone still alive. A-Alex couldn’t have been killed by that thing. A-And-”

Dina’s reassuring hand stroked the side of Mika’s face. "The past is gone, the future is uncertain... allow me to savor the present with you."

Mika closed her eyes, but she couldn’t stop the tears from flowing.

---

Mika used a red coin to help put an end to the fighting. She blended in with the remaining Beacon forces and slew as many as she could, but only after they mopped up the rest of Mint. The damage had already been done by that point. Her world had been lost, and it remained a hell for anyone unfortunate enough to be a magical girl. An infinite cycle of rebirth in a world without warmth or light. Being dead for twenty years was starting to look more like a reprieve from the constant agony of existence. But even that was being taken away from them. It seemed like with the world in its present state, even the patrons saw keeping their champions alive here was a lost cause, and their circle of resurrection was broken. Not that Dina's ability to reincarnate had been whole to begin with.

Mika was cursed to walk the earth alone, until her final days.

---

But a creature who had yet to taste life took interest in this world. A quiet voice offered Mika an escape from this hell, and who was she to refuse? She was given a dark sword that overloaded her mana reserves, instantly turning her into a monster girl.

Mika never cried again. She would go to other worlds and set things right.

---

What was happening?

She couldn’t change anything!

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t get her happy ending with Dina! Dina seemed to outright hate her now. Why was that? Why wouldn’t Dina be happy that Mika was stronger now?

This had been her fifth failure. She couldn’t stop the world from ending either. Maybe she should just set aside her love for Dina and focus on having a future.

---

Twenty failures, and nothing. Not even a little bit of change.

By this point, failure was becoming expected. It was less traumatizing that way. No matter how many times Dina died, she’d be right there again.

Maybe Mika was going about this wrong. She can’t save the world precisely because she’s repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Loving Dina is a mistake. Yes! She’d just have to pursue other girls. And since she can always move over to a new world, nothing will really be lost.

Yes! She would fall in love with everyone! And then she would understand everything! She would know the secrets of everyone she ever met. She would feel their warmth, their hatred, it would all be hers. And then maybe she would be able to save everyone!

---

W-what happened to Justine?

Mika had just confessed her feelings to her and she ran screaming through the mansion. Then when they kissed, she, she…

And now Sonia’s drawing her knife.

Mika had never seen Sonia more upset in all her life.

---

Penny’s body was cold, but you really couldn’t beat a tight hug at the end of the day. Mika was getting ready to walk home when Penny’s lair burst into flames.

Mika looked around to see what had happened. It was Thalia, tears streaming down her face.

When Mika looked back at the lair, she could see Penny was laying in it, her head turned into a molten ball of scrap.

Thalia took her own life shortly afterwards.

---

Mika didn’t stop punching the floor. A few minutes ago Mariette’s head was there. And while what was left of her face slipped between the floor boards, Mika continued to punch away.

But regardless of how much she punched.

Even if she erased every trace of her.

It wasn’t going to bring Deni back.

---

Mika had been putting off Su for a while. She didn’t really find her mother very attractive, or at least the idea of pursuing her was. Now she wondered why she hadn’t gotten to her sooner. She was needy and passionate, but Mika didn’t mind having Chinese takeout every night.

All she had to do was make sure Helga’s life gem was crushed during the crew’s first fight with her. But hey, at least Amber survived her encounter with Janet this time. Something to keep in mind for the next reset.

---

Mika pinned Alexander up against a wall and began kissing him all over his face. Was Mika bisexual? Bi-curious? Mika didn’t really think about her own sexuality much. By this point she had simply come to understand herself well enough that she didn’t need a name for what she was. She was lonely, and she enjoyed affection. It was as important to her as breathing air or eating food.

A shame she had to kill Lily before they ever met to make this work. He just didn’t take interest in her otherwise. That was fine though, she’d make it up to Lily next time when she Killed Alexander instead.

---

Just for fun, Mika decided to try pursuing herself. Way too easy. She knew herself too well. It was also very unrewarding. While Su was needy for one person, Mika was willing to share herself with everyone.

That was a lot of people to kill to make this work.

---

Mika was strolling by sanctuary when Viva winked at her and said something sexy. Mika just gave her a sideways glance and kept walking.

Not everyone was worth pursuing.

---

Mika lost count of how many times she had seen the world end. A hundred? A thousand? Regardless, she knew there was nothing she could do to change things now. But it also didn’t matter because there would always be worlds that hadn’t been doomed. At this point, it was all just a game. As long as she was enjoying herself, that was all that mattered.

It was getting harder to find worlds where Penrose even existed. Which was a shame, because there were a few people she had yet to get. In the long run, it didn’t really matter.

But for some reason, it did to Mika.

---

“…And then my patron guided me here! Now you know why Mika and I have the same color code for our text despite us being different characters! Hell, half of my abilities are the same.” She folded her arms. “Anyway, that’s just a primer for what I’m going to ask you. So you see, I’m actually not really with the Mint or Beacon at all. They are both pieces of shit that will eventually doom this world with their power struggle. While I normally wouldn’t try to oppose them directly, I found a babe who’s patron is all about kicking Beacon and Mint ass. So naturally, I need to make an effort to be their friend. If they trust me, I can strike. I'm too weak otherwise.” She pounded her fist into her hand. ”I’ve tricked Beacon into turning my nose into a weapon to destroy the Mint, and now I’m going to ask Mint to basically do the reverse for me. After that, they will hopefully collapse. It might save the world, but it will certainly get me some sugar. And in the end, isn't that what we all want?” She traced a circle with her burning sword which left a lingering afterglow. ”But this only works if they trust me. Killing you will put me on their radar. I’ll be someone they can deal with. But what I’d like to offer you right now is a chance to work along with me. The grand magistrate are throwing off serious ‘this needs to end now’ vibes, so I don’t think we have time for a popper fight anyway.” She cut through the afterglows with her black katana.

”So Penny, wanna fake your death?”

Alex rushed to Lily’s side, who had managed to rise up to her knees, still holding on to her shot arm.
”I-I’m okay,” she claimed, despite her appearance clearly stating the opposite. ”But, did Mariette-” She tried to see where the eyepatched girl was, but her headache intensified, causing her to wince.
”Dan made a portal. We gotta...leave...” She wrapped an arm around Alex’ shoulder, and took support from him as she did her best to run, stumbling along the way.

---

When Veronica peered into Sonia's mind, she discovered a long and tragic backstory far too long to spend a moment of exposition. But as she skimmed through it, she learned that unlike all of Justine's other servants, Sonia was never brainwashed or magically controlled, her loyalty to her unbreakable and resolute.

Justine charged, aiming for Jenna’s heart, when Eliza stepped in the way, ready to intercept just in time. However, it did not dissuade the vampiric monster girl, who had predicted her move.
”Eliza! You shall die together with her!”
Justine caught Jenna’s spear with the jagged edges of her own, cautious of her ability to use her Bane against her as she showed her uncanny dexterity and power. She simultaneously reacted to Freya’s attack, and matched it with two red arms that caught her claws, wrestling at near-even strength. That was when Samantha called out. Justine had no love for her servants, as she truly did not for any but her sister. Even Sonia, her most valued and trusted companion, was but a maid. But despite that, something deep inside her compelled her to turn her eyes to Sonia, even if for a fleeting moment.

She felt the sting of the thornwitch in her chest as Eliza took the opportunity to stab. She plunged the cursed weapon she hid with her twirl, and unleashed it’s terrible magic. Roots shot through her accursed veins, causing Justine to cough up blood, her eyes wide and pupils dilated. She gargled her speech from blood in her throat:
”No way...You...You….”

But then, she gave a creepy smile, and opened them again, now crying tears of blood.
”You...FOOL!”
Eliza was caught; both of her arms and her torso squeezed by three red clawed arms, immobilized as Justine shook, while a fourth arm punched it’s claws at Freya; the monster girl was resistant enough to avoid being impaled, but she was sent flying back, her scales dropping from her front. The fifth one grabbed Jenna’s spear, causing her to wince in pain as the last remnants of Jenna’s love enchantment burned her.
The blood that dripped from the corner of her lip sizzled, and Eliza realized how Justine was still alive; she had turned her blood acidic, and destroyed the roots before they ruptured her body to death. Still, they caused enough damage for black veins to form on her face and limbs, visibly disfiguring her as she struggled to stand on her feet. She gave a horrific smile as she crushed Eliza’s arm to the point of breaking her bones, causing her to drop the Thornwitch Blade; the broken weapon emitted a dull clang as it hit the black ground.
”I feel my blood running dry...You shall quench it!”
She opened her mouth, about to bite into Eliza’s neck…!

Justine’s eyes darted to her side, and her final red arm lashed out to grab Sakura, surrounded by an aura of yellow energy. ”DAMN BRAT!”
She snarled as she attempted crushing the small magical girl, while Viridian attempted pulling her off. However, both were too late, as Sakura’s Killing Blow, powered up to a great storm of crackling lightning, beared down the vengeful fist of Narukami on her.

”NNNOOOOOOOO!!!”

In that moment, the combatants were blinded by a great flash of light, their ears nearly deafened by the crack of thunder.

In the aftermath, everyone was scattered around the smoking crater that had formed; Sakura was the farthest, having received nearly as much damage as she intended to inflict, her skin burnt and her hair standing upright and with small fires on the tip of it. When she came to, she had turned back to human form, having spent her magic. Eliza, Jenna, and Viridian were nearby, also struck by the blast due to proximity, but with lesser injuries thanks to being dragged away by Freya at the last moment.

Justine was sprawled at the center of the crater; her body had been heavily burnt black and smoking, with strokes of boiling blood that left her to form a pool. Her eyes were blank and glazed; she had been defeated.

---

Leena was not amused by Su’s wordplay, and proceeded to attempt to whack the clingy girl with another one. However, she winced as Josefin used her mana-draining spell on her, causing her to grunt and release her grip on the young-looking magical girl mid-swing. “Dammit!” Josefin was slammed against Su, though not as hard as Leena originally intended; it caused damage in the form of heavy bruising on Josefin and a concussion on Su. Josefin began to free-fall, but was grabbed by a string of spiderweb launched by Ronja alongside Suzette and Esther. She swung her allies towards the portal, and then hopped off the rooftop, letting herself be carried by the velocity of her friends right through the misty archway.

Su on the other hand still managed to hold on through sheer willpower. Leena coughed, her body spasming as her limbs began to be deprived of oxygen. She looked up, and saw the enormous hydra, it’s numerous serpentine heads spread like Behemoth from the End Times.
She heard Alicia’s order, and coughed again as she let go of the sword stuck to the wall, the strength in her limbs having failed her. “Rhh, Beacon damn it all to hell!” She groaned, as she fell down. Despite her stubbornness, she had to admit defeat in this situation, right as Su lost her grip, and fell.

---

“Huh?” Aurelio heard Elora suppress a groan of frustration as she heard the explanation for the Beacon team’s complications. “She can be stubborn, but she’s never endangered the mission like this! Snap her out of it, by force if you must!” Fortunately, Aurelio did not have to resort to any ungentlemanly maneuvers. With a sigh, Leena released her Nullification Field, allowing magical forces to permeate once more through the devastated battlefield. The moment she did, she was barraged by Elora’s voice in her intercoms.
“Abort the mission and prepare to extract!”
It was too late for the dimension to stabilize; the Black Mirror having been removed from the realm, sealing its fate. Second by second a quake began to manifest as the world began to collapse unto itself in a spiral pattern, like a planet that is slowly, but inevitably, approaching the event horizon of a black hole.

---

Helga had barely managed to recover from her fall when she noticed Su falling down. With her magic having been returned, FanFan launched herself up at a diagonal trajectory using her sound cannons, catching Su at the apex of the jump. “Gotcha!” With another burst of sound cannons, she made another jump, this time slowing her descent to a roll with Su over her shoulder. “Phew, landed it! Now hold on!” She then ran like Usain Bolt, dashing through the portal.

---

FanFan was close to running Esther’s mana out with the sawblade when Esther suddenly released her hold on the building; as FanFan had grabbed entirely onto Esther, relying on the tree-monster to prioritize keeping herself rooted, she also began to fall alongside her. “W-What? What kind of tree uproots itself like that? Cheeky barkskin!~”

She looked past Esther to see who gave her the command, and her eyes widened upon seeing Suzette rear up for a punch. She grit her teeth as she braced for impact, only to be heroically saved by a Rider Kick from Alicia; it hit Suzette right in the cheek, causing some of her teeth to fly off as she tasted blood and also flew from the impact. “Paladin Seraph!” FanFan yelled with a wide smile, and grabbed Alicia with her human arms while using a metal arm to hang on to a windowsill, and the other to catch Leena from above. “She...Escaped...” Leena groaned. FanFan nodded, and turned to Alicia.
“Thank you for your rescue. The target has left, which means we must abort the mission,” she said as the group descended down to ground level, and witnessed the aftermath of the battle. FanFan sighed. “It seems there was quite a brawl here. But still, Justine was not as formidable as she had advertised herself as, to lose like this. Ready for extraction,” she notified Elora.

---

The rumbling and shaking of the dimension intensified, and the combatants of the great magical battle began to flee by any means necessary. Mayra was the first one through Dan’s portal with Mariette in her arms, followed by Taihei tripped on a loose fragment of the crumbling mansion as she ran. In the process, she accidentally tackled Mia as she and Connie also rapidly approached portal, causing the two of them to roll through the portal in a most undignified exit, with a terrified Connie and skipping MDP not far behind. Alex saw the portal Lily pointed to, and using one of his prehensile tails swung himself and Lily down and through the swirling vortex.
Once the coast was clear, Tullia, Olivia, Victoria carrying the Black Mirror, and a generic NPC-looking girl rushed from the crumbling mansion; the building collapsing behind them, causing them to propel themselves faster from the shockwave as they dashed through the portal.

Aurelio’s clones got to work; they swiftly dashed to the rescue of anyone who still remained in the dimension and couldn’t reach a portal or otherwise exit in time, taking hold of numerous innocent maidens’ hands (to the shock of a few) and teleporting them out of the dimension. Curiously, Justine was left out of this list; she would be the only one left behind and consumed by the cosmic collapse.

---

Aurelio brought his fellow Beacon comrades to the Beacon headquarters, with the exception of Alicia, who arrived later. At the teleportation chamber, a team of magical girl medics were on standby, and immediately began applying first aid magic to the wounded agents. Rachel was waiting for them there. “Get these girls and boy to the infirmary ASAP,” she ordered the medics.
“Once they are in speaking condition, let me know. I am interested to hear the results of this mission.”

The unlucky few were brought to the cold night of Penrose Park, illuminated by a single lamp in a sea of darkness. However, as ominous as it was, none could deny the breath of fresh air and sense of safety that came with escaping from Mariette’s gothic realm.

---

All of the girls who passed through Dan’s portal found themselves in a pleasantly warm, air-conditioned hotel lobby. It looked to be at least five stars based on the interior decorating and sense of style, with a vivid and colorful palette. There were wide and soft couches and lounging chairs placed throughout the lobby, as well as a table with a pile of various items on it. Curiously, these items were first-aid kits, bandage rolls, blood transfusion bags and even bags of ice, as well as IV drips around the table; it seemed Dan had prepared for the worst by placing such items in advance. Anyone who would approach the table would immediately receive first aid from the items as they spontaneously came to life with magical sparkles and began treating wounds and injuries, as if handled by invisible nurses and doctors with potent healing power.

There were large windows that reached up to the ceiling, showing the sunny, sandy world outside, with a bright blue ocean that stretched far to the horizon; this was the first sign to Connie, Mia, and Magical Dream Princess that they were no longer in the cold winter of Penrose. The second was when they noticed something had happened to everyone’s appearances; they would discover that their magical uniforms had transformed into swimsuits, as have the uniforms of everyone who arrived.

Lily slowly opened her eyes, and managed to smile as she found herself on the bright and cheerful island. She noticed how her swimsuit had changed from last time; whether it was by Dan’s whimsical will, Lily’s own choice, or some magical law of the strange world, it was a complete mystery.



”Thanks for letting us escape here Dan,” She spoke with a tired voice, holding a bag of ice on her head that Dan gave to her. The Lesser Force was quick to accommodate everyone with seats and provide them with care and attention; he was wearing a protective facemask and surgeon’s reflective mirror on his brow.
”We probably would have been goners without you.”
The dolphin squeaked excitedly in response:
“Don’t mention it, Lily. Besides, it’s my pleasure to have so many of you again as guests. Oh, we also have new arrivals!”
He floated over to Connie and Mia, and shook hands with them using his tiny fins. “Hi there! I'm Dan The Dolphin! Welcome to Isla Paradiso! Please enjoy your stay, and let me know if you need anything!”

“I know I need to treat Su. Do you have anything for head wounds?”
Helga was also there, and immediately brought Su to a sofa to lie down sideways on it, before she went to retrieve some first aid supplies for her. Before she knew it, Su’s head was wrapped with a bandage that possessed restorative qualities, gradually mending her fractured skull and closing her wounds.



Everyone felt how they could still cast magic as normal, but for some reason any magical spells intended to hurt or harm would end up as harmless magician’s tricks or showers of stardust, and summoned weapons would turn into pool noodles and beach balls among other instruments of fun. Second-time visitors to Dan’s dimension would note that they were not obstructed from leaving the realm by magical means or contacting beyond it. The lone exception to this rule was Mariette, who was unable to open portals or send messages; it seemed Dan was not willing to let her of all magical girls leave just yet. Then, Mariette and her fellow Asengav’s chosen soon realized: they no longer possessed the Black Mirror.

Things were a blur as everyone clashed. When it was clear that a blast was imminent Jenna braced herself with Regeneration. Thrown back her injuries started healing up as she struggled to rise. The nullification lifted and the exodus from the collapsing dimension started. The People were getting pulled out and pretty soon there was pretty much no one left but a few. Among them was Justine, or what was left of her. Avatar let up which caused a shiver. Limping up she cast a barrier over the body with herself inside. Holding one hand out the Big Backpack that she shared with her sister appeared in her hand. Opening it up she pulled out a potion and poured it over the vampire's body. It might not do anything for Justine herself, she wasn't sure, but it would purify whatever was left just to be sure. A couple Aurelio were there to assist as she was ready to request extraction. She put a hand down on Justine just as Silhouette's own hand came to rest on the girl.

Lily very clearly wasn't okay, but things were far too chaotic for Alexander to bother arguing with her.
”Dan made a portal. We gotta...leave...” Lily said as she put her arm around him for support
"The dolphin? When did he get here!?" Alexander started to make his way to the portal "I really can't wait for the after action report, because I'm not sure what the fuck just happened." He tried picking up speed, but Lily's stumbling kept slowing him down. "Fuck it" he groaned as he swept her up into his arms, surprised at how light she felt 'Did I get stronger?' but he didn't give it much thought as he raced to the portal. 'I really can't wait for the after action report, because I have no idea what the fuck is going on anymore.'

---

'Got to say, it feels really good to not be on healing duty for once' Alexander thought as he let himself relax. As sketchy as the dolphin was, he at least didn't allow violence in his realm, so Alexander felt safe in letting his guard down just a little. He had forgotten about the swimsuit thing, so he was surprised when he noticed that his Primal Form's weird robe thing had been replaced with a pair of trunks. However, now that the battle was over, he had returned to his base form. With things finally safe, Alexander put Lily down "Just tell one thing dolphin; are we going to worry about the time dilation again? Because that caused a lot of trouble last time, and I can't leave my animals alone for too long without warning, not again" He then leaned into Lily's ear and whispered "We're going to have a lot to talk about once we get some time alone."

For the thir... four... well who's counting. Once again Melisa was left befuddled. One moment Penny and this other girl was in front of them, and then the next they were gone. She lowered her weapons and glanced around. There was nothing around them but a wasteland. Internally the woman wanted to scream, or cry, or something of that nature. The girl though huffed and stamped her foot on the ground. "Dammit." Looking around again she just saw nothing. Rubbing her head she was clearly frustrated. "Nuncio, where are we?" She was going to die, she was convinced by this point. Something here or somewhere was going to kill her and she wasn't even going to have a clue what it was. It'll step on her and crush her or melt her down.

Arriving at Dan’s portal, MDP watched as Mayra took Mariette through. The whimsical magical girl was about to follow her when an item of no small importance managed to find its way into her ADHD addled brain. “Golly wolly~! Magical Dream Princess forgot all about Connie Wonnie and Gaia Waia~! Like, pretty please hold your portal wortal thingie open for just a little wittle bit longer, Dany Wany~!” MDP asked the dolphin. “Magical Dream Princess has to rescue her new friends~!”

Conjuring a sparkling cloud (which was now possible thanks to the dissolution of Leena’s Null Field, something MDP, unsurprisingly, hadn’t even been aware of), the cheerful magical girl raced off to find her friends. It wasn’t long before she found them, along with someone she didn’t expect, but was still incredibly happy to see.

“Wowie zowie~!” MDP squealed at the sight of her best friend. “Pastel-chan~! Like, what are you doing heresie~?! Magical Dream Princess thought you couldn’t come helpy welpy Samurai-chan cause you were busy wizy~! Is all that stuffy wuffy finished winished nowie~?! Are you heresie weresie to helpy welpy Samurai-chan too~?!” the hyperactive magical girl asked in rapid succession, her eyes gleaming with excitement. “Like, that would be soooo super duper cool~! (giggle!) Magical Dream Princess has been having sooo much fun, and met sooo many people weple, like this one girl with these totally wotally awesome wasome metal wetal armsie warmsies~! (giggle!) She, like, even invited Magical Dream Princess to a tea party~! (giggle!) But, like, everythingie wingie will be even better now that Magical Dream Princess and Pastel-chan are together wether~! (giggle!)” she cheered, giving the bespectacled magician a big hug. “And, like, don’t you worry, Pastel-chan~! Magical Dream Princess has kept Samurai-chan safey wafey, just like you asked her too~! First, she saved her from this nasty wasty tentacle wentacle thingie wingie in a super dark and creepy weepy placey wacey, and then she turned a bunch of lava wava into yummy wummy candy wandy, and then she met this super duper cool dragony wagony person worson named Mayra Wayra~! Oh~!” she gasped as something important occurred to her. “But, like, Magical Dream Princess can’t explainy wainey anymoresie, cause, like, this whole placey wacey is gonna collapsey wapsey any moment woment, so we gotta go right nowie~!”

Not wasting another second, she pulled Connie, Gaia, and Amanda onto her cloud and shot off at top speed in the direction of Dan’s portal. The dimension’s rate of collapse had greatly accelerated by this point, which, coupled with a certain individual’s horrific luck, caused a minor disruption just as the quartet was about to leave the crumbling dimension behind. Before anyone knew what was happening, a small monster girl had crashed into Gaia, knocking her off the cloud. Connie gasped as she watched her friend tumble thorough the portal with the monster girl, and quickly raced after her, MDP’s cloud having been dissolved by some strange interplay of luck and magic. Thankfully, the cloud had been close enough to the ground so that its passengers avoided any injury, and shortly after Connie had passed through the portal, MDP skipped through it as well, pulling Amanda along with her.

“Wowie zowie~!” MDP exclaimed, upon seeing where they’d ended up. “It’s like a tropical wopical beachy weachy placey wacey~! (giggle!) And, like, everybodywody is wearing such super duper cute swimsuits~! (giggle!) Is this, like, your homey womey, Dany Wany~?!” the overly excited magical girl asked the dolphin.

Meanwhile, Gaia was in the process of disentangling herself from Taihei.

“I must say, that was quite the tumble,” the verdant magical girl observed as she gracefully rose to her feet. “Are you all right?” she asked Taihei as she helped the smaller girl up. Noticing their new surroundings, Gaia’s lips formed a pleased smile. “Goodness me… This is certainly a welcome change.” Although she wasn’t exactly wearing a swimsuit, Gaia’s usual non-winter outfit was basically a bikini anyway, and closing her eyes, she basked in the sun’s warmth as its rays caressed her body. “Don’t you agree, little sister?” she asked serenely.

For her part, Connie simply stood in shock. To go from such an awful place to a tropical paradise was a little too much for the poor girl to take in, and her mind was having trouble keeping up. The sound of her friend’s voice finally brought her back to reality.

“O-Oh…! Y-Yes…! I-It r-really is!”

Gaia was right, this place was beautiful, to an almost unnatural degree. Did the fact that they were here mean that everything had worked out? Connie dearly hoped so, but a part of her was worried that maybe this was all too good to be true, that there was some horrible aspect to all this that wasn’t immediately apparent. It was about then that she finally noticed she was wearing a swimsuit. Gasping in alarm, she tried to cover herself with her hands as a blush colored her cheeks. She had very rarely worn swimsuits before, and was quite uncomfortable in them. One reason was, of course, her nervous and easily embarrassed nature. The other was because of what swimsuits implied…

You see, Connie can’t swim…

“Eeep!” Connie yelped, as she was startled out of her worried musings by the touch of Dan’s flipper. The cheerful dolphin proceeded to introduce himself and welcome them to his island. “O-Oh, h-hello again. I-It’s v-very n-nice to m-meet y-you,” Connie told him, shaking his flipper while trying to muster up a small smile.

“It is indeed,” Gaia agreed. “From what I have seen so far, this dimension of yours is truly a thing of profound beauty. Thank you for allowing us to make use of it,” she added with a graceful curtsy.

“Yeah~!” MDP cheered. “Like super duper thankie wankies, Dany Wany~! (giggle!) Like, Magical Dream Princess just knows she’s gonna have, like, the most super duper fun heresie~! (giggle!)”

Jenna’s eyes snapped up when she noticed Silhouette's hand also on Justine. Admittedly she didn’t know a whole lot about the girl other than she was part of the Crimson Cradle and thus worked with Trixy and Eliza, not that she knew the greatest about them either. Seemed to be a staple of the group. There had been reports that she attempted to take out the Inquisitor which didn’t quite sit well with the Beacon girl. She didn’t agree with the dogma but she was still a sister.

No longer inhibited by the null field Jenna communicated with any of the Crimson Cradle she could identify telepathically. She included the couple of Aurelio clones just so someone else on her team knew what was up. ”There’s not a lot of time so I’ll make this easy. I just want to make sure Justine is done. You take me with and if she stays down you can keep her and I’ll be on my way. I’ve a vested interest in knowing she’s no longer a threat. Might make things easier with Beacon if I can confirm her status. Sound reasonable?” She kept her hand on the body but didn’t really make any kind of moves.

Silhouette was afraid this could escalate but if they had, more or less, the same goal of ensuring Justine would never be a problem again, then that was a relief. The dimension rumbled as it cracked and continued to fall apart. Even Sam was beginning to get nervous and she was confident another fight would just end with everyone involved dead. She nodded to the girl who yet again shared her same worry. "I don't disagree, but I should defer to Veroni-" she suddenly remembered that she had a new boss in Maura. It felt strange and she wanted to have a talk with Veronica about it eventually. "Maura, I mean."

Maura was only able to watch as everyone finally defeated the vampire. She was tempted to intervene when Eliza was ensnared in Justine's red hands, but held back with Sakura rushing in for a Killing Blow. After the explosion, she helped Viridian up. "Is everyone alright? Eliza, you still with us??" Maura called over to the witch sprawled out on the ground.

"I feel like shit..." Eliza groaned with a frown, exausted both physically and mentally. While Jenna and Viridian were able to regenerate from the blast, she wasn't that lucky."Someone. Get me a medic. Please." Eliza waved her not-broken arm around.

Viridian hadn’t been hurt too badly. The plunger kept her a bit further away from Justine than everybody else. ”That looks like it hurts a tad. Bet you feel like a tumbleweed that rolled under an apple cart.” Viridian was already at Eliza’s side. She drew the Astolfo plush from her hammerspace and held it up to Eliza’s chest. The plush was enveloped in a pink halo as it spread its healing power through her body.

The necromancer rose a brow at Sil's reaction, then looked back to Jenna as she relayed her request. "In all honesty, I still don't know why you lot decided to play your cards with her, after everything she's done then and now. If you expected her to be redeemable, might as well perish the thought." Maura furrowed her brows for a second. "But, seeing as you helped us with her instead, I can tell you don't have any ill intentions. If it's okay with the others, you can come with us."

Jenna shook her head, clearly disgusted in her own right. "I don't know what they were thinking. Definitely was not my idea." Looking down she sighed and removed her hand. She stepped back and over to Eliza to give her a bit of healing for the pain. "I'll heal you some more once we're not about to die." She reached down to help the light witch up.

”I don't think there's time!” The southern girl cradled Eliza in her arms, letting her broken arm rest on her stomach. ”Hold onto him darlin’ I’m gunna see about gettin’ us out of here.”

As soon as Viridian started running, Veronica gently set her heel on top of Justine’s chest.

”Well this was disappointing.” The scarlet haired woman looked down at Justine’s body if she were nothing but an insect. ”This would have been the first time we crossed blades with each other, and she was taken out by some no name. There was hardly any reason for me to show up at all.”

Silhouette had straightened her posture when Veronica had placed her foot on the vampire. She had wanted to plunge a knife into Justine's chest or at least did some damage to the girl herself, but the minimal distraction she provided would have to satisfy her. "In any case, that's one problem we shouldn't have to worry about anymore." Of course, that just left a lot of other things.

Veronica seemed unshaken by the collapsing dimension. ”Do you mind speaking out loud? It’s bothersome to read your thoughts, Jenna..”

Shrugging the Beacon girl spoke up. "No, I think it's fine now."

"Well at a technical standpoint, it took more than a no name to bring her down-" Maura spoke up, then looked at their suroundings. "But we can discuss this later, deal with the body and let's go!" She used her dark magic to propel herself to the portal in a sprint, anyone lagging behind she'd quickly grab.

Seeing as a number of them had taken off toward Dan's portal, Jenna figured that was the plan. "Okay, guess I'll see you outside. Here's hoping everyone else out there takes my showing up alright." Probably won't be the most popular person around at the moment. She said she'd let them handle Justine so she wasn't going to worry about it. Taking off running she went for the portal as well.

Silhouette would lean down and pick up Justine's body with little effort after Veronica moved her foot. She was kinda jealous. Samantha glanced back towards Sonia and was about to ask what they should do with her when she noticed the girl was gone. Someone must've grabbed her while they were focused on Justine. She saw it as a potential to fight Sonia later and left it at that.

Since the others had begun to set off towards the portal, Samantha looked at Veronica. "I'm sure I don't have to tell you, but I have questions I want to ask," she adjusted her grip on Justine. "It can wait for now, please hurry out. I'll follow."

”There won’t be any need for that. Hurrying, I mean.”

Veronica’s shadow spread out across the ground, becoming a circle big enough to contain Samantha, Justine, and herself. It briefly looked like the cradle’s insignia before an aligator like maw jetted out of the ground and swallowed the three of them, pulling them all into the shadow and vanishing from sight. All that remained was a bubbling pool of “tar” that swiftly fizzled out. Provided Samantha decided to remain nearby. [See famished? We can both use conditionality statements in roleplaying. Hahaha!] u have small pp

Meanwhile on the collapsing mansion, Trixy was having a hard time holding her footing.

”AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAA! ;-; ” A tear rolled down her cheek. ”We did it, Dusty, but I’m afraid I’ll be joining you this time!” Viridian blew past her, still carrying Eliza in her arms. ”W-what am I? Chop liver or some-” Trixy was quickly snatched up under Maura’s arm as she left through the portal.

Jenna followed just behind into the tropical world filled with the enemy. Surely this will be a grand ol' time.

Weary but hyped up on adrenaline nonetheless, for a moment Alicia felt pretty good. She’d helped ensure that Leena and FanFan were alright, and she’d gotten to kick a second person in the face. She wasn’t usually a hand to hand combatant like that, so it was a bit of an unusual experience for her. Plus it seemed the emotion magic that had kept Leena in such a rage was fading, or at the very least she was able to appeal through it.

”Thanks for the catch,” she said to FanFan as they descfended to the ground. She’d heard the crack of impact, the explosion of magical energy and force, and her brow furrowed as she looked to where Justine had fallen. Was she still alive? It was impossible to tell form here.

Still, she had to check and make sure. Mariette had escaped, as they all realized. They still needed Justine if they were going to do this again, so if she was alive then she needed to be retrieved. ”I have to get her,” she told FanFan and Leena while gesturing to the crater. ”Don’t wait for me.” Turning, she readies her bow as she ran towards where Justine had fallen to effect a rescue.

But that was not what happened. Coming up short, she watched with wide eyes as Jenna poured the holy liquid on Justine, commiserated with the Cradle members, and left with them. She could have tried to intervene, but with such odds she still had the common sense to restrain herself from that battle.

Reaching out, she grabbed one of the remaining Aurelio clones, letting it teleport her back. She felt shock, confusion, disappointment, and a growing anger. One that threatened to overwhelm her and that almost might look no different from the emotion magic that had been used earlier. She remembered telling Janet about the deal with Justine, her planned end game. Did the Twins really trust her that little? She didn’t want to believe that Jenna was being blackmailed by Veronica, but that only left voluntary treachery as an option. After everything she’d done for them, sticking her neck out for them. And this was how they repaid her?

In the blink of an eye she was back in HQ after being teleported. The familiar warmth, the magic that hung in the air, it enveloped her and sapped away the adrenaline of imminent combat. But she was still driven by some measure of burning anger as she stepped over to Rachel. “The mission failed,” she said, wasting little in the way of words or time as her emotions flowed. “Mariette escaped, Justine is dead, ad you need to detain Janet right now because Jenna just left with the Crimson Cradle members defending Mariette.”

If this was what Janet thought of their friendship, then so be it. She would not be held responsible for anything that happened afterwards.

_{@Ariamis@Shifter_Master}

---

With one final blow Viva crumpled to the ground unconscious,. The mutation that served to make her monstrous form more malleable was fully on display, though for the most part the group moved on rather than letting it bother them. They had seen worse.

Looking down at their fallen ally-turned-enemy, Varjo sighed. “Too bad. We could have been good friends. At least I still have a toy to play with.” His disappointment did not last long as she looked down a Viva with a demented gleam in her eye.

“I’ll take care of her. You all have a mission to complete.” The members of the group stiffened as Anja emerged into view. Resplendent in her white uniform, she walked up to them with measured steps. A hand lingered on the pommel of her blade, and she regarded the fallen Viva with disdain. Luckily for Viva the Mint did not want her dead just yet. Not until they were confident of where Reaver’s loyalties lay.

Alma nodded. “Understood. The plan is back on track without Penny around anyway.” She wasn’t sure what had happened there, but she would not think twice.

While Anja dealt with transporting the fallen Viva away, the Mint team went back to work. With Varjo’s magic they transported a creature from the sewers below deep into the Sanctuary. A curiosity among other monsters, this beast had been created through the use of nightmare magic, and it had been bestowed with terrible powers. Through the use of its tentacles it was able to absorb the magic of girls as well as their blood to strengthen itself, something that those inside the Sanctuary quickly learned to their misfortune in the immediate moments of the attack.

As panic and chaos spread with the growing threat, the group slipped inside. It was time to proceed to the next phase of the plan, and there was no one that could stop them. Not anymore.

Now, Ronin had stayed behind because she had been intending to see if it was possible to snatch Mariette too. But, uh. A quick look-around confirmed this was probably impossible. She couldn’t exactly run back to the front of the building, because there was a giant hydra in the way. The only way she could see was towards Dan’s portal, but that’s the direction where ALL of Mariette’s troops went. Yea, following in there was suicide.

‘… Aaaaaaaah, I wanted to get Mariette first…’ Ronin sighed out loud. ‘It’s like, great, I saved the one that mattered the most to me…’ Eli, her sister, was obviously more precious to her than Mariette. ‘… But getting to Mariette now is going to be REEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAALLY hard…’ Not to mention, Mariette would start looking for Eli. Keeping Eli safe was going to be… an effort, an effort that may place Ronin in extreme danger. It would have been so sweet if Lily’s effort had succeeded and Mariette had been saved first. Everything would have been so much easier now…

… Had she really just seen MDP, Gaia and Connie go through the portal?

‘Kahaha, what are you doing, heading after Mariette? I can’t help you in there…!’ she yelled, without them actually being able to hear her. Whelp, seems like the battle was over. Everyone was fleeing, and the dimension was collapsing. Better bail, too, she supposed.

After ten seconds of focusing, a glow overcame her, and Ronin vanished from the battlefield.

---

‘Kh,’ Freya had been a bit injured by Justine, her front a bit damaged, but it seemed they’d been successful. Justine was defeated. Then Freya’s role here was done. Still, in her heart, the “love” she’d received earlier was still biting at her, and she then looked aside-

And noted a horde of Aurelios heading for her _{(for everyone, but)}

…

‘I’m sorry, not interested,’ Freya turned and dashed off. If any allies of her side were left, like Samantha or maybe Hilaria needed a lift, Freya could grab them as she dashed full speed for the portal, and as the fastest magical girl on Mariette’s team, she’d make it.

---

Nope. Couldn’t leave, quite yet. As she reached the portal, the super-generic girl turned and lifted her phone, accessing the few cameras around that were still functional. She had to get a picture of what had happened while the rest fled the dimension.

… Ah, Justine had been defeated. Sonia was taken by… huh. Eli was… missing? Alarming. She witnessed everyone disappearing in various ways… Okay, that would do. She turned and leapt through the portal, probably at the last second.

---

So, perhaps the first thing someone who came through the portal was one of Mariette’s agents yelling at her.


‘WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED, WHERE WERE YOU, WHAT HAPPENED TO OUR PLAN!?’ Jelena cried out the question, standing in a swimsuit and waving her hands, in one of which she was carrying a GameGirl XP, which she’d been sitting playing throughout the whole event with nothing better to do.



‘There were, uh, complications… a world-enveloping void of magic…’ Mariette said with a sigh. Because of that void, that particular plan never happened, and Jelena was left out of the battle…



‘Man, I missed the whole thing…!’ Jelena grunted and sighed. ‘I mean, I got some pretty sweet progress in my game, but still…!’ she then added, lifting the console in her hand and demonstrated.


‘Ooooh, your level-number has a number more than since last time you showed me!’ Mayra sounded out kind of excitedly as she leaned in and peeked at the screen, using the information she’d gained last time Jelena had tried teaching her the game.



‘You bet!’ Jelena announced, both proud and full of regret at the same time. ‘Aaaaaaaaah the trick was a mistake…!’

Mariette lifted a hand to open a portal… nothing happened. Odd. Oh, well. She’d wait for everyone to come in…

Suzette, Ronja, Esther and Josefin came in, Esther and Josefin able to make use of the healing items immediately. Esther now resembled a normal human in shape, but that was because her bark was transformed to look like skin, she’s still made of wood. It currently looked like human skin that had tree-scratches showing the tree-texture beneath the skin, and she had to get that patched up.


‘Aaaaah, that hits the spot,’ Josefin said as she and Esther were treated by the magical band-aids and such.





Suzette, meanwhile, was using both hands to feel in her mouth where she was now missing some teeth due to Alicia’s kick. She smiled. Couple teeth missing. Closed the mouth. Tried smiling again. Now she had teeth, fake ones added by Eternal Style that wouldn’t let her look bad. She smiled to Ronja.




‘We can get you new and real ones,’ Ronja said, before handing something over to Suzette. A Soul Jar surrounded by reinforced web. ‘Looks like you survived, I won’t need to look after this anymore, for now.’



‘Thanks for looking out for it,’ Suzette said with a grin, taking her own Soul Jar and putting it away… somewhere.

Then Connie and Mia stumbled in with Taihei, Taihei landing on the floor with a blank face. Gaia offered a hand to the girl that had tripped into her… and found a completely different girl accepted the help.




‘If tripping is all my bad luck did to me, I accept it…’ Taihei said with a sigh, then looked up at the person that lifted her up. ‘… Ah, wait. You’re one of our enemies. I was accidentally portalled directly to the enemy camp, wasn’t I…?’ Taihei asked, staring at Gaia, when suddenly a Josefin came flying from somewhere and glomped Taihei, who stood weirdly rigid as the blonde girl hugged around her.

‘Taihei, Taihei! We lived, we lived! Woooo~!’ she celebrated to the blank-faced Taihei, who kept staring at Gaia like “then what the heck are you doing here”. ‘Woooo…’ she still mimicked her friend, while watching them go greet Dan.

Then came a group of three, plus the thirteen surviving regular Magical Girls. Victoria, Tullia and Olivia. Obviously, all of them were suddenly wrapped into swimsuits.


‘AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAFE-!’ Victoria called out, stretching her arms out and skipping inside, grinning as they’d made a successful escape. There was that talk about possibly escaping to Veronica’s mansion, but who needed that when they could flee to a dimension where they pretty literally couldn’t be attacked.




‘Wh-why am I wearing a-!?’ Olivia asked, looking down on herself in panic.




‘It’s a part of the magic in this dimension, it puts everyone in swimsuit,’ Tullia tried to explain, sighing out a little bit.



‘H-huh. I see…’ Olivia replied, there really wasn’t more to say about it.

‘… So, you wouldn’t happen to be able to tell us why you betrayed Mariette?’ Ronja walked over on her spider-legs and asked Lily.

‘Now, we can’t fight in here, but on principle, we’ll be standing here,’ Suzette followed up with a seemingly but actually not friendly smirk, the two of them standing in-between Lily and Alexander and Mariette. Beyond them, Mariette herself cast a single gaze towards Lily… and then looked away, slight regret in her expression. Honestly, she knew why Lily did it, it made sense, from a certain point of view. Still hurt.

‘Hm, those were among our enemies, too, weren’t they?’ Ronja asked, looking over at where Gaia, Connie and MDP are.

‘Huh, yeah, they were. They didn’t bring their own escape route or something?’ Suzette questioned, raising her arms up and crossing them behind her head as she looked towards them.


This should be around the time when Freya and the completely generic girl came in, both immediately transformed into swimsuits. The generic one was wearing a very generic dark-purple one-piece and a pair of generic glasses, while Freya was obviously completely transformed.




‘… And that’s all of us,’ the generic girl said, while Freya was mostly scowling.

Mariette blinked at her, her one visible eye wide. Wait. Then. She’d been waiting for two things to come through the portal. If that was everyone.

‘Where’s Eli?’

‘… Where’s the mirror?’ the generic girl asked, frowning and looking at Victoria. She did realize Mariette asked, but frankly, the mirror was more important.

‘Ah, yeah! It’s right-’ Victoria lowered her arms to show the mirror she was carrying… only to find she wasn’t holding it. Her face immediately went into a state of alarm. ‘WHA- wait, it’s- what-!?’ Victoria started spinning around, looking desperately for the mirror.

‘You lost the mirror!?’ Tullia asked in panic.

‘Oh, there it is. My bad luck ruining everything,’ Taihei sighed.

‘I-I’m sure that’s not the cause!’ Josefin tried to encourage.

‘Where’s Eli?’

‘NO!’ Victoria shouted, just as panicked. ‘It was right in my grip as I-!?’

‘… You’re right,’ the generic girl said, frowning at Victoria. ‘I specifically watched you pass through the portal with the mirror. There can be no doubt.’

‘You LOST the mirror!?’ Jelena questioned, wondering if they’d all gone insane without her. Meanwhile, a scared Olivia startled by the volume of shouting went over to the ever silent Esther and hid behind her, seemed safer.

‘Where’s Eli?’

‘… Whelp, guess we got to prepare for a life on the run, then?’ Suzette asked, smirking over.

‘I can make little nests for us, hunt us food and make barriers to fend off pursuers~’ Ronja mused, putting her hands together like dreaming about it…

‘SHUT IT! TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY!’ a very upset Victoria shouted out.

‘I had it just as we entered. Then, just as we entered this dimension, it-’ Victoria spun around towards Dan. ‘Hey, Dan! Did you do something to our mirror!?’ she shouted, perhaps sounding more hostile than she needed to be.

Mariette’s heart was beating quickly, looking with a fearful expression towards Dan. If the mirror was truly gone… the artifact entrusted to them by Asengav to run their operation… the consequences would be…

Mariette shook her head, she didn’t need to fear the future right now.

Under the assumption that Hilaria followed through this portal…

‘Where’s Eli?’ Mariette asked her, walking up to her with a scared expression.

Well Valerie's idea to break the spear worked somewhat, but unfortunately it only hindered herself. With her opponent managing to predict her moves, and the nullification field hinderung her electric magic, she truely felt overwhelemed. So she ended up using the arm blade with the spear piece stuck in it as a shield, but it could only do so much when Reaver managed to stab through her armor.

The condition of the area caught the mech's eye. They were running out of time.

Then she remembered her fight with Sirkkeli. But they were running out of time, and she didn't have the mana for another lightning sword. Maybe she could break the shield??

"Ugh, this is stupid..." The android sighed internally. She bashed her arm blade against Reaver's shield in attempt to get some distance, and with a distorted voice she called out,

P̵a̷r̴l̷e̷y̴!̴

Hopefully he knew pirate jargon.

Reaver, for the most part stood silent, as he eyed the battlefield condition. Things were crumbling as they spoke, and it was at the most exciting he had been in a while. Justine had unfortunately exploded into lightning, but well, it was on her own. He had been dragged here against his will, and it had soured his temper.

Who he was kidding, this awesome battlefield was proving to be a most dull affair. Reaver looked at the fighter.

She did not look the shrewd sort of person, and the choice of words amused him somewhat. His reaction was to rein in his monstrous transformation, his face growing a disgusting ghoul-like flesh to give him a proper voice, not the disturbing wail he produced earlier.

"Be quick." He said, still keeping his guard up.

"Huh. That worked." Valerie tapped the side of her helmet, causing it to retract. Half her face seemed normal, but the other half was still a mess of wires and metal. Looked like she was holding back as well. "A̴s̴ ̶m̵u̶c̴h̸ ̸a̷s̸ ̷I̸'̶d̸ ̵l̵o̷v̸e̸ ̶t̴o̷ ̷c̵o̸n̴t̷i̵n̷u̶e̵ ̸f̷i̷g̴h̸t̴i̷n̶g̶,̴ ̵w̶e̷'̸r̸e̵ ̶b̷o̵t̴h̵ ̷s̸c̵r̷e̷w̸e̷d̷ ̷i̸f̸ ̶w̴e̶ ̵d̶o̵n̷'̵t̸ ̶g̸e̶t̷ ̶o̴u̴t̵t̸a̸ ̷h̷e̵r̵e̷.̸" Her blades retracted back to her normal arms as well, one holding the piece of the spear she took, and the other with her katana.

"T̴h̴o̷u̵g̴h̵ ̶I̴ ̵g̸o̶t̸t̴a̸ ̴s̶a̵y̶,̸ ̸y̶o̵u̶'̶r̷e̴ ̸q̸u̷i̴t̷e̶ ̶i̷m̴p̵r̴e̸s̵s̶i̶v̸e̸.̶" Valerie grinned, tossing Reaver the piece back.

"A servant of Odin does not fear Ragnarok." Reaver stated bluntly. "But if I were to fall in this dull affair, both me and my master would be sorely disappointed." Reaver added as a matter of fact, catching the spear piece on his hand."Seems like nobody is getting their plans done today." He added. "I shall not strike an unwilling opponent in this condition. Nothing would be gained." He chatted back.

"I appreciate the compliment, you are a cut above most." Reaver said. A compliment must be paid with a compliment. If he had gotten annoyed, she had done something somewhat right in her fighting. "Warrior, my name is Reaver."

"W̵h̸a̴t̶ ̶c̷a̵n̴ ̷I̸ ̸s̴a̶y̶,̴ ̸f̵r̶i̴e̶n̵d̷ ̴o̶r̸ ̴f̶o̴e̶,̸ I respect a fair challenge." At that point, the android's face returned to normal. She held out a hand for him to shake. "Valerie. A pleasure to make your aquaintance, Reaver."

Reaver sheathed his weapon, and tucked away both shield and spear, but he did not take Valerie's hand, instead lowering himself to a bowing motion and kissing her hand in greeting.
"Well met. And farewell. May the tides of battle bring glory to you and woe to your foes. We will meet again." Reaver's words were a sharp contrast with the ghoulish berserker of before, but he was corteous to those who somewhat respected honor in battle. With that being said. "Godspeed, we should tarry no longer."

"Likewise." Valerie nodded to him in respect, then walked off to Dan's portal.

"Well then. Now I need proof of this mess. Lady Visceral's corpse is no good huh." Reaver pondered, before beginning to madly dash in the collapsing dimension at the last moment... opposite of the portal opened by Dan.

Reaver fled as fast as he could now that the scuffle died out. He figured Odin could not be mad that he would retreat because the battlefield was literally gone. Not much fighting could get done in a gap between dimensions with no substance after all.

He barely had time to register the presence of Cradle members and Justine being used by that big-honcho-which-was-like-Veronica-but-not-quite as a footstool before getting swallowed. Why did Veronica even start Cradle? That was a pity. He could have been the footstool of such lady. But that was beside the point. At least no more interference.

Yet, something had been left unattended, and Reaver swooped in at the last second.

Sonia.

Shift!

Reaver himself mentally thought as he got within distance of the frozen servant and catapulted himself and her outside the crumbling dimension. Waste not. Besides… he would feel sympathy for the maid.

---

After all, he too, had been abandoned and betrayed in the past. After making sure the place he ended up in the Overcity was safe for the time being, he frantically rang with his phone.

“There’s been a situation which interfered with my current mission.” He bluntly said to the Mint.

Reaver could smell the scent of Al’s cigar as he picked up the phone and answered. “Really now? I wouldn’t have guessed.” He didn’t sound pleased. “Now, you’ll have ten seconds to explain the fact you jumped on the gig, or you’ll find yourself jumping from the top of Burj Khalifa.”

Reaver seemed nonplussed. “Visceral.” He said the word, spitting as if it was a mild venom. “Teleported me against my will. Right into the middle of a wild melee. It would have been an interesting date and we would have kissed and made out amidst the blood of the enemies, if not for the fact I DID not ask for it and mucked everyhing up.” He added. “Also, she’s dead. When her supposed allies turned on her, Kinda exploded. Then that sexy bitch that kinda had a Veronica air to it, took her body. Probably to use as a body pillow.”

Reaver paused.

“They also left little Sonia crumbling in that dimension to rot.” Reaver added. “Well… finders keepers.”

Al sighed as he took in the news with a puff of smoke. “Never shoulda given that broad a finger...” Reaver heard his chair subtly squeak as he shifted on it. “Well, at least she got what was coming to her.” Then he heard Veronica’s name, and he seemed more interested. “So she was there...Hold up.” It seemed he realized something. “You got Visceral’s gal with you?”

“Yep. Cradle’s timestopped her. She’ll return to normal. And…she might need friendly help. After all, betrayed by everyone else, and left powerless to help her master…” He carefully chose to whisper the following words, unsure on when the time stop would fade.

Al gave a light chuckle. “You know Reaver, you can sometimes get on my nerves. Big time. But somehow, you manage to make things work. Arrange things so that the maid will be motivated to...Partake of our services, and I’ll let your fuckup pass.” He paused, as he took in a deep breath. “Next time, I won’t be so nice, capische?” Then, he ended the call.

A couple of seconds after it did, Sonia’s stasis had ended, and the maid’s eyes widened, quickly turning around with her throwing knives at the ready.
“What? Where?” The moment she spotted Reaver, she squinted.
“Where have you taken me? Where is Lady Justine?”

Reaver breathed deep, as he pocketed his phone, before fashioning a crude seat out of his barriers for her to sit down, as he indicated. “This is going to be… a bit tough to swallow. Have a seat first, my lady.”

Sonia seemed outraged by the gesture. “A seat? The insolence!” She teleported above Reaver, and stomped down on him, grinding her heel into his back.
“You’re going to tell me this instant where she is, or you will regret it!”

Most people would be alarmed at this gesture, because of the forcefulness of the move. Not Reaver now. He did enjoy being under a pretty lady’s heel. This almost felt like a reward on his own. No, it was a sort of reward. “She’s… dead. Unless you can survive getting dogpiled and burnt into a crisp by the combined effort of several people with a killing blow on top of it.”

He gasped, with ragged breath. Probably not due to Sonia’s heel on his back, or maybe because of it. Who knows.

“Add that the dimension crumbled with the antimagic field. And… unfortunately my teleporting options are rather limited. So this is the Overcity.”

Sonia stepped off Reaver, in complete shock about what Reaver had told her. She wanted to deny it, and claim that he was a lying dog. But she knew of his relationship with her mistress; he wouldn’t lie about something like this.
“N-No...” She took a few steps back, despair and grief in her expression.
“Lady Justine...I...I failed to protect you...” She dropped to her knees, her hands on her face; she softly sobbed as sorrow overcame her.
“She was my mistress, my light in this world...What will I do now? Lady Justine...”

Reaver sighed, as he took to himself to rise and dust his armor off. He had been using healing to heal his face from the originally scarred ghoulish mess that it was to his pretty boy persona. “I’m sorry about your loss.” He said. He would miss the lady, she was a pro when it came to the boot. But there was a fierce competition in Penrose. Well, there would be new fishes in the sea. This Sonia wasn’t half bad actually.

He knelt besides her, and tried to get her in a seated position so she could mourn a little more.

Sonia, now too saddened to care any longer for the intrusion, accepted Reaver’s assistance, and sat down on the barrier chair, having summoned a napkin to dry her tears like a proper lady.
“She was destined for greatness. And now she is gone...” After a moment of calming down, she lifted her teary eyes to Reaver.
“And speaking of...Why did you save me? I thought you only cared for Lady Justine.”

“You’re part of Lady Justine. There’s no Justine without Sonia.” He said, as he began to elaborate. “And If I could save her I would. I do not fear battle, nor oblivion. But by the time everyone reacted, she was a crispy corpse. She was beyond my help… I cannot help the dead.” Reaver added. If I could I would’ve brought that wench in chains with a ribbon on top to Al as a present. He thought to himself.

“And I know how it feels to be abandoned. I also know how it feels to be betrayed, and being left to rot.” Reaver said.

Sonia nodded as she contemplated Reaver’s words. Gradually, her fists tightened on her knees.
“...This won’t be forgiven. Lady Justine’s legacy won’t be swept aside like some peasant’s refuse.” She visibly shook.
“I’ll make her murderers suffer, make them regret having spilled her noble blood!” She stood up.
“I will avenge her.”

Good Reaver thought to himself. “Are you sure about this? You could just try to make peace and live on.”

The moment Reaver said that, he could feel the cold edge of one of her throwing knives pressing against her neck, mere inches away from slitting it.
“Peace? Live on?”
She was angry, yet she managed to compose herself.
“I had no life until Justine gave one to me. She gave her hand to me, and granted me purpose. And after her passing, I am supposed to merely accept it?”
She drew her knife away in frustration.
“No, there is no other way. I must avenge her, or I will not have this so-called peace. I know it is what she would have wanted.”

Oh boy, this girl’s a keeper! Reaver thought, when Sonia displayed a knife to his neck.

“The path of revenge is a harsh one, Lady Sonia. You cannot blame me for trying.” Reaver said. “With that being said… you’re not alone in this. There are people who are willing to help you, and your crusade.” He then smirked, as he produced a Black Coin. “This will give you power to enact your retribution… but be warned though, It is a poisoned chalice. Accepting it means becoming part of a loan… organization.”

Sonia’s eyebrows furrowed when Reaver mentioned possible assistance, followed by suspicion when he displayed the item that would grant it.
“...The Ebon Mint. Lady Justine had an interest in making business with them.”
She looked down at the throwing knife on her palm, and closed it around the blade, causing a trickle of blood to seep. She had a determined look on her face
“...Very well. I will sacrifice my life if I must, for Lady Justine’s sake.”
She took the Black Coin, and stared intently at it.

“They will pay.”

“Of course they will. The Ebon Mint makes sure everyone pays.”

---

Umukamui stared at the mirror in a certain store, getting a good look at her Kamy persona. There was a certain etiquette she had to follow, when visiting some other patron’s abode. The puchuu was one that liked to blend in. And a tropical resort required a swimsuit.

“Hm. It should suffice.” said Kamy, in her deep woman voice as she spun around. Now where was that annoying dolphin emotion eater?

Umukamui, using his network of information, quickly learned of the ways the Lesser Force could be contacted, and arranged for a meeting. The dopey dolphin’s voice could be heard through the magical voice channel Umukamui formed with his powers. “Hello there! You must be one of those Puchuu I’ve heard about. What’s up?”

“Hello… Lord Dan. It seems you are currently tending to the wounds of one my charges. I would like to debrief her in person and see her current state, if you would be so kind.” Umukamui stated in a neutral voice. He was even more annoying than the Beckoners and Shoggy together already. If such a thing was possible.

The dolphin squeaked in surprise. “Oh! You’re talking about the girls who just arrived from the big battle! You must be very worried to call on me like this...Okay then! I’ll open up an entrance for you.” It didn’t take long for a bluish rift to open up, emanating warmth and light atypical for the local weather.

“What a waste of magical energy. Such extravagance.” Kamy muttered under her breath as she stepped in, and shuffling through the crowd, he then walked towards Lily, who was currently being given aid.

---

Ever since Lily arrived, she was in a slight daze, watching with a tired but happy expression as Mariette and her friends survived the collapse of the dimension. She saw MDP, Connie, and Mia, and slightly waved to them too.

“Hi. Glad to see you all made it,” she greeted, only to be met by immediate derision and contempt by the likes of Ronja and Josefin; it seemed the sunny and fun atmosphere didn’t lessen their animosity for their betrayal, and that small bit of hope was dashed as Lily endured the verbal abuse. She could only count her blessings that they were prevented from fighting in this radiant world, otherwise the girls would have likely started a scuffle. But most disheartening was to see Mariette’s disappointment in her. Yet, Lily did not regret what she had done; Alicia would have very likely killed Mariette had Lily not intervened before she had the chance.

Dan was also not spared from their anger, especially once they discovered that a certain artifact of theirs had disappeared. “Now now, I know you’re concerned, but let’s calm down first, and we’ll talk things through once everyone’s ok…!” He tried speaking up, but his words were hardly heard in the clamor. He then tried to offer the girls a box of chocolate cookies. “How about a Snackers?”

Lily sighed and looked up at Ronja with a sad face.
“I tried to help her...” She weakly protested the accusations of betrayal, and then winced as her headache stung again, causing her to close her eyes and hold the bag of ice harder against her head. She had more to say, but for now she needed a moment to think.
“Oof...”

That was when she was approached by Umukamui. “Lily,” she said, flicking a hair through her hair. The amount of magical glamour this place had was a higher level than Kamy was used to.

Lily looked up while holding her bag of ice, seemingly a bit confused.
“Um...Hello there?”
It seemed she didn’t recognize the beautiful woman greeting her, until she blinked.
“Wait...Is that you, Mister Umu?”

“Miss Kamy for now.” Umukamui said. “I trust you’ve had a rough encounter, I take it?” She added, looking at the otherwise irate Mariette’s minions that were around.

Lily bit her lip, and blushed from her fumble.
“S-Sorry. I’m still getting used to how you change, tee hee~” She giggled a bit, followed by a wince.
She nodded at the question.
“Yeah, it didn’t go so well. But, I did see Sakura.” She was silent for a moment. “She fought against Justine. I think she won, but I’m not sure. She made this crazy explosion, just like that. She’s really amazing....”

“Hm.” Kamy silently nodded. “I am aware. Good thing she did. A pity that she didn’t manage to take her other hit with her. Truly a pity.” Kamy said. “Well, I guess that since Justine was like this, I think i should consider you off the hook given your blunder.” She adopted a more grave tone.

Lily gulped.
“Um, about that...” She averted her eyes, like a child who knew they had done something they regretted.
“It’s not what you think. I really did try to help Mariette, but...She needs real help. I know she wouldn’t willingly endanger other girls like that on her own. She is somehow controlled by her Patron. I talked to a friend who said they could help, and I...” Tears formed in her eyes. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think things through.”

“It’s okay.” Kamy said, as she … somewhat awkwardly brought Lily into a hug. “No use in crying over spilled milk. Rest and recover.” She paused, caressing her face… and delivering a mental communication. “And next time, go all the way… and execute that Horror girl on the spot, just like Sakura did. It would have been a favour for all of us. But now there’s too many people watching this.” She put a facsimile of a smile as she pulled apart.

“I can’t be too harsh, considering this was your first outing with me. But do please wise up.”

Lily placed a hand on her mouth to stifle her gasp, shocked by Umu’s order.
“But-” She first spoke, but then continued listening. Finally, she nodded, having accepted the scolding.
“Yes, Miste-I mean, Miss Kamy.”

That was when Dan approached Kamy, having taken a moment between attending to the wounded girls and trying to placate the loud crowd of Mariette’s girls. “Hi there. So you’re Lily’s Patron, right? What a lucky girl she is to have such a nice Puchuu watching over her!” Lily giggled awkwardly in response. The dolphin took Kamy’s hand and shook it with his fins. “Now I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m a bit busy with all these injuries these girls have. However, if you want a drink, a sandwich, anything, don’t be shy, alright?”

“I’m flattered.” Kamy said. Do I need to put a hit on this fool? He seems like he could be a liability in the foreseeable future. The Puchuu said, as she made good on that offer, and took a mild refreshment, while staring at the beach, concocting how to approach the next part of his debriefing.

And I lost my pet teleporter too. That’s a substantial decrease in mobility.

Lily also accepted a drink as Dan was passing them away. She stared at the green Mountain Dan-logo on the can she got, and popped it open with a sigh.
I was just doing things like I always did. Ixion was kind of hands-free like that. But now I can’t think any longer like that. Mister Umu is relying on me.
She took a look at the back of the can, and inadvertently giggled; “Do The Dan” was written as a slogan, with a dancing Dan next to it.

Yeah...I’ll do better next time.

---

Dina barely had time to undo her transformation and flee towards the portal that Dan had created. She was beyond exhausted, and her limbs felt like lead. She was a diplomat,
¿diplocat?, not a fighter. She rushed through the portal, her clothes being transformed into her gaudy swimsuit once more. The Sanctuary token was glowing ominously.

“...Will this ever end?” She felt faint, and about to give up. But she steeled her poise, and kept walking as if the events had done nothing to affect her mood nor her walking. She then used her last healing magic that she had, to extend her Ruler’s aura and at least make everyone’s wounds a little lighter. Gracefully, she took a seat by some drinks, and decided to catch a breath for a moment, as she picked one of the cans.

“Mountain Dan. Ugh. Revolting.” She said… as she then called her master. “Master Dan?”

Dan rushed over to Dina, prioritizing her over the crowd thanks to her affiliation with the Patron.
“Dina! You look hurt!” He drew a bandage roll from the table and wrapped it around the injuries she had sustained. “Don’t worry, you just gotta rest for a moment, and you’ll be good as new.”

“I’m sorry. I cannot. I am aware my powers would be a boon in this situation, but… I must ask of you. Can I take leave?” Dina eyed the Dolphin. “A friend needs me to keep her crown.” She said, as she tried to drink the Mountain Dan, only to become a sputtering mess, since drinking from the can in cat style was not really possible, and her cat part recoiled at the fizzy sweetness of the drink. Still, mustering her resolve, she poured it in a nearby glass…

And continued drinking it cat style.

Dan grimaced, but nodded. “I understand. Just make sure not to take any unnecessary risks.” He then noticed the trouble Dina had with the consumption of the soft drink, having formed a cartoonish drop of sweat on his brow. “Uhh, I’ll get you a bowl.”
Soon enough a bowl fit for a pet was placed on the counter of the hotel lobby, filled to the brim with sparkling blue water. “This water from the fountain is also enchanted to restore your mana. I think you’ll enjoy it more than the soda.”

A cat bowl. Really. Had this been on another moment, Dina would have flipped the bowl on Dan, but she endured the humiliation to get the much needed refreshment of her magical energy. She drank her as fast as she could, and set it aside.

“Tell everyone I’m off to Sanctuary, Master.” She said as she got up, mustering strength even more. “I see Mariette is safe… but she’s quite distraught. I wish I could tend to her worries, but I have worries of my own, and there’s a lot of people surrounding her already.” She added as she began to walk, taking a small moment to go by Helga.

Dan nodded, looking a bit worried for her. “Okay then. Best of luck!”

---

Helga noticed Dina, and waved over to her with a slight smile. “Thanks for the help out there, Dina. Appreciate it.”

“Please do tell her when she wakes up that I am sorry. I was just jealous… of her vitality.” Dina said, brushing the thanks from Helga. “And do tell her I am thankful for her assistance. I would do it in person… but I must go now. To another battle.” Dina said, unfazed, as she began to walk away.

It was then when she found herself hugging her own swimsuit form, breathing heavily. She had staved it off for long, but she was so tired, her true feelings were surfacing. She squatted, panting, her tail’s hair erect in an obvious fit of panic. “Just endure it, Dina… endure it a little longer. You won’t die.” She said to herself, now completely oblivious at the world surrounding her. She just needed to get up and be done with it.

Helga blinked, and then looked back at Su. “I’ll let her know. But man, already to another fight? That’s rough. If it’s just a few monsters I can come help you.”

Dina was still trying to rein her panic attack in, breathing heavily. She could not be seen as ungraceful as this, even if she wanted to crawl under a bed and let the storm pass. She had to endure. “S….Sanc...t.ry.” She pieced together, in a shake voice. “S..Som...ing… happ.. Penny”.
She bit her lip as she finally managed to stand up, clenching the coin in her hands.

This wasn’t a moment to be terrified of her own death. Plenty of people were looking up to her. ”Need...to...go. Possibly very dangerous.” She finally stammered as she managed to control her panic fit, and breathed deep.

Helga now looked openly concerned, and stood up. “Hey Dina, everything alright? You’re looking a bit pale there.” She reached a hand out towards her.

“Just a little tummy ache due to the drink.” Dina lied through her teeth, as she began to walk away. “Thanks. Farewell, I will see you later.” She said as she finally took in strides to create a portal to Sanctuary.

“Wait.” Su was standing, if a bit worse for wear. Her head was wrapped tightly in bandages. A large gauze no smaller than a pillow had been bandaged to the side of her head. She almost looked like a mummy, with just a single visible. Eye. “Actually, you look busy.” she sighed. “Perhaps in time we can catch up. But I have a proposal for you.” Su lifted the jade pendant that was hanging around her neck. Were it not for this protective amulet, there was a possibility she wouldn’t be awake right now. It might have even saved her life. “So don’t do anything too brash.” She looked to Helga. “Where’s Mariette? I need to speak with her.”

Editor’s note: totally digging the Rei look there.

Dina’s head almost spinned like an owl, eyes surprised. “You...were awake, miss Su?” Dina said, unsure of this situation. But, still riding on the impetus she had found, she then refrained from entering the portal just yet. “I can’t promise anything. They look up to me. I am a girl of a silver tongue, but If one does not back up words with deeds… they lose any meaning.” Dina confessed, her teeth slightly gritted.

“Mariette...I see. Yes, perhaps your comforting touch might be needed. Wish I could work some grandmother’s magic...but… Lives are at stake.”

“It’s fine.” Su forced a smile. “I’m something of a mother to her. Grandma can leave this to the next generation.”

“Yes, that much is evident...in plain display.” Dina said. A little bit of levity. Her tail was a little less tense and was still upright, but relaxed. “I will see you again, mamochka.” With that, she steeled her resolve, and ran through the portal, trying to find the state of Sanctuary.

Helga looked on as Dina disappeared, and twirled the tip of one of her hair drills around her index finger, looking unsure what to think. “Huh...She seemed to get a bit better.” She then smiled at Su, and gently took her hand. “Mariette’s over there. It seems there’s some kind of disagreement between her girls and the dolphin. Come, I’ll help you walk to her.”