Ahh, how lovely! When was the last time Mac was able to just have fun like this? Justine's flustered expression, Finn's outrage (who would have guessed he wanted to be cute?), and Oliver's laughter. Even though she had just joined these people she felt like she had been their friends for some time now. Perhaps that was what a decade of working in the shadows did to a person.

"Gotcha! I can do Finn! I'll call you Finn now!”

Was he just testy because "Finnegan" was a known sin? Not like opinions of Beacon had been all that favorable recently. As a monster girl she never found their cause worthy of her empathy. If anything she found the idea of hanging around a former sin to be kind of riveting. That was why Finn was the handsome bad boy out of the duo.

But as fun as it would be to mess around with them more, she did have a job to do.

She was able to collect quite a bit on the duo in the car. Not enough to know exactly who they were, but enough to enlighten her allies. on the situation.

"So here's my iron solid analysis:

The car is no joke. It's got too many enchantments on it to say exactly what it can do. But I'm seeing stuff for enhanced speed, enhanced A/C, alternator is magically overtuned, likely to power the enhanced battery, even the air freshener looks like it'll always smell like an ocean breeze. I don't see anything that screams deathtrap on an initial inspection and it doesn't seem like the ride is geared for anything but speed anyway. Used a mystic artifact to flip through the past twenty-four hours. Their vehicle has some serious all-terrain potential there. Seems they can drive over waterby virtue of their ride's speed alone. They traveled pretty far too. I'm seeing a snowy forest... Finnland? Unsure.

Anywho, dog boy is a golem. Possibly a monster boy given that he has two specializations. Darkness and Sand. Hard to say but he's pretty strong too. He's probably on par with Rachel or Penny, possibly even on my level. Our lass here is a mystery to me but given how this thing is tuned up I would bet her magic relates to that somehow. There's runes on a lot of the stuff here. Wait, was that a fire under her jacket? Anyway, they don't seem too hostile. Seems like when it comes to magical girls they'd rather run than fight. Kinda weird, since I'm pretty sure she's the sin of Envy. I'm not sure how Beacon's structuring works in regards to the sins so please don't ask me what that means BUT PLEASE DON'T BRING IT UP WITH HER since I don't think that would make her all that happy. She's using a cover name so it's whatever.

Meh, who doesn't have secrets?

Probably best not to ask too many questions. If we agitate her we lose our ride. Given the state of the back seat and what I saw in my artifact, I think she might be a merchant. All the more reason to get on her good side!

Hard to believe there are more sins than non-sins here, huh?

Iron mouse, and by extension Mac, patted Sinuhe's shoulder. "Nice! Nefer won't give me up, Nefer won't let me down, Nefer won't run around and desert me~! Nefer won't make me cry, Nefer won't say goodbye, Nefer won't tell a lie and hurt me~!” Iron mouse was about to dance her way into the back in the car when the issue of seating order was brought up. "I'm the newest member so I guess I'll sit on someone's lap.” She looked over the rest of her party with a sigh, then smiled. "Who am I kidding? the lot of you are just going to fight over me and it's not worth it. I'll lay across all of you! Get in!”

Of course, Iron mouse would yield to any objections or other ideas the others had.

What luck, she was willing to help them out! Though while Justine managed to get the duo's names; Nefer and Akhenaten, what Iron Mouse was able to secretly scry into was far more promising. The two remained quiet as she shared what her mystic artifact showed.

"Wait was that a pun?"

"Shh."

The disgused Mac went on to explain all the buffs the car had. All-terain and can glide across water? Seems they don't stay in one place for too long. Akhenaten was possibly a monster boy, and if he was on the same leagues as Ms. Royalty and Four-Eyes (And Iron Mouse apparently. Jeez, Maura must've hit a jackpot with this one!) then he probably does most of the fighting. Nefer was a reinforcement user, most likely. Finn was about to share his hypothesis when something else she mentioned caught his ear.

This was the Sinner of Envy. Current one? Whatever.

"Sounds about right, actually. From what I could gather, the Sinner of Envy travels across the globe at high speeds, only settling at stops for a brief moment before moving on, mysteriously able to travel from continent to continent in mere days. Though now we know how she does it. Some high-end reinforcment magic, most likely. I'd rather not be forced to fight her friend here. If she managed to get on Beacon's nerves like I did, neither of them should be underestimated." He explained.

"But I agree, she'd be a good ally if we manage not to screw this up." The boy agreed with Iron Mouse. Then she mentioned that there were more sinners there than otherwise. "Nah, Justine's lost her title. Only me and Nefer are active Sinners here so far. I've heard someone's recently got the title of Sloth but specifics are unknown right now."

Speaking of, as Nefer looked into their borrowed vehicle's engine, the group was given two options. The bike would get a speed buff and one could keep riding it, but still lag behind her car, or someone would have to sit on another's lap. Iron Mouse offered to lay across all three of them, but would that be any more comfortable? The two boys quietly concidered their options for a moment. But once Oliver opened his mouth to talk, Finn quickly spun around to interrupt him. "DON'T."

"Well what the hell were you thinkin' I was gonna say?!"

"I know what you were gonna joke about you son of a bitch, and no, I'm not going to embarass myself like that so MOVE." Finn dragged Oliver over to the car, quickly letting Maura know to put Elizabeth's motorcycle back into the Cradle. In response the ghost stuck his tongue out at him when he wasn't looking, then looked back to Iron Mouse. "Not gonna stop you from laying on the bulk of us, but, well, I was gonna suggest you sit with me if you get stiff or some shit. Up to you though!"

“U-Ummm… M-My m-magic d-doesn’t really w-work like t-that…” Connie replied in answer to Lily’s inquiry, the mouth of her mask drooping into a frown, while her trembling hands nervously fidgeted with her long hair. “S-Sorry…” she added softly.

“It’s all right, little sister,” Gaia reassured her. “We can concern ourselves with awakening the town’s inhabitants later,” she added. “Right now, our primary goal should be to keep them safe until then.”

In fact, it seemed as if Penny and Mayra had already set off to do just that. Hardly surprising, all things considered. Moving to join them, Connie, Gaia, and the Angel of Hope made their way to a three-story building directly behind one of Annabell’s giant sunflowers. While Gaia and Connie ascended to the rooftop via a beanstalk the former had conjured, the Angel simply glided up through the use of her radiant wings. Once there, the heavenly maiden was greeted with a rather alarming sight…

“Good heavens!” she gasped.

In the fields below them, Mayra’s enthusiastic elimination of the invading forces had sparked a fire that was now spreading perilously close to the line of sunflowers protecting the town.

Fucking careless idiot… As if telling everyone my real name wasn’t bad enough…

Indeed, the Angel had been unable to hide her momentary shock when the draconic girl had called her “Angela”, nearly petrified at the thought of this chaotic creature knowing her true identity, but she had quickly recovered. It was just an ironic and unfortunate coincidence that “Angel” and “Angela” sounded so similar, and it was just the draconic dimwit’s infuriating insistence to ignore every instruction given to her that had created this unpleasant turn of events, nothing more. That said, the Angel had endeavored to keep her interactions with the scaly pyromanic as limited as possible, something the current situation was making rather difficult…

“Fear not, verdant champion!” the Angel told Gaia, who seemed visibly distressed by the encroaching blaze. “You have this humble servant’s solemn vow that no harm shall come to these most splendid sunflowers!”

Stretching out her glowing staff, the angelic beauty conjured a shimmering wall between the massive sunflowers and the encroaching flames.

There, that should save those overgrown weeds from that moron’s fire. Now, let’s see what kinda offense these two losers can dish out…

“My most sincere thanks for the assistance,” Gaia told the Angel with an appreciative smile. Although it pained her to see the fields go up in flames, she knew that periodic fires were regrettable necessities for healthy plant growth. The trampling of those plants under boot and tread, however, was a different matter entirely, and one the Daughter of Mother Earth would now set to addressing…

Stepping up to the giant sunflower, the botanical beauty placed an affectionate hand upon its stalk. “You have been doing such a splendid job of keeping this town safe,” she told the plant warmly. “Please allow me to bestow Mother’s blessing upon you to assist your most noble efforts.”

Closing her eyes, the verdant maiden sent a torrent of life energy flooding into the towering plant, filling it with renewed strength and causing several of its oversized leaves to morph into mighty cobs of corn. These promptly launched themselves at the attacking army like a volley of missiles, particularly concentrating on taking out the invaders’ armored vehicles. As the emerald energy surged outwards like a network of mystical roots, it worked a similar change on each of the other sunflowers as well, and soon volleys of glowing corncobs filled the air. Not content with that, Gaia summoned Nature’s Blossom and waved the staff over the fields surrounding Bolorton (or at least the parts that weren’t on fire).

“To those who would desecrate this pristine farmland, know that Gaia, Daughter of Mother Earth, shall not abide your atrocities to continue even a moment longer!”

Sending out a burst of life-giving magic, the botanical beauty watched with satisfaction as a multitude of thorny vines sprung out of the soil to wrap tightly around infantry and vehicle alike, while rows of cornstalks disgorged dozens of smaller corn cob missiles, like some botanical VLS array. Other invaders succumbed to clouds of toxic spores, were peppered by peashooter barrages, or simply swallowed whole by monstrous Venus-flytraps. Of course, the attacking force was vast, and so large swaths of the enemy remained unengaged, although that would not remain the case for much longer…

“Okay, little sister,” Gaia told her masked friend. “I believe it is now your turn.”

“R-Right!” Connie replied with all confidence as she could muster.

Taking a deep breath to both focus herself, and calm her racing heart, the timid girl closed the eyes of her mask and raised a hand towards a large concentration of soldiers, far removed from Penny, Mayra, or Gaia’s myriad mystically enhanced plants. In front of her trembling palm, a churning vortex of dark nightmare energy grew ever larger, until it was expelled as a massive, crackling wave. Racing across the fields, it washed over the invaders by the dozen, filling their minds with the most horrific visions their tortured imaginations could possibly conceive. In particularly extreme cases, these unspeakable horrors might even be made manifest in the waking world as well, their phantasmal forms solidifying into very palpable threats…

Flinching as she listened to the terrified screams of her spell’s victims, Connie kept her eyes closed and her head turned away from the harrowing scene playing out in the distant fields. She knew that these people had launched an unprovoked attack on a peaceful town, but that knowledge did little to keep her kind heart from aching at their current plight. As she did her best to block out the soldiers anguished cries, Connie couldn’t help but replay Lily’s hopeful inquiry in her mind…

S-She wanted me to help them, was counting on me to be able to do something… B-But all I can do is this! A-All I can do is make people suffer… Giving voice to a sorrow-filled sigh, a small, black tear slid down the stark, white cheek of her mask. I-If only Magical Dream Princess were here… I’m sure she’d be able to help those people wake up…

In fact, now that she thought about it, it was actually rather strange that the whimsical girl hadn’t joined them. Surely she had gotten Lily’s text, and it was late enough for her to be finished with work.

Maybe she had a late meeting… Connie mused. Or did she decide to stay back in Penrose in case there was another monster attack?

Whatever the reason, or whatever the trouble, the timid girl was sure her incredibly strong and talented friend would be more than up to the task.

---

She had failed.

She had died.

But then, why did she still hurt?

Her entire body felt incredibly sore.

She couldn’t seem to move any of her limbs.

And yet…

I-I’m still alive…?

“W-What happened to me…?” Violet asked groggily as she struggled to open her aching eyes. “W-Where am I…?”

“Ah, you’re finally awake…”

Violet’s blurry vision slowly cleared to reveal a scrawny girl in an oversized lab coat. Her mouth was curved in a sadistic grin, while her eyes were covered by a pair of goggles with glowing lenses, and her voluminous, dark hair was styled like an explosion, similar to that of Albert Einstein. Behind her was a bizarre biomechanical technomantic tangle of ultratech machinery, which whirred, bubbled, glowed, crackled and hummed, as the various inconceivable devices carried out their unimaginable functions.

“To answer your questions, you just got the sparkly shit beat out of you by some of my creations, Teams Primus and Secundus of Phase Two, to be specific, and you’re currently residing in my Lab. As for who I am, well, you probably don’t remember me, so I suppose I should⏤”

“I have a photographic memory,” Violet noted, cutting her off. “Of course I remember you. You’re Nykannis.”

“Doctor Nykannis!” The goggle-wearing young woman corrected pointedly. “Queen of the Mad Scientists!”

“I must say, you look somewhat different from how I remember you,” Violet added, choosing to ignore her captor’s little outburst.

“Yes, well, seeing as I have a guest, I figured I should make myself a bit more presentable,” Nykannis explained.

“In that case, perhaps I should do the same,” Violet replied, closing her eyes and preparing to speak her incantation.

“Nice try, Princess,” Nykannis sneered. “But you won’t be transforming or using any of your magic as long as you’re in my Hyperphasic Transdimensional Quantum Focused Nullification Field!” the mad scientist declared, before giving voice to a deranged cackle. “Nyahahaha!”

“Is that supposed to sound impressive?” Violet asked snidely. “As far as I’m concerned, it’s just a collection of meaningless words strung together.”

Violet knew she was in trouble. She couldn’t transform, couldn’t even move, but she also knew she couldn’t show the fear she felt. She had to keep up her arrogant and composed facade, no matter how desperate her situation seemed. Besides, the young heiress was far too proud to allow herself to be seen in such a pitiful state, especially by someone like Nykannis. And perhaps, by infuriating her captor enough, she could get the mad scientist to slip up at a critical moment, granting her the chance to escape. It was a long shot, to be sure, but it was also all she had at the moment, and she would be an idiot not to at least attempt it.

“I wouldn’t expect a simple-minded moron like you to understand such things, even if you are supposed to be a genius by this world’s standards,” Nykannis was saying. “But you don’t need to understand the results of my genius to experience their effects,” she added with a smirk. Pressing a key on her holographic display, the mad scientist grinned as Violet’s energy bindings tightened considerably, while sprouting tiny spikes which dug into her flesh.

The young heiress winced in pain, but didn’t give her captor the satisfaction of crying out.

“Well, this is certainly unpleasant,” Violet observed through gritted teeth. “But if you are trying to simulate Karen’s hugs, you leave a lot to be desired.”

“Karen only wishes she could hold you as well as that can,” Nykannis shot back. “Unlike her little ‘hugs’, you won’t be getting out of there any time soon.”

“And why did you bring me here?” Violet inquired. “I cannot imagine your employer would be very pleased if he learned that you were holding me against my will, to say nothing of my father. And Penny.”

“Oh, I’m well aware of how detrimental it would be to my continued existence if anyone were to ever discover what I’m doing to you here,” Nykannis replied. “Not to mention what I’ve already done… Thankfully, no one will ever know! And that includes you. See, once I’ve finished having my fun, I’ll be giving you a complete omni-spectrum mind wipe,” she explained. “It does kinda suck that you won’t remember a single aspect of what I hope will be the most hellish experience of your life,” she continued. “But at least I’ll still remember, and I think that’s the most important thing. And the reason you’re here is obviously for revenge!” the Monarch of Mad Science added. “You broke into my facility, disrupted my work, and, even more unforgivably, you annoyed and humiliated ME!!! Did you honestly believe after doing ALL THAT there wouldn’t be ANY repercussions?!”

“Do you honestly believe that keeping me here for any significant period of time won’t attract anyone’s attention?” Violet countered. “I would have thought someone of your supposed intellectual prowess wouldn’t be foolish enough to think that the mysterious disappearance of a prominent individual such as myself would simply go unnoticed.”

“Of course not,” Nykannis snapped. “That’s why I’ve placed you in a very special part of my Lab,” the Monarch of Mad Science added with a grin. “A part that’s fully encased in a time dilation field! Nyahahaha! Five days in here is five seconds out there,” she explained. “So we’ll have plenty of time to have all sorts of fun together… Starting with THIS!!!” she declared, pulling an oversized weapon out of a crackling tear in the dimensional fabric. “Behold! My Negaphasic Numinospheric Nightmare Cannon! Nyahahahaha!”

Despite her attempts to maintain her dismissive facade, Violet’s eyes widened in horror as she beheld the mad scientist’s highly unnerving weapon. Its amorphous, midnight black form seemed to shift into spines, tendrils, and wickedly sharp teeth, while its barrel was set in the mouth of a face whose chalk-white skin was slit by inky black cuts and pulsating veins. The mouth itself was frozen in an anguished scream, most likely in response to the spikes of darkest obsidian, which protruded from its forehead. The eyes were opened impossibly wide and filled with mind-numbing terror. Indeed, those horrific orbs shuddered and bulged with such intensity, it seemed as though they would burst apart in a shower of gore at any moment. However, the most starkly terrifying thing about that distorted, nightmarish visage was that its identity was known to the young heiress. At one moment, it appeared to be her own face, first as her mundane self, then as Magical Dream Princess. The next, it was the faces of her father and Amanda, then the face of Penny…

“Whatdaya think, Princess?!” Nykannis inquired with an eager grin. “Just looking at it makes ya wanna piss yourself, right?! And see how it’s trying to eat my arm?!” she asked, pointing to where the liquified back of the eldritch weapon was smashing itself against the energy shield coating the mad scientist’s skin like a wave against a sea wall. “If I didn’t have my defenses cranked up to the max, this thing’d literally eat me alive! Nyahahaha! Just imagine the POWER it contains!” the mad scientist gushed before sobering slightly. “As you might be able to guess, I developed this guy after studying your friend’s nightmare magic, though why you’d be friends with the servant of your patron’s arch nemesis is beyond me.”

“She doesn’t serve the Lord of Nightmares by choice,” Violet shot back, trying to regain some of her composure. “And I will do everything in my power to see her freed from its vile clutches.”

“Yeah? Well, good luck with that,” Nykannis sneered. “Heh, maybe this little guy will give you a taste of just what’ll happen to you when you try and fail miserably!” she added, before giving voice to another peal of maniacal laughter as she charged up the eldritch weapon. “Oh, and don’t worry,” the Mad Scientist Supreme reassured her prisoner/test subject. “Even if your mind gets completely torn to shreds, I’ll just put ya back together, good as new! That way, we can do this ALL OVER AGAIN!!! NYAHAHAHA!!!”

There was a burst of horrific, mind-melting energy as the cackling Nykannis fired her warped weapon.

An instant later, and Violet’s world was consumed by the most suffocating darkness imaginable…

---

Thundering explosions and the cracking of bullets but through the formerly peaceful and calm air, and even some distance from Bolorton itself the sounds of what was undoubtedly a battle of larger scale were very much audible. Indeed, before the draconic swordswoman had any clue, her compatriot had begun to pick up on things before she could. A curiosity from the so-called "Cosmic Gypsy" had ultimately turned into more than this as the duo had gotten close, the rising smoke and so forth striking up a notable sense of alarm. Curiosity thus became concern, and as the duo made their approach the haste in which they made their approach had become even greater.

Still...

"Lady Eliana!"

The swordswoman's hand shot out as they ran through the open field, grabbing the wrist of her compatriot before she could run any closer. As the other girl's head shot back to look at her, the swordswoman's eyes could not help but glance up at the rising plumes of smoke before looking back down at Eliana's eyes once more. She could see the danger, see it all too clearly, and yet her charge did not seem to care nor hesitate regardless. Even those deep green eyes reflected her compatriot's feelings without any sort of hesitation nor remorse.

She had to at least try, for Thos' sake!

"Mi'lady, we cannot simply charge into this situation! I understand your concern, but if we barge into some uninvolved situation on this scale I worry for your safety. Stirring up any local magical forces would be inadvisable at best, especially since we've yet to reach our destination as Lord Thos commanded."

The other girl returned her words with a silent pout.

"We can't simply leave the people in that village to die! We simply can't! Even if we can only save a few lives...you know how I feel about these things, Kiyome.

Even if we must take a neutral stance, the innocent...we can't just leave them..."

The pleasing in those eyes. The big, soft, bubbly heart no even hiding its presence on her sleeve. That childish pout even. The swordswoman's grip tightened on Eliana's wrist, but at the same time she found herself gritting her own teeth. Again. Again and again and again, and just like that person never a willingness to...no. She came by it honest. So very honest. It was nostalgic in a sense, even now.

It reminded her...

...Crap. Screw it. She'd have to transform, bind her up, and carry her on her back to make it work out like she felt was best, and that would only make things worse.

Kiyome's grip lightened on the other girl's wrist, before letting out a small but defeated sigh. Eliana, on the other hand, simply beamed back victoriously in return before grabbing the swordswoman's own wrist in return and immediately dragging the disguised monster girl off n thhe direction of Bolorton.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit a miiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinute, I wasn't finiiiiiiiiiiiiished yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet!!!"

The protest was of no use.

"Come on! Let's see what we can do! We can talk once we get there!"

---

Toxic spores, nightmarish creatures and suffering cries, fire, it was nothing short of insanity. Soldiers being cut down left and right, magical girls and monsters scrambling to do anything, and yet the duo had their particular way to go about things. Not that one of them liked it, but the alternative was much worse. So it had been a compromise.

A notable compromise that kept the mistress happy enough at least.

Penny and Mayra both saw as three tanks, escorted by two dozen soldiers, rolled over the distant hill, their cannons targeted at them. Even with their speed, it would take two rounds to reach the tanks.

For a certain swordswoman, that distant hill was not so distant anymore. In fact, she'd transformed and set her sights on the first target to ambush.

In a heartbeat a draconic swordswoman appeared out of seemingly thin air, standing atop the body of the tank next to the turret, a Focused strike from her blade launched at blinding speed as space and time warped themselves. The superbly long sword cleft through at an angle, slicing the barrel and down into the tank itself. A cry of surprise, the 'thunk' of at least one or two somethings inside of the tank, and the gurgling of blood alongside shouting from inside came soon after...as well as most of the tank's barrel landing on its front with a loud THUD at that. A deadly blow indeed, dealing damage to the turret leaving it unable to turn and cutting deep into the cramped tank and striking likely most of the crew inside in the process.

However...



"Hmpf. You see something you like?

You really are fools to get on the striking end of my blade. But let's make this entertaining, shall we?"

...the element of surprise was gone, so she'd have to work for the next attack like that. A punishing, draining blow that for her vast mana pool was generally acceptable.

"The hell-?!"

"Hostile on top of us, open fire!"

Soldiers around the affected tank turned and tried to open fire on her, but in a heartbeat their target disappeared once more. Even so, the cooled air and and dread originating from the Mark of Thos the swordswoman permeated the air, sending a sudden chill down the spines of the shocked soldiers.

"Use extreme caution, hostile is capa- jlghajdlgajkdg!"



A thrust of that sword this time that went through the speaking man's chest and right through the chest of the guy next to him, blood rushing up into his throat and out of his mouth, before the blade was swung and the bodies of the two were cleft through like a hot knife through butter. Rifle fire would turn toward the swordswoman once more, all as she grabbed the severed upper torso of one soldier and used it as a shield to rush two of the soldiers now firing directly on her.

She had to admit, though, it was not going to be a boring day. And with her mistress in a safer spot than this...heh. She could go ham without as much worry. Not that the worry would ever go away. It was enough to very briefly bring a smile to her face for a moment.

"Well...looks like this won't be a total waste of my precious time after all!"

If she got close enough she'd toss the torso at them as a distraction and then use her spec to teleport behind them to try to cleave them both in two with a mighty horizontal strike. Depending on how things went, of course.

@Ariamis@Shifter_Master@PlatinumSkink

---

Eliana herself would ultimately sneak as best she could and head to the western row, trying to evacuate out anyone she could find. Or at least get them out and in a safe spot for the moment being. She'd promised her ally that much, to try to stay off of the front lines as best as she could. She had no idea if or what anyone else was doing around the village, or if more soldiers and such would pop around the corner, but she was doing her best regardless to get people and keep them safe in case anyone came storming in. Her sensory skills made it a simpler task than most as well...but at the same time the nature of those she was trying to help was eerily consistent. Magically so.

"What is going on here?" she softly said to herself, lips pursing in concern as she left a house with one unconscious child in her arms, "Magically asleep...? Could it be-?"

((OOC: Basically here's room for Lily to run into her, or someone else helping in that area, etc.

Couldn't think of much than a starter here to try to get help Eliana involved. Apologies.))

@Ariamis

‘Ooooh, yes! Aren’t you handsome and commanding? Sure, let’s dance!’ Jelena said, kind of amused to be part of this so utterly different scene compared to her normal life. She was a bit embarrassed, but hey, yolo, you know? So, she let herself be guided by Harry, and smiled widely as she did her best to dance. She’d practiced, you know!? Albeit, her skills were likely lacking, that said she was more than enthusiastic in her efforts!

Though, never did her real purpose escape her. She was here to keep an eye out for strange magic, on either herself, Mariette or their surroundings. Sure, the balls were enchanted, but as long as they weren’t affecting Mariette Jelena gave them a pass. It was a magical world, who is to say their games can’t be magical as well? She every so often took her eyes off Harry to look in Mariette’s direction, but then looked right back at him, because this was kind of exciting. No way she’d actually let it lead anywhere, but it was kinda exciting.

Mariette, meanwhile, had to frown slightly at the size of these croquet balls. Knowing she’d go croquetting, she’d obviously researched the sport and went for a couple practice-rounds. However, while the rules were the same, the equipment differed significantly. All she could do was to grab the croquet and do her best not to disappoint the queen. Given her aim was still better than an average person and she had tiny portals to confirm the direction she was aiming, it was possible she’d still do alright… albeit she didn’t know how much force she was supposed to put into her swings, and she probably wasn’t very consistent in her swings.

She picked up the mallet, focused tightly, and then swung, and happened to have assumed the balls were super-heavy and as such probably used way more force than needed. It likely went through one hoop, but then rolled way away and Mariette looked on helplessly as she knew she’d have to head after it, probably. She’d have to do better to not disappoint the queen… probably.

That said, the queen’s words…

‘I know how I ended up there. It was not by my choice,’ Mariette replied. ‘I was born in a pit. I had to try living in it, with the master of that pit…’ That, being her father. ‘When I decided to escape, I was about to stumble back into that pit… when the master of another, far more powerful pit took me and took me under his cloak.’ That, being Asengav.

‘I have wondered about what I would do if I was free. However, the answer eludes me. All my life I’ve been in these pits. Trying to imagine life outside them feels… unnatural. Like an existence without purpose. I don’t know what I’d do without a purpose.’ It’s been something somewhat troubling for her. She’s seen the lives of other people. Of regular, as well as magical people. However, all of it felt so lacking in scale and purpose. Just existing day after day, possibly fighting monsters… It felt like it would get repetitive.

That said, she was seeking that life. It had to be better than the pit she was in right now. She’d figure out what the purpose was when she got there. Of course, she did not tell the queen this. For all she knew, she may just go directly to Asengav and tell on her. It was ammunition she was not willing to provide her.

__________________________________________


Penny contacted Mayra through the headset. Challenged her into seeing who could take out the most of Wonderland’s Goons. That, and keep them away from the sunflowers. Mayra was mildly aware she was probably being manipulated. That said, it aligned with her current goal of tearing the enemy forces a new one, so she just grinned.

‘You’re on,’ she stated back.

So she cut through the Wonderland soldiers, showing nary any mercy and relishing in the violence as she blasted herself towards another and decimated that unit, too. Some managed to hit her with their rifles, but honestly the pain just served to edge Mayra on further, the girl grinning as she shot some fire out her body to blast the bullets out of her scales before slicing through the next one. No, it didn’t particularly occur to her to avoid causing a fire in the fields.

Mayra got to see Gaia powering up the plants. The corn-missiles looked absolutely hilarious and the dragon-girl had to take a brief pause to laugh. ‘Hahaha… Corn-missiles… Hahaha!’ Then Connie stepped up, and did a wave of nightmarish energy… and Mayra raised her arms in support with a wide grin. ‘Yeeeaaah! Face the power of scary friend! You’re awesome, scary friend! Woooo!’ she shouted in support.

Then her attention was drawn to a new arrival. A girl had attacked a turret, and promptly dealt with the forces gathered around her. Mayra inspected her for a bit… then her eyes widened. Her expression went blank for a second.

Then she was no longer standing there.

A comet flew across the battlefield, a ball of fire that was Mayra propelling herself across the battlefield. An echoing voice followed along as the comet homed in directly at the newly arrival.



Kiyome might suddenly realize there’s a fireball spearheaded by a black-scaled fiery dragon girl looking towards her with a face of sheer, frantic excitement, arms raised, not in attack, but in preparation to hug. There was a rocket-powered, super-high speed and probably ridiculously dangerous glomp intending to grab her and keep all the momentum as, if it impacted, both individuals would be sent rolling a hundred meters or so away from the battle while Mayra held on tightly to her… or if she dodged then it’d just be Mayra.

Regardless, Mayra would be up again soon. If she hit she’d just still hold onto her but on a slight distance so they could talk, or if she missed it’d be while she was excitedly running back to her. She’d be saying stuff either way.

‘Dragon! You’re another dragon-girl, aren’t you!? Are you like me!? Are you like me!? Dragon that was turned into a girl? Oooh, that is so cool! I’m Mayra, also a dragon-girl! I bet you could tell! Do you serve a horror, too? Oooh, I am so happy to have met you! Can I be your friend? I want to be your friend! I love your tail! So sleek and elegant! What are your powers? I can do a whole lot of fire, and I’m really strong, too! Wait, don’t tell me! I want to find out while I fight you! And I want to fight you! Right now! I want to measure our strengths! Can I fight you? I’m going to fight you! I want to see what you can do! Let’s fight, friend!’ Mayra said, words streaming from her mouth as her face looked absolutely covered in joy.

With that, she’d either jump back and take a battle stance if she was holding onto Kiyome or just assume the stance when she got close enough if she missed. ‘Alright, here I go!’

Mayra was absolutely intending to launch herself directly at Kiyome and attempt to slice with a super-heated claw from overhead with a super-excited expression, having utterly, utterly forgotten about the battle that was going on or any bets she might have had with Penny.

@Crusader Lord

__________________________________________


‘Alright! Let’s go help evacuate!’ Ronin called, encouraged by Annabell’s enthusiasm.

‘We take every other house, I’ll take the first!’ Miko called. With that, Miko headed for the first home in the row while Ronin ran for the second one, and they’d each take half the houses on their row taking every other house each, in order to rescue the villagers and get them to safety! Two tiny girls spearheading their evacuation.

And that’s about it. Obviously ready in case they needed to heal or block anything.

Penny wanted to grin, Penny wanted to let out a whoop of unbridled joy and she wanted to weep at the feeling of utter contentment that flowed through her once she had taken to the field. She knew it was wrong, or more accurately that it was utterly inhuman. The carnage and devastation that was abound was soothing to her in a way that she had not felt in so long.

She was built for conflict, for destruction, and even though she no longer needed it, she reveled in it.

Not that anyone would be able to tell with a glance at her. Her face had become a blank facade showing no emotion at all. A cold and efficient killing machine. But she didn’t care, she didn’t have to keep up her pretenses here.

Still there were worries, not major ones, not yet at least. But the fact that Wonderland had firearms capable of actually punching through her outer layers was a notable point to keep in mind, even more so when one considered that Penny was augmented above her already formidable resilience.

But that very same danger was something she was planning on taking advantage of. After all she could sense that the weapons of those she had already killed weren’t vanishing, which meant they were enchanted weapons, not innate magical ones. Perfect for the taking.

Slowing down slightly Penny reached out with her senses and called to her the guns of each soldier she killed. Called to each piece of metal and technology they had. Because metal calls to metal and in that domain she is the undisputed ruler.

As she did that she reconfigured her system layout. Her blades winked out, she didn’t need her offensive power here, not when her enemies were willing to give theirs to her cause after all, and in their place was a half dome of translucent energy affixed to her left arm.

The guns that she called were quickly snatched by one of her extended limbs, one for each spider limb and one for her right hand. Any extras that came were racked up on her back and the lower struts of her spider limbs. Enchanted meant that she wouldn’t be able to use them infinitely and would need extras after all.

Empty guns would be eaten and then replaced with a fresh one, spare clips would be used first as well before they too would be consumed when spent.

Because in only a short instant Penny changed from a storm of blades to a roving hurricane of bullets. Her raised barrier would stem the worst of the incoming fire, and bullets that made it though would also be turned into more fuel as her body stabilized the bullets that penetrated. Never enough to refill the damage, but more cost efficient than relying on her own Regeneration for the moment.

It would also help her coordinate with the various sound points she had access to to triangulate where she needed to return fire, that is if she couldn’t just see her targets herself. Not that there was a dearth of targets.

That did little to halt Penny’s unflinching march towards the incoming forces, each dead soldier she came across gave her ammo to rain down towards the incoming forces, and the wrecked hulls of the far away tanks were calling to her just as she was to them.

She almost missed the addition of the unexpected back up, the other dragon girl taking out a tank and making short work of the escort of soldiers. But Mayra was loud enough that Penny heard her even without the headset.

”I wonder if I should be insulted or complimented that you wanted to save our fight for a more personally dramatic encounter or not.” Penny would say to Mayra he tone coming across as vaguely amused. “Pretty sure the pretty lady isn’t part of Wonderland so I’m not sure if she’s going to be willing to give her all to fight you just yet.” She would go on fully aware that most of what she was saying likely was going unheard by the manic fire dragon.

---

’All units be advised we have a sighting of another magical joining this conflict, they are openly hostile towards Wonderland but no confirmation on if they are allies. Be on the lookout for more and be careful.’ Penny’s voice came through all the headsets she had passed out, save Mayra’s, It was clinical and sounded focused.

---

So caught up in the fight that Penny hardly recognized that her girlfriend was missing in action. Over looked that fact that she was quickly being drenched in the blood and viscera of her enemies, as she was not kind to the corpses that stubbornly tried to keep their tools away from her. Didn’t recognize the outer edge of her thoughts were slowly going quiet.

Within her systems an alert that she had not worried about in a long time sent out an alert that was ignored by it’s progenitor, and went unheard over the din of battle.

[Yellow alert. D̷͞҉͏̡è̛͘҉̕s҉̶̛̛҉t́̀͘͢͜r̡ứ̧ć̸t̶̡̨͟į̛ơ̶͜͡͝n͏̡̛ ̴̵̛͞E͏̨ņ͏ģ́̕͠҉i̡͞͏̸͠n̴̢͠͝e͏̧̀ ̶̵̨̛ has reached 50%. Caution a̴͚̽d̷̍ͅv̷͓̀í̸̩s̸̟̈ḙ̶͛d̶̳͘]

Penny was waking up, just as much as Penny was fading away.

Sometime, in the not too distant past

Starring:
"Violence is a question and the answer is Yes" Sanngridr
"Comedic straight man" Alexander



It was weird for Alexander to be taking a bounty without Lily. However, he wanted to get involved with dragons, and neither of them could freely travel to the Overcity ‘Why is there even a limit on the amount of people who can take a bounty? I mean, I can understand not letting…say 20 people go on a goblin hunt in the sewer together. But limiting an infiltration of a robot protected Overcity base to just two people seems kind of nuts’ Alexander was currently waiting in a pre-arranged alleyway for his partner on this bounty; someone who could freely travel to the Overcity. He was currently in his Beast magic form, but his Disguise Artifact made him appear untransformed “Dammit, what time did the note say they’d be here again?”

“Huh, you look a little young to be a dealer”

A strange, raspy voice drew his attention. Turning his head, he saw an older looking scraggly teanager who smelled of weed “Dealer? I don’t have any drugs” he raised an eyebrow in confusion

“You don’t? Isn’t this five alleyways down from the Best Buy?”

Alexander face palmed “Best Buy is on the other side of city”

“Shit, really? Sorry little dude, I’m a little baked here.” The other boy chuckled embarrassed

“Yeah, I can smell”

He just laughed Alexander off as he walked away “Stay frosty little dude”

When he was out of sight, Alexander shook his head “Is there some kind of system in place for scheduling alleyways for meeting or something?”

“It’s called Glimmr.”

Sanngridr’s voice could be heard from the topside of a three story building, smiling widely, as she eyed the other person, not bothering to hide her monstrous wings from her valkyrie form.

“If it isn’t the Lord of Beasts…It’s been a while. Does the word…dragon keep your blood pumping? I bet it does.”

With a single leap, she landed in front of Alexander, the wings obscuring the sight, as she chose to one sidedly close in the personal space. “No girlfriend this time? Mmm…?”

Alexander resisted the urge to groan and back away ‘Just fucking wonderful. It’s one of those people’ He settled for a simple sigh “Only two people can take a bounty at once, and neither of us can travel to the Overcity. And…well…I kind of wanted to see what was up with this dragon business” It was then that something clicked in Alexander’s mind “Wait…I remember you; you’re Tenebra’s friend” He winced ‘Wonderful, now I’m stuck with this nutjob’

“I brought her back, yes. I’m also a Chosen of a top god. Pappy Odin. I believe I told you this before.” She tilted her head. “So you reckon we need to get to the Overcity?” She smiled as she drew closer. “Well, there’s one way.” She was practically embracing Alex at this point.

“Does it involve you invading my personal space like this? Because if not, then please stop” Alexander requested as he tried to keep his breathing steady ‘Don’t punch her in the face Alexander, that only encourages girls like her.’

“Well, Overcity Shift has a limited range, you know. It’s that or having your face having a mouthful of my wings.” Sanngridr replied. “Well, Sann thinks it’s fitting for a Lord of the Beasts, everyone has their tastes…”

This time, he couldn’t hold back his groan “Just…just get it over with.” He didn’t believe for one second that Overcity Shift’s range was a tiny as she seemed to be implying ‘But I can tell that arguing about it isn’t going to get me anywhere’

As the Shift came to an end, the duo found themselves deposited in an alleyway near their destination. The collector the device had been sold to seemed to be one of those types that valued his privacy. Their first obstacle was a large wall that was around the compound, beyond which a large mansion could be seen. There was a gate, but that was likely to not be an easy method of entry. No doubt further defenses waited on the inside as well, but for now the wall was what they had to contend with.

"Hey nice place. We can break it down now." Sanngridr said, after extracting herself from Alex's embrace and readied her weapon…before sheathing it again and blowing a raspberry.

"Nah we need to go all stealthy. What can you do, beastlord? Sann thinks you have a good bag of tricks."

Alexander took a few moments to think “The first thing that comes to mind is to just make a staircase barrier over the wall. But I’m kind of worried that it’s not going to be that simple. Ah fuck it, not like I’ve got anything else that doesn’t involve breaking something.” With a shrug, Alexander crouched down and slammed the but of his wand on the ground. As he did, a sparkly spiral staircase materialized in front of him. One that led right to the top of the wall. “Well, here’s hoping this doesn’t blow up in our faces” With that, he began to make his way up, turning off his disguise artifact as he did ‘Almost forgot, I don’t need this anymore’

Sanngridr just tilted her head, before letting a small smile… and taking flight on her monstrous wings. "Hey… need a lift?" She added as she flew past him.

Alexander blinked “Oh, right…you have wings” He was just about to say yes…before he suddenly remembered who he was talking to “Thanks, but I’ll just walk. I already made the stairs, so I might as well use them” It was a weak excuse, but he didn’t really care,

Reaching the top in their varied manners, there was nothing stopping them from passing over it to the courtyard beyond. It was a well tended place, with coordinated pathways laid out through flower beds. Fountains bubbled nearby, with statues of gargoyles and dragons adorning them. It was standard rich mansion stuff.

From their perch they would be able to see that there were some inhabitants, possibly servants or other occupants besides their fancy collector. While a few were obviously guards with their set routes, there was a good chance that everyone had some ability to defend themselves due to being in the Overcity.

They had a few options right now. There was a small building near them, possibly a shed or a storage area. The main building laid across the open space of the courtyard, with two wings stretched towards in the shape of a U. There were multiple stories as well, allowing for many points of entry. It was just a matter of crossing that space without being noticed.

Alexander cringed at the sight before him “Eugh. This Place is even more tacky than I expected” Then he turned to his partner for this job “Okay, I just realized I should have asked this earlier; but what kind of magic are you packing? You clearly know what I have, based on the weird nickname you came up for me, but all I really know about you is that you have wings and can go in and out of the Overcity.”

"Sanngridr just took a look at Alexander, her smile grinning wide, before snapping her fingers as a tiny mallet materialized on top of Alexander's head, with the intention to bonk him.

"Reinforcement. But the Allfather trained me in Runic sorcery."

Alexander blinked in surprise “Huh, weird. I can work with runes too. Most of the ones I use are for supporting my magic. You wouldn’t happen to know any that could help with stealth, would you?”

"Sanngridr knows some obscuring runes. Sanngridr also knows she can just fly over them with Alexander on her arms. Like a moonlight date. Or you could let me do a little surprise or distraction."

The valkyrie said, hovering really close. "You are a fellow disciple of a top god, why the surprise?"

“Because we share a specialization and also work with runes. I’ve never met anyone else who used runes, so to find out that my random partner on a job also uses them, along with Reinforcement magic. Well…it seems kind of unlikely. Not an issue, just kind of weird.” Alexander explained “If we go over them, then I’d rather use my barrier than get carried. But personally, my vote is for obscuring runes. That sounds like it’ll be more useful once we get inside. Actually, give me a second” Remembering his tracking ability, Alexander activated Absolute Direction to try and home in on the dragon locater.

Utilizing his Absolute Direction, Alexander would pin down the Dragon Locator to the second floor of the mansion in the Western Wing, which was the one closest to them. It was about in the middle of the floor, but at least it would not be the most difficult place to reach, comparatively speaking.

“Alright, awesome. I got a bead on it; It’s on the second floor, right over there.” He pointed where Absolute Direction told him to. “So I’m thinking that we use that stealth rune of yours and take the aerial path over there. With any luck, we’ll be able to slip in undetected.”

Sanngridr just took her finger and bit it without flinching,dabbing a rune with blood upon Alexander's face, before doing the same and drawing the same rune upon her face.

"Now let us embrace and become one… to cross." She would say as she activated the rune. "Perthro, rune of secrets." She would whisper as she took Alexander to fly away. "Are you a good dancer?"

Alexander had to bite back the urge to yell at her, since that would definitely give away their position “I was planning on walk in mid air with my barriers.” he growled at her ‘Dammit, just what is with this girl? Well, at least this should get us there without making a fuss.’

With stealth runes in place, the duo took to the skies as they made their way towards the nearby mansion. With the glyphs active and no one in the particular habit of looking upwards for sustained periods of time, they soon reached their destination. on one of the mansion's balconies.

Like many homes, the door on the second floor seemed to have a simple lock. As long as they weren't too loud about it, it wouldn't be much trouble getting through. If the lock proved to be too much trouble, they might be able to get through a window too.

“Right, this looks like a weirdly simple lock for a place this extravagant. Hopefully I can get this open.” Alexander whispered as he made a tiny tail that he used to work on picking the lock “This makes it so much easier” He mumbled as he got to work

The lock was fairly straightforward in its mechanisms, and someone like Alex would have little trouble in cracking it. That allowed them access to a well furnished hallway, with a nice carpet, decorations lining the wall, basically more of the stuff you’d expect to find in some rich guy’s mansion.

“...Anddddd there!” Alexander declared as finished picking the lock, and opened the door. “Well the coast looks clear.” Alexander slowly made his way inside, as he followed Absolute Direction to the tracker “This way.” he waved over Sanngridr.

“Hehehe Tentacles.” Sanngridr would chuckle, before she herself found in a bit of an awkward position as her wings got stuck in the door. After a brief curse, she wrapped the feathery limbs around herself. One of her eyes glowed ominously as she deployed her Evil Eye.

Moving along, the most obvious thing Sanngridr would see was that the lights were magical, fed by their own internal spells rather than actual electricity. Other spells maintained the temperature and environment, ensuring that they were tailored to preserve the artifacts on display. They passed by vases and pottery, as well as old portraits of people and landscapes. But the beauty therein was probably lost on these two.

More important to them were the traps she spotted along the path. They seemed to be randomly placed, far enough away from the entrances where someone would let their guard down. They were looking for some kind of magical key, and would deploy barrier magic to trap them in place if the traps were activated. This would be the first challenge to surmount, as the area in question stretched the width of the hallway.

“Traps. Someone’s being naughty.” Sanngridr whispered. “Why don’t you call one of your mice thralls, beast lord. Those traps won’t activate if we have the right kind of key…”

“What a shame, I left all my mice at home.” Alexander replied as dryly as he possibly could “Let me give something a try” He said as he tried to switch the target of his Absolute Direction to the closest magical key.

Using Absolute Direction would unfortunately not give Alexander much in the way of solution. The nearest key in this case happened to be beyond the barrier that they needed to move past. The other option was one of the people walking downbelow, but that carried the obvious problem of it being out in the open. They might need to get creative to surmount this problem.

“Well shit, that’s a bust.” Alexander groaned, before turning to Sanngridr “I don’t suppose you have any way of disarming this? I can’t see the traps, so there’s not much I can do. Well…maybe we could try going around. They might not trigger if we can cut a hole through a wall or the ceiling.”

“Does anyone want to have a second go?” Sanngridr would ask, while grinning. Calling forth the deceased, an otherwise otherwordly chill engulfing Alexander as she used her Spirit magic to call forth the Fallen and the deceased poltergeist.

Spectres rose at Sanngridr’s call, both human and otherworldly creatures that did not walk their own native plane. She was left with a handful for the moment, as more were likely not needed with the confined space they were in.

“Fetch that key for me. Surely you have more freedom of movement than flesh creatures.” Sanngridr would add.

Without a word the spectres floated off to carry out Sanngridr’s command, moving through the nearby walls as spectres tend to do. It was several minutes before they returned, leaving one to anxiously look about, lest someone abruptly come around a corner or through a doorway and spot them.

Eventually they did return, carrying with them a single bronze signet ring. Coming to a stop, the object was held out for Sanngridr to take. They had their key, and a way past this obstacle. No doubt more waited for them on the path ahead.

“I might have left out a thing… or two…teeheh.” The valkyrie giggled softly as she eyed the Ring before kneeling in front of Alex. “With this ring, I declare you as my husbando. Will you be my bed warmer?”

Alexander’s eye twitched as he stared at Sanngridr for a few seconds before making a sound that was half sigh and half groan “Let’s just get that damn tracker and get out before we get caught.”

“You’re no fun.” Sanngridr would sigh too, before employing the signet ring to defuse the trap, keeping on the lookout. “I wanna fight a dragon…can’t find it without thingamajig.” She muttered.

“Now that I can understand” he said in response to her mutterings. He then set his Absolute Direction back to locate the tracker ‘A tracking power to find a tracker. The irony isn’t lost on me.’

Moving along, they were witness to more of what had been collected here in this manor. Different portraits, pottery, stuff like that. They did pass some rooms along the way which seemed to harbor display cases of various items, but none of them were the one the duo was looking for.

As they neared a corner, an odd and worrying sound reached their ears. It was footsteps, but there was also something like stone scraping together? Whatever it was, it was going to round the corner ahead of them in a few moments. They could try to duck into one of the nearby rooms, fight it, or find some other method. Whatever they did, it would need to be fast.

Acting on instinct, Alexander focused magic into his legs as he grabbed Sanngridr’s arm. He quickly jumped up to the ceiling, dragging Sanngridr along with him, and at the apex of his jump, made a flat barrier beneath them. They both landed without a sound, and Alexander looked down to see what was making that noise.

Sanngridr, for her part, was about to summon her sword and cut Alexander into pieces, but she relented quickly upon realizing what was happening. “My how forceful.” She said, while embracing Alexander again with her arms and wings. “A little rat huh.” She whispered to Alexander’s ear. “Spirits.” She said, calling her wraith helpers to spy the source of the sound from their ethereal unseen existence.

“How inappropriate to butt in our little raid.” She added in low whisper, not before nibbling Alexander’s ear.

Safely hidden on the ceiling, Sanngridr and Alex didn’t need to wait long to find the source of the noise. They didn’t even need the spirits to do it. A stone being rounded the corner, feet thudding against the carpet with each steps. It was bulky and took up much of the hallway with its mass, but luckily for them it made the classic mistake of many guards and did not look up.

Without pausing, it moved further down the hallway. It did not appear to have seen them, though there was a good chance more of these things would be between them and their target.

With the guard away, Alexander quickly made some space between him and Sanngridr “What is wrong with you? You don’t just…bite someone’s ear out of nowhere” He started extending the barrier walkway and followed it “Ugh…I miss Lily already.” he grumbled.

"But beasts playbite all the time, beast lord. Or would you rather have the electric girl bite your ear?" Sanngridr added. "Golems, maybe on predetermined patterns. How classic." She would add, before activating her Evil Third Eye to see if these things had weak points or if there were more alarms.

Utilizing her Third Eye, Sanngridr was able to see that the golem was animated by a rock with symbols engraved on it, embedded in the torso of the creature. The weak points were the elbows, knees, and shoulders, where the limbs met and needed to be more flexible in their movement. Beyond that there did not seem to be any other alarms, at least on their ceiling position as they continued towards their target.

Soon they arrived outside the room that contained their prize. Once the coast was clear they could approach the door, which looked like a pretty standard wooden door. It had a normal key lock, and no dangerous booby traps visible. Whether that was the case inside the room, they’d either need to take the risk or find another way to look inside.

Alexander hopped down to the ground to get a better look at the door, but he couldn’t notice anything strange ‘Which is actually kind of strange itself. If this door leads to a room where really valuable stuff is stored, then you’d think it would be defended by something better than a simple wooden door. Hell, I could probably punch this thing down…or just a hole in it. It really depends on whether the door is stronger than it’s hinges or not.’ Looking over to Sanngridr, he asked “Do you have anything that can take a peek inside?”

"Just my friends". Sanngridr would then add, cajoling spirits to look further.

Floating through the walls, the spirits quickly returned. It was a modestly sized room, with a couple suits of armor along both sides. Spaced through the room were several items on pedestals, protected behind glass. It was a display room for the collectors trophies, and no doubt the Dragon Locator (™) was one of those. Unfortunately the spirits didn’t have much else, but there were no visible defenses at least.

"Nothing of worth besides the glass. Let's plunder, beast Lord." Sanngridr would then add, smirking.

Alexander nodded as he kneeled down to begin picking the lock “This still doesn’t feel right.” He began talking “I mean, it’s not impossible that security is just lighter on the inside, because they don’t expect anyone to sneak this far in…but…I don’t know, something just feels off. Get ready to book it if this triggers an alarm or something. I’ll rush in and grab the thing, if you can use Overcity Shift in here, then do it. If not, then we’ll have to break out a little more forcefully”

"Okay." Sann would smile as she would stand by.

With skill and the liberal use of magic, Alex succeeded in opening the door. That allowed them both to see what the spirits had told them. There were indeed a couple suits of armor against the wall, some paintings, and display cases with various items. This room seemed to be more of a technical nature, gizmos with spinning orbs and flickering diodes.

Their particular target was on the far side of the room, sitting securely in its display case. It was a handheld device with a small screen, and the main focus was a tooth protruding from the top of the device with some prongs connected to it. Presumably that was how it did its dragon detecting. Now they just had to acquire it.

Alexander let out a sigh of relief at the lack of any kind of response to the door opening ‘So far so good…I think.’ Getting back to his feet he carefully made his way over to the target. Once he reached it he looked around for a way to open it.

Looking over the case, he was able to locate a small plaque that said ‘Dragon Locator’ on it, confirming that it was their target. However, there did not appear to be an obvious way of opening the case. The new owner did not intend for it to be removed once it was part of his collection, perhaps. Sanngridr noticed more as she looked around with her Third Eye though. The glass of the display cases was enchanted with protection magic and environmental sealing, to keep the objects inside safe and make it more difficult to actually access the glass. She also saw a trigger similar to the one they had encountered before, though not fitted for this key.

She’d also notice that the suits of armor on the walls were also imbued with dormant magic, presumably to animate them. That may not affect her choice at all, but it would be worth noting.

‘Well crap.’ Alexander fought the urge to sigh ‘I could just smash it open, but that might make too much noise.’ Calling up his sword, he rested the blade on the top of the case, and with a flex of Reinforcement and Beast magic to strengthen himself, started trying to saw an opening into the case.

Sann for her part, just whistled, before unsheathing her sword, the Valkyrie's Tear. Concentrating, she enhanced her weapon and attempted to parry Alex's attempt.

"Case is enchanted. You need to go nuts."

Alexander sighed “Well so much for doing this quietly.” He then raised his blade up, and quickly brought it back down with all the force he could muster, making sure to not hit the detector

The first blow rang and bounced off the glass. The second caused a small crack to appear. Then the third and the fourth fell, and soon it shattered under the force of Alexander’s blows. The Dragon Locatoe was theirs for the taking now that it was out of the way.

Unfortunately, the glass breaking triggered something. Sann could see magic flaring, and moments later the suits of armor to the sides of the room raised their swords into ready stances and began marching towards the duo. Outside of the immediate threat they posed, it was probably not a good sign for their hidden presence within the estate.

“Shit, they move”” Alexander grabbed the locator and stowed it away. “Alright, got it. Do the thing!”

Sann would blow a raspberry at the armors, and then her wings would cover both Alexander and the detector, activating her Overcity Shift.

Overcity Shift was triggered…only for nothing to happen. Moments later swords stabbed at her wings, striking at the more delicate contents within. Using her Third Eye, Sann could see that wards had kicked in at some point after the alarm had turned on. Bound to objects somewhere else, it prevented anyone from shifting out of the Overcity within the confines of the ward. That left them in quite the precarious position as the guards sought to make their visit a short one

Sann just let a moan as she was stabbed. “Figures.” She said, panting. “Well no use in holding back now..” She smiled in a cruel way. “Beast lord… hold on to me if you want to leave and don’t step from here.”

Sanngridr focused all her might and fury, barriers appearing on her surroundings, seemingly unimpeded thanks to her Soul Jar. “EINHERJAR… IT IS TIME TO PLUNDER. RAZE, KILL, AND BURN!” She said, summoning the spirits of long undead vikings. Odin’s champions.

Here and there the grins and heckles of ghostly beings were heard. Shields banging, swords clattering.

Truly a time for fighting.

Alexander sighed “I had a feeling it was too easy, but I still had hope” Deciding to follow Sanngridr’s lead, Alexander spawned a bunch of clones. They grew tails out of the palms of their hands, ready to lash out. He then threw his own barriers over the ones Sanngridr put up “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

Though these were not the foes of the sort that VIkings were used to fighting, the spirits answered Sanngridr’s call all the same as they began to appear. By the same token these foes were a bit more difficult to take out than the average soldier, lacking much of the physical body that could be easily slain. These suits had to be dismembered.

The melee spread, swords clashing against spectral axes and shields. Suits of armor were swarmed and torn apart, but that only bought the duo a short reprieve. The sound of heavy footsteps grew steadily nearer, most likely belonging to the guards they had passed earlier. And it was probably too much to expect that there was only one or two on their way.

"Well. Now that these nuisances are gone… let us undo the overcity sealing. The cause of this is somewhere else. EINJERHAR, search and destroy!" Sanngridr would command, readying the sword in glee.

“And maybe do it quickly. I can hear the reinforcements getting closer” Alexander said as his clones joined the Einjerhar in wrecking the place. “And this was going so well too.” He sighed to himself

THe vikings surged out of the room, spreading out to locate the artifacts binding them to this plane. That said, it did look like there was more than one artifact, so it might take a bit.

Fighting quickly erupted down the halls, golems shouldering through spectres and smashing as ethereal blades bit at their tough skin. As one might expect the vikings were also not the most discerning when it came to what they smashed, a cost Saangridr would feel like a punch to the gut as they broke something that reflected back upon the magic user.

Moments later one of those golems slammed through the open doorway, sending ghost Vikings flying. It’s exterior was chipped and battered, but it was still functional as it charged towards them like a bull. A bull made of solid rock.

“Aaah… I felt that one…” Sanngridr said, spitting some blood. She readied her sword and third eye… and with a deft display of swordmanship, attempted to slash the core of the golem.

Alexander grew some long tails out of his arms to try and hold the golem in place to make it an easier target “I don’t think this is working! We’re probably just going to have to break out to somewhere else where you can do your teleport thing!”

The golem growled, a low rumble that emanated from some deep source. Alex found that trying to bind it in place was easier said than done. It used its immense strength to tug him to and fro, slamming him into broken pedestals and yanking him off his feet. Only Sanngridr’s expert swordsmanship provided a reprieve, stabbing at the core that laid within. Yet the golem was tough, and with Alex being pulled about it was hard to get in a clean blow at the weak spot rather than bouncing off its arms and chest.

Sanngridr grunted. "This pile of rock…" She added, taking note of Alexander's struggle. "I need to reveal more cards… shit." She said in a gravely voice. Alexander could notice she had dropped the playful tone of her voice, as well as her third person talk. One by one, the Einherjar disappeared as Sanngridr was saving her energy for something else.

Alexander would feel a chill at his back…as Sanngridr raised her blade, creating clones of herself by using her Copycat ability. Now instead of Vikings there were valkyries. All poised with blades, who dogpiled the Golem with numbers expecting one of them to make a clean hit at the spot.

Realizing that this wasn’t actually helping, Alexander dismissed his tails, and was flung into a wall. “Gah!” taking a few seconds to patch himself up ‘Wait, why are we even fighting this thing!? All we need is to get out of here now.’ He realized “Sanngridr, fuck the rock boy. Let’s just get out of here!” He said as he got to his feet.

The golem roared as Sanngridr duplicated herself, her blade biting and stabbing through superior numbers. It swayed and smashed, taking out one copy and then another in isolated numbers. But as she had planned the onslaught was overwhelming, and the beast brought down.

The rumble in its chest faded as a blade speared its core. It was motionless for a few moments before it began to crumble, becoming a pile of rocks on the nice carpet. Still, they could not rest easily just yet. Not when they were still in the middle of hostile territory.

“Mm..” The Sanngrids pondered, as they began to flee with Alexander, ready to use the Shift when they could…

With Sanngrids in tow, Alexander made his way to the closest window, planning to break through it in hopes that whatever was blocking Overcity Shift wouldn’t work outside. ‘I really don’t want to have to fight through everything in here!’

Having decided on their path Alexander moved for the nearest window. It shattered under his Reinforced blows, and he made his way outside with Sann. From what she could see Overcity Shift would not work just yet. They needed to make it beyond the walls of the compound. And that was easier said than done as the outside defenses began to target them. Fireballs, bolts of lighting, shards of ice spat out from emplaced positions hovering in the air. They did not intend to make escaping easy.

Sanngridr would follow, the valkyries then attempting to fly into the air. The doubles would draw fire from the defenses, leaving the real one and Alexander free to flee.

As they ran, Alexander threw up barriers hovering in the air to soak up incoming fire “Is it still not working!?” he inquired about Overcity Shift “Just how big is the stupid null field thing anyway!?” That last question wasn’t directed at anyone in particular, and was just him complaining.

Fire roared, blossoming into impressive explosions that pushed against the barriers and flowed outwards away from them. Lightning crackled and ice hissed, fragments sent flying away from the impact zones on those barriers like shotgun blasts. The doubles were not so fortunate as the barriers, but it succeeded in drawing the focus away from the real deal at least.

Crossing the wall, Sanngridr found that her Overcity Shift was no longer being blocked by the Field that had been present on the property. Given that it was likely their angered targets would pursue within the Overcity proper, a quick shift was advised.

And so they found themselves back in their world, with their mission seemingly complete.

"I wonder if that thing works. That was wonderful." Sanngridr said, before kissing Alexander and seeing about her reward.

“Gah!” Alexander cried out as he pushed her away “Cut it out!” Once she was no longer kissing him, he sighed “I’m just glad that it’s over. Let’s never do this again.”

As if to answer Sanngridr’s question, the screen of the device lit up as a beeping sound filled the air. From what it was saying, not only was it still functional but it seemed there was a dragon nearby too. It’d be a shame to come so far and not even see it. Before they turned in their completed bounty.

“Dragon.” Sanngridr said, as she tried to find the beast.

Alexander blinked in confusion “Huh, I wasn’t expecting that. Eh, might as well” He shrugged as he began to follow the directions the device gave

Following the Dragon Locator, the directions provided by the device led them into the industrial section of Penrose. They were guided along to a warehouse, nestled in amidst other similar looking warehouses. It did not appear to be much, but Sann could see through the use of her Evil Eye that the place was layered with enchantments to make it appear that way to the average pedestrian. A normal person would simply look at it and move on, thinking it no different than any other warehouse here.

But this was where the Dragon Locator pointed, and it was a decent place to hide a dragon’s stash. Given the magic in place, it was probably a bit more than it seemed on the surface.

Sanngridr pointed out the entrance of the warehouse, a cat smile forming on her face."There." She said.

Alexander looked at the warehouse, then back at the Dragon Locator. He shrugged and made a quick clone “Go make sure it’s safe.”

The clone sighed and slumped in place “Fine” it groaned as it made it’s way to the warehouse.

While there was a main opening for bigger vehicles to enter, it was locked and likely wouldn’t open without force. There was a side-door that was easier to open with a lesser amount of force, albeit it was still locked. Something would need to be broken or picked in order to get inside the warehouse. One way or another the clone would be able to go inside.

The warehouse was massive, with plenty of wares stacked as high as physically possible in many rows. There was a complete lack of personnel, but the order and the arrangement was prepared for a work-day. The contents appeared to be whatever was shipped to Penrose to be traded, with a sudden end to the activities.

In the middle of the warehouse a large amount of the various shelves had been cleared out to give space. For in the center of it slumbered a massive creature. It’s color was a slight shade of golden, a large amount of spiked scales extended along its body. It’s massive wings lay folded onto its body, it’s great tail curled around where it lay, breathing slowly, heavily, mightly.

It was a giant dragon.

Some oddities lay around it. A horde of cushions. Some giant bones that had clearly been gnawed on. A positively enormous, beat-up and burned tennis-ball. Around a grocery store’s worth of emptied plastic containers that once contained meat. A couple fire extinguishers. A giant blanket. Various scatterings of burn-marks across the area. The floor had been torn up here and there, like there’d been a battle here at some point.

The dragon was currently sleeping.

Sanngridr seemed incensed at the sight. "I kinda wanna fight it. Do we fight it, Beast Lord? I wanna wanna wanna."

“That’s kind of an assholish thing to do” Alexander replied “I mean, imagine some idiots broke into your home when you were sleeping to beat you up. It would be one thing if they were a clear threat to the city…” he turned his gaze to the plastic trash “but it’s clear that they’re eating literal takeout, and not any of the locals. Unless there’s some underground Soylent Green bullshit going on, but that’s a rabbit hole I do not want to go down.”

He shook his head “Look, we know where they live now, so if you decided to come back later when they were awake and pick a fight, I sure as hell wouldn’t stop you. I’m not your keeper. But as things stand; I’d feel like an ashole if started something like this”

“...” Sanngridr tilted her head. “Well, i guess fighting solo has merit. So long then, dragon. You owe me a death.” The valkyrie blew a kiss, before leaving alongside Alexander.

The two turned around to leave…

Then they heard something. There was a sound coming from the direction they were leaving in. A girl was whistling happily, prancing this way while holding her arms around a giant mountain of meat-products from a variety of different stores, much like the plastic lying spread around the sleeping dragon. The girl came numerous steps before coming to a sudden and immediate halt in front of the two, numerous meat-products falling off the tower she was carrying.

Sooooooooooo, they were face to face with a scaled girl with fire for hair, tail hanging behind her and wearing basically nothing because all of her is part-dragon. Her eyes widened as she saw them.

‘WHA-!?’ The mountain of meat-products were scent flying as the girl waved her arms into the air, skipping backwards as they came raining down upon them once again as she took a combat stance, her eyes panicky.

‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!?’ she called so loudly… that the dragon on the opposite side of them grumbled and started stirring from its sleep. The girl’s eyes, now no longer clouded by the mountain she was carrying, locked onto Sann.


‘You…!’ Mayra called, her voice a mixture of amazement and still the shock of having encountered people where she absolutely didn’t expect them. Then, her fists clenched, and with a blast of fire she tried to run right around them in a half-circle to place herself in-between them and the dragon, a trail of fire left behind her.

‘YOU CAN’T HAVE MY GEORGIE!’ she shouted, legs bent and arms raised in a fighting stance. She was mostly shouting this at Sann. “Georgie” was stirring behind her, opening his great dragon eyes to start glaring at them. Partly also at Mayra from behind.

Sanngridr raised an eyebrow. “Oh, it’s Maymay.” She said, tilting her head. “This makes it different. Maybe Sann should not kill Georgie. Because if Georgie is with Maymay, it can be fun to just roughhouse. Dragon hearts are yummy, but friends are better?” Sanngridr would then giggle.

‘I really wish Lily was here right now. I’m shit at stuff like this Alexander groaned “Listen, we’re not playing on taking away your…’Georgie’. Personally, I don’t give a shit as long as he isn’t causing trouble and killing people, which it looks like he isn’t. And you!” He turned to Sanngridr “Don’t talk about killing dragons and eating their hearts! That is not a good way to deescalate the situation!”

‘Huh? Kill?’ Mayra first sounded really confused by Sanngridr’s statement. Like, the contents of the words were positive, but she was confused that she would have killed him in the first place.

‘Oooh, so that’s why you were here. To kill him. I thought you were going to steal him and have as your mate. I wouldn’t blame you, he’s a handsome one, isn’t he?’ Mayra said with an excited grin. For some reason she didn’t seem to think being here to kill him was as bad. ‘But nope, he’s mine. I’m keeping him a secret. We can totally be secret-keeping-friends! Also, we can totally roughhouse!’ Since both of them made sure to tell her they didn’t want to kill Georgie anymore, everything was fine!

The dragon behind her grunted and turned his head to look away, laying his head down to try to rest. He didn’t look particularly happy. Also, Alex’s beast-magic that allowed him to read the body language of animals… Georgie appeared to be unwell. Sick, maybe in pain. Definitely miserable. Mayra didn’t seem to realize, smiling so widely. Sann could maybe also tell, depending on how perceptive she is.

Sanngridr rolled her eyes at Alex's outburst, before pointing a hand at the Dragon. "Deescalate. Okay, Beast Lord. Why do you keep making everything so unfunny? Here's your deescalation!" Sanngridr said, angered, before a healing wave hit the dragon.

"Happy now? Also I won't roughhouse with people who can't even see their friends' sorry state.!"

Alexander was surprised; not only that Sanngridr noticed ‘Georgie’s’ condition, but that she actually did something to help “’Happy’ is a strong word, but I’m pretty okay with the direction this is going now.” he said, choosing to ignore the implication that Mayra might be dating an actual dragon.

‘Wha-’ Mayra by sheer instinct stepped out of the way to let fire that healing wave at Georgie. The dragon’s eyes shot open, and the giant beast suddenly extended its wings as it felt its energy returning, pressing its limbs down and thrusting itself up on all fours.

‘Wait, you healed him? But, then he’s going to-’ Mayra was idly saying, before Georgie lifted and brought down a giant claw upon her position, seemingly intending to utterly crush her! Mayra survived with a skip aside, but even then the wind of the attack blew her aside! ‘AAH, WAIT, GEORGIE! I’M NOT READY!’

As Mayra scrambled to get her bearings, Georgie suddenly blasted a stream of fire at her from his mouth, and Mayra held her hands out and used her Fire magic to stop it as if with a barrier right in front of her. The fire scorched the floor where she stood, creating a burn-mark quite alike many others that were spread across the area. Also, Georgie’s claw into the floor where Mayra had been standing had torn up another area, making it look just like some other places on the floor in the vicinity… clearly it wasn’t the first battle to take place here.

‘Hahaha! You got your energy back and you want to play-fight immediately? Usually it’s not until after you’ve had dinner!’ Mayra laughed. ‘Fine by me! We have an audience and all! I’ll win again!’ the dragon-girl said with a grin, ready to do battle…

Georgie did not seem like he was play-fighting. Rather, he seemed like he wanted to utterly obliterate her. But seemingly, Mayra had won all their previous battles… and left Georgie injured and contained in the process. That about sums it up.

Alexander facepalmed “Now I’m starting to feel bad for the dragon. Isn’t this technically animal abuse?”

Sanngridr eyed the battle with a raised eyebrow, “Should we help Georgie? Or just call others to deal with this? Sann is hungry and grumpy.”

As they spoke, Georgie brought down a claw to attempt to crush Mayra again, but she dodged under him with a blast of fire rocketing her below him. She excitedly delivered a series of punches at him from below, causing Georgie to grunt. It didn’t seem like it did particularly much damage… but it DID damage, unlike Georgie’s attack at Mayra that had completely missed. He then proceeded to swing his tail, which Mayra jumped clean over…

The battle would continue.

Sakura was as bitter as a cup of kuding cha tea.

Things were looking up during the christmas vacation. He met some cool people and turned back into a boy. Emily seemed to be having a good time and it seemed like he might start enjoying life as a magical kid. But he managed to alienate her with a kiss, and in a moment of self loathing he redacted his wish. Turning himself back into a girl.

And things kept getting worse from there.

She had been cursed and cast aside by her patron, yelled at for attacking one of the visceral sisters, and was humiliated in front of her disciple. She had decided to sleep in today and missed the portal to the counter-wonderland raid. Swiss-Knife Chan was nowhere to be found. The other monster girls at Sanctuary were no friends either. They all had their own hook ups and mental mutations that made for bad company. Not Neko-Baba was nowhere to be found but that was probably for the best. She probably didn’t want to be around Sakura anyway. Part of her wished she hadn’t sent Tenebra away. Her company would be quite valuable right now.

Bah! This fucking city. This fucking place!

What point was there in honor when you were the only person who had any?

Sakura slithered out of one of the shacks.. She’d have slept longer, but other monsters found her long, slender body to be a comfortable thing to lay on. Like she was nothing more than a giant twenty-foot long body pillow. She might have been happy to wake up and find some new friends using her to catch some shuteye, but they were never grateful or hospitable about it. She was a convenience, and object, not a person.

“...And I swore to protect these girls?” She must have been drunk.

Just like the day she ran that one girl over.

---

It might be a miracle most of the bigwigs were busy. Even the other Cradle agents left to go fight Wonderland.

Maribel might've helped plan for Amanda to return to penrose a couple of days after now, but the dream magician found the time to appear early. She hadn't informed Maura or anyone else, but Maribel made sure to keep her in the loop with what's going down. And Finn was still planning on fighting Penny? She couldn't help the quiet sigh that escaped her lips. Hopefully Violet doesn't antagonize the lot of them for it.

She didn't want to lose her best friend.

Speaking of, where was she? And Dewynter, in fact? And Connie and Mia seemed to be busy too. An untransformed Amanda wandered around the city, looking for any sign of her friends. Maybe she wanted to surprise them, see the look on their faces when she suddenly appears again! Hmmm. MDP and Penny are dating. Maybe she was helping out at the Sanctuary? With no other leads to work with, the punkish girl headed to the shelter.

Once she arrived, she headed inside. Amanda could be seen asking the nearest denizens about the whereabouts of the royal couple.

A geko girl shrugged her shoulders. “Oh, hello ma’am! I’m sorry to say that I haven’t seen either of them since this morning. I believe the queen went out to run some errands just minutes ago. But if you plan on driving, you should get some insurance. So in just a few seconds I’d like to explain how you can save a bunch of money by switching to-”

Amanda’s presence did not go unnoticed by Sakura.

She couldn’t put her finger on it, but there was just something she didn’t like about the girl. What sort of outsider just walks into a joint all untransformed. She could be a mint spy. No, she most certainly was a mint spy. And here these careless girls were giving them everything they wanted. Sakura wasn’t going to stand for it.

Sakura squared up her shoulders and slithered up to the girls talking. “Excuse me, Punk Chan.” Sakura folded her arms. “But why do you care where Swiss-Knife Chan is? You don’t look like a local.”

"The hell's a Swiss-Knife Chan?" Amanda spun around to face the draconid girl with a risen brow. "I'm just looking for Dreamy and thought she'd be near Penny. But it looks like both are busy." She explained. "...Didn't I see you from somewhere?"

“More to the point, I haven't seen you anywhere, bitch!” The gecko girl, and really everyone, stepped away from Amanda as the naga dragon came closer. "So how about you tell me why you're really here and things won't have to get nasty?" Sakura raised her fists into a fighting stance.

Amanda gave her an unamused look. Has she been out for that long? Or did she just not get out that much?

Then again, the magical community here seemed to prefer staying transformed or undisguised. Ah well. "May my sweetest dreams be your endless nightmares." Reciting her incantation, her form changed in an iridecent gleam. The bespeckled dream magician stood in the punk girl's place. "I assure you, my intentions remain innocent. I am Amanda Valentine, a friend of Magical Dream Princess. Since she's dating the queen I figured I check up on her." If Sakura payed close enough attention, she'd see that Amanda's demeanor was different from when she's untransformed.

That unamused look was no different, however.

But as the case usually was with Sakura, there was very little about the situation she actually understood.

“That hat...” Sakura blinked. Yes, that was a mad cap, not unlike the one Justine and Caroline wore. “Fucking knew she was still around!” Sakura’s entire body trembled. “Goddamn son of a bitch! Fuckin hametsu you ya slimy vampire whore!” She brought up her hands and rushed towards Amanda. “Narukami!”

_{Translator's note: hametsu means "ruin."}

The magician aimed her spellbook in turn, and a glyph appeared in the center of it's pages. But she wasn't aiming at Sakura, but at her attack. Instead of hitting her point blank with her streams of lighting, Sakura would find that her attack had turned into stream of...confetti? Electric blue confetti??

"You should really think about the possible damages you can cause this place, acting like that." Amanda adjusted her glasses. "And last I checked I wasn't corrupted enough to be a monster girl, much less a vampire. Care to defend yourself?"

“You bet I will, fucking yokai!” With the bulk of her mana expended, Sakura opened her palms and started chopping through the air at the dream magical girl. After everything that she had been through, she needed this victory. She wasn’t going to lose to Justine, her sister, or anyone like that.

With a gradually irritated groan, Amanda went on the evasive, blocking and dodging. She hadn't even pulled out her dagger yet. "Could you just stop and think for a second?! You're picking a fight with a stranger in a public area! How do you think the others here are going to assume?!"

Vampires were charming individuals, and it was not out of character for one of the titty leaching Vice Cereals to spin lies on the fly. They were trying to get her mental defences down so that they could brainwash her, probably. Or maybe she figured that Sakura’s long body would make a nice snack. It didn’t matter. This wasn’t going to end until one of them was dead.

“I don’t know if you’re Card Liner Piston Cereal or Juice Tin, but I’m done talking. Get fucked blood sucker!”

If she had such an easy time avoiding her fists, maybe they’d like to try her tail. Sakura grabbed a nearby railing and swung her body with all of her might.

Card liner?? Juice tin??? Was english not this serpent's mother tongue? She was slowly piecing together some things, but for now...

"Ugh." Her patience running thin, Amanda slammed her book shut and opened a rift into her pocket dimension under her own feet.

Sakura’s tail soared right over Amanda’s head as she fell into another world. Her large body landed on the ground and skidded a few feet on the concrete floor.

“Huh? Where did that titty parasite go?”

After a moment passed she appeared behind Sakura and slammed her spellbook across the pinkette's face once she turned around.

Sakura’s defences weren’t strong to begin with. Least of all when she was out of mana. Least of all when the attack in question was aimed at her face. Her torso wobbled side to side before she fell onto her chest.

“Gah!” She put her hands under her shoulders and attempted to push herself upright. “I, will, not, let, you, hurt, another-”

With that, a bunch of monster girls dragged their feet out of the shack Sakura had left earlier.

“There’s the pillow girl!” a young frog pointed.

“Good golly! I’m cold blooded so I’m glad we have a lamia to keep us warm.”

Sakura grit her teeth. “Lame Ayah?!? Pillow!?!? I’m a drag- hey!” But the monster girls didn’t seem to care about her protests or that she was laying on hard concrete.They hugged onto her soft body and started to fall asleep, one after the other, from tail to torso. Sakura’s failing strength was barely enough to move her body around. With the monster girls clinging to her en-mass, she was practically immobilized.

“...”

She growled, her arms shook, but as stupid as Sakura was she knew that her number was up. Tears of frustration welled up in her eyes as she watched her arms struggle to hold up her torso. It was hard to tell if her face was read from being smashed with a book or from the humiliation of failure. Maybe both.

“...Fuck.” Sakura sighed. “Swiss Knife-Chan is not here. Whatever you plan on doing to everyone, do it to me instead.”

"Oh for the love of- I AM NOT HERE TO HURT ANYONE." Amanda loudly explained, her untranformed self's tone bleeding into her irritation. With another groan, she set her weapon aside and sat down on the floor in front of Sakura. "I keep telling you I just want to see my friend, but no, it's like you think with your fists instead of your brain! Your intentions are pure, but one wrong slip up, and this'll be child's play in comparison...Susanoo-San."

"Then... You really are called a man duh vally time? That's not a cover for one of the titty leach vampires?"

"What is it with you and vampires? Of course I'm me. Amanda rose a brow, and her expression was starting to soften up. "I'm part of the Crimson Cradle, if that helps you get some idea."

Sakura had no idea what the crimp sons cradle was, but understood that this all seemed to be a misunderstanding.

“Your hat.” She allowed herself to sink to the floor. “You shouldn’t wear it. Only titty leaches wear hats like that. Its really fucking confusing.” She placed her hands on the side of her head. “Shit shit shiiiiit! Why does everything keep getting fucked up? I can’t even keep my promise to defend these girls. Nothing I do-” She buried her face in her arms. “Nothing I do works out…”

Amanda glanced up at her hat once Sakura mentioned it. Oh. So that's why she went ballistic. She pulled it off and stuffed it into her pocket.

"...Maybe because you're too reckless?" She noted. "Maybe you should, y'know, think before you act? Not blindly throw yourself into fights? You could end up hurting someone innocent like that. You need to keep yourself levelheaded in such situations. Especially if you want to protect people, like them." She motioned to the monster girls that pilled onto Sakura's form.

The naga looked back over her tail at all of the girls hugging her body. She promised Dina that she would. But she was only doing that because she had deprived Dina of a valuable ally. And she was only doing that because of the yakuza’s code of honor. And she only followed that code of honor because… because…

“...Do I want to protect them?” She wondered out loud. Protect a bunch of monster girls, likely losers like herself. More drunk men who ran over their fair share of magical girls and were paying the price with eternal servitude. Were any of their lives worth more than her own? “Punk-chan, you said you were looking for a friend. How did you meet?”

For once, Amanda's mouth quirked up into a smirk. "Guessing I can't keep up the act with you now, huh? Anyways, It's not that extravagant. We met a while back when I was salvaging old library books from a ruined, well, library. This was before Covington Industries revived the town, so I did eventually bring them back good as new. But she popped in out of the blue on the hunt for nightmares." She explained. She then frowned for a second. "Her dad was plagued by severe night terrors. Like, severe, debilitating night terrors, and she wanted to put a stop to that. It's an admirable goal, protecting your family. She might be a bit jarring, but she means well! And her innocent views on the world is kinda cute once you get to know her. _{Along with a few other things too but...}" Amanda muttered under her breath with a sigh, but perked back up when she looked back at Sakura.

"What I mean is, good or bad, however the hell morals work in this dumb town, everyone's got a reason they fight. Even if you don't know it, don't take yours for granted, 'ight?"

Sakura’s attention span was pretty short even on her best days. But she really didn’t have the patience to lay here and just listen to amanda drone on and on. It was painful, but to the victor goes the spoils.

But she recognized Amanda as an “Emily” type. Someone who was always willing to help. Of course she had a friend. And they probably didn’t accidentally kiss her while in a daze. Had Sakura done that accidentally? Did part of her want to do that?

Why was she thinking so much? Was it because this was the first time she had been utterly defeated and humiliated like this, or was it Amanda’s humble attitude after the fact?

What was her own reason to fight?

“...Alright Punk-Chan, I’ll keep that in mind.” With a huff, she used her arms as a pillow. “I hope you find your friend. I feel kind of tired. Think I’ll sleep off our fight.”

"Thanks, Susanoo."

With that, Amanda stood up from the ground and dusted herself off. "Well then! Take the best care of yourselves! I heard this Wonderland has been a bother to your uh....'kingdom'...and I fear things will only get worse from here on out. Till then." Saying her fairwell, she tucked her book under her arm and walked back to the outside world.

...Though not before she subtly casted another spell on the slumbering denizens. Transforming a Killing Blow of all things might have been as taxing, but she did have a bit of mana left to give them well-needed dreams.

---

Sakura had fallen asleep, and now it was time to wake up.

It always took her a moment to get her memories in order. Even though Sakura had been sleeping at the sanctuary for a while now, she would still expect to wake up in Emily’s apartment. It would take her a moment to remember why she wasn’t there.

But she was in Japan.

Or more specifically, a Japanese style dojo. The feel of the tatami maat on her cheek was a familiar one. She didn’t need to wait for the wall scrolls and training weapons to come into focus. Even if she had never been in this particular dojo before, it did remind her of the years spent perfecting her art. It was what the former yakuza took most pride in.

The dragon pushed herself up. It was a little hard to “stand” without feet, but she found her balance on her belly soon enough. Sakura turned to look at the exit..There was a dirt path backed by rows and rows of trees. If she didn’t know any better she’d swear she had been transported to feudal japan. That was impossible of course. But maybe not! Magic was an interesting thing.

“Can I come in?”

Who was that? It was an enchanting voice. Well, no. That wasn’t quite right. Emily, Yui, and his daughter all had enchanting voices. This woman’s tone was more seductive in nature. It was honey in her ears regardless. The only reason Sakura hesitated to answer was because this might be a threat. She vaguely remembered fighting a vampire that turned her killing blow into confetti. This might be her or one of her sisters. She brought up her hands and prepared to fight.

“Sure.”

But turning the corner wasn’t a vampire.

While she use to be a hard as nails Yakuza, she was always loyal to her wife. Sure, Yui wasn’t the first prostitute he laid with, but she was the last one. He grew up before the dot com boom. Most magical girls were men or lesbians who fried their brains on all the hard core erotica the internet could suply them with. But Sakura was from a more “innocent” time. He never had the opportunity to explore his fetishes, and was woefully unprepared for the cat-girl-maid in a bikini that stood before her now.

Her eyes were as red as the morning sun, her breasts were barely contained by her wardrobe, and she was lifting her skirt so that Sakura could see her garter belt. Her smile was equal parts mischievous and playful, and Sakura didn’t know if she should be concerned or happy this woman was approaching him.

She was a woman, right?

Sakura locked up. Her jaw hung open and she froze in place. Even as the cat-maid placed her hand on the bottom of his jaw, she did nothing. She eased his mouth closed before folding her hands over her skirt.

“Hello! My name is Yumi, and I’ll be taking care of all of your needs from now on!”

Sakura remained frozen in place. “Oppai-Neko-Maido-Chan? Am I still in Sink You Airy?”

Yumi placed the back of her hand over her mouth to hide a chuckle. “Oh you’re quite confused, aren’t you? I guess that’s to be expected.” She folded her hands together again. “You’ve died, Sakura. This is the afterlife. Without getting into a lot of spiritual mumbo jumbo, you made the cut and are going to live out the rest of your afterlife in the world of light.”

“I-I died?”

The maid gave a single, slow nod. Her breasts continued to jiggle like jello played back on a high speed camera. “Sanctuary was under attack from Justine’s third secret sister. Like the other two, you single handedly did her in. But she had just enough strength to push you through death’s door before expiring. Your death will be celebrated for your heroic sacrifice and all the lives you saved.”

“Fucking titty leaches…” Sakura pouted. “Well, at least everyone was safe. I guess they can’t say I was useless can they?”

“Certainly not! In fact, you’re a little special in that regard. You impressed the big guy so much that he picked someone hand tailored to you to ensure you have the best possible afterlife you can have!”

“That’s you?” Yumi nodded. “Fucking what!?” Sakura slithered backwards, raising her fists in the process. “I don’t believe you! How could you be made for me?”

“I’m as kinky as Yui, kind as Emily, and cuter than both.” Yumi took a seat on the floor. “No, but I think you’re missing the point. I’m not trying to get you to like me, I’m here to set up your perfect afterlife! I’m less the brave homewrecker trying to steal you away and more the home decorator setting up your perfect afterlife. But I can play a more ‘central’ role if it pleases you.” She closed her eyes and placed a finger against the side of her head. “To start, let’s look at the current afterlife I’ve constructed for yo-”

Sakura’s fist collided with Yumi’s nose, causing her eyes to fly open. But rather than her nose being flattened against her face, Sakura broke every bone in her hand. She howled and withdrew her hand. “Fucking hell!”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t realize you were still skeptical about me.” Her smile never faded. “Being that this is the world of light. All unjust actions are punished, and the innocent are spared. You’ll be able to sate your aggression and lust to your heart’s content without unpleasant outcomes like this!” Yumi stood up and scuffed towards the entrance of the dojo. “Would you like to see what I have for you so far?”

After the brief spike of pain, Sakura’s hand seemed to have mended itself. Was he still skeptical? Of course. But it was getting harder and harder to refute that this wasn’t some dream. He did remember fighting that third sister. Maybe he could get a rematch with her and survive their next encounter. “Yes. Lead the way, Oppai-Neko-Maido-Chan.”

Once outside, Sakura could see he was on a giant island. While it would take him days and weeks to explore everything, his home wan’t hard to spot. It was a large eastern style mansion built on a flat plot of land. But more impressive than the grand mansion was the stuff around it. There was an asphalt road that would be perfect for motorcycle races, and it led straight into a nearby town. Inside the track’s many twists and turns were giant bonsai plants that had been trimmed to meet Sakura’s tastes.

Yumi pointed at the mansion. “It has a wine cellar stocked with any spirit you could ever want. If you venture further out, you’ll find all kinds of ways to ‘uphold your honor’ against some challenging foes. And of course…”

Sakura looked at himself. He was a man again. The manliest of men, maybe. “Fuck yes! I don’t even look like a girl this time!”

“Or a snake! And what’s paradise without your friends?” Yumi presented Sakura with a cell phone. “The world of light is timeless! All of your friends, favorite celebrities, whoever can be called with this cell phone. I should caution you that while this is your afterlife, anyone you call here is going to retain their free will. You’d be surprised how many people think they can just call their Ex or a favorite celebrity over and get disappointed when they want nothing to do with them.”

Sakura looked down at the phone in his hand. He had it all. The body of a god, the perfect home, and the means to contact anyone he wanted. His old Yakuza buddies, Yui, and Ai would all come at the drop of a hat. But then there was her…

“Do you like it?” Yumi folded her hands behind her back and swung her shoulders back and forth. This had an interesting effect on her breasts. “If you’d like something changed, just let me know! Otherwise I can give you a tour of the mansion. Or the town! Your afterlife is truly your oyster!”

“Yumi?” Sakura looked up from the phone. “I like what you have done with the place. ‘Tis a nice home for me. But would it be possible to change me?”

This got another “back handed” chuckle out of the busty cat maid. “Yes! Your wardrobe should have everything you need to become what you desire!”

“No I mean.” Sakura placed a hand over his mouth. “What do I need to look like in order for Emily to like me?”

“....Ahh.” Yumi smirked. “Something like that, huh? I hadn’t realized you were done with your old family already..”

“Fucking WHAT!?”

“My observation is justified, isn’t it? You had an opportunity to wish your old life back and decided against it. Instead you wished yourself into becoming a ‘16 year old magical boy,’ which is a pretty specific request, and one you only made after talking to Emily. What would you call that?”

“The debt has been paid.”

“Right, of course it has.”

“You’re annoying me, Oppai-Neko-Maido-Chan.” Sakura growled. “I took care of my family.”

“You gave them six-thousand dollars a month. That was the bare minimum to get them off you conscious. A little bit like paying child support. Then you pursued Emily as a romantic partner.”

Sakura’s growling became more audible. “Is that what you think?” Yumi remained silent. “I didn’t mean to kiss Emily. If she just understood how much she meant to me… If she saw Hurricane Emily was named after her…” Yumi continued to stay silent. “Just say it! Is there something you can do or no?!”

“The heart wants what the heart wants, doesn’t it Sakura?.“

That was it. Sakura had enough. She propelled her fist straight into Yumi’s face again… to the same disastrous effect. “Fucking titty minx harlot!”

“I’m sorry, I hadn’t meant to provoke you with my teasing.” Yumi only sighed through her smiling lips. “What would you have me change? How you look?” She placed her hands on her bosom, causing it to bounce. “Would I be less annoying if I looked like Emily?”

“Fucking no! Your attitude is what makes you-” Sakura’s eyebrows flicked up as the realization hit him.

“See what I mean?” Yumi paced around Sakura. “You’ve gone from being an old man, to a magical girl, to a magical boy, to a monster girl, but who you are on the inside through all of that has remained unchanged. What someone is on the inside is not something I can change, as the big guy forbids me from doing so.”

“But change has to be possible, right?” Sakura scratched the back of his head. “Can I change on the inside? Maybe with a trainer or something like that? Would Emily like me then?”

“Wellllllll…” Yumi rubbed her chin. “That’s going to mostly be up to you and Emily. You’ll have to work at it. It won’t be as instantaneous as your physical transformations.”

“That’s okay.” Sakura pointed at himself with their thumb. “Nothing’s impossible for me. It took me years to master my martial arts. ‘Tis another thing I will soon master.”

“That’s a good attitude to have!” Yumi clapped her hands together. “In that case, let's go back into the dojo. If you want to make self improvement part of your perfect afterlife, who am I to stop you?”

“Nobody can stop me!” Now this was more like it. A few good punches to put Yumi in her place was sure to put Sakura in a better mood. And if it made him a better person, even better!

But what was Yumi doing?

As soon as they arrived, she took a seat on the floor and closed her eyes. There were no further instructions.

“Oppai-Neko-Maido-Chan!” Sakura shook his fists. “I demand satisfaction! Tis’ why we’re here!”

Yumi opened an eye. “I’m meditating, dear. And if you want to reap the benefits of a better self, you’ll do the same.”

“The gall of this fucker.” It didn’t matter though. He was willing to do this if it meant seeing Emily again. He folded his legs as he sat, pinched his fingers together, and hummed loudly. “Does this really work?”

“You’d know if you ever bothered to get in touch with the spiritual side of martial arts.” Yumi stood up and approached Sakura. “The idea of meditation is just to empty your head and recenter yourself in the here and now.” She lowered Sakura’s arms into his lap. She was so close to him too. Her mounds of flesh just hovering behind his back. That was enough to redirect all of his thoughts to the here and now. “You need to get rid of your distractions, like your fears. you need to silence them before we can continue.”

“I’m not scared!” Sakura was still a little flustered by how close the maid was to him.

“We all have fears, even if we’re not scared.” Yumi continued to grin. “But for the most part, they are possibilities that may never come. You can acknowledge them, but do not let them rule your mind.”

Sakura took a deep breath and thought about his fears. Yui becoming a target of the yakuza, Ia left by herself, Emily never forgiving her, Sakura losing his honor. These were all rational things to be afraid of, but he could see Yumi’s point. They were all possibilities. He had taken measures to prevent them, and could probably deal with others in his own way if they came to pass. Regardless, filling himself with worry was not going to solve anything.

“Now you need to get rid of your shame and your grief. You’d be surprised how much time we spend trying to overcome our past failures and shortcomings..”

Did Sakura have anything to be ashamed of? He supposed he felt bad about what happened to Emily, but that was really it. Aside from how everyone treated him, he didn’t have much grief either.

“We must also overcome the lies we tell ourselves. Maybe we live under a pretense of honor, but that honor is just an excuse to conceal our shame rather than expose our virtues.”

Hey now…

“And when you’re done with that, you must look inward and outward. Seperate yourself from all earthly desires and embrace the self! The trick is-”

“Yumi?”

“Yes Sakura?”

“I don’t think this is going to work for me.” Sakura lowered his head. “I don’t think I can be a better person by just meditating. I’ve always had good luck doing it on the streets, you know? Street smarts, not book smarts.”

Yumi raised an eyebrow. “You’re not one of those people who looks for instant results, then gets frustrated and gives up on day one are ya?”

“No.” Yumi continued to stare at Sakura. “...I mean, recently I have been that way. But I really think what I’d like more than a perfect afterlife is a second chance.” He bowed before the busty maid. “Give me a second chance on earth, and I’ll come back as someone that Emily and Yui can be proud of.”

“Really now?” She shook her head with a smile. “If that’s how you feel, why not?”

“You can do that?”

“I don’t like to, but it is my job to serve you.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Alright Sakura, you get a second chance just this one. I’ll alter time so that the vampire that killed you didn’t. In fact, she won’t be a vampire at all. She’ll be a cool girl magical girl called Amanda. Because we’re bringing you back to life, she’ll also be a magical girl with dream magic, which will force you to explain away your entire visit here as a dream. Is that okay with you?”

“I’ll always know the truth, but that’s okay.”

“You’ll also go back to being a snake woman.”

“DRAGON!” Sakura repeated. “But I figured that would happen.”

“Good!” Yumi pretended to look at her watch. “Is there anything you’d like to do before you ‘wake up’ from your dream?”

“Can I get a hug?”

“Sure! Just try not to suffocate?”

“Well it shouldn’t be that hard for me to hmumphumuhphumuh!”

---

Sakura woke up on the street, smothered in monster girls.

“The fuck!?” Sakura pushed a rhino beetle woman off of her face. “For the thousandth time, I am not a fucking twenty-foot body pillow!”

The Angel of Hope ascended up above the botanical bastion that stood as the line of defense against the encroaching forces, and with a Wall of Containing Light lifted a barrier between the sunflower towers and the fire on the cornfield, reaching halfway up the stalks of the colossal plants. As the blaze began to spread over the cornfield, it reached the wall, it’s flames unable to climb the Reinforcement construct and only inflicting minor damage to it; the sunflowers were spared from their natural weakness. However, the fire continued to expand on the field; it wouldn’t take long before it develops into a wildfire.

Next, it was Gaia’s turn; using one of the sunflowers as a catalyst, the emerald-haired girl invigorated the weary defenders into new life, directing the essence of the cornfield into them; the sunflowers bloomed with a golden shimmer on their petals as fertile magic spread from one root to another, the stalks growing taller as they reached out towards the sun. As they did, they evolved into something resembling corn, but on a much more destructive scale, with corn cobs that could be launched like warheads. These new plants, while requiring more time to recover between shots, now possessed improved range and area of effect compared to the energy beams. They were able to lay out suppressing fire on incoming soldiers, and prevented tanks from advancing too fast in fear of getting into a killzone.

Gaia also cast a spell that would threaten from below in the form of various engaging eukaryotes, and spread the wrath of nature to the sides of the burning field.
This included entangling thorns and vines, smaller corncob launchers, foul fungus that would make Zuggtmoy proud, snapping flytrap jaws, and even pea-carrying plants that would shoot out their payloads like from stationary turrets. Gaia had sown the seeds for a hazardous harvest.

Connie then prepared a spell, and gathered mentally shattering forces, flowing as purple wisps that gathered in numbers. She looked out over a lone squad of soldiers that had avoided the local defenders by using the remaining patches of corn as cover, and unleashed a wave of nightmarish illusions. The wave reached the soldiers, and they in turn…

Did not react. In fact, they only momentarily looked over one another, as if trying to figure out what kind of spell had been cast on them. How could they have avoided Connie’s horrifying hex? A spell that more dangerous monsters like wendigos were susceptible to?

It didn’t take long before she had her answer; she saw as the bodies of soldiers impaled and slashed by Penny and Mayra had slowly risen with a stumble, long after the two had advanced past them. A couple of them were missing their helmets, and the truth was revealed; they were all headless, with only a clean, black surface where their neck should have been, their helmets having only given the illusion that they were normal humans. Of course, the headless soldiers only seemed capable of shambling around, their arms stretched down towards the ground, searching for their missing helmets. And those who had a missing arm or leg stayed crippled, struggling to move.

---

The tanks in the distance had stopped, and prepared to fire…When suddenly the soldiers began to shout as they noticed a pair of individuals who came running in from a forested region to the east, one dragging the other along by their wrist. Clearly Mahou based on how quickly they crossed the open field and up the hill, the Bolorton defenders saw as they engaged with the Wonderland forces on top of the hill. Kiyome successfully ambushed the troops with a teleport, and performed a Focused Strike; she struck at the pivoting turret of the eastern tank, cleaving not only through the barrel of the cannon, but also through the chassis; screams could be heard from the metallic shell as the blade cut inside, like a fish being filleted.

“Open fire!”
The cannon fell, and the two dozen soldiers escorting the tanks unloaded their glowing weaponry on Kiyome, bullets flying up like an upward gush of a geyser. However, having expected the counter-attack using her Precognition, Kiyome teleported out of the way, avoiding most of the bullets except six, and afterwards left a lasting impression on the soldiers, visibly shaking from the experience as a bloodied survivor climbed out of the ruined vehicle.

"Use extreme caution, hostile is capa- jlghajdlgajkdg!"

The card soldier with the heart insignia stopped speaking once he and another soldier next to him were impaled with Kiyome’s sword in brutal fashion, followed by a slash that cut down two more. Then, in a brilliant move, she used protection in the form of a bisected body to close the distance to the remaining four soldiers guarding the eastern tank. In this maneuver, she only took one bullet before she threw the body to distract the soldiers and teleported again to cut the last soldiers guarding the eastern tank out of the eight.

As Kiyome fought on top of the hill, she caught a glimpse of something from beyond the hill the tanks had rolled from, and was met with a fear-inducing sight; nine more tanks could be seen rolling up the hill, a hundred soldiers either escorting the tanks or running in as separate squads, as well as armored personnel carriers, and a line of Howitzer cannons that were shooting a new salvo of shells on Bolorton. The forces were either climbing the hill or passing around it towards the burning cornfield and Gaia’s trapped fields. In total, six more tanks could be seen rolling over the hill to the Bolorton defenders, as well as even a larger force of troopers.

She also saw what looked a group of flying soldiers far in the distance that were…sparkling? It was as if the soldiers had a coating of sparkly dust on them that trailed slightly behind them. The soldiers also had spade symbols, unlike the club symbols that Kiyome had been cutting so far. There were five in total: three of them carried heavy weaponry like gatling guns, anti-tank sniper rifles and rocket launchers, while two carried their weapons on their backs and instead held on to what looked like a strange creature resembling an egg…
In total, she was hit seven times: thrice in her lower back, once in her rear, twice in the stomach, and once in the leg. Three of the bullets had pierced her skin, and one had damaged her internal organs. However, while they would have been grievous wounds to a normal Mahou due to the stopping power of the enchanted rifles, Kiyome was able to shrug off the pain with her Immortality and keep going with full ability.

Suddenly, Kiyome jumped to dodge a rocket launcher from one of the flying Spades as they approached the hilll, but the ensuing knockback sent her flying down the hill towards Bolorton. As she recovered, she saw a fireball heading towards her…And it soon took the form of a very excited monster girl. Unable to dodge or teleport, the more graceful dragon girl was caught in a fiery glomp by Mayra, and the two rolled up the hill a bit before rolling back down to the cornfield, with Mayra setting it on fire as they went.
After expressing her enthusiasm to the new contender, Mayra then jumped off and prepared to fight, starting off with a deadly claw lunge.

Meanwhile, Eliana split off from Kiyome, and headed towards Bolorton passing through a flanking field boobytrapped by Gaia; though she was capable enough to jump and dodge through most of the hazards, she inhaled a whiff from a cloud of toxic spores from a fungus. Fortunately for Eliana, the toxin was of mild effect to Mahou, only causing her nausea, asthma, and lung inflammation resulting in bouts of coughing.

Penny, using a Metal spell, drew forth the weapons of her fallen enemies, and they came forth as a coiling serpent of clacking guns, swirling around Penny as they latched on to her limbs and back, fusing with her. The gems built into the weapons also fused in Penny, and she felt a surge of magic course through her. Now she understood why the rifles held so much power, for they were enchanted with but a single goal: to further hone the efficiency to kill, to heighten the scientific accomplishments of slaughter, and to perfect the technology to end life in as vast a scale as possible. As the vessels brimming with dark thoughts and vile musings given arcane form filled up Penny’s mental landscape, questions began to climb up to her consciousness: what are the technical specifications of these weapons? How efficiently can they kill? She saw soldiers around her, either headlessly shambling or desperately trying to advance, but she didn’t saw enemies: she saw statistics. She realized she needed to know how many she could kill, how fast, with how many bullets, at what range, at what velocity of the bullets, and with what accuracy. It was a world of data ready for the reaping.

(Penny has acquired a new Mental Mutation: Weapon Fanatic.
Weapon Fanatic: you are obsessed with weaponry, related technology and its effectiveness. Whenever you see or hold weapons, an urge rises to test them out on living creatures you can detect, and statistics in their mortality rates and use; this urge rises with heightened emotional levels, stress, and mental state. In a calm situation, you are prone to slip to musing aloud about random trivia about weapons, the history of war, and related topics, finding them interesting conversation starters.The more violent a situation is, the more possibilities for weapons research come up, and ideas for better ways to kill and destroy, as well as a steadily rising urge to put them into practice.)

---

Lily frowned upon hearing the negative answer from Connie, but afterwards gave a reassuring pat on her shoulder.
”That’s okay. Anyway, I’m going now, so let’s all do our best!"
And with that, she ran off to begin the evacuation effort with Alex, Ronin and Miko.

After Alex had rescued the injured villager, he located all the residents on the first house he sent his duplicates to in record time using Absolute Direction. Three clones brought out a family of four, the two children carried on each arm of the first clone, followed by their parents carried by a clone each. As Annabell had confirmed, the family was in an enchanted slumber, oblivious to the sounds of distant gunfire and explosions. This was followed by clearing out four more houses on the east row of their residents; one of the houses had partially collapsed from a stray shell, but Alex’ clones successfully dug through the debris to carry out the old couple that lived there.

The clones, once outside saw Lily running the opposite direction from the marked path Annabell had created and into a house. As the clones folölowed the path, they soon saw Annabell waving in the distance; she stood at the back of the local school, next to a wide, open door.
“In here!” She shouted, and directed the clones to carry the civilians into the shelter.
As they did, they saw Lily running fast, carrying a middle-aged man over her shoulders. She disappeared into the shelter and run out to fetch another in the blink of an eye.

Lily was assisted in the evacuation effort on the west row by Ronin and Miko, who first brought out a teenage child and an old woman respectively. Then, following the example of Lily and Alex’ clones, they also carried them off to the shelter, not breaking a sweat even as Miko had to bear the weight of a musclebound farmer thanks to her strengthened fortitude. They were able to clear out their respective houses of all residents.

”We’re making better progress than I thought!" Lily shouted, slightly unnerved by the imminent death that lingered in the air.
”But maybe we could do this faster if you two drop off the villagers at the front yards and let the clones and me carry them from there," she suggested to the twins, before verbally backpedaling with a flustered expression.
”No, I mean, that sounded rude, but I didn’t mean it to, and, uhh-!"

That was when Eliana arrived at the scene of the evacuation holding a sleeping child, coughing violently. Lily turned to greet at the newcomer, looking relieved.
”You’re here to help, right! Thank goodness! Take anyone you find to the shelter! I’ll show the way!" She then grabbed another civilian from another house, and led Eliana to the shelter, where Annabell greeted her in turn.
“Save introductions for later, but thank you nonetheless!”

In total, five houses were evacuated from the east row, and seven from the west row, leaving twenty-five and twenty-three respectively. All the while, more artillery came whistling in, hitting streets and buildings with explosive force. Fortunately, only Alex’ clones were caught in the blasts, disintegrating four of them.

---

Justine blinked upon hearing Iron Mouse’s message that was relayed telepathically to her and the rest of the Cradle group through their shared network, but otherwise kept her poker face.
Another Sin…This can’t be a coincidence. Something is causing them to congregate in Penrose. Anyway, I agree with the plan to stay quiet for now and not give her any reason to turn against us. Let’s just hope she doesn’t mind sharing a car with another of her ilk…

When it came to the seating arrangements, she shrugged at Iron Mouse’s suggestion.
”That is fine with me,” she replied as she took a seat on the middle of the backseat, with Oliver and Finn sitting at the sides. Predicting that Iron Mouse would jump on top of them, she created a bouncy cushion over her lap made of solid blood using her magic, and rolled her eyes once the latter settled in.
”Miss Nefer, we’re ready to go.”

The Sinner chuckled at the comical scene she glimpsed upon leaning back.
“You guys are pretty funny, you know that? Alright, step on it, A.”

The golem grumbled, and the passengers felt an initial yank as the car accelerated from zero to hundred in an instant, and soon they were speeding across the land. Despite the ridiculous speed that they were travelling on a convertible, however, the atmosphere in the car was pleasant, like riding inside an airplane, isolated from the outside by magic.
It didn’t take long before Nefer looked back and asked:
“Say, you look familiar. What’s y’all’s names?” She asked everyone, eyeing Finn in particular.
In the horizon, they could see faint silhouettes of Bolorton’s buildings, as well as signs of a conflict on the cornfield next to it.

---

Jelena danced the best she could with the marquis, but unfortunately she found herself stomping her metallic feet like an elephant, stepping on the gentleman’s feet on more than one occasion. However, even if the corner of Harry’s lip curled, he managed to preserve his smile. “Your steps are as light as a sylph’s, madam,” he complimented her. This was followed by a barely audible sigh of relief once the song ended. “That was lovely. Thank you for the dance,” he said, and bowed. That was when the gentleman in the top hat and monocle approached the two of them.
“Miss Pedersen’s entourage , I presume?” The man was a bit shorter than Harry, and seemed a bit less extroverted and more scholarly in personality, but otherwise appeared as much of a posh aristocrat as Harry. He also wore a taller hat than Harry. In fact, it was so tall as to appear ridiculous if it weren’t for the man’s absolute confidence in wearing it in style.
“Doctor Mathias Hatwington,” he spoke as he slightly bowed in greeting, his hat tipping down before it rose back up. ”Pleased to meet you. By the way, would you be interested in an intellectual debate? I would like to start by bringing up Theorem Of Magical Relations And Their Effect On Society by Edgy Allen Pooh, specifically Chapter 12; Tyranny and Terror, and ask your views on the subject. If you are unfamiliar with the literature of topic, I can summarize for you. Now then, as I recall, Mister Pooh has identified five types of…”

While the doctor continued on his tiresome seminar on a book Jelena was not familiar with, she took another look around the party: there were no new spells or enchantments casted since their arrival. However, she noticed that Harry had left to converse in subdued voice with the hooded girl near the stairs; based on how their conversation looked, it wasn’t an exchange of pleasantries, but a serious discussion.

Meanwhile, as Mariette played croquet, she found herself playing better than expected; the ball rolled through the grass with surprising ease, passing through a couple of hoops. Mariette then recognized the enchanted nature of the sport; it was less about one’s skill and strength with using the mallet, but how well one concentrated on directing the balls using the croquet mallet as a focus.

Then it was the Queen’s turn, and she easily struck the ball through three hops, causing the ball to turn at a 90-degree angle. “Oh, but you see, you don’t know that you don’t know.”
She noticed how Mariette had averted her eye away upon speaking of her past, and gently lifted Mariette’s chin up with the mallet. “Now you can climb out of that pit, Alice…You don’t have to search anymore, as we have found each other.”

She turned teary-eyed, threw her mallet away, and caught Mariette in a warm hug. “It has been far too long since I’ve had to part with you, my dear Alice. Far, far too long.
I’ve searched for you for so long…I did all I could to find you, I almost lost all hope. But now, we can be together again, Alice…as mother and daughter.”

---

At Beacon headquarters, as Alicia was about to head out on an errand, she found herself approached by Ishtar; she had improved to the point of being able to move from place to place using a walking cane.
“Paladin Seraph, the situation at Bolorton seems to have escalated beyond our calculations, to the point even higher officials have officially recognized it. While we are still unable to directly interfere with the invasion itself, we were given permission to send a few operatives and form a humanitarian corridor to the civilians there.” She handed out a document to Alicia.
“Here are the details. Your task is to gather three operatives and deploy a portable teleport gate at the local shelter the resistance is using or another safe location and extract as many civilians as you can. While our teleporters are limited to the Penrose area, we will be supplying you with a personnel carrier and the portable device with it. Do you have any questions?”

'Is it just me, or are those explosions coming in quicker than before' Alexander thought to himself as he chucked a grown man at a newly created clone, who caught him effortlessly 'Dammit, there's still too many houses left. We just don't have enough time!' And that's when it hit him "Wait...'Time'! Holy shit, that might work!" As he tossed up a recently patched up women at another clone, he told them "Keep it up, I'm going to find Lily!" Switching his Absolute Direction to home in on Lily, he quickly made his way to her

"Lily!" He cried out as soon as he found her. Stopping once he was right in front of her "Listen, this is going to slow, at this rate people are going to die...so we need to cheat, and cheat hard. I'll make a couple of clones and pump magic into them so they can boost you. You need to use that boost to do some Time magic shit, anything that'll give or more time, or make us work faster...or something. I don't know, you're the Time magic expert between us" He quickly made two clones and put his hands on their backs, the clones in turn each placed a hand on one of Lily's shoulders, and began to amplify her magic

"Alright" One of the clones said "You're good to go"

At least Nefer seemed like a jovial sort. You'd have to be to get any sort of mileage out of Iron Mouse's jokes. Technically Mac's jokes too, but she usually didn't push that far when the opportunity presented itself. But enough thinking about semantics, it was time to jump into the back seat.

Iron Mouse had no intent to jump on top of everyone. Not because it was out of character, but because Mac would surely hit her head trying to land in the back seat. She was a tall lady. There was also something that tickled Mac about the mental image of Iron Mouse watching everyone as she slowly snuggled into place. But Mac's plan seemed to backfire when Justine made a cushion. But this cushion was not a normal one. It was not stuffed with feathers, foam, or any sensible stuffing. It was just blood pressed together in the shape of a cushion.

This brought all kinds of uncomfortable questions to Mac's mind. She could wrap her mind around most magics. Water could be pulled out of the air or teleported in from the sea, fire is just heat or excited atoms, Most metal and stone magical girls use elements native in their environment. But where did the blood come from? Did it come from some other reality filled with blood? Or was she teleporting in fresh blood from a land of death? It was too mailable to be very old. Was she drawing the blood directly out of herself? In theory it should have been like jumping onto a water mattress or something of that nature, but blood was sticky. Was it going to shoot all over the place if she jumped on it?

Yea, she'd be doing a cautious approach on this one.

"Oh! A pillow just for me?” Iron Mouse, and by extension Mac, lowered their butt onto the cushion. Once she had tested its strength, she turned sideways and rest her legs in Finn's lap and her head on Oliver's. Mac had to bend her knees and angle her head to fit in the position she chose for Iron Mouse. "Now, I know we're a little crammed back here, so you can touch me if you have to. But if it's indecent, somebody's gunna get their cheek pinched!” Her hand hovered in front of Justine's face and pinched the air.

Mac wasn't even aware the car had started moving until she looked at the sky. "Wow! This is fast!” Iron Mouse looked to Never when she inquired about their names, and here eyes just about shot out of her head. "Ohmygosh! Did I forget to introduce myself? I like to stand up when I do it, but I am:

Invincible
Ready
Observant
Natrural

Mighty
Overwhelming
Understanding
Sensational
Extremely humble

Put it all together and you get:

I R O N M O U S E!

I'm from Rochester up in New York. I can tell you've never been because you'd know who I was. I get paid to do all sorts of jobs, and now I'm here.” Iron mouse looked into the front seat. "Speaking of getting paid, I noticed you had a lot of artifacts. You wouldn't happen to be selling, would you?”

Though kept somewhat appraised of what was going on in Bolorton, Alicia's focus had remained divided. There had been an influx of girls to the beleaguered town to help out, but that left the opportunity for more unscrupulous types to take advantage of their absence here. After all that had transpired over these past months, she didn't feel comfortable leaving anything to chance.

Yet when she was approached by Ishtar, it was impossible to ignore. Taking the document, she gave it a quick look over as the Cardinal revealed they had been approved to evacuate civilians from the area as the fighting escalated. Not that they could intervene directly though, which seemed like it would not do much to actually address the situation at all.

"Alright," she said after a moment, folding the paper and slipping it into a pocket once she was done reviewing the details. "And what if they attack us?" Alicia asked. Surely they would be able to defend themselves if it came down to it.

That just left the matter of who to take with. "I'll definitely take Aurelio, if he's willing." That was an easy choice, as his support abilities would be very useful in this sort of mission. The others were a bit harder to select, and she hummed whilst thinking on it before eventually reaching a decision. "I'll take Hyun and Gabriel too." She wasn't going to tiptoe around the situation to avoid offending people. With her own dissatisfaction, she was more than willing to let them speak their mind.

There weren't really other questions, at least at the moment. "Nothing I can think of. I'm sure the Ascendancy will keep me appraised if things develop further," she replied, shaking her head. Turning from the direction she had been heading before, she prepared to round up the members of the team she had decided upon. It seemed that she had a mission to organize after all.

Coincidence? Well, Finn hadn't given much thought into Nefer's appearance. If anything she'd most likely be stopping at Penrose temporarily. Maybe to sell the wares that filled their mode of transport? He wondered if the artifacts were handmade, or stolen from some powerful beings. Would explain why she and her little friend were constantly on the run. Perhaps if things go well enough, he could ask Nefer about it. Maybe buy one off her. He was trying to get stronger after all.

His idle thoughts were interrupted when he felt Iron Mouse lay across the seated trio. He rose a brow at the giant-in-scale blood pillow Justine created, and even more so at their fourth's words. "Right, just please refrain from kicking me in the gut. _{I actually like this suit...}" He said back to Iron Mouse, resting one elbow by the car window.

"So does this mean I can pat your head?" Oliver spoke up, innocently glancing down at Iron Mouse. They were so busy talking that they hadn't noticed the vehicle was moving so fast. "Well damn! Why hadn't we run into ya sooner?" The ghost's attention moved from the view from his window back to Nefer with a grin. That grin quickly faded when she noted that Finn looked familiar. The two passed a side glance to one another.

"Please tell me you hadn't run into them before and forgot about it."

"Of course I haven't! The damn titles tend to get passed around, you know this!"

"Then what are we going to do? Far as we know she can sick that golem on us if you somehow managed to piss her off too!"

"Why do you have to assume I willingly make people want me dead??"

"HELLO?? SINNER OF WRATH???"

"Ugh, right. Well if she's going to use an alias, we might as well too."

After the brief back and forth, the duo looked back to Nefer.

"Call me Fable." Finn spoke up first.

"Name's Grimm!" Oliver "introduced" himself next, pointing a thumb to himself with a smile.

Connie was broken out of her musings by an exuberant cheer from Mayra, telling her that she was awesome. While the timid girl herself might not have thought that the power to make people suffer from horrific nightmares was particularly awesome, the fact that her draconic friend did, and was so boisterously vocal about it, nonetheless succeeded in bringing a small smile to the face of Connie’s mask. Thank you, Mayra, she told the dragon girl silently, while placing a hand over her heart to savor the feeling of warmth that now flowed into it, a warmth which thoroughly melted away the cold spikes of dread engendered by the soldiers’ cries of anguish. In fact, she couldn’t even hear them at all…

A moment later, she realized why.

Turning to look at Mayra, and perhaps give a wave of thanks to her draconic friend, Connie saw that not only had the playful pyromaniac jetted away, but the squad she fired her nightmare pulse at appeared utterly unaffected by the terrifying spell.

“W-What…?” Connie stammered as she took in the unexpected sight. T-Those screams… Were they all just in my head…?

For her part, Gaia had seen exactly what had transpired, as well as the likely explanation for it, knowledge that brought an annoyed frown to her verdant face. “Those soldiers are just meat puppets,” she explained. “Mindless automatons being controlled remotely, probably via their helmets,” she added, pointing to to one of the headless soldiers and the empty helmet laying next to it. “I’m sorry, Connie, but I don’t think your magic will have any effect on them.”

Although a part of her was actually relived that she hadn’t inflicted any suffering upon the attacking troops, Connie was still saddened by the fact that she would be unable to help in defending the town, which even now was coming under additional attack, as the enemy’s long-ranged artillery began their bombardment.

Great, they’re using fucking artillery now?!

“How absolutely horrid!” the Angel cried. “To unleash such indiscriminate violence… My heart aches at the sight!” Raising her glowing staff high, she took a moment to focus her power, before declaring, “Fear not, my noble companions! This humble servant shall ensure that no further harm comes to this tranquil village! Radiant Angelic Aegis!”

With that, a blinding pulse of energy shot into the heavens, before expanding into a shimmering dome, which completely covered the town.

That should protect this dump for a little while, at least, but these losers seriously need to pick up the pace, or those headless freaks are gonna overwhelm us…

Fortunately, this would soon be facilitated by the arrival of two new allies, although their identities were completely unknown to anyone present. Unfortunately, while the first member of the newly arrived pair was doing a respectable job eliminating the enemy tanks, the second seemed to have stumbled into a patch of Gaia’s enhanced foliage…

Blast… the verdant maiden winced. I had not anticipated any allies suddenly appearing in that area, let alone being so unobservant as to run straight through my plants…

“The poor thing!” the Angel cried, placing her hands over her heart at the sight. “To suffer such tragic misfortune, all while in the pursuit of providing aid to others! It is simply too painful to behold!”

Holy fuck… What a dumbass… Is she fucking blind? I mean, who the hell doesn’t notice a six foot tall Venus flytrap? (sigh…) Whatever… I guess I should help her moronic ass out…

Conjuring a winged sphere of glowing energy, the Angelic beauty sent it racing off to bestow a healing blessing upon Eliana. “Swiftly now, little one!” she bade the sphere. “Hasten to the aid of our most misfortunate ally and restore her to full health once more!”

Meanwhile, Connie, realizing that she could offer no further assistance with repelling the invading forces, had resolved to apply herself to the only other task she was capable of undertaking. Clenching her fist with determination, the masked maiden made her way to the back edge of the roof.

“I-I’m g-gonna go h-help Lily and the o-others evacuate the t-town!” she told Gaia as she slid down her friend’s beanstalk.

“Just be careful, little sister!” Gaia called after her.

“I-I will!”

Hurrying to the nearest unchecked house, Connie actually found herself thankful for the effects of the sleep spell. After all, she doubted anyone would react favorably to having their house broken into by a young woman who looked like she had just stepped off of the set of a horror movie…

Or out of the depths of a nightmare…

---

Cold…

Darkness…

Pain…

Horrors beyond imagining…

And then…

“Princess?” a familiar voice inquired. “Are you all right?”

“P-Penny Wenny…?” MDP asked hesitantly, unsure of where she was, or what was happening.

“You spaced out for a moment there,” the mechanical monarch explained. “I know your attention has a tendency to wander when you’re like this, but you looked… frightened. Is everything okay?”

Taking a moment to get her bearings, the Princess of Dreams saw that she was sitting on her girlfriend’s lap, atop a shining, ultratech throne. A similarly advanced-looking chamber surrounded them, filled with dozens of cute stuffed animals in a variety of vibrant colors, and featuring panoramic windows, beyond which rose the sparkling spires of a futuristic, but still quite whimsical skyline. The sight caused a torrent of memories to flood into her mind. This was Penrose, the most advanced, beautiful and peaceful city on Earth, now that Wonderland had been defeated and the Mint had been driven off the planet. With Covington Industries’ backing, Penny’s queenship had become officially recognized, with Penrose becoming a fully independent city state, and all the various factions had come together to build a bright future for everyone, whether magical girl, monster girl, or mundane citizen. Love and friendship had truly won the day, as if there had ever been any doubt. Everything was perfect, everyone was happy, and Magical Dream Princess was the happiest of all.

“Like, everythingy wingy is totally wotally super duper okey dokie~! (giggle!)” MDP replied with a bright smile. “She gets to cuddle wuddle with her most favorite wavorite person werson in the whole wide worldsie, after allsie~! (giggle!)” she added with a playful wink, before gently nuzzling her girlfriend’s cheek.

“Glad to hear it,” Penny said with an amused chuckle. “Wouldn’t want my Princess to ever stop being her adorable self,” she added with a smile of her own as she stroked her girlfriend’s cheek. “After all,” the mechanical monarch continued, her voice taking on a darker tone. “It was only thanks to your profoundly childish idealism and naiveté that I was even able to reach such a lofty pinnacle in the first place.”

At this, MDP frowned, her eyes widening in shock and confusion. “P-Penny Wenny…? W-What do you mean?”

“Not surprised I have to spell it out for you,” the mechanical monarch sighed. “You are rather stupid in this form, although I imagine you would have a hard time wrapping your little brain around the truth even if you did have access to your full mental faculties,” she added with a condescending sneer. “We both know your infantile romanticism is not limited to your time as Magical Dream Princess.”

MDP was beginning to cry now, but she didn’t utter a sound. Indeed, the poor girl was stunned speechless.

“I never loved you ‘Princess’,” Penny stated, her voice as cold as steel. “Furthermore, I am incapable of even experiencing that flawed emotion. However, I can simulate it well enough, especially if all I needed to do was fool a babyish brat like you. When I became aware of your pitiful feelings for me, I knew I had found the perfect means by which to facilitate my ascension. Your wealth, your influence, your web of contacts, your willingness to befriend anyone, regardless of affiliation or appearance, all these things provided the foundation upon which I could build my empire. And now, ‘Princess’, now that you have allowed me to assume complete control of this city, and, by extension, this world, I shall allow you to watch as I carry out my final royal edict.”

With a wave of her hand, Penny brought up an array of holodisplays, each one showing a different part of the bustling city. As she gazed upon them, her eyes began to glow an ominous crimson.

“All that has been built,” she intoned, while holding out an open palm to gesture at the various displays. “Shall now be destroyed.”

Closing her hand into a fist, the images on each display exploded into scenes of violent destruction. Swirling torrents of nanites burst from the ground to viciously disassemble all in their path, magical, mundane, and inanimate object alike. Buildings crumbled, people dissolved or were messily torn apart, roiling thunderheads obscured the sky, while bolts of crimson lighting and pitch-black vortices fell upon the ravaged city, laying waste to all below. Even the very earth itself buckled and heaved with savage tectonic fury. Dark chasms yawned wide, while gouts of infernal flame shot into the heavens, punching jagged holes in the churning clouds above.

“W-Why are you doing this?!” MDP cried in horror, tears streaming down her trembling face as she watched the agonizing deaths of so many people, so many friends. “Why?!”

“Because it is my purpose,” Penny stated flatly. “I am a living weapon, an engine of destruction, an instrument of annihilation. Mine is the hand that will snuff out the very stars themselves,” she declared, even as the chamber around them was torn asunder, the various cute plushie creatures being brutally sliced apart like vegetables in a blender, even as they tried to run for their lives.

Yet, even as everything around them wasted away, Penny herself only seemed to grow larger. She towered over the city, then the continent, then the planet, until she had assumed a size that was practically beyond comprehension. Her form had shifted as well, becoming something utterly eldritch and horrifying beyond belief. A true machine goddess. An unmaker of realities. Now standing in the center of Penny’s vast palm, MDP could see that the colossal being her girlfriend had become held an equally colossal hammer in her other hand, one seemingly composed of cosmic energy and poised to strike the convulsing planet below…

MDP’s mind reeled. She could barely conceive what was happening, let alone accept its reality. It couldn’t be happening, she told herself over and over. But it was…

“NO!!!” she screamed. “Please stopy wopy! Pretty pretty please stopy wopy!” she begged, while sobbing ever more hysterically with each passing second.

However, if Penny heard her desperate pleas, she gave no sign. Pulling the gargantuan hammer back, she brought the cosmic weapon down upon the helpless planet with enough force to completely shatter it into a cloud of molten fragments, which swiftly spun off into the void.

“NOOOO!!!!” MDP shrieked, falling to her knees in utter despair. “T-They’re all gonesie wonsie…” She whimpered. “T-They’re all gonesie wonsie…”

“It is done,” Penny announced.

“W-Why…?” MDP’s plaintive voice whispered, her head bowed, tears dripping onto the cold metal beneath her. All her hopes, all her dreams, everything and everyone she had ever loved, were now little more than dust. She had nothing left, except pain… and anger… Her head shot up, red, tear-filled eyes fixing the machine goddess with a look of utter fury. “Why did you make Magical Dream Princess watch that?!” she roared, her hoarse voice filled with rage. “Why did you make Magical Dream Princess hurt so muchy wuchy?! She wuved you, Penny Wenny!” the anguished girl cried as she repeatedly smashed her fists into the hard surface of the technomantic titan’s palm until they were bruised and bloody. “SHE WUVED YOU!!!”

“That is precisely the reason,” Penny replied, her tone one of utter disinterest, as if she had just killed an ant, instead of over seven billion people. “As a token of appreciation for all the assistance you provided, I have chosen to make you the very last thing I destroy. We will travel the universe together, and you will watch as I snuff out the life of every planet and star. But you will not need your body for this,” she added as several writhing tendrils of nanites rose up around MDP and began breaking down her flesh and bones, disassembling the girl at the molecular level. “Merely your eyes to see it, your ears to hear it, and your soul to feel it.”

MDP screamed.

She screamed as her voice shifted into the synthetic sounds of an old modem’s dial tone.

She screamed as her lungs and vocal cords dissolved.

And when she no longer had a mouth, she screamed in the depths of her tortured mind.

“NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NO!NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!”

…

…

…

“N-No… No…” Violet whimpered softly.

“Violet?” A concerned voice asked. “What’s wrong?”

“P-Penny…?”

“Yes, I’m right here,” the robotic girl confirmed, while gently running her fingers through Violet’s hair. “There’s nothing to be afraid of.”

Taking stock of her situation, Violet realized that she and Penny were in her bed chamber at Covington Tower, lying in her bed. She recalled all the various arrangements she had made to allow for this little “sleepover”. She had spent a wonderful evening with her girlfriend, had gone to sleep in her protective embrace. She had been so happy, and yet….

“I… I think I had a nightmare…” Violet told her girlfriend shakily, still somewhat unsure of what exactly had happened.

“Must admit, that’s somewhat ironic, all things considered,” Penny noted wryly, although her eyes were still filled with concern.

“It’s perplexing as well,” Violet added, while slowly sitting up. “I do not recall having had a single nightmare since becoming Magical Dream Princess. Although I suppose it was only a matter of time…”

“Not really an expert on such things, but maybe you should talk with Amanda about it,” Penny suggested.

“Yes, that sounds like a good idea,” Violet agreed, giving her girlfriend an appreciative smile.

“Now then, why don’t you try and get some more sl-e!e!e!e!e!e!e!e!e!” Suddenly, Penny’s voice began glitching like a broken record, while her body violently spasmed as arcs of obsidian lightning crackled over it.

“Penny?!” Violet cried in alarm, her eyes going wide.

“Finally got ‘er,” A smug, and all-too-familiar voice declared. “Gotta say, this was way easier than I thought it’d be,” the voice added. “And it’s all thanks to you, Miss Covington.”

Whipping her head around to the far side of the chamber, Violet saw an inhumanly tall, broad shouldered figure emerge from the shadows, a smoldering cigar chomped between monstrously sharp teeth.

“Scarp!” She gasped, before her visage took on a look of utter fury. “Stop this at once!” she commanded. “You’re hurting her!”

“No can do, Miss Covington,” Scarp replied with a cruel smirk. “And that’s kinda the point,” he added. “She’s gotta learn her lesson for tryin’ to cross The Mint, an’ so do you.”

“V-V-V-V-V-V-V-Violet…!” Penny stammered as her body contorted unnaturally, a look of fear filling her eyes that Violet had never seen before.

“Penny! Hold on!” the heiress begged her girlfriend.

There was a flash of light, and Violet was now in her magical girl form, her whimsical wand pointed at the coin broker.

“Let her go RIGHT NOWIE!!!” she snarled as her wand charged with mystic power.

“Or you’ll do what, exactly?” Scarp asked with an amused chuckle.

“Or Magical Dream Princess will send you to dreamy weamy land for ever and ever and ever!”

“You will do no such thing,” a stern voice declared.

Turning to look in the direction of the door, Violet was stunned to find the disapproving visage of her father, Thane Covington.

“D-Daddy Waddy?!” she gasped. “W-What are you doing heresie?!”

“I should think the answer to that question should be perfectly obvious,” her father replied, his voice suffused with contempt. “I am preventing my daughter from making a childish fool of herself. Now then, you will dispense with this fanciful nonsense at once, is that understood?”

“B-But Violet Wiolet wuvs being Magical Dream Princess!” the distraught girl protested. “Please don’t make her stopy wopy!” she begged tearfully. “Pretty pretty please!”

“Utterly disgraceful!” her father snapped, causing the transformed heiress to flinch as if she had been slapped in the face. “After all I did for you, after all the promise you showed… To think that you would throw it all away for an infantile fantasy like this, for a soulless machine like her,” he added, gesturing to where Penny continued to writhe in torment. “You are such a profound disappointment to me, Violet.”

“N-No… I-I’m sorry Daddy Waddy… I-I d-didn’t mean…”

“Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi-Viiiiiolet…!” Penny pleaded. “H-H-H-H-e-e-e-l-l-l-lp…!”

“Penny Wenny!” Violet cried, her head snapping back to her suffering girlfriend. “I-I’m t-trying, b-but I…”

“Absolutely pitiful.”

“Heh, nothin’ but a helpless baby.”

“Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi…!”

“N-No… P-Please…” Violet begged, falling to her knees and pressing her trembling hands over her ears.

“Shameful.”

“Awww, is the little baby gonna cry now?”

“Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi…!”

“P-Please stopy wopy…”

“Unforgivable.”

“What a loser…”

“Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi-Vi…!”

“P-Please… P-Please… P-Please… Just…

STOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!”

…

…

…

“S-Stop… S-Stop…” Violet whimpered, even as she felt strong hands pull her from her confinement and into a firm embrace.

“It’s okay Violet,” A soothing voice told her. “You’re safe now.”

“P-Penny… W-Wenny…?” Violet asked weakly.

“Yes,” the robotic girl confirmed. “I’m right here.”

Slowly opening her eyes, Violet saw that she was now being embraced by her girlfriend, and with all the feeble strength that remained in her aching body, the heiress pressed herself tightly against the mechanical monarch’s chest, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“I came to rescue you as soon as I discovered you’d been taken,” Penny explained, while gently stroking the back of Violet’s head. “And I’m not the only one. Amanda’s here, too.”

“A-Amanda…?” Violet echoed, struggling to catch a glimpse of her best friend over Penny’s shoulder.

“She’s making sure Nykannis will never be able to do anything like this to anyone else ever again.”

Violet could see how the fragments of a dream barrier clashed against what made up the Lab's sky. She could see how whimsical characters, whether they were transmutated from Nykannis' creations or summoned from Amanda herself clashed with what chilling inventions remained. And a distance away, she could see the bespectacled magician herself, locked in combat with the true form of the mad doctor. Had she ever seen her friend so furious? Driven by a vengeful bloodlust? Though she still paled in comparison to Dr. Nykannis's power, she was pouring both mana and vitality into her assault. And she bled for it. Her mouth and nose dripped with blood, and soon her eyes would as well, as if they were tears.

“W-We have to help her…!” Violet gasped as she saw the state her friend was in.

“You need to recover your strength,” Penny replied. “I will assist her in dealing with Nykannis…”

Holding Violet close with one arm, the mechanical monarch activated her jet thrusters, while her other appendage morphed into a massive gauss cannon. With a series of mighty thunderclaps, it fired a torrent of ultra-dense spikes at speeds exceeding the light barrier, projectiles which sliced through all the eldritch scientist’s myriad defenses and ripped apart vast swaths of her monstrous cybermagimechanical body.

“They’re sheathed in a focused nullification field,” Penny explained. “Nykannis isn’t the only one who can use her enemies’ tricks against them,” she added with a savage smirk.

Now Nykannis was on even ground with her opponent. No, with this she was nothing but child's play in Amanda's sadistic eyes.

...Or that might just be the blood loss getting to her head. Either way.

She bore a violent grin as she, with her remaining strength, reached her hand out and summoned a volley of swords; from mythos and legends alike to sever Nykannis limb by limb, to reduce her down to naught.

The eldritch ultratechnomantic monstrosity that was Nykannis screamed in a mixture of agony and rage as Amanda’s dream blades sliced her asunder, down to her constituent atoms, until absolutely nothing remained. Once the Monarch of Mad Science’s last dying cries had faded away, Penny hovered over to float beside Amanda.

“Quite the impressive display,” the robotic girl commended.

“Y-Yes,” Violet agreed, somewhat taken aback by her friend’s ferocity. “B-But you look badly hurt,” she added, her voice filled with concern. “Y-You should let Penny carry you, too.”

“Wouldn’t be too sure of that,” Penny noted. “Your friend here is tougher than she looks, and I’m pretty sure she wants to finish taking her anger out on the rest of this lab,” the mechanical monarch added. “I know I certainly do…”

Amanda wiped the blood off her face with her sleeve. "This is nothing. Not the first time I resorted to blood magic." Her grin shrunk back to normal. She then focused her sights on the remnants of the lab. "I'll be back. Keep her safe, will ya?" She turned to step away, dream magic swirling into her palm.

“That’s some friend you’ve got there,” Penny remarked as Amanda set about unmaking what little remained of Nykannis’s lab.

“Yes, she is,” Violet confirmed, smiling fondly as tears continued to trickle down her cheeks. “And so are you,” she added, turning to face her girlfriend and giving her an affectionate hug. “I’m so lucky to have such wonderful friends. Thank you for saving me, Penny, from the bottom of my heart.”

“You’re more than welcome,” Penny replied with a tender smile of her own. “I only wish I could have prevented this from happening in the first place…”

“It’s okay,” Violet reassured her, gently placing a hand on the robotic girl’s cheek. “I’m safe now, and that’s all that matters.”

“Suppose I can’t argue with that,” Penny conceded. “Come on,” she added, activating her thrusters and flying them through a portal into Amanda’s dream dimension. “Let’s get out of here.”

Landing atop a small, floating hill, Violet marveled at the tranquil dreamscape surrounding them. “You know, this is actually the first time I’ve ever been inside this place,” the heiress remarked. “It’s so peaceful and serene…”

“I’m told there are more dangerous areas,” Penny explained. “But this is one of the calmer sections.”

“Mmmm…” Violet agreed, closing her eyes as a soothing breeze caressed her face. “It’s actually rather romantic, don’t you think~?” she added with a smile, before leaning in and giving her girlfriend a passionate kiss.

For several wonderful seconds, all of Violet’s worries were washed away by a flood of blissful affection. What lingering pain and soreness remained in her body now dissolved in the warmth of her girlfriend’s love. Lips locked, arms wrapped around one another, comfort and safety were all Violet knew, until…

Until the embrace tightened to the point that it was painful, suffocating, while the tender kiss became something far more violent and savage…

Opening her eyes in alarm, Violet saw to her horror that it was no longer Penny standing before her, but rather Oros…

Something wrestled its way past Violet’s tongue and slid down her throat. It filled her mouth and throat completely. Closing her mouth wasn’t an option. Spitting wasn’t an option. Breathing wasn’t an option. She couldn’t tell if Oros was entering her lungs or her stomach, only that it was uncomfortable. Then, just when she was on the verge of passing out, Oros pulled herself out of Violet and let her fall to her knees. Oros’s tongue was starting to return to its original shape. The large gray mass hanging out of her mouth shrunk and became pink in color. 

"Whoa!" Oros blinked. She had her arms wrapped under Violet’s, which was the only reason why she didn’t completely fall over. Though that might have been preferable to remaining in Oros’s arms. "Penny was me the entire time? Now that is a wild plot twist! Exactly the sort of bullshit twist I’d expect the Grand Magistrate to pull on me!"

Coughing, gagging, and fighting off the urge to vomit, Violet tried to push herself away from the pink-haired beast girl, but Oros’s grip was much too strong.
 
“G-Get away from me, you sick freak!” the heiress screamed in appalled disbelief upon finally regaining her ability to speak. “W-What are you even doing here?!” she demanded, eyes filled with terror. “What did you do to Penny?!”

"Wha?" Oros raised an eyebrow. Just as silence started to set between the two, she cackled like an asylum patient. "How am I supposed to answer that? You’re still dreaming, Alice. Dreaming a very, very vivid dream." She lifted Violet up to eye level. Her feet were floating off the ground and there was no space between them. "But I wonder if that actually matters? I mean, you know how none of us really exist anyway? I’m being controlled by my original patron right now, so there’s virtually no difference between the ‘real’ me and the ‘fake’ me. I can’t live through my experiences, and I’ll know about this one because of my sword, so in a roundabout way this nightmare really is happening!" Oros nodded to herself. 

As she listened to the pink-haired lunatic babble, Violet’s confusion only grew. This… This was all just a dream, or rather, a nightmare? That certainly explained how things had taken such a warped and horrifying turn…

"And it doesn’t matter to you either! I mean, Penny’s just a robot. She murdered the human part of herself and fused with the corpse to get all that power without having a pesky soul. So if you can fall in love with an artificial person, someone you know is artificial, then there’s no difference between reality and fiction for either one of us! " 

“Murdered?” Violet echoed, her tone now one of enraged indignation. “Penny would never harm an innocent, let alone kill them! And while Penny may be an artificial life form, she’s still a real person, while you yourself claim to be nothing more than a twisted figment of my imagination, just a subconscious fear brought to a pitiful mockery of life!”

"And yet you thought of me enough to bring me here, even though our interaction lasted seconds. But I’m glad you found it unforgettable." Oros hummed. "As for what happened to Penny here, well, what can I say? Our fights are always exciting but she isn’t exactly the pinnacle of strategy. Her desire to preserve herself is pretty high, guess the law of robotics doesn’t apply to her. When Endless Eclipse was hovering over her head she begged me not to kill her. She offered me her kingdom, my ship, even herself. But one of the first things she offered me was you."

At Oros’s latest claim, Violet’s face contorted into a look of utter fury. “There’s no way I would ever believe that!” she snarled. “Penny is the most selfless person I know! Everything she does is to help others! To give them security and peace! All you exist to do is bring pain and misery! Besides,” she added with a contemptuous glare. “If this really is a nightmare, if I’m actually still trapped in that maniac’s lab, then why should I give a single ounce of credibility to any of the insane ramblings coming out of your disgusting mouth?!”

"Because that means that right now, this very second, you aren’t really arguing with me." The smile ran from Oros’s face. "You’re arguing with yourself, and everything I say is just some repressed thought you couldn’t keep down during your waking hours." She squinted her eyes. "This is a nightmare precisely because you think it could happen. Because Penny is a cannibal, because you’re one of many girls she’s had access to, because she can’t keep control. And as strong as she is, you know that there are stronger ones out there. Nobody looks at the throne and thinks she belongs there cept for you."

That… That couldn’t be true… Could it…? Could she really, secretly, be afraid of Penny? It seemed absolutely absurd, and yet… 
 
“All right… Perhaps I am scared of what might happen,” Violet conceded. “But those things are only possibilities, simply amorphous fears, not immutable guarantees of what will actually take place. Penny may have problems, may have done things in her past she may not be proud of, but the same can be said of me, of anyone! And I’d like to think that, by being at her side, I can help her face whatever challenges lie ahead. Because together, I know we can overcome anything the future has in store.”

"That’s very touching. It’s just a little unfortunate that she isn’t here right now. But hey, did you know that Nykannis believes that every possibility is happening in a different reality? If she’s right, it really doesn’t matter what this all is, because if it’s not real here, it’s real somewhere else. But it’s gotta suck to be in one of the realities where you don’t get saved huh?" 
 
Violet opened her mouth to speak, but she was stricken with a piercing pain. Like something in her stomach just rammed a knife into her intestines. When she looked down at her stomach to see what had happened, violet noticed that she had started to bloat. Her body was pushing against her dress.
 
"Oh? That was fast!" Oros released Violet and let her fall onto her back. Despite her attempts to move, her body would not respond. She had also become numb all over, but could still feel some things wrestling around inside her.
 
”What’s your favorite animal? Bunnies? Bears? Mantis shrimp? Dogs are cool too. But for me, it’s gotta be the wasp. " With a sigh, she put her hands on her hips. ”I’m sure I’m just infodumping here, ‘cuz you’re a smart girl and probably already know this. But most wasps lay their eggs inside other insects. Usually cockroaches and other invasive pests like that. I’m sure they’d target a bratty rich kid if they got big enough." Oros kneeled down beside Violet. She didn’t make eye contact with her, instead choosing to speak at something in the distance. ”But my absolute favorites are the ones in genus Glyptapanteles! It’s really interesting how they work. First they find a caterpillar and inject eighty or so eggs directly into their flesh. As soon as those eggs hatch the larva begin feeding on the host. But they are very careful about it. They don’t eat any of the hosts organs, and avoid anything that might cause them to bleed internally. And once they’ve matured…"

Several larva bored out of her body. Each one rocking her in the direction it emerged from. They were roughly half the size of her forearm and they came out flailing like tentacles. Not only that, but they came out everywhere. They spilled out her sleeves, wrestled their way past her shirt collar, and her pantyhose filled with them as they left. Oddly, not a spec of Violet’s blood had been spilled.

”The paralysis should be wearing off soon." Oros picked up one of the larva and cradled it in her arms. ”They don’t even harm the host when they depart. In fact, the host helps protect the larva after they’ve emerged. The caterpillar sprays them with silk webbing and protects them from predators. It’s almost like they’ve become a parent to the young wasps." She ruffled her nose. ”We’ll skip silk weaving. This is already starting to feel like some weird fetish shit, isn’t it?"

Violet couldn’t help but whimper in pain as the larva churned around inside her spasming body, Oros’s ramblings barely registering in her horrified mind. Then they began bursting out of her, and her whimpers turned to screams. She should have been used to such anguish by now, especially after having caustic boils and shards of jagged crystal erupt from her flesh, but this was something altogether different, and substantially more disgusting… 
 
It took every ounce of of her strength to keep from vomiting, but somehow she managed. Perhaps it was the “paralysis” Oros had mentioned? In any case, once the last of the seemingly countless larva had emerged, Violet’s exhausted body collapsed in a sweaty heap.
 
“S-S-o… y-you… w-want to… p-play house… i-is that it?” she asked between ragged gasps for breath, her pained voice still filled with fierce determination. “F-Fine… by me…”

”Glad you know you’re mine." She patted Violet’s head.  ”You were wasted on Penny anyway. I mean look at you! You’re all tough and stuff. I really hope it holds out."
 
One of the larva slithered out of Violet’s panty hose and onto her stomach. The flesh colored creature was still expanding, and it wasn’t long until it was  larger than her stomach. Then with a pop, the larva split down the middle. Then it cried like a baby.
 
”Our first kid!" Oros reached into the husk of the larva and pulled out a baby girl. ”Look! She has your eyes, and my hair!” Oros held the baby in front of Violet.  ”What do you want to name her?”
 
Strangely, Violet seemed completely unbothered by the “birth” that had just taken place on her stomach. In fact, after slowly getting up into a sitting position, her mouth curled into a smirk. “How about… Amanda?”
 
At that, the child vanished from Oros’s grasp in a burst of lavender energy, before reappearing at Violet’s side, where she grew into a perfect copy of Amanda’s magical girl form, her pastel-colored outfit materializing in a swirl of glowing particles.
 
“I should actually thank you, Oros,” Violet told the psychotic beast girl as Amanda helped her to her feet. “Because of you, I now know what this place truly is, and I just realized that the only power it can ever have over me is what I choose to allow it to have. I may not be able to transform out there, but I am still Magical Dream Princess, and that means, in here, I make the rules!”
 
With a flash of obnoxiously pink light, the heiress assumed her magical girl form, her cute wand raised to point at Oros. Or rather, behind her…
 
“Rule number wumber onesie~!” Violet declared, holding up a single finger high above her head. “Penny Wenny’s always walways in my heart, so she’s, like, always walways in my dreamy weamies, too~! (giggle!) In facty wacty, she’s right over theresie~!”
 
Turning around, Oros was met with a fist striking her with enough force to cave her face in, although she would only suffer the injuries someone in a whimsical cartoon might. And while such an attack would normally send her flying, Penny was stomping down on one of her feet, pinning her in place so that the mechanical monarch could keep pummeling her with a barrage of blows, as if she was some comical punching bag. 
 
“Rule number wumber twosie~!” the transformed heiress continued, holding out two fingers to form a peace sign. “Meanie weanie heads aren’t allowed in my dreamy weamies, so, like, it’s timey wimey for you to go bye bye~! (giggle!)”
 
No sooner had the annoyingly cheerful and high-pitched words left the whimsical girl’s mouth, than Penny released Oros’s foot and sent her flying off into the distance.
 
“Bye bye~!” Violet called out, while waving to the rapidly departing Oros, who was soon little more than a twinkling star on the far horizon. “Wowie zowie~! She looks so pretty witty nowie~! (giggle!)” the whimsical heiress observed with a delighted smile as she leaned forward on her tiptoes and placed a hand over her eyes to get a better look at the newest addition to the dream world’s firmament.
 
“And finally winally, rule number wumber threesie~!” Violet cheered, striking a cute pose and holding up three fingers. “All of my dreamy weamies always walways have a happy wappy ending wending~! (giggle!)” 

After gleefully bouncing up and down a few times, she wrapped her best friend and girlfriend up in a big hug, while continuing to giggle with delight. “Like, thankie wankies for all the helpy welpy~!” Violet told them with a bright smile. “I wuv you both soooo muchy wuchy, and, like, having you as friendy wendies makes me sooo super duper happy wappy~! (giggle!) Like, I know you aren’t realsie,” she added, sobering slightly. “But, like, even weven if you aren’t actually wactually heresie, you’re both still with me in heresie~!” she declared, placing a hand over her heart. “And, like, that’s all that really matter watters~! (giggle!)”

With that, she gave her two favorite people one final embrace, before allowing the dream world to fade away. Empowered by the strength of her friends, Violet was confident that she would be able to face whatever new horrors awaited her. Indeed, despite all its unpleasantness, this experience had imparted many valuable lessons. Yes, it would truly be a nightmare to remember...

---

The pain from the bullet inside her organs? Nothing to her. The ones that had pierced her skin might as well have not been there either for all she cared. The enemy soldiers were like chaff, though the fact they could hurt her so easily was something else altogether. And it seemed more and more troops were coming over the hill with support to boot. Heck, even flying jetpack troops! It was a proper military invasion of sorts, and the familiarity of such a thing left a small but deep scowl on the face of the draconic monster girl. She only hoped her mistress was safe, if nothing else, and since it seemed the situation was turning against the defenders more and more by the minute perhaps she should go and-

‘DDDDDDDDDRRRRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNN---------------!!!!!!!!!’

What.

Her own recovery was interrupted by a giant fireball headed at her, before the surprise Monster Glomp sent them rolling hard back up the hill. Kiyome struggled against the hold weakly, even as the ground around them was set on fire and even the hill itself as they proceeded to outright roll back down it once more. Then the cornfield was on fire. Fire? Yeah the fire wasn't the frustrating part of it all. Any burns would be shrugged off or just not significant in the face of what had just happened. She even cast a personal-time accelerating spell to augment herself to try to assist.

Still, she couldn't free herself from Mayra's grip too quickly as the other dragon girl held her there with a small space between them, beginning to gush and speak with a face that looked like a child on Christmas Morning. Utter joy for her assailant, though the incessant speaking seemed to go on without the other so much as seeming to breathe in Kiyome's eyes. But to do this in the middle of a battle, of all things, and to a random stranger?

In other words-

‘Dragon! You’re another dragon-girl, aren’t you!? Are you like me!? Are you like me!? Dragon that was turned into a girl? Oooh, that is so cool! I’m Mayra, also a dragon-girl! I bet you could tell! Do you serve a horror, too? Oooh, I am so happy to have met you! Can I be your friend? I want to be your friend! I love your tail! So sleek and elegant! What are your powers? I can do a whole lot of fire, and I’m really strong, too! Wait, don’t tell me! I want to find out while I fight you! And I want to fight you! Right now! I want to measure our strengths! Can I fight you? I’m going to fight you! I want to see what you can do! Let’s fight, friend!’

-this one was an idiot, wasn't she?

"Yes I am a dragon girl. No I wasn't a dragon turned into a girl. You also serve a Horror? Friends what-..e-eh?! Sleek and elegant?! What are you saying at a time like this?!?! I am under no obligation to-

wait, what are you-

...ugh."

Kiyome leapt up to her feet in one swinging motion as Mayra finally got off of her and took a battle stance, dusting herself off and brandishing her sword. Kiyome's face likewise now wore a sort of exasperated expression, one somewhat mixed with a new scowl of sorts.
An idiot. Just great. She had to deal with an idiot who had superior strength and whatever capabilities she didn't know about by this point. The fire was a given though, that much was clear.

Then the other girl came down at her with an overhead slash attack with a superheated claw. Her precognition saw it coming, and frankly the augmentation had given her the reaction time to get off a second spell that was prepared whilst Mayra was chatting incessantly.

"Save this all for later, after fighting the enemy here! Do that and then we can duel each other!"

Mayra's claw would find empty air and the ground beneath that, as Kiyome teleported herself away right before the attack made any contact. Not that the timing wasn't a bit too close for comfort. The more elegant dragon girl was not personally fast, but between the augmentation of her own personal time still in effect she had enough of a reaction time to use her second spell to teleport out of there. It was, however, enough to get her out of the immediate danger for the moment (she hoped).

Appearing near Penny and within the robot monster girl's line of sight, but placing Penny between herself and wherever Mayra and the enemies were, Kiyome let out a small huff before looking over at Penny proper. She coughed some into her hand before speaking again, her body hacking somewhat due to the sickly nature of her own state of general health otherwise.

"Please be the one leading this defensive operation, and tell me not everyone is an idiot. Please. I was sent to assist your people here on behalf of my mistress, but I am not tolerating constant friendly fire that will keep me from getting anything done around here."

If the robot started talking about how 'she'd be back' or something about a future war or turned on her to shoot her, she was leaving to look for her mistress. She could only take so much stupid in a day. Please. For the love of Thos let someone be competent here!

@Shifter_Master@PlatinumSkink@Ariamis

---

She had thought having her augmented senses, both mundane and magical, would make entrance into the defended area easier. However, the idea that the defenders would have set up some proper magical defenses had escaped her in the heat of the moment. In her rush she breathed in some toxic spores, after comfortably enough dodging other things on the way in, though it didn't stop her from stopping to save a child from one of the homes in the village. She would continue to violently cough and hack, but would push herself through as she carried the child deeper into the village to try to find some kind of evacuation point for locals. Or at least somewhere she could hide them to go help others and then protect them all from using some kind of barrier.

However, it seemed that her senses of the others here were keen enough. Or at least where they were. They seemed to be helping others, from what she could tell, so it was just a gamble if-

”You’re here to help, right! Thank goodness! Take anyone you find to the shelter! I’ll show the way!"

Thank heavens.

She allowed the other girl to lead her to the shelter, where another local to the area (she assumed) was there to greet her as well. She would deposit the sleeping child with the rest of the evacuees that had been brought over, it seemed, though the artillery shells kept flying in and brought a look of worry to the Cosmic Gypsy's face. Indeed, introductions would have to be for later, though for the moment she could barely even think of talking with all the coughing fits and such she still had.

It was then that the healing orb from a certain 'Hopeful Angel' flew in and slammed into her. The healing blessing rushed through the body of the Horror-Patron'd girl, and suddenly the coughing and so forth would fade rather rapidly from her chest as she felt sweet fresh air once again enter her lungs unimpeded. She'd have to thank her savior later, though, as with a magical barrier having popped up to help with the incoming artillery the gypsy raised her hands up as well.

"Let me erect a barrier as well! Then I'll go with you to find more civilians!"

Eliana would likewise erect a barrier of her own over the town, lying underneath the Angel's own barrier as a secondary defense. It was composed of dark energy, and in effect was intended to literally repel attacks as much as protect from them. It'd hopefully help, at least, rather than make things worse. She would mostly take visual note of what Alexis was trying to do with Lilly, but otherwise take up her own actions due to the ever-shrinking timeframe they seemed to have going on.

Once erecting that barrier of hers was done using her Cosmic spec magic, Eliana would rush off to help evacuate as many civilians as she could help move to the evacuation point. She prayed that she'd be able to save as many more as she could, at least, before the defensive situation came crashing down. She likewise hoped Kiyome was doing well too...

@Ariamis@Ponn

---

---

As Alicia walked down the hall, she would eventually see a familiar face round the corner. While the face and maid headgear were all most familiar, being that of Serenity, the rest was...ah...well something had definitely changed. Both in body and in attire. It was enough that other girls and magical boys in the hall were looking at Serenity here and there as well as she walked along, though it seemed to make Serenity herself uncomfortable. Not as bad as she used to react, perhaps, but uncomfortable all the same. Yet upon seeing Alicia herself, Serenity's crimson eyes seemed to light up and a smile rapidly come to her face as she ran eagerly over to the Seraph and pulled her into a sudden hug.

"Alicia!"" the bunnygirl maid cried out as she ran over, before unthinkingly pulling the friendly face she'd been searching for into a tight hug for a moment, before letting her go once more and standing back a proper distance to talk to Alicia. Albeit her excitement would fade a little back to more of 'her normal' as she spoke on, "I am so glad to see you! I just got back last night from HQ and I've been looking for the others...and...I have no idea what's been going on here in the last while.

In truth...I was hoping to find you to see if you could catch me up to speed, and see if you needed any help in the meantime as well."

Rounding the corner soon after would be a girl with red hair, dressed in a maid outfit, who seemed to be looking for someone. Upon sighting Serenity with Alicia, however, she seemed to light up and hurry over to the two. She then bowed lightly to the two girls, before turning her attention to Serenity in particular.

"Mistress Serenity! You seem to have found Miss Alicia, though...sadly I had no luck otherwise in finding the other people you asked me to seek out. My apologies."

@Flamelord

"...So that's it then."

"Mhm."

With nothing else to do for a while, Maribel decided to catch up with an old friend. The nightmare witch found Jennifer, ironically enough, looking into the hellish layers of nightmares Violet was being forced to sit through. She said nothing for a moment, walking up next to the false witch. Grim curiosity aside, Maribel felt kind of bad for her. She was a good kid, albeit cavity-inducing as MDP. Did she really deserve to suffer like this? She glanced over to Jen. "Your new friend is quite ah...interesting~ But wouldn't Penny catch onto her dissapearance~?" She asked her.

"Pff, doubt it. She's too busy ripping and tearing through Wonderland's ambush to care. Besides! I know Doc'll be done with her soon as Bolorton's safe to leave alone. Like nothing ever happened, yeah?" Jen reassured her without looking away from the window her clock eye was projecting.

"Oh, I don't doubt it in the slightest! But I'd expect you to use this to your advantage~ You know, with you busy trying to go against our fair queen~" Maribel giggled. Though she quickly stiffled it as the next nightmare started.

Jen rose a brow. "Mind elaborating, Mari?"

The nightmare witch "innocently" smiled. "Oh, you know, prevent Penny from saving her in time, reducing her into a shell of her former self from her traumatic nightmares, thus breaking cracks into her trust in her precious paragon? Let Amanda know she was kidnapped, thus giving her the role of her savior and gradually manipulating her into leaving Penny in favor of Amanda?" She suggested. Jen's eyes widened in surprise.

"Well shit! I see you've been doing your homework!" She chuckled.

"Just a thought~ Amanda's not even back yet, sadly." Maribel looked back to the window. Geez, is Violet really that afraid of her father? Maybe if there was something she could do about that...

Jennifer then shook her head. "But nah, none of that's gonna work. You'll see in a moment."

Soon enough, the third nightmare played through. The nightmare witch rose a brow at how normal it seemed. Even Amanda looked perfectly unhinged as she fought the weaker dream Nykannis. Then once Penny and Violet fled into her pocket dimension, the pieces slowly started to come together. Maribel's brows rose.

"Ouroboros?"

"Oros. I assume you already know what she did?"

Maribel cringed at that. "Right... But wait, she's as 'aware' as you! Wouldn't that ruin the illusion?" She asked.

"Exactly. Power of love crap, fuckin' cheesy as hell. But that's not the worst of it. Look."

Then they watched the...ahem...pregnancy happen. Maribel wasn't smiling at that point.

"Oh now that is just repulsive! Poor Violet..."

"I know. Apparently not the first case of what that implies." Jennifer's expression darkened with disgust. "Like hell we'll be stopping at Penny at this rate. You wanna know what Finn'll do once he finds out Justine's full rep sheet, Mari? He's going to fucking KILL her. To hell with what Maura wishes, or whatever their relationship ends up being, he's not going to hesitate!" The Exodus ranted. "Ugh, this damn reality is becoming unsalvagable by the day..." She pinched the bridge of her nose. Maribel patted her back in reassurance.

"By the way, you two kind of look alike. You think maybe she's...you know." The other witch tilted her head.

"I can see what you mean, but no. Maura's not that Penrose's me. Even if she was, that'd overlapse our roles as Death and Time. Though I guess it wouldn't? Since I'm stuck without someone representing Space? I know someone who would be a good canidate but..." Jen sighed. "I don't want him to suffer the same fate I have."

Maribel already knew, and choose to say nothing about it, solemnly nodding. "Anyone else you recognize?"

"...Yeah. And that's concerning." From the main window, two more branced out, showing glimpses into the past. "Dead or alive, if those two made appearances in this reality, then that means more of them could be out there. Or worse, there really is another me!" Jen motioned to the windows with exageration.

"And that's a problem because?"

Jen's arms dropped down to her sides. She gave Maribel an unamused look. "You don't know me very well, do you?"

"I know the you I know is pretty great~ So what's the problem with another you~?" The nightmare witch asked.

"BECAUSE, the other me's are STUPID, Mari!"

She frowned slightly. Best not to provoke her about it. "So, what are you going to do about it?"

Jennifer crossed her arms. "Gotta wait till one of the North Hunts begins to deal with the fairy, but if my theory's true? Hunt the rest down, I guess." She casually shrugged.

Maribel narrowed her eyes. "Must murder be your answer to every problem?"

"Yep!" With that, the false witch's cheshire grin returned.

Ashlyn set down her book as a chill slowly crawled down her spine. Something was off, what that was she wasn’t exactly sure. Slowly she stood up and looked around the common room senses cast out as she tried to pin down the sense of dread that was pooling in her gut.

The Sanctuary normally felt calm, especially this time of night. But now it starting to grow cold and harsh. The place was still safe, what ever it was that was setting her on edge it wasn’t a danger as her Hero Token wasn’t warning her, but it was uncomfortable.

She wasn’t the only one who was noticing it either. A few other of the residents were starting to sit up and take note much as Ashlyn was. It wasn’t until Monica came up from their room looking pensive that Ashlyn was able to put to gather the common thread of those that were noticing something going on.

Everyone has some way of sensing extra about people. Psychic, Spirit, and Empaths all could feel something shifting about the atmosphere of Sanctuary. But no one could tell what.

They could only wait and hope it reveled itself soon.

---

@Crusader Lord

The surge of power from the guns nearly went straight to Penny’s head, she was already on eradicating everyone that was attacking this town and the power swell from the guns went a long way towards recovering her spent mana.

The only thing that stopped from taking off was the feeling of oily new routines slipping into her systems. She couldn’t reject these new thoughts, the bubbling fizz of their presence was already burned into her, but she did recognize them for what they were. A consequence and warning.

These thoughts weren’t so terrible a burden, the stats and schematics were already a thing she pondered from time to time after all, and she already enjoyed putting her skill in to practice when the time arrived. No, these new thoughts were hardly a worry at all, their inherent priority wasn’t even as detrimental as her old enforced line of thinking was.

The crystals were a threat however. They were imbued with someone else’s thoughts and desires. And while Penny didn’t disagree with some of them, she would not stand to let this other inflict their thoughts on to her.

The guns fused to her were emptied of their ammo as fast as the weapons would allow. No reason to not take advantage while she could after all. Headshots became her primary target, as her ‘kills’ standing back up didn’t escape her notice, but the ones ahead of her had higher priority than the ones taken down already as she had stolen the weapons of everyone behind her.

Once Penny’s first array of guns were empty, she let them decouple from her systems and fall away. The ones connected to her outer limbs and chassis fell to the ground, while she retained the one in her off had as she came to a standstill. Her mind was running along a handful of thoughts at the moment, dealing with the rapid changing environment of the battle field. Movement was no longer a priority and she needed that processing power.

The light from the core embedded in her chest flared up as a wash of energy came over Penny. In its passing she looked much the same as she always did, the largest differences were in her legs and extra limbs. He legs had elongated and came to rest as points rather than feet, and were alight with complex circuitry that were lifting her up.

Her upper spider limbs had split into two pairs of two, smaller and thinner then normal and each tipped with a clamp rather than their normal claw. While the lower two had been reshaped into two pairs of long snaking tendrils several times linger than the spider limbs had been, though they were sill tipped with the tri-point claws.

In addition to all of this her coloration had become entirely monochrome. Broken up only by the neon glow of her eyes and various ports.

The moment her changes were done Penny rejoined the fight; a rifle held in each hand was her main offence while her Ray casters were also deployed and were intermittently discharging explosive blasts as well. Her upper limbs in charge of reloading her purloined weapons of choice when they ran dry, no longer was she interfacing with the guns directly, she wasn’t going to risk further corruption after all, but that hardly reduce her own efficiency with them. The empty clips were being feed to Penny herself. Waste not want not after all.

Her lower limbs were taking care of three things. First was removal of spare clips from the guns around her, those were being magnetized to her back for her own use.

Second was removal of the crystal from the guns she had called. Her interfacing with those guns told her where they were located and she had an idea for them. The crystals were placed into a tank on her lower waist constructed out of the metal of the spare guns willed into the correct shape.

Last was the collection of the now destroyed guns which were fed to Penny as she continued her onslaught. She had mana reserves to restore and damage to repair, and the de-gemed guns would help with both of those. Much the same as the empty clips and brass.

She would recast her call to metal every now and again to stay topped off on materials as well. The machinery of war would roll in her favor now as each dead man gave her more to work with.

Second assault was underway.

Or it would have been had the new comer not teleported not far from Penny herself.

“I’m more the strike leader and comms officer at the moment.” Penny would reply the emotionless of her face at odds with the near giddy tone of her voice. “But so long as you aren’t with them” She would sate launching a Gauss round towards an encroaching vehicle forces to emphasize who she was talking about. “Then I’m pretty sure we are on the same side. Myra, the fire drake, isn’t someone I can control. She’s only an ally of circumstance unfortunately.”

Before the new dragon could respond Penny heard another voice call out over the comms network. “My Queen! Bad news They brought a literal army here! This city is lost! We simply don’t have the numbers to defend.”

”Rodger that Tina, you and Ellen should regroup with Alex and Lily and focus on evac, I’ll hold out as long as I can before falling back to initiate the jump out.” Penny would say aloud. Her eyes refocusing towards the encroaching army.

”I’m guessing you already knew about the army incoming,” Penny would go on to state. ”Far as I am concerned you can leave with us when we cut and run if you need to.
After Penny spoke another chime echoed out, but the mechanical girl seemed oblivious to it.

[“Orange alḙ̷͒r̴̩̽t̴̝̂. C̸̰͛ȏ̴̬g̴̥̿ǹ̸̩à̷̧t̶̻͋ḯ̷͎v̴̯̿e̷̝̔ safeguards have M̴̛͙a̵̜̕l̶̯̅f̷͙͋u̴̢͋n̷̰̈́c̶̘̊t̸̠̕i̷͖͌ö̴͖́ǹ̴͍e̷͎̔d̴͕̀ D̷͞҉͏̡è̛͘҉̕s҉̶̛̛҉t́̀͘͢͜r̡ứ̧ć̸t̶̡̨͟į̛ơ̶͜͡͝n͏̡̛ ̴̵̛͞E͏̨ņ͏ģ́̕͠҉i̡͞͏̸͠n̴̢͠͝e͏̧̀ ̶̵̨̛ has reached 75%. Heightened Ḋ̸̯i̷̢͐ş̸̽c̶̗͒ṛ̴͝e̶̝̕t̸͈̍i̸͇̿ő̷̼n̸̹̓ required”]

---

@Crusader Lord@Flamelord

Aurelio let out a sigh as he reappeared in Beacon HQ. Penrose was relatively quiet at the moment. No major attacks, no growing horror intrusions, no riots. All in all, that was a good thing. The problem was the growing unrest, though Aurelio would be willing to take bets that he was among the only member of Beacon that recognized it.

Penny was a well-known figure in this city and her removal from Beacons forces, while done bloodlessly and gently, had the darker aspects of the city on edge. After all Penny hadn’t done anything wrong except be herself and Beacon gave her the boot. It put them on edge.

With a bit of luck, it would blow over without anything coming of it, but it wouldn’t be hard to make something of the tension at the moment.

Putting those thought out of mind for the time being Aurelio rounded the corner towards the cafeteria, he was in the mood for some pudding, when he caught sight of someone he hadn’t seen in a long time chatting with Alicia. “Serenity!” He would call out joyously as he trotted over towards the returned girl. “Serenity” He would say again pulling the girl into a quick hug “It’s been too long. I heard you got called to go see the big wigs but missed you on your way out.”

He would say before taking a step back to get another look at her new appearance. “You’re looking good, as always, but I’m guessing you wouldn’t mind a jacket” came the appraisal as he took off his own before offering it over to her.

“Oh! Sorry” He would bow slight scratching at the back of his head sheepishly when he remembered that Serenity had been talking with others. “Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Jelena did her best to dance with the marquis, but knew herself that she was doing awfully. That said, she grinned happily and did her best. When the man said his compliment… Jelena laughed out loud.

‘We both know that’s not true, but thank you for the encouragement! You’re a proper gentleman! Thank you for the dance! I had fun!’ Jelena chuckled but regardless smiled. In her previous life, she’d never had dared to do anything like this, but somehow she felt like any experience she had here didn’t matter, it was utterly impossible for her to ruin her reputation because she had none, so why not, really?

Then this sir Mathias Hatwington showed up, and talked about something that Jelena wasn’t interested in in the slightest and had absolutely no knowledge about. He was discussing about this dude’s theory of something or other, and for the amusements of it, Jelena held up a finger. ‘It is an interesting subject, I must admit. But, and consider the following carefully… What if he’s wrong?’ she asked, sounding supremely serious as she asked.

With the hopes that the academic now was mentally imploding, Jelena used her metal control to make herself gracefully hover right above the floor as to not make noise while walking and also probably make Harry think ‘and why on earth did she not do that earlier while dancing’ if he saw, because Jelena wanted to attempt sneaking near to eavesdrop on that conversation. Now, Jelena has, like, zero stealth skills, but she still wanted to hover in somewhere close where she wanted to hide to listen in, just because. And also prepared to defend herself, just in case.

Mariette, meanwhile, recognized the nature of the game and concluded she didn’t need to focus as much as she’d done on arm-strength, and more on her mental strength, which suited her much, MUCH better. She quickly became much better at the game and perhaps even started having a degree of fun while playing. Albeit…

She was nowhere near prepared for the queen’s next couple of reactions.

Mariette’s eyes widened in surprise as she got hugged, and the queen finished her sentence… and then a whole bunch of tentacles appeared, out of fright, trying to undo the hug and stood ready as if to attack. They didn’t, but the chance was that they’d be taken the wrong way.

‘I-I…’ Mariette stuttered. ‘I need an explanation,’ she said, completely lost for other words. There was no way this was actually her mother, right? Last she knew, her mother would still be living with her abusive father, short one daughter… not that Mariette had been keeping track of them… but it couldn’t be. Did she mean metaphorically? But then… what was the name “Alice”? Because, Mariette’s name hadn’t been Mariette… but it hadn’t been Alice, either.

Mariette was still, awaiting words.’

__________________________________________


Mayra, indeed, didn’t really hear Penny. She was far too focused on Kiyome’s replies. Mayra looked just a little disappointed when she heard her new friend (according to herself) wasn’t a dragon turned into a girl like herself, but Mayra quickly brightened herself up. ‘That’s alright! Nobody’s perfect!’ was her thoughts on that.

All those spells and precognition were more than enough to teleport out of Mayra’s claw’s range. Mayra excitedly turned towards Kiyome’s new location, where the girl talked about doing this later.

‘Later!? But I’m excited NOW!’ Mayra replied, still grinning happily.

Taking cover behind Penny seemed to give Mayra pause, however. Mayra was about to just happily launch herself after Kiyome, but with Penny suddenly being there, she didn’t.

‘Oh. I can’t attack you now, because this is not the right time to attack Penny.’ … and apparently that was the only reason she couldn’t attack Kiyome right now. ‘Whelp, guess I’ll just fight the current enemy. Sooo, where do you want me? Hey, let’s all attack at the same time! With the power of our trio, it’s gotta be awesome!’ Mayra laughed, and turned to face the same direction as Penny, ready to battle, amused by the idea of super-fighter-trio herself, Penny and new girl.

‘Hey, green dragon friend! I’m Mayra! What’s your name?’ Mayra asked, preparing to dash into battle. Because green dragon friend hadn’t told her name.

__________________________________________


‘Woah, we need to speed up!’ Ronin called about the incoming artillery.

‘Keep a personal shield up, sister!’ Miko called, and the two of them kept going. They followed Lily’s instructions of leaving the villagers in the front yard, while otherwise hurrying to grab civilians and get them out of the respective houses. All the while, they kept personal Reinforcement shields ready just in case they got unlucky with the artillery.

The Angel of Hope performed a grand spell of protection over Bolorton, and conjured forth a dome, shielding it from the artillery shelling that had rained over town, like an umbrella. However, after multiple large spells of protection as well as restoring Eliana’s affliction, she started to feel the wear on her enhanced magical power, having lost a third of her mana reserves. Eliana in turn assisted AoH by bolstering the barrier with one of her own, reinforcing the barrier and giving it evasive protection in addition to mitigation.

Meanwhile, Gaia continued directing the potent payload of the transformed sunflower towers to lay suppressive fire on the hill, which now began to gather with more and more tanks, until nine of them could be counted. Two tanks on the hill shot their cannons towards a sunflower tower, dealing major damage to it’s trunk despite Gaia’s enhancements; while still standing, it was now lopsided, close to collapsing. In return, the corncob missiles blasted one of the tanks to smithereens, as well as some nearby soldiers, causing the rest to retreat behind other tanks as they came up the hill on the other side. They shot with their rifles, primarily aiming at Penny, Mayra and Kiyome down at the burning field.

This attack, despite the overwhelming numbers, proved mostly ineffective due to the distance and the cover of the smokescreen pouring from the fire, with exception to Mayra, who had been distracted by Kiyome and Penny long enough to have incurred a couple of shots on her back, stopped by her scales. However, while the fire proved beneficial to the frontline trio, it also began to cause damage to Kiyome in the form of slight burns on her forearms and legs. In addition, it also spread towards the sides, beginning to char Gaia’s trap flora.

In return Penny unloaded a hail of bullets from her newly acquired arsenal of rifles. First, she shot with fused weaponry, their dark gems having corroded her mentally in the process. However, she then switched to ejecting the gems out and using the weaponry as intended, pulling on their triggers manually. Using two enchanted guns in her hands and more mundane guns with extra limbs, she shot down the rest of the advancing club soldiers in the field; as their helmets were blown away, they were reduced to aimlessly shambling pseudo-undead.

The flying squad of fairy dust-sprinkled Spade soldiers, who also began to apply cover fire towards the trio: another rocket was launched towards the three, scattering them as they dodged, followed by a hail of minigun bullets in Penny and Kiyome’s direction, and loud bangs of an anti-tank sniper rifle at Mayra, while attempting to advance towards Bolorton.

Of course, Gaia-led sunflower towers immediately took aim at the flyers, disrupting their fire as they flew around, avoiding the corncob missiles. The two soldiers carrying the egg creature were less agile, however, and one of them was blown up with a corncob missile, causing them to drop the egg on the field. As the egg fell down, it began to rhyme with a high-pitched, shrill voice:

“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a GREAT FALL!”

The moment the egg made impact and shattered, it’s magical payload was released in the form of a massive magic circle that manifested on the burning field. Out of the magic circle, four monsters teleported in, each one unique in size and appearance.

The most imposing one was a gargantuan metallic man wielding an equally large woodsman’s axe. It stood as tall as a sunflower tower, and it’s chest had a closed hatch with a heart-shaped lock on it, wrapped in chains. From the seams of the hatch, multiple sources of red glowing could be faintly seen, like many warm hearts.

The second was a huge leonine beast with curved blade-like extensions that jutted out from it’s elbows. The beast snarled as it appeared, drool dribbling down it’s maw.
The third was a bloodstained scarecrow with farming implements for hands and a straw sack for a head. It cackled as it hopped in place with it’s single wooden leg. The final and smallest monster was an armless little girl who hummed a little song.

“There’s no place like home~” The armless girl giggled, and clicked it’s heels together with a little jump; a road made of golden bricks burst out from beneath her feet and through the burning field towards Bolorton. However, the golden road did not move straight, and curved haphazardly around; it turned a few seconds after going straight, then again as it went past Penny, Kiyome and Mayra, and even looping in on itself before continuing, like a drawing made by a child who dragged the pencil through the paper as it pleased. Once it reached Angel and Eliana’s barrier, the gold road momentarily stopped, before a golden archway rose up from the road, magically lifting the barrier like a curtain, just enough that a passage big enough for the armless girl to pass through opened up. The archway, while too small for a regular Mahou to walk through, can be crawled under. The gold road then continued past the barrier once it created the archway, curving a bit around the plaza, and stopped at the central fountain, turning the landmark gold as well.

“There’s no place like home~” Once the road was complete, the armless girl repeated herself, clicked it’s heels again with a jump, and then began moving down the curvy gold-bricked road with a merry skip as it hummed a happy song, seemingly ignorant of the battlefield it is located in.

Meanwhile, the scarecrow cackled and pointed with it’s sickle at the woodsman, who nodded with a metallic groan like a rusty ship, and began walking slowly towards Bolorton, having lifted it’s axe; it was clearly going to attack one of the sunflower towers. The scarecrow then cackled and pointed a rake at the lion, who roared in return; the scarecrow followed the woodsman, taking cover behind the giant, while the lion ran past and straight at the frontline trio, intending to pounce and swipe at them with it’s blade.

---

Lily had just arrived from another trip to the shelter when Alex had caught up with her, calling her name.
”Huh? What is it, Alex?" She asked, and then listened as Alex explained his idea, running in place out of anxiety. She first blinked in hesitation, but then bit her lower lip, and nodded.
”Ok, I’ll give it my best shot!" She answered, and took hold of the hourglass on her costume. As the clones channeled magic into her, she closed her eyes, and the hourglass began to slowly glow spin, the sand inside it shifting. When she opened her eyes, her irises had turned into clocks with spinning hands.
”Chronos Crosser!" She yelled with an outheld hand. A blue-and-yellow beam shot out, covering the streets of Bolorton; they were visibly enchanted with alternating arrows of blue and yellow, much like speed-boosting floor panels in video games.
Afterwards, Lily returned to normal, slightly shaken by the spell she performed.
”I did it…Oh, I feel a bit dizzy…" She slapped her cheeks and shook her head, getting focused again.

”It won’t last long, but this should buy us more time!" She informed Alex and the twins, and saw as Connie slid down to provide her assistance to their efforts. She didn’t know why, but she knew had no time to wonder, especially when Lily realized that shells have stopped falling and AoH placed a protective barrier to protect them. She wouldn’t let either of their kindness go unreciprocated.
”Connie, go to those houses!” She pointed, and headed off.
”Let’s get to it!"

Another artillery barrage was shot out, but the double dome endured the blasts, cracking slightly from the damage. With no artillery shells to impede their progress, two new members to the evacuation squad, and with Lily’s boosting roads further picking up the pace, the number of emptied houses rose to ten houses on the east row, and twelve houses from the west row. As a result, their efforts left fifteen and thirteen houses, for a total number of 28 remaining houses.

---

Justine nodded in confirmation at Iron Mouse’s question.
”Since we have to be tucked into the backseat, I might as well make it slightly more comfortable,” she said, and smiled a bit once the latter tried it, seemingly amused by her caution.
”Don’t worry, it’s not going to pop or stain your clothes. The outer layer is like plastic.” Just like Mac had thought, it was like a waterbed in it’s malleability. She then rolled her eyes at her cheeky comment.
”I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Ooh, I wouldn’t mind a little pinch from a cutie like you~” Nefer spoke up, and afterwards turned her head to look at Oliver.
“Nice ride, right? Tune it all up myself, you know. Had to order some custom parts when my own skills weren’t sufficient, but it turned out like a beaut.”

Akhenaten grumbled with a nod. Nefer smiled. “Yep, that’s true, you also helped out” she responded, as if she understood the golem.

Once the passengers introduced themselves, including Iron Mouses’s bombastic one, Justine joined in.
”Elizabeth Bathory. Pleased to make your acquaintance.”

Nefer gave a little laugh. “Well, aren’t you a bunch of colorful characters. Especially you, little Mousey~” She seemed to blush a bit. “You’re so cute, I wanna take you home with me! But unfortunately I can’t fit you in my luggage. Such a shaaame…” She then perked up upon hearing Mouse ask about her wares.
“Yeah, I have knick-knacks and doo-dads a plenty.” She started digging through her handbag, and threw out various trinkets and thing-a-ma-bobs in the backseat.
“Like an artifact that allows you to eat while sleeping, or a counter that when pointed at somebody tells you how many people they’ve kissed. Oh, and a tool hammer that gives inspiration when you hit yourself on the head.”

In other words, just a bunch of junk, Justine thought to herself.

She then picked out a stone with a crack in it. “I also have this runestone that supposedly allows one to absorb a spell and use it for later, but it’s probably broken; haven’t gotten it working.”

Justine did not care much for the small banter, as her eyes were already focused on the scene of the battlefield that steadily grew before them. And soon enough, the car reached Gaia’s trapped fields.

“Hold on boys and girls, this is gonna be a bumpy ride!” She pulled on a lever, and a set of whirling saws popped out of the grill of the car, tearing through the thorny vines and venus flytraps that snapped at the car’s hull. The car ploughed through like a lawnmower, and turned with a screeching skid right into the central plaza of Bolorton. On their way, the passengers got a better look at the sunflower towers that bordered the town, and saw Connie, Gaia and angel near them, casting spells. They also saw Lily, multiple Alex-clones, Ronin and Miko, Connie, as well as a newcomer by the name of Eliana run around carrying civilians away.

“Now that wasn’t your garden-variety weeds, not to mention all the soldiers and fighting. What in the hay is going on around here?” Nefer asked as she and Akhenaten stepped out of the car., seemingly unaware of the invasion.

Justine was not going to stick around and explain, as she jumped out of the car once it stopped and flew towards Lily.
”What’s the situation?” She asked once she had reached the green-haired girl, who in turn stopped with a half-circle spin, and hoisted the man in her arms over her shoulder.

”Not good. We still got more people to evacuate, but Wonderland’s gonna break through any second!"

Justine scowled. ”...Great.”

---

Marquis Harry’s polite smile cracked a bit when Jelena exclaimed she saw through his lie, but nonetheless, he acted like a refined man of society and took it in stride. “That is all I wanted to hear~” He said, before the academic had made his arrival and he excused the two of them.
Hatwington adjusted his monocle, looking appalled at Jelena’s insinuation. “Well, of course any established theorem will have its detractors, primarily in the uneducated and, well, unwashed masses. But Mister Pooh has legitimized his research by providing case studies and research data that supports his theorem. His work has also been approved and recognized by the Minister of Education by Her Majesty’s orders, so of course there is no room for doubt. Unless you intend to outrageously claim that the Queen herself is wrong…” He asked with a smarmy tone. He was sure he would silence Jelena’s protests…That is, if she were there to listen to him in the first place. In fact, she was not there anymore. “Uh, miss?”

Instead of staying and listening to the professor, Jelena had taken another chance to sneakily eavesdrop on Harry and his companion, gliding as gracefully across the floor as a professional ballerina. She ducked behind a potted plant, and heard a snippet of the conversation:

“...could bring an entire army by herself, you know? Are you sure it’s safe?” The hooded girl spoke, looking annoyed. Harry chuckled.

“Of course. The wards we have placed allow only the holders of an invitation and their company to enter through. Anyone else who attempts space magic to traverse inside will end up in the dungeons, in a magic-nullifying cell.”

“Hmph. Well, Her Majesty may have trusted you as the head of security for the party to replace White, but I won’t be that easily convinced. The moment you screw up I’ll-” It was then that the hooded girl glanced past Harry, and noticed Jelena. “-Hello there.” She gave a soul-piercing glare at Harry, as if trying to stab her with her gaze, who then blinked and turned around. “Oh, what a surprise, haha! It seems you ditched poor Hatwington. Surely he did not bore you that much with his talk of theorems?”
He asked with a bright smile, though Jelena could tell he was certainly not feeling sunny.

Meanwhile, as Mariette reeled from the shocking revelation, the Queen had removed herself swiftly from her, having noticed the tentacles the girl had summoned. “Oh, my poor Alice…Have you forgotten your own mother’s face after all these years? Oh, woe is me! To be forgotten...” She clasped her hands together. “It was years upon years ago. We were so happy, the two of us…Mother and daughter, bringing joy and peace to wherever we went, battling evil by moonlight. But then, on that tragic day when I lost you beyond the looking glass, I swore I would find you, even if I had to traverse the entire multiverse to do it.” She picked up her mallet.
“It was a lot of work to build an entire dimension, but it was all worth it for this day. Of course, when I first looked at you, I wasn’t sure. Could this really be my darling Alice? I took my time watching after you. But then, when I saw you handing out all those gifts to your friends…Only my Alice is as kind-hearted.” She then swung at a ball, and it passed through a hoop. “Of course, it won’t be easy, with you having lost so many of your memories. But a mother’s love can fix anything, and I’m sure with enough time, you will remember everything. Then we can be a family again, Alice. So let’s take it slowly at first. Now then, it’s your turn, Alice~” She then waited for Mariette to take another swing.

---

“Wonderland has acknowledged our announcement to give aid to the civilians.” Ishtar answered, though she averted her eyes. “As long as you carry symbols of Beacon on your person and don’t engage the enemy you have diplomatic immunity. However, should Wonderland ignore our treaty and stage a direct attack on you…” She sighed. “...You are permitted to defend yourselves. However, I sincerely hope it won’t come to that.”

She blinked in surprise once Alicia announced her selection of operatives for the mission.
“I expected Aurelio and Gabriel, but Hyun Long as well…Very well. I trust in your decision making, Paladin Seraph. Violette is assigned as mission control; she will keep you informed on our side.” She then nodded.

“Take the teleporter, and transport to the mobile teleporter that is primed at the Penrose border. Once there, pack it into the vehicle, and begin heading out towards Bolorton. Good luck, Paladin Seraph, and may the light of Beacon reach the lost in the darkness.”

As Alicia left the meeting towards the cafeteria, she could hear hushed voices there. Upon arriving, she noticed that other Beacon agent's stares seemed to linger on a certain arrival at the facility; Serenity. While magical girls could wildly vary in appearance even among the more conservative ranks of the organization, she managed to draw the attention of everyone, especially once Alicia was caught in her hug.

“Hey! Show some respect!” A voice called out, and Hyun Long stepped out from the gathered crowd. The former monster queen pointed a finger at Serenity. “That is the Paladin Seraph! You can’t go and hug someone like that out of the blue! Not to mention public decency…Well, not that our organization has any policies on that.” Once Aurelio had arrived, Hyun turned to greet Alicia with a salute. “Hyun Long, reporting for duty. I was just informed by Cardinal Ishtar via communicator that I have been selected for a mission.” On the other side of the cafeteria, they could see Gabriel running in with a toast in her mouth. “Gabriel also reporting in!” She also saluted seriously, looking a bit silly in the process.

With the Time magic in place, Alexander and his clones redoubled their efforts. 'This is just fucking crazy! Who's even behind this mess!?' He wondered as he patched up a little girl and handed her off to one of his clones before moving onto her another child 'These are just a bunch of civilians that are getting bombed, what's even the point!? Are they just trying to rack up the highest kill count they can!?' A sudden chilling thought came to him '...I really fucking hope that this isn't just a mass sacrifice for some dark ritual.' Thinking back, he couldn't remember any markings that looked like they belonged to some kind of ritual circle or anything 'And it's not like I can waste any time looking for them. We're already coming down to the wire as is' He cleared some debris off a man and then began healing him 'Damnit! Somebody is really going to pay for this!' he seethed as he passed the man on to a clone, before moving on